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Kurokawa Onsen Part 2 and Takatsuka Atago Jizoson Temple
I'm home in Yamaguchi-ken atm. More on that later.
First, I awakened around 6am while at the hostel above Kurokawa to discover that my gas heater had run out of gas. This is something of a disturbing prospect when it's -10 outside, but I was going to awaken in two hours anyway, so I gamely huddled under several layers of blankets (stolen from other beds) and eventually curled up into a ball to conserve warmth before falling back asleep. I changed as fast as I could in the morning then bundled into all my winter gear (which was required to go to the toilet since there was absolutely no heating in the halls). I munched on a bun I had bought the night before for breakfast and had a cup of rooibos tea (I brought it with me for just such a situation) while chatting with a random guy who was there to help the main guy with the hostel. It only occurs to me now that I spent the night alone on a mountain top with three men in freezing cold weather. I really am a bit insane, aren't I?
I headed off to Kurokawa, intent on finding out if the onsen that were closed the day before were open. I figured if they were, I'd pay for another medallion and visit three of them again since I needed to warm up anyway. If not, I'd just wander around and take a few pics before going. They were all open again so I bought a medallion and took my camera with me to the first one.
Ikoi Ryokan was beautiful on both the outside and inside. When I got there, there was a group in the rotenburo (outside bath) bathing, but they soon disappeared after warning me to be careful of my step. This turned out to be quite good advice since all the stones around the baths were iced over. Anyway, despite it being -6 degrees out (21 farenheit) I gamely took a typical Japanese bath, ie sitting on a stool on the freezing stones, dumping water on myself. I will not even attempt to explain just how cold I was or how hot the water felt. After washing my hair and body, I got into the bottom pool which was hot and had waterfalls that were cooler for once. This worked rather well actually since your legs didn't feel cold as you stood under the waterfall and I got a nice massage from the water without freezing to death. I then headed up to the higher pool which was a standing pool, meaning it was deep enough to stand in with bamboo polls hanging from the cieling so you could hang on in case it was too deep or you just wanted to rest your feet. That pool was the perfect temperature. Since I was once again bathing alone, I fetched my camera, which is why you get such fetching pictures as this, showing the standing pool.
My second onsen was Nanjoen onsen which has the virture of being right next to the parking lot where I parked. It was a smaller ryokan and obviously devoted to your health. I went in and I'm not sure how I did this since I was looking desperately for a sign and I know the kanji quite well, but I ended up in the men's side. Since there was no one there yet again, I didn't notice (and i'm happy I didn't since I checked and the men's side was much nicer). Anyway, they had this cool thing where you could steam your face in sweet smelling water which was perfect for clearing my sinuses. I then took a bath in a small pool with windows opening out onto a view of the ryokans down below and rushing water. I could hear someone singing from one of the nearby family baths. I then headed down frozen stairs to the rotenburo which was pretty, if small. It had one of those bamboo tub baths that was too hot and a sauna which may have been nice in summer but was too cool and slimy in this sort of weather. The pool itself was nice with a nice throne like, slopping chair in the water which I relaxed in. I headed up and someone was in the smaller bath, making me change as fast as possible once I realized they were men's clothing in the basket. I didn't quite make it, but I did make it out of there with only a minimal amount of embarassment. I checked out the women's side then walked out, both embarassed and amused. The kanji was small on the signs, but they were visible and their proper colours (red for women, blue for men) so I really have no idea how I made the mistake. I guess I was just in such a daze from the first onsen and not getting much sleep. Oh well.
For my last onsen, I tried to head up into the hills, but when I got to that particular onsen they told me they were closed for cleaning for an hour which I couldn't afford to wait so I headed back down. I parked near Kurokawa onsen and walked up the path to Yamabiko Ryokan which I had read had the largest of the outdoor baths. It was beautiful inside and rather large for a ryokan. I headed for the baths and although I did have them to myself for awhile, I couldn't be bothered to get out my camera and takes pics. Sorry:P The pool was huge, enough to fit forty people easily. The temperature was too hot near the waterfall, but it was quite nice near the other side and I beached myself, reclined on rocks and generally cooked myself for a half hour. After that, I changed and headed back to my car, setting out along route 212 towards Beppu.
