Journey to the South of Japan - Kyushu! #7

Yesterday was my last day of work, so I finally have lots of free time now. Which is not a good thing really, I'd rather be doing brainless work than to have to think of what to do. Anyway, I guess I'll finish up on my Japan trip (it's taking too long XD)

Day 8 - Beppu

The city of Beppu is famous for its hot springs, both bathable and the not-so-bathable. After a nice breakfast in a little bakery, we took a walk along the coastline and found a sand-bathing spot. You're supposed to lie flat on a bed of black, hot sand, while workers shovel sand all over your body. Its supposed to be good for the skin, but I don't see why I would want to be buried and baked alive.



Anyway we went on to see the main attraction in Beppu, the 9 "Hells of Beppu", which really refers to hot springs for viewing, not bathing. Try bathing in 100 degree waters :P

The first one, Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) was coloured a spectacular blue.



Next was Oniishibozu Jigoku, which had pools of bubbling mud.



There were a few others which were not as interesting to look at, such as the Yama Jigoku which had a mini-zoo (of all things) that was quite sad to look at. The animal enclosures were amazingly tiny, and a poor hippo was forced to open its mouth waiting for tourists to throw vegetables in. I couldn't stand to look at it. There was a crocodile farm at another Jigoku (again, I don't see the link), and a Tatsumaki Jigoku (geyser) which spout every 30mins.

The Shiraike Jigoku was one of the more beautiful ones, with a pond of milky white water.



And of course, the Chinoike Jigoku (blood-pond hell), which had a pond of blood red water.



After lunch we headed out of town to see a waterfall. We couldn't pinpoint the location on the GPS so it was more of looking at a map and driving in the general direction, hoping to see a sign on the way. Luckily, with the help of a roadside stall owner, we managed to find the waterfall - Higashishiiya Waterfall

It was quite a spectacular sight.



There was a girl sitting on some rocks, looking at the waterfall pensively, checking her handphone from time to time. I wonder what was going through her mind.



While we were about to leave a group of artists came and found spots to sit on, before starting to sketch out the scenery. Quite interesting! And they looked quite good too!



We headed back to the city after that, where I holed myself up in a Book Off second-hand bookstore to hunt for CD bargains. And I emerged from the store with a haul of 5 albums and 2 singles. The damage? About SGD$100, which was a steal considering the original price would've been somewhere in the $200 region. Still, I recieved a lemon single, the CD case was cracked at the hinges. Well, you win some, you lose some.

Dinner was a great bowl of (what else?) ramen! :D The waiter who served us was a Nepalese and his English was good! He said he was studying there and took up a part-time job to pay for his studies. The ramen, like every bowl I've had in Japan so far, was excellent. When can I ever be satisfied with the ramen in Singapore?

While walking back to the hotel I heard the sounds of that same busker wafting from the underpass again. Hardworking dude! Maybe we'll see him strike it big in a few years time heh.

And so that marks the last night in Beppu. Next - back to Fukuoka!


Day 9 - Beppu - Hita - Dazaifu - Fukuoka

On the way to Fukuoka we stopped by in Hita and Dazaifu.

We visited Mameda Town in Hita, which consisted of 2 streets running parallel, with rows of old-rustic shophouses on both sides. There were many of speciality shops, selling goods ranging from soya sauce, cakes, rice crackers (I bought one :D), bamboo crafts, sake and ice-cream. Speaking of which, I had a cone of sake ice-cream :D Tasted pretty light and refreshing, no alcohol taste at all.



Next was a short drive to Dazaifu, which is famous for its Tenma-gu Shrine.







Plenty of students there, all praying for success in their studies I suppose :P

Since it was still early, I persuaded my dad to make a slight (ok, it was rather long) detour to Fukutsu to visit the Miyajidake Shrine. What's the significance of the shrine, you might wonder?

*YUI stalker alert*

Well, only YUI fans would understand :P The shrine appears in her "Muffler" video, and is mentioned in the song as well.

For the non-YUI fans, the shrine houses the largest "Oshimenawa" or a giant straw rope in Japan, as well as the largest bronze bell and largest Taiko drum. Talk about big.

But the most spectacular feature of the shrine was this:



A perfectly straight line all the way to the coast! Amazing, ain't it?

Unfortunately the shrine was undergoing major renovations so I couldn't get a picture of the main hall. Still, the straw rope looked pretty impressive!





