Day 12 – 29 Nov 2008

Checked out from the ryokan and went round Hakone. We had gotten a Hakone Free Pass the day before and it entitles us to all modes of transport in Hakone, namely the Hakone Tozan Railway, Hakone Tozan Cablecar, Hakone Tozan Ropeway, Hakone Tozan Sightseeing Boat and the Hakone Tozan Bus. When we bought the Free Pass, we were given a map of Hakone and a suggested itinerary. We decided to go in the opposite direction as the suggested route to avoid the crowd, but it was still jam packed.

Nevertheless, we had a good time touring Hakone. We went to some of the touristy spots such as Owakudani which was famous because of its sulphur fumes left from a volcano eruption 3000 years ago. A speciality of Owakudani was the black eggs, cooked by the sulphur fumes. We wanted to give it a try, but they were selling the eggs at 5 for 500yen. 5 eggs were too many for the two of us, so we decided to skip.

 

I think what we both enjoyed was the cruise on the sightseeing boat. It was a nice 45 min cruise along Lake Ashi.

 

One thing that I really admire about the Japanese – they are really innovative. At every town or souvenir shop, there would be a different version of the Hello Kitty/Stitch/Mickey pens and pencils, dressed to the theme of the place. And every one of these designs looked very nice. PG really had a hard time resisting the urge to buy everything. 😛

After all the touring, we then made our way back to Tokorozawa, back to CS and J’s place. Back to more good times of fellowship! 🙂