Japan Day Trip 7: Kobe, Arima Onsen

As expected yesterday about the split, I split with my friends right from the morning. Upon arriving in Kobe, a friend wanted to eat breakfast while I always wake up early to grab something from nearby Family Mart for breakfast so that I can have more regular meals. Thus I told them that I would make my wait to Nunobiki-no-taki or Nunobiki Falls first.

I am usually proud of my sense of direction with traditional map but today was not the day. The waterfall is of walking distance from the back of Shin-Kobe station but I went to the opposite direction. In the end I had to rely on google map and GPS. Along the way, I met my friends who were there earlier although they only made their way after their breakfast.

I was quite excited about the hike because I was expecting something like Fushimi Inari. Well I was very wrong because this was a real hike with steep angle and kinda rough rocky pathway. Along the way I was panting and had to take a break for photos. Lol. We reached the waterfall on top and it started to drizzle so we made our way back. The journey back down was equally difficult as the hike up. It was not as breathless but I had to be careful not to slip.

I did not there were a few waterfalls but I just took the stairs because on the map, the waterfall seems to be quite high in the mountain lol

Nunobiki-no-taki

My friends decided to explore the city while I decided to hike up another route which I believed would lead me to the herb garden. Again I was wrong as this route basically brought me back to the waterfall but from a higher view. The hike was equally tiring but felt a bit easier because each step was slightly bigger than the previous route. Usually I enjoy such scenic nature walk but with the slight drizzle and there was no other people along the way, I felt a bit worried too. Every rustle could be wild animals ready to pounce on me. Haha.. I took a break somewhere along the way where I met another 2 tourists and we struck a little conversation. At the top, I met another 2 tourists and I should have asked them to take a photo of me with the waterfall :( I was expecting that I would meet more tourists but because of the drizzle there was nobody else. So in the end I did not have any photo from the other side of the waterfall.

The other side and higher side to view the water fall

It was totally not planned but I decided to go to Arima Onsen instead of exploring Kobe. This was because I saw some signage about Arima Onsen at Shin-Kobe station and it is not that far to go there. I wanted to have lunch first but most eateries at Shin-Kobe were full and I should just go find lunch at Arima. Onsen is a Japanese culture that is very unique. It is natural human feeling to not want to get naked in front of other people and despite my adventurousness, I still had reservations. I decided to just YOLO. Anyway I was alone and with noone I knew, I don't care if strangers see me naked. 

There are several onsens but after quickly googling, my choice is only Taiko no Yu as it is the only one providing towels and reviews mention to be quite English-friendly. It was drizzling (heavier than at Kobe) and again I lost my way before deciding the use google map and GPS. It required a bit of hiking so it was my third time hiking today. With all the sweat and discomfort, I really needed a good bath.

Let me describe the onsen experience. Upon entering the building, I was supposed to remove my shoes and put them in the locker in front. During check in (the 2400 yen was paid up front), the reception kept the locker key and I got another key for the locker inside the onsen facility. A bathing towel, a face towel, and the kimono to be worn in the facility were provided. I was quite happy with rabbit pictures and I got to choose green kimono colour as well. Haha.. There was this barcoded bracelet thing to be used inside for the food and omiyage so there was no need to carry wallet. Upon check out, the barcode was scanned again and anything additional was paid then.

The changing area was quite big and I was quite lost. There was no others and I was not sure what I was supposed to do. I knew I was supposed to change to the kimono here but I was not sure if I was suppose to keep my underwear or not. I went to the toilet to change to my bottom as I did not want anyone to see me naked in the locker room lol. I decided to just not wear my underwear.

Taiko no Yu is actually part of Arima View hotel and the entrance for non-hotel stayers is on the 3rd floor. The onsen facilities are in the 2nd floor. Before entering the onsen proper, there is another locker room to put the kimono as now really have be naked already. Tada...

For someone wearing specs, the different temperature caused foggy lens. It was not as if I wanted to see other people naked clearly but I had to have clear vision to not lose my footing. I have done proper research of onsen etiquettes and watched Japanese shows or anime with onsen scenes so I knew I had to shower first before going into the onsen.

The change in temperature with the onsen water was not too bad but I nearly slipped as the onsen water was quite streamy. It was not easy to manouver to ensure that the towel did not touch the water, hair did not touch the water, my specs, and I did not know if the barcode bracelet thingy could be immersed in water or not (after seeing others, it was actually fine).

The good thing about Taiko no Yu is that there are 2 types of water: the brown and the clear one. The brown one is suitable for the shy one as anything under the water is not visible. Haha.. So yah no need to expose myself and no need to see others' dicks as well. Taiko no Yu also has an outdoor area. The outdoor area is not completely open with roofs made of planks of wood with gaps between the planks. As it was raining, those woods were helpful so that we could still soak and not drenched. Just before returning to the locker, there was another onsen with cold water. I am not sure what the purpose is but it was refreshing to dip there for awhile before going back to the locker.

After experiencing both, I decided to have my lunch. It was still around 2pm and since I only used 1 towel, I decided to go the onsen again after lunch to repeat the experience another time. I really had to take some pictures as proof that I had been here. There was a purikura machine so this was where my 100 yen coins were finally useful lol. Still not enough and I asked other visitors to take a picture of me near the wall with the Taiko no Yu signage.

Yay! Finally I get to strike another thing from my bucket list. Haha.. Today is a Friday so luckily it is not so crowded. It will be quite uncomfortable to dip if there are too many people. The crowd was also mostly old people and I only saw a handful of young people. It is really interesting and I cannot understand how some people are perfectly comfortable naked with their friends. Some were not even trying to cover their modesty. Lol.

I left about 3pm and there was a free bus to the station running every half an hour. I should have waited for this bus earlier instead of being impatient and tried to find my own way which in the end took longer because I lost my way also.

On the way back to Osaka, I thought I lost my way as the station names were different from those in the morning. I got Hankyu and Hanshin confused and I was actually going back to Umeda instead of Namba. No wonder all the station names were different. It was raining at Osaka so I went back to airbnb first to get my umbrella and I decided to try the takoyaki from a stall near there. As always with my luck, when I went out again with the umbrella, the rain already stopped and there was no need of the umbrella at all -_-

It was ironic that I stayed a stone throw away but only now on the 2nd last day of the trip that I went to explore Dotonbori area. There was nothing to buy at Bookoff, the Starbucks queue was crazy, and I just had dinner at one of the cafes at the subway as I was too tired to walk to Takashimaya again. I went to Don Quijote at Dotonbori and yay, there is jinbei here. I don't need to go back to Kyoto tomorrow just to get jinbei lol. Although I am also tempted to go see the anime shops at Avanti malls la.