Day 14 - 1 Apr

We went to Hakone today...cant stick to our original plan of taking Shinkansen to Odawara and den change to the train going to Hakone (since my JR pass gone, cannot take Shinkansen)..we wanted to take the Romance Car but unfortunately, there were no available seats!!! haiz..so we had to take a 2-hr long journey to Hakone..

Ikebukuro (JR Yamanote Line) - Shinjuku
Shinjuku (Odakyu Railways) - Odawara (not inclusive in JR pass cos diff co)
we bought the Free Pass for 5000yen per pax as it consists of all the transportation costs to and fro Shinjuku and oso within Hakone itself


my anpan and milk tea (my fav brand! always drink this when I'm in Japan cos its so much cheaper!)



as i was still v tired fr the Disneyland the day b4...i fell asleep on the train since the journey was v long...and when i opened my eyes...this was wat i saw:

Mt Fuji!!!!! super excited! cos out of 365 days a yr..there's only 30+ days where there will b clear weather to c Mt Fuji so probably the rain last 2 days has cleared the skies and air!

Our 1st stop was from Odawara to Moto Hakone Ko by bus..long journey...darling planned the itin on the bus as we need to adhere to certain timings for the ropeway, cable car, buses etc...there were v precised timings so we had to b v careful not to waste unnecessary time..

and this was where we saw Mt Fuji again..


At the jetty waiting to get onto the Pirate Ship...wind was very strong but not as cold as the last few days already...we bot our lunch fr the 7-11 while waiting for the ship as well..

Pirate Ship is here!! Run!!!!!






c tat little hse on the hilltop?? the whole pic looks juz like a painting!



We arrived at Togendai..


sat by the jetty for our lunch...the sakura trees here hav not bloom yet...

Darling's Karaage bento


Chicken Salad with Pasta

Peach and Vanilla Ice cream fr the cafe at the jetty...its gd! but not as gd as the ones in Hokkaido!

We den took the ropeway to Owakudani..


hopped while it was still moving..


More of Mt Fuji fr the car!


how far we hav travelled...Hakone is a v hilly area..i had almost wanted to puke on buses as it kept going round and round up hills and mountaineous area...

We were bears who had travelled to Owakudani by the Ropeway...its fun!!! (the literal translation on the board...haha)

Another hot spring zone..(or hell valley)..there were many little shops selling Hard Boiled Eggs boiled from the water from the hotsprings somewhere near the mountain top..and the eggs had black shells after they were cooked cos of the iron deposits...apparently, eating 1 egg will prolonged our lives by 7 yrs..and cos the shops sold the eggs by half dozen min..we had to buy 6 eggs...haha..i oso saw a cart selling roasted sweet potato..couldnt resist it as well..haha..


I seriously dunno where i was looking..


juz look at the blue sky!


holding Mt Fuji on my hand..

one of our most fav pics!

darling still reading up on the guide on how we can get back to Odawara most easily..

when we got off the ropeway and took the cable car to Souzan and fr Souzan, we took a bus which bring us to Gotemba Factory outlet...the place where i lost my sanity...haha..

doesn't this look like old america??


time to start tat shopping spree! Coach was 1st on the list! bot a bag for my mum for her bday...cos she liked the one tat Kwan was using..and happened tat it was on sale!!

i cant rem y darling had tat expression..i tink he was v shocked at the things i'm buying..kept telling me no more space in luggage..but i didnt care..so its the 'i-dun-care-liao' face...haha...see my nike bag?? bot a Nike Free 7.0 which i saw in SG selling at 170++...i got it at 50+ sgd only!!

sun was setting..

taking a pic against the sun set wif Mt Fuji..


and my shopping spree! i got a pair of ltd edition Adidas Sneakers as well..only 60+sgd...it wld hav cost 100+ in SG! or perhaps not available in SG!

me attempting at another artistic shot..

den of the sun setting within 5 min..or shorter...

Gucci! but found nothing there...anyway i'm not a Gucci person..

and we were getting abit tired and hungry so we sat down for our food...

This was the eggs!

darling was v accomdating to my request of a funny pic..haha

me taking a photo of myself eating the egg..v ugly hor?? where's darling?? he went back to Nike which was on the other side of Gotemba..cos he decided to get a pair of Nike trekking shoes with Gortex cos its only 90+sgd...he was contemplating for a long time...i kept telling him to buy...cos he wun get the same in SG at such a cheap price..and not forgetting the Seiko watch which we saw at Hana Port in Osaka which he din buy...there's wasnt any similar ones tat he liked in Gotemba...so wasted lor!!! tink he oso bth me keep nagging him so he went back to buy tat pair of trekking shoes...good buy muz buy mah!!!

i oso had my sweet potato..its sweetness!

i fin my shopping earlier than expected so we took an earlier bus back to Hakone area at 6..switched to another bus back to Odawara...as it was still early for our train..we did some 100yen shopping at Daiso beside the train station..

when we reached back Ikebukuro at 10+...and darling was hungry cos no dinner yet...we saw this ramen shop and went in to try..

this shop was v interesting..u can request the ramen to come in small, medium or big portions but at no extra costs! and its dry ramen which we had to dip in the sauce...on the entrance, it was featured in some tv show or magazine so we decided to try out..its was not bad..darling liked it cos its similar to the cold ramen which he always eat at Miharu..and he ordered Medium portion which in the end was too much for him..i couldnt fin my small portion either...but i din quite like the ramen texture cos abit too hard..

we r going back to SG tomm!!! so fast 2 wks over already!