In an impromptu decision, we spent the afternoon in Kobe. Yes, like the beef. This is the beauty of the JR Pass, it costs you nothing to jump on the train just for the heck of it. We didn't even know what to expect in Kobe, or what we were going to do there, just that it would take under an hour on the train to get there. The JR train took us to Kobe station (not Shin-Kobe station). Here we learnt that Kobe is not a quaint town with cows roaming the fields, getting massages and drinking beer. Why we expected to find this... is mainly based on the reputation of Kobe beef.
Kobe station is by the waterfront of the city, and we were surprised to find that Kobe has a very commercialised tourist district. The entire waterfront is designed for tourism, with lots of restaurants, a giant shopping centre with an aquarium, and a ferris wheel by the sea.
 |
| The real Kobe |
 |
| Our rather deceptive, not-quite-to-scale tourist map of Kobe |
Now, if we had access to Google maps at this time, we'd have seen that this village is bloody far from Kobe. Like, another hour's train ride far. So, up the mountain we went. The train tickets were about $25 return trip. We were a bit irritated to find lots of Japanese advertising on the train, for a "day pass" at the same price, including a day at one of the hot springs in the village. Instead, we had to additionally pay for entrance to the hot springs, because the girl at tourism information didn't tell us about this promotion - honestly I'm still not sure where to get these promotional tickets.
 |
| The retro decor on the Arima train |
As daylight dwindled, we got off the train at Arima Onsen Village. The town is on a steep mountain. We couldn't find any English maps or information, so we crossed the street to the JR information centre, and asked the girl at the counter for a recommendation of where to visit. She recommended Arima Onsen Taikou-no-yu, which was a 15 minute hike up the mountain along the narrow un-pedestrianised roads. This hotel had a formal hot spring resort. We got a voucher from the JR information for 1000Y for the first 1 hour. After this, it would be 2400Y which we thought was a bit expensive, and we figured we couldn't really stay much longer anyway, given it was so late.
 |
| The entrance to Arima Onsen |
This onsen was a bit complicated in how you prepare for the baths, and we spent a while trying to figure out how to even get to them. First, you enter a changing room, removed your clothes and put on the robes provided. We removed our watches, and spent the rest of the time guessing when an hour would be up - no clocks provided. Once enrobed, you go back through the main foyer to reach the onsen changing rooms. In the next changing rooms, you remove the robes and follow through to the wash station - where you shower and wash your hair - on the way to the hot springs. We managed to mentally time an hour successfully, and I'm pretty sure about 20 minutes of it was spent figuring all this stuff out.
 |
| Arima Onsen Village |
We returned to Kobe, another hour unexpectedly lost in transit. We made our way to the waterfront, and after checking out a few menus, decided to try the BBQ place because it served Kobe beef. The food was good, more expensive than Takayama for the Kobe beef (compared to Hida beef in Takayama), but we noticed the poor quality cuts of beef served. Also one of the shrimp looked like it had some green algae disease. This was probably our worst dining experience in Japan, come to think of it. Anyway, I thought the Hida beef was better than the Kobe beef, but it may have been the quality of the cuts. Either way, I think Hida beef is a great alternative and much less expensive.
 |
| The waterfront district at night in Kobe |
Once the dinner hour had subsided, the waterfront closed abruptly and the crowd thinned. The walk back to the train station was empty. We returned to Kyoto after 11pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment