Golden Week - hitting up Kyushu

Well it's certainly been a while since I've posted anything on this blog, but lately things have just been plodding on as usual with no great adventures occurring. Finally however, with the help of Golden Week, I now have something that I am really happy to share with you all.

So just very quickly, Golden Week in Japan occurs around the end of April/beginning of May and describes a period where there are so many public holidays in such a short space of time the residents of Japan can really enjoy themselves and allow themselves to relax and travel without having to miss work/school. It worked out this year that to get an entire 9 days off, I only had to take 2 days of paid leave - pretty good right?

So how did I decide to enjoy these 9 days that had fallen before me? Well thanks to a lot of pushing and organising skills from a certain Natasha, I found myself and three other friends heading to the South island of Kyushu to enjoy the sights and sounds that it had to offer.

So on this trip:

Myself (obviously)

Broc Sewell - A first year private ALT from America

Todd Merchen - A first year JET also from America

Natasha Hackshaw - A third year JET from Canada

So right off the bat I feel like we had a pretty successful group going. Especially as Broc and Natasha know exactly what they want to do and are extremely good at organising, and myself and Todd are quite happy to do anything and are more that content to follow directions and be taken to different places without having to put our two cents worth in.

So anyway, I'm going to go through this logically, trying to remember what we did day by day whilst trying to use as many of the 540 photos I took as possible.

Right, here goes.....

Saturday:

I will keep this day fairly short as we spent the day travelling up to Osaka and mooched around there for the day. It was already a good start to the trip though - met up with a friend from Tokers, had Mexican food for lunch (something we simply can't get in Tokushima) explored a little, then met up with a couple more friends and their family for a bit of karaoke before heading to bed ready for an excruciatingly early start the next morning.
Good god I almost forgot to mention the margaritas at lunch! 

Sunday:

Woke up to my alarm going off ridiculously early (though it seems so long ago I can't remember what time exactly - 4:30 perhaps?) then we headed to the station to catch the train to the airport. After an insanely swift check in and making it through the security gate with not even a look at my bottle of water, we go onto the plane without a hitch and made the short journey on our (purple) plane to land in Fukuoka. Having had such an early flight meant that we could spend the whole day exploring Fukuoka. We decided to head over to Fukuoka tower, as Broc (being from Oklahoma) has never been in a building higher than 10 floors (or something ridiculously small like that). The view from the top was great - one of my favourite cityscapes I've seen since being in Japan, and it really made me look forward to spending another couple of days exploring some more. It was also quite nice as the tower was right by the sea front so not only could you get to see a sprawling city, but walk the other side of the tower and you got to see the sea spread out in front of you. Actually, the whole area around the tower was really fun to explore. In a building right next to it, we discovered RoboSquare, a small room housing various robots that you could interact with - me and Natasha even got to speak to Hello Kitty. I also discovered a blast from the past when I saw a robot dog that my secondary(?) school owned, it was weird to see it again, and also weird to see it working properly as I don't think we ever got it to do what it was supposed to at school. After going up the tower and playing with the robots, we then headed to the beach for some lunch and after lunch, a well deserved nap on the grass.

So after waking up (a bit chilly) from our nap, we decided to head towards a shopping centre known as Canal City for a look around before heading back to the hostel. However, we didn't make it that far as on the way back, the subject of crazy golf came up and, with the help of our smart phones, we found a mini gold course near by that we decided to go to instead! May I just take the time here to say how much I really enjoy holidays like this. The type where you have an idea of where you want to go and what you want to do, but if an opportunity arises, schedules can be changed to allow for the new activity to happen. I'm so glad it did. Whilst the mini putt golf wasn't exactly the windmill dodging, colourful craziness that we were hoping for, we still all had a brilliant time and actually came away with some fairly good scores.... well they weren't terrible anyway!

Not only this, but the golf place was inside of a larger park with other attractions too. For example, to get to the course, we took a little train/car thing that slowly travelled around the park. To say we stood out like sore thumbs is a bit of an understatement as we were the only row of (large) foreigners mixed between many small Japanese children. However we enjoyed the ride and some (Todd) enjoyed the attention. After golfing we went to play in the playground for a bit before heading over to spend the last bit of time amount the giant flower fields. Needless to say we had a fairly random afternoon, but it was highly enjoyable and a good way to end out first day.







