The bus ride to Beppu dragged on for several hours, and having polished off the two liter+ bottles of water I had left over from the hike, the last twenty minutes or so were torturous. Nevertheless, the bus finally stopped in front of the Beppu train station and my guesthouse (creatively named Beppu Guest House) was only a block away. I checked in immediately and noticed that there were basically no other guests in the house. It must be the low season, though who knows what it will be like next week.
I could feel the sweaty odors wafting off my body, so as soon as I dropped my luggage and relieved myself I was asking about bathhouses. Beppu is an onsen town, and though the area around the train station is more city like and mountain top resort, there are bathhouses almost everywhere. And they are super cheap! I packed soap, shampoo, a razor, a towel, and a change of clothes and went over to the nearest one, paid my 100 yen, and washed-soaked-washed. The facilities are pretty basic and people just use them for their daily bath pretty much.
After cleaning up and feeling refreshed, I headed over to a recommended restaurant to try some Toriten (tempura chicken), a specialty of Beppu. I also ordered a tempura rice bowl to make a full meal of it (my first of the day to boot).
Back in the guesthouse, there was not much going on other than two Japanese people cooking their dinner in the kitchen. I hung out in one of the common rooms and studied Japanese before retiring fairly early.
| Mixed Nuts | 50 |
| Pastries | 410 |
| Hostel (2 nights) | 4400 |
| Bathhouse | 100 |
| Tempura | 1510 |
| Total: | 6470 (414 RMB) (USD 61.55) |
I tried to sleep in, but the dawn wakeup habit seems to have been acquired. I’m not looking forward to summer hours and earlier sunrises.
I puttered around the hostel for quite a few hours in the morning–drinking coffee, reading the news, studying Japanese–before heading out the door. It was nearly 10am by the time I had set a plan to visit the “Seven Hells (Jigoku),” which is a collection of natural hot springs that are for looking at, rather than bathing in. A through-ticket for all seven hells was fairly pricey (2000 yen), but after seeing the first two, I was glad I shelled out the money.
I had to take a bus over to the Kannawa region, where all the hells are located, because I didn’t feel like starting the day with a 6 km walk. As soon as I got off the bus, I understood the true nature of Beppu. Steam was rising out of almost every building and sewer grate in the street. Halfway up a mountain, this area was the true hot spring center (technically, one of several districts, but whatever). Each of the hells has one or a number of pools, each with their distinct characteristics–white water, mud, blue water, red water, etc–and in order to justify their ticket prices, you get a bit more than just a walk around a pool. There are exhibits, gardens, and other value-adds.
The first hell–Shiraike-Jigoku (White Pond)–was a good mild introduction to the area. There were aquarium tanks in the back holding some giant fish I didn’t recognize. The second–Oniyama-Jigoku (Devil Mountain)–served as the breeding grounds of crocodiles. They reportedly keep about 100 crocodiles at a time–from babies to massive beasts. The third–Kamado-Jigoku (Cooking Pot)–was crowded with at least two buses worth of Korean tourists. There were various “hands-on” activities, such as drinkable spring water (tasted like hell), foot steamers, foot baths, etc. The fourth–Umi-Jigoku (Sea)–was marked as a famous site in Japan. The large blue bubbling pond was only accessible by going through a gift shop. On the other side was a tropical greenhouse (heated by the geothermal steam) and a less crowded foot bath place with nice hot water. The fifth–Oniishibozu-jigoku (Devil Rock Buddhist monk)–had bubbling mud ponds amidst a mini garden. There was an actually bathing sauna connected to it as well.
It was nearly noon at the time, so on my way down the hill, I grabbed a “boiled” egg (cooked in the steam of a vent along with sweet potatoes and corn) to tide me over while I sought out an exciting new experience of a full body steam. There is one onsen in the area where you change into a yukata (bathing robe) and lay in on a pile of thrush reeds in a little hut as you are steamed. It was wonderful and I had a soak in a hot tub afterwards. I thought I might grab a bite to eat on the way to the other two hells, some 2km north of there, but the road only passed through semi-rural residential neighborhood.
I arrived at the sixth hell–Tatsumaki-jigoku (Twisted Dragon)–about ten minutes before the geyser (as reliable as Ole Faithful) was to erupt. Though the geyser reportedly would reach a height of 30m, they constructed a wall and roof to catch it. The park also included grounds with thousands of flowers in full bloom. The final hell–Chinoike-jigoku (Bloody Pond)–was also set up as a highlight of Japanese geography with a mandatory pass through a gift shop.
I headed down the street to the train station, stopping at a supermarket to procure some nourishment. After a few loops around the supermarket, I decided to shell out big money for a small bag of prunes. I devoured them on the street and arrived at the train station about five minutes before the next scheduled train (what luck! these small train stations have such irregular schedules). Two stops later, I was back at Beppu Eki and I swung by a bakery to pick up something sweet to accompany the coffee I was planning on drinking back at the guesthouse.
I frittered away the remaining hours until about 6pm when I noticed people were cooking again. So, I headed over to a nearby supermarket to get some food. Inspired by the piles of vegetables I had seen in the kitchen, I decided to forgo the prepacked meals and make something from scratch. Ultimately, I boiled up a whole smorgasbord of foods that was supposed to be noodles plus veggies but ended up being more veggies plus noodles.
I did some more internet research while digesting. I know the other day I mentioned something about doing (a part of) the 88-temple pilgrimage as a necessity for surviving Golden Week. I said that half-facetiously, but as I’ve thought about it, it seems more and more plausible, such that it is the current aim.
Around 9pm, I popped out to have a bath at a different bathhouse and was back by 9:30. Some other guests had checked into the guesthouse that day and we chatted until it was time to go to bed.
| Local bus | 330 |
| Seven Hells | 2000 |
| Egg | 60 |
| Steam bath + yukata rental | 720 |
| Prunes | 199 |
| Train | 210 |
| Apple pie | 172 |
| Groceries | 691 |
| Bathhouse | 100 |
| Grapefruit soda (0 cal) | 103 |
| Total: | 4585 (293.4 RMB) (USD 43.6) |
Running Total: 24909 RMB (USD 3703.5)
Daily Average: 289.6 RMB (USD 43.06)