212 is a winding country road that heads north towards the Oita expressway. Like many country roads here in Japan, it wasn't very practical, but the view was gorgeous. I was winding along beside a huge river, spanned at one point by a bright red bridge and through numerous mountain valleys. It was quite relaxing which was good cause I was kinda out of it from the onsen. I realized I needed to stop for lunch before I fell asleep from lack of energy so I stopped at a little road side restaurant. There, I had Shitake (mushroom) udon which was surprisingly delicious. The shitake kinda absorb and enhance the flavour of the soup. I continued reading the Chrestomanci series, this time The Lives of Christopher Chant and wondered about the continuing theme of relatives taking advantage of their younger charges. I debated on where I should stop to visit before I headed to Beppu (since by the time I hit the expressway, I'd only be a half hour or 45 minutes from Beppu which would be fine for a day trip). I really wanted to visit Kokonoe Bridge (the highest pedestrian foot bridge in Japan) but I decided that it was better to arrive in Beppu on time to quiz the tourist info people so I would know where my hostel was...
So, all I did in the afternoon was stop at Takatsuka Atago Jizoson Temple which is famous for its hundreds of Jizo and their wish granting powers. I didn't bother making a wish since I don't really need one, but it was interesting to wander around and seeing them gearing up for the New Year's rush. (Tons of merchants selling merchandise, mostly unrecognizable pickled stuff and shitake mushrooms.) I did light some incense cause I like doing that at temples (just like I like lighting candles at Cathlolic churches despite not being Catholic). I liked how my hair smelled like incense the rest of the day which sort of suited the elf-locked look it had after the onsen.
I headed into Beppu, quizzed the tourist info on many things and eventually found my hostel, which was actually quite nice. It had a good location, internet and a kitchen downstairs and a lock on the door of a cozy room. I handed over all my money and promised them more since I was 2000 yen short, leaving me with about 70 yen total. I had booked through the internet which didn't mention that I could have booked parking with them, which was annoying. Nearby parking wasn't too expensive though so I wasn't too worried but I did need to get more money and by then I was getting cranky and just wanted to do my laundry and jump on the internet and relax. Instead, I set out to find an ATM. I slowly began to find that this was an impossible prospect. While travelling outside your own prefecture, the only sure bet of getting money is from a 7-11 ATM. Imagine my surprise to discover there were no 7-11s in the entirety of Beppu (or later in the nearby town of Oita). I tried the local bank but they wouldn't accept anything, not even my Japanese credit card. The post office was closed and the tourist office by that point as well and my lonely planet didn't mention any international atms or anything else useful.
I was stuck, tired, cranky and just wanted to go home. So it occured to me, why didn't I? My bed for the night only cost 1800 yen which I could happily lose and with the refund for the next three nights, I'd be able to buy dinner (I luckily, found a gas station that accepted credit cards). And it was only a four hour drive back to Yamaguchi. The chances were low for me being able to get money in the morning anyway which meant my trip was effectively over and while I could probably have stayed one night with the refund (I'd have had enough to park, maybe visit an onsen and have some cheap convience store meals) it seemed stupid to be torturing myself so. I went back to the hostel and to my surprise, he gave me all the money back even when I tried to make him take the payment for that night at least. I set off from Beppu around 6:30 (and yes, the next 7-11 I saw was all the way north in Usa, 45 minutes away), and began to finally relax. I think I had reached my saturation point for travel for this trip (it's happened to me before, and if I can, I usually do exactly what I did and turn around and head home. I've never regretted it.) which isn't surprising considering how many bloody things i managed in a week. You know I didn't even know what day it was yesterday since I'd lost track of anything but the date?
