A trip to Hakone
I went on a one night trip to Hakone with Emily.
It was fantastic! Hakone is beautiful. We left Machida station on the "Romance
Car." This is simply the fast train to get to Hakone, but they call it the
Romance Car - who knows why. We arrived and then took another couple of trains.
We stopped in a little village called Gora and ate lunch at the Gyouza Center.
Gyouza are little dumplings - similar to what I would call a Pot Sticker. The
Gyouza center had about 15 different varieties of gyouza to choose from. Emily
got the regular version and I chose the chicken version. They were both great.
The chicken version was basically buffalo wings that were stuffed with gyouza
stuffing.
The Romance Car
The Gyouza Center
We then took the Hakone Ropeway up the mountain and as we crossed over a peak we has amazing views of Mount Fuji, which the Japanese refer to as Fuji-san. Below us we could see some mining operations and steam from the dormant volcano. We got off the ropeway and took a short walk to where they make hardboiled eggs from the heat of the volcano steam. I'm not really sure why they do this, but it seemed to be very interesting to everyone, including Emily and me.
After eating the volcano-cooked egg, we headed down the mountain by bus (the ropeway was closed due to high winds). On this side of the mountain we saw Lake Ashi. We hopped aboard a Pirate Ship to cross Lake Ashi. I have no idea why they have Pirate Ships here. They did have a narrator on the pirate ship who explained things, but I think some of the English portion was not exactly correct. For example, she told us to look one way to see a pine tree in the water, but there wasn't a pine tree. She then told us about a tunnel which took 830,000 people to build. Now c'mon, that's a lot of people.
But of most interest to Emily and I she mentioned "The ship will make two stops, first Hakone, then Moto-Hakone. Emily and I were going to Moto-Hakone. Well, as it turned out, the ship sailed right past Monto-Hakone and right back to where we started from. So then we had to ride the ship all the way back across the lake. So instead of a 30 minute boat ride, we ended up with an hour and a half boat ride.
It wasn't too big of a deal though since we had no plans for the envening, other than checking into our hostel in Moto-Hakone. Once we got off the ship we looked around for a place to eat. The time was about 5:45 pm, a perfect time for dinner. It seemed most of the restaurants were closed, but we did find one that was open. As we walked in the staff came up to us and let us know that they had just closed for the night. Hmmm. 5:45 pm and restaurant after restaurant are closed. All the tourist shops are closed. Everything is closed. It felt as if a nuclear bomb were coming and we were the only ones who had not been told. The little town was completely empty.
We did have a snack on the boat though. We met a really nice couple from San Diego (who also had the same problem as us regarding the boat's lack of stops). The woman shared with us a little bag of crackers her friend had given her. The bag of crackers had a picture of a whole fish on the wrapper. And sure enough, there was a whole fish inside with the crackers!
We walked through a hotel to a back room and finally found a small little coffee shop that made some food for us. Then, we headed up a steep curvy road in search of the Hakone Lake Villa Youth Hostel. We were told to expect a 30 minute walk. It was at least 30 minutes, up a steep, curvy, busy road. Once we climbed towards the top we found an arrow pointing towards the Youth Hostel. The arrow was pointing down a sketchy, dark, alley-like avenue that appeared to go nowhere but into the darkness of the sky. Emily and I wandered down this path and we did eventually find our nice little hostel.
The hostel was great - very nice and clean. We were charged a "hot spring" tax and we were very interested in checking out the hot springs offered at the hostel. We went to our respective bathroom and found the hot spring. A tub in a tiled room, which smells like horrible rotten eggs. The water from the hot springs is sulfur water, and it creates a terrible smell and horrible sulfur buildup on the metal fittings for the toilet, showers, etc. The toilet pipes were solid green! I had no plans of entering the rotten egg bath. Fortunately they did offer one shower.
We met some interesting folks at the hostel. One of them spoke English, while the other two spoke very few words in English. The one who did speak English works as a chef at an Italian restaurant in Ikebukuro (an area in Tokyo). We're planning to go check the restaurant out sometime soon. We woke up to a nice breakfast of bread, salad, grapefruit, and soup. It was a pretty decent breakfast - fortunately without fish!
Emily and I took a long walk through an avenue of trees and then we walked around part of Lake Ashi past the huge Torii towards a tram that would take us to the top of a huge mountain. At the top of the mountain Emily and I split up because I had to head home for work and Emily was going to stay another day. I took the tram down and then headed off on the Old Tokaido Road. In ancient history, this is the only road that linked Kyoto (the former capital of Japan) with Tokyo. Everyone had to pass through this section and feudal lords had the ability to control who passed and who didn't.
