The plan was to wake up at 3:15am and have a bath, as my experience the night before in the hotspring hadn’t been great, but when I woke up it was 5:15am, oh no! So I went up to the top floor to have a bath anyway. Three ladies were in the bath, one was older and storming about the bath…the other two were in the outdoor bath sort of. They ladies were sitting on the edge of the bath having a loud conversation and blocking all the ways into that particular bath. I think I understand why the older woman was so upset. I had heard numerous times that sitting on the edge of the bath is taboo, as that is where a lot of people rest their heads when they are soaking in the water. 

I washed and went to sit in the indoor bath for quite awhile, as the ladies outside talked. When the ladies finally left, I went and sat in the outdoor bath which was much warmer. Both the indoor and outdoor baths were much larger than at the last hotel in Miyazaki. So far the baths in Oita have been my favourite of the trip. I then tried out the small barrel bath which was filled with milk mineral rich water. As you get into the barrel the mass of your body displaces so much of the water over the top of the barrel. The water was lovely and warm. After soaking in there I rinsed off, dried and went to sit in the manga room with the vending machines for post onsen milk drinks. I caught up quite a bit on my journal writing and waited for the boys to wake up. Jives joined me at around 7:30am. We set out on our day’s adventure at 8:30am. First we headed to Detour restaurant nearby for breakfast. I got coffee and a hot tuna melt. We then headed to the JR station to reserve seats on the train to Aso the following morning. We put some more money on our Suica cards and then headed to the platform to catch the Sonic Express train to Beppu. The train ride was only 8 minutes long!! The train was old-timey, maybe early 60’s? With metal seats and wooden floors.

We arrived at Beppu station at 9am and headed to the JR booth to get our station stamps in our books. We then headed to the tourism office, as I assumed they would have stamps as well, and they had MANY stamps! All the stamps were handmade as well! The most popular thing in the tourism office was the stamps, as we had to que to get them. The one guy working behind the counter there said “ I will have to make more stamps” . We then purchased our pass to enter the seven hells of Beppu. For 2000 Yen you get a voucher to give in at the first hell you visit, they then give you a little ticket book containing a ticket for each of the seven hells. I should probably clarify what a “hell” is… each hell is a different type of hot spring or natural hot water phenomenon. Each hell sort of had it’s one speciality ie. “the white one” “the crocodile one” etc…

We exited the tourism office and went to check out a hand bath nearby. There was a blonde girl in the hand bath, maybe 6 years old. An older Japanese man came up to Jives and I and told us that our daughter was beautiful…. I told him she wasn’t our child, but he didn’t seem to understand and I didn’t see her parents nearby. Eventually a blonde German lady came up and said “don’t worry that girl isn’t unaccompanied”..we laughed. The lady said she was from Germany and her husband was from Italy, but they lived in Holland. 

We then walked to an odd Tengu shrine nearby, only an eight minute walk away. There was a HUGE tengu head in a small shrine, which gets paraded out during special events. A tengu is a character from Japanese folklore, better known as “yokai”. They have bright red faces and very large noses, some have wings, but others don’t. 

We then walked to our first hell, Oniyama Jigoku. We handed in our vouchers from the tourism office and received a little ticket booklet each. You remove the ticket portion at each hell and hand it in to get entrance. Oniyama Jigoku is the “Crocodile Hell”. The hotspring here is literally a breeding ground for crocodiles, as it is the ideal temperature for them. The hotspring was super steamy with not too much to see, so we walked around the crocodile pens. I felt weird about the crocodiles being in captivity, but if the environment is ideal for them… I had conflicting feelings. This was probably my least favourite of the seven hells. 

We then walked to a small foot bath and soaked our feet up before climbing a tiny staircase to a mystery temple, deep in a bamboo grove. 

We then visited our second hell, arguably my favourite one Kamado Jigoku or the “Cooking Pot Hell”. The hot spring had a huge footbath where Jives and I sat on wooden benches over blue water and soaked our feet. There was a section that was super hot and the bottom of the bath had sand. A nice Japanese man and his son beckoned me to sit with them in the hot section with the sandy bottom. We squished our toes in the sandy gravel. This foot bath was so warm! The nice Japanese man offered to take a photo of us! You could get steamed eggs, corn and potatoes here to eat. There were quite a few small ponds of hotspring on the grounds as well, and large pools of mud bubbling up. There was also a place where it was suggested to “suck the steam” from a spout shaped  like an oni’s mouth. 

