thursday 29th checked out at 8am and took the subway and trains to hakone. We bought a Hakone freepass which meant we could use any means of transport whilst we were there. arrived around midday and took the bus on a scenic route to Hakone- machi, and we took in the views of Lake Ashi as we walked down Cedar Avenue, lined with huge cedar trees (surprisingly enough). took a boat over the lake with promised views of Mt. Fuji, i (ed) was very disappointed as we didnt see it even though it was a clear day. took a bus to see the hot springs, was cool but smelt bad like rotten eggs, and they were selling these eggs which had been boiled in the waters and they were meant to prolong your life by 7years per egg, if you ate one. We didnt tho!!!!! here you could vaguely see the outline of Mt. Fuji as i took loads of pictures of it trying to get a good shot, without succeeding, never mind. then we took the cable car and tram (which went donwhill the whole way) to Gora park (which was free to go round the gardens with our passes). and it was very nice. we got the train back to Hakone and boarded the main train back to Shinjuku station.HELL PART 1: at Shinjuku station we had to get our overnight bus tickets as we were travelling that night to kyoto. this was hell on earth!!! firstly we were tired, secondly we couldnt find the exit for the bus terminal so were therefore lost, and thirdly because of this we were angry. when we finally made it, with hayley nearly in tears, we couldnt get the cheaper ticket but would settle for anything, as long as it was going to kyoto. went back to Sakura hostel to get our bags, still didnt have accommodation for Kyoto because of the bloody brossom, but the guy who worked at the hostel tried to find us something, without any luck. HELL PART 2, to make matters worse this made us in a rush for the bus itself. picture the scene of us two running madly to the subway with all our gear on, and as was our luck the tube stopped at every stop possible, which doesnt usually happen. one thing, tokyo does never sleep as the tubes were packed and it was 11.30pm, and our bus was leaving at 11.50pm. luckily we made it but would still have to find accommodation on arrival in kyoto.