Breakfast was served from 6.30 til 10 so I went down to the restaurant at about 9.40 and the place was empty. There was a breakfast buffet, as you can see from the video below.
This is the meal I chose. It wasn't very big but it was filling.
I then went back to my room and packed everything up, taking a last couple of looks at the view in the full light of day.
After checking out and paying for my room, I walked down to Togendai next to Lake Ashi and took the cable car back to Ouwakudani. The rotten egg smell returned and it was pretty gross but I knew I couldn't come to Hakone and not go to Ouwakudani.
The view was great, just hold your breath.
There were worrying warning signs all over the place. Several areas were closed off because of land-slide fears.
You can see the bubbling pools and the steam coming from the mountain.
By the bubbling pools there's a shop that sells 'Kuro tamago' (black eggs) that are cooked by dipping the eggs into a hotspring pool on the volcano and then taste like any other hard-boiled egg. I bought a bag of 6 for Y500 as o-miyage (souvenirs) for my housemates.
I didn't spend long at Ouwakudani because of all the warnings and bad smell, but I was pleased I went. I then took the cable car (it was free of course because of my Hakone Free Pass) back to Togendai and waited for the next pirate ship cruise to the southern end of the lake.
Here's the pirate ship I travelled on (it's included in the Free Pass).
Here's the view of the surroundings from the ship.
There were announcements with things like "If you look to your left, you will see..." but there was Japanese and then English and by the time the English came on, the sight had already disappeared!
You can take a cable car from Hakone-en (halfway down the eastern shore of the lake) or a bus from Moto-Hakone (southern) to the summit of this mountain, which apparently has stunning views, but I didn't go up.
There's the small town of Moto-Hakone.
Hakone Shrine from a rather unflattering angle.
I got off the boat at Hakone-machi (the first stop, before Moto-Hakone and then Togendai again) and went to a reconstruction of the old Hakone Barrier on the Tokaido road. There was a discount with the Free Pass but I wouldn't bother, it looked too fake, and, well... reconstructed.
The views are quite nice if you walk up to the Look-out Tower.
After the Hakone Barrier, I walked to Emperor Meiji's Detached Garden Palace, which was pleasant, but nothing special. Kiyosumi Gardens over the river from my guesthouse were much more impressive.
A better shot of Hakone Shrine.
This route through the Gardens was closed due to heavy snowfall.
On the pathway from Hakone-machi to Moto-Hakone, you can walk through the Avenue of Cryptomeria which was very pretty, but very icy!
Hakone Shrine! I'm getting closer to that famous view!
A pirate ship leaving Moto-Hakone for Togendai.
Moto-Hakone with Hakone's Twin Mountains in the background.
And here's that famous view! And... just my luck, Mt Fuji is shrouded in cloud. I could see it but my camera couldn't fight through the whiteness. But I swear it's there! Somewhere...
The gateway to Moto-Hakone town.
I walked through Moto-Hakone (it's a tiny place) and round the shoreline to Hakone Shrine.
It was nice, but the view from over the lake probably shows it in its best light.
The road was so difficult to find! I followed the map (taking a photo of the kanji of 'Stone-paved section of the Old Tokaido Road' because I'm really not going to know how to ask where that is!) and couldn't find it! I was worried I'd have to give up and just get the bus all the way, but I asked at a petrol station, and they directed me to a bridge over the road. I walked round and found it.
I didn't spend long at Ouwakudani because of all the warnings and bad smell, but I was pleased I went. I then took the cable car (it was free of course because of my Hakone Free Pass) back to Togendai and waited for the next pirate ship cruise to the southern end of the lake. I had my lunch in a cafe there, and then realised that it was recommended in the travel guide I took with me. I usually use the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Japan but there was a copy of the Rough Guide to Tokyo in my guesthouse, which was much more specific and described the route, where to eat and stay, and was much more detailed than the more general DK guide.
The restaurant was called 'Lake View' and there certainly was. I got a Y200 discount because of my Free Pass too.
Here's the pirate ship I travelled on (it's included in the Free Pass).
Here's the view of the surroundings from the ship. 
There were announcements with things like "If you look to your left, you will see..." but there was Japanese and then English and by the time the English came on, the sight had already disappeared!
You can take a cable car from Hakone-en (halfway down the eastern shore of the lake) or a bus from Moto-Hakone (southern) to the summit of this mountain, which apparently has stunning views, but I didn't go up.
There's the small town of Moto-Hakone.
Hakone Shrine from a rather unflattering angle.
I got off the boat at Hakone-machi (the first stop, before Moto-Hakone and then Togendai again) and went to a reconstruction of the old Hakone Barrier on the Tokaido road. There was a discount with the Free Pass but I wouldn't bother, it looked too fake, and, well... reconstructed.
The views are quite nice if you walk up to the Look-out Tower.
After the Hakone Barrier, I walked to Emperor Meiji's Detached Garden Palace, which was pleasant, but nothing special. Kiyosumi Gardens over the river from my guesthouse were much more impressive.
