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The steam rising from Beppu Umijigoku.Explaining the origins of the “Sea Hell”.Minerals causing the red waters of “Blood Hell”.suspension bridge in Japan. It hangs 777m above sea level acrossthe Kyusui Ravine. The bridge offers spectacular views of theShindo Falls, comprising o-daki (“male”) and me-daki (“female”)waterfalls, of which the former has been chosen as one of Japan’stop 100 waterfalls. It was very windy when I crossed the bridge.The bridge swayed a little, but it was built this way to counter thewindy conditions and it felt reliable and solid. With the winds, itfelt like sub-zero temperature. Luckily, there were friendly vendingmachines waiting at both ends of the bridge, where I bought a canof warm Pokka sweet red bean drink!Today’s drive was especially therapeutic. We drove on the YamanamiHighway, a scenic route that connects Aso with Beppu. The roadswere very wide. I felt like I was driving across continental Australia.On the way to Mt. Aso, we enjoyed sweeping views of rolling hills,great plains, snowy mountains, and the occasional deer and cows.One important stop was the Daikanbo Peak. It is situated on thecaldera rim of the north of Aso Caldera. It is a vantage point to lookout to the Aso Valley, the Aso Five-Peaks, and all the northern rimsof Aso Caldera. The Aso Five-Peaks resembles a sleeping Buddhaand is admired by many.Next stop, El Rancho Grande. It is a Western-style horse-ridingground where you can rent a horse for 20 minutes or more for a ridearound the surrounding fields. I counted five horses on standby,of which some were white and some were brown. All were veryhandsome horses. I was assigned a white one, albeit the oldestamong them. Two Japanese cowboys taught us how to mount andcontrol the horse. It was all too easy: a soft foot-tap on the horse’sbelly would be to tell the horse to move forward; a left tug of theleash would be to turn left, and a soft pulling back of the leashwould be to slow down or stop. The two cowboys led us on a rideof the countryside and we admired the farms and nature. Initially,the horse was not used to my riding style. After a while, we gelled! Ifelt like I could gallop down the fields like a champion jockey.We hit the Yamanami Highway again to set off for Mt. Aso crater.To get to the smoking crater of Nakadake, one has to take theMt. Aso Ropeway to the top. Nakadake is an active crater withturquoise-green water at 60°C at times of moderate activity. Thewater turns grey as its temperature rises. I saw many emergencyshelters made of solid rock, and they served to protect visitorsfrom the volcanic rocks that might suddenly fly out from the craterduring unexpected volcanic activity. There were many sensors andalarms installed around the crater to warn visitors of an increase involcanic activity. The area was filled with sulphuric fumes and thecrater lake was incessantly bubbling.The ‘Mysterious Road’ phenomenon does not only appear inknown places such as Korea and Shenyang. It also appeared alongthe Yamanami Highway! As I was driving, the tour guide suddenlytold me to stop the car and asked me if I could detect a phenomenon.The Kokonoe “Yume” Suspension Bridge. One half of the Shindo Falls. The active crater lake at Nakadake.3