Excursion to Hakone (箱根)

Hi everyone!! It's been a week since I last updated the blog, been really busy with finals and everything, but now that that is over hehe a really large group of us planned a weekend trip to Hakone - a city southwest of Tokyo in Kanagawa prefecture. We chose this place because it is famous for its hot springs, fall leaves, and it was close to Mt. Fuji, hoping to see a glimpse of it up close !

Train ticket to Hakone!!

First time riding Shinkansen, the bullet train!!

When we finally arrived at our hotel, people were taking pictures of the natural trees outside!

And here's what they were taking a picture of!

The trains here are not as modern as the ones in Tokyo of course because it is the country-side. But they are equally as effective and punctual in taking us to our next destination in Hakone

This one is not a train; it is a cable-car! Inside Hakone there is a popular route many tourists take - first, this cable car will take you to the top of the mountains.....

Then you switch onto this ropeway and board the gondola!

The view of the trees outside in the gondola. Yes  - the weather was not too spectacular that weekend.. haha, it was really cloudy and rain everywhere!

Then in the middle, we are supposed to take a different Gondola to another mountain and then take the a ship back ultimately arriving back at our original destination (making a loop). However, because the wind and rain started picking up, they decided to shut off the Gondola because it was too dangerous. So we were stuck on a mountain with a notice that there will be a bus leaving this mountain back to the train station in 5 minutes. WE RANNNNNNNNNN to that station and as we got close to the bus stop, the rain and wind started to pick up horizontally, and then while we were running across the street, a gust of wind and what felt like a bucket of water hit me and my friends. Needless to say, we were drenched from head to toe... haha it felt like a crazy experience at that time, but makes me laugh right now thinking about it.

So back at the hotel finally, after that crazy wind and rain, we decided to onsen it! It was my first time being a hot spring in Japan, and although I did feel a little uncomfortable at first because everyone has to be naked, once you go on, you realize that no one really cares about you! haha everyone is just there to relax in the warm water outdoors in a mountain. It was definitely super relaxing and calm (obviously, I couldn't take any pictures..... so just imagine how awesome it was!) 

The next day already! there are just trees outside the hotel and inside the hotel's garden!

A Torii gate, which marks the entrance to a sacred place. We were on our way to a Shinto shrine!

On the way to the shrine of course, the scenery was perfect! 

I'm not sure if you can see that red gate near the right side, in the middle of the picture, but that is also a torii gate in the middle of the lake !!

At the shrine!

Beautiful walkway to the middle of the shrine

Me copying all the Japanese people making a wish....

and then ringing the bell and tugging on the rope ferociously hehe

On the way to the torii that leads to the lake!

Back the dock where we board this um... pirate - looking ship to the other side of the lake where we will take the Gondola back! (basically this was the reverse part of the trip we didn't get to finish yesterday because of the heavy rain and wind!)

Yup.. it's a real pirate ship!!

On the ship, we see the same torii gate from a different angle!
Unfortunately the sky was too cloudy, so we weren't able to see Mt. Fuji up close, or else this would have been the perfect opportunity!

Then we boarded onto the gondola that we had to miss yesterday back to the station where we switch to a different gondola

the view and the weather was so much better today!

Then after the gondola, we take the cable car back down again!

arriving back to our hotel!
and that concludes the mini trip we had to Hakone.....
 

But wait, we almost missed our Shinkansen train back to Tokyo....There were some heavy traffic going down the mountain of the hotel when we were sitting on the bus, so we decided to get off the bus and take a train to the main train station instead. When we got off the bus, we had to run to that train station up a hill, with all our luggages and we missed it ): When the next one came, it was so crowded it was ridiculous, even more crowded than the ones in Tokyo during rush hour. I remember seeing my friend get squished by her luggage and some people right up against the door of the train. I don't know how we did it, but we managed to get on... And then at the main train station for the Shinkansen we ran for our lives to the train, and luckily caught on!