after getting up around 10, i went out along to explore and shop… i wanted to find some shoes, but the only ones i did end up liking, there were only the ‘samples’ left and i did not want to buy those o.o…
walked around from place and place lalalala, and got back at around 1130/45 and michelle was awake and packing. in the middle of packing, michelle speaks up and… we have a problem. big. sorta problem. when she booked the hostels for beppu she booked APRIL 21st and 22nd instead of MAY… so at the moment, we’d have no place to stay in beppu T_T… stressful.
we both immediately went online to try and find something but all of the hostels automatically do not allow people to book a place for the night of, so anything for ‘tonight’ would be ‘booked’ online, we would have to call and check T_T… since michelle felt really bad, she went out to find a phone to call…. and somehow she found out that calling beppu would be long distance and we would have to use a gray phone with an international calling card, which of course, we don’t have, and the closest gray phone would be at the airport… because most japanese are nice people, the daughter of whoever michelle was talking to, lent her her cellphone and she placed the call. the person who picked up at the hostel could not speak english well, so michelle tried to get the daughter to talk to the receptionist person… and we were told to call after 9pm to see if there were any free rooms 0.o, that the place was booked up… michelle wasn’t sure because there was a strong language barrier between her and the daughter and the receptionist – -;… *sigh* she felt really bad and bought out lunch too… lol
after she came back and explained what happened, i got the great idea of asked david to help us 😀 hurray! luckily he was on msn at work and he placed the call to khaosan beppu. he got a different person on the phone and… there were several empty rooms… several. we’d only have to get there before 9, since that’s when the counter would close. not a problem. beppu booked, and we’re ready to go. thanks david! saved our asses. we would’ve had to stay in hikari no mori for a couple more days if not… lol.
after all of that commotion and stress, we finished packing and went for a quick run to you me to try and find cassie’s rice bowl container thingy… with no luck. we hurrrrrrrried back to david’s and grabbed our luggage and hauled it to the station to catch the express train from hikari no mori to beppu. and of course, we miss it. by a minute. we watched as it left the station 🙁 *sigh*… but luckily for us, getting to beppu wouldn’t be as difficult as first getting to hikari no mori 😛 we headed towards kumamoto station and from there, we asked one of the train staff people in broken english, how to get to beppu the fastest (before 9) so we jumped on a train to hakata, then hakata to beppu, easy stuff. although our luggage is friggen heavy now, after buying a lot of crap and packing it into our pieces of luggage T_T…
we reached beppu station at around 730-45? and found our hostel in about 15 minutes. nice. our room was on the 3rd floor though. with no elevator. ngaaaah. we had a japanese style room, tatami floors with sliding doors to a small step-down patio/sitting area. bunk beds, and a whole-room shower, the room had a drain in the middle of it, so the shower was just attached to the wall, the toilet and sink to one side.
as soon we settled in a little bit, i began to look up how to get to our next stop, lodge tyojirou by kansai airport. easy enough, limited express to shinkansen to limited express to the airport, then a private line to the hostel… it’d just take 5 hours to get to the airport T_T… whee. michelle went downstairs to talk to the locals and get info on where to go during our day in beppu. our priority: the jigoku (hell) pits, a series of 9 hot springs setup as a tourist attraction. oooooo….
by the time we realized we havent eaten dinner yet, it was 10ish so we headed out and were pointed into the direction of a family restaurant called skylark. we totally overlooked it and found a small ramen place instead :D… when michelle asked for an english menu, the girl described the bowls in english! and her english wasnt too bad either, good job! mm. ramen. i actually did see a couple of ajisen ramen places… one was really old and run-down the other wasn’t as bad… we didnt eat there tho. the ramen we had at this small place used the thinner noodles, which i think i prefer o.o…. hmm.
as we walked back, a random guy in his underwear was running from… somewhere, into an apartment building… we guessed that he went to an onsen and… forgot… clothes? lol… who knows, that was pretty funny. one of the guys michelle met in the hostel was screaming gay and apparently asked if i was single… michelle, being the good friend that she is, told him i was taken o.o *phew* get the hell away from me 😀
a hand onsen 0.o in front of beppu station
it’s crazy where i see hitachi all around japan. shrine/temple sponsors, air conditioners, escalators, washers, dryers, everywhere. (yes, my photography skills are lacking)
wireless at airport not letting me upload pics 🙁
Post a Comment