Yay! Bum watching!

Day 8

Shinwaka Lodge, although very simple and outdated, proved to be comfortable, clean and quiet. We booked a Japanese room for 4 people and we got a Japanese room where 3 of us slept and a twin room where Will was happy to sleep by himself. At ¥18000 a night (£123, €145, $159) it is an excellent find.

It was the first time we had to grill fish for breakfast. Every day a new experience!

Before leaving Wakayama we decided to walk by the coast near the hotel. A pretty coastline with a walkway that ends in a pier where several people were pole-and-line fishing and an area where fisherman attend to their nets.

Wakayama seems to have been a very popular seaside resort once upon a time. The hotel near ours is a bit degraded and there are some structures near the beach that are in need of attention. 

Our stop of the day was Shirahama. A very hot day I may say, temperature reached 29⁰C.

We took the motorway to cut our route short and stopped at a motorway service area. I felt a bit guilty with the coffee and cake I bought not so long after breakfast and when I wasn't particularly hungry that I decided to buy oranges, big oranges, 2 for ¥100 (£0.70, €0.80, $0.90). It was the worst mistake ever. They were absolutely horrible! 

I learned 2 lessons: 

1) Do not buy healthy food when you feel guilty. Own your gluttony, buy a small cake and enjoy it.

2) Do not buy fresh food at a motorway service area, wait to get to a supermarket.

We missed our motorway exit and had to go a further 10km. We came back through a scenic coastal road so, as Manuel puts it, we did not took the wrong exit, we are excellent at junction guesswork.

Shirahama is one of Japan's top-3 oldest onsen resorts at more than 1300 years old and the name means 'white beach'. The beach is 500m long and is Shirahama's major attraction. The sand is so white that it didn't matter how much light settings I changed on my camera or on the computer software, I couldn't get the sand to be less bright in the pictures.

We decided to drop the car at a car parking near the beach and walk the coastline and coastal road southwards to get to some of Shirahama's attractions: Sakinoyu, Senjojiki and Sandanbeki.

Sakinoyu is an outdoor onsen located on the seashore with views across the Pacific Ocean. It dates back over a thousand years and has very good reviews in Tripadvisor. I was very excited! That was until Manuel spotted an aerial picture of the onsen and said ' it really looks like the exit of a gigantic sewage pipe'. It's a way of shattering someone's mental picture...

We debated for a while whether we should go in or not. There were plenty of tourists coming in and out and it seemed like peak time. There was even an employee calling in people. The sulphuric waters that supply the onsen are channeled by not very good looking pipes from closer to the beach a kilometer away and are not even disguised.

It was only ¥420 (£3, €3.4, $3.7) but Manuel wasn't really keen and I did not want to keep him waiting so we left. I was a bit disappointed but I must agree with him that the aerial picture did not look that good and that the touristic appearance of it did not please. The sulphur water would do wonders for my skin though...

We moved on to Senjojiki which are sheet-like rock formations. Senjojiki means '1000 tatami mats'. Very poetic! The rock formations are worth the detour. One can walk on them, sit and have a picnic, dip feet in the water or just enjoy the sun.

There is a pretty bay by the side which is unaccessible.

By this time we were in need of a fresh drink. We weren't walking far but it was hot! There is a cafe and souvenir shop by Senjojiki and a drinks vending machine, of course!

Toilet stop as well. Toilets in Japan are usually clean, have the option of Western or Asian toilets, have water to wash hands and a hand dryer. However, when you get out of main cities, there is always a lack of soap. Mental note: bring alcoholic sanitiser next time we are in Japan.

There was also a large car parking. Free. At the end of the day we would pay 2.5h of parking near Shirahama beach at ¥1000 (£7, €8, $9). We should have parked at Senjojiki and walked from there. We were also the only ones walking the coastal road, no other mad person braved the heat and sun on foot...

Sandanbeki consists of three steep cliffs about 50m high and 2km length with a large network of caves at water level of about 36m in length. 

A lift takes us to the cave level, where there is a shrine and a network of tunnels which were used more than 1000 year ago by Kumano pirates to hide themselves and their ships.

The cave ceiling, eroded by the sea, is formed by ripple effects thought to be many thousands of years old. This kind of ripple pattern is very rare and a protected wonder of this cave.

Benzaiten is enshrined with 16 apprentices on her left and right. She is the goddess of everything that flows: water, words, speech, eloquence and music. In Japan she became a protector-deity, at first of the state and then of people.

