Japan - Hakone Onsen

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We checked out from our hotel on the 3rd day but asked that our luggages be kept by the hotel as we left for a 2 days 1 night stay at HAKONE. Sach took 2 days leave to join us on the ONSEN(hotspring) trip where she also became the tour guide.

You can skip reading the below introduction of the place if u r not about to visit the place.... :)

from wikipedia

Hakone (箱根; [1]) is a mountainous area west of Tokyo in Japan. The Hakone checkpoint on the historical Tokaido road marks the beginning of the Kanto region.

The affordable method of reaching Hakone from Tokyo is to take the Odakyu Odawara Line from Shinjuku station. The fastest train on the Odakyu Line is the Hakone (はこね) Limited Express train (特急 tokkyū), which runs twice an hour for most of the day. The 85-minute journey makes only two stops enroute and costs ¥2020. Note that some trains, called Super Hakone (スーパーはこね), use newer train equipment, while evening rush hour runs from Shinjuku are called Home Way (ホームウェイ). The slower Odakyu express train (急行 kyūkō) runs twice an hour at a cost of only ¥1150, reaching Hakone in two hours.

Modes of transport in the Hakone region are many and varied:

The Hakone Ropeway from Sounzan down to Togendai on Lake Ashinoko via the boiling sulphur pits of Owakudani

Most people opt for the Odakyu Hakone Free Pass [2], which includes a return trip from Shinjuku and allows unlimited use of all of the above forms of transport for several days. In addition, pass holders can receive discounts at many hot springs, museums, restaurants, and other locations by showing their pass.

The 2-day Free Pass costs ¥5000 from Shinjuku and ¥3900 from Odawara. A 3-day pass can be purchased for an extra ¥500. Additionally, if you have a Free Pass from Shinjuku you can use the Hakone Limited Express train by paying a surcharge of ¥870 each way.

The volcanically active Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, centered around Lake Ashinoko, is a popular tourist attraction well known for its onsen (hot springs) and its views of Mount Fuji.

The journey took slightly more than 2 hours as there were quite a number of transits made in order to reach the resort we stayed!! So Sach has brought along some snacks for us to munch during our long hours ride in the train. We all love the jap. snacks but for me not to the extend of making dozen of orders as souvenirs....yes, that's what Jen did, nearly all the snacks she tried, she wanted to buy home & each of them in dozen or more, oooOOH....haha !!!

During the long journey, we not only enjoyed our food & the beautiful scenics of the red leaves, we also shared a lot of laughters & funs as well as exchanged our different cultures & backgrounds!! I gotta admit that i GAINED a lot from this trip..... of course in relation to the vast culturals differences between us !! An example that worth a note is the power & status of MALE gender in the japanese society! In my opinion, though the Chinese too emphasise a lot priorities on male but i reckon that it wasn't as strong as the japanese.

I was told by Sach that once a jap. woman is married, she is no longer valid to carry her family name in any of her official identification document including I/C, passport & etc. This could have easily includes addressing your name in any official environment!! I was then only discovered that her family named as i had always known was actually her husband's family name. And should a woman failed to change all the identification after marriage, she has actually committed an offence, LOL!! At least we Malaysian don't have to do these right?? And according to Sach, it was due to these complication that the divorcing rate in japan was not as high as other part of the world....oooOOHHH !!??

We all also know that the jap has been renowned for their well-mannered attitude & strong disciplines/principles!! Again Sach proved to me just how truth this claim is .... !! If you are as blur a sotong as i used to be, let me tell you....i was once very curious why the address of the jap name always end with the word ' san ' ??? Like Suzuki san..... Takeshi san.... Well d answer is simple... it actually means Mr. Suzuki..... Mr. Takeshi..... which absolutely answered my stupidity!! Then Sach further shared with us that apparently the jap. is very very veryyyyy....... particular about having the title 'san' being addressed together with their family name, without which they would feel offended. Some even consider the addresser 'rude' if the title 'san' was not being used alongside the family name.....another big oooOOHHH from me!!!

