Thursday, March 12, 2009

onsen hoyoland

After four months in Beppu I finally visit the Onsen Hoyoland. I told you I was trying to be more productive. Whassat? Mixed-gender outdoor mud baths. What a wonderfully loaded aforementioned sentence! Every word juxtaposes the other. For 1050 yen (10 bucks) you too can bathe in five separate onsen (hotsprings) including the waterfall onsen, the sulfur onsen, the private indoor mud onsen, the outdoor mixed-gender mud onsen, and the REALLY REALLY MUDDY outdoor mixed-gender mud onsen. Take a look. 
 
Pretty thatch roof road to mud bath land.  




I snuck in my contraband camera. The partitions were an attempt at modesty, but I saw plenty of Japanese nibbles and bits, male and female. They saw mine too. It's kind of hard not to stare when you're walking around in nothing but a strategically placed a wash towel. I've never felt more leered at in my life, except for that time I walked around the Vegas strip by myself in a black dress during NBA All Star week. I was looking at everyone too because they were looking at me! Mutual leering makes it okay to be a creepy.  



Glorious mud! 


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

while i was in japan i've always only had gender-separated public bath experiences. mixed gender onsen would surely be a blast in the face! (metaphorically)

Anonymous said...

hi, im a passer by surfing the net on info of hoyoland. can i chk if we can wear a towel to the mixed baths? cant imagine the mutual staring...