Sunday, 21st December

Today we got up early and had the Japanese breakfast from the hotel. It was only just bearable. It featured a plethora of unidentifiable meat purees which I avoided, plus some rice and the thinnest fish in the world. After breakfast we went back to bed and fell asleep for another two hours. I think we’ve been too busy.
We got up again around 10:30 and decided to go to Kannawa, which is an area of Beppu that has lots of Jigoku (Hells) and onsen (hot springs). It was a bit rainy but we decided to go anyway. We found a tourist information office where a man showed us a bus map and gave us lots of information. He also gave us each a Beppu flag/teatowel/hanky/cloth as a souvenier.
We took the bus to Kannawa which was easy enough. We went up to a higher part of town, which gave us a great view of the city with lots of steam spouts everywhere. First up we decided to visit two hells: Umi Jigoku (sea hell) and Oni-Ishi Bozu Jigoku (Monk’s head Hell). We saw a wall behind which was a hell and looked over and saw flamingoes and an elephant. That was the Mountain Hell, which was pooh-poohed in the Lonely Planet because the animals are kept in bad conditions. The elephant we saw was in a small enclosure with no greenery. I was sad. So in protest we didn’t go there. The Sea Hell featured a 200m deep hot blue pond. It is very blue. The steam was incredible, until we realized it was being pumped from somewhere else. At the Sea Hell we saw a sign that said “Hot Spring of a Leg”, but when we investigated we found that it was a foot bath. There were some other people there trying it and saying things like “Atsu atsu atsui!” which means “Hot hot hot!”. We took off our shoes and socks and attempted to get in. It was SO HOT that I had to keep reminding myself that it only FEELS like it’s burning but it’s not ACTUALLY burning. We could only sit there for about 3 minutes before our feet got pins and needles from the heat and we had to leave. My feet were bright red up to halfway up my calf. It was an interesting experience.
Charles: I like foot baths. I think they’re cute. You take off your shoes and there is a shallow bath with places to sit down. For some reason Beppu HOT SPRINGS OF A LEG contain giant citrus fruits floating around. They actually have a nice smell, maybe to counteract the disgusting sulfur etc. We observed that the correct Japanese way to enjoy a HOT SPRING OF A LEG was to sit on the seat with your feet in for one second and then pull both legs in the air while balancing on your bottom. Chrissy became quite good at this.
Chrissy: The Monk’s Head Hell is so called because it features boiling mud that looks like a Monk’s shaven head when it bubbles up from under the surface. It was really smelly but it was awesome. The whole place was hot even though it was cold, and extremely humid, and smelt like rotten eggs. There was even steam coming out of the drains. It was like science fiction!
After we visited the Hells we went for a walk and found the Hyotan Hot Springs. This was like a hot spring resort, with a plethora of baths for men and women. You have to leave your shoes in the shoe lockers at the front desk, then swap that key for a changing room locker key. The only mixed gender thing is a sand bath. We separated and went to our respective changing rooms and changed into our provided yukatas for the sand bath. The sand is heated by the hot spring steam, and you lie in it and put it on yourself. It’s warm and nice, and the deeper you dig the hotter it is. This is the opposite of hot beach sand. Then you shake off all the sand and go have a bath.
The women’s bathing area was amazing. There were about 8 different baths. First I washed myself (I found MY OWN stool and bucket) and then went and sampled all the different baths. First there was the waterfall bath, which was a long bath with a high pipe with holes in it way above, which was emitting streams of water. I saw ladies sitting cross-legged under the streams so I did too, but it felt like I was being beaten up so I stopped.
Then there were two regular-type baths. Next, I went in the walking bath, which was just a really shallow long bath with pebbles on the bottom so it feels nice on your feet. There were two rock baths where some extremely hot water was flowing in, and the further away you sat the cooler it was. There was a sign saying “Be careful of BOILING WATER”. Then I went to the outdoor bath which was a little hot for me. I tried to go into the steam bath but only opened the door before I realised it was probably too hot. I tried the waterfall bath again because I realized that there were different strength streams and that I had tried one of the biggest streams before. I tried the smallest one which was sort of nice on my back but also sort of like being beaten up.
CHARLES BATH EXPERIENCE: I had a similar time to Chrissy except with naked men instead of naked ladies. There was also no walking bath. I liked the waterfalls and a wooden bath which was inside. I prefer leaning on wood than rocks.
Chrissy: A young lady was friendly to me in the changing room (probably because I was in her way) and we chatted in English/Japanese/Sign language outside until Chucky emerged from the men’s bath. We decided to get some lunch, and set off. The lady kept on chasing us and telling us places to go to eat, and then offered to drive us to a place, but we said we could walk. We set off quickly because we didn’t want her to chase us again. She was nice though!
Charles: we were confused because she told us to go to SANRIBU. When we walked a little bit out of the car park we saw a huge sign for a supermarket just down the street: Sun Live!
Chrissy: We just ended up getting some buns at a bakery. They were nice but not exactly lunch. After taking a bus back to the station, Chucky got some takoyaki (octopus fried in batter) and I got some chippies. The takoyaki didn’t agree with Chucky too well so we just came back to our hotel and watched a movie. We’re really tired now and don’t feel like dinner. Tomorrow is another travel day which is a total bummer. We’re so tired! I want to go home!