A better shot of Hakone Shrine.
This route through the Gardens was closed due to heavy snowfall.
On the pathway from Hakone-machi to Moto-Hakone, you can walk through the Avenue of Cryptomeria which was very pretty, but very icy!
Hakone Shrine! I'm getting closer to that famous view!
A pirate ship leaving Moto-Hakone for Togendai.
Moto-Hakone with Hakone's Twin Mountains in the background.
And here's that famous view! And... just my luck, Mt Fuji is shrouded in cloud. I could see it but my camera couldn't fight through the whiteness. But I swear it's there! Somewhere...
The gateway to Moto-Hakone town.
I walked through Moto-Hakone (it's a tiny place) and round the shoreline to Hakone Shrine.
It was nice, but the view from over the lake probably shows it in its best light. I walked back to Moto-Hakone and tried to find the Stone-paved section of the old Tokaido road, which ran from Kansai to Edo (Tokyo's old name). It's an 11km hike from Moto-Hakone back to Hakone-Yumoto station, but you can just do some of it to, either a famous teahouse called Amazakechaya, or further on to a small town called Hatajuku, then get a bus the rest of the way.
I wanted to hike as far as possible, maybe Hatajuku, but at least to the teahouse.
The road was so difficult to find! I followed the map (taking a photo of the kanji of 'Stone-paved section of the Old Tokaido Road' because I'm really not going to know how to ask where that is!) and couldn't find it! I was worried I'd have to give up and just get the bus all the way, but I asked at a petrol station, and they directed me to a bridge over the road. I walked round and found it. The bridge was literally covered in ice and snow. I had to hold the bannister with both hands and haul myself up to stop myself slipping back down to the bottom. The path after the bridge wasn't much better either. I was met with an icy slope, which I clambered up using roots and tree branches. When I finally got to the top, I thought 'if it continues like this, I'm going to have to give up and turn back' but I stuck with it.
There were some pretty sights along the way.
The route was as treacherous as you could get, with slopes and hills, hidden dips and so much snow and ice! Although it was possible, I really wouldn't recommend attempting the route in winter, maybe any other season but winter! I couldn't even seen the stone-paved road!
At an intersection with a road, the snow cleared and I could see what I was walking on.
After about 45 minutes with seeing no other people, and not meeting a road or anything, I did start to get worried. After the busyness of Tokyo, it was so weird for it to just be me and the wind.
Thankfully, there were bilingual signs at regular intervals, but I was constantly worried the deceptive snow would lead me on a side-road and I'd be stranded.
This slope was so hard to get down! My bottom did a lot of the work. Wet, wet work...
Salvation came in the form of a pylon. Bless those pylons.
Did I just climb down that?
The guidebook said 1km! Not 1.5! It's not a lot of distance extra, but in the cold snow, it was hard-going.
Oooh, ground!
I found the Amazakechaya tea-house and ordered what the guidebook told me to. Amazake. It's like sweet rice pudding that slips down your throat and warms you so nicely. It was looovely after the chilliness outside. It cost Y400. This is where weary travellers would rest centuries ago on their trek across the Japanese mountains. It felt nice to be treading in the same footsteps as samurai and their families hundreds of years ago.
There's a bus-stop just outside the tea-house, and I decided not to walk to Hatajuku, but to get the highway bus to Hakone-Yumoto station.
I got back to Hakone-Yumoto station and went under the under-pass from the bus terminal to the train station. I walked past a couple of women who stopped me and said a cheerful 'Konnichiwa!' I was confused for a second, then recognised them as the women who took my photo on the cable car to Togendai yesterday!
The train was due to make two stops, first at Odawara, then Machida near Yokohama, before reaching Shinjuku. It's like a mini-shinkansen (bullet-train) so it was sleek and smooth, and does the entire journey in about 90 minutes.
Beautifully modelled by my housemate.
There were some pretty sights along the way.
The route was as treacherous as you could get, with slopes and hills, hidden dips and so much snow and ice! Although it was possible, I really wouldn't recommend attempting the route in winter, maybe any other season but winter! I couldn't even seen the stone-paved road!
At an intersection with a road, the snow cleared and I could see what I was walking on.
After about 45 minutes with seeing no other people, and not meeting a road or anything, I did start to get worried. After the busyness of Tokyo, it was so weird for it to just be me and the wind.
Thankfully, there were bilingual signs at regular intervals, but I was constantly worried the deceptive snow would lead me on a side-road and I'd be stranded.
This slope was so hard to get down! My bottom did a lot of the work. Wet, wet work...
Salvation came in the form of a pylon. Bless those pylons.
Did I just climb down that?
The guidebook said 1km! Not 1.5! It's not a lot of distance extra, but in the cold snow, it was hard-going.
Oooh, ground!
