Onsen
Monday morning, a bunch of us headed up to the mountains to Kusatsu Onsen. An onsen is a natural hot spring bath, and thanks to its plentiful volcanic activity Japan has lots of them. I gotta tell ya, they are HOT. And fabulous. It took about 2 hours to get there and we didn't drive a straight road at anytime. I'm thrilled I sat shotgun.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7400.html
After healing what ails us at the onsen, we ate a big dinner together at a friend of Kjell's and spent the night on the top floor of a cabin he made by hand. Alone. He's 78. And crazy.....but that's another story. He woke us up the next morning with a gong. Morning came early since we had sake and beer with our terrific Japanese curry (prepared by Charlotte and Emilie!) Niek helped us though the morning by making his now famous pancakes. We went to a larger onsen in the town, then headed back to Onishi.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e7400.html
After healing what ails us at the onsen, we ate a big dinner together at a friend of Kjell's and spent the night on the top floor of a cabin he made by hand. Alone. He's 78. And crazy.....but that's another story. He woke us up the next morning with a gong. Morning came early since we had sake and beer with our terrific Japanese curry (prepared by Charlotte and Emilie!) Niek helped us though the morning by making his now famous pancakes. We went to a larger onsen in the town, then headed back to Onishi.
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| Onsen water is geothermally heated beneath the ground and rises to the surface bubbling hot. Then it is pumped to the bath houses. Temp is about 110 F. |
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| The water is truly a blue-green. It smells of sulphur so the whole town is a bit stinky. |
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| The smaller onsens are free, but this big beauty cost us 600 yen (about $6). Men and women have separate bathing pools because you have to go in "au buffo". |
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| There are several foot baths around the town. Can you guess which pair of feet belong to me? |
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| Crazy Guy and Kjell |
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| Marie took this pic from the upstairs bedroom. We had a ten person slumber party. |
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| I couldn't resist taking this pic of my favorite shop in the village. |
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| Air drying towels from the bedroom balcony after a day at the onsen. |
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| Pancake breakfast!!!! Thanks, Niek!!! Instead of syrup, we had cream cheese and sugar. And, check out Niek's work at http://www.niek-peters.com/ “Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” – Jack Kerouac |
