Day #10, April 10th: Takachiho

Art and I got up at 5:30 and walked to the train station to check on bus times.

We were going to take the 7:30 bus for Takachiho but decided on a last minute change to take the 8:45 instead which is not an express (and takes a half hour longer).  It would give us more time to relax a little.

The cold that Mom and I thought we'd gotten over just before coming to Japan had returned with a vengeance.  We were coughing and tired.

The Nobeoka Route Inn Hotel was fancier than our usual Toyoko Inn and a little more expensive.  It showed in the breakfast which was even more elaborate and amazing.  Funny thing is nobody took photos of the food.  Can you believe it?  I guess we enjoyed it so much, we just plain forgot.

The bus ride to Takachiho from Nobeoka took only an hour and a half and we were soon in the mountains.

We found our Ryokan (Inn) Senju and the kind proprietor said he would take us to the Gorge Boat Ride in his van for free.   We gratefully accepted his kind offer.

Art's plan was to have Dennis, Mom and me do the boat ride while he took photos from above.  He didn't realize there would be so many steps.

Mom was game for the experience and we helped her down.

Once at the bottom, we were given life jackets and a boat.  Ummmm....  I thought someone was going to take us on the ride.  Nope!  We had to row ourselves.  Poor Dennis.  I don't think he's ever been on a row boat before.

There's a first time for everything.  Dennis said it was difficult because he couldn't tell where he was going and he had a front seat driver and back seat driver telling him which way to go... and we weren't necessarily saying the same thing.

Often times, I wasn't paying attention to the rowing because I was busy taking photos.

There were a lot of spectacular views.  Art took this from above.  You can see how many boats were in the gorge and most of them didn't know how to row a boat either.

That's us in the top left hand boat.  I was having to push that boat to the side so that they could move.  We were all stuck there for a while not sure how to get out of that predicament.

I'm sure it was my imagination, but I swear I could hear Art laughing.

Yes, it was beautiful and we were glad we did it.

However... at that time, we were just relieved when it was over and managed the climb up the hill safely.

Mom enjoyed taking breaks up the hill and pointing out which flowers she wanted us to take photos of.

Art rewarded us with some soft serve.  The flavor was called Summer Orange.

Yes, it was good.

I could have eaten another one if they didn't cost almost $4.00 a cone.

Now that we were stuck at the gorge, we weren't sure how to get back up the hill and to our next destination.

A kind tour person used his cellphone to call a taxi for us.

The half hour taxi drive took us to the Ama-no-Iwato Shrine dedicated to the sun-goddess Amaterasu.  There is a whole legend about how she was lured out of a rock cave where she was hiding which plunged the world into darkness.

I'm not positive about how this god was either sealing the cave after her or opening it.  I should ask Mom, but I'm too lazy right now.

Before entering the shrine area, we needed to clean our hands (and mouths if  you wanted to).

We walked through the area and visited some temples.

Mom was tired after that so we stopped at a  little manju (bread like dessert) shop and waited while Dennis and Art went to find the cave where Amaterasu was supposed to have hidden.

At one time the Imperial family was supposed to have descended from Amaterasu.

They were gone for quite a while, but Art says it wasn't that long of a walk.  They were just busy taking photos.

I'm glad I had Mom rest because she was tired.

And here is the cave where the goddess, Amaterasu came out of and gave light back to the world.

People created little stone piles everywhere so of course Art built one too.

Art wringing out his sock

Somewhere along the way, Art managed to step through a grate over some flowing water.  His shoe and socks were soaked with cold, mountain water. 

The spare shoes in the other suitcases were still on route to our next stop.



While Mom and I were waiting, the shop person came out and asked if we needed any help.  We told her we needed to find our way back to our ryokan which was pretty far away.

She very kindly called the bus company, got the schedule and told us where we could catch the bus.

I bought some of her delicious desserts to thank her.

Back at the ryokan, Art used a hair dryer to dry out his shoes and socks.

Mom and I were pretty tired and a bit cold.  We opted to spend the rest of the afternoon resting while Art and Dennis went out to explore more of the area.

They found the Takachiho Jinja and took some beautiful photos.

Dinner was included at our ryokan and we were delighted to see what they prepared for us.

A hot soak in the furoba felt terrific after washing ourselves first.

We were all ready for bed on the futon that night! 

Tomorrow would be an early day again and rain was expected. 

Day 9, April 9th: The Hell Pools

We were up at 5:30 on Monday morning, got organized and had our Japanese style breakfast at a western table to make it more comfortable for mom's knees.

I was really loving those Japanese breakfasts.

The ryokan (inn) was kind enough to hold our suitcases for us while we went on our outing for the day.  We walked to the Beppu Station.

Unfortunately, they are having problems with crows there.  Neat plastic bags of garbage had been attacked by the giant birds and trash littered the sidewalks.

 We were able to catch a bus at the Beppu Station for the Jigoku (Hell) Pools. This is a hot springs area with lots of thermal activity.

There was some erroneous information that was given to us saying that we would not be able to walk to the thermal pools.  You can walk to see seven of them.  We didn't think we needed to see the two that were farther away.

