Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Hakone
3 Adorations
Just got back into Tokyo this afternoon after spending the night in Hakone. We set off yesterday morning to Shinjuku station where we transferred to the Odakyu line in order to get to Hakone. We purchased the two day Hakone Freepass for 5000 JPY. This pass covers the transport from Shinjuku to Hakone and all Hakone Tozan services which includes buses, trains, cable cars and the ropeway. It's a really useful pass.
We took the Odakyu Ltd Express train to Odawara where we transferred over to the Hakone Tozan line to Hakone Yumoto station to catch a bus to Motohakone. The fare for this trip alone would have cost about 2000 JPY if we had bought the tickets separately.
My friend had booked a hotel room at the Lakeside Inn Charlotte in Motohakone which is by Lake Ashi. After getting off the bus, we followed the instructions that were given online and found the hotel with little trouble. We were quite disappointed when we saw the external facade of the hotel. It had some algae on the outside wall. There was also a sign near the entrance that stated that cleaning was in progress and there was a number for us to call to get in or something. We decided to walk around a bit and went to sit along the lake to eat our lunch. After that, we approached the hotel by the other side and saw someone in the hotel, so we decided to try our luck getting in.
The guy let us in and advised us that the check in timing was at 1500hrs. He told us to leave our bags at the hotel in the meantime and introduced a route for us to explore Hakone while waiting for check in. We took up his suggestion since it was all covered by the Hakone Freepass that we had bought, and it was our intention to do that route as well.
First we went to take the Hakone Sightseeing cruise, it bring us across Lake Ashi on a pirate ship. I thought that was funny because of all the swordsmen movies in which most Japanese depiction was of them as pirates....
The cruise ended at Togendai, which was where we could board the Hakone Tozan Ropeway which will bring us around the mountains. We stopped at Owakudani and visited the areas where you can see hot springs. This is where they cook black eggs which are supposed to add 7 years of longevity for every egg consumed. The eggs are black because of the sulphuric acid present in the water and there is ALOT of hydrogen sulfide going around... That's right... the mountain farts. A lot.
The eggs cost us 500 JPY for 5. It's really piping hot when you get it. You can add some salt to the egg, the salt is provided in the pack. You can also have it without the salt and the egg yolk is rather nice without the salt anyway. from Owakudani Ropeway station, you have trails of people going up to this hut up in the mountain and buying eggs and eating eggs. Amidst hydrogen sulfide. It's rather amusing really.
After exploring the area and eating the eggs, we continued on our way by going the rest of the way along the ropeway. We then transferred to the Cablecar which brought us to Gora station.. here, we were actually recommended by the hotel manager to take the train to Kowakudani station before transferring to the bus but I got it wrong and took a bus instead. I only realised that we were 'supposed' to take a train when the driver said we needed to change buses at Kowakien. Anyway, we needed to make a transfer, so it wasn't a problem. It was just missing out on taking a train on the great medley of transportation we were going on that day, but we certainly weren't missing train rides...! We had just taken a 120 min train ride in the morning to Hakone!
By the time we got back to the hotel, it was time to check in. We got our bags, and went up to our room on the third floor, Rm 303 and we were simply amazed at the rooms. I have to tell you that the exterior of the hotel does so much disservice to the hotel itself. The rooms are very nicely done up. It smells nice, there is boiled water in the pot. Yukata, slippers and stuff are provided. The manager had asked us if we wanted to have dinner at the hotel but we had refused it since we had prepared our own simple dinner. the next morning during breakfast, we heard reviews on the dinner and they said the dinner was great.
We stayed in the room the whole evening, which is amazing actually seeing that we were in the room by 1800hrs! The only thing to do in Hakone after dark is to go to the Onsen and we didn't actually want to go to public onsen. My friend booked this hotel because she thought there was a onsen in the room... turns out that there isn't (Luckily I was semi prepared for that to happen).
The next morning, we woke up to breakfast which is a nicely done ham and cheese burger. I seemed to be the only person having tea at breakfast, they ran out of the regular tea and I ended up having Camomile tea, at breakfast!! The manager mentioned that he shouldn't serve this tea in the morning (because it's a 'sleepy' tea) but he didn't want to get cheap tea from 7-11, lol. It was really nice camomile tea. I think I should try camomile back in Singapore too.
Over breakfast we heard that Fuji was clear today so we went out to grab a look at Fuji. We didn't manage to see Fuji the day before, but we wanted to grab a look before we left hakone. We did see Fuji but Fuji was still a lil hidden behind clouds sometimes so you have to wait and grab a shot.
While taking shot of Fuji, there was another guy taking photos with a monopod. Photogs being photogs the world over, he came over and asked if we had managed to get any good shots. I told him that I certainly hoped that I got some good shots since it would mean that I would have to buy an air ticket to get another chance to take the photos!
After grabbing the photos, we went to take a look at the Hakone Jinja before going back to the room to pack up and check out.
For our return trip to Tokyo, we decided to take up the hotel manager's suggestion and take the Odakyu Romance Car back to Shinjuku. It was certainly more comfortable then the regular limited express since you have to pay a premium of 870 JPY while holding the Hakone Freepass but that meant that we wouldn't have to worry about lugging our luggage around with us on the train.
From Shinjuku, we went to Kuramae station where K's House is and checked back into K's House. this time we got a twin room for 3 nights and would have to change rooms to a 6 bed dormitory on Friday. After check in was completed, my friend told me that she had confirmed with her friend that we would go to Fuji tomorrow and stay the night at the foot of Fuji before going up the mountain the day after. I mentioned that if the date was flexible, why not go on a day where we would be staying in the dormitory. When I told her that the dormitory stay would start on friday, she said that her friend had initially suggested friday but she had declined as we were going to visit the Imperial Palace on friday.
To make a long story short, we decided to go to Fuji on friday and be back on saturday. We will go to SE Character Goods store on Sunday instead!
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