Like I said in a previous post, my coworker was gifted with this weekend getaway deal to a hot spring resort in the mountains. We went this past weekend, and it was really great! It was three of us girls, and a perfect quick getaway.
We decided to drive, so we rented a car and first headed to Mt. Aso, which is an active volcano area south of Fukuoka. The sights were really great, and the weather (still going!) was GREAT. Bright, clear, blue skies. So rare! It was funny because I and my other friend who is a foreigner as well thought Mt. Aso was just one volcano (based off pictures we have seen). Turns out it's an entire valley made up of mountains/volcanoes, and the "Mt. Aso" we thought it was was actually quite tiny and we almost missed spotting it while at the lookout point looking at the REAL volcano (smoke and all). We thought it was funny that a while back we were thinking about "climbing it"--ha. That whole area is renowned for its water and hot springs (where I went back in November), so after that we went to this stream area that was ranked in the top 100 best drinking waters of the world, or something like that? You could drink from the stream there. I got a little worried after I took a sip and this little old man came rushing out to us speaking Japanese, afraid he was telling us we drank out of the wrong stream and that the water I just ingested would give me cholera or something. But turned out he just wanted to show us how the water comes into the stream--through the ground, kind of cool, and take our pictures (even though they turned out incredibly blurry).
Then we headed off to Mt. Kuju where our resort was. We were LITERALLY in the middle of nowhere. Like we drove through deserted fields, up a mountain, and there was our resort, and that was it. It was sunset at that time, and just strange to be so removed from everything else (after being in a large city for the past year). This was my first time since being in Japan staying somewhere actually posh and although I am proud of my ability to "rough it" when needed...it made me feel spoiled again. Yeah, it was a nice place =). And I got to sleep in a comfortable bed...which I haven't done since April 2, 2008, the last night I spent in my bed in CA! We had a six course dinner which included wagyu beef (what you consider "kobe" beef--a luxury), we reserved a private onsen (hot spring) that was outdoors, so we got to sit there and relax and gaze at the AMAZING stars. Then we went to the "public" onsen and hung out there for a bit longer. We decided to wake up around 6 to watch the sunrise, but we seemed to miss it. Oops. But we did go to another private onsen at 7am. At first I was thinking, "why oh why did we reserve it for 7 am?!" but maybe that is the best way to start your day ever? It had a sauna, massage chair, 3 different pools with different temperatures, robes, coffee, tea...it was so nice =). Then we had an amazing WESTERN breakfast (this place knew how to do "Western" well, I'll tell ya!). Then we had to go home =(. I didn't want to leave!! The drive back through Oita was really nice though.
*Can I just tell you how RIDICULOUSLY expensive it is to drive in Japan though?? To Aso (about one hour or so of a drive) it cost us 25 bucks on the highway, and on the way home through Oita (about two hours or so) it cost us around 35 bucks. 60 dollars to drive to places not very far away!! Robbery!
And now I am back to "normal life" for...about another week and a half until my parents come and spoil me even more!! Hahaha. =) Life isn't so shabby these days.
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