Beppu is a geothermal hotspot and has a series of "hells." These steaming ponds were calledd inhospitable areas and this is how the word for them was translated as hell. There are seven of them. Actually there are more than seven since each hell may have three or four ponds at each location. We hired a taxi to ferry us around for two hours which was just perfect. We made it to each hell and would have been back within our two hour window except for the last hell was a geyser and we were waiting for it to go off. It took over twenty minutes for it to erupt and that put us over our two hours. Not a problem, we had a blast and are so happy we took the time to see these amazing natural wonders.
Hard to get used to this view
A cool building made of woven reeds
The first hell was sea hell because the major hell here is bright blue
It is a garden like setting
Lily Ponds
With blooms
Off in the distance is the hell
Azalea bushes hitting their stride
At Sea Hell we found another pond that would give blood hell a run for its money
A most horrid red
Right next door was a greenhouse with lily pads and blooms
Four different color flowers
Orchids as well
Pretty
We made it to sea hell
Bright blue and loud with the steam vents
The plants love the warmth and the moisture
The third pond at Sea Hell was a mud pot
Very muddy
There were two different mud pots at Sea Hell
One was particularly active
I put the camera on "action" shot
I got some big gurgles
The concentric rings were special
These three ponds were so different but located within a 100 yard raduis
Fumarole
The cherry trees are still in bloom but many blossoms had started to fall
Off to the Cooking Pot Hell, will they be cooking up raccoons?
A devilish cave man
A lovely photo stop
Irises
The first Cooking Pot
A big shrine to the devil of the hell
The Cooking Pot Hell has many kinds of pools
A blue pool, a very thick mud pool, an orange pool and a milky white pool
A thicker clay pot hell
This hell was an opaque off white color
Lots of steam that smelled of Sulphur
There was a orange red pool here too
A statue in the steam at Crocodile Hell, Hell #4
Tourists in the steam too
Why they had crocs here is unknown
There were lots of crocs
Hell #5 is the White Pool that is a big green due to algae growth
Please be understand!
Even with the greenish tinge it was a beautiful setting
Nice statues too
A fine nature walk
Then there was a set of large aquariums tanks set up
Golden scales
Number 6 was the Blood Pool Hell
It had the largest of the blood pools so far
A nice waterfall off to the side
Danger goes without saying
Lovely flowers along the exterior
A great micro climate
Every exit has a gift shop
Where you can get a giant devil head
Our taxi is 420!
The pond in front to the last hell
A rock enclosure was built to contain the geyser
These guys are unimpressed
