Spring Break! Part 2

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Ok so I'm gonna try to finish up on spring break today so here goes:

Day 5

Today we did some hiking in Yakushima. It was great. We woke up early, had breakfast and then took the bus which was fairly expensive to Yakusugi land which is a rainforest with Yakusugi cedars, some of which are several thousand years old. These cedar forests are very special to the people and even with such rich resources, they still import most of their lumber. We owe them our thanks because the rainforest was absolutely beautiful. We spent most of the morning and afternoon hiking but we had to move quickly in order to catch the one bus back down the mountain. We still saw everything we wanted to and Garrett and I even made it to the top of Mt. Tachu-dake which was very nice but we had to literally run up the mountain to get there while still feeling comfortable about our time situation. The hiking up the mountain was very difficult because it was almost entirely steep uphill and roots but we managed. We had lunch near the top of hardboiled eggs, oranges, and cucumber/cheese sandwiches and it was delicious. We split up a bit on our way back though and Nella and I snuck down the side of a suspension bridge over a river and went swimming. The water was very very cold. I also took a bit of a spill climbing down the rocks and I still today have scrapes from that : ). I kept my shirt and shoes off after swimming too and when we had to pass through a very large group of Japanese tourists I was greeted with lots of people saying baka as I passed which is Japanese for idiot.. maybe so.. After this we left and when we finally got home (we made the bus with time to spare because it was later than we thought) we pretty much took it easy and watched an anime movie. (it was princess yamaoka or something like that.. allen you'd probably know it) We didn't get to finish it though because of curfew so I'll never know what happened.

Day 6

Today was a man's day. The girls went out early to the Hirauchi Kaichu-Onsen Hot Spring (where they had their own adventures with a dirty old man who wanted pictures) while Garrett and I slept in until 11:00. That was really nice considering that we had to wake up so early sometimes for the trains. We also cooked our own breakfast and hardboiled eggs for the day which was good (ok no that's a lie, its hard to make omelettes with chopsticks in an old pan). When we finally finished this around noon we decided we wanted to see waterfalls so we did just that. Since we didn't want to pay the buses though we decided to hitchhike and it worked out very very well. Barely five minutes after leaving we had our first pickup who took us to an ATM, then to the area where our first destination, Torohki no Taki (Torohki Waterfall), was located. This waterfall was especially nice and is unique in Japan because it empties directly into the ocean. Garrett and I climbed around on the rocks for a bit and then worked our way to the waterfall itself where we managed to get right on top of. It was cool and the girls wern't there to tell us we were being stupid. After this we started to work our way to Senpiro Falls but took a wrong turn and accidently found Ruyjin no Taki which we added to our list of waterfalls we saw for the day. Still unconvinced we were going the wrong direction though, we kept at it for a bit and finally got directions heading sending us back the other direction. On the way back though there was a bit of trouble, we heard noises in the trees to our right and realized we were surrounded by monkeys. This may seem fun and innocent but these things are scary. So because of this we decided to stay and take pictures. We did this for a little while until I managed to get really close to one of the monkeys because it was in a tree right near the road. I got a few shots and as I was taking another it ran right at me! Luckily, as I was oblivious to the situation, my flash went off and scared it back as I realized what was going on. I quickly took several steps back and then it ran right at me again! It stopped (thank god) right in front of me, not looking too happy. So Garrett and I slowly backed off and decided to get the hell out of there. I'm still a little scared of monkeys. So after this, we were at least headed the right direction and took the long hike up the to the falls. The path we took was a road because this particular waterfall is very popular and we were treated to watching other people drive up to the falls while we were walking. When we finally made it, a bit tired, we went to the waterfall which was absolutely amazing. We didn't get as close as we wanted though because the usual path that leads to a bridge in front of the waterfall was closed off and while we were ok going on the path for a bit, we didn't feel too comfortable with the bridge so we didn't get terribly close. Even still, it was magnificant and if I'm ever back in Yakushima I will definently return to see it again. After this we bought some tangerines which were unbelievably amazingly good. (they produce them on the island and they are everywhere and always delicious, but these were especially delicious). We got an entire pack with like 10 of them for only 300 yen. (3 bucks) wow, I wish we had bought more. AFter eating these, we began the trek back and managed to get picked up right near the top by a young couple on their honeymoon. They were very excited to meet us and when they found out we were hitchhiking, were more than happy to take us where we were going, which was to yet another waterfall. They dropped us off and we took pictures (we're totally in their honeymoon album) and then Garrett and I began yet another grueling trek to find a new waterfall. We didn't quite know where this one was either so we got directions from these little kids who showed us the way to go to find the watefall. This one (thats name I can't remember but might update later) was much more elusive and we never even found it except for misleading glimpses from afar. We held onto the hope that we'd find it though and probably climbed uphill two hours longer than we should have and it was absolutely vicious. We don't blame the kids though, we just don't think this waterfall was really for tourists to go to. Or maybe we should blame the kids. Anyway, we finally made it down and were tired as hell but we had one more destination, this one the easiest, and that is the onsen that the girls had gone to earlier. It was really really nice and not just because we'd been walking all day. This onsen is an outdoor public onsen and can only be visited at certain times because when the tide is in it is inaccessible and underwater. There were three pools (as was explained to us by a friendly old man who spoke very good english), warm, warmer, and warmest but the warmer and warmest were about the same. So we stripped down, washed ourselves with buckets of hot water, and got into the sulfur smelling oh so good hot water and relaxed. I would recommend this onsen to anyone and especially at night. We were able to watch and hear the tide coming in while looking at the stars which were beautiful. this was especially tonight because we don't see the stars so much in Osaka. It was just amazing and I could keep going on about it easily but I'll stop. If you're in Yakushima definitely go there. After this we (finally) went home, tired as hell. We showered because we smelled horrible and then we had to return to the restaurant we had gone to two nights before just because it was so good and we deserved a night out since we'd only spent 300 yen between us all day. We were proud. So we went there and each had yakisoba and garrett had a beer while I had a glass of wine (i wasnt up for a beer, dont know why). It was great but here's the amazing part. The owner of the restaurant was talking to us and he pulled out a whole fish and asked if we liked sakana (fish). Well of course we said yes and he went back and cooked it up for us. It was the best fish I've ever had in my life. I'm so mad because he told us the name but it was japanese and both of us forgot. It was a local fish. Amazing. And if that wasn't enough, he saw we liked it so much and cooked us a huge fish filet after that. unbelievable! this stuff was so good and it was entirely out of his goodwill. The people in Yakushima are freaking nice! more reasons for all of you to go. After this, garrett and I went back to the hostel, bragged some, and went to bed... Lesson learned: we had so much fun w.out the girls because nothing was planned and we still did way more than they did and met more people. This is why hitchhiking to Tokyo during golden week is going to be so much fun.

