Hotellerie Maille Coeur Shougetsu Hakone

... 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 ...

... the bullet train for now and jumped onto a packed train heading for Hakone Yumoto. This area has been for ages a holiday destination for Tokyo residents – it has hot natural springs, dormant (and not so dormant) volcanoes, mountain settlements and views of Mt Fuji. Just our luck, this weekend is a holiday weekend in Japan as they are celebrating national sports and health day (yeah seriously).

There are holiday makers and day trippers everywhere; the ...

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 ...

... here in Japan... and it's a bit different. Sure, you have songs, and video with scrolling lyrics, plus people making fools of themselves, but it's all done in a little rented room. So, it's a private, more intimate affair among friends, rather than the publicly humiliating event at a bar, like in The States. There's a food menu, plus an endless stream of pitchers of beer. We had two mics, and a lot of fun! Tomas won "Most ...

... 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 ...

... onsen as inconspicuously as possible. Very unfortunately, I somehow managed to become lost inside the changing room, attracting lots of attention whilst I desperately tried to locate the exit. I eventually asked a nearby family but they didn’t understand me and directed me to the toilet instead. After a while they finally realised what I was asking, and showed me the exit, but not before they kindly tied my Kimono up properly for me :) We were feeling pretty exhausted ...

Going the summit of Mt. Fuji:

Here is the itinerary of how we did it.

7 am : Took a train from "fujiyoshida" to "kawaguchiko" station to pick up a rental car
10am: Had a breakfast at skylark, a local family restaurant near the hotel.
11am: Fredrik drove on the fuji Subaru line (a 18 mile long toll (2,300 yen) road) to the fuji 5th station.
12:00pm: Arriving the 5th station, stayed there for 1 hr for ...

... the goddess spirit will be revive as about 70 bonfires of firewood over 3M tall are set on fire.

Unfortunately, whithin an hour we were at the main stree, it began pouring so we left the festival early. We, however, enjoyed the spa (with 5 different kinds of "onsen" (hot spring) mineral baths and sauna).

... we stopped at small tea house serving Japanese sweets.

After dark, we travel to "Kita-Kamakura" station to visit "Enkaku" Temple but the gate was closed at 6.

At night, we moved to "minato mirai" (futuristic town) of YOKOHAMA, we went to the top floor (69th) of the Japan's highest building, the landmark tower ...

Today we decided to make a tour to Hakone, a part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, which is located less than 100 kilometers from Tokyo. It is said that we can view Mount Fuji from here and hopefully we would be able to view the famous mount fuji with snow covering its top. We decided to opt for Hakone Freepass since its cheaper if compared to a normal train and using this pass we are allowed for unlimited travelling within Hakone. Think its a good bargain since it only cost 4,700yen ...