I found the Amazakechaya tea-house and ordered what the guidebook told me to. Amazake. It's like sweet rice pudding that slips down your throat and warms you so nicely. It was looovely after the chilliness outside. It cost Y400. This is where weary travellers would rest centuries ago on their trek across the Japanese mountains. It felt nice to be treading in the same footsteps as samurai and their families hundreds of years ago.
There's a bus-stop just outside the tea-house, and I decided not to walk to Hatajuku, but to get the highway bus to Hakone-Yumoto station. It arrived after about ten minutes waiting, which was lucky as the timetable said they only run every hour on weekdays and twice an hour on weekends and holidays, when Hakone is more crowded.
The buses were pretty cool. You take a ticket from the machine by the driver and he welcomes you with 'Hai douzooooooooo'. You can keep an eye on the cost of your journey by looking at the colourful screen at the front of the bus, where each ticket number has a screen next to it proclaiming Y200, or whatever. The price increases with each stop. You can even use your Pasmo card (used for the Tokyo subway and bus system) on these buses!
The view from the winding roads through the mountainside were very nice, showing all of the National Park at times.
I got back to Hakone-Yumoto station and went under the under-pass from the bus terminal to the train station. I walked past a couple of women who stopped me and said a cheerful 'Konnichiwa!' I was confused for a second, then recognised them as the women who took my photo on the cable car to Togendai yesterday! We chatted for about ten minutes. I say 'chatted', as much as I could in Japanese! It was one of the things that make trips interesting and worth doing. The women were both really nice.
At Hakone-Yumoto station, I saw an Odakyu Romance Car waiting at the station. I knew that it wasn't included in the Free Pass, but was an extra Y850 or so. I thought it would be fine to make the fare adjustment at the other end, and the only train-worker nearby was talking into a microphone, so I got on and sat down. It was very nice, and comfortable. It was nice to rest my aching feet.
The door could be opened by touching this little sticker - how hi-tech!
The train was due to make two stops, first at Odawara, then Machida near Yokohama, before reaching Shinjuku. It's like a mini-shinkansen (bullet-train) so it was sleek and smooth, and does the entire journey in about 90 minutes. It was at Odawara, when I was moved from two seats by passengers with reserved seats, that I began to sense something was wrong. The train pulled out of Odawara and an announcement in English came on saying that the Romance Car was reservation-only.
Oh dear!
I pretended to be asleep in case anyone asked to see my ticket, and then slipped off at Machida. I was worried that I'd have to go through a ticket barrier and I'd be caught out, but I just had to walk across the station and board a Local train.
This train didn't leave for about 20 minutes, and I was imagining the lovely warm, comfortable Romance Car pulling into Shinjuku, while I was still stuck near Yokohama on a cold, crummy local train.
In about forty minutes, we'd been to about five stations (local trains stop at every station on the line) and it was ridiculous. At one station, I saw an express train bound for Shinjuku on the other side and I ran for it, with half the local train's passengers!
I got a seat and it was much faster. I got off at Yoyogi-Uehara and transferred (not through a ticket-barrier) to the Chiyoda subway line, then again at Otemachi to the Hanzomon line.
When I got back to Suitengu-mae station, neither my Pasmo card or Hakone Free Pass would get me through the ticket barrier! The Free Pass only works on Odakyu line stations, and because I'd got off before Shinjuku and not gone through any ticket barriers, I'd slipped through the system.
I tried my best to explain to the ticket barrier guard and he charged me the cost of a ticket from the Chiyoda line to Suitengu-mae, which is fair enough.
I got back at around 7pm and was exhausted! But it was amazing to get out of Tokyo for a couple of days. They weren't relaxing days, but I'm so glad I did it. Hakone is definitely worth a visit!
Here are the kuro tamago I brought back.
Beautifully modelled by my housemate.
If you're interested in doing a similar trip to mine, here is the route. (It is the general tourist trail.)
Shinjuku station - Hakone Yumoto station (Odakyu line)
Hakone Yumoto station - Chokoku no Mori station (Hakone-Tozan switchback railway bound for Gora)
Hakone Open Air Museum
Chokoku no Mori station - Gora station (Hakone-Tozan switchback railway)
Gora station - Sounzan (funicular tram)
Sounzan - Ouwakudani (Ropeway cable car)
Ouwakudani volcanic springs
Ouwakudani - Togendai (Ropeway cable car)
Togendai - Hakone-Machi (pirate ship cruise)
Hakone Barrier
Emperor Meiji's Detached Garden Palace
Hakone-Machi to Moto-Hakone (walk through Avenue of Cryptomeria)
Hakone Shrine
Moto-Hakone - Amazakechaya tea house (walk along stone-paved Tokaido road)
Amazakechaya tea house - Hakone Yumoto station (highway bus)
IMPORTANT - the last train to Shinjuku from Hakone Yumoto leaves at about 8-9pm
All the transport described above is included in the Hakone Free Pass. A Two Day Pass from Shinjuku station costs Y5,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment