G Photography Tips

To Hell and Back.



Today it's going to be very exciting day for me, lots of places to visit and lots of things to do. Of course my day started with a very lovely Japanese Breakfast from the Ryokan (1,000 Yen with options of Western style or Japanese Style). It's very simple and yummy, what a way to start my day. :)



I left Ryokan for Beppu station to catch the bus to go to The 8 Hells of Beppu (Jigoku). The Bus system in Japan is quite unique... Passenger getting up from the Back Door and leaving through the Front Door.





When you get on to the bus, there'll be a ticket from the machine for you to pick up. It'll basicall show you what Area you get on the bus. Then there'll be a board at the Front left side to the driver showing the number of the area and the Fee you have to pay. For example, I get up from area 1 and if I see the board now (from the picture above) you can see that under Number 1, there's number 290 showing. It means that it's the amount you have to pay if I getting off the bus now, simple. :) However, when you pay for the bus fare, you have to have the exact amount. So, there will be the changing machine next to the driver that you can DIY. Most of people will do it before their stops to minimise wasting time of the others.

So, I jumped on the bus as the Tourist centre told me (it's in the station), however, the bus drivers don't speak English at all, and I've tried many of them. But good thing I've got the "8 hells of Beppu" brochure with me, so I point at the brochure and he knew where I wanted to be and told me to get off accordingly. There're announcements along the way telling you what is the next stop. Oh and one thing I've found funny is.... they turn the engine off at the red light. Not only Beppu but EVERY Where in Japan. I'm not sure how much fuel they save by doing that, coz the red light time is not that long.

I got off the bus, and the Jigoku was right there. I had to pay the fee to get in. You can buy a booklet which let you go in all 8 of them for 2,000 Yen or you can only pay per location (350 Yen each). The Hells are basically the (very very) hot spring sites (they are not Onsen!) that got very unique colours and different from each other scattered to the East side of Beppu City. The temperature of the water on each site are varies, from 90-100 degree celsius. The first 6 are quite close together but the other 2 need another bus or you can spend around 25 minutes walk.



I started from Hell number 3 (Yama-Jigoku) This site got tons of smoke coming out but the smell is not strong at all and there're not only the hot springs, it's got a bit of Zoo in it as well with African elephant, Flamingos, Hippo and monkeys. As I walked from site to site, each site got its own thing. Some of them offer the hot spring for the guests to put their legs in, some selling boiled egg from the hot spring some even got Crocodiles.





After finished the first 6 then catched a bus to see the final 2 which are Chinoike-Jigoku and Tatsumaki-Jigoku. For the Tatsumaki-Jigoku, it's the geysers which means a hot spring spouting out boiling water and stream in intervals. It'll redo every 20 minutes and I didn't have time to stay and watch (sob sob) as I was a bit behind with my schedule.





Overall, the experience with 8 hells of Beppu had been amazing and it's highly recommend for anyone to go. :)