Nihon – tadaima: 第 4 日

April 10, 2008

By train to Beppu, onzen, getting buried in hot sand, and Hotel Kami-no-i

Our friend Yoshiko took us to Kokura to validate our five-day Kyushu railway pass, and we got on the train to wave our first good-bye to the Fukuda family and Yoshiko.

It was a pleasant 80-minute train ride to Beppu in the east of Kitakyushu. I have to admit I had been a bit biased against this touristy town before going there. But on a weekday like Thursday it was quite pleasant and very charming as well.

At Beppu station we were met by my long-time friend Nobuko and her father who had driven all the way from Isahaya/Nagasaki to show us a day in this hot springs town of Beppu. And it was wonderful! Among the regular hot springs, we got to enjoy taking a mud bath as well.

Stepping into a hot spring is one of the most relaxing things to do in Japan. The scenery is beautiful, the way to go through from spring to spring is not straight, pools are hidden in corners, and there are steps up and down to take one to another little pool.

We stopped for a small lunch along the way before going to get buried in hot sand. As we were the last one to get buried that day, we had to hurry to change into the provided yukata (robe). We were assigned a long dent in the sand where we had to lie down and slowly got covered with hot sand by our attendant.

Our heads were the only thing sticking out from this black hot sand. At first the sand felt quite heavy. After a few minutes though I was so relaxed I fell asleep. This hot sand bed is right at the beach and while getting buried we had a good view of the Pacific Ocean. It was quite a sight!!

Hot sand

Right after closing at 5:00 p.m.

Hot sand and the Pacific

Having been buried there -20 minutes earlier – with a view onto the Pacific Ocean

Afterwards we checked in to our hotel Kami no i, which is very frequented by Korean tourists. The receptionist even advised us of the noise the Koreans would make in the hotel pool during certain evening hours. I guess this is when Japanese usually stay away from using the pool….

We enjoyed our dinner Viking style (buffet type – all you can eat) and later had some Nihonshu (Japanese rice wine) and beer in our room to round off our wonderful day.

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