Thursday, April 26, 2007
April 11
Morning! We had requested our breakfast a little bit later, so we occupied our morning with the baths again. This time, I found the open-air hot springs. (Still divided by sex, people). So we showered off and soaked in the tubs for a while. Eventually we realized that not only were the men’s and woman’s baths right next to each other and exposed to the open air, but that we were both alone in our respective hot-tubs. So we talked back and forth as we sat and relaxed and absorbed the warmth and rejuvenation. The view was spectacular too. Then we got out, dried off, walked down the hall, I walked back, picked up the key, and then we went up to our room. I had lost our room key for the hostel at some point too, so from here on in, Jessie was always in charge of room keys.
We waited around for a while then went down for breakfast. We had the choice and Jessie went, of course, for western style while I went, of course, for Japanese style. We went down in our Yukata again, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to; the other people we saw in the breakfast dining room with us were in their regular clothes. Lucky us, though, there was only a couple other people there, and we mostly had the place to ourselves.
Wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding, we had a really nice breakfast. They just kept bringing and bringing and bringing my stuff, and I got to try all sorts of little Japanese bits and pieces. Pickled vegetables on their own are pretty intense, but when you eat them with rice they’re actually quite tasty. Jess had some eggs and coffee and toast and a big smile. I’m glad she got something good to eat.
Anyway, after that we strapped on all our gear and left the Hotel. I loved it, Jessie liked it, and those hot springs were really, really nice.
Took the bus back to the station, then got another bullet train down to Kyoto, where we would spend the 11th and the next two days. We were 3 hours on the bullet train, which gave me time to look over some walking routes for the next day. We got to Kyoto, (cherry trees in bloom down in Kyoto too. Sweet!) got off the train, and walked down the street to the first of two hostels we would be staying at in Kyoto. (I couldn’t find a place that had a room for 3 nights straight. Once again, quite glad I booked ahead.) It was actually a pretty nice place. Small, but we got the room with a view of the temple complex right across the street. Very pretty.
We had some time, so we walked out and checked out that same temple complex. (Largest wooden structure in Japan.) The main building was having it’s roof repaired, but we got to see some of the side buildings as well as part of the inside of the big one. Very neat.
My favorite sight in the place? This rope, made out of hair. Of course I took a picture of Jessie next to it.
We walked to another temple down the street, but we were wearing hiking boots and didn’t feel like going through the elaborate process to take them off just right then, so we just walked around the outside.
About this time, Jess started to feel a little queasy, so we stopped at a mart to get some sprite and munchies (sprite’s good on the stomach) and then at a café where I had a sandwich and Jess got some pizza toast. (Pizza is good on the stomach, too). Then we just came home and fell asleep. Not much sightseeing, but still a pretty nice day.
-N
Morning! We had requested our breakfast a little bit later, so we occupied our morning with the baths again. This time, I found the open-air hot springs. (Still divided by sex, people). So we showered off and soaked in the tubs for a while. Eventually we realized that not only were the men’s and woman’s baths right next to each other and exposed to the open air, but that we were both alone in our respective hot-tubs. So we talked back and forth as we sat and relaxed and absorbed the warmth and rejuvenation. The view was spectacular too. Then we got out, dried off, walked down the hall, I walked back, picked up the key, and then we went up to our room. I had lost our room key for the hostel at some point too, so from here on in, Jessie was always in charge of room keys.
We waited around for a while then went down for breakfast. We had the choice and Jessie went, of course, for western style while I went, of course, for Japanese style. We went down in our Yukata again, but I’m pretty sure we weren’t supposed to; the other people we saw in the breakfast dining room with us were in their regular clothes. Lucky us, though, there was only a couple other people there, and we mostly had the place to ourselves.
Wardrobe malfunctions notwithstanding, we had a really nice breakfast. They just kept bringing and bringing and bringing my stuff, and I got to try all sorts of little Japanese bits and pieces. Pickled vegetables on their own are pretty intense, but when you eat them with rice they’re actually quite tasty. Jess had some eggs and coffee and toast and a big smile. I’m glad she got something good to eat.
Anyway, after that we strapped on all our gear and left the Hotel. I loved it, Jessie liked it, and those hot springs were really, really nice.
Took the bus back to the station, then got another bullet train down to Kyoto, where we would spend the 11th and the next two days. We were 3 hours on the bullet train, which gave me time to look over some walking routes for the next day. We got to Kyoto, (cherry trees in bloom down in Kyoto too. Sweet!) got off the train, and walked down the street to the first of two hostels we would be staying at in Kyoto. (I couldn’t find a place that had a room for 3 nights straight. Once again, quite glad I booked ahead.) It was actually a pretty nice place. Small, but we got the room with a view of the temple complex right across the street. Very pretty.
