June 11

06/11/2013

Last day in Beppu!    Woke up and went up to the 10th floor for the "American" breakfast (just to be different).    Toast, Egg, Soup! (squash I think), OJ, etc...   Not bad!   The eggs were actually quite nice!

So I packed up and lugged my stuff over to Beppu station (about 2 blocks) where I stored all but my day-bag in a nice locker for $3.

Then I bought another bus pass for the day and took a bus.   Turned out this was a mistake in that the bus pass is apparently only good for the "West" terminal and the bus I took was from the "east" terminal.   Not a big deal -- just cost about $3 in bus fare.   Anyway, took it to "end of line" where there were some more onsets based on the steam.    I actually found a "free" municipal onsen and used it -- probably to the surprise of some of the locals.    Nothing much by the way -- just a nice soaking communal bath.      However, the good news was the right outside I was greeted by a nice Beppu-cat!

After bathing I walked around for a while --- saw another cat and an interesting foot steamer (or torture device?)

Found a bus stop (right kind this time!) and headed back to Beppu Station.   Was a little hungry so went to the local "bread" place and got a few items:

Walked around a little bit and decided to take "free shuttle" up to a hotel that has a combined onsen and pool area.     No pictures to speak of, but it turned out that the hotel was a hotel/casino (well, pachinco parlor?) so this was a bit of a scam to pull people up the hill -- it was about a 10 minute drive up the hill and DID have a great onsen and swimming pool area (less swimming and more wading).    All of that was on the roof, so think a series of layered (like rice fields) infinity pools that overlooked much of Beppu.   Pretty impressive.    I hung out in various pools and "tubs" (they had individual wooden tubs you could soak in to) for about an hour before I was too onsen-waterlogged.    They also had a strange "igloo" like structure at the top (somewhat dark inside) and fragrant (in a good way) smelling.   The english translation of some warning sign was odd though -- something like "do not eat fruit".    Weird.

Anyway, very nice views and relaxing.

Then I actually put on a bathing suit (the swimming 'aqua' area is mixed gender and I suspect a novelty for Japan where you actually wear a suit!).    But I came prepared (though you could rent one too).    The water in multiple pool zones was hot-tub warm (I know someone who would have loved it!).    There were several wading pools, a "massage shower" (think waterfall when you push the button for 2 minutes).    There was also a very nice/strange "tee-pee" building that was playing soothing music and had handhold devices around the outside edge.   So you basically went in, lay down with your ears in the water, and listened .      The water in that pool was a special salt blend (like 5%) and supposed to be "good for you".    Either way, it was nice.

There were also pool lounge chairs, so I pooled for a while then relaxed in one of those ...  basically spent another hour in this pool area.

Then I headed back to Beppu Station again and figured it was time for lunch....   Had some tempura (shrimp, chicken, eggplant, carrot ,squash) at the same place as I had only chicken last night.    Then had a dessert cake next door-

Then I walked around a little -- saw a nice kitty waiting at a restaurant that wasn't open (though it had no tail!) and a very nosey diety:

This all made me hungry again so back at beppu station I got a cone of blueberry infused soft ice cream:

Decided I should check out the ferry building location (without luggage) so waited for a bus over to the terminal and checked with the general attendant there.   There were lockers and I couldn't really check in for another hour, or board for another hour after that.   But I figured I'd seen enough so I hopped a bus back to Beppu station, grabbed my luggage, and bussed back to the terminal.   Waited around a bit and checked in, then stored my luggage in another locker and took a short walk to burn a little more time.     Saw the boat (its a big one!) and some lumber (wonder if it came over from Hawaii!).   Took a few pictures of the beach / port area.      ONe of the most interesting things I saw was actually a series of bushes just before the station that had spider webs (with spiders!) that had big rain drops on them.   I'm sure the spiders didn't like them, but they were very cool.

Waited until it was time to Board the boat and headed on board with the crowd.    Inside there was a nice reception desk that provided a key to my room.   The room number said "238" and there were other rooms in the 200 series on this same floor... so I hunted but no 230 series!  Had to go back and ask the nice ladies who pointed upstairs to the 3rd floor (I guess 'extra' 200's are upstairs with the 300's!)... okay!

My room was very small, as expected, but comfortable.   Bathrooms on the same floor, all western style it seems.   There was a common bathing area (standard japanese 'wash off' followed by a nice soak in one of two big soaking pools that had jets in them -- must have been tied into the boat motor -- pretty strong!).     There was also a lounge on the 3rd floor for adults and (unfortunately) a play area for kids (but there were no kids playing when I was around).    Downstairs on 2 there were various vending machines and a restaurant/caffeteria.   Here are some pictures (mostly comfortable)

Outside in the hallway of the 2nd floor there were vending machines--

and a gift shop with food and items--

upstairs on the 3rd floor there was another set of vending machines and a microwave oven -- so you could buy 'boxed hot food' and make it hot.   I didn't---

But the lounge (and I guess kids area) were nice:

So away we sailed --

Here's a picture of my room:

Went to sleep (or tried to) but the TV next door was left on loud.   Eventually it did get turned off and I fell asleep -- slept well!