[Sidenote: i broke my promise! I said it would be up by end of the month but i'm late. Grrr.. upset with myself. Because of this, i will speed up and put more up real soon!]Day 2 [120509: Tuesday] 
We were dead tired and couldn’t sleep as well as we would have liked but we were excited as we were travelling to go Hakone today! We left the hostel almost half an hour late. We were supposed to leave the hostel at 5.45 but ended up leaving at 6.10am, and as I was afraid that we couldn’t be in time to catch the 7am train, I made the stupidest decision ever, plus I got cheated by the policeman. He told be the trip by cab will be about 10 to 15minutes but it took us almost 25minutes and the cab fare was horrendously expensive. My heart jumped simultaneously with the meter. I tried to get my mind of the fare by making small talk with the cab driver but it only helped to levitate my heart attack.
The Taxi Driver Details! In case he cheat our $! haha
Total bill! Grrrr! 100yen = SGD$1.50.. Calculate yourself!Once we reached Shinjuku, we scrambled and asked around before we found the correct train station with Oedo Line heading for Hakone! It was quite confusing and I panicked slightly but it was such a relief when we finally found the place but only to panic once again because we didn’t know how to buy the tickets for the Romance Car Limited Train. Finally, we managed to find a lady who helped us to ask around and guided us! Thank God for her! We thanked her profusely and I felt happy that DaddyGod sent someone nice and friendly to help us! Once again, we RAN for our train because it was due to move off in 5minutes! Rush rush rush! (*sings: It came over me in a rush, When I realise that…! Eunechan! haha)
The train ride took about an hour plus and it was cool that we could reserve and choose the seats we want, but the observatory deck (front) was taken up, so we had to take the observatory deck (rear). There are a variety of romance car trains, and this is the 2nd newest one. The newest train will be taken on our way back to Tokyo. In the train, I was tired, wary and very excited! It’s my first time in Japan where I’m travelling with my 1/12th knowledge of their language, and travelling to a place outside of Tokyo! I did a lot of research of Hakone and its one place that I’m really looking forward to and excited to go to! Hakone seems beautiful in the pictures and sounds wonderful but I wasn’t sure if it was really so but I just had a feeling that we all will and true enough, we love Hakone with all our hearts!
Happy to have caught the 7am train! (Singapore Time 6am!) Right on schedule!
:D
Our breakfast! its very very very yummy like mad!
I was acting as a decoy for Kiyoko to take the photo of the "squeezed sardines"!
(L) I printed a menu of this place we're gonna eat at, and wrote the SGD price next to it! :D
(R) Lin was taking a self potrait of herself (with a guy sleeping behind her)... and...
...then she asked cindi to take her own self potrait but somehow, cin started being shy and started laughing non-stop! haha! So we weren't supposed to look at her when she takes her photo!
The front of the train! No difference from the back actually! Now the question is, WHERE'S THE TRAIN MASTER?? Who's driving the train?
Yeay! We reached! The train that served us well!
Pretty Train! and Pretty us! :D
Hakone is a quaint little Hot Spring town, dotted with many mountains, green trees and flowing streams. We followed the map given to us by the information counter and found our hotel, Senkei Plaza, after 10-15mins walk. It is really pretty and seems comfortable! They were really nice! I actually found this hotel online and they just require a web reservation. When we arrived, they didn’t even ask us to pay upfront. We only paid after we finished our stay! That’s trust! :)
Shops we see along the way, later on, we'll buy something from this shop!
ume! sour plum! i don't really like these but it looks pretty!
How beautiful and clear the streams are!! We were practically screaming already!
Can't resist getting a picture eh!
Awed by the sights we were seeing!
Its just a small little town~
So so so pretty!!
More Streams!
Road leading to our hotel! not hostel! Finally a hotel! Cheap one too! $90+ a night!
More clear water streams!
Finally! Senkei Plaza !
Put our big luggage and off we are to our next destination! Lin's carrying the bag containing our stuffs for hot spring later on!
