Whatever we do, we never seem to follow our plans. Yeah, most of the time we don't even try, and simply change them as we see fit. But even if we try we simply cannot stick with our plans. Today, our alarm clock ran out of batteries. We had to take a train to Kagoshima early in the morning, since it takes four hours by train, but of course, we couldn't. We finally managed to get the train at 10:30, and arrived at Kagoshima at 14:30. Enough time to leave our bags at the hostel and leave for Ibusuki. I've heard that there's not much to see in Kagoshima anyway, so...
For 2000 yen per night for a private room, our hostel is great. It's small, and it only has one shower for around 40 guests, but the rooms are very nice. We even have a flatscreen TV and a DVD player in our room. And there's a really great dinner (or so I've heard) for only 270 yen. We coudn't try that, though, since they serve it at 19:30, and at that time, we were still in Ibusuki.
We took the train to Ibusuki, wich took one hour, and walked to the famous place where you gan get a hot sand bath. During our way there, the sky became darker, and a few raindrops fell. Fortunately, by the time we got to the sand bath, the sky was clear again. So, what is a hot sand bath? Well, you rent a yukata and lay down on a specific place at the beach that has hot currents running below it. The staff burries your body under a layer of hot sand, while you simply relax. You can feel your hearbeat running through your body, and you really start to sweat. It's like a natural sauna, with the heat coming from the hot currents runnign below. After at most ten minutes you have to get up again, since staying there for too long can be dangerous. You can then get back to the changin rooms and enjoy a nice bath at the onsen. After all this travelling around, the onsen really felt like heaven. When we got out, we went to the topmost floor of the building, where we could sit down on some really cozy armchairs and enjoy the viev over the whole town. They also had a terrace on the other side, with very impressive views over the port.
After a while, we headed back to the train station to return to our hostel in Kagoshima. On the way back, we confirmed what we were thinking at the arrival: Ibusuki is some sort of ghost town. We were walking through a long street when we noticed that there were no people there. The lights in the shops were on, but noone was there. Also, the streets were decorated like the typical tourist place, and there were several loudspeakers along the street playing the typical elevator music you get to hear on empty streets in horror movies. It kind of reminded me of "The house of wax", if anyone has seen it, when they enter the town and find it completely empty. And just in case it didn't look creepy enough, there was some sort of weird puppet in front of a shop extending it's hand and with a grin on it's face... When we arrived, during daytime, it was weird. But when we left, at night, with every light lit up but without anyone in sight, it was really creepy.
Anyway, after waiting for forty minutes for the train, and an hour and twenty minutes of train ride, we finally made our way back to the hostel, previously stopping at a department store to buy some dinner for today, and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. It'll be a long trip to Nara, and we'll probably get hungry. Yes, you can buy food on the train, but it costs about four times more...
And yes, since we used up the rest of potatoes and onions we had yesterday, today I returned to my usual dinner: ramen. For some reason, even though I've had more ramen than rice, and I already hate rice, I still love ramen. It seems that I can't get fed up with ramen. I wonder if I'll be able to say the same thing at the end of the trip...
PS: Sorry, but [for obvious reasons] I couldn't take my camera to the baths. Also, I can't take photos while filming, and I filmed all the way through the creepy street. HD video has both an advantage and a disadvantage: If you take a screenshot, the quality is not too bad, so you can use it as a normal picture. However, as I already said in a previous post, I cannot work with HD videos with an Atom processor...
For 2000 yen per night for a private room, our hostel is great. It's small, and it only has one shower for around 40 guests, but the rooms are very nice. We even have a flatscreen TV and a DVD player in our room. And there's a really great dinner (or so I've heard) for only 270 yen. We coudn't try that, though, since they serve it at 19:30, and at that time, we were still in Ibusuki.
We took the train to Ibusuki, wich took one hour, and walked to the famous place where you gan get a hot sand bath. During our way there, the sky became darker, and a few raindrops fell. Fortunately, by the time we got to the sand bath, the sky was clear again. So, what is a hot sand bath? Well, you rent a yukata and lay down on a specific place at the beach that has hot currents running below it. The staff burries your body under a layer of hot sand, while you simply relax. You can feel your hearbeat running through your body, and you really start to sweat. It's like a natural sauna, with the heat coming from the hot currents runnign below. After at most ten minutes you have to get up again, since staying there for too long can be dangerous. You can then get back to the changin rooms and enjoy a nice bath at the onsen. After all this travelling around, the onsen really felt like heaven. When we got out, we went to the topmost floor of the building, where we could sit down on some really cozy armchairs and enjoy the viev over the whole town. They also had a terrace on the other side, with very impressive views over the port.
After a while, we headed back to the train station to return to our hostel in Kagoshima. On the way back, we confirmed what we were thinking at the arrival: Ibusuki is some sort of ghost town. We were walking through a long street when we noticed that there were no people there. The lights in the shops were on, but noone was there. Also, the streets were decorated like the typical tourist place, and there were several loudspeakers along the street playing the typical elevator music you get to hear on empty streets in horror movies. It kind of reminded me of "The house of wax", if anyone has seen it, when they enter the town and find it completely empty. And just in case it didn't look creepy enough, there was some sort of weird puppet in front of a shop extending it's hand and with a grin on it's face... When we arrived, during daytime, it was weird. But when we left, at night, with every light lit up but without anyone in sight, it was really creepy.
Anyway, after waiting for forty minutes for the train, and an hour and twenty minutes of train ride, we finally made our way back to the hostel, previously stopping at a department store to buy some dinner for today, and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. It'll be a long trip to Nara, and we'll probably get hungry. Yes, you can buy food on the train, but it costs about four times more...
And yes, since we used up the rest of potatoes and onions we had yesterday, today I returned to my usual dinner: ramen. For some reason, even though I've had more ramen than rice, and I already hate rice, I still love ramen. It seems that I can't get fed up with ramen. I wonder if I'll be able to say the same thing at the end of the trip...
PS: Sorry, but [for obvious reasons] I couldn't take my camera to the baths. Also, I can't take photos while filming, and I filmed all the way through the creepy street. HD video has both an advantage and a disadvantage: If you take a screenshot, the quality is not too bad, so you can use it as a normal picture. However, as I already said in a previous post, I cannot work with HD videos with an Atom processor...
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Arriving at Kagoshima Little Asia Hostel to leave our stuff before departing to Ibusuki
Looking through the window on the train to Ibusuki
Relaxing on the top floor in Ibusuki after the Sand Bath and the onsen. That was great :D
Ibusuki Port at sunset
Waiting for the train at Ibusuki station. No, it wasn't midnight, it was 7:45 pm...
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