[2014 Kyushu Family Trip - 4] Morning Bath in the Hot Spring, and Okunoyu's Breakfast

December 23rd, 2014
It was the second day of my family's trip to Kyushu.

It was early in the morning, almost around the time of sunrise,
and my family decided to start off the day with a nice hot bath in the hot springs (again)

but since this was very early in the morning, and nobody was using any of the baths, I went there with my camera.

This is what the locker(?) room of the public bath looks like.
Before heading inside, you have to take off your clothes and put them inside one of the baskets.

Yes, instead of lockers, these places have baskets.
I've heard that most Japanese baths are like this.

The public bath pretty much has everything you need to clean yourself: shampoo, body wash, conditioner, shower, buckets and stools.
Oh, since Okunoyu is a premium ryokan, they use environment-friendly shampoo, body wash, and conditioner.

Right next to the showers was this hot bath.

Sorry, but the lighting was horrible inside the public bath.

Anyway, the place that has the sign is where the hot water comes out.
The water also gets less hotter as you move away from this part.
(That's why I mostly stayed at the far opposite side of this thing.)

and then, when you get out using the another door (the one that does not lead to the locker room) and pass this gate.

You get to the Outdoor Bath!

The timing was great.
The sun was starting to rise, so it was getting brighter, but not bright enough for the lamps to be turned off. The mood was inexplicably gorgeous.

There's a small waterfall and stream flowing right next to the hot springs

and there's another hot spring at a slightly lower elevation, and it's much closer to the waterfall and the stream.

On the other hand, there also was a smaller hot spring inside the cave.

but it was too cold to be naked outside...

so I just stayed at this big outdoor bath at the center.
This outdoor bath was actually a lot bigger than the public indoor bath.
It was not as hot as the indoor public bath though, because it was so big and it was outdoors in the winter.

It sure felt great in there.
The air was crisp, the water was warm, the stream made a very relaxing and natural sound, and lastly, I was enjoying the hot bath in the woods! yes, the WOODS!
What more can I say?
I'd just recommend going there an try it for yourselves.

After the morning bath, my family went back to the lobby to have breakfast.

Unlike the Kaiseki dinner, the breakfast was prepared in the dining room.

Everything was prepared even before we arrived
(because you have to make a reservation for breakfast at Okunoyu)

Time to eat.

One thing I've noticed about Japanese ryokan's meals is that everything is served in its very own, tiny, cute plate!

By the way, the floral package on the bottom right is a pack of seaweed.

I also really liked this too.
I think this had a some sort of tofu soup in it, as I remember.

Nope, this is not it.
This is miso soup, and it came out separately after all of my family sat at the table.

This is a firsh, and it was also served after we sat around the table.

Well, there you go.
This is ryokan Okunoyu's Japanese-style breakfast.

but wait!
there's a special way to eat rice for breakfast

First, you put a raw egg on top of the rice.

Then, you add an adequate amount of soy sauce to it.

Lastly, you mix everything together, and eat the rice with seaweed (seaweed is not included in the picture)

I had never tried eating rice like this.
but you know what?
It's really, Really good!
It's nothing much; just some rice, a raw egg, some soy sacue, and some seaweed.
but it's really good.
(It could make a nice breakfast food for one of those snowpocalypse(?) days, I think..)


Anyway, after breakfast,
my family checked out of our room, left our baggages at the front desk,
and went outside for a walk around the town of Kurokawa Hot Springs!

[2014 Kyushu Family Trip - 3] Kaiseki Dinner at Okunoyu, Hot Bath in the Hot Springs, and Nighttime Stroll Around Kurokawa Hot Springs

December 22nd, 2014

A stay at a Japanese Ryokan is not complete without this ONE thing.
It's called 'Kaiseki' or 'Kaiseki Ryori.'
and it was one thing my mother was looking forward to.

So what is 'Kaiseki Ryori?'
Kaiseki-Ryori is a traditional multi-course Japanese Dinner, and pretty much all of the traditional ryokans in Japan have this.

Shortly after I returned to my room, the worker of Okunoyu started preparing our meal.

These are the first things we've gotten.
Look at all these cute dishes!

Everything was served to our table very quickly.
I was actually expecting everything to be slow paced, because it was a "multi-course dinner"
But I guess Kaiseki is not as slow-paced as I thought.

Anyway, let's take a look at some of the food!

Oh Yes!!
SASHIMI!!!!!!
They were tuna, adductor muscle, and I believe the last one was fluke.
All of them were very fresh and high in quality!!
They just disappeared as soon as I put them in my mouth!!
So Good! :)

This was something that was really unexpected.
Wanna guess what these are??

