So, it's time for an update. This will be all a bit me-me-me, apologies in advance. A lot of it is birthday stuff.
The 2nd of October was my birthday, and a mid-week birthday is a bit of a bummer when you and your partner have vastly different schedules and get a couple of hours of time a night together...but I digress. To combat this, we started the celebrations the weekend before. Yayyyyy!!!!
I bought a gigantic boneless leg of lamb from an online meat merchant, and on the Sunday I roasted it with a buttload of garlic, lemon and a spice rub of cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg. I roasted some potatoes, steamed broccoli and carrots, and made some gravy from the pan juices. It sounds like a lot of work, but I can be a control freak when it comes to roasts, and this was my birthday roast dinner dammit, and I knew what I wanted. I don't have any pictures because I was too busy singing in the kitchen and drinking a lot of red wine before and during, and afterward I was too busy drinking a lot of red wine and eating lamb and potatoes. It was amazing, trust me.
On Sunday morning before all of the cooking, Jason bought a couple of cute mini sponge cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla. After dinner, he came in with them covered in blazing candles, including a novelty one singing happy birthday.
It was cuter than cute.
Post dinner and cake, out came the cards posted from my two amazing aunties - thanks Annie and Joan! I also opened up my presents from Jason - a dress, killer heels and a belt. Here I am wearing my birthday dress and heels next to a robot:
On the night of my actual birthday, we went on a date to Machida, not too far from where we live. We had dinner at Village Vanguard, which has the best burgers I've eaten in Japan, and probably close to the best burgers EVER. Then we had a crepe from a crepe van, and played taiko drum master at a game arcade. It was awesome, and yet again, cute.
The weekend after my birthday happened to be a long weekend, and I had taken the opportunity back in late August to book a hotel room in Hakone for that weekend. Yeah, that's right, the birthday celebrations kept on rolling.
Hakone is maybe 2 hours from Shinjuku by train, and is a really popular tourist destination for both Japanese people and for international visitors. The drawcard for Hakone is the hot springs borne from volcanic activity and the scenic mountains. Seriously, Hakone is gorgeous.
The hotel we stayed in is a 45 minute bus trip from Hakone-Yumoto train station, along winding mountain roads. It had some old-school charm, and the staff were great. We never stay in ritzy places, so being greeted at the entrance and having our bags carried inside for us was an enormous novelty. On a clear morning we realised just how incredible the scenery was, with Mount Fuji in plain sight behind a nearby mountain range.
I had three things on my to-do list for Hakone. The Hakone ropeway and cable car; the pirate ship lake cruise; and the life-extending black eggs boiled in a mineral-rich volcanic hot spring (EAT THE EGGS.) We managed to get the first one done the afternoon we arrived, and decided to keep the other two for the next morning.
The ropeway terminus - Togendai - was a ten minute bus ride from the hotel. The ropeway has four stations - Togendai, Ubako (apparently 20 minutes walk from our hotel), Owakudani (the station for the black eggs), and Sounzan, the transfer point for the cable car down to Gora. It was mid-afternoon when we started our journey, and the views from the ropeway car were unbeatable.
This is steam rising near Owakudani station from vents in the ground.
The view from the cable car was not quite as unbeatable.
To avoid a repeat performance of the cable car, we took the bus back to the hotel and ordered room service so that we could eat in our PJs.
The second day was FOGGY.
It all looked very dramatic, and there were showers and drizzle throughout the morning. We got started pretty erly and made our way by bus back to Togendai, which is not just the ropeway terminus, but also the starting point of the pirate ship lake cruise. We got there in time for the first cruise of the day at 9.30. The morning showers and fog seemed to have kept a lot of people away, so the boat wasn't too crowded and we had many opportunities for awkward photos with fake tacky pirates.
We got off the cruise at Hakonemachi-ko, found a place selling umbrellas, and strolled around town for a bit. Town wasn't very exciting, so we jumped on a bus bound for Motohakone-ko, a few minutes away. Motohakone is charming and lacks the tourist trap feel you get near Hakone-Yumoto train station.
We found a ham and sausage restaurant (YES) and shared a bratwurst roll and a pot of coffee. Before we left, I bought some salami from the deli at the restaurant to take home.
Next up, we jumped on the cruise back to Togendai, to get back on the ropeway for the Owakudani eggs. The weather had cleared up by this pint, and people had started coming out into the sun. The crowd on the ship coming into port at Motohakone looked unbearable.
When you get to Owakudani, one of the first things you notice is the smell of sulfur in the air. The volcanic rock formations are stained with the minerals that come out with the water and steam, the same water and steam responsible for the heavy eggy smell. It's a bit of a walk from the ropeway to the pool where the eggs are cooked, but we were ready.
At the top, the steam was RIPE, oh God was it ripe.
We returned down the hill a little and bought THE BLACK EGGS.
The deal with the eggs is, each egg eaten (supposedly) extends your lifespan by 7 years. That is, as long as you only eat up to two and a half eggs. If you eat three or more, all bets are off. The minerals in the hot spring turn the shells black, and it's these same minerals that are said to extend your lifespan.
We ate some eggs.
They tasted...like egg.
Then we ate fried snacks and ice cream that undoubtedly eroded some of those hard-earned egg years.
The next morning we were due to leave, but were fortunate enough to get an amazingly clear day perfect for taking photos of the surrounding mountains.
We went back to Hakone-Yumoto station on the bus, put our bags in a locker, bought a train ticket home and did a bit of souvenir/snack shopping. We got some Neon Genesis Evangelion flavoured ice-cream.
What flavour is that....? I don't know.
Then we returned home.
Things that made our lives easier on this trip:
- The Hakone free pass, which gave you free use of any public transport including buses, the ropeway and cable car, the pirate cruise ship and the return train journey from your starting point.
- The Odakyu romance car, an express train with space for luggage, reserved seats, and a vending machine.
- The fact that English was spoken EVERYWHERE in Hakone, seriously this spun me out. We had more interactions in English two hours from Tokyo in three days than we have in the past three months 20 minutes away from Shinjuku.
By the way, more photos are
RIGHT HERE.
Hakone was gorgeous, my birthday week (okay, 10 days) was AWESOME, and Jason's birthday falls on a weekend next year, so we'd better start our planning soon.
Until next time.
