Spa Resort Weekend

  Beppu, Japan
Friday, February 22, 2008

bathing buddies

Do you remember that time you bathed for an entire weekend straight, and never felt cleaner in your life? The time you saw so many beautiful things, one after another, that you felt compelled to close your eyes? I do.

This weekend I took a trip to Beppu, a city in Japan famous for having thousands of onsens (natural springs.) The weekend was heavenly. Of course it may seem silly to apply such an adjective to anything earthly, especially from someone who hasn't been to heaven, and therefore doesn't know what it's like, (why DO we use that word?) but I read in a book once, that heavens are personal, and compiled of the things we loved in life. If that's true, I'm going to ask God to put Beppu into my heaven.

from the ground up

My friend Caroline and I took the Shinkansen over to Kyushu (one of Japan's western islands) for the weekend. Once there we explored the city of Beppu and all of its wonderful onsens and specialty baths. One after another, we bathed, and bathed some more. It was blissful. Sand baths, mud baths, steam baths, salt baths, sea water baths, baths in the middle of nowhere... the list just goes on and on. We just kept bathing, and bathing some more.

Beppu has 9 different geothermal hot spots, which are referred to as the 9 hells. They have resort like attractions in each area and you can go in and take pictures and do touristy things there.

a hot spring in the clearing

(For example, there is a Blood hell, where-because of the types of minerals in the area-the water is naturally a deep red color that looks like blood.) In addition to the 9 hells, Beppu also has 8 major hot spring areas where you can enjoy a bath of that sort- i.e. you could bathe in the blood water.

Caroline and I weren't so much into the go-and-see mood as we were keen on the idea of going and doing, so instead of focusing on visiting the 9 hells (which all of the other Japanese tourists seemed to be sensibly doing in the middle of the winter) we honed in on having a relaxing body and mind weekend by visiting 5 of the 8 major hot spring areas.

our hike to the onsen in the hills

On the first day we took a hike up into the mountains, to enjoy a natural hot spring in the middle of nowhere. Very peaceful and serene-as it was literally a pool of hot water on the side of the mountain-when we had it too ourselves, but a little weird as soon as a random Japanese man appeared to bathe with us. After a few minutes of awkwardness, we exited the bath (naked) and got dressed, figuring we'd let him have the hot spring to himself. But he followed us out, (like a tailgater) got dressed himself, and ended up offering us a ride down the mountain. He took us to his favorite onsen (one with natural mud baths) and even paid for our entrance fees! Wow!

The mud bath was my favorite. We were able to relax in pools of greenish clay-like mud. The feeling of it squishing between my toes as I submersed myself into the water was unbelievable.

abis

Caroline and I found ourselves the only two women, surrounded by a group of rather curious Japanese men, in a not so separated male-female pond of mud. I admit, it was a bit weird at first, but there was mud that needed playing with, so I turned my back to the men and occupied my thoughts with child-like behavior that involved caking my entire body until I looked like the Jolly Green Giant. Oh goodness- if only we could have snuck our camera in to that bath!!!


Later in the day we hit up the beach-a stunning site in itself with moss covered pebbles, tall palm trees blowing in the wind, crystal clear waters, and snowcapped mountains off in the distance-and experienced a sand bath. For this we donned yukatas and were buried in steaming sand for 15 minutes.

getting buried in our sandbaths on the beach

The weight and heat of the sand, the cool ocean breeze on our faces, with the sun shining down on us through the trees, the seagulls flying off in the distance....oh, it was all too amazing. My mind was at peace. My head felt so clear. Lying there- piled in sand, unable to move- I could do nothing but smile. Happy to be fortunate enough to be experiencing one of God's many wonders first hand. I'm still grinning as I think back to that moment!

enjoying the natural sea water

Day 2 at the onsens brought on even more wonders. Our first onsen visit took us to the Umi (sea) Hell where we had an onsen (inside a traditional Japanese garden with crystal-blue, ocean-colored, hot spring water) entirely to ourselves. This onsen was done up so nicely, with flowers blooming over the water, and bamboo fences secluding ourselves from the outside world that we ended up overstaying our visit just a bit- and found ourselves dizzy from dehydration and heat exhaustion upon exiting.

