Day 9: As we went home quite late
yesterday, we overslept a bit today and went out quite late. Due to that, we
were caught in the morning rush hour. There were so many people at the same
place at the same time. The trains were sardine pack that you can stand without
any support without worrying of falling down. You can even sleep while standing
and you won’t fall down.
We took shinkansen from Utsonomiya then
change to Nikko line to Nikko. Only nearly 11am we arrived at Nikko. Once we
reached Nikko, we were told that it would take us 1 hour to reach Kegon Falls. As
we don’t have much time, we just head to the World Heritage Shrines and Temples of Nikko and sacred
bridge.
 |
| In the train to Nikko |
 |
| The train to Nikko |
 |
| In front of Nikko JR station |
 |
| World Heritage Site at Nikko. Map of the area |
The world heritage consisted of temples and
shrines. I don’t really like the place to be honest as I felt goosebumps here
and I don’t know why. Half way around the temple area it started to rain and it
really turned off our moods as we can’t do much. We stayed under a shelter
waiting for the rain to stop. When the rain become drizzling, we went to the
temple that had the 3 monkeys; see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil
carvings.
 |
| Japanese Garden at the heritage site |
 |
| Beautiful scenery |
 |
| 5 storey pagoda |
 |
| Entrance to Toshogu shrine |
 |
| The temple with 3 monkeys |
 |
| The 3 cheeky monkeys |
 |
| Taiyuinbyo |
After we completed our exploration of the
world heritage site, we went for lunch. We had tempura soba/udon noodles for
lunch which I really like. The hot soup was very nice and complemented the cold
weather very well. Though I preferred soba compared to udon.
On our way back, we walked back to the
train station and passed by the sacred bridge. Don’t ask why the bridge is
sacred as I don’t have the answer to that question. However, we did waste two
shrine tickets and a bus ticket as we bought the return trip ticket but only
took 1 way ride.
 |
| My first soba noodle |
 |
| Nikko Downtown |
 |
| The sacred bridge |
That night we went to Odaiba. I really
wanted to go there; it’s a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay. We decided to
take the Yurikamome line to Shibaura-futo station, a stop before the Rainbow
Bridge and walk across the bridge. But
the smart me forgot to check the opening hours of the bridge and by the time we
went there it was already close and we already bought a return train ticket.
Another waste of money and because we were already tired, we decided to go back
home that night. I guess both of us were tired from travelling the previous day
and our mood was affected the gloomy autumn weather. Hopefully tomorrow will be
better.
 |
| Sunset on the way back to Tokyo |
 |
| Rainbow bridge |
Day 10: We started our day a bit early
today as we didn’t want to get caught in the morning rush when people go to
work. We’ve learnt our lessons well. Today’s destination is Hakone and Mt Fuji.
We took JR Tokaido to Odawara from Yokohama. At Odawara we wanted to buy the
tickets to Hakone when 2 tourists approached us ans sold their 2 days Hakone Freepass
to us. The freepass allowed unlimited transport, ropeway, cablecar access. They
have other plans today and cannot fully utilize their tickets. They sold the
tickets to us for half the price that they bought and seriously it was worth
it.
 |
| On the way to Hakone |
We took the Odakyu train to
Motohakoneyumoto before taking a bus to Motohakone-ko. From there we walked through
the ancient cedar avenue which used to be the highway between Kyoto and Tokyo
during the Edo Period. We also went to Hakone checkpoint which is
like the modern days toll with officer on duty checking everybody who wants to
get across to the other side.
 |
| We're here! |
 |
| On the old Edo-Kyoto (Hakone) highway with the map of the highway |
 |
| Cedar trees along the old highway |
 |
| Hakone checkpoint which was used to control traffic on the old Tokaido highway which connected Tokyo and Kyoto |
 |
| Kyoto side of the checkpoint gate |
 |
| Edo/Tokyo side of the checkpoint gate |
Then we walked along the side of Lake Ashi
till Hakone Machi before taking cruise on Lake Ashi to Togendai. On the way we
saw Mt Fuji but the peak was covered with clouds. Then we took ropeway to
Owakudani which was formed by volcanic eruptions. You can still see the sulphur
ponds where smokes came out from it. We also tried the black egg there after we
heard some Japanese girls sawing it was delicious. Since curiosity kills the
cat, we bought a bag between the 2 of us. But when we tried it, there was
nothing special about it. It’s just hard boiled eggs except the shell was black
as it was boiled in the hot spring. It was a bit overrated honestly.
 |
| The beautiful Lake Ashi |
 |
| The lake |
 |
| While waiting for our cruise |
 |
| Cruise from Hakone-machi to Togendai |
 |
| Togendai ropeway station |
 |
| On Hakone ropeway heading to Owakudani from Togendai |
 |
| Mt Fuji partially covered with clouds |
 |
| Volcanic zone created when Mt Hakone last erupted somewhat 3000 years ago |
 |
| At Owakudani Station |
 |
| The overrated black egg boiled in the hot spring |
By this time, the clouds have cleared and
we could see the peak of Mt Fuji. It was a beautiful view; I can totally stay
here and just stare at the mountain peak. Then we took the ropeway to Sounzan
before taking a cable car to Gora. We stopped at Gora Park before heading back
to Tokyo.
 |
| Now we can see the peak of Mt Fuji |
 |
| In the ropeway from Owakudani to Sounzan |
 |
| At Sounzan cable car station, waiting for cable car to Gora |
 |
| Gora Park |
 |
| Hakone Tozan train that took us from Gora to Hakone Yumoto |
 |
| Waiting for our Shinkansen at Odawara |
The shinkansen ride back to Tokyo was full
as it was peak hour where people got off work and we ahd to stand the
throughout the journey back to Tokyo. Before heading home, we head to Tokyo
Dome as Arashi is having their concert today. There were so many people at the
Dome even aunties came to their concert. We also saw people putting their ears
to the wall of the dome in hope to hear the Arashi singing from inside the
dome. There was also long queue for the merchandise; these people are really
hardcore fans of Arashi. After we walked one round around the dome we decided
to head home as both of us were tired already and tomorrow we will be
travelling quite a distance.
 |
| Stalking Arashi on the first night of their concert at Tokyo dome |
 |
| Tokyo dome city again |
Comments
Post a Comment