Noboribetsu

Last weekend I went on a road trip with a couple of friends living in the area. Our goal was Noboribetsu, which is famous for its hot springs (onsen).
On our way there we came through one or two national parks, which was reflected in the views:

My old pal Yotei-zan

Noboribetsu itself can be easily recognised by its smell of sulfur, which dominates the whole onsen area. At first I thought somebody had farted, but soon realized the smell wouldn't go away. It grew on me after a while though.
The town of Noboribetsu is a bit further from the onsen area and so I didn't see it. However, there is a little village constructed around the hot springs which consists mainly of souvenir shops, hotels, restaurants and demon statues.

The demon- theme prevails supposedly because the place is also called "hell valley". That's probably because of the smell and the fact that the area is volcanic. You can literally see the hot water shoot out of the earth:

First geyser I'd ever seen live. Exciting!

After we'd seen the sights we went into our Japanese style hotel (ryokan) to frequent the hot springs. You basically sit in the hot water all day, only coming out to have meals and tea in your samurai dressing gown. At night you sleep in a cosy futon on the floor of your tatami room. Everyone who's ever been ill as a kid can imagine why this concept is successful.
The area where I live has lots of onsen as well and I've been asked round to them a couple of times by colleagues and bosses, but I was feeling a little bit embarrassed, because you have to take off all your clothes. The baths are separated by sexes but I still didn't fancy my female colleagues potentially discussing my nipples all over the office for the next few weeks (not  that they would do that, but who knows...), so Noboribetsu was the first time for me.
I was on my own in the ladies' bath because my friends were all guys, which was alright. This way I could check out the whole situation before actually venturing in one day with people from work. There were about seven different kinds of hot water that came in different colours, temperatures and were said to cure different illnesses, beautify your skin, etc. What can I say, it was fantastic! I haven't felt this relaxed in ages and my skin felt like I was 15 years younger. It was also prickling a bit though, from the heat and minerals in the water.

In the evening we all sat down in our dressing gowns and had a kaiseki, a seasonal Japanese meal which consisted of around twelve courses freshly made with strictly stuff that was in season at the moment. It didn't only taste delicious, it also looked really beautiful:

We went onsening again that evening and the next morning and then quickly went to see more of the area before we got on the road back home.
One of the sights was a picturesque, steaming crater lake:

another a natural foot bath in the middle of a forest, which is fed by a little stream and about as hot as the onsen itself:

On the way back we passed the beautiful lake Toya, part of its own national park. I'd already visited once with some people from work, but was too busy back then to write an entry about it, so here's a picture: