Searching the World for Tomorrowland

My girl has the weight of the world's future on her.
Tommorowland, Hong Kong Disneyland

"There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow

Shining at the end of everyday

There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow

And tomorrow's just a dream away"

- Song from the Carousel of Progress Ride

Disney's new movie Tomorrowland opens this week to much anticipation. I. Cannot. Wait.

Disney is more than just a cartoon mouse and theme parks. It's a place where nothing is impossible. There's a part of it, courtesy of the vision of founder Walt Disney, that beckons people to become dreamers and explorers. To embrace global unity because "it's a small world after all" and to aim for a tomorrow that's bright, shiny and new. It challenges the imagination and immerses guests into alternate realities of the past and future. It celebrates those who have inspired us to think big and change the path of what might be.

My family has traveled around the globe, and woven in among our world travels are visits to Disney parks in 5 cities spread across three continents. We've sailed with them on the high seas, too. Even with all the sights a foreign land has to offer, we're drawn to Disney. Not because it's familiar, but because of that feeling of optimism and hope that seems to well up inside whenever we're surrounded by the fantasy Disney has created. It just plain makes us happy.

Fujiya Hotel: East meets West in the midst of Hakone National Park

What do you picture when you think of a Japanese inn near a popular hot spring? Perhaps a ryokan with tatami mats on the floor and sliding door panels made of rice paper stretched taut across black wood frames? Sure, I would have loved to stay at one of those during our family trip back in April 2012. But with my rambunctious kids, I knew that we were one "Look at me. I'm a Samurai" game away from coughing up a ton of money to pay for ripped mats and torn door panels.

The Flower Palace at the Fujiya Hotel

Instead, we finished off our day visting Mount Fuji and Hakone National Park by spending the night at the Fujiya Hotel. Frommer's Travel Guide describes it as

"quite simply the grandest, most majestic old hotel in Hakone; indeed, it might be the loveliest historic hotel in Japan."

Picky Eating in Japan

"I don't want to eat it" are words a parent dislikes hearing at the dinner table. Taking your child who is a picky eater to a foreign country with unfamiliar cuisine is probably one of the concerns for traveling parents. But this isn't one of those blog posts packed with tips for eating globally with your kids. What if your meal suddenly causes you to reevaluate how you view your own self?

"I don't want to eat it." That's all I could think as I gazed down at my plate.

It was my own fault I was in this situation. After a long day of sightseeing in Tokyo, I dragged my family of picky eaters to a yakitori restaurant. Yakitori is grilled, skewered chicken. What could possibly go wrong with that? I hungrily waited for them to bring out our food and watched them set down the platter in the middle of the table.

Almost everything on this yakitori plate looks yummy.

Neat skewers circled the plate. Succulent thigh meat, tasty white meat, chicken wings, and — wait a minute... what's that — chicken innards. Lying innocuously among the morsels that would probably suit my family just fine without complaint was a single skewer with a chicken heart, liver and gizzard. In general, I like a wide variety of foods and consider myself an adventurous eater. But I find offal just awful. (Sorry, couldn't help myself with that pun.) I can take my chicken liver in pâté form, and I've been known to enjoy a deep fried gizzard, but this slender spear didn't look at all appetizing to me. I knew that if anyone else got it, that'd be the end of the meal for them. So, like any good mama taking a bullet for the kids, I grabbed it.

"Eat it," I told myself.

Suddenly, it was as if every single argument my kids had ever given me over food came flooding back to me. All the points I've ever countered with came back, too. My psyche split in half and began a heated debate with each other.

"But I don't like it."

"How do you know you won't like it?

"Because I didn't like it the last time I tried it."

"Well, try it again. It's been a while. You might like it now."

"No, I really don't want to eat it. "

"Sometimes, it takes trying something 20 times before you start to like it."

"No way am I trying this offal stuff 20 times!"

*************************

Traveling in a foreign country brings out a childlike sense of wonder in me as I gaze at unfamiliar surroundings. Not knowing the language, I'm reminded of my early days before I learned to read. I gain a better appreciation of the huge knowledge leaps we constantly ask of our young kids. Apparently, international travel also brings out the rebellious child in me, too.

