G Photography Tips

Leaving Fukuoka was harder than I thought, I really had great feeling for this city. But just to think about relaxing time in the Capital City of Onsen, Beppu made me continue my journey with excitement.

I again catched the JR Train to go to Beppu, it'll take around 2 hours. This train looks nice and the seats are very comfy and even I could sleep in these seats.





About 30 minutes thru the journey, the train changed direction.... Almost all the passenger stood up and swing their seats to the other direction as the train. It's quite weird but when you're in Rome do what Roman did. :) The view along the way was very very Green, very natural and countryside.



I arrived in Beppu in the evening time. And in the station, you'll find information centre for tourist. You can ask for maps and more information on the places you want to go. However, the staffs are not very chatty, they will just only tell you what you ask in very short sentences. So, try to plan your trip in more details and ask them very specific things.



First thing I saw when I came out of the station is the Hotspring! It's free for you to put your legs in to relax. I've booked the Ryokan (traditional Japanese Hotel) called Nogamihonkan Ryokan for 2 nights. From their website, I printed out the direction and map, but one thing to make it clearer, take the South Exit from the station.





This Ryokan is very cheap! Only 5,000 Yen a night with huge room (Can fit 4) and internal bathroom with shower and bathtub. This price is not including any meals, breakfast is selling at 1,000 Yen and Dinner for 3,000 Yen.

During the check in, the staff will ask you book the private onsen time straight away. There are 4 styles of Private Onsen that you'll be able to use twice a day with 50 minutes for each session. During your session, you can lock the room and make them completely yours. :) After checking in, I put all my belonging in the room and changed to Yukata to be ready for my first ever Japanese Onsen. I've picked the semi-open air type as it feels more open.





For Japanese Onsen, it's a must that you take a shower first and there will always be the facility for that around. The first thing I noticed when I put my first leg in the water.... it's very very hot! Onsen will have the water temperature around 40 degree celsius. Luckily there's a cold water tap that you can turn on to cool it down a bit. But after awhile I got used to the temperature. It's very quiet and relaxing. sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

After the bath then it's time for dinner. It's a set menu and it costed 3,000 Yen which I found totally worth it and very yummy.



Now with a full stomach, I wasted no time and walked around straight away. The place I picked was Asahi Tower to take pictures of the city at night. It's a bit further down south from the hotel around 10 minutes walk.



The entry fee is 500 Yen (If I remember it correctly) which is not much. There are dinning table around, I guessed it (is/was) a restaurant. The tower open til late (10:00 pm) and that time I was the onlyone. I took a few pictures around and finished it quite quickly.



Then it's time to head back to the Ryokan for a goodnight sleep, will continue with Beppu 2 tomorrow.