afraid of small animals: Roadtrip to Kyushu!

Spring break this year we drove to Kyushu to do a tour of the major sites we could see there and camp for a week. The drive there was long and tiring, leaving around 2 am and getting there around 2 in the afternoon.

When we arrived we went straight to Kagoshima, the furthest spot in our Kyushu trip, and got right down to business at the hot sand onsen in Ibusuki. Getting buried in hot sand for 10 minutes was a great way to recover after being crammed in the car for so long. But I didn't get quite big enough for my booty and after being squashed into hot sand my rear came out a bit toasted.

We took in the sights of southern Kyushu on the scenic drive back to Kagoshima where we ate and promptly fell into our beds at a hotel for the night.

The next day we went to Sakurajima, the gigantic volcano that looms over the city of Kagoshima from across the bay. It was pouring rain and foggy though, so no good pictures of the volcano itself. All I wanted to see was the famous onsen/shrine located on the island. Because it's a shrine, you have to enter the bath in a white robe. There is also a gigantic tree growing out of the onsen and a nice seaside view. Even though the weather was bad, it was nice to soak in the hot bath. It wasn't the only volcano on our trip so it wasn't too disappointing.

The next day we went hiking around Mt. Aso, another active volcano in central Kyushu, and the biggest volcanic caldera in the world, I believe. There are a lot of smaller peaks around the main volcano, so we went out for a hike around some volcanic craters. The hike started off like this, and I thought I was in for a treat!

The hike got more strenuous the higher we got, and I was a little scared to see that we didn't get a paved walkway the whole time.

We did have a nice view of Mt. Aso as we hiked, so even though I fretted about getting back, it was a nice day. We had a good trailblazer, after all.

Here we are at the peak of the volcano. Disappointingly, no volcanic lava to be seen, but the gases coming out of here really stunk and made it a much more authentic experience than the "volcano" that Kevin and I saw in Hokkaido.

After our first night of camping and our long hike, we were keen to find a good onsen. This old place was recommended to us by a local and while it a hi-tech onsen, it had a nice, authentic feeling to it. I particularly liked the lanterns hanging outside.