Then she related a story of an ex-boss of her that attended the company's finance conference where many counterparts from around the world gathered!! As usual .... many greeted her jap ex-boss by HIS OWN NAME without following by the title 'san', instead of his family name .....so much to his discomfort until finally he couldn't tolerated anymore and this ex-boss actually have to resort to telling his fellow colleagues that he prefers to be addressed by his family name i.e. Negesi san ......ooohhh ....LOL that's how extreme it can be !!!

There were also many other interesting stories we shared during our journey but i can't be telling all lar....already side track so long !!!

Anyway, with such chattings, time passes by like a blink of an eye. Sach has arranged with the resort to pick us up by a van from the train station.

Here we are finally arriving at the Hakone resort hotel.

some photos inside the resort hotel

(with absolute authentic zen taste....)

It was indeed blissful that we were spared from doing the check-in.....u know what i mean with the language barrier?? Then very soon we were brought on a brief tour of the resort with some basic rules to comply while staying in the resort. With a local around, the hotel staffs were also spared from having to do the briefing in foreign language, LOL !!

Outside of the resort hotel, one of the waiting lounge, the signage outside the onsen bath, our room no. plate & the welcome snack in our room

Next obviously was our bedroom.

That Traditional type of Japanese flooring is called " TATAMI " ooh.....i didn't know that!! As there are only 2 single beds, i offered to sleep on the 'tatami' as it was my wish to experience sleeping the typical jap. style, *wink-wink* Anyway, as we chatted until very late that night, i dozed off like a pig and could hardly differentiate the bed, LOL !!!

Once we had enough of ransacking the room & settled down our belongings, off we stormed out to begin our further exploration of the entire resort area particularly their ONSEN offerings!! I learnt that there were many onsens around (public or private) & most of the hotel in Hakone (modern or japanese style) has onsen facility!! I believe most people would just use the onsen facility at the hotel one stays in and it is not like you have to travel to a public one though i was told there is also a public onsen which is mostly visited by locals only.

Below here was one of the OPEN Private Onsen (outdoor limited headcount) which only limits to a certain headcount at one go! There was a washing & make-up area. I think this is one of the smallest onsen in our resort meant for a max of 3 persons. As you can see, though it is a private onsen within the resort compound plus one that is separated by gender, it was only covered up to about 6 feet in height by the sides and the top part is entirely open.....imagine this is suppose to be a 'naked' type onsen ??? So i gave this a big PASS...no no no madness i call this !!! Btw, don't you think it's too BRIGHT to be naked too.........LOL LOL!!

Next we moved on to the ENCLOSED Public Onsen (indoor but unlimited headcount) which is also separated by gender....ooh, common i can't imagine one with open gender, oOHH !!! Photo at the bottom right. As this is a public place with many visitors walking around in naked..... photography is obviously prohibited but i still managed to steal a shot or two!!

After touring all the available onsen services....we actually had to discuss about the options, haha....like what we prefer (indoor=warmer/outdoor=very cold), which one offers more privacy, thus more comfort & less embarassment bla bla bla .... obviously at the amusement of the local, my colleague Sach!! Actually Sach has told me months earlier that no one would bother to look at our body...which was so true! From old, young to fat & skinny, all giving you free show, so .....

Option chose & we went back to our room to get ourselves ready as you can see below there were attires provided for usage at the onsen. Literally said, all necessities (toiletries-Shiseido brand, sandal, pyjamas & etc) were well provided at all the places we stayed. Even winter jacket was provided...look at the black ones we wore in the lift below !!! Thoughtful .....

Among us, I was the most shy/embarass/awkward one.....i mean, you don't blame me i'm sure.... who wouldn't want to show if it was 36-24-38 that one possesses, right... rite??? Arggghh....but i was determined to try the onsen no matter what & the whole objective of visiting the place is vanish & meaningless if onsen is not tried!!

Now that it was over, i don't mind sharing.....while we were at the changing room, i was full of anxiety & anticipation! I don't know how to react/response upon seeing my co-workers' ....emm, ahem ...... "body".....i mean & worst still i can't imagine what people thought of mine at d sametime !!! And so i delayed the stripping process....like don't know which piece to strip first, then the eyes peeking at others at 45 degrees, wahahaha !!! Then in no time, others had already fully stripped so meaning i've no more room to delay....okay, die means die, strip naked lar!! Thank god there was still a face towel being allowed to be taken to the onsen & that was the life saving tool at that moment.....i'm sure u can imagine which part i would've chose to cover, LOL!!

