The day was mainly spent on the coach for travelling but the views from the bus was really magnificient as we pass by the Pacific Ocean.
If you can see, the highway is built higher than the houses below.
Our guide was saying the houses here were pretty cheap as it faced the ocean.
Unlike other countries where staying in an ocean facing house usually costs more - its the opposite here.
If there was ever a tsunami, the whole town will be submerged.
Scary isn't it?
There was a toilet stop as the journey to the waterfalls was close to 3 hours.
As usual, we stopped for food after the toilet break.
Ika (sotong) and pork yakitori with salt.
Absolutely yummy despite it being cold..hahaha..
My new found love (with less fat compared to milk tea) Yuzu tea that's warm from the vending machine!
We bought this from the shop.
It's green tea cake with red bean and cream filling - yummy too!!
The other pack of Calbee chips - black pepper flavored!
The journey was really serene with mountain ranges, lakes, oceans and trees.
Something we do not get to see in Singapore.
And we reached....
We were standing around waiting for those that went to the toilet.
Suddenly we felt some stuff falling from the skies.
Since the past few days were raining - we thought it was rain but no!!
IT WAS SNOW!!!!
It's the first time I've experienced snow falling from the skies!!
Can you see the snow falling across my face?
It was really cold but thoroughly exciting!!
Otodome Falls.
A smaller waterfall that we first saw enroute to the bigger one...
As we walk further down..
Maybe because Singapore has no natural waterfalls so this was a real magnificient sight.
Shiraito Falls is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park and has been protected since 1936 as a Japanese Natural Monument. The Shiraito Falls is listed as one of the "Japan’s Top 100 Waterfalls", in a listing published by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 1990.
There were some uncles with professional cameras and stands that hiked there to take photos too!
Just shows how amazing the waterfalls were even to the locals.
I saw this on the way back to the coach.
Isn't the color pretty?
See the icicles on the plant?
It really glistens when I saw it but the camera wasn't able to capture the beauty..
There were shops along the way so some of the group was shopping (again!).
We saw this in one of the shops...
Cute right??!
It was time to head for lunch which was about 10 minutes away.
Was like we entered Winter Wonderland!
The whole scene just changed totally...
We ate lunch really quickly and were amongst the first to stand up from the table!
It was snow ball fight time!!!
Yong made a snowman which we later realised had no hands! Hahahah...
This flew straight at Michelle..hahaha...
Off to Gotemba Premium Outlets for some shopping fix!
Gotemba is reachable if you are travelling free and easy and heading out to Hakone or from Tokyo.
Hakone has an Odakyu Free Pass which also allows one to ride on the bus to Hakone.
There are various big brands there such as Ralph Lauren, Laura Ashley, Samantha Thavasa, Jill Stuart, Gap and many more.
I didn't buy much stuff there as they were clearing stocks for winter wear.
The ferris wheel amongst the white setting.
We separated ways at Gotemba but we always seem to end up doing the same stuff..hahaha...
Crazy Crepe part 1!
Crazy Crepe part 2!
And the best thing?
We took photos with the crepe at the same place..
hahahaha..talk about sisters being telepathic..
Not raining but snowing...
Saw kids playing with snow..ahahah..so I wanted to play too...
Heading down to the hotel for the night.
We saw this igloo look-a-like shop on the way.
Looked really out of place if it was summer I think..hahaha...
At Kawaguchiko Koryu, an onsen hotel, they arranged a traditional Japanese dinner since it was the eve of CNY.
Everyone was asked to wear the yukata for the dinner.
Yukata's are a simpler version of kimono with less layers and less complication to wear.
So, since there was time, I took my own sweet time to bun up my hair.
Table full of food!!
Our reunion dinner.
The sashimi boat was additional to the dinner which we opted for.
The dinner was really filling.
I couldn't finish all the stuff despite it being served in small portions.
I think none of us finished everything that was apportioned.
After dinner we went back to change to head out to see fireworks.
Not for CNY la, its to attract visitors to the region so they have fireworks every weekend.
It was snowing again!!
We headed back to change so as to go enjoy the onsen!
Everyone was stripped naked in the bath area and had to sit on stools in front of shower heads.
Heng the place was all steamy so couldn't really see well.
We were adventurous enough to head to the outdoor onsen.
The wind gushed in when we opened the door and we were naked so it was freezing cold!
All of us ran to the onsen to soak ourselves in the warm water.
It was a real different hot tub experience compared with the Taiwan one we had some years back..
Since it was CNY eve, we met at Ami's room to bai nian before we headed back to sleep and pack for the next couple of days.
not to mention same flavour of crepe! :D
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