Hakone, Sweet Hakone

So the last few days myself and 7 other IES students including 2 people from University of Rochester decided to go somewhere that wasn't Tokyo. The result put us at Lake Ashinoko, about 5 hours away by Train --> Mountain Train --> Cable Car --> Rope Car Gondola. At Lake Ashinoko we stayed at Camp Mura, a camping area that also rented out cabins for a very reasonable price. ($210 a night) It might sound like a lot, but we had 8 people so each night it cost about $25. The cabin had a kitchen with cookingware, 2 bedrooms with 3 beds, a dining room attached to the kitchen, a washroom, and a toilet room. As it should so happen our toilet broke the first night but it was fixed the second. We had 4 males and 4 females so we split the bedrooms to a Male room and a Female room, but we were still 2 beds short. The girls worked it out in a way where they just shared but we decided to draw cards to see who slept in the kitchen on the window sill for each night. Being it card drawing, something I'm rather lucky with, I got a bed both nights.

While we were there we made all of our own meals with food that we had bought before we left. Basically our meals were made up of Rice, Chicken, and Potatoes for every meal, along with some bread and jam. While at the cabin we wandered and explored the area around the lake, went to an indoor Onsen [and later an outdoor one!], played Charades both nights, and overall had a great time.

Unlike the train rides which are more or less tedious in Tokyo, but still convenient and admirable nonetheless, the trip to Hakone was nothing short of amazing. The first 2 hours were on Train, but the scenery started changing to more of a nature background, which was nice. Then we had to switch to a train that went through tunnels and up hills and through forests, which was super amazing. At that point I didn't think the scenery could get nicer, but the cable car to the top of the next hill said otherwise. Waiting there were Rope Car Gondolas, the only way to get across to the lake. Basically we had this little capsule Gondola thing that was like a giant ski-lift for all intensive purposes, except we were 100 or so feet from the ground. We could see trees and fields and mountains, and also Mt. Fuji, although the first day it was a touch overcast. Anyway, the Gondola was the most amazing thing I've ever rode in I think, it's like being in a helicoptor or a plane, and I was with friends so it was even more amazing.

The last day we went on a tour boat across Lake Ashi, and as it would so turn out the boat was Pirate themed, haha. It was bizarre and I don't understand it but it was really amazing to see all the stuff around the Lake.

Well, it's late now and I'm going to leave you with ~350 pictures in 2 albums.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078245&id=3708410&l=08bd7f203a
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2078256&id=3708410&l=0efaf268cd

Enjoy! If you're a friend of mine on Facebook I think you'll be able to click here and see some of the other pictures that people posted of me from the trip.

Well, g'night everyone!