There gone my first time....and i will 100% absolutely be doing it again & again with no regret as i love every minute of soaking in there. Btw, once you are down the water level, it was pretty gloomy so everythg is not so clear....geee :) But i must admit that after the onsen bath , i felt a tad tired actually!

Ooh ya, prior to & after onsen, we also need to take a shower at an open cubicle with a little stool to sit on....blek!! I never had such a lightening speed shower, LOL!! Once we have washed ourselves, there was a huge make-up area to use which offers a comprehensive range of facial care products, ranging from cleansing foam, toner, face moisturiser to body lotion, then hair gel & dryer, cotton bud & facial cotton.....absolutely complete!! All one has to bring is probably make-up set....if only that you need to!!

By the time we were done, it was time for dinner & our package was inclusive of a seafood dinner set!! That was like a long awaited wish finally came true, an all girls night out without having to bother about time to go home, hubby & kids!! Wonderful time with sake, beer, grilled seafood & beef, specially baked rice & dessert. Not forgetting laughters !!

After dinner, there wasn't really much to do apart from chatting & relaxing on the 'tatami' with cups of green tea along side the fragrant of dried petals above the burning candle!! Chatting from a sitting position to lying down & finally till dozing off ..... that was me spending my night on the 'tatami' !!

The next morning before breakfast, we rushed out for another onsen session as it was a facility too precious & luxurious to be slipped by !! Guess what....this time around, i striped naked super fast already, LOL !!! I was quick to be done over with the embarassment, haha

After another great breakfast & check out, we embarked on our journey to another remarkable location. There are many other places of interest in Hakone but a short 2 days are not sufficient to cover even 1/2 of them!! So we were contended with only 1 hotspot, i.e.

• The Great Boiling Valley (大涌谷 Ōwakudani) is a volcanic hot spot full of sulphurous springs. Owakudani can be reached by cablecar from Sounzan and the lake.

We boarded a cable car to reach the place which has a clear view of the Mount Fuji. Absolute awesome views except the sulphur ground.....scarry!!

Once the cable car reached the level where the sight of Mt.Fuji was all obvious & clear, everyone in the cable car gave a big big round of applause!! According to Sach, it was not all the time possible to have such a good view....lucky we!!

Arrival at the station of the Owakudani.

Another clear view at the station.

As this place was at an extremely high level i suppose, the wind became terribly strong that i started to worry for the kids & those skinny girls if they would be flown away!! We had to tightly grabbed on to our hat & shawl or else they would have d same fate of flying away!! And it has the coldest temperature during my entire stay in Japan!! It was nevertheless the most exciting & thrilling moments.

We tried the black eggs (黒玉子) at Owakudani. Boiled on site, their shells are a mottled black due to a chemical reaction with the sulphurous water, but the inside is quite tasty.

According to Japanese legend, every one you eat will add seven years to your life. 5 eggs (and hence 35 years) will set you back just ¥500.

** I think i ate 2, so i have 14 more years to my life ** LOL

We spent quite bit of time up there. Apart from enjoying the weather, the strong wind & beautiful sceneries, we also did some souvenir shopping, haha !! Once we were done, it was nearly 3pm+!! The journey back to Tokyo took easily 2 hours plus.

It was nearing dinner time again when we reached back our hotel in Tokyo. But the trip really made us very exhausted so we had a brief rest at the hotel before gushing out to fill our tummy!!

Foods are really GLORIOUS!! Even a random pick at a bigger train station could offer the unexpected !!! I'm just gonna show all the food that i managed to capture as my memory really failed me in trying to remember which one was for which meals, when, where & etc.....

Doing online ordering of Jap version pizza, udon soup & beef rice.

I had many rounds of the below sake that mixed with squeeze orange juices.....

This was one of the TOFU meal where most of the dishes had tofu as the main ingredients!!
We all love these so much...esp the cold soba, the best i had thus far !!

Some appetizer & desserts

4 hectic days in Tokyo & Hakone, we were left with 1 day on Friday supposingly a free & easy day for Jenn & myself. Both of us feeling extremely exhausted only did some final catch ups on shopping & eating.....and i reckoned that we can do without the Friday actually, what a waste!!

