[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!