I stopped for dinner later on and did something I'd really been wanting to do all trip, namely, stopping at a Yakiniku place (grilled meat) which is one of those restaurants where you fry stuff at the grill in the centre of the table. While I've had that type of food before, I'd never tried my hand at deliberately attending a restaurant like that. It was fun especially since, like sushi, most of the names for everything were different than the actual words for the meat. I worked out in general, that I was ordering beef and pork, but other than that I had no clue. I wish I could have figured out which were the veggies too but iwas fun none the less and when they served anything, it turns out I'd ordered some nice strips of beef and slices of pork. I liked the beef better once I cooked it but the pork was more fun to cook. The dipping sauce was excellent and I was feeling generally stuffed (it is kinda expensive if you order beef though). I then headed further down the road to pick up a McFlurry from McDonalds because I've been wanting to try one for awhile now (it wasn't that good). Now filled with enough calories to provide the energy to drive home, I continued onwards, even cheating near the end and jumping on the expressway for the last leg back. I stopped to buy a bit of food (using my credit card) before I went home and did nothing last night other than unpack and read a bit.
I feel a hell of a lot better now that I've had a full night of sleep in the quiet of my own home. I didn't wake up until 11am and had a nice breakfast of rolls and tea and yogurt and fruit. I think I'll spend the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on Yuletide stories now that this journal is finally caught up.
Some last things:
I saw four different animal crossing signs while on the various expressways around Kyuushu - deer, tanuki (badger/racoon), rabbit and boar. Yes, you read that right.
One of the coolest things about driving around Kagoshima were the little signs on Route 10 telling you you were 400 something kilometres from Moji.
A few things anyone should know about youth hostels in Japan
-there are no locks on the doors
-they will happily rent to you even if you don't have a card
-all the pillows are invariably buckwheat (unless you like that sort of thing, you'll have to bring your own or improvise)
-they have early curfews 10 or 11 at the latest
-outside of a city, they almost always have parking. Inside? Good luck.
-the toilets usually have hand soap oddly enough, but there are no towels
The men of Sakurajima all know the name Edinburgh because it's the name of a nearby love hotel.
I'm very happy to be home and plan on spending new years watching tv and toasting the new year in while listening to the temple bells. G'day all!
First, I awakened around 6am while at the hostel above Kurokawa to discover that my gas heater had run out of gas. This is something of a disturbing prospect when it's -10 outside, but I was going to awaken in two hours anyway, so I gamely huddled under several layers of blankets (stolen from other beds) and eventually curled up into a ball to conserve warmth before falling back asleep. I changed as fast as I could in the morning then bundled into all my winter gear (which was required to go to the toilet since there was absolutely no heating in the halls). I munched on a bun I had bought the night before for breakfast and had a cup of rooibos tea (I brought it with me for just such a situation) while chatting with a random guy who was there to help the main guy with the hostel. It only occurs to me now that I spent the night alone on a mountain top with three men in freezing cold weather. I really am a bit insane, aren't I?
I headed off to Kurokawa, intent on finding out if the onsen that were closed the day before were open. I figured if they were, I'd pay for another medallion and visit three of them again since I needed to warm up anyway. If not, I'd just wander around and take a few pics before going. They were all open again so I bought a medallion and took my camera with me to the first one.
Ikoi Ryokan was beautiful on both the outside and inside. When I got there, there was a group in the rotenburo (outside bath) bathing, but they soon disappeared after warning me to be careful of my step. This turned out to be quite good advice since all the stones around the baths were iced over. Anyway, despite it being -6 degrees out (21 farenheit) I gamely took a typical Japanese bath, ie sitting on a stool on the freezing stones, dumping water on myself. I will not even attempt to explain just how cold I was or how hot the water felt. After washing my hair and body, I got into the bottom pool which was hot and had waterfalls that were cooler for once. This worked rather well actually since your legs didn't feel cold as you stood under the waterfall and I got a nice massage from the water without freezing to death. I then headed up to the higher pool which was a standing pool, meaning it was deep enough to stand in with bamboo polls hanging from the cieling so you could hang on in case it was too deep or you just wanted to rest your feet. That pool was the perfect temperature. Since I was once again bathing alone, I fetched my camera, which is why you get such fetching pictures as this, showing the standing pool.