After moving to Malaysia, we encountered tons of unfamiliar meals when dining out. As the foodie risk taker in the family, I was charged with the task of tasting dishes, identifying what was in it, and then predicting whether it fell within my family's preferences.

My husband once summed up the differences in our reactions to strange culinary offerings. I'm afraid that if I don't try it, I'll miss out on something good. His assumption, on the other hand, is that it's probably something bad, and it's better to be safe than sorry.

Sometimes, my willingness to try new foods gets me into trouble. I vividly remember my first taste of sushi. It was a California Roll, a rather safe initiation into the world of sushi eating. I took a few bites before the food allergies kicked in. My throat began to close up, and my ear canals itched like crazy. I had to stop eating. My reaction didn't reach the level of requiring an EpiPen, but it's always in the back of my mind when we eat at Japanese restaurants.

Perhaps I'm a pickier eater than I thought and just didn't know it. As the Queen of the Household, I'm the one who sets the menu at home, does the grocery shopping and cooks the meals. When I flip through recipes, I bypass the ones that don't interest me and pull out the ones that seem tasty. Basically, I'm never in the situation that I constantly put my kids in. You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit.

My sense of self was beginning to break apart. Am I really who I think I am? Is this the heart-thumping dread my kids feel each time I glibly tell them, "Don't be so picky"?

What if I'm not as adventurous palate-wise as I consider myself to be? How else can I explain why I've always declined my dad's offer of balut, a Filipino delicacy of partially developed duck embryo boiled in the shell, cracked open and swallowed whole. There's something about the tiny beak, semi-formed eyes and miniature, claw feet pressing up against the yolk sack that really turns me off.

Do you push your food boundaries when you travel abroad? Would you fancy a glass of horse milk the next time you're in Paris? Could you match Andrew Zimmerman with his "beating frog heart moments" on Bizarre Foods?

*************************

It was time for me to take my own motherly advice. Time to stop throwing my silent, mental tantrum.

I slowly took a bite of the heart. Chewy. Gross. Disgusting. Can't spit it out, certainly not in front of the kids. Swallowing it, I pulled my best Meryl Streep, smiled at the kids, and remarked, "Delicious!"


Related Posts:
Japanese Vending Machines
A Lost Tooth, Black Eggs and Japan's Hakone National Park
Epic Day at Tokyo Disney


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox. Check it out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

Wishes Made at Kyoto's Kiyomizu Temple

The veranda and 3-story pagoda of Kyoto's legendary Kiyomizu Temple

One of the most popular places to visit in Kyoto is Kiyomizu Temple (Kiyomizu-dera), especially during cherry blossom season. Even though I realized this when planning the trip, I didn't fully appreciate the magnitude of the crowd. Our first clue was the extremely long queue at Kyoto Station to board a bus to the temple. After calculating that we wouldn't get on the first two buses to come by, we opted for a taxi. The driver ran into traffic along the way, and we ended up taking a winding detour through back alley streets to get there. The kids took this as an opportunity to zonk out and nap, and I thought this was a good way to see a part of the city that's off the tourist track. Almost an hour went by, and we were just beginning to very slowly creep up the road leading to the temple entrance. Finally, the cab driver told us it would be faster to  walk, so we hopped out and jumped into the crowd, tightly gripping our kids' hands. We strolled through the busy, narrow market street of the Higashiyama District taking time to ply the young ones with a few snacks to raise their flagging spirits since I really wanted to see this one last place before calling it quits for the day. In the end, it turned out to be worthy of all the hoopla and praise heaped on this scenic site.

Enter by the Deva Gate with the 3-Story Pagoda behind it

Many Japanese tourists enjoyed this national treasure and UNESCO Cultural World Heritage site along with us. Some were bundled up against the chill weather while others were dressed in traditional kimonos.

Dressed for a day of picture taking and sightseeing

One of the iconic buildings of the temple grounds is the Main Hall and the veranda of its Kiyomizu stage. Its 12 meter high (36 feet) support pillars were constructed without using a single nail, and
the floor was assembled from more than 410 cypress boards. The view of Kyoto from up here is spectacular. This place inspired the Japanese idiom "jumping from the veranda of Kiyomizu Temple" to mean that someone is about to take a bold or daring adventure. Supposedly, you would be granted your wish if you survived the jump. In the Edo era, 234 jumps were recorded, and 85.4% survived. The others were not so lucky. I decided not to test it out.