The walk on the Tokaido road to Hatajyuku was about 3 miles. On the walk I met some really nice Japanese women. A couple of them spoke some broken English, and whenever anyone hears you teach for Nova, they get really excited. I stopped and had tea with them at a little rest-stop along the trail. I was basically the women's Toy Gaijin for the day. They had fun asking me questions about how I liked Japan and questions about the United States. They picked some kind of berries from a bush and showed them to me. After I had looked at them I tossed them aside. I didn't realize they were giving the berries to me! They went back and got them and gave them to me again and said I should keep them!
Then, they pulled out different snacks and treats from their backpacks and had me try them. One woman had some good garlic crackers, another had some tasty green tea flavored hard candy...and another woman had some blackish-green squares which tasted and felt like cardboard. I think it was some form of seaweed, but it didn't look like seaweed I have seen before. They made all kinds of jokes about me in Japanese, I am sure. They would say something and then all start giggling. I told them which Nova school I work at and I think they were joking with each other that they were going to come take lessons from me. When I parted ways with the women they gave me a bag of candy to take with me. Japanese people are great.
Once I reached the train station at Hakone Yumato I took a bus to a public bath. These are very common in Japan, and very interesting, too. It cost about $10 to enter. Once I entered I had to put my shoes in a small locker at the door. Then I walked down a long hallway, which had a large room on either side that had fully clothed people sleeping on tatami mats (no idea what this was about). Then I went downstairs to the mens locker room where I got another locker to put all my belongings in. Public baths in Japan are single sex, and nude. So, I put everything in the locker and then proceeded to head towards the outdoor hot tubs filled with spring water (called "onsen"). Most of the men had a small rag that they carried around with them and dangled in front of themselves when they walked from one tub to another. There are tons of etiquette rules about onsen and I really didn't know any of them. I think you are first supposed to wash off at one of the little shower stations, so I did that first. The showers have little upside down buckets that you sit on and a wooden bowl which you can put your water in. They also have a shower attachment. The Japanese men scrub their bodies like you have never seen anyone scrub before. They must be the cleanest people alive!
After washing myself off I delicately walked on over to a hot tub and got in. Wouldn't you know I ended up in a hot tub that had two other Westerners and no Japanese people. I guess that was good in once sense, because if I messed up on etiquette it probably would not matter. I tried out three different hot tubs and then I got bored, and the last bus back to the train station was in five minutes, so I decided to try to catch the last bus instead of taking a taxi. After you leave the onsen, you shower again and then you walk through the human drier! Just like the big blow driers they have at the car wash, only for humans! When you open the door 12 driers start blowing on you! I've never seen anything like this! After dying off, I dressed, caught my bus, and then my 4 trains home. It was a great weekend! Tomorrow is Halloween!
The Romance Car
The Gyouza Center
We then took the Hakone Ropeway up the mountain and as we crossed over a peak we has amazing views of Mount Fuji, which the Japanese refer to as Fuji-san. Below us we could see some mining operations and steam from the dormant volcano. We got off the ropeway and took a short walk to where they make hardboiled eggs from the heat of the volcano steam. I'm not really sure why they do this, but it seemed to be very interesting to everyone, including Emily and me.
After eating the volcano-cooked egg, we headed down the mountain by bus (the ropeway was closed due to high winds). On this side of the mountain we saw Lake Ashi. We hopped aboard a Pirate Ship to cross Lake Ashi. I have no idea why they have Pirate Ships here. They did have a narrator on the pirate ship who explained things, but I think some of the English portion was not exactly correct. For example, she told us to look one way to see a pine tree in the water, but there wasn't a pine tree. She then told us about a tunnel which took 830,000 people to build. Now c'mon, that's a lot of people.
But of most interest to Emily and I she mentioned "The ship will make two stops, first Hakone, then Moto-Hakone. Emily and I were going to Moto-Hakone. Well, as it turned out, the ship sailed right past Monto-Hakone and right back to where we started from. So then we had to ride the ship all the way back across the lake. So instead of a 30 minute boat ride, we ended up with an hour and a half boat ride.
It wasn't too big of a deal though since we had no plans for the envening, other than checking into our hostel in Moto-Hakone. Once we got off the ship we looked around for a place to eat. The time was about 5:45 pm, a perfect time for dinner. It seemed most of the restaurants were closed, but we did find one that was open. As we walked in the staff came up to us and let us know that they had just closed for the night. Hmmm. 5:45 pm and restaurant after restaurant are closed. All the tourist shops are closed. Everything is closed. It felt as if a nuclear bomb were coming and we were the only ones who had not been told. The little town was completely empty.
We did have a snack on the boat though. We met a really nice couple from San Diego (who also had the same problem as us regarding the boat's lack of stops). The woman shared with us a little bag of crackers her friend had given her. The bag of crackers had a picture of a whole fish on the wrapper. And sure enough, there was a whole fish inside with the crackers!