As evening approached we decided to head back towards Fukuoka for dinner. Along the way, I again persuaded my dad to stop over at a Chinese restaurant, "WEST" for dinner. Yes, you guessed it, something YUI related again. It was the restaurant where YUI worked part-time, and also the place which sold her favourite "supaiku" or sweet 'n sour pork.







I did try the "supaiku" and it tasted more sweet than sour, but good nonetheless. We had ramen (chinese style) and some fried rice, and all were surprisingly good! Chinese food, with a Japanese flavour, is how I would describe the meal.

We then headed back to our hotel in Hakata, Fukuoka, took a subway to Tenjin for some shopping and that was it for the night!

Journey to the South of Japan - Kyushu! #6

Day 6 - Aso

We left Kumamoto and headed towards Mount Aso, an active volcano famous for its sulphur-smoking crater. Along the way, we passed through an area known as Aso Farmlands, where many local produce are grown and sold directly to customers. My mum wanted to visit the bee farm to get her hands on some fresh honey, so we went straight there.

It was more of a large honey store that sat in the middle of a bee farm. Naturally, visitors weren't allowed in the farm - we could only look at the swarms of bees through a glass panel. There was a cross-section of an actual, living bee hive though! It was quite fascinating, if not a bit discomforting.



Needless to say, we walked out with bags full of honey.

It was a long, winding journey up the hills to Mt. Aso, passing by some incredibly beautiful scenery of pristine green fields, undulating into the distance.



Finally we reached a popular lookout point with an excellent view of the smoking crater.



Unfortunately, that was the only view we had of the crater that day. When we reached the foot of the mountain, we weren't allowed to drive up due to an unfavourable wind direction that was blowing the toxic fumes (sulphur dioxide!) in our direction. We were pretty bummed out so we decided to head back to Aso town, check-in and find something else to do.

The backpacker's inn that we booked was surprisingly, very unlike the backpacker inn I had in mind. It was spotlessly clean, had a large living room with bookshelves filled with books and manga (in English too!), a very comprehensive kitchen, and the rooms were cozy!



After lunch we decided to drive up to another lookout point, this time with one heck of a view of the entire Aso area, with all its peaks and hills. Along the way many motorcycle gangs passed us, all decked out in fierce leather jackets and riding their huge Harley Davidson motorcycles. When we reached the lookout point, it became apparent that those bikers had the same destination in mind.



The 360 degree view from the top was excellent! Aso Town looked almost like a tiny Lego brick town from up there.



On the way down I bought an ice cream cone (everyone had one in their hands) and found this excellent photo opportunity. What's a biker without a Harley jacket?



Surprisingly almost all the bikers were middle aged men, and some even bordered on "elderly", yet all of them looked really cool with their dressing and of course those bikes. With that we headed back down to visit the last destination of the day, Kikuchi Gorge. It's really a rocky valley with fast flowing rapids running through it. I took the opportunity to experiment with my camera to get that "white water" effect :P



It was a very long hike and by the time we got out of the place we were all tired out. Back to the inn for dinner, manga reading and rest!

Day 7 - Aso to Beppu

The next morning we asked the "innkeeper" (lol, sounds very Final Fantasy-ish) to check on the wind direction for Mt. Aso, and we were in luck! He did warn us that the wind direction might change anytime, so we hurriedly checked out and zoomed to the crater. Before we left we took a photo! Very nice and friendly guy.



Luck was on our side - we managed to reach the crater! However the alert was "yellow" which meant the concentration of SO2 particles was around 2ppm. It stank like hell! And I could understand why asthmatic people were encouraged not to visit the place, even I had a hard time breathing. Still, I found enough time to snap a few photos of the hellish hole.



We then moved on towards Beppu City, our last destination before heading back to Fukuoka. Along the way we passed through Takeda Town, a small, nondescript historical town filled with old-style samurai houses and watched over by the ruins of castle. Next was Usuki, to visit the stone Buddhas carved out of caves.



After a short prayer we hit the road towards Beppu, taking a slight detour via the coast for some nice scenery and relaxation. We reached Beppu just as the sun was about to set, so we checked into the hotel and went in search of food. At the entrance of the hotel I spotted a shocking welcome sign



I couldn't believe it! X Japan, staying, or having some event at the hotel I was staying in?!?!? I rushed off to the banquet hall area to snoop around but I didn't find any trace of them. Perhaps they had already left by then. Hardcore X Japan fans, any news about them in Beppu during the first week of June?