Looking up at the veranda. No way would I jump from there!

Another tradition at Kiyomizu temple is walking between the Love Stones at Jishu Shrine. This Shinto shrine behind the Main Hall is the dwelling place of Okuninushi, the god of love and matchmaking. According to the sign, "If you walk safely from this stone to the other with your eyes closed, for once, your wish will be granted soon. If you can't, it will be long before your love is realized." The greatest challenge of crossing the 6 meters (18 feet) between the two stones was avoiding the numerous people wandering across your path and being deflected off course. I'm sure it's easier to stay straight on less busy days. My daughter failed in her attempt, but since she was only 6 years old, I was hoping it would be a long, long, very long time before her love is realized, anyways.

Walking between the Love-fortune-telling Stones

Kiyomizu-dera means "Temple of the Clear Water" and is named after Otowa Falls. Water from a mountain spring has been falling her since before it was originally built back in 778. Many visitors drink the sacred spring water from a ladle since it's supposed to have wish granting powers. In retrospect, I really should have done it and asked for quick transport back to our hotel after a long day.

I think drinking spring water from Otowa Falls seems like a better option for gaining luck than jumping off the veranda.

The cherry blossoms were indeed beautiful, and I can see why so many people flock to this site in the springtime. When we were there, the temple was going to have one of its rare night openings, but we were too tuckered out to last much past sunset.

Cherry Blossoms blooming over the pond by the 3-Story Pagoda

We eventually left and began walking back down the hill through the shopping street. It's been catering to temple tourists for centuries and have used that time well to hone their skills at offering tempting wares.  I really could have done some damage to my wallet here, but all of us just wanted to get home. (Or perhaps my hubby drank from the Otowa Falls when I wasn't looking and wished for me to have an uncharacteristic lack of interest in shopping.) Eventually, we made it to the main street where we caught a bus back to Kyoto Station. Kiyomuzi Temple is an Ancient Kyoto icon and a must-see when visiting this town.

Oddly, I wasn't at all inclined to shop despite the gorgeous wares displayed in the shops.
Perhaps strange forces were at work.

Click here to view the Visitor's Guide with Admission fees, Operating Hours, and an Access Guide for Kiyomizu Temple.

Related Posts:
Kyoto Station is Enchanted
The 10,000 Torii Gates of Kyoto's Fushimi-Inari Shrine

It’s Your Turn, Link Up Your Newest Travel Inspiration

I've joined up as one of the co-hosts of Weekend Travel Inspiration.

1. Link one of your inspirational travel photos or stories to this post by adding your info.
2. Copy and paste our badge and a link to this page.
3. Visit some of the other wonderful travel bloggers, read their posts, and leave a comment.  It would be great if you could comment on 2-3 posts.
4. Tweet it and include this hashtag. #wkendtravelinspiration .
5. Follow all the hosts of Weekend Travel Inspiration who are working hard to spread the word on what wonderful work travel bloggers are doing.
6. Don’t forget to check out my amazing co-hosts and their pages: Reflections Enroute,  ContentedTraveller, Albom Adventures, Safari 254, and FamiliesGo.

I've also joined with the following linkups. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

• Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox 
• Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom?
• The Weekly Postcard on Travel Notes and Beyond
• Weekend Wanderlust on Justin + Lauren

Tokyo Tower Day and Night

To what Parisian icon does this bear a resemblance?

If you ask my daughter what's her favorite site in Tokyo, she will not hesitate before telling you it's the Tokyo Tower. A smidgen of its appeal may be the Baskin-Robbins ice cream treat at the end of the visit, but she was looking forward to seeing it long before we stepped foot inside. She first saw pictures of the tower when hubby visited it on a business trip a few years earlier. "It looks like the Eiffel Tower — except orange!" was her immediate response. She didn't guess that it's also 13 meters taller. Built in 1958, this 330 meter (1,028 foot) TV and radio relay tower has long been one of Tokyo's iconic tourist attractions. For decades, people have been riding up the elevators to its two observatories, one at 149 meters (489 feet) and the other at 248 meters (814 feet).

