Day 12. Hakone

Day 12. Hakone.

Today marked the first day of me running solo and having basically no solid plan of what to do. I did a quick search on Google using the hotel internet for some attractions to see in Hakone and all the page results seemed to point to a Hakone Freepass which could be obtained from the Shinagawa station.
At first I was a against purchasing the Freepass in favour of using my JR pass but after several searches it looked like it was actually going to cost more on the Odakyu rail system to pay as I went after using the JR pass to get to Odawara. I took it on faith and thanks to the kind help from a Shinagawa ticket office staff member (she actually was there to usher people to the counter but she was the only one who spoke English), I obtained a discount 2-day pass for travel through Hakone. Even though I was only going for a day, the smallest ticket they had was 2 days. It was still apparently cheaper than paying as I went. For anyone without a JR pass, the ticket also gets you on the shinkansen to Odawara.
Upon arriving in Odawara, I followed the map that came with the pass and caught the small train that travels along the north side of Hakone. These were only 2 carriages long and felt really slow. My carriage was also full of old people.
Here is where I started to fail. Epicly.
On the map, there are 3 small dots indicating stations. I didn't realise this and so when everyone else got off at the first stop, I figured this was the stop for the change of train. It wasn't. The old people were just getting off there. Since the signs were all different, I had a really hard time seeing the small English writing below the giant Japanese characters. I turned around but just as I did the doors closed and I watched the train leave the station. I sat there alone for 20 minutes.
Now, you'd think I would have learned my lesson after this, but no. I did the exact same thing at the next 2 stops.
Eventually, I arrived at Hakone-Yumoto for the train swap, an hour behind schedule. This next train was headed to Gora Station, where the base of the gondola 'ropeway' was that would take me to the pier at Togendai-Ko station.
Along the way I intended to stop at Chokokunomori and check out the Hakone Open Air museum. The train ride was quite slow as the line had to twist through mountainside.
At one of the stops, I took a quick photo just to make sure I was in the right place and noticed there was still snow in certain areas even though it was quite a warm day.

Our train conductor was a pretty funny guy. He noticed there were some small children on the train and knowing that the ride might be a bit boring for them, he started giving a running commentary on the scenery as we passed. At one point the tracks curved around and so he stuck his head out the side of the conductor's compartment and noted exclaimed that if we looked out the side of the train we could see...his face!
He was a pretty big hit with the passengers and all the girls wanted a photo with him. (Must be the uniform).

 Since the train shared it's tracks with other trains going down the mountain, there were some tricky directional changes along the way which saw us 'giving way' as the other train went past and down the tracks we had just come up. It was quite a bizarre site but like everything else in Japan, the manouvre went smoothly and quite quickly.
At Chokokunomor, I disembarked and noted how dead the place looked.

There was hardly anyone else about other than the occasional student. There was some great scenery though and you could make out large patches of snow between the surrounding mountain tops. The museum was only a 2 minute walk from the station and had lockers for storing backpacks. I thought I may have broken the locker when a 100yen coin dropped out of the coin return but it turned out I had just been lucky as the last person must not have bothered collecting.
I figured I would spend about an hour looking around before getting back on the train to Gora.
I'm not normally an art person, but some of the sculpures were quite spectacular. I didn't have anyone else to do the 'handshake hole' with, so the image ended up looking quite lonely and sad.

 

 

 

 The below piece was particular impressive.

 Inside the wooden structure was a net suspended from the roof which made it look like the ultimate cubby house.

 I didn't go into the picasso building. Partly because I was conscious of the time, and partly because when I was learning about him in art class at highschool my teacher was an jerk. I've never fully gotten over that fact...

 

 You can't see it in the above shot, but there is a guy in a wheelchair behind the middle section of the sculpture. I also didn't go into the Green Gallery becuase it just looked like a cafe, but it's something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself there and want something to eat or drink. It's about halfway through the museum. Below is a picture of a...something. I have no idea.

 The Symphonic Tower was a chore to get up, but the view from the top is quite nice. Not quite as good as the view while climbing the stairs though.

 Again, I have no idea what any of the below is.

 

 Tucked in the corner of the entire grounds, and only visible from one window inside the back of the main gallery, I found what appeared to be a giant broken stone pedistal. I can only assume it was sliced into pieces by a ninja when a saiyan threw it at him, much like this but sorta better: http://youtu.be/G2HLw3FDUMw

I was supposed to only spend an hour in the museum but I got so immersed in all the different pieces that when I emerged from the exit and grabbed my bag, over 2 hours had passed. I also hadn't eaten anything since waking up.
More than 2 hours behind schedule I jumped on the next train to Gozo and before long I was on a cable car heading to the gondola station.

A small marker on my map indicated that Mt. Fuji should be visible from a small section of the ropeway. This got me excited as I hadn't had a very good view from the Skytree in Tokyo.

 Unfortunately, the sky was so hazy that I couldn't see anything beyond the mountains immediately surrounding Hakone.

 

Once over the highest point of the ropeway, the ground below was covered in pipes and sulphur with various pockets of steam billowing out.

 I had intended to stop here to check out the black eggs that get cooked naturally by the geothermal heat, but as I was running late, I made do with watching one of the other tourists buy one from the makeshift stalls at the ropeway transfer station. I continued down the next gondola to the lake pier.

 

 Even without seeing Mt. Fuji the view was great.

 

 

My Freepass got me access to the boat ride across the lake which was as picturesque as it was cold, and it was freezing cold on the deck.

 

 

 

 There were first class seats but I don't think anyone adhered to any sort of segregation.

  

 There also seemed to be a lot of defibrulators around. Not just on the boat, but in Japan in general.

 

 

 Once we arrived in port, it was about 5pm. I took a small look around and I almost mistook the founder of the place for Colonel Sanders of KFC fame.

 On closer inspection, it was not him. He has a different tie. Everything seemed shut so I decided to walk to the local shrine which had been visible from the boat earlier. I was also starving at this point as I still hadn't eaten. I grabbed a hot chocolate from a vending machine which surprisingly sated my appetite (for a little while at least).

 A continuing trend I've noticed in Japan are stored prominently displaying two things that they sell or make.
 The torii gate indicated I was on the right track for the temple.

 The waterfront is a popular place to walk dogs. Even dogs dressed like Bruce Lee.

 

 

  For some reason these steps reminded me of Monkey Magic.

 

 

 The forest behind the temple was particularly peaceful, probably because it was off limits to people. I guess that's why the shrine maiden was yelling at me.

 

 After a quick stop by the water, it was back to the bustop and I was looking at the map cursing myself for being so tardy and hence missing out on most of the tourist activities along the way. I would definitely have to come back at some stage in the future and see all the things I hadn't on this trip.

 I just thought this sign was funny.

 I had thought the bus was going back to Gora and I would take the train from there, but that route was apparently closed after 5, so the bus took me all the way back to Odawara, where I caught a Shinkansen back to Tokyo. As the train stopped there on the way back, I decided to visit my favourite bakery in Japan, Hokuo at Ueno station.
It had saved me last time I was in Japan when I had been desperate for something to eat and here it saved me again. Everything is in Japanese so I never know what I'm eating, but it doesn't matter because everything tastes awesome.

I didn't realise how tired I was when I walked out of the bakery and I wolfed down a small pastry and lugged the rest back to my hotel and ate some more before going to bed.

Coming up, Aomori.