Kusatsu: Onsen Resort
On Saturday Brooke, Beth, Kevin, Katie, Andrea, and I left Ami and drove to an onsen resort in Kusatsu. An onsen is the Japanese term for hot spring/spa. The drive was long but we had a wonderful time talking and listening to music. Kusatsu is located in the mountains and is not only famous for the onsen but also for skiing. One of the highlights of the trip was watching Andrea’s reaction to anything that involved snow. (She is from Florida.) She freaked when she saw it on the side of the road, on the mountain, in the trees, and the best one was when she freaked out over seeing icicles hanging off of the cars.
Once we got to Kusatsu we checked into our hotel (at around 2:00pm) and then we left for the onsen. The onsen we went to was called Sainokawara Open Air Bath and it can hold up to 100 people. It was wonderful to sit in the hot water, relax, and talk with the girls. My favorite part was sitting in the onsen and looking at the snow that was around the sides of the onsen.
After we relaxed in the onsen we went back to the hotel. I had been feeling fine for most of the day but on the walk back from the onsen I started to feel rather sick. As everyone left to take some pictures I crawled into my futon and refused to move. It was horrible no matter what I did I couldn’t get warm. Well, I skipped dinner and proceeded to lay in my bed and when everyone got back from dinner we watched Grey’s Anatomy and I ate the onigiri (Japanese Rice Balls) that the group brought back from dinner for me.
I zoned after Grey’s Antaomy and I think the rest of the group went down to the onsen that the hotel had. The next thing I knew it was about 12:00 and my stomach was not happy with me. I made it to the bathroom just in time. For the rest of the night I dozed off and on.
I think everyone in the room had problems sleeping because the room was too hot and at around 2:00am Andrea finally went to open the window to let some cold air in. She opened the window and freaked out because it was snowing.
We left the hotel at 10:00am on Sunday morning and headed back to Ami. Once we got back I went to bed and didn’t move. I spent Monday in bed with a rather high fever.
Even though I wasn’t feeling good for most of the trip I had a wonderful time, it was great to be up in the mountains and I enjoyed hanging out with everyone. I just wish I had been feeling better so we could have in Kusatsu longer and explored some more.
If you want to check out Kusatsu, here is the website: http://www.kusatsu-onsen.ne.jp/eng/index.html