 Nearby Zojo-ji Temple was built more than 500 years before Tokyo Tower

She really, really wanted to take the Tower home with us.

Mine!

Instead, she had to make do with the miniature plush version of Noppon the mascot that her dad brought home a couple years beforehand.

Noppon says "Konichiwa."
He has a brother, also named Noppon, who is blue.

Tokyo may have newer places to view the city from high up like the SkyTree and the free Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, but can those observatories match the adorable uniforms of the Tokyo Tower hostesses who take your ticket and escort you to the elevators? Think how lost you could get walking those few feet without them!

Ready to serve you

The tower changed its nighttime color scheme during the course of our stay. For the first few days, it was orange, much like its daytime look, but for the last days, it turned blue and red.

We headed up after dinner to see what Tokyo looks like at night. The observatory goes all the way around the tower so that you look out on the entire Kanto Region of Japan.

The Rainbow Bridge is on the upper left of middle.

Signs around the perimeter indicated distances to other sites such as Mount Fuji which was —surprise, surprise — impossible to see at night.

The city glitters below us.

Roughly the same view in the daylight.

Lookdown Windows in a few spots along the floor allowed us to see the ground directly below us.

Looking directly downwards

The interior of the tower at the observatory level houses a very tiny Shinto shrine, a cafe and a music venue.

Foot Town at the base of Tokyo Tower has lots of kitchsy tourist traps like a Wax Museum (separate admission) plus restaurants and souvenir shops. A small amusement park is on the roof. Luckily for me, the kids were tired at the end of a long day of sightseeing and didn't beg to do anything.

The kids are already asking to go back to Japan, and my girl especially wants to pay Tokyo Tower another visit.

For more information on hours and admission prices for Tokyo Tower, see its website.


Related posts:
Kid-friendly History at Tokyo's Fukagawa Edo Museum
Epic Day at Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo's Meiji Jungu Shrine
Cherry Blossom Viewing in Tokyo's Ueno Park


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travellers Sandbox, Photo Friday on Delicious Baby, and Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

Kyoto Station is Enchanted

The very modern Kyoto Station

You don't really have go out of your way to see Kyoto Station. It will draw you in. You cannot escape it's gravitational pull. It seems like we transferred through it at least 4 times each day while sightseeing around this historic city.

Oh, and by the way, it's enchanted. That is the only explanation that I can come up with to understand how both hubby and I could never figure out where exactly in the station we were. Clearly, someone had cast a spell on us. Each time we'd enter from the street or emerge from a train or subway, it seemed like we were in an entirely unfamiliar section. We'd have multiple maps out, but none of them seemed to show the entire station layout -- just parts of it. Hubby and I stood there trying to piece together which sections of various maps overlapped in order to figure out the big picture. Of course the kids just patiently waited while we tried to puzzle it out... NOT!

We weren't so much worried about finding the right train as figuring out where our luggage was stored.

But to be honest, Kyoto Station isn't such a bad place to be lost. There are tons of women's clothing stores on one of the levels. (Don't ask me which one.) If I was a thousand dollars richer, I would have had quite a shopping spree. Not finding my luggage would be a moot point, right?

The station has plenty of restaurants, too. I think we had four of our six Kyoto meals there. There's even, mon dieu, a Cafe du Monde! Who goes to Japan to eat New Orleans food? Expats who live in Malaysia and long for a taste of the Deep South. We are the same family who went to Singapore for Tex-Mex.

At another place, I realized how authentic ramen soup loaded up with veggies, hard-boiled egg and sliced meats is vastly superior to the plain, instant ramen I ate during my thrifty, university student days. The efficiency of ordering each dish by number and having the waitress enter it immediately into her digital tablet at many restaurants impressed me, too.

By the third day, we finally got our bearings. The spell was broken, but the magic of Kyoto Station still lingers.

The Cafe du Monde is at the top of these escalators.

Related Post:
The 10,000 Torii Gates of Kyoto's Fushimi-Inari Shrine


This post is part of Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check it out for more travel inspiration.

