We eat early and begin the walk to meet our tour for the day. We left some luggage stored at the hotel. We’re coming back here Sunday night, but each of us has a small bag for our two nights in Kyoto. It’s no easy walk to the bus station where we’re meeting the group. It’s on the other side of this huge station, and again the signage takes us time to decipher.
Finally on the bus, we are transported to another bus station where everyone previously picked up is split into the appropriate tour on other buses. Eventually we pull out, headed for Mt. Fuji. After a 2 hr. bus ride we get to the base of Mt. Fuji. As we drove into sight of the mountain, the guide begins discussing the odds of us seeing the top of the mountain. He tells us the top is only visible about 30% of the time. Today is not going to be one of the clear days. As our guide says, “She’s shy today.” I showed our guide a picture I took as I flew over Japan in April on my trip back to the US to help mom & dad move. It turns out I’ve seen the top of Mt. Fuji already. Check the picture below.
The bus travels halfway up the mountain to the 5th station. Any further up requires a hike. It’s fogged in, damp, and slightly cold. We’re not dressed for cold mountain weather. It’s a nice break from the heat and humidity at lower elevations. Back at the bottom of the mountain, we eat a nice Japanese lunch before heading back out on the afternoon section of the tour.
The next stop is Hakone. It’s a touristy town similar to Ruidoso, with lots of vacation homes. We take a cable car up a mountain, come over a ridge, and swing out over a hot springs area. There are springs everywhere, and sulpher extraction spots. The sulpher is extracted, and the hot water is piped down the hill to dozens of hotels/resorts that don’t have their own hot spring. Soaking in a hot spring is the prime draw for this area, and a hotel without a hot spring wouldn’t survive.
At the bottom of the hill we board a ferry for a short cruise across Mt. Ashi. It’s a small natural mountain lake. It’s supposed to have tremendous views of Mt. Fuji, but again, “she’s shy.”
Denny’s is everywhere.
Rice is growing everywhere.
After the cruise, back on our bus, we travel to Odowara, where we unload at the train station. It’s “bullet train” time! There are 8 of us going to Kyoto. The other 28 people and our guide head back to Tokyo. A tour rep meets us and takes us to the platform where we meet our train. We arrive early, sitting quietly talking, and suddenly a train roars through, and I mean “roars” through. It goes through so fast it took us a minute to process what happened. A few minutes later another goes through the same way, going in the other direction. Apparently these are “Express Trains” that stop at only a few of the largest stations. Check out the short movie link I attached.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1u2g3whuxtptst/Bullet%20Train.MOV
Finally our train arrives and we board in a hurry (the doors don’t stay open long). The cabin is roomy and comfortable. When the train starts rolling, it’s hard to believe we’re going over 200mph. It’s so smooth. In Kyoto, we’re met by another tour rep. She walks us out and puts us in a pre-paid taxi for the trip to our hotel. This is much different than the small Beijing taxis. These are much bigger and the passenger doors open with a switch the driver controls. Drivers are dressed in black suits with white shirt and tie, and wearing white gloves.
The Okura Hotel Kyoto is an old, established hotel with lots of style and tradition. It’s a real contrast to our Tokyo hotel. The room is large and we’re asleep really quickly. It’s been a long day.