We had some time, so we walked out and checked out that same temple complex. (Largest wooden structure in Japan.) The main building was having it’s roof repaired, but we got to see some of the side buildings as well as part of the inside of the big one. Very neat.
My favorite sight in the place? This rope, made out of hair. Of course I took a picture of Jessie next to it.
We walked to another temple down the street, but we were wearing hiking boots and didn’t feel like going through the elaborate process to take them off just right then, so we just walked around the outside.
About this time, Jess started to feel a little queasy, so we stopped at a mart to get some sprite and munchies (sprite’s good on the stomach) and then at a café where I had a sandwich and Jess got some pizza toast. (Pizza is good on the stomach, too). Then we just came home and fell asleep. Not much sightseeing, but still a pretty nice day.
-N
Labels: Japan, Kyoto, Senkyoro
April 10,
The fact that I did this day correctly is a source of personal pride for me. Here’s the scenario.
There’s a day-trip out of Tokyo that is so common that there’s a ticket for it. It goes like this: You take a bullet train from Tokyo to Odawara, south along the coast. Once in odawara you take a train to Hakone Yumoto station. Then things start getting fun.
Next up is a train that runs up the side of a mountain. It’s a long, slow, winding thing that actually has to use switchbacks at several stops in order to gain the elevation it needs. The view up the side of the mountain is supposed to be great. From there, you get off the switchback train and get on a sloped train, a rail that goes up a consistent 20 degree slope further up the mountain. At the end of that ride, you get on a gondola that goes up and over the sulfur-stained side of a mountain, steaming with volcanic energy. Normally you’d take a gondola for the next part too, but it was under repair, so you hop on a bus that goes down the mountain and onto a lake, then you take a boat across the lake, get back on the bus, and go home. In our case, however, we get back on a bus, go back to Odawara, and then take a bus from there to a hot springs resort, a very neat place. More public transportation than you can shake a stick at, and a whole lot of Kanji that I can’t read. Of everything this entire trip, pulling off the Hakone loop was the only thing I was really worried about. Here’s how it went.
We packed up in the morning and left our Tokyo Hostel, strapping on our backpacks and heading over to Ueno station, one of the big transportation hubs in Tokyo. From there we took a bullet train down to Odawara and purchased our Hakone Free Pass, the ticket that pays for every single step of the Hakone loop. It’s actually a pretty neat thing to have, because all you have to do is flash the ticket at a driver and they instantly know what you’re doing and if you’re in the right place to do it. It’s like the ticket leads you around. Cool.
Oh, and by the way, everything within 50 miles is called some variation of ‘Hakone’, so It’s easy to get confused.
Anyway, the slow train, the one with the switchbacks, was pretty fun to ride. It wound its way up the valley and we got to see a wide expanse of trees, city, and the occasional cherry tree in full bloom. Very nice view.
‘The orange book’ recommended one stop along the way up the mountain, at a placed called the Hakone (Ack!) open air museum. We got off at the recommended stop only to discover that the book got the stop wrong and that we were well out of walking distance of the museum. It wasn’t a total loss, though, we bought some ice cream and walked back up to the train. Two stops later, we saw the museum from the train, got off, and walked over.
The Hakone (Ack!) open air museum was one of my favorite sights of the trip. Check out these pictures! There were tons and tons of interesting and amazing sculptures of every shape, size, style, and genre. We walked around the whole place and saw a bunch of Picasso art, both paintings and pottery, at the appropriate pavilion. I liked it quite a lot.
We had lunch there then got back on the train which took us to the ‘straight up the slope’ train I mentioned before. The entire car was sloped and it just followed this odd section of rail up and up and up the hill. Saved us thousands of calories of elevation, I’m sure.
Then came Jessie’s favorite part of all, the gondola ride. We slipped on and were soon cruising up the side of the mountain. Then, the mountain ridge falls away and we are strung over this huge, volcanic-looking valley hundreds of feet below. It was really impressive. Jess was pretty much giddy.
Unfortunately, the rest of the gondola, which normally goes down to the lake, was under repair, so we took a bus down to the lake. From there we got on…uh…a tour boat, of a sort. Really felt like we were boarding a ride at Disneyland, but it was a nice jaunt anyway. The boat had an automated tour-guide in Japanese, along with occasional commentary in English. There were some interesting sights, but it was mostly nice just for the boat ride. Jessie chatted up a little girl sitting in front of us on the boat and we gave her one of our cute little American keychains.
Then, the tricky part. We got on, then off, a bus that I thought was going the wrong way (wrong), then on another bus which eventually got us back to Odawara. Then I had to find the bus that would take us to our Hot springs Resort, Senkyoro.
