Kawana Hotel Ito

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

Konichiwa.

We rose early to the stream babbling and the early birds chirping just outside our tatami room and had one last soak in the hot spring tub – wow what a way to start our day. The lovely hosts in our guest house prepared a breakfast for us and the other guests which fuelled us for the big day ahead. Forwarding our luggage to the train station we jumped on an early bus and headed for the hills around Hakone.

Hakone (and Kyoto), Kanagawa, Japan campbellot

... write more about this tomorrow after we travel on the mountain cable car, the ropeways and the boats on Lake Ashi with views of Mount Fuji (weather pending of course).

Our room is the traditional Japanese room with tatami straw mats on the floor, futon beds rolled up in the corner, rice paper panels covering the windows and a central table low to the floor with cushions around it. We have a beautiful view out our huge window overlooking scenic bushland and a ...

... o nasze „na zdrowie” a ich „budziem zdarow” zorientowaliśmy się, że to Rosjanie.

Sam ryokan to też ciekawe doświadczenie. Nie ma tradycyjnych łóżek tylko japońskie materace – futony, podłoga wyłożone jest matami tatami (z trzciny), drzwi są przesuwane, a w oknach są shojii, czyli ramki z papieru, które zastępują zasłony.

W Hakone widzieliśmy też ...

... We made decent time until we turned onto the mountain road to the station – red lights as far as the eye could see. The car park at the station was full and it took about 20 minutes to get the buses maneuvered around the line of cars and up to the station. We stepped off the buses around 10:15pm amid a throng of people with the same goal as us – climb overnight to reach the top at dawn.

Some background – there are a number of ...

... 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 ...

... how we see it in the movies.





The communal baths were large and although the spring water although initially hot the body adjusted and it gradually developed into a very soothing warm water soak. I sensed the muscles and entire body relax, whilst looking ...

... in most of Iceland. The whole of Reykjavik for example only uses hot spring water. Therefore, taking a bath in hot spring water wasn't something new for me. However, I looked forward to experiencing Ito for what they had to offer. We arrived at the Kameya Rakan hotel down by the beach. It didn't look like much, a brownish 6 story high buildings connected with a bridge on the third floor. Busy traffic next to it along with the black beach and ...

... views of the mountain peak.

We then drove on to Hakone and took the cable car across to the Owakaduni Valley volcanic area with its steam vents and boiling water pools. Being a volcanic area it had the customary smell of rotten eggs. You could also buy "black eggs" which were eggs boiled in the sulphur-rich water which turned the egg shells black.

After taking the cable car back we got back in the bus and drove on to our final ...