Golden Week - Day ?

Well today was an adventure. The weather was gorgeous (unusual since we usually don't get two days of good weather in awhile) so G. and I set off for Akiyoshidai. This is a sort of central plateau/valley area in the centre of Yamaguchi ken. It's gorgeous up there with steep, winding roads and since it was sunny and brilliant the whole day, great views.

Our first stop was Akiyoshido cave, which is apparently the largest limestone cave in Asia. It was about 1km underground and we walked it twice since we didn't feel like leaving on the other side and paying an entrance fee to get back in. The path itself was interesting - quite crowded in places and dangerous in others, though people were still taking their grandmothers and toddlers through. Go figure. It was gorgeous with lots of rushing rivers underground and pools and limestone formations. The names were pretty practical near the entrance (large pumpkin, stone mushroom), but got rather fanciful the further in you got (monkey's slippery path, the dragon's entrance, the king of the mountain). It was pretty cool. And of course, since this is Japan, no one cared if you took a million flash photos of everything *L* Coming out, we decided to do the adventure course of the cave, in which we paid three dollars and were handed a very dim flashlight and pointed towards some bars embedded in the rock to climb. Thus led to a very dangerous fifteen minutes of our lives in which we walked, slid and slipped over the upper parts of the cave. I fell once and was bleeding a little, but it was certainly one of those experiences you only get in places where no one sues for little things like breaking legs and stuff... We had a lot of fun honestly *g*

After a bit of shopping on the way out, we headed for the Akiyoshidai plateau which is the largest karstic plateau in Japan (if that counts for anything). Basically, there's a huge set of rolling hills covered in upright stands of limestone rock. It looks really cool and was a great place to walk around and take pictures of. (It looks a lot like those cactus rocks from Whiskey Peak in One Piece if anyone knows what I'm talking about...) I can tell I lived in Scotland for too long since I kept wondering why there was all this great pasture land and no sheep...

So, after resting a bit more, we set out on an adventure to find the Kagekiyodo Thoron onsen - an adventure because the two maps we had in English said it was in two different places, and the one Japanese map said it didn't exist. Uhm, whee? So, we got lost, went too far, read the map, read another map, turned around, found the right sign to the wrong place, followed it anyway, guessed, stopped again, debated, turned left, and finally found a campground where we nervously looked around until we spotted a place for storing shoes and what had to be the onsen entrance. We grabbed out things, paid the price and headed in to find a lovely little onsen. It was a bit crowded in the beginning with campers, but it was cool nonetheless. There was a very tiny wet sauna, and an equally tiny dry one, along with a few indoor pools, and two gorgeous, rock-lined outdoor pools (which, in traditional style, were separated from the men's section by a wooden fence). We spent a lot of time in the outside one relaxing, watching the moon come out and making the day of some of the kids there (omg! foreigners in the onsen!). We got stared at a lot more this time, maybe cause it was more obscure or maybe because everyone's on holiday and not expecting to see us. Who knows?

After that, we fortified ourselves with chocolate for the drive home, and met up at my apartment for omelettes (made by yours truly) and an episode of Long Way Round.

Tomorrow, we're heading for yet another onsen which may, or may not exist, and then maybe we'll try to do another one for variety. Who knew onsen were addictive?

Golden Week - Day ?

Well today was an adventure. The weather was gorgeous (unusual since we usually don't get two days of good weather in awhile) so G. and I set off for Akiyoshidai. This is a sort of central plateau/valley area in the centre of Yamaguchi ken. It's gorgeous up there with steep, winding roads and since it was sunny and brilliant the whole day, great views.

Our first stop was Akiyoshido cave, which is apparently the largest limestone cave in Asia. It was about 1km underground and we walked it twice since we didn't feel like leaving on the other side and paying an entrance fee to get back in. The path itself was interesting - quite crowded in places and dangerous in others, though people were still taking their grandmothers and toddlers through. Go figure. It was gorgeous with lots of rushing rivers underground and pools and limestone formations. The names were pretty practical near the entrance (large pumpkin, stone mushroom), but got rather fanciful the further in you got (monkey's slippery path, the dragon's entrance, the king of the mountain). It was pretty cool. And of course, since this is Japan, no one cared if you took a million flash photos of everything *L* Coming out, we decided to do the adventure course of the cave, in which we paid three dollars and were handed a very dim flashlight and pointed towards some bars embedded in the rock to climb. Thus led to a very dangerous fifteen minutes of our lives in which we walked, slid and slipped over the upper parts of the cave. I fell once and was bleeding a little, but it was certainly one of those experiences you only get in places where no one sues for little things like breaking legs and stuff... We had a lot of fun honestly *g*

After a bit of shopping on the way out, we headed for the Akiyoshidai plateau which is the largest karstic plateau in Japan (if that counts for anything). Basically, there's a huge set of rolling hills covered in upright stands of limestone rock. It looks really cool and was a great place to walk around and take pictures of. (It looks a lot like those cactus rocks from Whiskey Peak in One Piece if anyone knows what I'm talking about...) I can tell I lived in Scotland for too long since I kept wondering why there was all this great pasture land and no sheep...

So, after resting a bit more, we set out on an adventure to find the Kagekiyodo Thoron onsen - an adventure because the two maps we had in English said it was in two different places, and the one Japanese map said it didn't exist. Uhm, whee? So, we got lost, went too far, read the map, read another map, turned around, found the right sign to the wrong place, followed it anyway, guessed, stopped again, debated, turned left, and finally found a campground where we nervously looked around until we spotted a place for storing shoes and what had to be the onsen entrance. We grabbed out things, paid the price and headed in to find a lovely little onsen. It was a bit crowded in the beginning with campers, but it was cool nonetheless. There was a very tiny wet sauna, and an equally tiny dry one, along with a few indoor pools, and two gorgeous, rock-lined outdoor pools (which, in traditional style, were separated from the men's section by a wooden fence). We spent a lot of time in the outside one relaxing, watching the moon come out and making the day of some of the kids there (omg! foreigners in the onsen!). We got stared at a lot more this time, maybe cause it was more obscure or maybe because everyone's on holiday and not expecting to see us. Who knows?

After that, we fortified ourselves with chocolate for the drive home, and met up at my apartment for omelettes (made by yours truly) and an episode of Long Way Round.

Tomorrow, we're heading for yet another onsen which may, or may not exist, and then maybe we'll try to do another one for variety. Who knew onsen were addictive?