Day 79 - Onsen

As is tradition with every other english-language post on this blog, today was mostly spent sitting inside some form of public transportation. After missing a bus in Koya by a matter of seconds the rest of our trip fell out of sync, ultimately costing us two hours that we ended up spending in places like Hashimoto, Wakayama or Kii-Tanabe, essentially a bunch of Japanese Nagpurs (for the faithful readers of this blog, who somehow have not yet been overcome by boredom since India).

The highlight of today was unquestionably the scenic route along the coast between Wakayama and Kii-Tanabe, where we once again were idiotic enough to end up in a reserved carriage without a reservation. This time though, the conductor simply asked us to move to another carriage (and apologised for it, although it was definitely our fault) and on the way we came across a small observation deck, which we would not have found otherwise. As we appeared to be allowed there, we spent the next hour admiring the beautiful coastal views as the rain and low clouds decided to take a much appreciated break.

At Kii-Tanabe we visited two tourist centres for advice about our hiking plans and how they would be affected by the incoming Super Typhoon Lan. After receiving as much information in English as from reading the painful facial expressions of the staff as we told them of our plans, we decided to head to Yunomine and hope for some sort of a meteorological miracle to happen overnight  after a helpful Kumano Travel advisor forced our hand by telling us she had just been talking to two 40-year old English ladies who had similar plans to ours and were doing it anyways. A two-hour bus trip later and we were at our very traditional guesthouse, having an extremely varied dinner (where we recognised about a third of the delicacies) siting cross-legged on tatami mats, with Pete's face after eating a salty plum thankfully preventing me from doing the same by a matter of seconds.

Famous for its hot springs, Yunomine actually has a UNESCO World Heritage Onsen, the only place on Earth where you can have a hot bath in the middle of a running stream. Unfortunately, due to the incoming floods, it was closed tonight so we had to settle for two different kinds of standard Onsen - Medicinal and Public, where the only difference we could tell was a slightly stronger smell of sulphur on the former. While our first Onsen experience in Naoshima was a bit daunting and slightly awkward, this time around it was far more pleasant - either because we pretty much had the place to ourselves (apart from a gentleman who asked to borrow my soap - how could I say no to that when I am about to share a boiling bath with him with no clothes on?!) or simply because we now know that Onsen are not a competition to figure out who can immerse themselves in boiling hot water the longest...

As had been the case in Naoshima, the Onsen left us fairly desperate for a cold malty drink to restore our core temperature, and thankfully we managed to procure a couple from a vending machine in the otherwise completely dead town. The next couple of hours, spent playing cards while listening to the rain falling heavily outside, were probably the most peaceful and relaxing in this whole trip. Keep your fingers crossed for that meteorological miracle...

Cheers,
J-Wowww