Vine Bridges and Matsuyama!

We started our day from Nate's apartment looking at this river RIGHT outside his door.  I still can't believe that an ALT lives where he does!

We took a brief hike in the mountains nearby and then cleaned up at the best onsen (hot spring) I have ever been to in Japan.  We went to this small onsen at a hotel at my friend's suggestion and it was totally worth it!  He lives in the famous Iya Valley and this onsen was perched on a mountainside overlooking the gorge and vine bridge below.  We took a small cable car from the hotel up to this perch on high and walked down this nicely landscaped path to get to our baths.

This was the women's bath.  Luckily there were no other guests there so we could take lots of pictures even inside.  It was a small bath but the scenery was amazing.  All the showers and changing areas were outside, and boy was it chilly!  It started to rain while we were in the baths, but we still had a nice soak and shook off the morning chill before heading out to see the famous vine bridges in the afternoon.

We actually bypassed the most famous vine bridge (undoubtedly crowded with souvenir stalls and tour buses) and drove deep into the mountains to find the other two vine bridges that were much less visited.  On this rainy afternoon we had the place almost entirely to ourselves!  This was by far one of the coolest things I've seen in Japan.  And Mum, before you start to hyperventilate, the bridges were reinforced with steel cables.  I'm not crazy!

Cally and I tried hard to make crossing the bridge look as perilous as possible.  Although the rain and slippery conditions did actually make is slightly risky.

Holding on to the vines for dear life.   

There were some really large gaps in between the slats on the bridge.  It ended up being more dangerous then anticipated (and surprisingly fun) to dash across in the rain. 

It was kind of hard to take a picture of both bridges, but they were side by side so we shot back and forth.

That night, it stopped raining just as we pulled into a campsite next to a huge highway oasis.  We didn't know what to expect, camping at a highway rest stop, but it turned out to be a nice sakura park where the trees were just starting to bloom.  We were hugely impressed by the nice lanterns and sakura that night but were even more surprised when we woke up the next morning to see what we had been sleeping next to.

Our campsite was RIGHT on a river and it made for some nice rock climbing after our morning jog.

Ok, the rock climbing wasn't actually that strenuous.  But it was still a nice view to start the day!

We took our time leaving the camp that morning and we made it to Matsuyama Castle just before it closed that afternoon.  I really enjoyed this castle as the inside felt more like an old castle than most I have visited (no renovations that included elevator installation) with the steep wooden staircases and dark interiors.  Unfortunately, we got there just before most of the sakura lining this path to the castle actually bloomed.  But hey, I got soft serve (sake with a peanut on top) so I can't complain! 

That night we took a break from camping and stayed in a hostel right near this onsen, the oldest one in Japan!  Dogo onsen is in this cool building and visited by so many people that they give you a time limit when you go in.  We splurged on the fancy package that meant we got a tour of the Imperial baths where the Emperor bathed (before the time when there was technology to transport the water to Tokyo) and got to use a special bath.  The baths themselves were totally unimpressive--lots of marble, one plain old bath and tons of people--but the experience itself was really cool.

The (blurry) view from our private changing room where we were served tea after our bath.  Dogo onsen is apparently the setting for a lot of Spirited Away, one of the most famous Miyazaki films... which I'd like to see now!  It was nice to sleep in a bed again that night before heading out on the rest of our whirlwind tour. 

Comments

[kat]

Looks like it was an amazing trip!! I know a lot of inaka jets were always jealous of my urban position (way back when), but I wish I had that river outside where I lived when I was on JET.....

[Mia]

Wonderful photos!!! I love the ones of the river. It sounds like you had a great time.

[freecia]

That's some apartment view! Gorgeous photos all around. Wish I was on that trip. The old bathhouse looks totally awesome. Love how it has little towers outdoors, just like you'd imagine a classic bathhouse or inn would have.

[Mariko]

How amazing! Those onsen look great. I went to Matsuyama Castle with my aunt. We took the ferry from Yanai (my aunt lives near there). I remember taking the little cable swing things up to the castle. They were filming something up there, too. Your photos make me totally want to go explore Shikoku!

[Kate G.]

It totally looks like Spirited Away! Wow! I can't remember what it's called in French... I saw it in Japanese with French subtitles. I think we have the DVD. le voyage de Chihiro???

[Lisa]

Looks like a great trip! I am amazed (and jealous) that you were able to find so much nature in Japan. That's funny about Sen to Chihiro... because I was thinking from the first picture (from the outside) that it looked like the bath in that movie. You gotta see it - it's amazing!

[Bonnie]

Thanks for sharing. What an amazing trip.