I had written down the Kanji for Senkyoro in The Blue Folder and if I hadn’t, I never would have found the place. I was looking through bus timetables at Odawara and recognized (somehow) the Kanji I had written down. We were able to find the right bus, then, and navigate our way to the right one.
Lucky: The Hakone (ack!) free pass that we had purchased for the loop also covered the (50 minute) bus ride to Senkyoro. Unlucky: the turnstile ate Jessies pass. Lucky: I still had mine. Lucky: bus drivers in Hakone (ack!) are so used to seeing tourists with the free pass that I just had to flash mine and Jessie could just follow along behind. It’s not cheating! The turnstile wasn’t supposed to eat her pass, it’s valid for a few days!
We got on the bus and I kept my eyes *FIRMLY* peeled for the kanji that would indicate our stop. Jess slept (so cute!) Spotted it, pushed the button, and got off. The Hakone loop and Senkyoro bus ride…accomplished.
And to the winner went the spoils. This was our ‘splurge hotel’ for the trip, sporting, as it did, Japanese-style dinner and breakfast, Japanese-style baths with warm water fed from volcanic hot springs, and a pretty big room.
We walked up the driveway though the parking lot. Lexus, Lexus, Audi, BMW, etc. There were some nice cars there and even more nice cars pulling up while the staff came out to welcome all newcomers to the hotel. Then we come tromping up the driveway in backpacks and boots and they come out to welcome us just the same. I really doubt having backpackers come by was a rare occasion (we did get bus directions from their website), but we did feel a little silly. Felt sillier still when we sat down and the ladies tried to heave our backpacks up onto a hand cart so they could take them up to the room.
We got up into the room and changed into the provided Yukata for rest and relaxation before dinner. The lady that showed us to our room also poured some tea for us. It was nice, but not really comfortable, I kept feeling like there was some sort of custom I was supposed to be following that I wasn’t aware of. Good for the experience, though.
I liked dinner, Jessie, not so much. She was such a trooper, though. The tried a little of everything, even RAW foods, until her stomach just couldn’t take the strangeness anymore. I, essentially unconcerned by anything that’s even reportedly edible, ate everything, and there was a lot of food. Something like 7 courses of intricately arranged fish and...other stuff…dishes. Strangest: whole cuttlefish. I ate one, but I’m not a huge fan of squid, so I left it at that.
Jess eventually did get some edible desert, and we got some rice (with peanut sauce!) for her too. Good stuff.
Then we got to hit up the hot springs. If you want to see what they looked like, click here, they have some pictures on the website. In the evening we went into the shared baths, where we scrubbed off the grime of the day and then relaxed in nice, hot, mineral-filled water. We definitely took our time and came out feeling very relaxed. At that point, they had come by our room to change the table for our beds, so we pushed the futons together, entwined our arms, and fell into some serious, serious sleep.
-N
The fact that I did this day correctly is a source of personal pride for me. Here’s the scenario.
There’s a day-trip out of Tokyo that is so common that there’s a ticket for it. It goes like this: You take a bullet train from Tokyo to Odawara, south along the coast. Once in odawara you take a train to Hakone Yumoto station. Then things start getting fun.
Next up is a train that runs up the side of a mountain. It’s a long, slow, winding thing that actually has to use switchbacks at several stops in order to gain the elevation it needs. The view up the side of the mountain is supposed to be great. From there, you get off the switchback train and get on a sloped train, a rail that goes up a consistent 20 degree slope further up the mountain. At the end of that ride, you get on a gondola that goes up and over the sulfur-stained side of a mountain, steaming with volcanic energy. Normally you’d take a gondola for the next part too, but it was under repair, so you hop on a bus that goes down the mountain and onto a lake, then you take a boat across the lake, get back on the bus, and go home. In our case, however, we get back on a bus, go back to Odawara, and then take a bus from there to a hot springs resort, a very neat place. More public transportation than you can shake a stick at, and a whole lot of Kanji that I can’t read. Of everything this entire trip, pulling off the Hakone loop was the only thing I was really worried about. Here’s how it went.
We packed up in the morning and left our Tokyo Hostel, strapping on our backpacks and heading over to Ueno station, one of the big transportation hubs in Tokyo. From there we took a bullet train down to Odawara and purchased our Hakone Free Pass, the ticket that pays for every single step of the Hakone loop. It’s actually a pretty neat thing to have, because all you have to do is flash the ticket at a driver and they instantly know what you’re doing and if you’re in the right place to do it. It’s like the ticket leads you around. Cool.
Oh, and by the way, everything within 50 miles is called some variation of ‘Hakone’, so It’s easy to get confused.
Anyway, the slow train, the one with the switchbacks, was pretty fun to ride. It wound its way up the valley and we got to see a wide expanse of trees, city, and the occasional cherry tree in full bloom. Very nice view.
