Onsen's and Himeji Castle

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After Kyoto we headed to Hiroshima. It is far so we spilt the drive into 2 days. On the first day we stopped in a small town full of Onsens. An Onsen is a Japanese hot spring which is separated into male and female pools and where you bathe naked. They are very relaxing and I felt like a new woman after. Must be those healing minerals! Dana and I went to one beside a waterfall which gave off a cooling mist as you sat in the near boiling water. Before and after your soak you have to shower yourself, but to do so you sit on a little stool beside the bath. I obviously don’t have pictures of these, although Dana took a photo of the communal bath in our Tokyo capsule hotel. Afterwards we walked around the little town at dusk. We found a place to sit along the river which was lined with pink lanterns handing from the cherry trees and watched as couples walked back from the onsens in their kimono pajamas and wooden sandals. That evening we couch surfed with Mochan’s Canadian friend Adam and his Japanese wife. Refreshed after our soak in the healing waters, we spent the night drinking at Adam’s restaurant with some American English teachers stationed in the town. Luck them!

The next day we went to Himeji Castle which is Japan’s biggest and most beautiful castle. We spent the whole day here exploring the gardens and the castle itself. Very grand indeed. We were very lucky as it closed for restoration for the next 2 years, only few days after we visited.

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