Hotel hakone Powell

... weird, but once you crack them they just look a regular old hard boiled egg. They give you some salt but no pepper!
After that we took a cruise on Lake Ashi which is a lake made by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. It was a little rough on the lake due to a windy day so we rode in the enlosed part of the boat.
Lunch was at a local restaurant and we tried some interesting foods ...

... 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 ...

... system, we had no trouble making our way to Tokyo station and got our first taste of the bullet train. It is smooth, sleek, and fast; and like every train we have been on in Japan it is clean and efficient to the max. When the timetable says it is leaving at 12:06, it leaves exactly on 12:06 to the second.

It seemed that Tokyo stretched on forever, and it is just one huge megalopolis beyond Yokohama to the south. As suburb after suburb whizzed by we ...

... had baths with views of Mount Fuji- oh yea, we managed to get one of the 100/365 days when you can get a clear view of the Fuje- but it also had a proper outdoor bit with a bubbly spa pool, hot lake pool, ceramic bathtub pool and bamboo bath pool- spoilt for choice really and absolutely gorgeous after a long day hiking! We also got their taster dinner one ...

... 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 ...

... h tml

To get there we took the trains which was my first experience with the Japanese train system. They were very clean and timely! It was a bit confusing since there were three different types, local, rapid & rapid express. However, there were a fair amount of signs to help point you in the right direction and to let you know where each of the different types ...

... to the thick mist (which is apparently very common) we couldn’t see a thing and had to settle with the picture-perfect postcard we were given on arrival. Our trip finished with a boat ride across the huge lake which was really beautiful. We caught a bus back to Hakone train station, collected our backpacks from the storage lockers we’d hired for the day and boarded the Shinkansen to the small mountain town of Takayama, where we would be spending the next few days.

... down slanting sheets that it made us almost invisible ahead of us. At one point, Fredrik’s eye glasses were all clouded that he had to take it off; he was descending the steep hill half blinded. My water proof jacket began to absorb the water and my feet inside of hiking boots were all wet. My awesome gregory rucksack was also getting heavier as the inside (including my passport) was getting wet. When I started ...

... wall. As we went up the stair uncertaintly and opened the door, it lead to the shoulder to the one side of the two-way multi lane roads and had a little shelter, kind of looked like a bus stop. I looked around to find the clue of whether we were the right place or the right side of road (the south bound to the Fuji 5 ...

... customer in the place for the while. The owner spoke little English but did at least understand where I was from and so managed to find a little UK flag to put on my table with him comically standing to attention and saluting every time I spoke to me. After a good feast I told the chef by way of "gochisosama deshita" which must have been right as he bowed repeatedly with a huge smile thanking me and gave me a little origami geisha ...