We're leaving on a jet plane...

We're baaack! Spent the last couple nights in Hakone, close to Mt Fuji in an old-school typical Japanese Inn called a ryokan. Of course, there was no internet but it was simply amazing and something you have to experience. We were nestled in a little valley and had to take a 6min cable car down to our inn, where we were treated with the utmost respect and taken care of by the cutest old lady who spoke no english but was always trying to explain things to us and we were doing our best with our Japanese phrasebook.

• Took the shinkansen 2.5 hours to Odawara and from there took an old railway up the mountain to Miyanoshita where our ryokan, Taiseikan, was located. We were checked into their 100-yr-old suite, as they knew we were celebrating our 1-year anniversary, and we had the perfect view of the mountains and rushing river below us.
• The room had tatami mats where we sat and (tried to) kneel/sit while being served our kaiseki (Japanes set meal) dinner/breakfast each day. Our dinners were seriously meant for kings/queens. The first night, we had something like a 10-15 course meal full of Japanese dishes, some we recognized, some we didn't but we devoured them all. One of them was like a giant clam that (we think) was still alive as it was cooking under a hot plate while we ate the other dishes. The second night we had shabu shabu and shared 10 pieces of beef plus a whole slew of other dishes. VERY VERY good, and the breakfasts we were served always set us up for a long day of sight-seeing and travelling. Mama-san, the cute old lady who was always our waitress, always amazed me by setting the dishes in a set way for both of us, each dish had it's own location, and then carrying away the dirty dishes when she left. I am truly amazed at the service we get and how much pride all Japanese people take in their work...love it!!
• On our full day in Hakone, we had to take a variety of different types of transportation to actually get to Hakone from our ryokan. A combination of old railway cars, two cable cars across the mountains, and a 30 min ride aboard a pirate-looking ship across Lake Ashi was what it took to get to Hakone. Trust me, the travel to Hakone was much better than Hakone itself, lol, but we did only have 2 hrs in the area before we had to leave and catch our dinner back at the ryokan.
• We had public bath and private bath at our ryokan - meaning public and private hot springs. AMAZING EXPERIENCE! Everything we though about a hot spring we had - hot water (not warmed by any artificial means) piped from the mountain, rock/garden surroundings. The public bath was quite the experience too as you had to go buck-naked into the main area share by other people (men and women were separated though) and use a little stool and tabo to clean yourself before going in. And the water is scalding hot! Seriously, you have to try an onsen if you are in Japan...
• At one of our stops on the way to Hakone, we stopped at a natural sulphor-emitting place where it stank like rotten eggs and there was smoke coming out of the mountain. But we had these black eggs that supposedly gave us 7 yrs of happiness!
• If you are ever in Japan, you must visit the country/outskirts, get away from the city for a bit and try a ryokan. Taiseikan, in Miyanoshita, highly recommended!
• Again, pics will be posted when we get back..or next month when my monthly upload limit resets..

Now we're back in Tokyo, bright lights, big city and spending the weekend until Tuesday here. One last hurrah in Tokyo before coming back to O CANADA! I think today we will try to go to Roppongi or Shinjuku and tonight we will try to have a drink at the bar featured in Lost in Translation...