Hakone

  Hakone, Kanto, Japan
Friday, May 16, 2008

This morning I head to a festival at Asakusa Kannon Temple, the last big cultural site I had been saving to see it on its birthday.  It proves to be anything but special, although the structures would have been awesome if not for the hordes of people swarming every nook and cranny of the place. 


I hop on the train and head to Hakone for the day.  By the time I reach my ryokan I had taken about 8 different trains, trams, ropeways, trolleys, gondolas, etc...

Hakone is one of the biggest tourist destinations in Japan, for the Japanese, and it offers hundreds of museums, hotels, spas, golf courses, hikes and other forms of entertainment.  I chose to just check out the outdoor museum and chill in an outdoor spa because I didn't have enough time to see it all, nor did I want to as there seemed to be a lot of tourist traps here.  The outdoor museum was awesome and is unlike any other museum I've ever been to.  There were huge statues across a vast outdoor space that provided for a great walk while taking in the art. 

The spa provided a much needed few hours to relax and do nothing before I found my ryokan, had a nice rice bowl dinner and went to bed on the tatami mat a happy camper...