‘The orange book’ recommended one stop along the way up the mountain, at a placed called the Hakone (Ack!) open air museum. We got off at the recommended stop only to discover that the book got the stop wrong and that we were well out of walking distance of the museum. It wasn’t a total loss, though, we bought some ice cream and walked back up to the train. Two stops later, we saw the museum from the train, got off, and walked over.
The Hakone (Ack!) open air museum was one of my favorite sights of the trip. Check out these pictures! There were tons and tons of interesting and amazing sculptures of every shape, size, style, and genre. We walked around the whole place and saw a bunch of Picasso art, both paintings and pottery, at the appropriate pavilion. I liked it quite a lot.
We had lunch there then got back on the train which took us to the ‘straight up the slope’ train I mentioned before. The entire car was sloped and it just followed this odd section of rail up and up and up the hill. Saved us thousands of calories of elevation, I’m sure.
Then came Jessie’s favorite part of all, the gondola ride. We slipped on and were soon cruising up the side of the mountain. Then, the mountain ridge falls away and we are strung over this huge, volcanic-looking valley hundreds of feet below. It was really impressive. Jess was pretty much giddy.
Unfortunately, the rest of the gondola, which normally goes down to the lake, was under repair, so we took a bus down to the lake. From there we got on…uh…a tour boat, of a sort. Really felt like we were boarding a ride at Disneyland, but it was a nice jaunt anyway. The boat had an automated tour-guide in Japanese, along with occasional commentary in English. There were some interesting sights, but it was mostly nice just for the boat ride. Jessie chatted up a little girl sitting in front of us on the boat and we gave her one of our cute little American keychains.
Then, the tricky part. We got on, then off, a bus that I thought was going the wrong way (wrong), then on another bus which eventually got us back to Odawara. Then I had to find the bus that would take us to our Hot springs Resort, Senkyoro.
I had written down the Kanji for Senkyoro in The Blue Folder and if I hadn’t, I never would have found the place. I was looking through bus timetables at Odawara and recognized (somehow) the Kanji I had written down. We were able to find the right bus, then, and navigate our way to the right one.
Lucky: The Hakone (ack!) free pass that we had purchased for the loop also covered the (50 minute) bus ride to Senkyoro. Unlucky: the turnstile ate Jessies pass. Lucky: I still had mine. Lucky: bus drivers in Hakone (ack!) are so used to seeing tourists with the free pass that I just had to flash mine and Jessie could just follow along behind. It’s not cheating! The turnstile wasn’t supposed to eat her pass, it’s valid for a few days!
We got on the bus and I kept my eyes *FIRMLY* peeled for the kanji that would indicate our stop. Jess slept (so cute!) Spotted it, pushed the button, and got off. The Hakone loop and Senkyoro bus ride…accomplished.
And to the winner went the spoils. This was our ‘splurge hotel’ for the trip, sporting, as it did, Japanese-style dinner and breakfast, Japanese-style baths with warm water fed from volcanic hot springs, and a pretty big room.
We walked up the driveway though the parking lot. Lexus, Lexus, Audi, BMW, etc. There were some nice cars there and even more nice cars pulling up while the staff came out to welcome all newcomers to the hotel. Then we come tromping up the driveway in backpacks and boots and they come out to welcome us just the same. I really doubt having backpackers come by was a rare occasion (we did get bus directions from their website), but we did feel a little silly. Felt sillier still when we sat down and the ladies tried to heave our backpacks up onto a hand cart so they could take them up to the room.
We got up into the room and changed into the provided Yukata for rest and relaxation before dinner. The lady that showed us to our room also poured some tea for us. It was nice, but not really comfortable, I kept feeling like there was some sort of custom I was supposed to be following that I wasn’t aware of. Good for the experience, though.
I liked dinner, Jessie, not so much. She was such a trooper, though. The tried a little of everything, even RAW foods, until her stomach just couldn’t take the strangeness anymore. I, essentially unconcerned by anything that’s even reportedly edible, ate everything, and there was a lot of food. Something like 7 courses of intricately arranged fish and...other stuff…dishes. Strangest: whole cuttlefish. I ate one, but I’m not a huge fan of squid, so I left it at that.
Jess eventually did get some edible desert, and we got some rice (with peanut sauce!) for her too. Good stuff.
Then we got to hit up the hot springs. If you want to see what they looked like, click here, they have some pictures on the website. In the evening we went into the shared baths, where we scrubbed off the grime of the day and then relaxed in nice, hot, mineral-filled water. We definitely took our time and came out feeling very relaxed. At that point, they had come by our room to change the table for our beds, so we pushed the futons together, entwined our arms, and fell into some serious, serious sleep.
-N
Labels: Gondola, Hakone, Japan, Senkyoro
