Hakone

This morning we took a bullet train to Hakone - a scenic town up in the mountains. It’s famous for its onsens, or natural hot springs.  It’s close to Mt. Fuji and we tried to get pictures but it was quite foggy. Here’s one Tatiana took from the bullet train.  I love the haystacks in the foreground (and she must have a wonderful camera to have captured that at 350kph).

I zoomed in a bit

Hakone central

After lunch at a hole in the wall called “Ham and Sausages” we boarded a pirate ship on Lake Ashino-ko. 

The area surrounding the lake is all lush forested hills. It’s incredibly serene. I was fantasizing about getting a job here and disappearing from normal life. 

Across the lake we climbed onto a cable car.

On the second cable car, we started to smell sulphur.

This area is by a live volcano. They have helpful signage:

There is sulphuric gas coming up from the ground. They sell boiled eggs that turn black from the water. 

Another cable car and funicular later and we were at our final destination. 

We checked in and I immediately ran for the onsen. People were having trouble understanding the concept so our guide sent out a how-to link. 

There were three onsens. One was outdoors but the temp of the water was only 39 degrees. The second one was indoors and a pleasant 41 degrees. It was a sulphur spring which is known for its healing properties  Perfect!!  I stayed in there as long as I could stand it. The last one was an Alkaline spring but it was hotter than 42 degrees. I dipped my foot in but I was worried I’d burn myself and pass out so I skipped it.

Supper was a traditional Japanese kaiseki meal, with a variety of traditional Japanese foods. (It was really nice to try but, man, am I ever sick of Japanese food. The lotus root is pretty good, though.)

We all wore the Obi-wan Kenobi robes we found in our rooms. They are called yukata.

- Ruth

P.S.  After supper, I went down to soak in the sulphur springs again. They were much hotter!