Evergreen Fuji Fujiyoshida

... here they call it a ropeway) from Togendai to Souzan with a brief stop at Owakudani to see the volcanic sulphuric steam. Again, this was supposedly a fantastic vantage point to see Mt. Fuji - but not today.

On reaching Sounzan we took a cable car down to Gora, from which we jumped on a local train heading back to Hakone-Yumoto. From there another hour spent on a different train heading back to Tokyo ...

... taro root and soba noodles. It actually was all pretty good.
A shinkansen (bullet train) took us back to Tokyo. By this time I was just out of it, seeing as I still had not been able to sleep. Thankfully last night I got a full nights sleep so feel much better.
A reception and dinner last night wrapped it up at the hotel.
All the Japanese are so nice and polite. We are having a wonderful time!

So yea! To summarize:
Walked about 10.2km downhill (which isn't so easy on rocky surface n stuff) from Station 5 of Mount Fuji to the bottom. Took about 5/6 hours but YAY! I used my hiking boots again (count so far: 3 times!) and it didn't feel too bad so I'm pretty glad, good chance to work off all the pocky!

Stayed in an epic Hotel Ohike which not ...

... sztuki na świeżym powietrzu, w którym znajduje się także niezwykle interesujący pawilon poświęcony życiu i twórczości Picasso. W drodze powrotnej zatrzymaliśmy się w Odawarze, żeby zobaczyć rekonstrukcję starego zamku. Korzystając z okazji, zdecydowaliśmy się także przejść nad brzegiem Pacyfiku, który przykuwa uwagę swoją plażą, na której znajdziecie ciemny, wulkaniczny piasek.

... vode a sposobi zafarbenie nacierno. Tieto cierne vajcia su tu hlavna atrakcia a uvaria vam ich priamo na miest. Hovori sa, ze ked zjete jedno cierne vajce predlzi sa vam zivot o 7 rokov. Ked dve tak o 14 a ked tri, tak vam bude zle od zaludka... Urobili sme si aj maly vylet na upatie jedne z miestnych sopiek a nadychali sa sirnych vyparov - no nic moc - dlhsi pobyt by to vraj bol ...

... shuffled (as quickly as we could) to our respective changing rooms, feeling a bit stupid. The onsen itself was amazing and soooo relaxing, and was just like a huge natural outdoor Jacuzzi, and the water felt so hot compared to the cold air. I did spend a while waiting for Sam to come out of his changing room before realising there were separate onsens for men and women.

Afterwards, and back in the changing room I reluctantly donned my outfit once more and tried to leave ...

... 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 ...

... way that can no return cross, Once chance may make for bad days”（「行 365;はよいよ
2356;、帰りは&# 24598;い」｝
It was easier till the 6th station, but after that, there was no point of return. We had a transient clear sky and brief view of the lake and cities at the bottom. That was the only luck that we had. Staying the ...

... toppings were where my issues lay (but I was a good girl and swallowed everything I put in my mouth): **Sea urchin and salmon Roe (The roe just burst in your mouth and its a litttttttle strange for me) **Octopus (not really that bad, just really chewy) **Tiny Tiny shrimps (complete with heads (this means eyes) and tails (which stuck to my gums and wouldnt remove themselves, need I say more..?) So all in all I think i did pretty well ...

... A run up to the hotel's ATM at the end of the day proved fruitless - Japanese cards accepted only. We then tried the little activity node near the station at the opposite end of the park and the few ATM's we found whilst wondering were all the same. It's a shame but I guess I'll just have to return soon to get myself a funky Dodonpa "Love Speed!" shirt... The final night in the hotel was uneventful; we used the internet and lamented the fact that we would be leaving our "big 3" the next morning.