steam city

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Beppu is another top ranked onsen town in Kyushu. It is famous for its large amount of volcano spring water. As we were walking on the street, we can see steam coming up from the gaps in the ground. Every now and then, you can find so called foot onsen. You can simply take your shoes off and put your feet into the warm spring water. Such a nice feeling in winter.

The ryokan we booked is a very traditional old style ryokan. As we were walking up the stairs, we could hear old Japanese people singing karaoke in the activity room. Most of the staffs did not speak English, but they are super professional. One thing about the Japanese style room is that there is no bed. We were quite worried for a while, until we came back from dinner and discovered the beds magically appeared in the middle of the room. lol.. Apparently it's a common practice for the staff to make bed for guests when they are away for dinner. I watched TV for a while. Nothing interesting so I went to bed early.

We booked a breakfast package with the ryokan so we get to have breakkie in the room the next morning. This is our first breakkie at ryokan in Japan. My photos give you some idea of the size. It is a FEAST. Just when we thought there is no way we could finish all the food, the staff came in brought in MORE food. This is strange. I didn't know Japanese people can eat so much. There was even a full bowl of rice...I have never had rice for breakfast in my life even though I'm from China. Surprisingly there are many differences between what Chinese and Japanese eat for breakfast. For example, Chinese like their eggs cooked, Japanese prefer raw eggs. Chinese never eat fish in the morning, Japanese like salmon with their rice.

Personally I don't like Beppu city as much as some other onsen places. The main reason being Beppu is too big. I find a large part of the city quite industrial and the attractions quite touristy. We went to the famous eight "hells" but only enjoyed about three of them. The rest are simply too artificial for my taste. The ones that I particularly enjoyed were the "sea hell" and the crocodile hell.

The onsen bath we really enjoyed is called Hyotan Onsen. It doesn't have accomodation so you can simply go in and pay for a visit. It's got a restaurant and a few different types of onsen including privite outdoor bath which costs about 20 AU an hour (max 3 pp). Here is the website http://www.hyotan-onsen.com/.

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