Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell)

This hell is the one I had seen in pictures before we visited the hell park. Above is a lily pond.
You can see the steam rising up from the pool although the pool itself is not yet in sight. Below another lily pond. There aren't so many lily's because it's winter and cold outside. During the winter they raise many inside a greenhouse.

Me in front of the steaming sea blue hell. It was really steaming so that's about all you can see in the this picture. Markian is pictured below.

Here you can see why they call is the "sea hell" Isn't the color beautiful?
They are cooking eggs in the water. There is a basket on a string in the water that is attached to that bamboo pole.
This was a small shrine at the hell.


Look at all the steam!


There were many beautiful lily pads growing inside the greenhouse. I can only imagine in the spring what they all look like outside.





A small reddish hell in the complex I think. Honestly I don't remember it. But according to the order of my pictures that's where it places it.

haha I understood what the sign meant, but it still made me laugh, "hot spring of a leg."
Above: Me putting on a fake smile as the water is scalding, but nice. It had Yuzu (big citrus fruit that grow in the area) floating in it. It made the water smell really nice and fruity.

Below: Me making faces that show the feeling of the scalding hot water, while Mark watches and laughs at me, since he wouldn't get in. And yes I had bought a towel by this point, so I could enjoy my foot bath.

Oniishibozu Jigoku (Monk's Hell)

Above is the path of the hell tour. We were walking to Oniishibozu Jigoku, or "monk's hell".
This hell is full of many mudpots. The thick mud puddles are bubbling in the ground. You can see and hear them. Below is a strange shot Markian took of me.

Above: All the steam coming up out of the rocks. Guess there were some vents under there.
Above: A Japanese style bridge in the middle of the mud pool.

Okay, so this is why it's called "monk's hell" The bubbly mud puddles look like the shaven heads of monks. That's what they say anyway...

A footbath is next to the bench, but yeah I still didn't have a towel at this point so I had to pass.

Kamado Jigoku (Oven Hell)

The next day we left our dingy hotel and headed for the hell park. Not the nicest name, but I did have a fantastic time here. The entire park as my Japanese friend's described it is kinda a dilapidated Japanese tourist trap. I really enjoyed myself though nevertheless. I've been to Yellowstone in the US and they have great stuff, but the cheesy Japanese tourist stuff just made this such a fun experience. You could buy a ticket to visit many of these hot pools and geysers. We started at the Kamado Jigoku, or "oven hell".
Two ladies wanted us to take a picture with their camera. I did, but usually if you do they offer to take yours afterwards and they did, but they kinda sucked at it cause Markian's head is cut off in one and the other doesn't show the hell so well. Oh well, better than nothing.

Above: Mud Pots.
Below: A big, hot, blue, steaming pool.

Above: Me and a lot of steam.

Even more steam!



Above: Part of the attraction is that they cook eggs in the hot water. You can buy them at stands inside of the hell park. I'm not a big egg fan, so I didn't eat any. I can't imagine them tasting that different from regular hard boiled eggs.
Above: Markian below the big oni and his oven.
Above: A mudpot.
Below: Me and a tanuki...maybe? Racoon? Not sure...

Above: A foot bath. Many of the places had these, but this was our first stop and I wasn't sure if they charged extra so I didn't go in, plus I didn't have a towel. They are fantastic though. This one was cloudy, it depends on the minerals that are in the water.

You shouldn't always cut corners

We arrived at Beppu, a hot springs area on the island of Kyushu, after dark. It was peak season and I had difficulty finding a vacant hotel within our budget. Usually if you stay at really cheap places in Japan they are very clean, but basic. This place was quite dumpy and near a sex district near the train station. I would not recommend it. The train would shake the room when it went by as well. The room was only about $50 for two people total which is insanely cheap. I should have known it was too good to be true. It was old and smelled musty and there were mystery stains everywhere. The only plus was the price and that the owner was actually really nice and spoke some English. The place was pretty dead.

Above describes it all. The place had a PAY tv! It was an old getto tv too. Even cheap hotels here usually have nice tvs. I don't mean that the charge is for sexy channels, but they had plenty of that too as there were many brochures in the room. I mean just to turn the thing on and watch basic antenna channels. Markian didn't believe that was what it was for until he tried everything and the tv wouldn't turn on and I tried to read the box. That was total crap. We ran into this at a later hotel of the same chain later on during this long trip.

Above: My first impression of Beppu the next morning. No these are not dirty chemical smoke stacks. There was steam coming out of the earth everywhere. It looked like everything was smoking. This area has lots of geysers, mudpots, hot pools...etc.