Big Adventures, Little World

A day trip from Fukuoka to Beppu was the plan for today, and we had a 2 hour train ride to get us there. I won’t bore anyone with those details as I’m sure you all get the idea by now. So we arrived in Beppu, found the Information Desk, where they spoke excellent English (Score 1 for us!) and found out how we went about finding the natural hot springs, or Jigoku, meaning “burning hell”. We got our info and a day pass for the pass and off we went.

Welcome to hell! We found the springs, with the coolest of them being about 70°C! Some of them were once used to cook food in, and a few are still used today to boil eggs in. There were 8 spring in total, and we visited them all.

The first was Yama-Jigoku, where amongst the steam rising from the ground there is a range of animals from a hippo, chimpanzees and even an elephant! It was so hot walking through just a little of the steam, but gave us a taste of what was to come. Next we went to Umi-Jigoku, which has vivid blue water with eggs boiling over it and surrounded by beautiful gardens. Another feature was a small hot spring where you could put your feet in which was good for cuts and other things. It was very relaxing, but hot, so we only left our feet in for a short time.

Next stop, after a short walk, was Oniishibozu-Jigoku, where hot gray mud is continually bubbling. After a lot of photos of the bubbling mud which looked like ooze, we found another spring to put our feet in, supposedly good for some other reason this time, and sat for a bit to relax. We left a koala by the spring and were off to the next one. Kamado-Jigoku features a bright red demon watching over it and had a range of different types of Jigoku. The next one we visited was a breeding ground for crocodiles and alligators as the hot water made it perfect for them. Not only that, but the steam coming from the ground produces enough pressure to pull one and a half train cars! Finally, before getting on the bus to see the last 2, we stopped at Shiaike-Jigoku, which has creamy white water which spouts from the ground clear, but then mysteriously changes.

The last two to see were Chinoike-Jigoku, and Tatsumaki-Jigoku. Chinoike-Jigoku was a little disappointing, as the steam was supposed to be red from the clay that was boiling, but unfortunately it wasn’t for us. Also, half of it was closed off for maintenance, including the part where you can put your feet in the red water. Tatsumaki-Jigoku was really cool, and we got there just in time as it is a geyser that spouts boiling water into the air every half hour.

We got on the bus back to the station and we were looking up when and where we could get buried in a bath of sand, when we passed it on the bus! So we jumped off and in we went. What an amazing and weird experience! You get undressed and put a robe on, then lay down in hot sand, then have people shovel the sand all over you and bury you in it up to your neck. You then lay there for 10-15 minutes. The sand gets quite heavy which makes it a bit harder to breathe, but nothing to bad. Then you start to feel your body pulsing which is a little strange, and then as you have been there a couple of minutes, you start to sweat a bit. With beads of sweat running down your forehead and no way to wipe them away, it is very difficult, so best just to try not concentrating on them. Once the time is up, you just kind of brush the sand off of you and just stand up, with the rest falling to the ground. You head inside, was the sand off, have a hot bath and head back out and your all done. That is what it is like to be buried in a sand of bath!