Hot Baths & Cool Caves

 Tyler Reporting.

(Continuing to transcribe Morning Pages journal entries from our 3-week trip to South Korea and Japan.)

Day 7 - And, now we are in Yuda Onsen. The trip here involved a ride on a bullet train, which was pretty exciting, just wanting the Japanese countryside fly past at such quick speeds. That was followed by waiting at a seemingly timeless train station where we were eventually picked up by a train that could have been lifted from a Ghibli movie but, y'know, ancient.

On the final morning before boarding our train, we spent a little time in a mall near our hotel, where there was a Gundam and Bandai Station featuring models, crane machines, gachapon and toys. It was a hit with the kids.

A whole section of One-Piece crane machines. A lot of big anime and manga properties had similar areas.

All aboard the Shinkasen!

Arriving in Yamagushi, and awaiting our train to Yuda Onsen. A pretty typical scene for our mob.

Arriving at Yuda Onsen. Much quieter than the other cities we've been to so far in this trip.

A short trip on that, and a long sweaty walk down numerous streets in Yuda Onsen took us to our onsen itself; which was a vast, aging and (let's pretend) haunted structure where the hostess (or "land lady") does a nightly "Land Lady Show" of some notoriety. 

The fable surrounding Yudo Onsen involves a white fox using the hot springs healing properties, so you see fox sculptures and imagery all over town.

The large atrium in the onsen's lobby sort of captures the vibe of the whole place. It was likely impressive at one point, but now is just sort epitomizes the whole places shabby chic feel.

Otto was feeling too shy to participate, but the rest of us hopped into some "ow hot!" onsen baths before participating in the hotels surprisingly good kaiseki dinner.

Our breakfast at the hotel, the first morning we were there. We would have a lot of kiaseki meals similar to this, going forward. Each prepares with care and featuring a dizzying array of food... but eventually making us crave simpler fare.

Day 8 - The next morning, we decided that we'd ship our luggage ahead of us, so that we could travel more leisurely to Hofu, which ironically made for a slightly hectic morning. Then we hopped into a bus which took us up into the hills outside of Yamaguchi, to the town of Mine. There we visited an amazingly large (and forgivingly cool) cave that was so ginormous that it was hard to get your head around it.

The entrance bridge into the cave, over a beautiful, air-chilling pond.

Some of the unearthly limestone formations inside of the cave.

An attempt to get the scale of the cave. This is only a tiny section of it, and you can maybe see how distant and tiny some of those lights and people are.

Stair-stepped alien-looking ponds of water. Supposedly there were tiny eyeless shrimp in some of them, but I never spotted any of them.

We wandered through it, taking in the stalactites, stalagmites bats and strange pools of water; as well at the river that ran through it. before eventually emerging on the far end. After some quick ice cream, we doubled back to an elevator inside in the cave that took us up to the rolling grassy fields, littered with jagged stones and boulders that made up the cave's roof. Another stunning Mizayaki-esque locale.

Back topside. Stella exploring a bit to take photos. She proved to be quite the shutter-bug on this journey.

Green, rolling hills dotted with boulders and bushes, as far as the eye can see. And, white, fluffy clouds drifting overhead.

Back through the cave again, a quick lunch in the souvenir village, a tiny bit of shopping and an hour-long bus ride back to the hotel. Regrouping, it was time for another trip to the baths, with Otto joining in this time. Thankfully, he seemed to get over the awkwardness of public baths and seemed to have a good time. 

Then, foregoing the hotel dinner, we went out to what basically felt like a Japanese TGIFridays, with lots of fried food and beer... but with seating on the floor.

Going into the restaurant, I noted a karaoke place next door, and by the time we left I'd convinced the kids it would be a fun time. So, we all grabbed a room for an hour to belt out some tunes. The kids had a fun time and was happy it was a hit. 

Happy and Enjoy! We definitely did!

Despite everyone looking awkward in this picture, the kids really did enjoy it. I'm not sure why all-ages Karaoke isn't a thing in the States. Seems like it would be a hit.

Now, it's morning again, and we'll have another hotel breakfast before another hot travel day. Though, thankfully, this time we won't have all the luggage and -hopefully- it will be waiting for us at Miyajima Island. Fingers crossed. Also, a good test case for the hiking portion of the trip later on.

Miyajima Island is our last stop with our friends. It's been quite a journey so far, and we will have a few days. But, then just the Hill-Stachs. Wish us luck! Onward!