the travels blog

Japan 2011 Day 3 - Tokyo & Hakone

Day 3 - wooo woke up a bit later than a holiday would normally force you to. 8am, and a walk to Shinjuku station with our luggage. Walked towards the station slightly after peak hour which meant that these train stations were amazingly packed. We saw that people lined up for the trains in two lines each train entrance, and it was soooo systematic, unlike cityrail.

took a photo from max’s album - we didnt take any photos of the locals lining up!

Aiming to head to Hakone asap so we hastily took a local train to Shinagawa - where we were to catch our shinkansen (and the train was surprisingly not that packed) but then it happened to terminate ONE stop before Shinagawa. This meant that we had to get off at some random stop Osaki and queue again for these trains.

We found out that the train from osaki was heaps packed, so AL and I succeeded to hop on but SK tried and got stuck at the door and had to pull out and wait for the next train.

[yes. that was steph]

Once we all reconvened at Shinagawa, we decided to book the Shinkansen trains to Hakone, which ended up costing MSJ ¥3250 each! Again, so glad we got the 14 day pass!

So after booking we decided to head for some food - and off to the shinkansen that will take us to Kodama in 30min! On the train we ate our food and found out that the train has BOTH Japanese style and Western style toilets. Epic.

[a “japanese” style toilet]

Once we got to Odawara we got our stash of alcohol (one was a 25% alcohol in a milk carton for $7 lol) and bought our train ticket to Hakone on an epic local train. And once there we had to get hop on a bus where I took another powernap. Awesome.

Once at the bus stop, we realised that it was a 500m walk through deep snow to the hotel WITH our luggage.

[our faces before the stupid walk]

It was hard - AL reckons this is the part of the trip where we both have to walk through some hard times (like the 35 levels worth of stairs at GC and the 1km 70degree incline on the slopes at NZ). We figured out later that there was some form of a shuttle. bugger.

Once we get to the hotel, we find out that no check in until 3pm so we decided to take the cable car up to have the 7year black eggs which are dipped in sulphur ;)

But man it was sooooo cold! And the sulphur was so epicly pungent!

[see that sulphur? and yea, I managed to get AL to smile =P]

But we had our eggs (5 for ¥500) and everyone hoped that we have more 7 years to live.

[stupid 7 year eggs. they better add me some life]

After that, we decided to have a bit to eat and head back to the hotel. AL and I had some epic black curry lololol.

 Back to the hotel, we find out that our room DOES have a view of mt fuji..

..and that we are indeed sleeping on the floor! Also, MZ found out that the bathrooms are exactly the same as the one at our previous hotel. Hypothesis becomes a theory atm. Its like they ordered it out of the catalogue!

Mochi & green tea for the afternoon! Great way to chill! MZ is just soooo keen to get nekkid - keeps on insisting to go to the onsens asap!

Onsen time.

Wow, there was a lot of naked people. SK even said “there was a lot of jiggle-ing happening”. But it was a nice experience. AL, MZ and I were like so childish and immature when we walked into the pre-pre-onsen area where there were the slippers where we just kept on laughing at the most random things ever, like when we saw the slippers and thought we had to wear it in, when it were other people’s. We realised that after prancing around in those slippers =P

But we did the whole routine (followed the diagrammatic instructions and the routine).. 

[onsen instructions for us noobs]

..and successfully enjoyed the onsens in the outside cold, followed by some sauna. Wow, after only half an hour we finished up, and we were so dead. Back up to the hotel, we felt sooo tired after the onsen.

Also, at the onsen, we found this dead cell removal lotion - soooo cool! I might buy one for my mum :)

 Comment from JG re onsen: “it was awkward”. We lol-ed. She also mentioned something about Shiseido body soaps and shampoo (which were supposed to be expensive). I shall investigate next time coz I defs missed it.

 After the guys had a shower - it appears to be Bleach time.

For AL and SK anyway. I was like, wtf are we watching!?! MZ said he thought of the same thing. Epic hi5.

Yay dinner time. We all dressed up as per the hotel regulations (in the yukata..

[having degustation, in “our underwear”]

- and guess what - HALF OF THE PEOPLE ARE IN CASUAL CLOTHES! But oh well, its awesome wearing a dress and only underwear underneath. Judy remarks “Having a breeze underneath is awesome”. Some epic japanese food.

Its actually a 13-course degustation meal! Good find JG - for 150 a night we get a degustation meal, buffet breakfast AND onsens. Epic.

[yum sashimiii]

[dessert - sooo good! Japanese are just gifted with their desserts!]

The night then was filled with 500 (SK JG and I won in two rounds lol) and more onsen (for me and JG).

<end of day 3>