Japan - Beppu

While staying in Aso, I took a day trip to Beppu. It was a bit of a disappointment... I think mainly because it poured rain all day. I went to see the natural hot springs, which don't really look natural anymore (they turned them into sort of manicured garden exhibits which kind of took the naturalness away). It must be a beautiful city on a clear day though because the glimpses I got if the surrounding hills (when the clouds shifted) looked amazing.

Bubbling mud

Bubbling mud

 

Big blue pool of boiling water

 

Shrine (weird how it looks sunny in
this photo. It was NOT sunny at all)

The train I took back to Aso that evening broke down in the dark in the middle of nowhere. I was a bit nervous (not being able to understand the passenger announcements) but figured I was in Japan, the country of transportation magnificence, so things would all work out. And it did - after about 20 minutes or so, the driver tried the old proven method of turning it off and turning it back on again and we were on our way.



They must have had the no cars/bikes sign originally and then
people started sitting on / allowing their dogs to pee on / kicking the
sign so they had to get a new sign.