We walked through a hotel to a back room and finally found a small little coffee shop that made some food for us. Then, we headed up a steep curvy road in search of the Hakone Lake Villa Youth Hostel. We were told to expect a 30 minute walk. It was at least 30 minutes, up a steep, curvy, busy road. Once we climbed towards the top we found an arrow pointing towards the Youth Hostel. The arrow was pointing down a sketchy, dark, alley-like avenue that appeared to go nowhere but into the darkness of the sky. Emily and I wandered down this path and we did eventually find our nice little hostel.
The hostel was great - very nice and clean. We were charged a "hot spring" tax and we were very interested in checking out the hot springs offered at the hostel. We went to our respective bathroom and found the hot spring. A tub in a tiled room, which smells like horrible rotten eggs. The water from the hot springs is sulfur water, and it creates a terrible smell and horrible sulfur buildup on the metal fittings for the toilet, showers, etc. The toilet pipes were solid green! I had no plans of entering the rotten egg bath. Fortunately they did offer one shower.
We met some interesting folks at the hostel. One of them spoke English, while the other two spoke very few words in English. The one who did speak English works as a chef at an Italian restaurant in Ikebukuro (an area in Tokyo). We're planning to go check the restaurant out sometime soon. We woke up to a nice breakfast of bread, salad, grapefruit, and soup. It was a pretty decent breakfast - fortunately without fish!
Emily and I took a long walk through an avenue of trees and then we walked around part of Lake Ashi past the huge Torii towards a tram that would take us to the top of a huge mountain. At the top of the mountain Emily and I split up because I had to head home for work and Emily was going to stay another day. I took the tram down and then headed off on the Old Tokaido Road. In ancient history, this is the only road that linked Kyoto (the former capital of Japan) with Tokyo. Everyone had to pass through this section and feudal lords had the ability to control who passed and who didn't.
The walk on the Tokaido road to Hatajyuku was about 3 miles. On the walk I met some really nice Japanese women. A couple of them spoke some broken English, and whenever anyone hears you teach for Nova, they get really excited. I stopped and had tea with them at a little rest-stop along the trail. I was basically the women's Toy Gaijin for the day. They had fun asking me questions about how I liked Japan and questions about the United States. They picked some kind of berries from a bush and showed them to me. After I had looked at them I tossed them aside. I didn't realize they were giving the berries to me! They went back and got them and gave them to me again and said I should keep them!
Then, they pulled out different snacks and treats from their backpacks and had me try them. One woman had some good garlic crackers, another had some tasty green tea flavored hard candy...and another woman had some blackish-green squares which tasted and felt like cardboard. I think it was some form of seaweed, but it didn't look like seaweed I have seen before. They made all kinds of jokes about me in Japanese, I am sure. They would say something and then all start giggling. I told them which Nova school I work at and I think they were joking with each other that they were going to come take lessons from me. When I parted ways with the women they gave me a bag of candy to take with me. Japanese people are great.
Once I reached the train station at Hakone Yumato I took a bus to a public bath. These are very common in Japan, and very interesting, too. It cost about $10 to enter. Once I entered I had to put my shoes in a small locker at the door. Then I walked down a long hallway, which had a large room on either side that had fully clothed people sleeping on tatami mats (no idea what this was about). Then I went downstairs to the mens locker room where I got another locker to put all my belongings in. Public baths in Japan are single sex, and nude. So, I put everything in the locker and then proceeded to head towards the outdoor hot tubs filled with spring water (called "onsen"). Most of the men had a small rag that they carried around with them and dangled in front of themselves when they walked from one tub to another. There are tons of etiquette rules about onsen and I really didn't know any of them. I think you are first supposed to wash off at one of the little shower stations, so I did that first. The showers have little upside down buckets that you sit on and a wooden bowl which you can put your water in. They also have a shower attachment. The Japanese men scrub their bodies like you have never seen anyone scrub before. They must be the cleanest people alive!
After washing myself off I delicately walked on over to a hot tub and got in. Wouldn't you know I ended up in a hot tub that had two other Westerners and no Japanese people. I guess that was good in once sense, because if I messed up on etiquette it probably would not matter. I tried out three different hot tubs and then I got bored, and the last bus back to the train station was in five minutes, so I decided to try to catch the last bus instead of taking a taxi. After you leave the onsen, you shower again and then you walk through the human drier! Just like the big blow driers they have at the car wash, only for humans! When you open the door 12 driers start blowing on you! I've never seen anything like this! After dying off, I dressed, caught my bus, and then my 4 trains home. It was a great weekend! Tomorrow is Halloween!
Posted: Thu - October 30, 2003 at 07:58 PM
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Published On: Aug 19, 2004 06:23 PM
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Published On: Aug 19, 2004 06:23 PM