My second onsen was Nanjoen onsen which has the virture of being right next to the parking lot where I parked. It was a smaller ryokan and obviously devoted to your health. I went in and I'm not sure how I did this since I was looking desperately for a sign and I know the kanji quite well, but I ended up in the men's side. Since there was no one there yet again, I didn't notice (and i'm happy I didn't since I checked and the men's side was much nicer). Anyway, they had this cool thing where you could steam your face in sweet smelling water which was perfect for clearing my sinuses. I then took a bath in a small pool with windows opening out onto a view of the ryokans down below and rushing water. I could hear someone singing from one of the nearby family baths. I then headed down frozen stairs to the rotenburo which was pretty, if small. It had one of those bamboo tub baths that was too hot and a sauna which may have been nice in summer but was too cool and slimy in this sort of weather. The pool itself was nice with a nice throne like, slopping chair in the water which I relaxed in. I headed up and someone was in the smaller bath, making me change as fast as possible once I realized they were men's clothing in the basket. I didn't quite make it, but I did make it out of there with only a minimal amount of embarassment. I checked out the women's side then walked out, both embarassed and amused. The kanji was small on the signs, but they were visible and their proper colours (red for women, blue for men) so I really have no idea how I made the mistake. I guess I was just in such a daze from the first onsen and not getting much sleep. Oh well.
For my last onsen, I tried to head up into the hills, but when I got to that particular onsen they told me they were closed for cleaning for an hour which I couldn't afford to wait so I headed back down. I parked near Kurokawa onsen and walked up the path to Yamabiko Ryokan which I had read had the largest of the outdoor baths. It was beautiful inside and rather large for a ryokan. I headed for the baths and although I did have them to myself for awhile, I couldn't be bothered to get out my camera and takes pics. Sorry:P The pool was huge, enough to fit forty people easily. The temperature was too hot near the waterfall, but it was quite nice near the other side and I beached myself, reclined on rocks and generally cooked myself for a half hour. After that, I changed and headed back to my car, setting out along route 212 towards Beppu.
212 is a winding country road that heads north towards the Oita expressway. Like many country roads here in Japan, it wasn't very practical, but the view was gorgeous. I was winding along beside a huge river, spanned at one point by a bright red bridge and through numerous mountain valleys. It was quite relaxing which was good cause I was kinda out of it from the onsen. I realized I needed to stop for lunch before I fell asleep from lack of energy so I stopped at a little road side restaurant. There, I had Shitake (mushroom) udon which was surprisingly delicious. The shitake kinda absorb and enhance the flavour of the soup. I continued reading the Chrestomanci series, this time The Lives of Christopher Chant and wondered about the continuing theme of relatives taking advantage of their younger charges. I debated on where I should stop to visit before I headed to Beppu (since by the time I hit the expressway, I'd only be a half hour or 45 minutes from Beppu which would be fine for a day trip). I really wanted to visit Kokonoe Bridge (the highest pedestrian foot bridge in Japan) but I decided that it was better to arrive in Beppu on time to quiz the tourist info people so I would know where my hostel was...
So, all I did in the afternoon was stop at Takatsuka Atago Jizoson Temple which is famous for its hundreds of Jizo and their wish granting powers. I didn't bother making a wish since I don't really need one, but it was interesting to wander around and seeing them gearing up for the New Year's rush. (Tons of merchants selling merchandise, mostly unrecognizable pickled stuff and shitake mushrooms.) I did light some incense cause I like doing that at temples (just like I like lighting candles at Cathlolic churches despite not being Catholic). I liked how my hair smelled like incense the rest of the day which sort of suited the elf-locked look it had after the onsen.
