My day at Spa World...

Yesterday was my first Onsen - Spa experience in Japan, and boy was it fun!! Spa world is the largest, indoor and outdoor spa in the world and boasts 8 floors of pools, spas, treatment rooms etc etc... and being Japanese, you're totally naked! oooh yes, you read that correctly, in fact, it's considered rude to wear your swimmers in the pool/spa area!! So Kate, Zoe and I all braved the towels-as-small-as-a-flannel and went for a dip!!

It was the most amazing experience ever... we didn't get the looks I had imagined we would for looking different or any funny comments, instead we watched and learnt how to behave in a truly unique, Japanese way.

The bathing was my favourite - after having a Reflexology treatment, salt scrub and sauna, I decided to brave the shower area... a seated salon of shampoos, seats, showers etc etc where you wash yourself with soap before rinsing... not mixing the two as you would in a conventional shower. My naked neighbour didn't seem to mind me watching and copying the process, before heading off to don a nightie to walk around the communal areas.

The top level is mostly outdoors in a centre parks style of rapids and hot steam pools... with a few slides and inflatables thrown in for fun *swimmers are worn is this one i should add!

Afterwards we all felt so relaxed and rejuvinated, putting clothes back on seemed to spoil the fun ;-)

Take a week look at the photos from the European level - women only...


An indoor cave - my favourite hot spring/spa...

When in Rome and all that ...

Hide's Ancestors are buried here so we went to visit the grave and he told me how the stones are ingraved with both the living and deceased family members so that they can always be together, and when someone passes away, the inscriptions are painted from red to black.

A gate staircase to one of the many temples in the area...

Koya San June 2006

Koya San is situated about 2hours from Namba and Osaka city on an express train, at the top of Mount Koya... and is a haven of pine forest, Bughist temples, shrines and Monks. Of all the places that I have visited so far in Japan, nothing prepared me for the breath taking beauty of this very spiritual and religious place. I was probably the only foreigner amongst maybe only 10 other Japanese people all day... a real treat to escape the bustling, people packed city of Osaka!!

This is the main walk along and to Okuni mae, the oldest shrine and burial area in Koya San...

The small personal tombs and shrines of the Japanese, beautifully inscribed and looked after in the forest...
A Japanese lady praying at the Budhist shrine, you say a prayer as you pour or rather chuck water at the Budha...

These small Budha's and their warm hats signify a childs grave/tomb...