Day 8, April 8th: Beppu and Yufuin

We were so tired this morning that we actually overslept!  Dennis had to knock on our door to wake us up for breakfast at 7:00. 

The Nogami Honkan Onsen provided us with a lavish Japanese breakfast.  There was a choice of Japanese or European.  It was a wonderful Japanese experience, but sitting on the floor was difficult for Mom's aching legs.  We requested a regular table for the following morning.

After breakfast, we walked about a block down the street to the famous Takegawara black sand onsen.  Mom and Dennis had said before our trip that they might be OK with doing this since they wouldn't have to remove all their clothes in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, there was a big, no-nonsense sign that said people taking high blood pressure medicine should not do the sand onsen.  We were very disappointed.  It would have to be just Art and me.

We caught the train from Beppu to Yufuin which is a popular hot spring resort town.

It was a short train ride to Yufuin.

I told mom that we have a lot of pansies in the states and that it's nothing extraordinary, but she insisted I take a photo of them.  In fact, she's gotten to like telling me what photos I should be taking.

Actually Yufuin was a bit of a disappointment.  There were long streets full of shops. I bought a little cloth hand towel because public Japanese bathrooms generally do not provide paper wipes or hand dryers.  Women carry their own small towels to wipe their hands.

We did grab a quick bowl of noodles here along with some rice balls.

It wasn't great, but it was quick, cheap and rather tasty.

We love soft serve!  We were trying to see  how many different flavors we could sample on this trip.  I think this is where Art tried soft serve with soy sauce.  Seriously!  That man will try anything once.

It had been a cold spring so cherry blossoms were delayed down south and we were treated to even more floral displays.

You can see Mt. Yufu in the background.

I think this is dogwood, but I'm not sure.

Dennis and Art were being good sports here.

This is Lake Kinrinko and the reason for this resort town.  It wasn't anything for us to write home about.  Oops!  But here I am blogging about it.

It was still fun to see what sort of things were being sold.

Returning to the Beppu Station, we got to try another hand onsen.  The water was very warm.

We returned to our Nogami Onsen ryokan (inn), put on our yukatas, and headed for the Takegawara black sand bath.  We were told to wear short little kimonos and lie down in little depressed sand beds.  Then sand was shoveled over us.  Four inches of warm sand on top of all of you can be a little heavy and I could understand why it might not be good for someone with high blood pressure.  After the 15 minute sand bath, we washed ourselves off and entered the regular warm water onsen which was quite nice.

I met a fellow, his son and daughter in the waiting room who struck up a conversation with me.  They were interested in the fact that I was from Hawaii and could speak a little Japanese.  I tried to encourage them to speak English, but they were hesitant.  It was a lot of fun learning about each other as I waited for Art.

After the sand onsen, we went back to our Nogami Ryokan.  Then Art picked up Dennis and they both went to the hotel water onsen.

Needless to say, Art came back looking red as a crab.

It was certainly an interesting day!