So after this great afternoon we decided to head back to the hostel to check into our rooms and freshen up before going out for dinner and drinks. And here's where we hit our first snag. Now we knew that in Golden Week places were going to be busy, however we weren't expecting to arrive at our hostel to be told that the 5 bed mixed dorm room we had booked for was no longer available and that we had two choices:

Darts in the Dark Room

1) They would set futons up for us in the check in room, but that we might be woken up by people walking through our rooms to get to theirs.
2) The boys could get beds in a boys dorm upstairs, and the owner would take me and Natasha to another 'very nice' hostel only a 5 minutes drive away..........
Good idea?! I think not. So obviously we chose the lesser of two evils of option number one - changed in the corridor and headed out of the hostel quickly before we could become too depressed with the situation. So away we went, grabbing a very filling dinner of Indian (which Broc consumed at least 80% of what was given to us) and then we headed to a nice bar called The Dark Room where we bought a couple of drinks and played a few games of darts before we all started to crash and decided it was time to head back to see where we would be sleeping that night...... interesting.

Monday:

Moomin on the cake!

Canal City was very pretty

 Ok so after a fairly crappy night sleep (I think they took the term 'futon' extremely loosely and decided that four people only needed two pillows... we got up fairly early (were woken up fairly early) and decided to brave the rain/drizzle and head to Canal City - the shopping centre we were going to go to the day before. First stop at Canal City?? The Moomin Bakery and Cafe of course! For those who don't know, the Moomins was a book series published in Finland that got made into a television series that I loved when I was little. It has also become very popular in Japan so I simply could not pass up the opportunity to visit the cafe, much to the bemusement of my fellow travellers. The cafe lived up to my expectations completely, having the interior decorated with many different models and pictures of the moomins and other characters, also having characters on the end of spoons, and even touching up the chocolate cake with a powdered sugar moomin image! Brilliant. Here is also where I bought my first souvenir of the trip - a moomin cover for my phone!

Yay Moomins!

Oh the joys of a British pub!

So we walked around Canal City for quite a while, being thoroughly entertained by the sporadic water displays that went on at the front of the centre. However after a couple of hours I was getting a bit sick of walking aimlessly so we decided to head to the bar area and hit up to cheap afternoon karaoke, which was super fun as we were given a room that was meant for a party of at least 20+ people and there were only four of us! Ah well, there was plenty of room to spread ourselves out and we enjoyed a good couple of ridiculously cheap singing hours! After this we headed to the nearby 'British' pub and it was wonderful! When I lived in England, I was never really that bothered about going to the pub as I didn't really drink a lot. However, since coming to Japan I can now say I truly appreciate the pub persona and atmosphere and can safely say that I really miss a good old British pub, so I definitely enjoyed the few (happy) hours that we spent there.

Our 'hostel' room for the night.

So after this we went back to our hostel to once again check into our room, freshen up and head out to dinner. But what's this? We get back to the hostel to be told that we aren't staying there anymore but that they have another hostel really nearby that we can stay in for the night..... okaaaay. So we grab our bags and follow our guide through the back streets of Fukuoka before ending up in an apartment block where we are shown into an apartment, given a room and left to our own devices. Dodgy or what?! Granted it gives us a story now, and it was definitely an upgrade from the night before, but it definitely wasn't quite what we were expecting, and I think we all thought that at any moment we were about to stumble into a horror film - you've all seen the film Hostel right?! Anyway, blah blah blah, we went out to find (but failed) a restaurant where you catch your own fish to make into sushi, we had a quick dinner and then headed back to the room to sleeeeeeep.

Tuesday:

So on Tuesday our aim was to head down to Beppu to explore all that it had to offer. To do this we decided that the most efficient and cheap way would be to rent a car. So we did. And here she is:

Actually, we were going to be the proud owners of this car for the next 5 days as we were going to use it to travel around Kyushu for a bit before returning it on Saturday evening. I'd just like to point out a slight set-back in our travelling plans at this point. We had all decided to share the driving as much as possible during the trip to make it fair on everyone. However, much to Natasha's horror, we got to the rental counter to discover that Broc, Todd and I had all forgotten to bring our International Drivers Permit to Kyushu with us. Whoops! Natasha was, needless to say, furious with us all, as if we were pulled over, we would technically be driving illegally! However, we soon persuaded Natasha that we were all willing to take that risk and so Broc took over the helm and we began our trip down to Beppu.

So I'm going to let you know right now that Beppu has by far been my favourite place I have been to in Japan. It is really pretty, and with all the natural hot springs around it gives the surroundings a sense of mystery and a 'land lost in time feel' as the streams of steam coming out of the ground gives the hilly background a prehistoric look.

steam coming out of the hills

So a big tourist pull in Beppu is the aptly named 'Hells', consisting of eight different sites where you can go and see the natural occurring hot springs and the differences between them. We had a great afternoon (if not slightly drizzly) making our way around 6 of these Hells (collecting the stamps at each one) and it was really interesting to see all the different ones there were. The first was by far the prettiest - having the most bright blue water going, there was also a place where you could sit and dip your feet in some (slightly cooler) water which was greatly appreciated, even though we were on a tight schedule and had to leave that a bit sooner than we perhaps wanted. Other colours varied from bright orange, to red, to a really muddy brown... and there was also a site with bubbling mud rather than water. Definitely worth the visit despite the clouds and I would recommend it to anyone heading that way.