Go go go!Owakudani ValleyAfter some rest, we walked back to Hakone Yumoto Station to catch the train which will take us to Gora Station, where we will change to the cablecar to Sounzan, and then to the ropeway to Owakudani Valley! Just Travelling to Owakudani Valley gave us the opportunity to take 3 different types of transportation: Train, CableCar and Ropeway. I wasn’t really looking forward to the ropeway actually because of my fear of heights. (Btw, their cable car is more like a tram and ropeway is actually cable car. )
In the train, we spotted a camera crew video-ing a couple, who looks pretty plain. Didn’t pay much attention to them after we realised they weren’t some hotshots. Haha! And we started imagining how cool it would be if we saw Shinlang & Hwang Buin! (some show that all of us watched!) Lin was hilarious! She started saying how Shinlang will be attracted to her cos she have the same bright hair as he used to have! HAHA!
Egg like thing, who's name is Hakone no ogetsu sama!
A variation, but more expensive by 100 yen! We bought both!
trying the taste...
... and honestly it tastes like 'huat kueh'. not very fantastic.. haha~
the camera crew behind! curious!
uhh.. who?
yeay~ the train started! Sunny!
All geared up with our sunnies! To hide our dark eye rings!
The sights we see.. way too pretty! The train ride was a little draggy and we were all starting to feel the sleepy monster coming upon us, and just as I think I was about to doze off, a group of grandmas and grandpas boarded the train! So we let up our seats for them and they seemed shocked and declined. We insisted and they finally sat. It’s weird how shocked they were when we let up our seats to them. Finally we reached Gora Station, and all of us clambered into the small cablecar, which traveled at a snail’s speed.
Transferred to the ropeway, and boy.... was it crowded! Filled with Japanese tourist!
Very slowly... very very veryyyy slowly..zzzz....
At last! Sounzan stop! We practically ran up the steps so we could be a little faster than the group of grandmas and grandpas who seemed much more healthier and genki as compared to us! We got into the ropeway and the ‘stationmaster’ was really friendly and kept smiling at us and gave us the whole cabin to ourselves! We waved bye to him but he seemed shy and did a quick and low wave to us! ^^
MORE STAIRS!
The friendly but shy station master! Blurred though!In the cabin, I freaked out a little but I forced myself to open my eyes really big and take in the scenery. Cin kept telling me “don’t look infront, ok, now don’t look behind!” haha! But eventually, I even forced myself to stand up and walk around to take a few pictures! And I’m proud that I did so! Actually, the ropeway wasn’t as scary as I thought it could be because it wasn’t shaky till it reached the top and when the wind blew. I totally freaked out when the wind blew that all I did was squat there and pray for it to stop!
Testing waters...
oo.. its going up!
ok, not so scary! Better take some pics!On this ropeway, we experienced God’s love! On our way to Hakone, I was telling them that I was afraid we couldn’t see Mount Fuji because all the reports wrote that Mt. Fuji could only be seen when the skies are clear and best viewed in Winter. Other than that, its near impossible that we could see Mt. Fuji at all. Ju was adamant and said that we will see Mt. Fuji because DaddyGod gave us this trip! How sweet is that :) And just like that, we saw Fuji San! Honestly! What are the chances that we could see Mt.Fuji? The 4 of us screamed like crazy and laughed like crazy! We really did scream and scream and scream and SCREAM! Such is how we expressed our excitedness! We thanked DaddyGod immediately and continued screaming! Mt. Fuji was sooooo magnificent! But our DaddyGod is so much more magnificent because He created it and let us see it! :D :D :D We almost wanted to break out into a small Praise and Worship session then and there in the small ropeway cabin!
*SCREAMS* Mt Fuji!! *SCREAMS*
See! So happy to see Fuji San! Fuji san! Hajimemashite! :)
When we reached the station, we screamed when we saw Mt. Fuji again, went out and saw some stationmaster’s uniforms on the rack so we took some photos, and even with the stationmasters who were friendly and sporting!
Station masters for that minute!
salutes*
With the real station master!