My Week Among the Japanese

One of the best parts of international travel is getting to see what people in other countries are like. How are they different? How are they the same? After spending a week in Japan, here are my (admittedly superficial) observations about the people of Tokyo and Kyoto.

They are incredibly kind to lost travelers.
On two different occassions in Tokyo, someone asked us if we needed help finding something as we stood there staring stupidly at a map. The first time, an impeccably dressed woman asked us where we were headed. She didn't immediately know where the place was, but searched the map until she could point it out. The next day, another kind stranger whipped out his iPad to look up and show us the route to our destination. How's that for acts of kindness? Thank you to those Japanese strangers!

Ladies in kimonos at Kyoto's Kiyomizu Temple

Women actually wear kimonos
Whenever I tell people that I'm from Texas, they automatically assume that I was surrounded by cowboys wearing boots, ten-gallon hats, chaps and spurs. Ummm... no, not unless it's rodeo time. So I kind of thought that, similarly, no one in Japan actually walked around wearing kimonos. I was wrong. These folks were in the minority, but I saw a few kimono wearers every day. Part of it may be that cherry blossoms blooming at a temple is the perfect backdrop for a photo in traditional Japanese clothes. But I did see women walking around downtown Tokyo dressed this way, too.




Masked Tokyo salarymen stride past a busy sidewalk smoking lounge.

Tokyo's Men in Black
A black suit with a white shirt is definitely de rigueur for the Tokyo office worker. Well, I noticed one daring young career woman wearing a pinstripe charcoal pantsuit, but that was as crazy as it got. Conformity seemed to be key. The one thing that stood out was how many people wore surgical masks covering their mouth and nose. At first, I thought they were sick and thoughtfully keeping germs from spreading. A guide later informed me that the pollen count was high, and this was their way of keeping allergies down. Can you imagine Texans doing this when Cedar Fever hits? Everyone would think you were about to rob them.

Salarymen relaxing in Ueno Park at an office cherry blossom watching party. Not exactly Casual Friday.

Pedestrian Scramble at Shibuya Crossing
My husband wanted to know why I just had to go to Shibuya Crossing. "Because it was in Lost in Translation," was my reply. That didn't really seem to be a compelling enough reason for anyone else in my family, but it was good enough for me. After months living in Malaysia where jaywalking and crossing lanes in a Frogger-like way is the norm, Shibuya was simply amazing. Everyone, both cars and pedestrians, followed the rules! Crowds of people built up on the sidewalks waiting until the crosswalk lights turned green. As soon as the cars came to a halt, they flooded onto the streets in the busiest, all-directions, pedestrian scramble crossing I have ever seen. For a whole minute, it's sheer madness. Then, the crosswalk lights turn back to red, and the walkers actually stop entering the street. It's really something to behold. Our vantage point was the Starbucks overlooking the intersection. It's rumored to be among the busiest in the world, and the staff doesn't seem too keen on people taking pictures out the window. (Just sayin'.)

Pedestrians and cars take their turn at Shibuya Crossing.

Youth Culture in Harajuku
In Harajuku, you'll find a bold contrast to somber attire of the white collar workers. Youth culture rules here, especially on Sunday afternoon at Jingu Bridge. This is when the Cosplay (short for Costume Play) subculture comes out in droves to see and be seen. Looking at these kids in their truly elaborate get ups, I wondered how many years would go by until they morph into one of the black suited, toe-the-line salarymen I had seen in other parts of Tokyo.

Harajuku girls and boys

Can you guess which ones are the tourists visiting Harajuku?

Kyoto's Style is Flirty and Fun
Kyoto Station is a supposedly a must see for it's modern architecture, plus it's the biggest transportation hub in town. But what I loved most about this place is the vast shopping mall stretching out underground. I almost told my family that they could look at temples without me, and I would just shop my way through the day. (For some reason, hubby was opposed to this plan.) If you're familiar with the American store, Anthropologie, it's pretty much an entire mall based on that style. Everywhere I looked, I saw flirty, fun, romantic fashion. On the subways, I noticed that the women's clothes were much more colorful, flowing and embellished than those in Tokyo.

One day, were were visiting the International Manga Museum where one of the temporary exhibits was on Manga's Influence on Fashion. In walked three of the best dressed ladies around. They put my jeans, sneakers, and zip-up hoodie to shame. If you compare their outfits to the cosplay participants in Tokyo's Harajuku, I'd say that sums up the differences I felt between the two cities.

