Monkey Park

So in Kyushu last December on Christmas Eve in Aso, very close to Mt. Aso, on the way actually, we stopped at this monkey park. A student had told me about it and recommended it. It wasn't in my guidebook or anything. We went here on our first day we rented our car in Kyushu. We picked the car up in Kumamoto (where we spent a couple nights), and then drove at to Aso for the day.
I have mixed feeling about this place. The animals see well treated and have big pens, but I still don't like caged animals. I will say at the time, it was the closest I'd ever gotten to a monkey. You could buy bag of food (peanuts and fruit) for about a buck and then take some tongs and feed it to the monkeys. I have to say it was much more generous than the little things they give you at Sea World in the states to feed the dolphins. I actually got tired of feeding them before I ran out of food. They were really loud and the babies were so so cute!

Isn't he adorable?
Mark managed to snap a couple shots while the monkey's were taking the food. It was difficult because they grab it so fast. I had so much fun, but I don't think he was amused. He mostly just watched me feed the monkeys. He wasn't interested in feeding them.



There was more at the monkey park, that is for another post though.

Diesel Train

So usually the trains in Japan that I ride every week where I live are run by electricity. Well, when you go out to the boonies, the trains don't run so frequently, and I guess it's too expensive to make a big electric line for that one train an hour that's only 1 car. So, here we rode a 1 car diesel train. It was much louder, not surprisingly. It was more like riding a bus than a train, or so it felt since it was so small. I took a picture because it was different and oh so yellow.

This picture of Markian is strange to me because he cut his hair really short recently. We are working so hard lately. We have many nice plans for November though. Fukuoka sumo tournament opening day, 9th row box seats, in the first of November and at the end a trip to Kyoto with my friend to get dressed as Maikos! I'm really excited. If I can just make it through all this work, there are many exciting things ahead!!! Oh and I'm planning our Winter Vacation trip. Thinking of Thailand at the moment, but not sure. We'll see what happens when I go to the travel agency this week.

Tatsumaki Jigoku (Water-Spout-Hell)

Here is the last of the hells. I don't know if anything still is reading this thing as the comments have disappeared about 4 months ago or so. I just don't have time to update like I'd like. Anyway, this was the most disappointing, but also the most crowded of the hells...go figure. If you've ever been to Yellowstone, this is the biggest let down ever. So tons of people were standing around waiting for this geyser to go off. There were benches and everything. This hell was a little away from the others...actually quite a good walk on a narrow country road. I think most people drive here. There were some buses, but they were far and few inbetween, so we sucked it up and walked, and then took the bus back.

Above is what the geyser looked like before it went off. You'll see they've capped it off though with rocks at the top. Apparently it used to spray water really high, but now it barely does anything. This is for safety of course, but now it's all boring and I don't understand why all the people there seemed so amused. I'd be ill if I'd paid separate for this.


However, the surrounding garden was nice. There were pretty pink flowers everywhere and many tropical plants. I love Kyushu. It looks like spring even in the winter!

Chinoike Jigoku (Blood Pond Hell)

I don't know where the fish came from. It was somewhere on our walk, but I liked that they got really close to me and I liked the maple leaves that were floating in the water.
This is the famous blood pond. It's the one they usually show in the tourist brochure of the hells from the hell park. It looked more dirty to me than red though.
Me in front of the Blood Hell, my eyes were closed in the first shot, but I kinda like it.

A view from above.
I really liked the leaves on top of this roof. It looked neat because it had rained on them and it was all mossy up there. Markian is the one that pointed it out to me actually.

Shiraike Jigoku (White Pond Hell)

These first pictures are from walking between the hells, and overlooking the town of Beppu. It's definitely a hot spot as you can see all the steam rising out from the earth. There are so many onsens here and it's no wonder. It almost looks like the town is on fire.


Here is the white pond hell, and well basically that's what it is. I wasn't that impressed, but Markian really enjoyed this one for some reason. Oh and there was a small aquarium when we entered with fish.



It's nice, but really all that was to see there.

Oniyama Jigoku (Devil's Mountain Hell)

Oni! Awesomeness. At this hell they breed crocodiles because the warm water is good for that. I have never seen so many crocodiles in my life!

This is where the hot water comes from they use in the crocodile breeding pools. Of course this pool itself is too hot for the crocodiles.


Here they are. Scary close, but there was electric fence around the pool.

There were SO MANY of them!



A view of the breeding ground for afar.

Yama Jigoku (Mountain Hell)

Okay, first off I only went here because it was included in the ticket price. Basically my guide book was correct about this place. It is animals basically living in their own personal hell. It depressed me. I thought I'd share my pictures anyway because there were some positive things.
Here is the actual hell there.


This is by far the closest I've ever got to a hippo. He sits there and eats potatoes all day. I did and didn't feel sorry for him at the same time.



I felt the worst for the baboons and the elephant. The small cage and crappy quarters made me really sad. I didn't linger long.

I wouldn't recommend this one. If you love animals it's quite depressing.