I headed into Beppu, quizzed the tourist info on many things and eventually found my hostel, which was actually quite nice. It had a good location, internet and a kitchen downstairs and a lock on the door of a cozy room. I handed over all my money and promised them more since I was 2000 yen short, leaving me with about 70 yen total. I had booked through the internet which didn't mention that I could have booked parking with them, which was annoying. Nearby parking wasn't too expensive though so I wasn't too worried but I did need to get more money and by then I was getting cranky and just wanted to do my laundry and jump on the internet and relax. Instead, I set out to find an ATM. I slowly began to find that this was an impossible prospect. While travelling outside your own prefecture, the only sure bet of getting money is from a 7-11 ATM. Imagine my surprise to discover there were no 7-11s in the entirety of Beppu (or later in the nearby town of Oita). I tried the local bank but they wouldn't accept anything, not even my Japanese credit card. The post office was closed and the tourist office by that point as well and my lonely planet didn't mention any international atms or anything else useful.
I was stuck, tired, cranky and just wanted to go home. So it occured to me, why didn't I? My bed for the night only cost 1800 yen which I could happily lose and with the refund for the next three nights, I'd be able to buy dinner (I luckily, found a gas station that accepted credit cards). And it was only a four hour drive back to Yamaguchi. The chances were low for me being able to get money in the morning anyway which meant my trip was effectively over and while I could probably have stayed one night with the refund (I'd have had enough to park, maybe visit an onsen and have some cheap convience store meals) it seemed stupid to be torturing myself so. I went back to the hostel and to my surprise, he gave me all the money back even when I tried to make him take the payment for that night at least. I set off from Beppu around 6:30 (and yes, the next 7-11 I saw was all the way north in Usa, 45 minutes away), and began to finally relax. I think I had reached my saturation point for travel for this trip (it's happened to me before, and if I can, I usually do exactly what I did and turn around and head home. I've never regretted it.) which isn't surprising considering how many bloody things i managed in a week. You know I didn't even know what day it was yesterday since I'd lost track of anything but the date?
I stopped for dinner later on and did something I'd really been wanting to do all trip, namely, stopping at a Yakiniku place (grilled meat) which is one of those restaurants where you fry stuff at the grill in the centre of the table. While I've had that type of food before, I'd never tried my hand at deliberately attending a restaurant like that. It was fun especially since, like sushi, most of the names for everything were different than the actual words for the meat. I worked out in general, that I was ordering beef and pork, but other than that I had no clue. I wish I could have figured out which were the veggies too but iwas fun none the less and when they served anything, it turns out I'd ordered some nice strips of beef and slices of pork. I liked the beef better once I cooked it but the pork was more fun to cook. The dipping sauce was excellent and I was feeling generally stuffed (it is kinda expensive if you order beef though). I then headed further down the road to pick up a McFlurry from McDonalds because I've been wanting to try one for awhile now (it wasn't that good). Now filled with enough calories to provide the energy to drive home, I continued onwards, even cheating near the end and jumping on the expressway for the last leg back. I stopped to buy a bit of food (using my credit card) before I went home and did nothing last night other than unpack and read a bit.
I feel a hell of a lot better now that I've had a full night of sleep in the quiet of my own home. I didn't wake up until 11am and had a nice breakfast of rolls and tea and yogurt and fruit. I think I'll spend the rest of the day relaxing and catching up on Yuletide stories now that this journal is finally caught up.
Some last things:
I saw four different animal crossing signs while on the various expressways around Kyuushu - deer, tanuki (badger/racoon), rabbit and boar. Yes, you read that right.
One of the coolest things about driving around Kagoshima were the little signs on Route 10 telling you you were 400 something kilometres from Moji.
A few things anyone should know about youth hostels in Japan
-there are no locks on the doors
-they will happily rent to you even if you don't have a card
-all the pillows are invariably buckwheat (unless you like that sort of thing, you'll have to bring your own or improvise)
-they have early curfews 10 or 11 at the latest
-outside of a city, they almost always have parking. Inside? Good luck.
-the toilets usually have hand soap oddly enough, but there are no towels
The men of Sakurajima all know the name Edinburgh because it's the name of a nearby love hotel.
I'm very happy to be home and plan on spending new years watching tv and toasting the new year in while listening to the temple bells. G'day all!