Sweet cosplay styles in Kyoto

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday at Budget Travelers Sandbox and Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.  Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

The 10,000 Torii Gates of Kyoto's Fushimi-Inari Shrine

Every gate is donated, and each one is marked with the donor's name and date of contribution.

When I began planning our trip to Japan last spring, I asked the advice of my dear cousin, Sandra, who had visited there recently. She wrote back,

"There are vending machines for drinks everywhere!!! Like literally everywhere. In the middle of tiny alleyways and right next to people's driveways. So it's good to have coins handy. Loved the green tea ice cream. I think I ate that everyday I was there. "

She also recommended Fushimi-Inari Shrine in Kyoto. As soon as I saw the pictures, I instantly recognized it from one of my favorite scenes in Memoirs of a Geisha when young Sayuri runs through them. Thousands of vermilion torii gates line pathways stretching from behind the shrine's main ground upwards into the wooded hills of sacred Mount Inari. It immediately went on my Must-See List.

Getting there was quite easy. It's across the street from the JR Inari Station, a couple stops from Kyoto Station on the JR Nara Line. We reached it just an hour before dark and found the place quiet with only a few visitors milling around.

Enter through a giant torii gate and then the Romon Gate (donated in 1589).

Stone foxes, messengers of the gods, sit next to the gate watching over a woman dressed in a traditional kimono.

Fox face ema tablets offer up wishes and prayers to spirits and gods.

 

Two paths, two boys

The dense rows of gates occasionally stop, giving you a view of Kyoto.



Perhaps this young bride is practicing her walk down the aisle.

We had to turn around before reaching the summit since dusk was beginning to settle on the city. I'm so glad my family went, and I'm thankful that Sandra's suggestion led us there.



......................................................

 

Sadly, Sandra was suddenly taken from us last weekend. Other than liking each other's Instagram posts, her Kyoto trip recommendation sent six months ago was the last time we communicated. My memories of Fushimi-Inari Shrine are now tinged with sorrow. Even though justice will surely be served, it can't change that she's gone from this earth. But I take solace in knowing that our feet walked on the same pathways and that we both found joy in the experience. I love you Sandra.


Related Post:
Kyoto Station is Enchanted

 

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, Photo Friday at Delicious Baby, Travel Bucket List Wednesdays at Latin Abroad, and Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

A Lost Tooth, Black Eggs & Japan's Hakone National Park

After a morning at Mount Fuji, it was time to explore Hakone, Japan's most visited national park. Thank goodness for the clear skies. Seeing for miles and miles really made a difference! Strong winds altered Sunrise Tours' original itinerary, but we still came away with a memorable experience.

What's the most scenic place your child has lost a tooth? I think my younger boy has set a family record that may be hard to beat. He'd been wiggling it back and forth for days. All of us were gazing around while suspended high in the air on the Hakone Ropeway. Suddenly, out popped the tooth.


Here's the view out one side of the gondola.

Mount Fuji from the Hakone Ropeway

Here's the view from the other side.

Owakudani Great Boiling Valley — Volcanic activity resulting in sulfur vents
Can you spot the little, yellow hut at the bottom right?

Great views and the promise of a tooth fairy visit. How cool is that? I put away the tooth for safekeeping and then hopped out at Owakudani station to take a look around.

Hakone Ropeway gondolas continuing across the valley

The winds were quite gusty and cold up at Owakudani (elevation 3,132 feet), and the kids decided that the gift shop was a much better option than braving the elements. Leaving hubby with them, I took off to get a closer look at the sulfurous fumes. Who got the better deal?


Some inventive Japanese person figured out that the best way to make use of all that volcanic activity was to.... drumroll, please.... boil eggs! You won't find that recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I could see cages of eggs traveling along a cable between the steam vents and a little yellow hut, ready for hungry tourists to purchase.

Smelly black eggs cooked in a sulfur vent, anyone? Anyone?