The third hell we visited was Umi Jigoku or the “Sea Hell”. The grounds of this hell were huge. First we saw a giant pond with lotus flowers and herons and the giant kind of lily pads that could probably hold the weight of a large child. Next we walked through a small gift shop where we bought an umbrella to share, as it was raining quite hard. I also bought a jar of spicy yuzu paste (a citrus fruit) and we purchased a drink that we tried outside on the picnic tables under an awning, as we waited out the crazy rain. We didn’t know where Hairth went… so we sat and tried to spot him. Apparently he had slipped a few times and decided to leave Umi Jigoku. 

The main spring was bright blue and beautiful , despite the crazy rain coming down. We climbed a small slope to a shrine, sharing our umbrella. It was actually really lovely. We then walked back via the green house, rose garden and a lovely foot bath that I went into briefly. As Harith has already left, I didn’t want to keep him waiting too long, but really wished we had more time to see everything. 

We then walked to our fourth hell, Oniishi Bozu Jigoku “The Monk Head Hell”. This hell has  mud hot springs that bubble up and look like the shaved head of a monk. Once again, I very briefly soaked my feet in the onsen water as we rushed to the next thing… 

The fifth hell was Shiraike Jigoku which is usually a white hotspring, but algae had turned the white pool a very light minty green. There were many signs apologizing for the state of the hotspring, and the algae. Japan is amazing! This hell also had an aquarium with giant and odd fish, as well as a small but lovely garden with a pathway through it. 

We then walked to Kannawa steam bath to steam our feet. At the steam bath you can pay to sit in a little stone hut with reeds on the floor and relax while you are steamed by the natural spring. We didn’t have time to do this, but it would have been lovely. Jives and I will have to go back sometime to try this. We did sit with our feet in a small steam bath just outside Kannawa. There are little wooden seat contraptions where you lift off a lid and insert your legs. I was really lovely. 

We then had lunch at an Indian restaurant that was ok, but not even remotely spicy which I found disappointing for Indian food. 

We then walked back to the bus station to take the bus to the area with the last two hells. The bus ride was pretty brief, maybe 10 minutes, but it was raining so hard. 

We visited hell number six, Chinoike Jigoku, which was a bright red hot spring coloured by the clay content of the water. The main hotspring looked like tomato soup. I sat in the red footbath and Jives did a rap take in the rain. A man in the foot bath with me noticed Jives rapping and alerted all of his friends! They watched him perform inaudibly and laughed and seemed to really enjoy the weird entertainment. The hell was pretty small, but very notably due to the crazy colour and the GIANT spiders that reside there. 

We then visited our last hell which was not a hotspring, but a geyser! The geyser was called Tatsumaki Jigoku. You sit on little rock bleachers and wait for the geyser to erupt at 30-40 minute intervals for 6-10 minutes each time. It seemed very scheduled for a natural phenomenon. We waited maybe 10 minutes before the eruption began, watching for a while. It was interesting to see but not a place to spend a lot of time at. We then jumped on the bus back to Beppu station and then almost immediately a ten minute train back to Oita. 

Back at the hotel I immediately headed to the onsen to warm up! There were two ladies in the bath, but just leaving. I soaked outside in the outdoor bath for quite awhile, under the overhang to keep the rainwater off my face. After a good long soak, Jives and I sat in the manga room and had a drink and relaxed. 

Later Jives and I headed out to have ramen at the food court nearby. Jives tried the spicy tomato ramen and I had a normal spicy ramen. The ramen was greasy but good. Jives struggled a little bit with the spice of him, but mostly it was a lovely little challenge. 

We then bought some gachapon, Sanrio sushi gacha and a One Piece gacha. I got Keroppi and Jives got a Tony Tony Chopper! 

We then went up to the mall roof top to investigate a shrine and light display we had seen from afar. It was pretty magical all lit up in the rainy puddles, the reflections were beautiful. 

We then headed back to the room.