Yokoso! Japan Day 8 - Hakone

Last day of our journey! We were very excited to be going Hakone for a relaxing soak in hot spring, after having walked and done so much the previous days.

The journey to Hakone was pretty long tho. We first took the JR Yamanote line to Shinjuku to change to the "Romancecar" via the Odakyu line to Hakone-Yumoto station, which is usually the starting-point for visitors to Hakone. From here, we would then take a bus to our first destination for the day: Hakone Kowaki-En Yunessun/Mori No Yu (our hot spring place). The whole journey took more than 2 hours. I happily slept on the train most of the time.

The Romancecar:



Yunessun (hot spring place):







Yunessun is not your typical traditional hot spring place where you have to go in naked with other strangers. It is a spa-themed theme park/resort where you can try different types of hot spring, and with special "flavors", such as green tea, sake, red wine, chocolate, etc. My favorite was the coffee jacuzzi-style bath, where wafts and wafts of coffee aroma penetrate every cell in your body, leaving you relaxed and rejuvenated. Besides relaxation purposes, hot spring is also good for the skin and helps to open up pores. Besides hot spring, there are also other water recreational activities, such as the water slides, and swimming pool. For an entrance ticket of 2,800 yen (with disc; ~S$42), it is pretty worthwhile.

(No photos available, as none of us had waterproof cameras)

There is also food and beverages sold in the theme park, and all payments are made using this "watch", which you will then make the payment before leaving the place. There is also free shampoo, shower and conditioner available in the shower rooms, and hair-dryers at the dressing tables. Very convenient.

We soaked in the hot spring for about 2 hours, and left the place at about 2+pm.

Our next stop would be Gora station, where we would take the Hakone Tozan Cablecar to Sounzan. (Refer to map).

Gora station:



The Hakone Tozan Cablecar. It maybe hard to tell from the photo, but it actually travels up/down an inclined slope (similar to the peak tram in Hong Kong).



From Sounzan, we then took the cablecar on Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani, which is our next destination.



Us on the ropeway. Here, we can see lotsa mountains and the surrounding scenery in Hakone:



Owakudani, or Great Boiling Valley, is a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and hot springs in Hakone.





A rather amusing signage introducing the "kuro-tamago", or the "black egg", which is a specialty in Owakudani hard-boiled in the hot springs, turning the egg shells into black colour. Eating one supposedly adds 7 years of longevity. No harm trying, right?



Kawaii hello kity in black egg:



Another Hello Kitty hugging a black egg. Hello Kitty is indeed everywhere in Japan:



The black egg. Besides the black shell, it is no different from a normal hard-boiled egg:



We then took the Hakone Ropeway again to our next destination: Lake Ashi.
Supposedly we should be able to get a good view of Mount Fuji on the cablecar, but disappointingly the area was too foggy for us to see anything.



We would be taking a pirate-like ship/cruise across Lake Ashi, and enjoy the scenery, and possibly a glimpse of the Mount Fuji and its prolific hot spring. We could consider ourselves really lucky if we did catch a glimpse, as the clouds and bad visibility often block the view of Mount Fuji.






On board the ship. Ahoy!





Us on the ship, and imagine Mount Fuji is behind us *lol*







The journey took about half an hour or so. May not have mentioned earlier, but the Hakone Free pass that we bought (cost 5,000 yen for a 2 day pass, ~S$75) allows us to take the romancecar to and fro Hakone, as well as all the transport/bus we would be taking in Hakone itself. It may appear pricey, but it is probably worthe money given that the tranport here is not cheap.

At Moto Hakone-Ko:



Thought this was a rather gloomy pic that i took, with the looming clouds looking menacing:



At the bus interchange to take the Hakone tozan bus back to Hakone-Yumoto station. The area is surrounded by mountains:





A quaint restaurant-house in the vicinity:




Little houses "tucked" in the mountains:




The journey back to Hakone-Yumoto station was rather quiet, except for a traffic accident that we went pass along the highway. I was heavily asleep for most of the journey tho.

Back at the Hakone-Yumoto station, a nice little red bridge leading to the Yumoto-Fujiya Hotel:









It was about 6pm when we came back to Hakone-Yumoto station. We grab the chance to "raid" the shops here before they close (they close rather early over here, probably bcos there's very little crowd at night).

Dinner was at a BBQ-style place. An amusing episode ensued at the place. As the shop-owner did not speak much English, and we didnt understand the words or the pictures on the menu, we had difficulty understanding which item referred to which, particularly for the different parts of the cow. The shop owner was very entertaining; she tried to tell us which part of the cow each item is, by pointing to a part of her body!

In the end, all of us decide to order chicken instead.







The food was very tasty; i had fun cooking the chicken meat which was very well-marinated and succulent. The onion was also very tasty and sweet. This chicken set, which consist of the main dish (chicken, onion, capiscum and brinjal), rice and miso soup, cost us about 900 yen (~S$14).

An old poster for Sapporo beer:



Besides the tables that we sat at, there were tatami seats available in the restaurant as well. I was glad that we took the chairs instead, as i doubt my legs can stand being curled up for such a long period of time while eating!



After having had a satisfying meal, we left Hakone via the romancecar. It was about 9pm when we reached our hotel. As tomorrow we'd be taking an early flight back to Spore, we quickly packed our bags and had an early rest.

The next day, we took the limousine bus from Hotel Metropolitan, which is about 10 mins walk away from our place. This is highly recommended if you stay nearby and have to carry heavy luggage back. This is also much preferred to taking the train, as it'd be packed. For more info, can refer to this weblink: http://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/timetable/narita/ikebukuro_h.html

The ticket costs 3,000 yen (~S$45). The price is close to taking JR line + Narita Express.

This is the end of my Japan trip posts. I definitely hope that this would not be my last trip to Japan, as i had really enjoyed myself here, whether it is the sight-seeing, shopping or the food. My destination(s) should be Hokkaido, or Kyoto/Osaka/Nara.

Next holiday destination is likely to be China (Beijing or Shanghai). This would be a trip that i'm making with my parents next year. Meanwhile, take care, and do visit this blog whenever you're free. Ciao~ =)