Saying adious to Japan was really heartbreaking!!

After this trip, i knew i will become a japan fanatic....haha

I'm trully blessed that my dream to visit Japan finally came true & i'm sure it will remained at the top in my vacation memories for a longest time!!! With god's blessing, i will be back to Japan for sure!

Japan - Tsukiji FISH Market

Before moving on to our DAY 2 exploration, here are some of the snacks that we managed to savour the night before at Ginza.....they looked famous coz the queue to buy them was sooooo long !!!
BAUM kuchen & Mount BAUM chocolate

Day 2 we were on a free & easy day with Sach being our local tour guide!! She has really lined us a very comprehensive itineraries!!

The 1st location was to Asakusa Kannon Temple !!

from WIKIPEDIA :

Is the oldest and most popular temple in Tokyo. It is located in Asakusa, in Taito-ku, one of the 23 wards that form the metropolitan area of Tokyo. Next to it is the Shinto shrine of Asakusa Jinja. The temple is dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon, which is known in Chinese as Kuan Yin or Guan Yin, and in English as the Goddess of Mercy, and is derived from the bodhisatva Avalokitesvara that originates in India.

According to legend, the statue of the Kannon was found in the Sumida River in the year 628AD by two fishermen, brothers Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari. Their village chief turn his own home into a shrine, and placed the statue there for the villagers to worship it. Soon the reputation of the Kannon spread throughout the country and devotees flocked to the temple to venerate the statue. Although the statue is kept here, it is not shown to the public. The first temple was completed in 645, giving it the earliest date of a temple in Tokyo.

Although a Buddhist temple, the Sensoji is the site for Tokyo's largest and most popular Shinto festival, the Sanja Matsuri. It takes place in late spring, spread over 3-4 days, during which the streets around the temple is closed to traffic.

At the entrance to the Sensoji is the Kaminari Mon, or "Thunder Gate". It holds a huge paper lantern painted in dramatic red and black to suggest thunderclouds and lightning. Passing it is the Nakamise, a shopping arcade of about 200m, lined with shops selling traditional (and not so traditional) souvenirs. This leads to the Hozo Mon, or second gate. Beyond it stands the main temple building while to the left is a five storey 48m high pagoda.

Next to the Sensoji is the Asakusa Jinja, a Shinto shrine built by Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1649 in honour of the three men who established the Sensoji Temple, namely the two fishermen Hinokuma Hamanari and Hinokuma Takenari, and the village headman who built the temple, Haji no Nakatomo.

Jen has brought with her a question for Sach pertaining to "why most of the shrine has 5 levels/storeys in its' built??" Being a typical city girl, she couldn't answered of course so off she went to the reception to get an answer. Any take what's the answer??? Well, something which sounded very familiar.....that each level actually represented 5 significant elements in life i.e. air, fire, water, wind & ground ..... something like that la!!!

Apart from praying & appreciating the rich & beautiful historics of the shrines, there really isn't much to do around this place. So we had moved on very quickly.

During our strolls, i noticed CYCLING was a common transport among the japanese women, most probably housewives as they were spotted carrying their young kids/babies around!! I suppose this must be a very outskirt area!! And according to my jap colleague, most of the women in their society would quit their career to be a full time housewife and to babysit their child once they have a one. In fact she said it was very rare for them to hire a stranger maid to live together like what seemed to be a common practice back in our home country!! This certainly justified when i started to notice that there were absolutely no sights of any indon, myanmar, bangla around......as compared to our homeland......yikes !!!

Sach led us to a nearby shopping street as it was meant to be a shopping day too.....where lots of souvenirs, interesting local stuffs, foods & snacks were seen!! This was the place where i purchased most of my snacks esp. those rice crackers, any flavours, any shapes, any packaging.....just about any sizes.....!! I even bought a soft luggage bag here as i knew i needed extra storage for my goodies. As Jen was in search of hand bags, we spend nearly 2 hours around here sourcing for bags & etc. It was difficult to choose as most of the bags were well designed with extremely good quality yet at affordable prices. So guess what, Jen ended up buying nearly 4-5 handbags of various shapes, colours & sizes!! Apparently, those were meant to be given as souvenir to her siblings & relatives......gosh, thk god that's not my practice !!!