Well um...
These are Horse Meat Sashimi.
I was pretty surprised to eat this myself, because I had never eaten horse meat before.
However, this was actually really good, and that's all that matters.
Right?

This one had a bunch of different things.
I ate some carrots, mushrooms, and that brown jelly-like thing, because I felt like I should at least eat some food that aren't fish or meat.

and then this came out.
I wonder what it would be...?

It was.... a shrimp soup(?) as I remember.

Oh boy! Vegetable sticks!
I actually enjoyed eating these a lot, even though I do not like vegetables that much.

I mean, grabbing one stick, dipping it in mayonnaise and then taking a bite

... was very good for me! haha
(Thanks Niclas)

Then it was time to eat some Steak!
Also one of my favorites!

First of all, the steak was cooked to medium-rare.
and I'm guessing that they used Saga beef (which is one of the 3 best beef brands in Japan).
So, what was it's taste like??

Oh HE*L YEAH.
IT WAS THE BEST STEAK I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE! 
IT'S TASTE WAS BEYOND IMAGINATION!!
It was so juicy and soft that it automatically made my eyes close and appreciate the flavor!

This was a flame-roasted, fresh water fish.
There's no way I wouldn't like a fish.
It was very good, and wasn't oily at all. (although it was quite salty on the outside.)

I believe this was a cheese gratin made inside a citron.
I hate citrons, so I passed.

Now here's some thing that's very familiar: a pot of Miso Soup!

However, it tasted a bit different from the typical miso soups I had in most of the sushi restaurants.
I did hear about many restaurants in Japan coming up with their own unique miso soup recipes.
I now see Okunoyu (although this is a ryokan) is one of those places.

Rice and Miso Soup, always a nice combination.
My family was full after this.
but there still was dessert, which came after this.

Haha
Whoever said that food in Japan is served in smaller portions, let me add a correction to that statement:
food in Japan is served in smaller portions "compared to" the food served in the US.

It's not that small when you actually get to eat them all.



.....

After dinner, my family headed out to bathe in some hot bath.
(We were at Kurokawa "Hot Springs" after all, might as well enjoy the hot springs!)

I believe there was about 5 to 6 hot bath options in ryokan Okunoyu.
Amongst all of these, our first stop was the large public bath.
It was actually smaller than I expected, a lot smaller than the Jjimjilbangs in the urban areas of South Korea.
and so much for "public," my dad and I were the only ones using it at that time!
It made us feel as if we reserved the entire place for ourselves. (yay! :D)

There also is a large, open-air bath as well.
Most of the times, the open-air bath is co-ed. However, it's only for women from 8 PM to 10 PM.
(so becareful!)

(no pictures of the public bath because I thought there was going to be somebody in there.)

As I have mentioned above, Okunoyu has numerous baths.
So, my family decided to try all of them (since they are free for Okunoyu customers).
We decided to check what 'Family Bath' is like.

Here's an indoor part of the Family Bath.
It comes with a shower, a few stools and buckets, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash.
It has all you need to take a bath.

However, it's way smaller compared to the public bath, since this is only for one family.

Oh, and the Family Bath has a small open-air bath as well.

Family Bath's open air bath is lit with this cool looking lamp.

Just like the indoor bath, it's also pretty small.
(I'm sorry dad, but your impatience has resulted in your naked picture ending up on the internet. You should've waited until I took a picture of the bath first.)

The Family Bath's water was hotter than that of the public bath.
So, I couldn't stay in the tub for that long.

After taking a nice hot bath, my family went past this 'Onsen Jigoku,'

and past this Okunoyu sign to go for a nighttime stroll.

Although we weren't able to walk that far away from Okunoyu, we got to see sceneries like these ones.
I know the photo does not look good at all, but the actual scenery was very beautiful.
Like I've said many times, Kurokawa Hot Springs feels like a small, peaceful and cozy village you might see in fantasy movies, cartoons, or video games!

We also walked by a newly built ryokan that looks really shiny and clean.

and this ryokan, which my father recognized from one of the TV shows he watched.
He said a Korean celebrity once stayed here.

After wandering around some places, my family just had to return to the ryokan.
I mean, Kurokawa Hot Springs is a very rural environment; there's not that many street lights.
It was too dark to do anymore nighttime strolling and not get lost.

So what did we do when we got back?

More relaxing in hot water, of course.
Our room had a built-in hot tub at our balcony, after all.

(Honestly, I wouldn't recommend using the Family Bath if you are living in the most expensive room of Okunoyu, because the balcony of the room and the Family Bath are pretty much very similar.)

My father dipped his entire body in there,
and my mother and I only dipped our feet.


Hot Springs are really nice.
It soothes your body and soul, so that you feel really refreshed, and it also helps you sleep better.
.....well, it did for me... at least.