Adventures in a mud hut through a 2ft 6" doorway.

It's Sunday night and Martin and I have returned a tad sun beaten but refreshed from a little jaunt to the old fishing port of Tomonoura on the Inland Sea. Fortunately, Tomonoura is not touted as a "Little Kyoto" in the way that so many tourist destinations in Japan are but fail to be and if you come expecting to see hoards of old samurai houses you'll probably be disappointed. Nevertheless, it is beautifully situated on the Inland Sea and it's lovely just to dander around all the narrow little alleyways and take in the ramshackle nature of the place, look at all the weird fish people sell on their door steps, chat to the locals and catch a glimpse of real, old Japan that you wont see in Kyoto.


Typical street scene in the village, it was a very tight squeeze driving down these streets, especially if you met another car. Fortunately, most people here drive little bento box sized cars and they all have buttons that automatically pull your wing mirrors back.


I love all those little gates and fancy roofs.


Freshly caught shrimp laid out to dry on the street.


Once we were done wondering around we caught the ferry over to Sensuijima Island which cost a grand total of one pound twenty and when we disembarked we thought we should head for an onsen. Well this was going to be no ordinary onsen, for a start we had to wear clothes - oh the horror of it! Martin and I then proceeded to change into our flashy airtex polo shirts and shorts supplied by the onsen (Martin had to search high and low for a pair of shorts big enough and when he reappeared I burst out laughing as they were a tad figure hugging - he claims he still maintained his modesty). Next up, we had to go and lie in the sauna which was not your usual pine clad monstrosity. In fact, this was a mud hut, with a thatched roof, mounds of seaweed on the floor, built on top of a roaring fire and could only accessed by crawling on your hands and knees through a 2ft 6" wooden door- see picture below.


Once inside, we had to lie on our backs on the roasting hot seaweed covered floor with only a rod of bamboo as a pillow and sweat it out before the staff let us out. Now after a few minutes of sweating profusely I began to feel a little claustrophobic so I clambered around in the dark until I found the door and crawled my way out. I emerged covered in black seaweed -face, arms, legs and all, boy must I have looked good.


After the sauna ordeal we got to soak in the cold bath which was rather pleasant as it was built in a nice rock pool overlooking the sea. Except this time we got to wear rather fetching sun visors (I'm sure they bought them in 1985) with floats attached to our necks. We enjoyed floating in the water until we were summoned for another sauna adventure, this time lying on a floor of damp tea leaves. After this was over we were ushered down to the beach where we had to sit in the sea for a while before our final sauna experience.


By now I was getting into the swing of things and quite enjoying it although I have to say I have never sweated so much in my life before. This time we laid on a bed of dried aromatic fruit leaves which was really nice. After this was over we headed for a soak in the hot bath where we enjoyed sipping green tea and looking out towards the sea.


We really enjoyed our fun little adventure and it's always good to try something new- even if they say you should never try anything new in a foreign country!