On with the Onsens

 

We began the day with an early morning trek to Shin-Kobe station to stamp our books. Most Japanese stations (and some historical sites) have a unique stamp that can help you document your journey across this beautiful country. Clearly, after the Fragrance Museum, I was going to try and get stamps from every possible station—even the tiny ones we'll use for interchanges. 

the unplanned Hakata pitstop

Despite very careful planning, we missed our connecting train by a whisker at Hakata for our transfer to Yufuin. Which meant a couple of unplanned hours in a city we know nothing about. Just the perfect tie window to people-watch in  a public place So here are a few things I noticed about the Japanese irrespective of where we were: 

1. People are always polite, always friendly. They'll help you out whenever they can. 

2. Japanese systems are geared towards efficiency and almost always work like they're supposed to (you have no idea how rare that is) Everything from our immigration process to our hotel check-in to the cash transactions at stores-automated, and quick (another rare combination) 

3. While cities and public places are amazingly clean, you're hard-pressed to find a public trashcan anywhere. 

But these are early days into the trip, we'll see if these observations hold true at the end of our fortnight here. 

spectacular mountain views reflecting off the train station at Yufuin

As we arrived at Yufuin, we were treated by clear views of the twin peaks of Mount Yufu glistening in the sun.  We wanted the short distance to our ryokan - Yufuin Roykan Okaeri. We loved the fact that they have their private family onsens. It was our first stay at a traditional Japanese Onsen and it did not disappoint. Apart from helping us un the stairs with our (very) heavy baggage, and showing us around the place, we had access to other 24-hour coffee-and-snacks at the recreation area (which also had books, board games and video games)  not to mention used of the bicycles to trek across town, the beautiful Yukatas and Haoris. 

River Oita

Yufudake mountains

The traditional Japanese layout was beautifully crafted and featured clear views of the Yufudake mountains on the banks of the Oita River. Of course, all of this was just the watercress. We couldn't wait to experience the famed onsens. Now, in case you're unfamiliar with Japanese Onsens, they're a pretty novel experience. You're supposed to sink into this common hot spring pool completely naked, which is why public Onsens here are segregated by gender. The family version of the Onsens meant the naked rule still applied, but you could have the entire onsen to just the family. As you can guess, this concept didn't go down too well with Child 2, so we decided to let her have her soak in separate onsen, while the baa-lamb and I legged it to the largest of the onsens. While the Ryokan has 5 private onsens for the use of their guests, the one that's really special is the outdoor one, with naturally carved seats along the side. 

The largest of the family onsens. No, we're not sharing pictures of us soaking. Lucky you. 

If you know me at all, you know that I don't handle cold well. So trust me when I tell you, the feeling of soaking away in a hot spring pool when temperatures outside are close to freezing is pure heaven. You know the snow monkeys soaking in the bath you see on nature shows? The ones looking like they've attained Nirvana? That was me. I was the snow monkey. We turned in early since we'd decided to catch another Shinkansen (why do I have a feeling they're going to be our second homes for the duration of the trip) - besides, all that soaking had me well-rested and primed for a great night's sleep. 

Yukatas on loan

we loved the traditional ryokan with their superb hospitality

Breakfast at the Royokan Okaeri was, once again, a traditional Japanese affair and delicious -- fish broth soup & chicken rice, accompanied by omelette, meat, sweet potato and pickled cabbage. As we headed to the station, we witnessed the most orderly queue to exist going into the station platform. No pushing, shoving, jostling or yelling, yet all 300-odd passengers seemed to get on board in the five short minutes that the train halted here. We bid farewell to this beautiful little town, and headed back up north - next stop, Hiroshima. 

An evening in Kobe

 Japan was a long-awaited trip on the family bucket list for ages. Needless to say when the baa-lamb suggested that we nip across to the land of the rising sun over Christmas and New Year's we 'hai-hai'ed in unison and hopped to it. Sadly Child 1  decided to properly 'adult' this break opting to swot for upcoming exams rather than make merry with the bankrollers. A minute of silence for the death of his innocence and we swiftly move on. 

Day 1  - Tokyo to Shin Kobe. 

The view enroute to Shin-Kobe 

We left the airport and caught a Shinkansen (the Japanese superfast train) to Shin-Kobe, the connection station for the fast trains to Kobe. 

Kobe drain covers

It was nearly 5 in the evening - we had, indeed spent a large part of

Lychee-Liquer makes everything fun-er.

our day travelling - however, with just a quick freshening-up sesh at the hotel room at Villa Fontane, we were ready to set out to catch the sunset in the cable car ride to the top of mount Rokko to the Nunobikki herb garden. However, little did we know that we'd be waylaid by the 'Happy Hour' at our hotel, where good cheer and even better 'spirits' overflowed  We were especially thrilled with the lychee liqueur which paired really well with cheese,freshly made salsa and 24-hour travel- weary bones. However, despite these dastardly plans to distract us, we finally headed out to the cable car stop, duly fortified by the lychee-goodness sloshing about our insides. 

Tha's all we could see from the cable car

I would have said more about the cable car ride had we taken the sunset ride- It's supposed to be beautiful watching the sun set over the city of Kobe. But it was too dark to really see anything when we arrived. We reached the top, slap bang in the middle of the Christmas market. As far as Christmas markets go, it wasn't bad, with the mandatory queues for ice creams and hot chocolate in the freezing cold. 

The Fragrance Museum stamp

But what I loved was the fragrance museum exhibits of ancient perfume bottles and equipment to extract natural oils. it also had over 80-plus natural aromas and all 3 of us had a thoroughly enjoyable evening trying to discern our favourite fragrances. (mine was surprisingly a very mundane sandalwood- a throwback to comforting childhood memories, I suppose)

View from atop mount Rokko

Since it was bitterly cold outside, there was hot-cheery chocolate to be had, and since we were with baa-lamb and Child 2, ice cream (honeycomb flavour, in case anybody was interested). Both, on their own, good, but combined, creating a dessert party in your mouth. 

On our return, we stopped at 7-11 (the only thing that was still open) to stock up on a bento meal an fried chicken before we headed back to our room. I would be remiss here not to mention our room, which was rather small in proportion, but big in function! Toilets with automatic functions (including the famed Japanee heated seats), to headrests with built-in light controls and alarm clocks. Very comfortable, very clean and top marks for service. We were heading out at the crack of dawn to the southern end of Japan - to Yufiyin, so we needed to catch out z's. 

Note to self for the rest of the trip: Must try the huge assortment of desserts and ramen flavours on display at the supermarkets.