Lemon-ju Ito

... br>While we were out Wendy had been in touch with JAL and Maria's luggage was finally on its way to Tokyo. We were told it had been unable to leave Beijing due to the bad weather brought on by a faux pas from the Beijing Weather Modification Office (although we discovered later it had inadvertently been sent to Kuala Lumpur - thanks Air China!). So, only two days late - it arrived by courier at around 11pm. Yay.

... 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!

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

... wondered if it was going to be a built up area all the way to Hakone. Eventually though, the cityscape began to turn into green spaces, farm lands and speckles of forest; and for the first time all week we actually saw a horizon that was not buildings... The mountains here make our mountains back in Australia look like hills really.

Sooner than we anticipated we arrived in the small city of Odawara, a regional hub connecting us with the Hakone area. We ...

... szczególnie dla Japończyków, gdyż skorupka jajka wrzucona do gorącej siarkowej wody, barwi się na czarno. Myślę, że jest to jedna z niewielu miejsc na świecie, w którym odbywa się masowa konsumpcja jajek na twardo.

Onseny – gorące źródła wykorzystywane są w basenach gdzie nago kąpią się Japończycy (oddzielnie kobiety i mężczyźni). Na szczęście małe ryokany ...

... and tea. And just what our cold cold bodies needed!

There is a tradition that you call someone or send a post-card from the top of Fuji, and I had brought addresses with me but the line for the tiny post office looked like it would take another 30 minutes and with the exception of it getting light out, our situation had not improved and the gusts of wind seemed to be getting worse.

So we took a few commemorative pictures and started down the never ...

... views of the surrounding mountains and forest. We decided to take advantage of the nearby village onsen (a communal outdoor hot spring bath, found everywhere in Japan). Upon finding slippers and a yukata (traditional Japanese gown) in our wardrobe we followed the cue of the other guests and got dressed. After receiving some confusing directions from the guesthouse manager (who spoke limited English, and in retrospect, did seem to be laughing at us) we soon became lost, dressed ...

... of money! But the rate was comparable to other similar ryokans in the area and I guess at the end of the day I can say I now have experienced a traditional Japanese style guest house and enjoyed the therapeutic hot spring baths.


Next:- Fast forward and I am going back to Tokyo.

... framed! Last but not least was trying on the kimonos, which took much longer than I ever would imagine. There are endless straps, sashes, strings, knots, and undergarments. Mom tried on a yellow one and I tried on a reddish one- both of which were silk and belonged to deceased women Keiko's family. We took a lot of picture but wore them for les time than is took to put them on! The whole visit took about three hours but was very ...

... 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 ...