While searching for food we ran into a busker strumming his guitar in an underpass. I stopped to listen to a couple of songs before he started talking to us (we were the only ones who bothered to stop and listen anyway). He then asked me if I wanted to hear any particular song. I told him I liked songs by YUI, but he laughed and said he didn't know any. So I told him to play some "happy songs". And he did! His voice was not bad as well, comparable to those guys from boybands like V6 and Arashi.



And that marks the first night in Beppu!

Journey to the South of Japan - Kyushu! #5

In a bid to reduce my post size, as well as squeeze in more days into single posts, I have decided to cut down on the number of photographs. Besides, it'll be kinda overkill to have 12 posts dedicated to this trip O.O

To view all the photos (or rather, most of the photos that passed my filtering XD), you can visit my Facebook page if you're a friend of mine, or my Photobucket album asuna88

Day 5 - Kumamoto

We left early the next morning for Shimabara Port to catch our ferry to Kumamoto. Technically we could've driven along the coast to Kumamoto, but the ferry was definitely faster and more comfortable.

We reached Shimabara pretty early, so we had some time to kill. We visited Shimabara Castle but didn't go inside as we had to pay (yes, your typical Singaporean), so we walked around the grounds. Even though Japan's Children's Day was over, there was a string of carp streamers, or "Koi-nobori", hoisted high into the air. The significance of it would be clear only later, after leaving the castle grounds.



We visited a pretty deserted market street (it was rather early for shops to be open), as well as the only "attraction" in the area, a stream filled with koi, called "Koi no Mizube Machi", or roughly translated, means "The roadside stream of Koi"



Shimabara is supposedly famous for its somen, or thin wheat noodles, so we lunched at a somen restaurant. I ordered a tempura somen, and it was good! Despite the tempura becoming soggy with soup, the noodles were very smooth and silky. The soup was also very flavourful! I've drank many bowls of soup (be it miso, ramen, udon, or just plain soup) in Japan, and so far none of them have disappointed me. I wonder what they add to their stock to make it so good?



We then boarded the ferry that would take us across the bay to Kumamoto. The ferry was crowded with Korean tourists, and the whole deck was soon filled with Korean chatter. Amusingly, the seat next to mine was occupied by this Korean dude who was intrigued by a manga that a Japanese old man was reading. They started to converse in English, and soon they started teaching each other basic Japanese and Korean words! Later some Japanese oba-chans joined in as well, and they were very eager to learn Korean.



After checking in the hotel in Kumamoto, we visited the biggest tourist attraction there - Kumamoto Castle, one of the "3 Famous Castles in Japan". I commented to my dad that this trip was turning out to be a "castle-visiting" trip (lol). It was huge! The stone foundations were also very high, making it almost impossible to climb.



We went inside the castle which housed a museum of the castle's artifacts, and climbed to the top where we had an excellent view of Kumamoto City. On the way out of the castle grounds we ran into a group of girls dressed in matching kimonos. I think there was some kind of festival going on, I could hear shouting and cheers in the distance. Anyway, they gamely posed for a photograph (not for me, but for another tourist T.T)



Night was falling so we took a walk about a nearby market street which was filled with shoppers, salary men, office ladies and students alike. It was probably the "to go" place in Kumamoto in the evenings, especially since there was a huge crowd just standing around outside a big store. It appeared to be the default meeting place for friends, much like our City Hall MRT station.

I spotted an Animate shop and immediately went in :P. I didn't buy anything except a K-ON! Akiyama Mio gachapon capsule for Jarvis. My luck must've been damn good, getting Mio on the first try heh.

Dinner was at a really great restaurant which sold horse sashimi *shudder*. My parents ordered a plate to share but I didn't touch it. According to my mum it wasn't that great, plus the guilt factor after eating it was quite significant. I opted for a safer, grilled skewer set option, together with grilled onigiri (rice balls), all washed down with a mug of refreshing beer.



While we were eating a couple of skimpily dressed cigarette promoters walked in to promote their product. They were very polite, asking every table if they smoked (we didn't, of course). One guy bought a pack and was asked to try it on the spot, the promoter offering a lighter. It was good I guess, judging from his happy puffs. Now that is one scene you won't see in Singapore - cigarette promoters, and smoking within air-conditioned restaurants.

And so that concludes our stay in Kumamoto!

I'm lazy to start on day 6, so I'll leave that to the next post :P

Journey to the south of Japan - Kyushu! #4

I must apologise for the infrequent updates, been really busy with jamming the past few days in preparation for the band competition finals.

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.