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For the three-day weekend in early November I went on a road trip to Kyushu to hike and camp around Mt. Aso. In addition to hiking, we found ourselves onsening ALL the time. I had attempted to go to Mt. Aso and hike (I have a minor obsession with hiking) when I first got to Japan, yet came to a dead end because it is very hard to reach without a car. Don't worry to those that know me, I have no desire in my entire life to drive in Japan- I hate doing it in America! Since last year I was still trying to find a way to get to Aso. Fortunately my friend Nikki was as eager as I was to get to Aso, and alas, can drive a car- next thing I knew we were planning a road trip to Aso.

Submerged in the waters from Hell

Casey Lary
2007-03-10 16:58:47

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For the three-day weekend in early November I went on a road trip to Kyushu to hike and camp around Mt. Aso. In addition to hiking, we found ourselves onsening ALL the time. I had attempted to go to Mt. Aso and hike (I have a minor obsession with hiking) when I first got to Japan, yet came to a dead end because it is very hard to reach without a car. Don't worry to those that know me, I have no desire in my entire life to drive in Japan- I hate doing it in America! Since last year I was still trying to find a way to get to Aso. Fortunately my friend Nikki was as eager as I was to get to Aso, and alas, can drive a car- next thing I knew we were planning a road trip to Aso.

We had 8 hikers ready to go- two carloads with Hannah and Nikki behind the wheels. Our cars were new with the latest Japanese GPS Locaters. Great idea, especially with my sense of direction. The only minor problem was that it was ALL in Japanese! Throughout our trip we had our GPS Locator, which
we named "Sachi" leading us in the WRONG direction. Good think we followed the map instead of Sachi. Getting to Aso was an adventure because we took some back roads so we could see some of the countryside. It was very beautiful. Japanese roads, as I have mentioned in other blogs, aren't too advanced. For such a small country it takes a long time to get anywhere. We left around 10:30 and did not get down to Aso until around 6 pm. We arrived just in time to see the sun setting along the ridge bordering Aso City. As we stopped for a photo-op, the next problem surfaced. I had booked our bungalows, yet really had no idea where they were! We got to the area where they were located called Kurokawa. We thought, okay, now we are lost, let's just go to a police station and ask them if THEY know where to go. Nikki and Lisa wandered in. 10 minutes went by.....then 20......then I went in to see what the hell was going on. This place couldn't be that hard to find! Turns out ...