Arima ..... ahhhhh!

So Mary Ann arrived last night and we had to do something that would help her adjust to local time. Myself, I was looking for adventure, but something mellow too. So what do you do? Spa town is not a bad choice.
Sounds like this town Arima is VERY old and famous throughout Japan for the spa facilities. We walked by a temple founded in 1539.
Very cool town. Got there by bus, subway, and local train. Very nice when we got out of the metro area. Basically could walk all over the town. Some of the "alleys" thought we were walking down turned out to be "streets," so had to stay on our feet to jump out of the way of local trucks, cars, etc.
We arrived after 2PM and most of the local places were shut after lunch. Wandered around a while and found some place that smelled good. Small place, no English menu. Had something on the menu that looked like dumplings and a beer, so I figured we had found our spot. We sat at the counter, so we got to see the gal prepare the chow. Batter, piece of calamari, and something like rice crispies in each little mold. This gal let them fry for a bit and then started poking and flipping these things around to form a yummy calamari dough ball! Wow! Put a little mild sauce (like mild BBQ sauce) and some ground spices on top! Just what we needed!
Found out from the restaurant staff that there was a spring and temple up the hill about 100m away. Nothing for spa action, but a nice little spiritual bump. After that, we continued to lumber up the hill and finally cut over to the Gin no Yu spa. There are different types of water coming out of these springs - seems amazing to me, so close together. Gin no Yu is supposed to have 'Ginsen' water that is rich in radium and carbonate. No idea what we were getting into. They had a little 'spa etiquette' sign telling you not to wear your undies in, and I went to the mens'. After the lockeroom, realized the style was "naked, not coed." How much fun is that?! "Hanging" with the boys, story of my life. WTF? Fortunately, the m/f pools were separated were separated by an INPENETRABLE rock wall, but you could at least shout over the wall. So Mary Ann and I could shout to each other, which I do not think the locals appreciated one bit. We did not last too long - the water was really hot! But it was worth it. Ambled around a few more spots in town and caught the train back. Nice day!