Aso Hotel
16 Feb 2006 | Comments OffAt the end of the first day we arrived in Aso Town. Aso is a small town that is famous for spring water. In fact, I was shocked to find that the bottled water I buy at 7-11 every morning is bottled in Aso. It’s printed right on the label. As soon as I got over my momentary shock we arrived at our hotel, the aptly named Aso Hotel.
Aso Hotel was a mix of Japanese and western style. The lobby, hallways and gift shops were straight up Holiday Inn, but the guest rooms had tatami floors, futons in place of beds and shouji sliding doors. Very Japanese… The hotel also had it’s own built-in hot spring, so Azusa decided to go and relax for a little while. I opted not to go because I had seen enough naked dudes for one day… Instead I stayed in the room, drank orange Nachan and wondered if the fine citizens of Aso were lucky enough to have private hot springs in their houses as well.
When Azusa returned to the room we ate some birthday treats. We didn’t exactly have a proper cake, but we bought some brownies and pudding at a shop near the Kurokawa Hot Springs. They were super yummy! Soon after we finished eating, it was time for bed. It felt really great to relax in the evening and celebrate Azusa’s birthday, but the busy day had taken its toll on us. I think we must have fallen asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow…
The morning view of town complete with refreshing Aso spring water.
Next stop: Takachiho Gorge
Kurokawa Hot Springs
15 Feb 2006 | Comments (1)Our first stop on the tour was at Kurokawa Hot Springs in Kumomoto Prefecture. Kurokawa Hot Springs is located in the mountains near Mount Aso and the town basically consists of hot springs and Japanese style hotels called ryokans. It’s quite a beautiful setting and the mountain village attracts visitors from not only Japan, but from around the world. I had no idea that we were going to such a famous place, but I was pleasantly surprised.
As Azusa and I got off the bus to explore the village we were given little wooden medallions with stamps on the back. The tour guide could see that I looked confused and the following conversation took place:
Jeff: “What’s this?”
Guide: “It’s your ticket to enter the hot springs.”
Jeff: “Hot springs?”
Guide: “Yeah. You can go into 3 hot springs with this medallion.”
Jeff: “Three hot springs?”
Guide: “Sure. Don’t you want to soak in the world famous Kurokawa Hot Spings?”
Jeff: “Umm…”
Guide: “Oh, I see! You’ve never been in a hot spring before?”
Jeff: “Umm… No.”
Guide: “Ha ha ha ha haaaa!!!”
Jeff: “…”
Guide: “Don’t worry! You’ll love it!!!”
You know what? She was right. I did love it! Getting naked with a bunch of strange guys was always near the top of my things to not do in Japan list, but it really was a good experience and the hot springs were so beautiful. I think Azusa was pretty proud of me too because she knew that I was really nervous.
This is a picture of me right before we entered the hot spring. I think I’m praying for courage or something.
Next stop: Aso Hotel
Kyushu
13 Feb 2006 | Comments OffWhat can I say? Kyushu was just amazing! I think we squeezed about three weeks worth of amazing landscapes, good food and birthday fun into just one weekend. We are working on writing some updates now, but they are getting to be quite lengthy. I think we’ll have to break them up and post the stories in pieces.
We’re also working on a gallery, but we still have about 200 pictures to sort through. That will probably be the last update in the series. Okay! The first updates are already in the pipeline, so check back soon!
First stop: Kurokawa Hot Springs!
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