THE ESCAPES: Fuji

As I hadn’t had enough time to do homework for Tokyo and other places afterwards, we decided to get the secretary of my friend’s uncle, a japanese, to book one-day tour to Fuji and Hakone lake at the last minute, which turn out to be the worst tour I have ever been taken.

After nearly 3 hours sleeping on the bus, we were dropped off at a carpark half-way up to the mountain. We left the bus, wandered around the boring carpark, watched people took pictures with the billboard of Fuji san, and thought that we just stopped here for a break . Yeah, I forgot to tell you that ours turned out to be a non-english-speaking tour so we absolutely didn’t know what was going. Just when we tried to talk to our tour-guide by all means, we figured out that due to the bad traffic jam, we could only make it to the 3^rd station instead of the Kawaguchiko 5th Station where we could see the Mt. Fuji. So, welcome you to take picture with the billboard, do some sourvenir shopping in the small shop and leave the mountain. Nice.

The lunch in this trip was also voted for the worst meal during our Japan trip. I love japanese food and services so was really upset with the cold, boring meal we had and un-friendly staff of the restaurant.

After lunch, we arrived at Owakudani Valley where hydrogen sulfide and sulfulous acid gas steam out of the ground. Owakudani is the area around a crater created in the last eruption of Mount Hakone 3000 years ago. Besides sulfurous fumes, hot springs and hot rivers can be experienced on a walk around the area.

Happy girl on the way

Way to hot spring and onsen at Owakudani Valley

Some views from the valley

However, the real reason why we came to the volcano was not this natural phenomenon but some special black eggs – Kuro tamago - which are boiled in the naturally hot waters and said to prolong one's life by seven years.

Say hi to Mr. Kuro Tamago

Here is the famous egg

This is where they boil the eggs

Black outside but the inside stays white as normal

According to the sign near where they sell these eggs:

- If you eat one egg, you will increase your longevity by 7 years.

- If you eat two eggs, you will increase your longevity by 14 years.

So, how about eating 3 eggs and more??? Is 14 the limit?

The eggs are sold a half-dozen at a time (you can’t buy just one) for 500 Yen. That’s not so expensive and totally worth a try. So we bought a bag for 4 of us, 1 and a half eggs for one, believing that we can each live 10 years longer. We’re not greedy huh. :D

With curiousity, later I learnt more about these eggs. People just cook regular chicken eggs in the volcanic groundwater, which happens to be a murky gray color. After cooking the eggs in this boiling hot water, the eggshell turns very dark black color but don’t become poisonous from the sulfur. Instead, they have regenerative properties that add years to the lives of those who eat them. Interestingly, Kuro Tamago don’t stay black forever. After a couple of days, the shell turns yellow. The inside looks just like a regular hard-boiled egg, so I think that another mystery about these eggs is whether it is just a legend for tourism. Anyway, I choose to be on the pink side of the story. I have 10 years more to travel, that’s great.

Byebye Kuro tamago, we were sent to Hakonemachi boat pier for a cruise trip on Ashi lake (ashikono in japanese). I heard that we could see good view of Mt. Fuji from the cruise so really hoped that it could make up for the failed approach. And when we see the pirate ship that we were gonna take, we actually got excited.

Play around in line, waiting for our turn to get on board

Hakone fans

Our pirate ship

On board

Are you making fun at me, kid?

Typical Japanese architactures

This is a burn mark of mountain fire which people make for special festivals. I noticed it as I read about it on Conan (a japanese cartoon series) but can’t recall the story. Sorry guys.

I was really not lucky with the giant old guys. Just when we got on board, the clouds started to come and within 10 minutes, everything was covered in deep clouds, means no hope on seeing Fuji San. Well, I missed Everest in Nepal, and now I missed Fuji right under its foot. Great.

On the pier, getting back to bus