When I got my eggs, they were still warm from their close encounter with Mother Nature. They were stinky, too. But once peeled, it tasted and smelled like a regular, hard-boiled egg. Eating one egg supposedly adds seven years to your life. By breakfast the next morning, I had eaten five whites but tossed the yolks, so I'm not quite sure where I am on the Longetivity Scale.


Then, it was back on the toasty tour bus for a ride back down the mountain to Lake Ashi, an old volcanic crater filled with water. There were numerous options for crossing, but we got a rather run-of-the-mill ferry boat.

Waiting on the pier at Lake Ashi

The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure

Ahoy there mates! Me spy pirates ahead!

Sailing across the lake was smooth and even, without a sign of the winds that buffeted us higher up the mountain. On the other side, it was back on the bus once again for the journey to Odawara Station on the Shinkansen bullet train line. Most of the tour took the speedy train back to Tokyo, but we returned to Hakone to spend the night and enjoy the hot springs.

Picturesque mountain tram at Myanoshita Station

After spending the day on a tour bus, ropeway gondola and boat, this charming train was the perfect ending to the day. All the tourists were long gone from this part of the park, and we practically had the train to ourselves. It made its way uphill through forests and switchbacks. Spring blossoms were just beginning to bud, and the landscape still had a touch of winter starkness. Finally, we reached the town of Myanoshita where we spent the night at the historic Fujiya Hotel.

Related Post
In Awe of Mount Fuji


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursdays on Budget Travellers Sandbox and Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check out these sites for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

In Awe of Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji is Japan's most iconic natural landmark. On a clear day, you can see it from Tokyo, 62 miles away. On a bad day, you can't see its perfectly symmetrical top even if you're right at the base of the mountain. We visited Mount Fuji the day after experiencing exceptionally bad weather at Tokyo DisneySea, and I wasn't really sure what kind of day was in store.

In a departure from our usual practice of independent travel, we booked a tour to take us to Mount Fuji and then on to beautiful Hakone National Park. I ended up feeling that I really benefited from all the information the tour guide told us, and not having to worry about directions and logistics made the trip extra relaxing. (If we had driven, I'm sure the conversation would have gone something along the lines of "What did that sign say?" "How would I know? I don't read Japanese!") Sunrise Tours was a model of Japanese efficiency. One bus picked up  several people from our hotel plus other nearby hotels and brought us to Hamamatsucho Bus Terminal. From there, folks split up into whatever tour they selected.

The two hour drive out to Mount Fuji sped by quickly. After spending days in the crowded, concrete jungle that is Tokyo, I really enjoyed looking out the window as the city melted away and became views of a gorgeous spring countryside. The kids kept busy playing their Nintendo DS games. After all, when in Japan, do as the Japanese do. This one time, I decided that their Nintendos could count as cultural immersion.

Our first stop was the Fuji Visitor Center. But what I found really interesting was the amusement park located just before it. Who knew? I didn't realize you could ride a roller coaster in the shadow of Mount Fuji. They even have a Thomas the Tank Engine Land. Alas, this park was not part of the tour, so we drove right by it.

This sign at a Tokyo subway station should have been a clue.

We ended up having about 20 minutes at the Fuji Visitor Center. Hubby pointed out that if we were doing this ourselves, we could have spent over an hour perusing the exhibits. As it was, we had just enough time to snap a few photos, find our kids who had wandered off, and get back on the bus.

The official tour itinerary had us driving up to the Mount Fuji 5th Station (6,900 foot elevation) where climbers usually start their trek up the mountain. Alas, the typhoon-like winds that had hit while we were at DisneySea also blew down a few trees that blocked the road up. The 1st Station (3,873 foot elevation) was the highest were were able to go. At least we were blessed with clear blue skies and an amazing view of Mount Fuji's summit. I could tell that the wind gusts at the top were quite strong, causing the snow to billow away and obscure the peak. Meanwhile, the kids were fascinated by the 3x3 foot patch of snow by the parking lot. After months on a tropical island, I can't really blame them.

How do you say "Snowball Fight!" in Japanese?

We continued on with our tour, going to a traditional Japanese lunch on the shores of charming Lake Kawaguchiko followed by more fun in Hakone.

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This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travellers Sandbox, Photo Friday on Delicious Baby, and Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom?  Check out these websites for more around-the-world travel inspiration.