By the time we realised the clock was clicking away fast, we quickly moved on to the next stop which was supposedly a street full of shops selling kitchen gadgets!! Our dearie "yap pun mui" thought it would be a place for us since we had bento, baking & cooking as interest....that she purposely customised this place into our itinerary....hahaha
But unfortunately, most of the kitchen gadgets looked too FRAGILE to be carried on the plane back...so i had given them a pass most of the time !!! Furthermore, with such an expensive currency, most of the stuffs were selling at killer price !!!

btw, japan had their trains allocated certain time of the day for women passenger only.......COOL, rite??

Anyway, below was just one of the baking tools shop, looks nice right??

Finally, my eyes were caught up at one of the shelf in front of a shop that displayed some bento related gears i.e. nori punchers & drawing pen case!! I was thrilled & didn't hesitated to pick up 1 set each for myself. The price here was much cheaper than those sold at Tokyu Hands but some bento mamas only placed order after i left this place!! So peggy & christene bought them a little exp've at the mall....hehe

By the time we were done with all of the above, it was already close to 12pm ..... die, we were terribly behind our schedule.....blame it one shopping for sure!! Our initial plan was to reach the HIGHLIGHT SPOT of the day around 10am BUT but ......

Anyway, the highlight location for our Day 2 was :

TSUKIJI FISH MARKET

from wikipedia

Tsukiji fish market (築地市場 ,Tsukiji shijō) is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo, and is a major attraction for foreign visitors.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, commonly known as Tsukiji fish market is located near the Tsukijishijō Station on the Toei Ōedo Line and Tsukiji Station on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line. There are two distinct sections of the market as a whole. The "inner market" (jonai shijo) is the licensed wholesale market, where the auctions and most of the processing of the fish take place, and where licensed wholesale dealers (approximately 900 of them) operate small stalls. The "outer market" (jogai shijo) is a mixture of wholesale and retail shops that sell Japanese kitchen tools, restaurant supplies, groceries, and seafood, and many restaurants, especially sushi restaurants.

"Most of the shops in the outer market close by the early afternoon, and in the inner market even earlier"

The market opens most mornings except Sundays and holidays and some infrequent closing days within the week^[2] at 3:00 a.m. with the arrival of the products by ship, truck and plane from all over the world. Particularly impressive is the unloading of tons of frozen tuna. The auction houses (wholesalers known in Japanese as oroshi gyōsha) then estimate the value and prepare the incoming products for the auctions. The buyers (licensed to participate in the auctions) also inspect the fish to estimate which fish they would like to bid for and at which price.

The auctions start around 5:20 a.m. Bidding can only be done by licensed participants. These bidders include intermediate wholesalers [nakaoroshi gyousha] who operate stalls within the marketplace, and other licensed buyers who are agents for restaurants, food processing companies, and large retailers.

The auctions usually end around 7:00 a.m. Afterwards, the purchased fish is either loaded onto trucks to be shipped to the next destination, or on small carts and moved to the many shops located inside of the market. There the shop owners cut and prepare the products for retail. In case of large fish, for example tuna and swordfish, cutting and preparation is elaborate. Frozen tuna and swordfish are often cut with large band saws, and fresh tuna is carved with extremely long knives (some well over a meter in length) called Oroshi hocho, maguro-bocho, or Hancho hocho.

The market is most busy between 5:30 and 8:00 a.m., and the activity declines significantly afterwards. Many shops start to close around 11:00 a.m., and the market closes for cleaning around 1:00 p.m. Tourists may visit the market daily between 5 a.m. and 6:15 a.m. and watch the proceedings from a designated area.^[3] However, due to the increase in numbers of sightseers and the associated problems they cause, the market decided to ban all tourists from the tuna auctions during the period between 15 December 2008 and 17 January 2009.^[4] The market reopened to tourists after this period with the provision of security guards and new rules prohibiting flash photography.

