During our travels an elderly japanese man started up a conversation with us, he asked us where we were visiting and when we mentioned Takachiho he looked very excited and said to us very seriously 'Takachiho! Very, very important place to all Japanese. Many legends there.' My only knowledge of Takachiho had been the beautiful gorge which had been created by lava from Mount Aso. It is also home to many Japanese Shinto myths and legends, and looks the part too with mist constantly swirling around the hills and ancient shrines. For a great article on the legends of the area, read this article - Japan Times
Today we headed from Kurokawa to Takachiho Gorge. Takefue staff helped us set up our GPS for Takachiho and off we went! The drive was quite easy as it was mostly backtracking the way we came, until turning at a road that bypassed Aso and took us to Takachiho. It took about 1 hour 30 mins.
It was still a little rainy when we arrived at Takachiho and of course it had been raining heavily the day before so the gorge itself was incredibly different from what I was expecting! Usually shown in pictures as a stunning blue river with greenery surrounding and paddle boats floating down, today the gorge was a muddy brown, and violently rushing downstream. Certain walkways and viewing spots were roped off as they were flooded or the water had risen too high, the boats of course were not in operation (should have brought some white water gear along!) the boat dock itself was nowhere to be seen as it was all covered in water. So it was certainly an unusual visit to this attraction, but still beautiful nonetheless!
Takachiho Gorge - what it SHOULD look like...photo from jnto
Takachiho Gorge - all muddy and floody!
Takachiho Gorge
Takachiho Gorge
Takachiho Gorge - all misty
Takachiho Shrine - rain falling as usual
The town of Takachiho is quite small, and not really tourist orientated. Finding somewhere to eat was a little difficult and we ended up going to the supermarket to get some things for lunch. As Takachiho Gorge is the main attraction in town and the area itself it has the most options in terms of snacks and food – it is not worth venturing into the town at all.
After Takachiho we drove back to Aso, this was another easy drive and took about 1 hour 15 minutes. Once we got to Aso there was extremely heavy fog again and it was like driving with a blindfold on – visibility was so low!
On the way to Aso - blanketed with fog and almost no visibility!
So…. Saturday night in Aso. I had a hard time booking this night as everything in the vicinity seemed booked out, especially in the nearby onsen towns. I decided to give the task of booking this to my boyfriend and he also had difficulties finding something but happened upon Aso Hakuun Sansou on the Japanican website. Looked ok from the pictures and everything else was full so we booked….
Oh dear me. How can I describe this place? How can I convey the utter horror? I can only think that some genius got a good deal buying an old concrete hospital from the early 70’s and decided to convert it into a hotel without renovating because I have no other explanation. As soon as the hotel staff left me alone in the room I burst out in delirious laughter because of the hideousness of it all. The room itself was set out traditional Japanese style, it was old, smelly, musty and didn’t seem that clean at all. The air con pipe leaking along the wall also didn’t add to the glamour of the room. The hallways were reminiscent of a scene from ‘the Shining’ except in this case it looked like people had indeed died in the hallways and no one had cleaned up the cadaver juices. The stains! Oh the stains and the smell! On checking out I could no longer breathe and tried to get from the room to the front desk without breathing in the stale, musty, 40 year old smells of the hallways but it was impossible. Every other guest of the hotel seemed to be around 80 and quite comfortable in the hospital atmosphere. Dinner was even served in a dining hall cafeteria style. The quality of the food was terrible, the room was old and school-lunch style set up really unappealing. There was also a ‘games room’ area which had arcade machines in it. Prizes included plastic briefcases covered in dust or dead moth corpses. I tried to while away time in one of the massage chairs offered but didn’t realise it had the added value of eight arachnid arms included in the massage. The lounges in the foyer were riddled with stains and the gift shop was half empty and covered in dust and dead insects.
Mmmm lovely carpet and stains...
Gaming parlour from hell
Hallway to our room. To the left a sheer curtain barely covering
the air conditioning units outside, to the right a multitude of stains on the carpet.
Classy decor. The gnome obviously keeps its eyes
closed most of the time wishing it was somewhere else.
Our air conditioning unit in the room.
This was noisy and leaked. There was also a leak coming from the ceiling....
I obviously can’t recommend the place more….. NEVER GO HERE. This was my first experience of accommodation in Japan that was not clean, efficient and with bad quality food. The only thing I could liken it to was a country town motel gone wrong. Aso is far off the regular tourist trail and Kyushu itself does seem to be suspended in the 70’s or the bubble in many areas, but this was certainly the worst example of it all. Book early somewhere else, avoid this hotel!
Now you might be thinking why did we actually stay? As I mentioned before EVERYTHING was booked out, and although we considered sleeping in the car it was a Japanese sized car and very small. I covered myself in DEET because I was terrified and my boyfriend tried to drink enough Asahi to knock himself out and that was how we dealt with the whole situation….
Accommodation
Hotel: Asohakuun Sansou
Price: ¥21,100 for standard Japanese style room with Mountain view for 2 people.
Location: 7-1, Akamizu, Aso-shi, Kumamoto
Additional: Kaiseki Dinner and Breakfast included
Web: http://www.japanican.com/hotels/shisetsudetail.aspx?st=8325001
Booking: We booked through Japanican. You shouldn't book here at all.
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