Day 7

Today we got up very freaking early, like 5:00, to go catch a bus to go catch a ferry. We passed out on the bus though and missed our stop and had to back track and eventually take a cab to get where we were going on time. Kinda sucked and we were all tired but life goes on. Then we got on the ferry which only took two hours this time because it was for people and not for cargo. We got back to the port, wandered around a bit waiting for our train, and then settled down for another day on the tracks. We made it to Beppu in the evening and decided that we wanted to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel and managed to find one for like 3000 yen a night/person ($30).. not bad and it had traditional rooms and an onsen on the roof (which we never made it too unfortunately). That night we went to the SpeakEasy which was a real small little jazz bar where we had a drink and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere. After this, probably because we had been sitting all day on the train, we wanted to go dancing but couldn't find a decent club so we just went to an izakaya instead and had a few more drinks and then somehow managed to find our way home.

Day 8

Today was an exciting day. We first decided to visit the jigoku's, or the hells as they're known to us english speaking kids. They are a very popular tourist destination in Beppu but they wern't too exciting and amazing. Luckily we had heard this beforehand so we only bought tickets for a couple rather than the ticket for all of them. They did have a little onsen type place where you just soak your feet and that was real nice. Nella and I found it first and stayed there for about an hour while everyone else looked for us. We wanted to be nice and look for them too.. but it was so nice.. After this we went to a convenience store where they had actual food for real cheap. good eating. then we went to the sex museum which was quite an interesting experience. It was mostly just erotic sculptures and wasn't too big or informative. They did have one, I cant believe they did that, exhibit but you'll just have to ask me about it. From here we returned to the hotel for just a bit and then went on to the HitParade which was an all you can eat/drink oldies club w/ karaoke where there was an excellent live band playing all the classics. We walked in to the sound of The Temptation's, My Girl and we were sold. The food was ok and the beers kept coming and we had an overall excellent night. Karaoke was a blast as usual and after a while of this we went out to dance to the band which was so much fun. Garrett even found himself a cute girl to dance with, cute as in like five years old and so it really was cute, or adorable if you will. I think the kid was a little sketched at first. After this I woke up the next morning. still not sure how I got home. This was probably my favorite night of the trip. Just good times and a last hurrah for the time we had on spring break.