The other good thing about the Hells was that, if a site was a bit boring, other things were added to make it more interesting. For example, one Hell was based around how the climate was good for breeding crocodiles so the site had a few crocodile pens for you to look in. Another was so small that they decided to add a zoo around it - even giving us the chance to feed a massive hippo! Strange.
Ok so after that, feeling slightly inspired, I decided to take the plunge (as it were) and head to my first onsen experience. Now for those who don't know, an onsen is a public bath that the Japanese enjoy going to and relaxing in. Now this is all very well and good but the slight catch is that you cannot wear any clothing in the onsen - you have to walk around as naked as the day you were born. A horrifying notion for me for the past 8 months but, as the phrase goes, 'When in Beppu, you should really go to an onsen', as Beppu is famous for all of the natural ones. So as it was only veteran Natasha to keep me company and tell me what to do I decided to go for it. And I did enjoy it, though I will say I am not desperate to try it again. Apparently the place we went to was one of the nicest onsens Natasha has been too and it had a few different pools to try out so I definitely feel like I had a good experience, but like I said, one that doesn't necessarily have to be repeated.
So after feeling relaxed and rested we spent the remainder of the evening finding a place for dinner (we ended up in a place that had cheese fondue = heaven) and then headed back to our extremely nice HOTEL room... and yes, we actually got our rooms this time! That in itself made Beppu become extremely popular in my mind!

Wednesday:

Ok so Wednesday we woke to rain. Bleuch. So in the morning we finished off the remaining two Hells we didn't get to see the day before. One was actually pretty good as it periodically shot a jet of water into the air as it was a natural geyser. It was pretty impressive to watch but I was definitely done seeing the Hells after that point (please remember that it was raining heavily and that I don't like the rain). We then got in the car and made our way to Usuki to see the stone Buddhas that had been carved into the rocks. Again this was not my most favourite moment of the trip what will all the rain and I think it was safe to say that I wasn't really good company at that point. However, I had been cheered up quite a lot before hand at the mishaps of Broc Sewell - aspiring Hulk. To protect ourselves from the rain we decided to hit up the 100yen shop to get some rain jackets/ponchos. By the time Natasha and I had paid for our ponchos, Broc and Todd were already outside dressed in their new rain jacket and pants. This in itself was hilarious to see as Broc's pants were none too roomy. However, this was made infinite more times funnier when he decided to test out how much space he had in the pants and crouched down only to find that his pants split straight down the middle. It definitely took me a while to recover from that, but I was very grateful to him for brightening up my day! 

Ok so after a brief visit to the stone Buddhas we carried on driving south for a bit to head so some underwater caves, and they were pretty awesome to say the least. Actually, because of how much it had been raining, some parts of the caves were blocked off my water, and walking along grates over fast flowing water was pretty unnerving at times, however we didn't let this daunt us and actually scaled a barrier at one point so that we could continue on in the caves. At some points it was pretty surreal - pathways becoming inaccessible as the water was gradually making it's way along them. It reminded me a bit of the movie Titanic - beautifully clear blue water gradually blocking off all the exits. Creepy. Anyway, I'm not going to write much more about the caves, I'll just let my photos do the talking.

Definitely thought of the Titanic here

So because of the epicness of the caves, and by the lifting of the rain, my mood was much improved by the time we headed back to Beppu, and this only got better once we got to dinner. The place of choice?! Hit Parade, a 50s style American diner complete with super buffet and live music from men with pompadours to women in poodle skirts! Sorry I forgot to mention - all you can eat and drink with no time limit!
Needless to stay once we got there, we were there for the night, snagging ourselves a rather nice booth with a perfect view of the entertainment on stage. Once again I will allow my photos to talk for themselves!

view from out booth!

All you can drink you say!?

Thursday:

Being packed in

Toasty warm with a view of the beac

Ok so a fairly late start into Thursday, checking out of the hotel and then heading to the beach (thank god it was sunny today) to go for a hot sand bath! Yup, you read that correctly - a HOT SAND BATH! It basically entailed us getting into a robe, lying on some warm black sand, and then being dug and packed in by a member of staff. Apart from being a little claustrophobic at first, and the fact that the sand dug into the back of my legs like nobody's business, it was a really relaxing experience. Especially as our view was straight into the sea. Perfect.

Bridge

After a morning of sanding at the beach we got into the car to begin our stint down south in Aso and Takachiho, sadly leaving Beppu behind. Next stop was a super high suspension bridge that was pretty awesome as it was over a really beautiful valley. However, to me a bridge is a bridge, so although it was pretty spectacular (and pretty sketchy as you felt the whole thing sway as you made your way across it) I don't feel like I need to go into too much detail about it here.

It's like we were there!

