Must have walked 15km today, 14 of them lost! So I failed orienteering in the army, so what! Train time today 176km in 55 minutes. It was bitterly cold today for the first time in our trip. Real Ballarat in mid July.
The big reason people come to Kumamoto is the site of the last sumarai, the giant castle up on the hill. Its walls are amazing and stretch 5km in circumference around manicured park and gardens. Some of the walls are 5 stories high and back in the 16th century they would have been impenetrable, in fact they are now! They are actually a little concave so even if you were an enemy soldier and tried to scale one, you would end up falling backwards anyway, that is if you hadn’t already had your head removed by a razor sharp sword.
The castle itself is accessible inside and the views up the top are beautiful. You can see from the photos how it flows from the old of the castle to the modern city. We managed to see a performance from some young blokes dressed as sumarai which was fun. Couldn’t understand a word of it but it was colourful and energetic. A combination of brutal swordsmanship and interpretive dance as only the Japanese could pull off.
We then set off to get lost. Over confident and full of bravado I literally led Lynda down the garden path. In all honesty it’s not the first time, but we never panic and we find we always get to see interesting stuff. Managed to find a tram after 2 hours of enforced sightseeing and headed back to the hotel we were yet to check into officially.
The hotel is only 200m from the train station and when we got there this morning I asked the clerk if they had an onsen. He then showed us the male and female onsens. Fantastic!..only minor issue would be that these are nudie onsens. Now, I showered with men for 20 years….sorry I’ll reframe that, I was forced to shower with men…no wait, I shared shower facilities with other men I was familiar with from a military or sporting perspective. There!
This, is a little bit different. I don’t know these other men and I am a bit of a prude to be honest. Sure I’ve done some nude work under the influence in my younger days but I’m just a little uncomfortable.
Anyway we get back, change and head to the onsen. Lynda is nervous because she is extremely shy but fortunately she had a great soak on her own and headed back. For me it was great but I thought I would explain the process of this very traditional onsen. If you are under the age of 18 you may want to look away now or if you are an adult about to eat, please stop now.
Firstly you have a locker and the key is in the locks when you arrive attached to an elastic band which you put around your wrist. You strip and enter the onsen area which comprises of a steaming hot pool about 10m x 3m. Before you get into the onsen you must wash thoroughly. This entails sitting on an upturned bucket thing that has a shape that accommodates your butt quite well. So you’re basically in a squat position, legs spread looking at yourself in a full length mirror they have kindly provided for you. It’s at this point it’s “will I stay or will I go”. The view is utterly appalling and I wonder where the years have gone. In front of me is a tap which pours into a bucket and also there is a hand held shower. There is also shampoo, conditioner, soap and shaving cream.
The man next to me, who I shall call Halfa, is about the size of half a sumo, around 150kg. He is sitting on his reinforced bucket, covered in soap and is shaving, his genitals in plain view. I have a good wash and decide to get in the onsen when I see another older man has just hopped in before me. His genitals are in plain view. I have never been a man concerned with appendage sizes but I’m pleased to say I at least measured up. Theirs looked like champignons and for my old Werribee team mates reading this, let’s just say that for a moment there, I felt like Jack Aziz!
So I slip discreetly into the onsen, turn on my back and relax with head on the ledge looking back at Halfa finishing his cleaning routine. He then got up, rinsed himself off and headed straight for the onsen. At first he headed face on, then turned with his arse facing me and lifted one leg like a sumo doing his traditional stretch before a match and revealed…oh my God…I’m sorry but meat and 3 vege is the only thing that springs to mind. It will stay with me for some time unfortunately.
Thankfully Harfa and the other guy didn’t hang around for long and I had the place to myself. I got out of the pool, had a cold shower, got back in, cold shower again, shave…it was the cleanest and relaxed I’ve ever felt. Caught up with Lynda again, shared my most recent trauma and we headed off for a meal near the station.
Tomorrow we head to the Island of Miyajima just near Hiroshima. World famous for it’s beauty and peacefulness as well as good walking so we are pretty excited. Hope all’s well. Cheers Willow & Lynda.