Day 9

Our last day. We checked out of our hotel in the morning but were still able to leave our baggage at the hotel so that was nice. We wanted to go to an onsen because that's what Beppu is famous for so we walked around until we found one that suited our taste. That is, had a sand bath as well. It was 1000 yen and we got access to both the onsen and the sand bath. The sand bath of course went first. We had to wait like 30 minutes for our turn but it was well worth it. you lay on your back in the sand in your yukata with a little support for your neck an attendant covers you with warm sand. It's not very hot at first but as you're lying there the heat from your body is trapped and about seven or eight minutes in its quite warm. They only let you stay in for about ten minutes but that was enough, by then I was ready to get out because it was getting so hot. Despite this, it was so nice and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Very relaxing, very comfortable, and highly recommended. After this, we showered the sand off our bodies and went to the onsen and relaxed there for a while. It was nice and we felt very good after all of this. From here, we started to head back to the hotel and Garrett and I stopped at freshness burger which was actually fairly decent as far as hamburgers in japan go. after this we hung around and waited for the train we needed to catch while the girls did some shopping. some weird old man talked to us but we scurried him away. another random girl came and talked to us for a while, she spoke very good english and said she was originally from georgia but she was a bit much for us and we were glad when we were able to just take her e-mail address and send her on her way. this is when the real adventures began. We got on the train and made our way to the station where we needed to catch the night train home, the last leg of our trip. Unfortunately, what the JR Train people had originally told the girls was wrong and the train had been booked. This of course was problematic and we frantically then tried to find out the best way to get as far as we could that night before the local trains closed and our five day passes (this was our fifth day) were expired. (yay for jenn who did all this while we were wandering oblivious). We managed to catch some trains but of course we couldn't go nearly as far as we needed and we ended up stopping at this random town and sleeping outside for the night. It was super cold and I think I was wearing all the clothes I had taken on the trip. I chose not to sleep that night because I didn't want Jenn to have to be the one to stay awake all night to make sure we had to wake up in time but i dont think it mattered because no one could really sleep anyway. I ended up running around (literally running) with Nella because she was real hyper and we needed to calm her down (have you tried this before with your kids?) and it worked kind of. Her, Garrett, and I ended up playing rummy for a while and then they went off to an izakaya to have a beer and I stayed and kept Jenn company while everyone else slept. Morning FINALLY came leading us to

Day 10

This really was the last day of our trip. It was mostly uneventful as far as I remember. Our one concern had been a one minute change we had between trains at one stop but it worked out fine. We got our tickets and rode locals the rest of the way home, arriving in the early afternoon. I hung around in Hirakata for a little while and then (dear god) went to class with all my bags smelling, im sure, horrible because that particular professor actually takes attendance in his class. I also found out that I had a paper due, that day, so I just opted to turn it in late (I knew it was due that week but seriously, a paper due on the first day back from vacation?) and ended up doing reasonably well on it although it was entirely b.s. I didn't make it back to my homestay until around 9:00 because I at least needed to start the paper that night and when I finally made it home, I ate, showered, and slept a nice deep sleep.




Hope you enjoyed! Hiroshima comes next and after that comes whatever happens this weekend.

Brian

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Photos

Caution:
The fences are electric and the monkeys are bastards

Monkey in Yakushima
He looks cute but he tried to attack me!

A Man And His Best Friend
Sculpture at the sex museum

Comments

[Carly]

Wowza~
Looks pretty beautiful! Love the comment about the monkey and the fence! How hilarious are foreign signs? I've got a couple myself. Lol, did you see the pics of my Japanese Gardens? How do they compare to the real thing? How was sand bath? Looks delightfully cozy! I heard you can do that in volcanic ash! ::huggles: