Day 4 - Unzen
We woke up really early the next day to make a short trip to the Confucius shrine behind our hotel. It was a rather grand shrine, flanked on both sides by rows of "Learned Men", famous scholars and thinkers of Confucius' time. And of course a statue of Confucius himself. It was built by the Chinese residents of Nagasaki, and today students from all over the prefecture go there to pray for good results.
There was a museum of donated Chinese artifacts behind the shrine, but it wasn't very interesting.
We then took a short drive towards Unzen, a hot-spring town located high in the mountains. Along the way, we had to wind our way up and down very narrow, 2-way mountain roads. It was so narrow, that for most parts there was only enough space for 1 vehicle. The only way for incoming traffic to get past was to stop in a grassy patch along the side and wait for the cars to pass. We had the bad luck of getting into a tight situation with a minivan INSIDE a tunnel, which we managed to get pass after a few minutes of inching forward with the wing mirrors closed.
After several other harrowing moments we finally reached a small town at the foot of Mt. Unzen
You guessed it right. Obama Town! And they're milking the name for all its' worth. It's well known for its hot springs (onsen), which get their mineral rich, steaming water from Mt. Unzen itself. We stopped by a large park by the sea, built around a large steaming cauldron of steaming water.
There was a foot bath running through the park which was available for public use. I saw mostly elderly soaking their feet in the hot water, which turned red pretty quickly due to the blood circulation. A stall nearby sold eggs steamed by the hot spring. They tasted pretty normal, with a very slight sulphuric taste (or perhaps it was the smell).
We went to a nearby restaurant for lunch before doing some souvenir shopping. The smell coming from the shops were irresistible - one store was barbequeing its own cuttlefish! The guy let us try and it was so good my mum immediately bought 3 packs.
More Obama love
We then drove up to Unzen town, where we would be spending the night. As it was still early to check in, my dad decided to drive us up the mountain to take a look. On the way up we stopped at a lookout point to take a look at the dome of Mt. Unzen, which last erupted in 1991. The remnants of that eruption can be seen in the following photo.
This peak was formed during the 1991 eruption and the scars from the lava flows are still visible. My camera battery died after that, so I couldn't take any more photos from the top of the highest peak in the Unzen area, Fugendake peak. Anyway, there was a ropeway to the peak but somehow when we reached it wasn't operational, so my dad, being the adventurous one, cajoled us to take a hike up (there was a trail up the mountain). Unfortunately the trail was pretty challenging as well as steep, and after about 15mins we realised that we had barely left where we started off. There was a "fail" moment and we slowly made our way down and back to Unzen Town.
Unzen Town is a small, quaint and quiet town - we hardly saw anybody walking around.
There wasn't much to see around town, but I spotted this really adorable dog standing guard at one of the shops.
A Shiba Inu, the same breed as the famous Hachiko whose statue sits outside Shibuya station!
I spotted an entrance to a shrine that looked pretty unique - a tunnel of multiple torii gates!
I also spotted another entrance to a different shrine, this time it looked pretty dubious and creepy.
I followed the path (which led up a small hill, I was panting when I reached) and finally saw the shrine.
Specialising in fertility, eh? I was quite shocked when I saw it - I was expecting more of a conventional shrine. Apart from that phallic shaped stone, there was the female version carved into rock at the side.
Before checking in we decided to take a walk round the back of the ryokan (traditional Japanese inn), which was covered in pits filled with bubbling, steaming, sulphur-belching pools.
Dad and me taking a photo with the "Screaming Jigoku" or "Screaming Hell". Apparently the loud bubbling and gushing of boiling water evokes the imagery of souls screaming while being dragged into hell. I couldn't find the similarity though, it just sounded like very loud bubbling.
We headed back to the ryokan for a very sumptuous dinner, made up of many small dishes that I didn't know where to start. The waitress fortunately gave us a rough guide on which dishes to eat first.
The food was good, but not very filling despite the many dishes. Give me a bowl of ramen anytime :P
And so we spent the night in Unzen, sleeping on the tatami floor on futons.
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