So after the bridge we carried on south heading towards our hostel in Aso and the famous volcano. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the volcano as the whole of the mountain was shrouded in clouds. It did make for some pretty fun walking through the mist and some pretty cool photos at some points. Though I guess it would have been nice to see the crater, we still had fun looking around before heading to our hostel. And once again, on the approach to our hostel we felt like we were entering another horror film. This place was in the middle of nowhere down winding country roads and cobbled paths. However, our fears were calmed once we turned the corner to the nicest looking hostel I've ever seen. Just a really nice looking house in the middle of the countryside - complete with hammock and swing in the front garden and a beautiful tatami room for us to sleep in. The rest of the evening was spent enjoying our hostel (which we hadn't had a chance to do before) and enjoying dinner and each other's company (maybe with slightly too much wine consumed). It was a really good night though and very fitting with the kind of day we had just had.

falling into nothing

Pretty hostel

This is the life.

Friday:

Ok, so Friday saw another relaxed start to the day as we only had one thing planned. So we said a rather sad goodbye to our lovely hostel, all piled back in the car and headed down to Takachiho to see the famous gorge down there. We were completely treated this day with bright blue skies and brilliant sunshine so no matter what we did in the day, we knew that it would be enjoyable. And enjoyable it was! The gorge was absolutely breathtaking, what with its sheer cliffs and crystal blue waters below - the sun obviously helped this image of pure tranquility and beauty. Basically the day was spent traversing up and down the gorge - adding an occasional dip of our feet in the waters - and scaling the rocks for the perfect shot. We happily spent hours down there in the sunshine and although very tiring, it was also extremely pleasant not to have to rush anywhere as all we had planned for the evening was to see some traditional Japanese dancing (which was pretty boring as ever!) Looks like I'm going to do the lazy man approach once again and let you see for yourselves what is was like there.

 
Saturday:

So sad times on Saturday as it was the last day of our trip and we had to leave the beautiful countryside and head back to Fukuoka to return the car. However, it didn't have to be returned until 7 that evening so we still had a day yet to enjoy. We started (fairly early) by heading back to Fukuoka to some famous gardens that had beautiful wisteria flowers making walkways around the garden. Avoiding the bees, we made our way up the slope that opened out onto a completely flower covered  area with the purple wisterias hanging down as far as the eye could see. To say this place was picturesque doesn't do it justice. It was just so peaceful (apart from the bees) to stroll around this garden taking in the sight of all these flowers and the smell too was breathtaking. A very nice morning to be sure. However we didn't spend too much time in these gardens as we had a bigger plan for the rest of the day. However, in hindsight, if I was ever to go back there again, I would do as the Japanese did and take with me a blanket and a picnic as it really was one of the prettiest places I have ever been and I could have happily spent a few hours relaxing under the roof of flowers.

Adopting the tradidional 'old man' squat!

Ok, so what was the bigger plan for the day I hear you ask?! It was none other than the greatly named Space World - a smallish theme park on the northern point of Fukushima. Unfortunately, due to many toilet stops, getting lost on the way to the flowers, and just misjudging the time in general, we only had four hours to spend in the park. However, I feel we made the most of the time, managing to get on the three biggest roller coasters and generally just having a nice time chatting whilst waiting in the queues for the rides. The last ride we went on took almost 2 hours to get on which pretty much wiped us out by the end of it. However, we did manage to break up the time fairly successfully much to the amusement of the surrounding Japanese in the queue, as I had brought my playing cards along with me so we managed to play away a good hour before even that got tiring. Anyway, the ride was worth the wait (luckily) and made even better by me and Broc attempting to sing 'A Whole New World' a song from Aladdin. I say attempted, Broc did fairly well, but I just got the giggles from start to finish so unfortunately wasn't able to be much support on his venture! After that we headed back to the car and on to our hostel to quickly get changed before heading back out to return the car and spend our last evening out on the town. We went to a club called 'Happy Cock' which was 2000yen to get in (3000 for the guys) but it was all you can drink! It was a really good club actually with good music and atmosphere though annoyingly we weren't allowed to dance there. That's right, dancing in the club was actually prohibited according to a weird law in Fukuoka about perverse entertainment or something along those lines. So that was fairly frustrating - Natasha was actually told to stop dancing at one point, but all in all it was a really good night and a great way to end out trip.

So that's about it. The next morning was spent travelling back home, getting home around 4 in the afternoon. To sum up then I had an absolutely fantastic Golden Week. I would totally recommend going to Kyushu to anyone coming to Japan as it is by far the nicest place in Japan I have been, and I am definitely sorely tempted to go back again. Not just to Beppu (although that is definitely on my list) but to visit other places such as Nagasaki and Kagoshima. Also a great deal of the enjoyment of the trip was due to the wonderful people I went there with so here's a huge that to Tasha, Broc and Todd for making this trip the best yet!!!