Hotel Grand Fuji

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 ...

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 ...

... 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 ...

... no tenian color. Eran muy lentos y las figuras eran un poco simplonas. Al final pusieron algo de musica (no se si seria el himno de Japon), al ritmo de los fuegos, y la cosa mejoro, pero se podian haber ahorrado 20 minutos de la primera parte.

Lo mejor fue ver a las japonesas vestidas con el kimono para la ocasion. Algunos hombres tambien se habian vestido de kimono (estilo samurai). Todos llevaban los tipicos zuecos japoneses con calcetines y hacian clock-clock al andar.

... bad but it definitely tasted way better than it smelled!

Fuji Peace Park was nice and peaceful (of course....) we walked up through a shrine and various statues and got to the Peace building which looked more Indian than Japanese and had 4 Buddha's set in the outside of the building. Each one was in a different position ...

... 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 ...

... ou il n'y a rien avoir, surtout qu'il pleuvait puis de nagano a tokyo, pour prendre l'autobus jusqu,a fuji. Je suis arriver sous la pluie, et il fait noir. je passe 2 nuits ici avant de partir pour okinnawa. j'espere avoir un peu de beau temps pour pouvoir voir le fameux mont fuji.

... feel getting chill, I became worried of getting pneumonia (Luckily, we did not catch any afterall). All of us were drenched and felt so miserable when we arrived back to the 5th station.

Later at home:
There were many thunder struck near the house through the middle of night, we jumped out of our futons and were awake. It was very loud and scary. (Fortunately, we did not came across any earthquake during our stay)

... able to smile and even laugh, perhaps it was because the tentacles were tickling my tongue (not bloody likely). A new first was finished! Of course, this called for celebration, so much beer and sake chased the tentacles down my throat, cleansing my palate for the courses to come. And what courses they were! More firsts ensued. Raw oyster; delicious! Pieces of eel I'd never tried; yum! Some asparagus-wrapped bacon; not new, but scrumptious ...

... and brighter I feared not reaching the peak on time, although it was not something I had to fear. I was unlucky enough to reach the peak and see nothing but a LOT of people, and cloud. Everywhere, cloud. But nothing can take away the sense of achievement of reaching that peak. So, you've made it to the peak, What else is there to do but climb down, right? Wrong! Personally due to the bad weather I didnt explore as far as I will when I reclimb the ...