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Originally uploaded by silverlantern

Unbeknownst to us at the time, everything in Hakone pretty much shuts down around 5pm. Well… to be fair, it was probably in the guide books but who really pays attention to all that detail. Anyhow, the cool thing about Hakone was the different modes of transportation one takes to circle the region. From the train to a cable car to a ropeway, to a boat then finally by bus back to the ryokan.

After the Yunessun we hopped back on the train to get to the cable car. The cable car took us on a slow but short ride up the mountain. Then from the cable car we hopped on a gondola that took us across to another mountain via rope (cable). It was getting late and the valley was filled with fog. It felt kind of surreal as we glided along the cable through the thick mist, not able to see anything around us. That was too bad because on a clear day, one could see Mt Fuji. Today, we can barely see the cable our gondola sits on.

Well, it’s a good thing we got the 2 day pass. We’ll be able to make the rounds again tomorrow.

We got out and looked for a bus to take us back to the ryokan. I wasn’t quite sure what do to as I only knew the way from the boat’s destination dock. Coming out of the station we hurriedly got onto the first bus we saw parked outside. We had better not miss the bus and then miss our dinner scheduled at 7!

About 40 minutes later we got off right outside our ryokan. We were all too happy to get off as the bus driver announces each upcoming stop with he spookiest voice ever. I thought he sounded like a ghost, sighing the words out…but Jae thought he sounded like Herbert on the Family Guy. But we all agreed that he had a voice that sent chills up our spines.

Sidebar: Buy the day passes
With the day pass, I realized that we actually saved a lot especially after counting the stops and the price that you’d have to pay for each segment traveled on the bus.