9/12/22 Fri: I ate bibimbap we bought from the supermarket at Hakata station the night before and it costed only SGD$2+ after a 50% discount! The taste was not bad too. After checking out of Rakuten Stay Hakata North Airbnb, we drove over to BIC Camera departmental store first because Jess wanted to buy the camera lens she saw earlier. *Potato had to "park" nearby outside as he waited for us for a bit.* At first, there was no stock for the lens, but the staff were helpful and went to their storage to get it for her. There was this Chinese staff-cum-interpreter who was very friendly and helped with the communication.
We set off at 11am towards Harazuru Onsen, a large town known for their hot springs. *Toll costed 630 yen and 1100 yen on the way...* To our disappointment, the whole town looked so dead with only a few stores opened! I almost thought something happened and the all residents were evacuated or what haha. We stayed there for about half an hour and took a few photos by the river and that was it. *It's a good thing I did not book any stay or onsen there huh?*
Drove for another one hour and 15 minutes (toll: 2450 yen) before we reached our lunch place: Okamotoya at 1.45pm. This place is famous for their Jigoku-mushi ("hell-steaming") pudding since 1988.I had their hot Ontama udon, their udon said to be brought in from Kagawa, so the chewiness and elasticity is different... I can't remember now but it was okay I guess. Jess ate their Toriten curry rice and Potato tried their Ontama curry rice. Of course, I plucked up courage to use Japanese language to order one Jigoku-mushi pudding (260 yen) haha~ the custard was nice but the caramel was too bitter for our likings. The late lunch costed us 2,145 yen in all. We visited the famous Beppu "Jigoku Meguri" Hells Tour From 3.30 to 5.30pm (1,800 yen per pax for entry) and visited all seven Jigoku sites, even if we had to rush for the last two. We started with visiting the Umi-Jigoku, where the cobalt-blue pond looked super pretty but it was a scalding 98 degrees Celcius in fact. *There's a basket in the middle where eggs can be placed to cook there la!* It was created after the eruption of Mt Tsurumi 1,200 years ago. We also visited the hell-emitting gas use greenhouse, and after some contemplating, we decided to go for the public footbath at Umi-Jigoku! I could put both my calves in without much problem, but Potato was struggling keke~ he gave up after a while in the end. My lower calves were a little red after submerging in the hot pool for five minutes or so. *Still, he was the nice one who reminded us he had a spare towel in the car for us to wipe our legs after soaking.* 
Next, we walked over to Oniishibozu-Jigoku just beside, where large and small bubbles of hot gray mud that boils up looked like the shaven head of monks.
Third was Kamado-Jigoku, where looks were deceiving again. We also drank the hot spring water (80 degrees Celcius) which was quite nice, and used our hand, feet and mouth to feel the steam escaping from the Jigoku area... said to be beneficial to health. There was a Korean tour group going around and their guide sparked something off his hand that triggered more output of steam reaction from the pool. We bought hot spring hard-boiled egg (80 yen) to try and it had that bit of sulphuric taste to it. Jess bought a matcha bun to try and it was only okay. The fourth one we went to was the Oniyama-Jigoku, where it's said to be the ideal place to rear crocodiles and there was one in history that lived up to 70 years old. *The sight of so many of them together still scares me though.* Shiraike-Jigoku ("white-pond hell") is so called because the colourless water that spouts from the pond naturally turns bluish-white due to temperature and pressure drop when it falls back into the waters. They keep a number of tropical fishes there. Chinoike-Jigoku is steaming hot to the point the steam is red. Chinoike ointment, effective for skin diseases, is made from the red clay produced here. After that, we rushed to visit Tatsumaki-Jigoku, a geyser that has been designated as a natural monument in Beppu. It is known for its short intervals between spouts. They allowed tourist to stay after 5pm to watch the last spout because it takes less than 20 minutes to shoot out boiling water and steam here, so there was a group of about 20 people with us, waiting to watch it "live". We managed to see it shoot up fiercely before running to get to our car as the sky darkened. Arrived at our Beppu Sense Airbnb (S$310.68 for three pax for three nights) at 6.15pm where we slept on futons. They were very thin, so I woke up with aches. I disliked the constant sewage smell in their bathroom too. *One centipede in the living room freaked me out too.* After checking-in comes the challenge of finding a place for dinner! It's not easy to find a place to eat after the sun sets, really. My initial plan was to go to Chinetsu Kanko Labo Enma for their Jigokumushi experience, but it was closed when we reached there. After some walking around in the cold, Maruichi's lady boss was kind enough to let us in her eatery. *Even Potato spoke limited Japanese, and some dining places in Japan has been known to turn away foreigners, so we're glad that they allowed us in.*
It was a small and cosy place and we set on the floor mat. No expectation at all but the dinner (3,900 yen) turned out delicious! Jess had their Buta no Kakuni don and the soy sauce-braised pork fillet was very soft-and-melt-in-your-mouth-kind while the PotaTOHs both ordered the Oita specialty: Ryuku don (rice bowl topped with soy sauce-dipped sashimi). We also ordered some fried chicken which were tough because they used chicken breast meat for it. *Definitely worth re-visiting if I ever go that area again.* We bought breakfast (1,519 yen) from a 7-11 nearby our Airbnb and was back by about 9pm. *Jess and I watched the first half of the World Cup match between Brazil and Croatia till about 1+am haha...*
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