After a poor night, I found it hard to summon the willpower to get out of bed, even with the prospect of a spectacular view, but did eventaully haul myself out and peer out of the picture window, to find that the sky around Sakurajima was shot through with flashes of pink. It was very cold in the dawn, so I didn't stay out of the comfort of the warm bed for long, but Nick braved the chill for some photos.
Emily was fully awake, so we had to force ourselves up soon anyway. Breakfast was buffet-style and a decent enough choice of Japanese and their version of continental. Pam kindly took Emily off to play so that we could make the most of it all. By the time we were ready to go out for the day it had clouded over somewhat, but we continued with our plan to drive south about 40km to Ibusuki. The road was quite winding and therefore progress was slow, so Emily was grouchy about being in the car for so long. We were glad to finally pull in at the natural hot sand bath there.
Pam and I followed a busload of ladies to the changing room, where we stripped off and donned the yukata provided. Then we trekked outside and down to the beach, where there was a shelter set up over the sand 'beds'. In the summer people simply lie dug into the open beach, each with a small parasol over their heads.
We had to wait 10 minutes before we could take our turn, but luckily the geothermal warmth kept the cold wind at bay as we stood in line in our thin robes. A man ushered us to our allotted positions in the sand, where we lay down, first putting towels around our hair to stop it getting full of sand. Some women armed with shovels came and covered our bodies with several inches of the heavy, moist sand. My initial surprise was at the weight rather than the heat of the sand. I could immediately feel a strong throbbing as my heart worked harder under the gentle pressure and my blood vessels opened up with the heat. It was a most peculiar experience. After the recommended 10 minutes were up we shook ourselves free and brushed off the clinging sand, feeling lighter and a bit damp with sweat.
Back in the centre we washed off the remaining grains and then had a quick dip in the onsen bath (first, and maybe last, time that I will be naked with my mother in law!), before meeting back up with Nick and Emily, who had been playing happily on the beach.
The surrounding area was decidedly unpromising as far as lunch was concerned, so we drove into the equally unassuming and almost bleak town centre. Luckily Nick spotted a restaurant that proved to be rather good, and we sampled several local dishes such as black pork and satsuma age. Emily grazed on our meals but was tired and didn't manage much.
Driving off again, she was sleep in one minute flat, so we parked back at the sand bath in order that Nick could take his turn. Emily was inconsolable when she woke, and sobbed 'no, no' when we told her we were setting off for Chiran, where we planned to see some samurai villas and the airfield where kamikaze pilots took off in WW2. Eventually we decided we had better go straight back to the hotel as it was already mid-afternoon and cold and cloudy. Emily was still upset that we were putting her back in the car seat but we did manage to calm her down eventually with lots of distractions. Unfortunately we hit heavy rush hour traffic going into Kagoshima, and Emily got very upset again. Her crying really got to me and I was a nervous wreck. Poor Nick had to navigate several lanes of traffic in the darkness with her crying and me going nuts. Later, we found that he had burn marks on his back from the sand bath; low-temperature burns had been warned about but Pam and I didn't get any.
No comments:
Post a Comment