Lakbay sa Tren

Yung tren sa kaliwa, sinakyan namin papuntang Hakone. Tawag dito "Romance Car", I will show you why later. This is not a "bullet train", it's more of a sightseeing, luxury train.
Yung tren sa kanan ito naman yung sinakyan namin to go up some mountain, we had to make several stops at stations dahil isa lang yung line and they call it "switchback"... hmmm, "switchback mountain"?! AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAYY!

Ang galing nga dahil di ba pa-akyat ng Baguio by car we drive up a zig-zag route? It was exactly the same, yun nga lang we were on a train! Pinaghalong Byaheng Bicol at Baguio... dahil malamig pa rin at that time.


Inside the "Romance Car", you have wood panelling, carpeted floor, comfortable seats, but no ROMANCE. Bakit ka'mo? Daming batang nakasakay kasama ang mga lola, lolo buong pamilya, naglalakabay, holiday kasi! Siyempre di kami pahuhuli... yan ang baon naming "onigiri" (riceballs), o di ba?! Sana may nagtitinda ng mani, kumpleto na!
Pero wag ka, there was a train attendant (parang F.A.), she went by pushing a food/bev trolley.


We got good front seats. Nasaan ang DRIVER?
Sa totoo lang walang driver sa harap, it was a thrill for me seeing the snow-capped peak of Mt. Fuji as we passed by.

Lunch was at Fujiya Hotel, a hotel that has seen better times since the eve of the 19th century. Our friend did a great job in arranging for this trip!
Family pciture namin... hehehe, I found this photo of John, Yoko and is this Sean? plus somebody else at Fujiya Hotel... now tell me, WHAT is that boy holding?

RYOKAN

Our luxurious stay at the ryokan! A good mountain view, a full tatami floor and shoji screens that one can slide to make private or public space! A ryokan is very traditional so meals are served in the room and attended by kimono-clad women. We also wear traditional yukata and follow tradition, like sleeping on the tatami floor with the futons laid out and the bed made by attendants at the ryokan. It was tempting to poke a hole in those shoji screens. My friend told me to wet the tip of my finger first to make a neat one.

This might raise your eyebrows, our room had no lock at all! Our attendant had to announce her/him self first and then they enter a foyer, after we say so, by sliding one of the doors to enter. Go see "Ai No Corrida", at least we did not give our attendants a surprise.

ONSEN

We unwind in the onsen, both outdoors (rotenburo) and indoors. We had our private onsen open 24h, though I could not bring myself to soak in the hot spring pool alone at night! The outdoor hot spring pool was great, blog sa ibaba...