For our last day, we planned a relaxing tour of Hakone.
That day, it started raining and by the time we get to Hakone it was really windy and they had to close the ship and the ropeway (cable car.) We got the Hakone free pass, this lets you ride all the transportation in Hakone, but since those two were closed we just took the bus.
This is Hakone Machi next to Lake Ashi. By the time we got here, it was raining really hard and the wind blew out Michelle's borrowed umbrella.
You can see the ship on the left. It is a replica of a pirate ship? There were school children here for field trips too, I bet they were really disappointed.
We walked to the historical Hakone check point. The checkpoint was used in the Shogun era to control people movement. The warlords live in Tokyo 1 year and then at home the next, but their wives and kids live in Tokyo every year. The Shogun basically keeped the family hostage to ensure good bahavior and this check point make sure the family stay there. I'm sure there are other uses too like control criminal movement and such.
We ran into a guy that we met at the Miyajima backpacker here. He is from Vancouver and took a picture for us here.
We only stayed out for a few hours since it was raining so hard and we knew the Onsen opens at 3pm. We got back to the Ryokan and relaxed. This ryokan is called Lalaca. The place is close to Gora station and they picked us up from the station after we called them.
nice view of the hill
We got wet and cold waiting for the bus so we went to the onsen right away when we got back. The men have the small room and the women have the big room. Then they switch after dinner so you can try all pools. This is the small pool.
The small room has an outdoor cedar tub. This tub is my favorite, it is really nice. I was the only one there and enjoyed the relaxing soak. The water is milky from the mineral.
There is a fence here for some privacy. The sound of the rain is much more enjoyable when you are in a hot tub.
Here is the lobby of Lalaca. This is a small place, only 7 rooms.
See where they cut down the trees to give good views? Tree huggers need not stay here.
After the soak, we relaxed a bit and then went down to dinner at 6pm. Breakfast and dinner are included here so we don't have to go try to find a place to eat. This is Keseiki meal, they have many small courses to eat. Left to right, shrimp with seaweed salad. Sweet shrimp, octopus, tai, ika, and lox sashimi. tofu skin with small mussells. little fried fish and cold slice of pork. And the little shell fish in his shell. Yummm... everything tasted so fresh.
This place is a family place and there are a couple of people who speak English so it was easy.
Next is asparagus, mushroom, and a piece of tuna wrapped with a thin slice of pork cooked at the table clay pot style.
after 10 minutes, yumm...
grilled fish, shrimp, and bamboo shoot
hot pot
The fish was good in this hot pot, tasted light and fresh.
tempura and rice, the best shrimp tempura ever, juicy and succulent. ummm...
green tea roll cake for dessert.... oh I am full!
We played Go after dinner, but we didn't really know the rule that well.
We reserved the onsen for private use at 9pm and it was great. I wish we have a hotspring at home.
I thought breakfast was going to be a continental breakfast, but it is another elaborate meal. great!
Fresh grilled fish.
morning view, say goodbye to Hakone. 8)
That's the end of our Japan trip. It was a great trip, we had a blast with minimal problems. Japan is a great place to travel, it is a lot more expensive than other Asian countries, but comparable to US and Europe so it's ok.
bye for now
Lily found a new favorite spot to snooze.
Zoey also taking a rest.
Flower festival at Pioneer square. After the show, the plants go on sale for cheap. Michelle got 4 plants for 50 cents each.
I made grilled salmon, mustard green and Michelle made morel mushroom risotto. Yumm...
We went to see Shakespeare at Washington park. This group is new and they are very interactive. They walk into the crowd and have a lot of fun. Midsummer night dream was great in the park.
Michelle and the courthouse.
We went to try Korean Taco food cart at PGE park. The tacos were really good, much better than Mexico tacos actually. We ordered 2 spicy pork tacos and 3 Kalbi (beef short ribs.)
Michelle made lamb one night. This was really good too. We got the lamb from Uwajimaya, it was much better than the farmer market lamb for some reason.
I made korean Kalbi one night. yummm... :)
