OK so I lied, where we went wasnt the Five Lakes area; thats an area with apparently MUCH more chance of seeing Mt Fuji, the Canadians who went there had it framed nicely in the window of the hot spring baths at their hostel! Hows that for luck!

We went to Hakone. Departed Tokyo at Shinjuku station and managed not to get too lost in it, thank goodness (you could be in there for days) although the 'train' carriage that we had to sit on for about an hour was effectively a subway car. No wonder the ticket was cheap.. We were sitting with a nice Austrailian couple with a very smily baby who was being very good considering (I thought!). When we got to Hakone Yumoto station we made the executive decision to take the bus to our accomodation and thank goodness we did because it was up a very steep hill! Got onto this little minivan with our huge rucksacks; Japanese people are so nice, made way for us, no glaring or anything (I wouldve glared). A slightly gruff receptionist told us we couldnt check in for a while yet so we went for lunch near the station. Hakone is a mountain town that Tokyo-ites tend to visit to get some clean air and be out of the city. And indeed the sky was blue instead of kinda white, the sun was out. But we were tired so after the typical pork cutlet for lunch headed to our accomodation (called Shunkoso).

Which Im excited to tell you was traditional Japanese. And it was a fair shock to the system! This was the priciest accomodation weve booked so far at 37 pounds a night but Ive seen the same style rooms advertised for 400 pounds a night in the bigger hotels in Hakone. And its because youre having an 'authentic Japanese' experience. The clerk opened the sliding door to our room and Ive never seen anything like it. The walls are mostly sliding panels, the floor is Tatami mats, the beds are layers of blankets spread out on the floor (no frame), there was an elegant 'eating area' with a huge picture window overlooking the mountain, and then the guy showed us the traditional cotton japanase ('yukata' i think theyre called) robes we should wear around the room and explained the towel system for taking a bath Japanese style. All very new, all very exciting. So we put on the Yukata and had some green tea (as one does..) and then we headed for the baths.

Traditional Japanese Inns such as this usually have their own hot spring baths and today because we were the only guests it was essentially a private bathhouse just for us. All good except Japanese custom says you should bathe naked. So we did! Luckily men and womens baths are segregated or I wouldve been a bit paranoid that a Japanese bloke would walk in at any moment. But yeah there we were in a huge bath house, with indoor and outdoor pools (very very hot), in the nod, all very hilarious. It is a very stange experience to stand outdoors in a hotel complex naked. Difficult to shake the suspicion that someone cant see you from somewhere. But I guess they cant.

And then back in the yukata robes, back in the room, we played cards, drank beer and ate pot noodle. It was actually funny because Beth got the pot noodle from the hotel reception and the bloke went to great pains to explain how to make it. Bless him! The beer we got from the vending machine in the corridor. Gotta love Japan..