HAKONE 箱根町 AND LAKE ASHI 芦ノ湖
Hello from Japan! Today I left Ikebukuro and headed for Hakone 箱根町 , Kanagawa for onsen (hot spring bath).
To get to Hakone, you can take the Romancecar, located in the Odakyu building which is just opposite Shinjuku station.
Then, we bought our Hakone 2 Day Free Pass and tickets for Romancecar. Hakone Free Pass allows you to ride on the public transport for free in Hakone. Don't lose the free pass! It's more expensive if you pay every time you take the public transport. My dad dropped his so he had to pay each time and it came out to about RM150 extra!
Stack your normal and limited express tickets and insert them in the ticket gate.Walk through and make sure to collect your tickets at the end of the ticket gate. Follow the station signs to the Romancecar platform.Check out the station signs and your limited express ticket to identify your train name and platform to Hakone -Yumoto.
The doors opens about 30 minutes before departing time so you got yourself some time to take pictures with the train like me! We got in to Coach 5 as stated in our tickets and found our seats. As there were 12 coaches altogether, I got a little tired walking from 12 to 5.
Onigiri rolls? I'm literally in love with this ever since I first ate it yesterday! Thumbs up!
I always saw this on tv but never got to see it real! I was so happy when I saw one of these! I wanted to try lining up and wait for the train to pass by me too! HAHA
After 2 hours of ride, we arrived at Hakone-Yumoto station!
Then, I transferred to the Hakone Tozan Train 登山電車 using the Hakone Free Pass we bought earlier and went to Gora 強羅駅 for lunch.
And I have to do this at least once! Standing beside the railway track in Gora! I stood there and waited for a train to pass by me and crossed over on purpose. YAY.
Then we went to Gyoza Centre to had our lunch recommended by my mom. I love this salad so much!
Fried chicken with vegetables stuffing!
Spicy ramen!
The shop is famous for Gyoza (dumplings). I already had 3 when I took this picture. It was delicious, better than any others! It's perfect when you dipped it in the sauce!
How to get there:
From the exit of Gora station, walk pass shops toward main road, at T-junction, turn right, walk ahead towards Open Air Museum. The walk is about 10-15 minutes. There is another station before Gora station, you can choose to get down from there too. The distance is pretty much the same.
After our delicious lunch, we hopped on the Tozan Railway 箱 根 登 山 鉄 道 and got down at Sounzan 早雲山. We then transferred to the Hakone Ropeway for Owakudani Valley 大涌谷.
Views from the Hakone Ropeway.
The yellow stuffs are SO2 ( Sulphur dioxide).
Owakudani, known as the great boiling valley.
It took us about 20 minutes to climb the mountain. It was tiring but once you're up, everything paid off! It was beautiful! Here I am, in front of the hot larvae pool that boil the kuro-tamago, also known as the longevity eggs.
A closer look to see the sulphur!
Me in front of the shop that sells black egg kuro-tamago that Japanese believe that if you ate one, you may add SEVEN years to your life! It is also said that you are not advised to eat three or more eggs.
Our black eggs. We had a hard time peeling the shell off as it was burning hot.
Just me posing around! :p
This woods reminds me a lot of Hunger Games and Harry Potter movie. The part where Katniss got 'fire boomed' and Harry and Hermione were being chased?
Next, we took the ropeway from Owakudani to Togendai 桃源台 for Lake Ashi. We boarded the pirate ship to cross the Lake Ashi 芦ノ湖 and stopped at Moto Hakone-Ko 元箱根. The whole journey was about 30 minutes.
With the pirate ship I took to cross Lake Ashi!
Ahoy Captain!
When in Japan, do what the Japanese do lol. The kawaii pose haha.
Hipster wannabe lol.
I only had my phone with me when I saw the Torii 鳥居. Torii is a Japanese traditional gate most commonly found at the entrance or within a Shinto shrine 神社.
We got down from the other side of Lake Ashi and crossed over to Bus Waiting Room (Bus Stop 1 for Line H) to board Hakone Tozan Bus (Free Pass-BUS LINE H) from Moto-Hakone-Ko 元箱根 to Hakone Yumoto 箱根湯本. It was a 25 minutes bus ride.
Attempting an ootd selfie in the hotel's bathroom.
Shashimi.
Our hotel is a package which includes buffet breakfast and set dinner. We went down to the basement for our dinner after putting all our bags inside the room since we were told that our dinner time was at 7. It was a set bbq dinner and lots of sashimi. I cooked those sashimi together with the pork since I couldn't eat raw. 'Twas one of the best dinner I had. I would definitely give 4/5 stars for this.
Flannel and Tank top from Cotton On// High Waisted Shorts from Padini// Converse Sneakers// Bag from Reebok
Last but not least, my outfit of the day! The weather in Hakone is the best so far, windy and chilly, just like my favorite season!
I'll post about my onsen experience tomorrow as it's truly and onsen I've never experienced before!
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