After our breakfast, also bento from Lawson, we left our backpack in our hotel and set up for our trips. With the day pass on hand, it only makes sense to make the most of the ride from the card.
We took bus from Senkyoro Mae to Gora, and board the Hakone Cablecar to Sounzan. This is how the cablecar looks like. Took us about 10 mins for the ride.
Next, we changed to Hakone Ropeway until Owakudani (where you can view the famous Mt. Fuji from the ropeway cabin itself). This took us about 10 mins as well.
Feeling a bit like Genting yeah~
The view of Mt. Fuji from our cabin, so beautiful, until the several Japanese aunties sharing our cabin keep on "Oooohh... Aaaahh.... Ooooooh...." annoyingly.
And we dropped by Owakudani (The Hell Valley), the valley created from the Mt. Hakone eruption some 3000 years ago, and until now still exhume the poisonous sulphure.
See those smoke? Those are the sulphure.
Curious Japanese boys playing with the sulphure water. I saw some aunties/uncles stopped by to test the water temperature using their fingers and even tried to taste the water. I thought it's supposed to be poisonous?
CK climbed to the top of the mountain, I was quite worried with the "so called" poisonous air, so I waited at the base of the mountain for him. He went to buy the famous Black Eggs (which are chicken eggs boiled dip into the sulphure water and come out as black color).
The legend has it if you eat 1 of the black egg, it can prolong your life by 7 years. CK bought 6, so that means he will live longer by 42 years???
After peeling.
Owakudani is also the birthplace of Tamago Kitty.
We said good bye to Owakudani and continued our journey using ropeway again until Togendai (another 20 mins ride). Upon reaching Togendai, we need to queue up for the ride on famous Pirate Ship through the famous Lake Ashi. (About 40 mins).
Close Up view of the ship
Posing with the shy captains (Nothing like Jack Sparrow eh~)
Our ship was so full of pirates and the captives that we found no place to stand nor sit. We finally made it to front of the ship and climbed on the life saver sampan/float. The sun was terribly bright and the wind were bitingly cold.
Upon reaching the other dock (Hakonemachi), I was trembling so badly that I dragged CK to a nearby coffee shop for some hot tea and cake.
After the rest, we continued our journey by bus to Hakone Shrine by bus, however, due to the confusing bus station name, we alighted at the wrong bus station, luckily only by 1 station, therefore, we continued our journey by feet.
And what a luck that we did miss the station! We managed to enjoy our walk with the beautiful scenery in Hakone. We walked through rows of shops offering lots of International cuisines.
Met this cutie and fell in love with it.
See the beautiful row of houses and shops? I always thought Japanese live in small cubicle/studio apartment. But this proves me wrong. :D
Food sample displayed, Nyumm~~
This does not mean we had arrived at the shrine, still long way to go! Gambade~
Yiipppieee.., finally there!
This shrine was built long long time ago on top of one of Mt. Hakone peak, so even after reaching the shrine, it's still long way to go up the hill. Luckily, they built staircase for us to climb, otherwise, I could have just cried. The view is simply breathtaking, as Japs like to reserve nature as they are, so trees grow for the past 150 years with no or little damage from human.
One of the biggest tree I have ever seen and found in the shrine.
After taking a stroll around the shrine, we went down again to take pic with the famous torii gate built on the lake Ashi.
And leisurely walked back to the row of shops we saw previously. Was having quite a hard time on which shop to settle our growling stomach. Until I saw this food sample.... slurp~~
I dragged CK into the shop, it's an old shop with only 3 ppl working, the owner, the wife and the daughter. The shop had several tables occupied with China tourists, therefore we needed to wait quite a while for our food. At the meantime, the owner served us with green tea and oranges free of charge.
The wait was really worth it! I am missing the Ton Katsu Don already, it's simply the best.... Aiiiihh.., when will I have the chance to go there again??
My Ton Katsu Don, VERY HUGE PORTION!
CK's order, the real food looked exactly like the food sample.
After the satisfying meal, we left the shop with the owner and daughter kept on thanking us by saying "Arigato, Xie xie". Wow! Surprise that he knows Chinese!
From there on, we hopped on a bus back to our hotel to collect our backpack. We met an Aussie old couple, who said they have lived in Malaysia for 17 years. Very friendly couple indeed.
After collecting our backpack, we again hopped on a bus to Odawara to catch our Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
Overall, the 2-day pass ticket provides great value, considering the amount of transportation we have used in Hakone. (From cablecar, ropeway, pirate ship to buses). Mind you, 1 way bus ticket can easily costs us 970yen.
Hakone itself has lots of museums, parks, gardens, shopping areas, hot springs, etc. However, we decided to let those go as we only spend 1 day there, and our timing for the whole trip is just nice.
Reached Tokyo and Andon quite late, around 8pm. After settling down, we went out to hunt for food.
Settled on a fast food restaurant, which offers average meal with good value.
Mine.., I forgot what this is, but looks like sweet and sour pork. Costed 490yen.
CK's..., looks like beef with something something.
Again, we relaxed with the hot bath in Andon, and dozed the night away to reserve energy for the next day.
DISNEY, HERE WE COME~~~~~~
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