Kyushu 2023 - Beppu Blood Pond Hell (Chinoike Jigoku)

 

The last two hells are clustered together, and you needed to take a bus there. The next hell was called Blood Pond Hell, but the word here means hot blood.... After while I confused myself with all the translation, or the lost in translation.....

Here is the bus stop we waited at to get the bus here. It was more like a small office area. Not many people taking the bus. I guess most people come here by tour bus? Only maybe locals take the bus.

The sign of the Blood Pond Hell. Love the demon mask on top.

My ticket! Red as well!

Inside, more green than red! Lol. There was a lot of steam coming up from the pond!

Demon themed outdoor sitting area was pretty cute and unique!

Sign explaining about the hell here. The gift shop here was rather popular compared to the others. It was an outdoor shop too. Perhaps there are some medicinal reasons that more people seems to buy stuff here. 

For some reason, or maybe due to the cheap price, I also got my lucky paper here. It was found all the way at the end of the pond near the hills, and there was a small shrine there too. And I just felt like I needed to drop some money here. So I got a omikuji for myself here :)

The red pond with steam and sunlight shinning through.

I actually spend a long time here just watching the formation of steam and lights. Do you see a white dragon in this photo above? 

The hills at the back is off limit. For some reason, I really really love it here. I really really wanted to go into those hills. It was just magical!

Lovely photo of steam and light. Tell me this isn't magical to you.

They also have an indoor gift shop that was super cool, selling onsen stuff and food etc. As usual, we don't really buy anything while travelling, not till the last stop anyway. 

But we were busy at the chopping station!

Almost complete!

Selfie. I love this hell. It resonate with me. Maybe cause I'm also a regular blood donor? Haha. 

Kyushu 2023 - Beppu Jigoku Mushi (Hell Cusine)

Finally time for a break, a lunch break! I had a specific meal I wanted to try here, but I don't really know where to find it. So we basically follow the crowd walking in their direction. We came to this restaurant that didn't really looked like a restaurant.

But it has the sign Jigoku Mushi, which was what I wanted to have for lunch. It translate to Hell's Cuisine! Hahahaha. And I since I was here, this was the cheesiest meal to have here! Almost everyone does it when they visit Beppu's Hell. I wasn't going to miss out trying it!

The menu was pretty extensive, and not too expensive, which I like! We both picked a set. You queue, buy a ticket, and wait. Once your number is called, you can go collect your order and make your way to the table. The food you collect, are all raw. You have to cook them yourself!

And this is how you cook them, in a separate steam room. Basically all your food is steam using the natural steam of hell! Hence the name Hell's Cuisine! 

Here is my husband cooking the food. There is a staff guiding you to make sure you don't burn yourself. You place your food in the hole and cover it. A timer is set. Once it's ready, you take it out and eat it. Don't worry, they will tell you how long you need to cook your food depending on which menu you selected. 

Voila! Our lunch! It is super healthy! Since no oil is used at all in the cooking process. You can really taste the natural taste of all your food too. Thumbs up for the unique experience!

Happy with our lunch, we went and wonder around town looking for the bus that will take us to the next hell spot. It was just a small town area. Not many cars.

Some local shrine. 

Some sign in Japanese about the onsen water here. 

Me walking towards our restaurant before lunch.

Me walking around town :)

Kyushu 2023 - Beppu White Pond Hell (Shiraike Jigoku)

 

Will the hell never end! At our 5th hell now, and luckily, this hell looks nicer. It was called the White Pond Hell, but inside, the water was emerald or jade green in colour, which I found rather beautiful. Perhaps the White here refers to the white steam coming out of it?

Hmmm, but the photo on my tickets shows a white pond... maybe it changes colour during the seaons?

Here's a zoom out photo taken from the garden. I may be slightly colour blind, but that's green right?

I like this pond. It was super serene here. They also have a small garden next to it, and some aquarium with fish skulls and bone display. I think I like it cause it kinda looks like a mystical Chinese painting.

So there you have it! We finished all 5 hells before lunch time! Left 2 more to go which we will get to after lunch. Initially I was thinking of doing 5 hells on our  1st day, and 2 more on our 2nd day. Luckily I re-planned. You could easily do all 7, include lunch in one day, and still have time left after. And no, if you know my travelling style, it won't be a rush visit at all. We spend quite a leisure time in each hell. 

Kyushu 2023 - Beppu Demon Mountain Hell (Oniyama Jigoku)

Onwards to the next hell, Demon Mountain Hell! Kinda looked similar to Cooking Pot Hell! 

Here is my ticket. And the same red dude is found here too.

Some signs explaining the place. You get the drill after a while.

There was a small local shop inside, selling local products for onsen products. I love this mat found inside.

And again, for reasons unknown, I found a Sarawak House in the middle of Kyushu! The signs say This building is Malaysia's Sarawak design building. Why?????

Wait, it gets weirder! Did hell ran out of attraction? Next, a crocodile pond! Are they somehow related to hell? I don't freaking know anymore!

Speechless. 

Kyushu 2023 - Beppu Cooking Pot Hell (Kamado Jigoku) - Part 2

Beside all the feature mentioned in Part 1 of the Cooking Pot Hell, there were also other parts inside that I cover here separately. Remember those red clay looking mud pool in Part 1? Well, they actually have a few of them inside, each with it's own separate temperature. So here is one with 95 degrees celcius. 

And here is one with 90 degrees celcius. I wonder how they know for sure the temperature. Was it naturally like this? Was it consistently at the same temperature? So many questions! If only I could bother to read the signs! Lol.

 

Lastly, one at 85 degrees. 

Perhaps they wanted to brighten up hell, or to take the normality out of boring hell, for reasons unknown, there was a collection of stone cats in a garden at one section of the hell. What is it with cats and hell? 

They looked kinda weird and out of place in these thermal area. But still they persisted to have these stone cats here. And so we took all their photos, cause it was kinda neat!

I mean, someone actually spent their time painting those cats on the stones.

Some were rather cute too, and it has the sign of the Kamado Jigoku on it too.

Here you go, a full garden of cats in hell. Seriously, it's not a bad thing :)