Our first day in Hakone, I planned a day where we would make a big loop through the Hakone area and see a bunch of fun things.  I called it the Rraine Go Everywhere Tour.  I didn’t promise I would give accurate information, but I promised it would be fun. 

We started off with bus confusion.  The first bus told us “no” when I asked if it went to Gora.  I later figured out he flat out lied to me. We had one day bus passes we had purchased online.  We all assumed a screenshot of the QR code would be easier than logging on to the website every time we got on to and off the bus.  The bus driver of the next bus yelled at us because we had to have the live website version instead of a screenshot.  It was a mass panic to log into the website and pull the live version which showed that at this very moment in time our bus pass was valid.  The website had to be renewed every time we got on and off a mode of transportation. Not user friendly.

When we got to Gora, Google maps directed us onto a small path through the forest to the world’s tallest staircase.  It was probably 20 minutes of stairs.  We found the cable car (funicular) station in Gora and figured out how to get in the right line for it.  This also included stairs as well as a mob of pushing Japanese people.  The funicular took us to a ropeway (gondola) station.  It took over 30 minutes waiting in line because most of Japan is on vacation here, now.

We rode the ropeway (gondola) to the Owakudani (Great Boiling Valley) station.  This a geothermal area with steam vents and bubbling pools.  We got a spectacular view of Mount Fuji for a minute.  There were so many people at Owakudani that we had to apply for a leaving time.  The earliest leaving time we could get was an hour later.  We walked around and looked at the overlook of the steam vents.  Down the stairs were a whole lot more buildings, people and a giant black egg statue.  Yay!  More stairs!  The line to take a picture with the black egg was long – maybe 20 minutes long.  We decided we would live without a giant black egg picture.  I had already decided we were eating black eggs though.  Once in the gift shop I lost everyone in 30 seconds.  I found the black eggs, bought four and high tailed it out of there since it was impossible to walk without touching other people. 

When our departure time arrived, we went back upstairs and got on another ropeway and went down to Lake Ashi.  Our bus pass worked for the funicular, the ropeway AND the pirate ship.  Yes, I said pirate ship.  Of course we rode across the lake on a pirate ship.  Found some lunch in the little town of Motohakone and then walked up to the famous Hakone Shrine.  It was beautiful with a red Torii in the water, a path lined with huge trees, and stone stairs.

The next location on my tour was the Amasake Tea House.  This tea house is over 400 years old and has been run by 13 generations of the same family.  The questionable part of this trip was how to get a taxi.  I looked in the parking lot for a taxi stand, but saw nothing.  I opened my Go app (like Uber) and was able to order a car pretty easily.  The problem was how to know where the taxi would come.  Would it stop on the narrow road below us or would it come up to the upper parking lot where we were?  Soon my phone made a strange sound.  I had the option to accept or decline.  It was some kind of call through the Go app.  I accepted and didn’t understand a word the guy said.  He didn’t understand me either.  I assumed our conversation was supposed to be “I am not allowed to drive up there, can you come down?”.  I tried to translate “parking lot or street?”. I’m not sure it went through correctly.   I told the girls to stay, gave them the licence plate number and asked them to text if they saw it.  The taxi driver and I talked back and forth, but I didn’t understand him and wasn’t sure if he understood me.  Then I heard more Japanese and a quiet electronic voice say something.  I picked out the word “down”.  He was using a translate app to speak to me.  I now had arrived at a second parking lot lower than the first.  Seeing no cars waiting, I said “Hai” which means “yes” and kept going down.  I saw the taxi at the driveway to the 3rd parking lot.  I texted the girls to come down.  I threw my arms in the air triumphantly and the taxi driver did the same as I approached.  Then I typed in my translate app that there were 3 more behind me.  He made a surprised face and motioned me in the car since he was blocking a car coming out of the lot.  I got in and hoped he would wait for the girls.  He pulled forward into an obvious “don’t park here” spot just as the girls were rounding the corner.  He gathered them up and everyone got in.  He looked like he was having so much fun.  What stories he had to tell of the crazy lost English only speakers tonight!

The tea house was old and beautiful, tucked away in the forest.  They had green tea and amasake tea.  Amasake tea is made from water, rice and rice koji.  Wendy ordered a green tea and the rest of us ordered the amasake.  The tea came with weird bean filled sweets of course.  The amasake tea was kind of like drinking warm watered down tapioca pudding.  I drank the whole thing, but would have preferred the green tea. The tea house had a dirt floor with a raised platform to sit on.  You take off your shoes and sit on the platform around low tables.  It was dark and cool inside the tea house.  You really felt like you went back in time.

Our last stop of the tour was a shrine with two waterfalls.  We enjoyed the waterfalls, but when we saw that the shrine was up a long flight of stairs that we could not see the top of, we opted out of the shrine.  There was a nice foot bath to sooth our feet before the bus ride home.  I thought ice cream might help too.  I had seen many things on-line about Mont Blanc ice cream so I was happy to try it.  It was horrible and left me feeling sick for hours after.  I highly don’t recommend it.

I ended up renaming the tour to The Tour of Stairs.