Japan Chronicles: Mt. Fuji - Hakone Tour

       I was going to make just one Japan post but the photos are just too many and I couldn't help but share my stories for each of the places we did there! So here's my blog post for our Mt. Fuji - Hakone Tour! This was our first tour in Japan.

        First stop - MT. FUJI 5TH STATION. Before going to the 5th station itself, we stopped by this gift shop where you can buy souvenirs. We didn't stay long. We took this photo at the 2nd floor balcony because it was just so beautiful that we couldn't resist it! Then hurried back to the bus to go to station 5.

        Here's Rain at the 5th station on the way up to Mt. Fuji. This was the closest we could get due to the weather. The roads going up is becoming more slippery so this was as far as we could go.

OMG IT SNOWED!!!!!! At Hakone after our Mt. Fuji tour!!!!! This was the moment the snow fell! My first ever snow experience!!!! 😍😍😍❄️❄️❄️ #japan

A video posted by Rina Zamora 🌈 (@rinasrainbow) on Dec 6, 2014 at 6:03am PST

        On the way to our next stop, it suddenly started to snow. Of course everyone in the bus got really excited and started squealing! I guess almost everyone in the bus was as excited as we were to see snow for the first time.

        Next was LUNCH AT HAKONE LAKE HOTEL where we had a western-style lunch

        This is the restaurant of Hakone Lake Hotel. The tour guide will show you to your reserved table.

        And this is what we had. They're set meals. We had prawn and chicken. with bread, soup, salad, and dessert. Vegetarian menu is also available but you have to request it ahead of time. According to the tour guidelines, the location of the restaurant and the menu might be changed due to operational reasons.

        After lunch, we rushed outside to enjoy what's left of the mild snow. But Rain didn't seem to care about the snow. All she wanted to do was whip out her toys from her bag and play hahaha!

Selfie video with the snow hehehe ❄️❄️❄️ #Japan #snow #winter

A video posted by Rina Zamora 🌈 (@rinasrainbow) on Dec 6, 2014 at 6:14am PST

        But of course, I enjoyed every minute of it! After a few minutes the snow died down. But I was still very happy that we got to experience it!

        Next stop was the HAKONE SKY GONDLA where you'll see the natural view of Hakone from up high.

        Here's us at the Gondola. I'm just going to have to show Rain this photo to remind her we rode this because as you can see in the photo, she's out. She decided to snooze on the bus on the way here and didn't wake up until we were at our next stop.

        Next stop was the OWAKUDANI VALLEY. An Ancient Crater where you  smell sulfurous fume and actually see clouds of steam rise from crevasses. Here's the view from the gondola. The smell of sulfur is very strong that you could smell it from inside the gondola.

        It was a BAD idea leaving the umbrella stroller in the bus. Because carrying a sleeping toddler wearing a heavy coat on top of layers of clothes is TIRING! I think it's obvious from my facial expression.

She's awake! YES!!! Can't express my relief here enough!

        There's lots of shops there in Owakudani Valley. Filled with souvenirs and delicious snacks. You can actually walk a bit further up to see the hot springs. But we didn't go anymore, worried we would be left by the bus. So we focused on the snacks!

Like this delicious sausage, special soft serve ice cream with those crunchy chocolate thingy...

        ...and their famous black egg, which is said to extend your life by 7 (?) years or something like that if you eat it. Of course that's just myth. And the taste? Exactly like normal hard-boiled egg. The eggs are black because they're boiled in sulfurous hot spring.

        Next up... the PIRATE BOAT CRUISE ON LAKE ASHI. Feel like a pirate when you ride this Pirate ship-themed boat!

        I will never forget this moment because some of the tourists standing near us suddenly whipped out their cameras and took photos of Rain because they found her so cute :-) It was pretty cool!

        Anyway, a little tip. It can get pretty cold on board during winter because of the wind blowing through as you sail to the other side of the crater lake. I'm so glad Richie got Rain this very warm fur jacket. Well, it's probably not real fur. But it sure is soft and fuzzy!

        This was basically the last stop for the Mt. Fuji - Hakone tour. There's an option to ride the bullet train going back from Odawara to Tokyo. We were thinking of taking it just for experience but after calculating with my currency converter, we decided to just take the same tour bus instead. Haha! At least the bus would take us straight to our hotel.

        If you're interested in this package you can check out more details here. More Japan posts to come!