Our next stop in Japan was a seaside resort called Beppu. It is not a big city, more a getaway from the city, famous for the hot springs that come from the volcanic activity beneath it. There are hundreds of places to sit (naked hahahaha) in these hot springs that are supposed to be good for your body, skin, and overall health. Hallie and I were not really interested in seeing all our shipmates naked (Viking, as you can imagine, is an Older crowd 😉), so we skipped the “hell waters” and instead went to visit a park famous for Macaques, or Japanese snow monkeys.
They warned us about the monkeys being aggressive (and I’ve seen aggressive monkeys before. They snatch your glasses, jewelry, cell phones and then “barter” them back to you for food—no kidding). But these monkeys all seemed very tame and just wandered around between us. Nothing scary at all.
We also visited a place with 60 stone Buddhas carved into the mountains – think Mt Rushmore, only way smaller and WAY older 🙂 which was pretty cool to see.
Another very enjoyable day in Japan (and another 13,000 steps PLUS half an hour on the bike), so starting to feel it hahahaha. But tomorrow is Hiroshima, so we’ll do it all over again.
Onward!
Stone buddhas. Hundreds of years old.
Pretty amazing!
Guess which Buddha has the hardest head
Bamboo is a grass, Crazy how tall is grows!
Famous Japanese snow monkeys
Hallie wanted to bring one home 🙂
Some beautiful scenery 🙂