Inspectors from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government supervise activities in the market to enforce the Food Hygiene Law"

Well, if u read those sentences above in 'red', you could have guess it right that we were greeted by a "CLOSED" market once we arrived the place around 1p.m.......it was a big disappointment for me as i've learn (by reading) about this place way before the trip & was well-prepared to throw myself out despite the fishy stench to capture those extravaganza moments (if what i read was true) !!! Anyway, i can't be complaining.....if u know what i mean..... Besides that, i suppose Sach was just not the type that appreciates the wet market (being the typical city girl that she is) !! I'm pretty sure she hasn't stepped into this market before as she needed to refer to the location map all the way to this place, hahaha

Anyway, along our way to the market, i came across many eateries along the street which i reckon should be interesting to explore .... if only my huby was around.....sob!! Unfortunately, it wasn't really a custom for the japanese (city) woman to eat by the road side. Sach even said, in Tokyo most of the FAST-FOOD outlets are only visited by MALE patron and it was very RARE to see women eating in those places, dang.... **i can instantly smell it** LOL LOL !!! means we will only be eating at no-cheap places, ngek ngek ngek !!!

Having said that......when i was in a real life situation facing these filthy sights & fishy stench.....i nearly wana 'puke', arghhh....guess i'm no better a specie than Sach !!!

So when the market had actually closed, what were we doing there??? Apparently, the only purpose Sach brought us there was to sumptuous the MOST fresh, original, juicy, moist, tasty, delicious, appetizing, delightful, mouth-watering SASHIMI & SUSHI ........arghhh can't described more of it !!!

There are 2 rows of little sushi shops beside the market, with only 4-5 shops still operating & many has closed!! Sach went to check around the shops and she finally decided for the ONE & ONLY that has many customers queuing in front of it. Ahead of us were at least 4 more groups waiting before it was our turn. In between the conversations, we overhead some Koreans in front of us. It seemed that the guide book that recommended them to this place, so guess there must be reason why it was pack crowded !!

Only god knows how torture it was having to stand in front of the glass door with full view of people opening their mouth wide for those much awaited sushi, moreover with the stomachs growling like a thunder storms!!! the 45 mins standing was like a 'life-time' punishment that i don't seemed to see an end to it.....

Anyway, once it was finally our turn to gulp down those sashimi, i really forgot all the pain, all the torments & the dissapointment of not having to encounter the operation of the exciting fish markets !!!

See the 'hansem' sushi boy.....he was extra ordinary 'chatty' despite the language barrier!!

And see one happy customer there !!!

**** really really missed the sashimi now ****

more interesting photos below

After our delicious sashimi meal, we walked towards the PALACE city. In fact it was a rainy day that day so we had to walk with umbrella all d time. But the aftermath of the drizzles was an extremely cool breezing, so chill so nice, simply marvelous walk!! Too bad, the Palace which was surrounded by a man-made river has been closed for visitors so we only got to see it from outside......still it was no regret !!

And we proceeded with our shopping spree (window type inclusive)!

Firstly, Sach wana showed us a unique area where the most HIPPIE-HOPPIE YOUNGSTER, FUNNY FASHIONS, WEIRD DRESSING, SEXY CHICKS, SCARRY MAKE-UPS could be seen!! sounds interesting heh?? And this place was called SHIBUYA. We just randomly hopped into one mall, looked as if window shopping but with eye-brows raising all the time, occasionally exchanging cunning smiles between us & obviously with many hidden comments!! really speechless....

Thou we were impressed with what the place has to offer but it was nevertheless a very quick stop over as the day was getting late, so our final stop was at TOKYU HANDS, a creative lifestore !! It was a place which was listed under the "MUST SEE-MUST GO place in Tokyo" i googled....little that i know that it was a place where lots of bento gears were sold, what a happy discovery to end our shopping spree !!!

Our legs nearly turned soft with the amount of walks we did on this day....so we ended our day with a chilled out night at a pub which served fried food on skewer !! Another round of NICE FOOD !!
Despite the language barrier & the exhausted mind, i was pretty surprise that the 3 women could kept talking & laughing hysterically (office gossips, MEN, colleagues, works are all part of d topics)!!

Now, nothing would possibly stop women from talking if the 'click' was there !!!

I think i must have snored the hell out that night, so tired.... can die !!! **blush** !!!

to be continued with final episode ....