Next we visited Shibu no Yu, the shrine-onsen made for giving thanks to the Gods for blessing us with this beautiful place and all its natural wonder.

this is the life!

Then we hit up Kannawa Mushiyu for steam baths. On our way in, we stopped and chatted to an elderly woman who was sitting at the free foot steam baths. She told me that she was touring with a group of elderly women from all over Japan. They get together every few months and explore different parts of Japan. What a wonderful idea! I can only dream of doing something so lifting with my days after those that I love have passed away. How better of a way to go out with a bang, than to take on a positive outlook on life, travel the world, and be surrounded by people who share your passion?

steam bath entrance

The actual steam bath experience was... interesting. We put on robes and ducked inside a little tiny airtight hut where we laid down in a bed of straw for 15 minutes, sweating out all of our toxins (bucket loads full of them!) Amazingly refreshing! We loved it! Only wished we could have gone in again and again! Then to end our day, we visited one of the huge onsens that offered waterfall baths (good for relaxing those stiff muscles in your shoulders), rock and pebble baths, steam rooms, and a lovely outdoor hot spring where it happened to snowed on us.

I'm not sure I can do justice to the experience with words... but it was utterly spectacular!

taking time to see the little things

I felt dumb struck! It was just soooo beautiful! Sitting there, in the huge outdoor bath, steam rising up around us, as the huge snow flakes dropped down on our hair, cooling our faces. I took a break from the hot water and sat down on a rock near a gushing waterfall (where the sound of the fall droned out all other noises) and lost myself in the beauty of it all. Across the bath I watched two young children reach out earnestly towards the falling snow, laughing with joy at their failed attempts to grasp the flakes as if they were falling flower petals.

the scenery was beyond words

I hope I can keep that feeling with me for life-the feeling of bliss, of being aware, of a relaxed body, yet an awakened soul. My weekend in Beppu was definitely an inspiration for my current kick of celebrating 2008- by making it the year of the great. The onsens were delightful, the scenery was magical, (I couldn't seem to get anywhere in a hurry because I had to keep stopping to stare at the mountain tops covered with snow, the steam rising from the fields, or the rolling waves in the ocean) the company was grand, the food was delicious (we had Indonesian, Korean, and even managed to sneak in a couple of trips to THE LITTLE MERMAID (which made me nostalgic for my days at Joochi Daigaku in Tokyo), and the people were so kind.

drinkable onsen water- good for the health

It felt like I was back in Japan. I know that sounds silly, since I've been in Japan this entire time- but sometimes it's rough in Kobe, living with so many other foreigners in such an international (and impersonal) city. The quaint streets of Beppu, the private mom and pop shops, and the chatty locals reminded me of my time in Tokyo. Everyone in Kansai always tells me that Tokyo people are cold (not friendly), but I beg to differ.

take me away

The business districts of Tokyo may not be filled with people in a rush to get to know everyone passing by on the street, but the residential areas were full of locals who were always pleasant to me, greeting me on the street, speaking to me in Japanese, and offering me bits of information (and often gifts) to teach me about their culture. I don't experience that in Kobe, and I really miss it.
I miss the encounters with the locals who wanted to take me under their wings. I miss the old guy who sat across from me on the train and just smiled at me and then politely looked away. I don't enjoy being stared at; being obviously talked about, being wrongly categorized into that group of rude, unappreciative weekly tourists, being constantly treated as an outsider, and being brushed aside because everyone assumes that I won't understand.

deep in thought-taking it all in

didn't realize it until now-but Beppu reminded me of all that. This trip (along with my recent trip to Hokkaido) reminded me of Japan's charm. This is a great country. There are great people. Sometimes, locked up in Kobe-a city between mountain and sea-I let that slip my mind. My apologies Japan- I do still love you!