Once we got to the end of the old cedar highway, we had to walk the rest of the way to Hakone-Machi, and find the sightseeing boat docks. It was a bit of a walk, but not bad. We found ourselves going through an open air exhibit of some kind, that I think we were supposed to have tickets for (oops!) but we didn’t stop. Nobody said anything to us, so no harm done.
We arrived at one station, but soon realized that it wasn’t the one we wanted. So we continued up around until we found the target. Along the way we stopped for an ice cream. It was only mid-morning, but the sun was already getting brutal, and there wasn’t much breeze to speak of.
The sightseeing boats, or the “pirate boats” are really a sight to see. All done up in gaudy paint schemes, you can either ride the 30 or so minute tour in “economy” or in “first class.” I’m not sure of the difference really, except the location of your spot on the boat. Watch them drive these things up to the dock, that was a little scary as he just whipped this huge boat around like he was doing donuts on gravel….
The boat leaves Hakone-Machi, and makes a brief stop at Moto-Hakone to pick up more passengers. If we’d have gotten on there we wouldn’t have walked the old highway (or stepped on a snake!) which brought mixed reactions from us as you can imagine. Be prepared to be startled, too, as they sound the extremely loud horn as they push away from the dock.
Throughout the 30 or so minute ride across Lake Ashi recorded messages play in Japanese and English explaining a few things along the way. Just your average tour-bus type of thing really. It was certainly peaceful. If the sun starts getting to you, you can retire for a few minutes to one of the air-conditioned windowed cabins below.
Our tour of the lake complete, we exited at Togendai-ko station. Normally you would hop on the ropeway car here for your trip across the mountain and volcanic area to Sounzan. But the first section of the ropeway was undergoing maintenance, so we were ferried on shuttle buses for a rather uneventful trip to the midpoint, Owakudani.
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