wanderlust: Day 5

30 March 2009

Got up at an unearthly hour (read: 6.30am) to beat the infamous rush hour horde at Shinjuku Station, our transit stop on the way to Hakone. Had to bid a sad farewell to Ryokan Kangetsu and Chidoricho station though. After just 4 days, we had definitely developed some sort of attachment to those two places. :( But it was exciting too - coz there would be a change of scenery - we were going to Hakone (箱根), a touristy area famous for it's Onsen (hot springs), among other things.

To those who are travelling to Japan who intend to make a trip to Hakone, I strongly recommend getting the Hakone Free Pass or Fuji Hakone Pass. As we were going to cover both the Hakone and Fuji Five Lakes area over 3 days, we bought the Fuji Hakone Pass (7200 yen per person = approx RM280). This pass is convenient and it covers almost all of the modes of transport around Hakone and Fuji five lakes (as well as the trip to and from Shinjuku Station), so you end up saving money on transport. We also decided to follow the Hakone Round Trip course recommended by Japan-Guide, which lets you utilise all the different types of transport (train, cable car, ropeway, boat, bus, even walking, haha) while seeing all the different sights that Hakone has to offer.

Step 1:
Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto (箱根湯本) by train

Got to Hakone-Yumoto at 10-ish. Our hotel, Kappa Tengoku (which means "heaven of water sprites", FUAH so whimsical), was located just above Hakone-Yumoto station, so it was quite convenient. Had previously heard so many bad reviews about the gazillion steps you have to climb to get to the hotel, but it wasn't that bad lah. If a 54 year old woman can do it (hehe Mummy roxxors!), so can you! :) Left our luggage there, bought ourselves a yummy brunch consisting of Onsen Manju (red bean paste bun thingy), Gyoza (yes, the love affair with Gyoza continues), and coffee. Sat on a bench overlooking nature, and mused about how good life was. Haha. (How sucky it is in contrast, now that I am back at work! Aisehman...)

Lugging our luggage uphill

Mummy pointing at the number of steps leading to our hotel. Easy Peasy!

Manju, and the cool machine that makes it

Mummy enjoying her daily coffee fix

Gyoza lurrrve

Steps 2, 3 and 4:
Hakone-Yumoto to Gora by train
Gora to Sounzan by cablecar
Sounzan to Owakudani (大湧谷) by ropeway

Hakone is brimming with tourists. Tourists mean congestion. And man, was it congested in the train/cable car areas. More congested than any of the trains that we took in Tokyo. Encountered this cute little ang-moh family in the cablecar - the cute little kids were speaking in Mandarin. Apparently they live in China. Cool. The ropeway was fun, we got a pretty good view of Mount Fuji.

Finally arrived at Owakudani, which is a volcanic valley that spews sulphuric fumes. Quite cool, albeit stinky. The view of Mount Fuji from Owakudani was so clear! Owakudani is famous for its Kuro tamago, which, literally translated, means black eggs. Everyday, huge amounts of eggs are dipped into the volcanic springs - volcanic springs hot enough to cook the eggs. They come out black, stinky, and generally not very appealing to the eyes, but still good. Not much different from the regular boiled egg. You eat it for the novelty, I guess. We had a second brunch (gluttons!) here, eating a total of 5 eggs between the two of us. (And this is where our cholesterol levels shot sky high and never came back down again. Hehe.). The food stalls also sold EGG-flavoured soft-serve icecream (which Japanese call "soft cream"), so obviously we had to try it. Tastes like custard. Good stuff!

Owakudani... steamy!

Me, a slightly obscured Mount Fuji, and ropeway

Smoke gets in your eyeeeeeesssss

Dude dipping hundreds of eggs into the boiling water

Hello, cholesterol

Hello Kitty makes an appearance in a black egg costume! Haha.
I'm holding the Egg-flavoured soft-serve. Yum.

Steps 5 and 6:
Owakudani to Togendai by ropeway
Togendai to Hakone-Machi by boat (via Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖))

At Togendai, boarded a "pirate ship" and took a leisurely 30 minute cruise through Lake Ashi. It was quite enjoyable, despite the freaking cold and the relentless winds that whipped our hair all over the place (took me 5 mins to untangle my hair later). Couldn't see the elusive Mount Fuji from the lake though, which was a shame. Got off the boat at Hakone-Machi, which has a cute little souvenir shop that sells the cutest soft toys.

Ahoy Matey!

Shades of blue

Chibi Mount Fujis. SO adorable.

I was very tempted to buy this. It's a PEACH! Kawaiiiiii....

Steps 7 and 8:
Hakone Machi to Moto-Hakone by foot
Moto-Hakone back to Hakone-Yumoto by bus

From Hakone-Machi, we walked around Lake Ashi and walked through the ancient cedar tree-lined path to Moto-Hakone. It was a peaceful and relaxing walk, the warm sun glinting prettily off the lake's surface... sunlight creeping through a canopy of towering trees... almost enchanting.

Trees from ages past...

Back at Hakone-Yumoto, we went searching for Hatsuhana, which serves Zaru soba, cold buckwheat noodles dipped into a soy-based sauce. Apparently, Hakone is quite well-known for its Zarusoba. I had the Tenzaru Soba (basically tenpura + zarusoba), mummy wanted something warm so she had the Tenpura Soba (basically tenpura + soba in hot dashi soup). Haha, how unoriginal of us. Didn't dare to try the tsukimi soba - which is soba with a RAW EGG (eww), nor the soba in yam-based broth (it looked mushy). We liked what we ordered though. Delicious...

Look at the size of that prawn!

The spider-like thing you see is deep-fried soba. Yum!

Mummy continues her love affair with Sakura

Hakone-yumoto is pretty at night. That's Hatsuhana on the left

Bought some snacks for dessert (and also as the next day's breakfast), and headed back to our hotel. Kappa Tengoku has an onsen (open air hot spring bath) that's open to the public, and no private shower facilities, so we had to bathe out in the open (all exposed and vulnerable in the freezing cold), then dip ourselves in the toasty hot springs. There were a couple of people there lah, crowded... But then, we figured that since they were strangers we would have no chance of ever meeting again in this life, and since they had the same parts we had, that we should stop being so embarassed. :) It turned out to be pretty relaxing. Went back to our room, watched some Japanese TV (Arashi was on... woohoo!), and fell asleep.

Introducing Japanese snacks: Clockwise from TopLeft: Calpis Water (almost like Yakult but not quite; much better), Caramel flavoured bread snack (almost like croutons, but sweet), more PUDDING, Strawberry cream daifuku (kinda like Mochi...), cheese-flavoured macaroni snack. I LOVE JUNK FOOD.