Hot Springs

Last weekend Tiddy and I took a trip. We went to see some of Kyushu's bubbling, hot pools of naturally occurring mineral water. The large groups of them made purely for looking at, not dipping in, are known as "jigoku" in Japanese, which translates to hell. There are lots of different adjectives that people have tacked onto individual pools to make them sound exciting. The red one pictured above was called "chi jigoku" or Blood Hell.

This one was called "tatsumaki jigoku" or Tornado Hell. That's actually a bit misleading seeing as how it was a geyser, and just shot up into the air with no twisting wind or houses landing on witches or anything like that. Tiddy and I couldn't help but comment on how much more impressive it would have been if those in charge hadn't built a rock facade to block its full force or the building standing directly beside it.

We also spent an afternoon in Kurokawa. Kurokawa is famous for its onsens which people can bathe in. The town has come up with a pass that you can buy for around ten dollars which allows you entrance into three onsens. We took advantage where we could. It felt like the grater majority of Japan had the same travel plans as we did over the long weekend. It was packed!

After spending the one afternoon battling the naked crowds in Kurokawa, our arrival in Amagase was all the better. Tiddy and I were the only two foreigners (that we saw anyway) in a tiny little onsen town cut down the middle by a river. A teacher at school helped me book the inn and when we checked in, the hotel receptionists said how nervous they were about the possibility of having to speak English. My Japanese isn't great, but it's passable, and I think our hotel friends quickly became relaxed when they found out I could string a sentence or two together. (My name is the lower left on the welcome board.)

The hotel itself seemed to be a bit of a relic left over from the days when Amagase was as popular as our previous onsen fun. But, what it lacked in newness, it made up for in style. We had a beautiful view of the river and the surrounding mountains from our room and the place had a bouncing people bridge! Imagine my shock (not so difficulty if you peeped the photo above) when I got on it and it started to wax and wane with my weight. I had two seconds of feeling like Indiana Jones.

As is typical when staying in a ryokan, we were treated to a very traditional Japanese feast.

Along with the wonderful food, natural atmosphere and being on a three-day weekend, it all got better when we found some courage at the bottom of a sake bottle and hopped into the free hot springs scattered along the river. That's the first time in my life I've ever been naked in public. It's no coincidence that we went in the cover of night. Perhaps a strange lady walking her dog at an obscene hour that night got a little more Americana than she had bargained for. Overall, the escapade went over problem-free.

Before heading out of town the next day, we took a five minute walk to find one of the waterfalls in the area. Amagase pulled through for us again. It was killer.