Soaking it up in Beppu

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Day 17


We left early again for a relaxing day in Beppu which is famed in Japan for its natural hot springs, or Onsen as they are known over here. Before we were able to get out of the door in Yafuin Youth Hostel we were serenaded by the hostel owner, his wife and little girl with a rousing rendition of Country Roads, the name of their hostel. It was fantastic and sent us on our way with a smile, albeit laden down with all our luggage.

Stepping off the train, Beppu looked much like any other Japanese city, untill you looked a little closer and saw plumes of steam rising from many of the buildings and grates in the street!

Our first stop was to visit two of the local "hells", places where steaming hot water comes to the ground with some unusual consequences, of which there are 8 in the local area. We chose to see Tatumakizigoku Geyser first which spouts several metres from the ground every 45 minutes, if there wasnt a protective wall the geyser reaches an impressive 50 feet! We managed to catch it perfoming twice while we were there. After this we went to Chinoike Hell or "bloody hell pond", so called as it comes up bright red due to clay in the ground. The colour of the water and the steam coming off this one were amazing.

After seeing the hells we moved on to our true reason for visiting Beppu - to take in the real onsen experience. We headed to Hyotan Onsen as it had a variety of different types of bath that we could try. First we had a sand bath where you wrap up in a robe, a bit like a thin dressing gown, or Yukata and bury yourself in hot sand for a while. This was fabulous - a bit like having a buried sauna! Next we separated into our single sex bathing areas, as public bathing is done in the buff - so not many photos from today, we didnt want to shock granny! You first shower to ensure you are clean before sharing big baths the size of a jacuzzi or bigger with others. In each of the bathing areas were various types of baths from waterfall baths, to pebble baths to steam baths to rotemburo or outdoor baths. It was fun to just hop from one type of bath to the next and then go around again. This was an incredible and extremely relaxing experience getting over the whole swinging free thing pretty much straight away.

We then moved on to our next onsen, apparently onsen fanatics go to at least 3 different onsen in a day, sometimes 6. We decided 2 would be ok for us!

We had picked out a little restaurant in the hills overlooking Beppu where an Onsen enthusiast / caterer has an eatery where after a beer and substantial lunch you take a dip in one of his onsen on the hills - all for the bargain price of about a fiver! Dinner was amazing washed down with Japans finest larger and we left for our onsen worrying that we may sink. We were again split up into our separate pools and had a wonderfully peaceful Onsen being the only people there. It was quite a liberating experience walking out to the Onsen on the hill with the whole of Beppu stretching out in front of you - again with not a stitch on you! Marks pool had a great view over the sights of Beppu and Chrissies was set in a wooded area with a waterfall, both had water of a mikly blue colour. Apparently they swap who uses each pool daily so that each gender can try both pools. This was a geat ending to a very relaxing day.

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Comments

[Hazel and dick]

Great reflection in the water Mark
Love reading the blogs. hope you got the e mail. Great photos . Sounds as if you are having a really good time. Lots of love