I got this from the Japan Rail website:

The "hells" (jigoku) of Beppu are nine spectacular hot springs for viewing rather than bathing. They are presented to visitors in a rather touristy fashion, which might not appeal to everybody. Seven of the hells are located in the Kannawa district and two in the more remote Shibaseki district. 

One of the Hell pool sites had a mini zoo with flamingos, peacocks and a hippo who kept his mouth open for you to buy food to throw in.  There was also a pool site that had a LOT of very dangerous looking crocodiles.  They said the steam in the area made them thrive.

Oh yes, it's definitely touristy and maybe even a little silly, but it was still fun.

This photo is just to show the general atmosphere of the area.

The pool areas were given names like Shiraike Jigoku (White Pond Hell), Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell), Yama Jigoku (Mountain Hell), etc.

The boiling mud reminded me of Yellowstone National Park in miniature.

Mom saw this unusual flower decorating a walkway area.

I think this was the Mountain Hell.

It was all fun in a sort of theme park sort of a way until we came to this part of the Hell Pool Area.  This was certainly not hell; more like heaven!  Cherry blossoms were blooming everywhere and the water was this phosphorescent green.

It was enchanting!

It made the whole trip worthwhile just to see this.

At this pool they were boiling eggs dropped down from a bamboo pole and sold to anyone who wanted to try them.

The red torii left you no doubt that you were in Japan.

Then there was this reddish boiling mud.

They also had a little conservatory with tropical plants and water lilies.  Too bad the bananas were green.  I didn't see any papayas.

One of the best things we did was to have another soft serve.  This was strawberry and vanilla.  Not unusual, but yummy and perfect for the day.

And here's the last photo of the Jigoku pools.  This time it was gray boiling mud.  I have more photos, but I'll spare you.

We left the Jigoku Pools and caught the bus back to Beppu Station.  While mom and I waited there, Art and Dennis went back to the Nogami Honkan ryokan, retrieved our suitcase and joined us at the train station for a curry lunch.

We then caught the JR train for Oita, made a transfer and arrived in Nobeoka at 2:30.  In Nobeoka, we checked in at the Route Inn Nobeoka Ekimae.  Dinner that evening was unremarkable.

Art and Dennis did laundry that night and we prepared for another early morning the next day.

Day 8, April 8th: Beppu and Yufuin

We were so tired this morning that we actually overslept!  Dennis had to knock on our door to wake us up for breakfast at 7:00. 

The Nogami Honkan Onsen provided us with a lavish Japanese breakfast.  There was a choice of Japanese or European.  It was a wonderful Japanese experience, but sitting on the floor was difficult for Mom's aching legs.  We requested a regular table for the following morning.

After breakfast, we walked about a block down the street to the famous Takegawara black sand onsen.  Mom and Dennis had said before our trip that they might be OK with doing this since they wouldn't have to remove all their clothes in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, there was a big, no-nonsense sign that said people taking high blood pressure medicine should not do the sand onsen.  We were very disappointed.  It would have to be just Art and me.

We caught the train from Beppu to Yufuin which is a popular hot spring resort town.

It was a short train ride to Yufuin.

I told mom that we have a lot of pansies in the states and that it's nothing extraordinary, but she insisted I take a photo of them.  In fact, she's gotten to like telling me what photos I should be taking.

Actually Yufuin was a bit of a disappointment.  There were long streets full of shops. I bought a little cloth hand towel because public Japanese bathrooms generally do not provide paper wipes or hand dryers.  Women carry their own small towels to wipe their hands.

We did grab a quick bowl of noodles here along with some rice balls.

It wasn't great, but it was quick, cheap and rather tasty.

We love soft serve!  We were trying to see  how many different flavors we could sample on this trip.  I think this is where Art tried soft serve with soy sauce.  Seriously!  That man will try anything once.

It had been a cold spring so cherry blossoms were delayed down south and we were treated to even more floral displays.

You can see Mt. Yufu in the background.

I think this is dogwood, but I'm not sure.

Dennis and Art were being good sports here.

This is Lake Kinrinko and the reason for this resort town.  It wasn't anything for us to write home about.  Oops!  But here I am blogging about it.

It was still fun to see what sort of things were being sold.

Returning to the Beppu Station, we got to try another hand onsen.  The water was very warm.

We returned to our Nogami Onsen ryokan (inn), put on our yukatas, and headed for the Takegawara black sand bath.  We were told to wear short little kimonos and lie down in little depressed sand beds.  Then sand was shoveled over us.  Four inches of warm sand on top of all of you can be a little heavy and I could understand why it might not be good for someone with high blood pressure.  After the 15 minute sand bath, we washed ourselves off and entered the regular warm water onsen which was quite nice.

I met a fellow, his son and daughter in the waiting room who struck up a conversation with me.  They were interested in the fact that I was from Hawaii and could speak a little Japanese.  I tried to encourage them to speak English, but they were hesitant.  It was a lot of fun learning about each other as I waited for Art.

After the sand onsen, we went back to our Nogami Ryokan.  Then Art picked up Dennis and they both went to the hotel water onsen.

Needless to say, Art came back looking red as a crab.

It was certainly an interesting day!