Kuranoyado Hinata Ito

... br>While we were out Wendy had been in touch with JAL and Maria's luggage was finally on its way to Tokyo. We were told it had been unable to leave Beijing due to the bad weather brought on by a faux pas from the Beijing Weather Modification Office (although we discovered later it had inadvertently been sent to Kuala Lumpur - thanks Air China!). So, only two days late - it arrived by courier at around 11pm. Yay.

Today we had a great day exploring outside of Tokyo at the Hakone National Park. It is about 80 km outside of Tokyo. We took a bus to the park where we took the ropeway (gondola) up to the area where there are sulfur springs due to the volcanic activity in the area. We had beautiful views of Mt. Fuji, who had had her first snow the night before. Once we got to the area of the springs, our guide told ...

... seven years to your life – we decided to take our chances.

This ropeway took us up over the peak and then back down to Lake Ashi; a volcanic lake over 700m above sea level. We jumped on a sightseeing cruise across the lake and back aboard a mock 18th century sailing ship (very cute – check out the photos). Back over the ropeways and down to Gora we jumped on a very cute little switchback train which snaked and ...

... flowing down the mountain. We have fallen in live with this place already.

Feasting on a sumptuous meal of rice, noodles, vegies, soup and pork (oh you really have to come over here and try their tucker) at a local restaurant, we had a relaxing stroll soaking up the mountain air and scenery. After the frenetic few days in the bustling mayhem of Tokyo, we needed some quiet time and a chance to rest our bodies and minds. Arriving back at our lodgings we ...

... o nasze „na zdrowie” a ich „budziem zdarow” zorientowaliśmy się, że to Rosjanie.

Sam ryokan to też ciekawe doświadczenie. Nie ma tradycyjnych łóżek tylko japońskie materace – futony, podłoga wyłożone jest matami tatami (z trzciny), drzwi są przesuwane, a w oknach są shojii, czyli ramki z papieru, które zastępują zasłony.

W Hakone widzieliśmy też ...

... scree switchbacks that go all the way back down to the bottom – stopping only to spend 45 minutes in line for the bathrooms since we hadn’t peed in nearly 12 hours. The clouds had lowered on the mountain so it took a while to break free but when they did, we got a sense of what we had done. The valley stretched far far below us and the brightly colored bobbing heads continued down the mountain for a long long way.

We stepped off the mountain ...

Five million hours and as many trains later, we finally arrived at dusk in the beautiful Hakone National Park (the site of Mount Fuji) where after taking in the breathtaking scenery we caught the local bus up the steep road to our guesthouse. Following the ‘no shoes inside’ rule, we were proudly given our guesthouse slippers, and shown our room: a traditional Japanese ryokan (beds = Tatami mats on the floor with a futon on top, surprisingly comfortable) with ...

... rolling hills and mountains, with scattered Japanese style dwellings.





At arrival, I connected to the Hakone Tozan railways (for more info see here), which took me to my ryokan one station away – the Ichinoyu Honkan. The ryokan will be my ...

After work today I met Chris and mom in Shibuya at the Hachiko statue. They spent the morning visiting and touring Takanawadai Elementary School next to our apartment where the nice English speaking Vice Principal gave them a tour. Mom loved it. From there they went to the Harley Davidson Store in Omotesando and department store shopping in Shibuya. They ate lunch at a French place but don't know what it was called- they are not as dedicated ...

... views of the mountain peak.

We then drove on to Hakone and took the cable car across to the Owakaduni Valley volcanic area with its steam vents and boiling water pools. Being a volcanic area it had the customary smell of rotten eggs. You could also buy "black eggs" which were eggs boiled in the sulphur-rich water which turned the egg shells black.

After taking the cable car back we got back in the bus and drove on to our final ...