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The smell of sulphur permeates the air on arrival at Unzen and for good reason for this is the home of the Unzen Jigoku (hells). This is an area of about 30 Sulphur pits, fumaroles and steams but the water here is no for bathing in but for looking at, boiling eggs (and Christians in days gone by).
Steam gushes out from the ground in towering plumes and opaque sheets of white blow across the pathways that wind through the hells reducing visibility to a haze.
It was an awe inspiring sight seeing these bubbling pools and smoke plumes amongst the desolate landscape and was a striking reminder that Unzen volcano is still live and kicking.
The hotel was only a minutes walk from here and took full advantage of its location by offering several hot spring baths to it's guests.
On an evening the town emptied and a mist began to descend filling the quiet lamp lit streets with an eerie milky glow while the sounds of music box versions of popular songs drifted through the air. It made for an almost dickensian atmosphere (or scene from the exorcist- I can't decide which).
After a soak in the sulphur spring
onsen and a wonderful meal I settled down to a very restful nights sleep.
It was up and off to Kumamoto via 2 buses, a ferry and a tram, the rain was beginning to get heavy and the seas were rough which made for not too jolly a journey.I arrived safely although a little rain and wind swept.
The next day travel continued to the Aso region however the weather through a huge spanner in the works. The rain had been so heavy (around 500mm had fallen during one day) that the rail lines were flooded and all trains had stopped. The staff weren't sure if they would be up and running again so I waited at the station for 7 and a half hours dreading what would happen if I couldn't get to my next destination as I had limited funds, no where to stay and all my belongings were soaked.
It quickly became apparent that no trains would be running so I desperately hunted for a bus and just managed to get on the last one much to my relief.
I made it to Miyaji exhausted and soaked but just grateful to have made it.
My accommodation was
a small Minishuku run by an elderly Japanese lady who had had a stroke and had lost the use of her Right side. She managed extremely well although I felt guilty with her running around after me.
After a much needed sleep I felt much better and was ready to explore the area. my host said she would drive me to the station so I could go to the mountain. So we clambered into her adapted car and off we set on a slightly hair raising journey.
At the station she roped me into a coach trip that would take up the day. There was only 3 people on this trip (including me) so I was amazed it still ran but off we trotted to see the sights.
We stopped off at various locations of interest and viewing spots but could only see mist and not a lot else. We also stopped at a mineral spring coming out of a rock and were given a souvenir of our trip- an empty plastic bottle. I did wonder why until the bus driver ushered us off the bus to fill up the bottle out of the stream and drink it.
It was
then back on the bus, past some burial mounds and on to the main Aso Jinja. We had 40 minutes to spend at our leisure so I planned to take some photographs however the two pensioners on the trip had different ideas and beckoned me over to spend time with them looking around the shops.
It was slightly awkward as they couldn't speak English(the only words they knew were 'Student', 'hello', 'water', 'OK' and randomly 'pistol'😉 and my Japanese is no where near a conversational level.
In the afternoon it was off up the mountain to see the volcano crater (I was excited!!) Unfortunately there had been a recent eruption so there was no going near the crater and having to settle for a few kilometres away. The mist on the ascent was thick and it made for a frightening drive up the winding mountain road with minimal visibility..
We were dropped off at the ropeway station and left for one and a half hours with nothing really to see or do as a result of the mist and eruption. I considered walking back down to the volcano museum but thought better of it due to the fact I would
probably be hit by a car given the poor conditions. So I resorted to walking round some shops, eating my lunch and waiting for the bus to come back- it was less than thrilling.
The next day I decided to go back up the mountain and to the museum, praying that the conditions would be better. Thankfully they were and I was able to get some decent photos of the crater lakes and also saw the fuming crater from a distance.
The museum was interesting and revolved around the history of Aso San and the geology. It also screened a rather chintzy film about the volcano that looked (and had a soundtrack) like it had been made in the late 60's. The best bit though was the live feed cameras from inside the crater. You could see real time pictures and computer readings as well as play around with one of the cameras( geeky I know!)
It was on to Beppu next...
Now where the hells of Unzen are visible in all their natural glory, Beppu has made theirs into a rather kitsch tourist attraction with each of the 9 hells having a 'theme'.
Being a lover of all things
a bit kitsch I thought I would indulge and try to visit as many hells as possible.
It was raining heavily but I was not going to let this deter me and headed out armed with an umbrella.
Kitsch certainly was the right word and the sight was certainly a lot less impressive I guess in the driving rain but I managed to visit 6 of the hells.
Umi Jigaku (Sea hell) with its cobalt water,Shira Ike Jigaku (White pond hell) with milky white water,Kamado (Oven hell) with a particularly tacky demon looking over the pond,Hon Bozu (Monks hell) with bubbling hot mud pools, Oni Yama( Devils mountain hell) which bred crocodiles and Yama Jigaku (mountain hell) which kept a variety of quite large animals in quite horrendous conditions.
After a long day walking I opted for a nice outdoor bath at night which was scalding hot. It did amuse me that there was a button you could press if you felt it was getting cool but I couldn't see how it would ever get that cold. With no third degree burns I headed back to my room to pack and prepare for my trip by ferry to Shikoku and
pray for a break in the weather.
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