Damnit, I'm terrible at this blogging thing...!
So a couple of weeks ago, my friend and I headed off to Beppu for the weekend. Beppu is located in Oita Prefecture, on the northwest side of Kyushuu. A town filled with pachinko machines and an extensive sex industry, this place also happens to be the one of the largest hotspring by volume in the world, 2nd only to Yellowstone National Park. With this in mind, I am off to a wonderfully relaxing weekend (in the onsens, of course!!)
JR Beppu Station, with the founder of Beppu
This city is pretty much gushing hot water from everywhere. There are pipes in the ground specifically used to re-direct the hot water elsewhere. As my friend MP puts it, the city is going to boil itself over one day...! So, when you come here, don't forget to bring a hand towel. You will need it when you see all the hand onsen around the city ^_^
Hand bath outside JR Beppu Station
One of the most famous tourist attractions in Beppu are the Jigoku Hostprings 地獄温泉. Literally translated in English as the Hells Hotsprings, these hotsprings include a steaming mountain, boiling mud ponds, and hotspring ponds that are of different colours. My favorite one is the red 血の池地獄 (Blood's Pond Hell), where the bottom of the pond turned bright red from the iron oxidizing and settling. There is also a foot hotspring for you to dip your feet if you get tired. The other hotsprings with the boiling mud at 鬼石坊主地獄 (Shaven Monk's Head Hell) and the steaming mountains of 山地獄 (Mountain Hell) are also quite impressive.
山地獄 Yama-Jigoku
血の池地獄 Chinoike-Jigoku. It got dark as the sun was setting on the other side of the mountain.
After a day of serious walking, it was totally time to head back to the ryokan. We had a Japanese-style tatami room for 4000yen per person. Included was free access to the private onsen in the ryokan; we just had to book the room in the lobby! Of course, I took advantage of that and booked in some private time for like 2 hours.... afterall, that's what I came to Beppu for..!!!
Private onsen, tehehehehee... ^_^
And that, my friends, was pretty much how I spent my first long weekend in Japan. ^_^ I'm looking forward to more onsen adventures in the near future, and of course, I'll try to remember to post more! A shout out to all my friends in Vancouver... I miss you all lots!!
Ta ta for now ^__~
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