View Resort Marine Hills Ito

... town, we got off and walked through the picturesque cedar avenue to the next town, Hakone-Machi. From here we got on the sightseeing boat to cros the lake (Ashino-Ko) - a pirate ship nonetheless. I kid you not! We also managed to not get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji all this time (the whole reason for coming this way) because of the poor visibility and low cloud. At the other side of the lake we caught the ...

... about the "black eggs". Supposedly if you eat a black egg which had been cooked in the sulfur springs you will have 7 years added to your life span. So Jeremy and I said that sounded great. The eggs are put into little baskets and dropped into the sulfur springs to boil. Talk about stink - the springs were awful, and the eggs made it worse. Anyway, when they come out the shells are totally black ...

... its way back down the mountain to Hakone-Yumoto. Making our way back to Odawara we had another ride on the bullet train – this time a super express over to Kyoto (an ancient capital). A kind gentleman on the train pointed out Mt Fuji again for us (they take such pride in this majestic mountain).

Finally arriving at Kyoto we had a short walk to K's House, our hostel. More like a small motel than your average hostel, this ...

Konichiwa.

Well we rose fairly early and finished packing our gear as we prepared to leave Tokyo. We bid farewell to the oh-so-friendly staff at the Sakura hostel in Asakusa. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay and can recommend the place to any traveller to Tokyo. It suited us heaps as it is laid back and friendly, they all spoke great English and were just the nicest and most helpful folk we could have imagined.

Now seasoned travellers in the Tokyo ...

... swoista gwarancja wierności podwładnych Szoguna. Stary checkpoint pokazuje jak przeprowadzana była kontrola i co robiono z osobami nielegalnie przekraczającymi granice.

Na drugą część doliny popłynęliśmy trochę kiczowatym „pirackim" statkiem. Z jeziora Ashi można podziwiać widok otaczających gór i powoli czuć mało przyjemną woń Owaku-dani czyli „doliny wielkiego wrzenia ...

... better, the weather got worse and we found ourselves in misty clouds just barely above freezing with gusts of wind that could knock you over if you weren’t careful. We had been making fun of all the people dressed like they were climbing Everest but they got the last laugh!

Meera and I made good time for a while as it was easy to navigate around people. We made it to the last of the huts before the top and the sign said we had 1.2km to go. It seems ...

... views of the surrounding mountains and forest. We decided to take advantage of the nearby village onsen (a communal outdoor hot spring bath, found everywhere in Japan). Upon finding slippers and a yukata (traditional Japanese gown) in our wardrobe we followed the cue of the other guests and got dressed. After receiving some confusing directions from the guesthouse manager (who spoke limited English, and in retrospect, did seem to be laughing at us) we soon became lost, dressed ...

... their website). And I know the cuisine is authentic when a lot of the things I ate, were things I would be hesitant to do so back home!





In the morning buffet breakfast was served which consisted of a several Japanese and Western Style dishes, and although ...

... our maid, cook and waitress, showed us in to this Japanese suite. We had to take of our shoes, and she sat us down on the floor of the living room for tea. The room was of course covered with Tamata, with Japanese table and seating. When she left us, she backed out of the room, went down on her knees and bowed and closed the door! In the bathroom we found huge wooden pool/tub, which hot water was already running into, and on the balcony ...

... Lake Ashi for a boat cruise. The cruise once again had views of Mt.Fuji and also a temple by the lake complete with torii on the water's edge.

People then had the option of taking the bus back to Tokyo which could take three hours or taking the Shinkansen fast train back to Tokyo. As we had a rail pass we took the train at no extra cost and were back in Tokyo within the hour. It was exciting to take our first ride on a Shinkansen!