Yes, How may we help you? :DOnce we went out of the station, the wind was really strong and we shivered! The weather sure is colder at the top! We took photos of Mt. Fuji, took photos with Mt. Fuji, helped people take photos of them with Mt. Fuji.. Everyone was just so awed by Mt. Fuji! But Mount Fuji is too magnificient and grand to take a picture of! The sun was at its brightest, and it was really hard to capture the real magnificent Fuji with a compact camera. I want a DSLR!
Quick take our pictures already! stop fidgiting with the camera!
SMILES!
Awww..such a serene Fuji.
Did i mention how big the crows in Japan are? I have absolutely no idea what they eat but they are like twice the size of the ones in Singapore! Its Freaky! Same big size as those we saw at chiba that time with nikki!
More Fuji! Btw, i didn't see Fuji Apples there though.... hmmm... :p
The sun was wayy too bright that we had to see the photos in the camera by hiding it in my jacket!After staying and wowing at Mt. Fuji, we went for lunch and it was sumptuous!
Oishii! There i was worrying about food in Hakone when i was planning in Singapore, and here I was in Hakone enjoying super good food!! Beyond blessed-ness!
We saw a handsome guy! Yeah right, we were ordering food!
Presenting our lunch! Udon Soup! Slurps!
Cold Soba which is super delicious like crazy with side dish of yummy crispy tempura!
Black Curry Rice! Unique! and it really tastes like curry!
This is a MUST TRY! The Katsu is really KATSU KATSU! very firm and nice like siao!
After a fulfilling lunch, we started climbing Owakudani Valley and we decided to change out of our boots to our comfy slippers so we could climb better. (Vain Singaporeans!) At the valley, we were too filled but we wanted to try the famous black eggs! The eggshell actually turns black after being cooked in the hot boiling water! But buying 5 eggs were too much.. but Thank God, again! We actually met a man who was alone, and he bought 5 eggs and offered the remaining 4 to us! How cool is that!! So I made small talk with him in my very broken Japanese language and found out that he is actually Korean (Double S!) who is in Japan for business trip alone and he works for Panasonic.
We are "A"!!
Resting while we *ahems* change our shoes.
Beginning our climb!
The basket that transports the black eggs down to the 'shopping area' after its cooked in the spring up at the Owakudani.
Tired but satisfied! Take a pic to show that we are here!
*shashin!* Here's the pic!
Hot hot valley!
Egg selling area! 5 for 5ooyen? can't remember!
Black Eggs!!! Salt Provided!
The Panasonic guy! Guess he must be feeling sleepyyy!
Invaded by Students!!
Owakudani Valley 1050M!
More pics!
Mikki, Kiyoko, Aiko, Jyuri
We went down the valley and bought some foodies back home from a shop. After spending about 20minutes inside, we came out of the shop with our mouths opened! I kept repeating myself “What happened! What happened!” The whole valley was filled with fog and wind was really strong and we couldn’t see past 100m! The whole area was fogged and cold and we were excited! It was like a reconfirmation from DaddyGod! It’s as if He was telling us, “I made that special Mt. Fuji moment just for you girls!”
*Sings: So blessed! I can’t contain it! So much I gotta give it a way! Your love, taught me to live now! You are more than enough for me!* claps happily!
Yaki Soba wrapped in bread?? Only in Japan!
Going down the treacherous stairs!
Stop irritating me! Or i'll bite uuuuu!!!!!!
GROWLS! ME TOO!
haha! we were actually doing the 阳光男孩 *zzzhar!* thing by the Taiwan guy Nono. It's alright if you don't know, its a lame thing. haha!
FOGGY like crazy! the area behind was our eating place and where we saw Fuji San earlier on!
We better hurry!
Students squatting while listening to their teachers brief. When the teachers ask a question and its a yes, the students will stand up, teachers count, and they squat back down again. So tiring... and the teachers ask alot of questions!
Back down... ok im worried cos its shaky!Overall, Owakudani Valley was beautiful and one of nature’s wonders! I Love such sightseeing! Mt.Fuji was definitely an added bonus! It was like the cherry on top of a very yummy cake! Like the egg that comes together with Ichiran Ramen! Yummy and Lovely!
More coming up!!
Photos
Here and
Here!