There is a reproduction of a pirate's guard house. Not very impressive.

From atop the viewing platform one can sit and watch the ocean hitting the cliffs. Or soak one's feet in the footbath whilst gazing over the ocean.

(This is where we think it's the entrance to the cave)

To be honest, I would not pay again the ¥1300 (£9, €10.5, $11.5) to see the caves. The view from above is better!

We got an ice-cream and headed back to the car. We went past two interesting hotels.

One seemed to advertise an indoor bath:

The other had a collection of action figures. There was a Brazilian looking bus at the door, I wonder if a Brazilian football club was visiting Shirahama.

A very good walk it was, we walked 3km each way. 

It was mid-afternoon, we had a light lunch and headed to today's destination: Kawayu Onsen.

Kawayu Onsen is a small village dedicated solely to thermal tourism, one of several in the Kumano area. It consists of a single road by the Oto river with houses on the north side of the river and and a green forested mountainside on the south side. 

Hotel after hotel line up the road, from traditional ryokan inns to family run minshuku guest houses. It also has 1 bus stop, 1 grocery store, 2 restaurants (one of which I couldn't actually find!), 1 small temple called Kawayu-Yokushido (Budhism) and 1 small shrine called Jinushi-jinja (Shinto). And that is it! 

Kawayu-Yoshido:

Jinushi-jinja:

In Kawayu Onsen hot spring water bubbles to the surface of the crystal clear river. Some hotels already have their own bath dug in the river for guests to use.

You can also dig a hole in the gravel river bed creating your own bath!

The villages public rotemburo (outdoor bath) is quite small and lacks any allure. It's on the south side of the river and you get there by crossing a bridge. 

There is a small grassed park by the rotemburo meaning everyone can actually see you bathing so do not bath naked. Also, do not spend much time at the park as I found this sign:

In Winter, from the beginning of December to the end of February, a giant bath called sennin-buro is made in the river bank. Sennin-buro means '1000 people bath' implying that it is very big and at 40mx15m it sure is. Water percolates at 73⁰C but it is cooled by the river water to about 40⁰C. It would have been a good experience!

Sansuikan Kawayu Midoriya is our accommodation today. An excellent hotel with river view. When I booked this a few months ago I noticed how expensive this little onsen village was. One would expect that with so many hotels the prices wouldn't be high but no, they are quite high. Today our room cost us ¥42000 (£288, €340, $370). Ouch!

I booked a Japanese room for 4 people, what I got was an appartment!! We do not have a room, we have 3 rooms, 1 toilet, 1 shower room and an entry/hall area. Yep, an appartment!

Biggest room:

Second room:

Smaller room:

View from the room:

(The hotel's rotemburo can be seen on the right side of the photo)

Considering how much space we have, it's not that expensive. The reality is that we did not need that much space. The bonus is that me and Jorge are having a room for ourselves tonight... 💓

We got into our hotel yukatas and headed to the hotel's rotemburo:

The hotel has a onsen area with indoor baths and a back door with stairs that lead directly to the river. There are 2 rotemburos built in the river bed and there is no sign whether they are mixed or segregated. The guests already there were segregated so we kept it that way. I had my bikini on but the boys braved the route between door and bath with just a small towel in front of them. Yay, bum watching! Cyclists always have good bums...

After a while of soak Jorge had the idea of a dive in the river. We walked on the pebbles, very slowly as we had no sandals on, and then braved the very cold water of the river. Actually, I was the only one that braved a full dive!

On our way back to the rotemburos there was a couple in what I thought was the female bath and we hesitated for a moment. Maybe they are mixed! I thought about joining the boys but I could read the panic in Will's eyes so I convinced Jorge to join me. At the last minute however I was a coward and told him not to come. We weren't sure if they were mixed and we did not speak the local language, I did not want to get in nudity trouble!

I can definitely recommend a dip in the river's cold waters and a relaxing hot bath in the rotemburo. The scenery is superb with the gentle river, the mild breeze and the green foliage of the forest.

Dinner time and Will decided we were eating at the hotel. I found only one of the restaurants and it didn't seem open. Also, in this kind of onsen villages everyone eats at their own hotel.

Dinner was buffet. You don't get many of these in Japan! Varied Japanese food, good quality. Dinning room was, as everything else in the hotel, facing the river. What we weren't expecting was to have a perfect view to the rotemburos! One can actually be seen bathing naked at the rotemburo! Ups!