I had never heard of Iya valley until Reinout suggested that we go when we were planning this trip. But as we were driving into the hills, the view was - wow - getting more and more scenic. We eventually stopped at the side of the road and took photos of the beautiful sight.
There were not many cars
on the road, but then as we saw more and more, we realised we were close to the pissing boy statue. We parked the car outside an onsen hotel not far away from the statue, walked to the statue and took photos, before returning to the hotel for hot spring.The hotel has two onsen - one outdoor and one indoor. We were attracted to try the outdoor hot spring, which required a ride on the cable car down the steep valley. The view was amazing, but the hot spring itself wasn't. It was a sulphur bath so it smelled like rotten eggs...and there weren't any showers down the valley. We the girls didn't have enough time to try the indoor bath and showers.
We found a campsite in the valley and loved it very much. It's by the river and very close to the famous Kazura vine bridge. After setting up the tents the guys had fun playing in the river, throwing the frisbee and I had a good time photographing their actions.At around dinner time we
walked to the bridge to look for food. Since the bridge closes at sunset the nearby shops did too, we stumbled across a small shop and the owners offered us some free food 'cause they were closing for the day. After dinner we decided to cross the bridge, despite its being closed. There was only a string acting as a "barrier"... during the day it cost 500 yen per person to cross the bridge, but at night - free! I thought it would be quite fun and easy, but I got really scared, 'cause the gaps between the vine were quite big, and the bridge swayed a lot...thanks to Daan who held my hand (Andrew, on the other hand, "abandoned" me to complete his feat of crossing the bridge without holding onto anything).
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