Before we left Ginzan, we spent our last few hours to soak and relax at the onsen. It was only me and 2 other ladies in the onsen area, so I decided to capture what’s inside.

The floor map of to the onsen area. Onsen area is at the top in the map. Purple dot indicates the elevator. If I’m not forgotten, the large hall at the right bottom is the dining room.

Sorry I don’t know why I whispered! It’s suggested to drink a glass of water before you dip yourself in the onsen. It’s to prevent dehydration.

Left side, vanity room area with Shiseido skincare provided. Right side, locker area to store belongings

You need to take off your sandals, then store your clothes, towel and belongings at the basket in the locker. Enter the bath area to clean and wash your body (wash, shampoo, soap activity) before you enter inside the onsen / hot-spring. Ryokan will provide small towel for onsen and bath towel for bath when you do you check in.

The entrance where you left the sandals. There is a weighing scale that you can use before and after soak yourself in hot spring.

The locker area with open basket. Basically it’s safe but if you feel insecure, it will be better to keep your expensive stuff in the room.

You are definitely need to take all your clothes in this area. No underwear allowed in bath area.

 

 

Hot or cold water depends on you preferences. No need to worry about soap and shampoo because ryokan provided these.

How to bath?

Turn on the water tap and gather the water inside the wooden basket below it. Then wet your body and face with the basket. Otherwise, using the shower is easier. There is a small wooden stool for each shower. So no standing while showering. This is the Japanese way. Don’t be surprised, try to enjoy yourself. 🙂 After you done showering, no need to dry your body because you will soak anyway. Bring the small towel to hot-spring area and soak. Put the towel on the top of your head and don’t let it wet.

The indoor hot-spring. I couldn’t capture the outdoor hot-spring because there are some women there.

Everybody is naked here. At the beginning I felt so awkward and shy. But since I don’t know them and vice versa, who cares! I won’t meet them after this anyway. :p The other night I soak myself at the outdoor hot-spring. It was just a small onsen and you can see the snow outside. Don’t worry nobody can peek here, there is a tall wall partition between woman and man onsen. But because it’s outdoor, I can talk with Mr. F who surprisingly was soaking at the outdoor onsen too. Even when I met the Philippine family at the outdoor onsen, Mr. F can hear what we were talking about. It was cold! Half cold up and half hot down. Haha but it was nice and relaxing.

I met Mr. F at the drink area just in front of onsen entrance. Then I curiously went to the balcony to check the view outside. It was breathtaking when I see the scenery.

It was peace and cold there. Listening to the sound of nature in the morning. That morning was in a great weather with clear sky and the sun peeking from the woods. But we couldn’t enjoy it for longer time because we need to pack to check out and our shuttle will depart in another hour!

Goodbye Ginzan! Thank you for pampering us for the night!

The cute shuttle that brought us to and from Ginzan

We departed again from Oishida Station back to Tokyo.

 

Our meal in shinkansen. The onigiri even without filling but it was delicious!

Hello Tokyo! We are back!

So here we are, coming back to Tokyo! See you on next post!

 

Here I share you some reference about onsen in Japan :

http://japantravelmate.com/travel-tips-planning/hot-springs-in-japan-how-to-use-japanese-onsen

https://www.insidejapantours.com/blog/2015/02/17/japanese-etiquette-101-how-to-onsen/

https://notesofnomads.com/faqs-using-japanese-onsen/

https://donnykimball.com/onsen-fca322109765

 

-G-