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JAPAN ~ Beppu : Kamado Jigoku (Cooking Pot Hell)

 Silky blue, Kamado Jigoku

Beppu, one of the best hot spring cities in the world, is also known for its "hells" (in Japanese "jigoku" 地獄). Seven photogenic hot springs which will definitely stimulate your senses. Since I like to take my time visiting places I decided to visit each one separately with a slow pace, starting with Kamado Jigoku, also known as the "Cooking Pot Hell".

 The south ticket office entrance-exit

There are two ticket offices entrance-exits, the south and east one. Kamado Jigoku has six districts or points of interested, since the 1st one is just after the south ticket office I decided to enter through here. Entrance fee is ¥400 or if you plan to visit the other hells as well you can have a combination ticket for all seven hells for ¥2000 (valid for two consecutive days). If you have purchased the "Be Beppu" booklet you can have a 10% discount for the combination ticket for all seven hells plus a free onsen egg in Kamado Jigoku! "Be Beppu" is an information guidebook about Beppu made by Beppus Tourism Information which apart of the information and photos offers many free bath tickets and discount coupons! It costs ¥500 and totally worth the money, you can get it from the tourism information office inside JR Beppu station.

 Bubbling hot mud

After the entrance you will find the first hell, a bubbling hot 90 degrees Celsius thermal mud. You can hear the bubbles burst and if you look carefully you'll notice the interesting bubble burst liquid formations.

 Muddy bubble bursts

Afterwards you will be greeted by a Japanese demon (oni) statue. Under it, is a vent which blows out steam at 100 degrees Celsius! Some interesting information is written at the info board, if you hold a lighted cigarette or a match and strongly blow the lighted tip towards the steam, the steam intensity will instantly increase! This is the case with all the steam coming out from the hells as well. On the left there is an Agave century plant which blooms only once in 60 years!

 The Japanese demon statue

 Vent under the statue blowing out steam at 100 degrees Celsius!

A closer look at the oni (Japanese demon) statue

 Agave century plant, blooms only once in 60 years!

After the statue you will find yourself at a beautiful cobalt blue hell. It is 85 degrees Celsius and there is steam pouring out. An information board tells you that the white substance seen all around the hell is composed of amorphous silica (inorganic material commonly used in semiconductor circuits) and hot spring deposits. It takes around 70 years to form!

 85 degrees Celsius pond

 Beautiful cobalt blue color

 Some poor souls like this dragonfly are attracted to the warmth of the pond and eventually end up being boiled. Here you can also clearly see the white amorphous silica substance.

A piece of the white matter which was broken off is displayed.

 After the beautiful blue pond it's time for you to relax a little bit before you proceed to the next attraction. There is a bench which you can sit and warm up your feet on the hot stones, just make sure you remove your shoes. Then you can actually drink and taste the hot spring water, be careful to do sip down slowly as the water can be as hot as 80 degrees Celsius. If you are still not warm enough, a nice steam bath for your feet and hands will make you relaxed. And finally there is a steam bath for your throat and face skin! Steam pours out from tubes, you can just place your face in front of it and if you open your mouth it will reach your throat as well. The steam pours out at 100 degrees Celsius!

 Drinking the hot spring water

 Foot and hand steam bath

Throat and face skin steam bath

Further on, there is one more thermal mud pond with a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius. You can see mud bubble bursts here as well but not as intense as the previous one (at least during my visit).

Thermal mud pond at 80 degrees Celsius

Small muddy bubble bursts

And now you are at the biggest and probably the most photogenic hell of Kamado Jigoku. A big pond of silky blue color. An information sign states that the ponds color changes several times a year, from dark to light and from blue to green color! The explanation to this phenomenon is yet to be found. You can walk around the circumference of the pond enjoying the various different points of view. There is a vent that sprouts hot water with steam and it's the point where most of the people make a stop. Not only because you actually get sprinkled while you pass by but because usually the person in charge will blow with a lighted cigarette or a candle towards the vent causing an instant increase of its intensity which lasts for quite a few seconds offering an even more thrilling spectacle!

Silky blue pond, view from its south part facing the north, notice the steam vent on the left

Another point of view while walking around, this time from the north facing the south, steam vent on the right

A close up of the front of the steam vent shot in high shutter speed. You can see lots of water being sprout together with the steam

The steam vent viewed from the back side

The person in charge has just blown with a lighted cigarette towards the steam vent increasing its intensity, to the delight of the group of people behind him

The last pond is one more thermal mud one, like the two previous ones. This one had a bit more reddish color and there is no particular area for muddy bubble bursts, it seems that it boils from everywhere. The difference in color is due to iron contained in the soil.

Finally, there is a large footbath and a shop serving drinks and steamed delicacies, eggs and vegetables. Everything steamed in the hells steam of course!

The shop in front of the footbath

A special egg called "Onsen Piitan", its shell looks normal but once you break it you will notice the difference...

...not only the color of the egg is different but the taste was also rich and extremely delicious. As soft as it needed to be with a unique flavor that will give you cravings for more eggs. This egg sold in Kamado Jigoku is very special and differs from the other onsen eggs as it is steam cooked for around 24 hours! The different color and rich taste is the result of this prolonged steamed cooking and this is also one of the reasons they want to distinguish it from the rest of the onsen eggs, thus naming it "Onsen Piitan". They sell more than 3000 eggs daily! To be honest I also bought more eggs to eat and when I looked at the next table stand, two guys had just bought 16 of them! One egg costs ¥70, five of them ¥315 and eight ¥500. You can get a free egg if you have the "Be Beppu" booklet, information about it at the top of this post.

