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Published: December 5th 2012
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Day 13
When we eventually located breakfast, after being on so many different floors, it was in what looked like an old ballroom, with red velvet drapes and balconies. There was a reslly nice view out over the sea and the hotel actually had its own small waterfall. There was a bit of scrum for window seats, and even more of one at the buffet.
We left our last Onsen hotel behind, and started the long drive to our next destination at Hakone. We had been advised that it was to be a winding road, and as we left we immediately started to climb up and out of the valley, and once again the scenery was stunning.We eventually reached the bottom of the volcano, and we were to take a cable car to the top. It was quite a modern cable car, very stable as it ran on 2 lines not one. As we climbed up, Mt Fuji appeared in the distance. Strangely however, when you tried to take a photo to include her, the pictures made it seem that she wasn't there. Something to do with focusing or the tinted windows in the cable car we think.
As soon as we got out of the cable car, you could smell the suplhur quite strongly, and again we stopped to get shots of Fuji. I think everyone was a little concerned that she might become covered with cloud, so no-one wanted to miss a shot. As we walked up the the sulphurous vents, the smell became stronger, and they were boiling the eggs like they had done at Beppu. When they came out of the water, they were black, and you could buy them to eat if you wanted - we declined as we figured they probably didn't taste very nice if the smell was anything to go by.
We stopped for lunch on our way to Mount Fuji, before which the driver stopped at a layby so we all could get some closer shots of the mountain. Lunch was a DIY BBQ, which is a cross over from the Koreans. You just went up and selected as much or little as you wanted as many times as you wanted and cooked it on your part of the griddle which was sunken into the middle of the table. This was far better than the "boiled" options that
we had had, as there were several sauces that you could dip the meat into to flavour it.
We set off towards Mout Fuji, and as we drove onto the road leading up the mountain, there was a musical sound. This is as a result of the way the tarmac has been laid with cuts in it, meaning that when you drive over it there is a tune. On the way up it's a welcome to the mountain tune, and the second verse on the way back down - very odd, and not something i expect to see at home any time soon!
Normally we would be able to drive upto the 5th station, but because of the weather, it was closed and only the 4th station was open. On the way up we saw some of the snow, and as we got out to take photos it was clear initially, but pretty quickly the weather closed in a bit and it clouded over, dropping the temperature down. The best views had certainly been from below, as all we could see was the very top, but no shape to the mountain.
We got back into the coach
counting our blessing that we had been lucky to see the mountain, as a 20% chance isn't very high when you've only got a 1 day window to actually see it.
We continued our journey towards Tokyo, and our guide explained that there are some 13million people living there,but a further 26million commute in every day! Wow! As we approached, you could see the roads - 4 roads on top of each other, and the guide said that they are going to add a 5th layer to it due to traffic congestion. The city also has a very extensive subway/metro/train system which is also very busy to the point where it's busiest line has people employed to push people into the carriages they are so full. Recently, they have introduced carriages just for woman as not everyone was being as polite as they should have been. Also there is a third rush hour at night - the time of the last train home. It is traditional for the office worksers for large companies known as the "salary men" to stay late after work and go for drinks with their fellow workers and boss to make good relations and ensure
that when pay rises are awarded, they are at the top of the tree. This means they go for drinks, something to eat and sometimes play the game pachenko. Gambling is illegal in Japan, so you buy a number of pinballs for say 4yen each and you win little silver balls by the basket full. You cash them in but they buy them back a 3 yen each and you get a credit voucher which you leave with and go to another shop and cash it in for money. It is a joint venture with the Koreans, and only 50% of the money actually stays in Japan. Everyone we went past had plenty of people in it, but they are typically noisy and very smokey places.
Our guide wanted us to see one of the busiest area of the city before we went to the Tokyo Tower, Shinjenko. It's a bit like Times Square, with neon signs on every corner, department stores and a 7 storey electronics shop. We did however go with Kim to the 100yen shop, just to see what it sold more than actually wanting anything - coffee flavoured Werthers yum. The coach come back for
us and we headed out to the Tokyo Tower for a night time view over the city. From here we could see in the distance the Tokyo Skytree, a new satellite tower that is the worlds tallest and has only been open 6 months, however all the tickets have been snapped up but the Japanese tour groups again, so we couldnt visit this. Also visible was the Rainbow Bridge, which as suggested by the name, lights up all different colours and it the link between the mainland and one of the reclaimed islands that has been built.
We headed to the hotel after this, which was again near a train station. The guide suggested that the station had a few places to eat in it, otherwise she could recommned a few ramen noodle bars which she could take us to. We deposited the luggage in the rooms, and met back in the lobby for the search of noodles. Along with Jay and Jan we fancied a prok based broth rather than fish or chicken, so we only had a couple to pick from. At the noodle bar, it again had a vending machine outside for us to pay for
the meak before we sat down. It was a good job Kim was there, as there was no English translation or pictures, so we probably wouldnt have guessed right. The food only took a few minutes to come, and when it did, it was steaming hot and really tasty. We spent a while talking to Jay and Jan as this was the last night with the whole group, as we were staying at this hotel for another night, but they we heading to the airport hotel for Sunday departure. As we left the noodle bar, it was raining, and none of us had a jacket, so by the time we got back to the hotel we were a little damp, but fed and watered.
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