Last Friday we had a big meeting at work about a large, dangerous, typhoon that was supposed to hit Kyushu this past weekend. The teachers I work with all advised me to buy water, canned goods and candles and to prepare my house by turning of the gas and so forth – they also said to NOT leave the house on the day it was supposed to hit. So what did Nicole and I decide to do over the weekend? Take a road trip to a resort town on the edge of Kyushu!
Ok so we are a little crazy. Japan does that to a person (and to be fair some of us were never all that sane to start with, ahem). But holy crap did we have a good time!
I should point out in our defence though that we often get warned of large typhoons only to have them turn out to be no more than a little rough wind and a lot of rain. Furthermore, this weekend was a long weekend and there was just no way I was going to waste my precious free time indoors watching TV. So we took all the necessary precautions (like deciding against camping out in a tent, and bringing some extra pairs of socks) and headed for Beppu – the Onsen (spa) capital of Kyushu, and maybe even Japan.
The weekend was more interesting than we had anticipated. We ended up in Oita on the Saturday night (a city close in size to Nagasaki, but a lot more modern) and having found a cheap place to park decided to find the entertainment district. Nicole and I tend to have crazy nights of random partying whenever we hang out, and this was pretty much what we got.
Within an hour of being in the city, we just happened to stumble upon a Canadian pub (the only foreign run bar in the city apparently!) and feasted on glorious chicken wings, beer, and C.C. We were chatted up by some visiting Americans who were stereotypically friendly and loud. Then we got drunk and tried to find a good club in a weird labyrinth like building. We could hear the music but couldn`t find the club door after an hour of wandering around the building! It was seriously like we were in some weird, crazy cult film, complete with dark corridors and flickering neon lights. Eventually we gave up and went to a live house instead, where the Americans `forced` me to drink whiskey and beer (yes, yes, forced may not be the right word for it…but they were paying). Now we were well on our way to getting plastered, and all I could think about was dancing.
I looked at Nicole and we both knew we had to find a club. The Americans decided to give up on us at that point (given that it was late and that they had heard a typhoon was coming) and so Nicole and I set off alone in search of Oita`s elusive dance club. Shortly after, we found it.
At this point things get fuzzy, but there were some HOT men at this place and the music was even hotter. Plus, there was an interesting mix of Japanese people and foreigners, and for once the foreigners were not all English teachers or military – there were some cool international students as well. We met some interesting people and danced the night away. I don`t remember getting to the media café after (Nicole tells me that she almost had to carry me, heh) but I woke up still drunk several hours later on the floor under a computer. I love media cafes – so cheap, so convenient for passing out in (open 24 hrs, private rooms).
Stepping outside into the cloudy `typhoon` morning the next day we finally decided it was time to go to Beppu. Given that the wind was really picking up, we figured it was best to get there as soon as possible. So we drove along the coast for half an hour and having encountered nothing more than heavy rains, we felt that we had indeed made the right choice in taking the trip. Maybe everyone had been exaggerating after all….
The rest of the day we spent going to an awesome aquarium (where Nicole touched all the gross, turd-like sea creatures on display, and I petted a walrus and a seal), and went to the best Onsen I have ever been to, which included a sand bath that had an almost medicine hut feel to it (complete with hallucinations). We also sat outside in a sulphur bath while it was pouring down rain. In a word: amazing. Who ever comes to visit me this year, I will take you there for sure!
By now it was getting late and we wanted to go party again though. We had secured a nice hotel room (since we had ghettoed it the night before) and decided to ask for suggestions. The lady at the counter actually apologized (sooo Japanese to apologize for a natural disaster) that most places were closed because of the typhoon (which was now due to hit in two hours) but showed us a pub nearby that was open. By the time we got there, we finally had the thought that maybe it was not in fact a good idea to be out – the wind was getting pretty strong, things were blowing everywhere, and the only people on the streets were running for cover and screaming. Having come that far though, we were not about to turn back.
The pub (which had the windows taped up) was deserted but we managed to spend a few hours there eating and drinking and congratulating ourselves for being such badasses. Eventually though, we decided that going back to the hotel might be best since at this point Aaron was emailing me from Omura to tell me that it was so bad there that the power had gone out, and Jeff had emailed Nicole from Iki to tell her that he was stranded at a gym due to the severity of the storm. We figured we had been hardcore enough for one night and made a quick retreat back to the safety of the hotel.
6 pack in tow, we made it back to the hotel safely, and woke up the next morning to gorgeous weather. We then Onsened at a really expensive place (a posh hotel with a gorgeous view) before setting off back to Omura. The only hitch was that the highway was closed due to typhoon damage so Nicole missed her plane, but she ended up getting one the next morning and so all was well.
I love typhoons. I love Onsens even more.
I didn`t find out until Tuesday that in fact 13 people had died in Kyushu because of the typhoon….