The footbath in front of the shop, if there is a large group it might get really busy here

Exiting there is a souvenir shop selling all kinds of interesting things but before that I saw this small garden which had some very cute stones with cat paintings. I thought that somebody around there must definitely love cats... then I saw something moving on the other side of the garden... and finally understood where the inspiration comes from! A beautiful white, green eyed cat was going around, gave me a look from afar and then vanished in the vegetation. Apparently I learned that cats love to be around onsens and hot springs for various reasons. Warmth provided, giving birth, the kittens have more possibilities to survive the winter. Plus, cats are not the only creatures attracted to the warmth, all kinds of insects come as well which are a good source of cat food.

Cute garden with cat painted stones

And the gardens guest of honor

Exited from the east ticket office exit/entrance but there was one last surprise for me...

Exiting the souvenir shop you end up at the east ticket office exit/entrance, here you can also take your photo with your face as the Kamado Jigoku oni (Japanese devil)

Exiting, you go past the toilets and just next to the east tickets office I noticed a building which had "iyashinoyu" written in Japanese. Got excited as it looked like an onsen, something that the ticket office confirmed! It happens that if you have purchased an entry ticket for Kamado Jigoku you can use this onsen for free! But you need to go to the east ticket office and ask for the key, you unlock, bath, lock again and return the key. So you can even have a real onsen experience after visiting the beautiful hells of Kamado Jigoku! It seems that most of the people are unaware of this hidden gem plus there is no English sign. Later on I found out that the onsen was built by the Kamado Jigoku owner for family use but he has it open for the visitors of the hell as well. An excellent way to finish your visit in Kamado Jigoku!

The less known "Iyashinoyu" next to the east ticket office

Access with public transport: from JR Beppu station you can use bus numbers 2, 5, 41, 43 and go down at "Umi Jigoku Mae", Kamado Jigoku is a few minutes walk from the bus station.

Additional information

GPS coordinates for places in this post, click on them to be redirected to the exact point in google maps. Click on the names to be redirected to their official websites (if applicable).

Kamado Jigoku: 33°18'58.5"N 131°28'20.7"E
JR Beppu station: 33°16'47.2"N 131°30'01.0"E

JAPAN ~ Ukiha (2012-2013) Nagarekawa Cherry Blossom

 Ukiha city is one of these beautiful places that although is getting more popular with Japanese tourism it is mostly unknown with foreign tourists, probably because it has not been mentioned extensively yet by any major foreign travel guidebook. Located in Kyushu, just one hour away from Fukuoka, it is easily reachable by car, bus or train.
 There are many appealing attractions from natural sites like parks with waterfalls to stunning rice terraces, endless fruit farms in which you could experience fruit picking at the right season, beautiful temples, shrines, onsen and cozy little cafes, all of these will try to cover in future posts.
But there is one attraction that is the most popular and it is only available for a few days a year, enjoying the cherry blossoms at the Nagarekawa Cherry Blossom Avenue.

 The cherry trees line up in both sides of the path creating a fairy tale atmosphere during the cherry blossoms season.

 Was really happy to photograph this couple, I smiled to them and they smiled back when I took the photo but I blurred their faces since I didn't ask them if I could post the photo in my blog.

 On the north side of the path, people sit down by the water to enjoy the scenery with their snacks and drinks.

 There are a few stalls operated by locals which sell sweets, snacks and drinks. 

 A popular sweet to eat at this time is "sakuramochi", sweet pink colored sticky rice (mochi) with red bean paste (anko) inside, wrapped in a pickled cherry blossom leaf, delicious!

 Early morning walk enjoying the scenery with solitude.

 Sometimes you might catch a short performance, I loved this guy making everybody laugh at first with his funny faces, dancing with various costumes and masks and fire breathing for the grand finale.

Even though in this resolution you wouldn't be able to see any face, I blurred all the tiny faces of all the people in the background.

 The path which runs from west to east is less than a kilometer long and people usually walk the whole length of it more than one time.

 The kids shirt (face blurred) wrote "live together - balance of nature".

 Looking around outside the cherry blossom path you might spot this area on the mountain with the cherry trees resembling a heart.

 While north of the path people sit down by the water to enjoy, south of the path you can have a view of peach trees as well, their color is a nice shade of pink while the cherry blossoms on the back are more white, a real eye pleasure.

 Peach blossoms in a closer look.

 Humans are not the only ones enjoying the cherry blossoms.

 The cherry blossoms last for around a week. Here is the first stage when some of the flowers have not opened their petals yet.

 And here after a few days all the flowers in full bloom.

 And finally, the last few days before the end, the white petals are falling... if there is a little bit of wind the air carries these petals around creating a fairy tale scenery.

 Dogs are enjoying their cherry blossom walk as well!

You could even visit at night when you might still find a few people enjoying the view with a drink.

I have experienced the cherry blossoms in Ukiha during 2012 and 2013, from what I've been told its getting more popular every year, if it happens that you are in Kyushu at the right time I would totally recommend a visit!

Additional information

GPS coordinates for places in this post, click on them to be redirected to the exact point in google maps. Click on the names to be redirected to their official websites (if applicable).

Nagarekawa Cherry Blossom Avenue: 33°19'53.8"N 130°46'28.3"E
Ukiha train station: 33°20'06.0"N 130°47'20.9"E