Cherry Blossom in Tokyo

Tokyo Day 1

Finally we have made our way to Tokyo after talking about it for a long time. We timed our visit for the cherry blossom season.

Airline: SIA $646.80 per pax

Hotel: Lodge Fujimien in Hakone ¥18900
          Sunroute Shinjuku in Tokyo ¥63490 for six nights

Exchange rate: S$100 to ¥64.6

After touching at Haneda airport at 5.15 am, we took the limousine bus to Shinjuku station and bought the Hakone free pass before boarding the train to Hakone.

At Hakone, we took the bus to Lodge Fujimien to drop off our bags and wash up before starting our trip proper. By the time we get out of the hotel to take the pirate ship, the first stop of our circuit, it was around 11am. We had spend so much time travelling!

And the weather was freaking cold! It was around five degree C there and I had to put on four layers of clothes, plus mittens, before I felt warm enough to venture out. We were the only ones on the streets that were dressed as if it was still winter!

The cheesy pirate design of the boat. 

The view of the lake from the boat. The flowers in Hakone had yet to bloom because spring was exceptionally cold this year. All around us were brown dried up sprigs and trees that were still in winter slumber. : (

The streets of Hakone Machi where we disembarked.

Stall selling grilled squid and corn. The smell was heavenly!

One of the residential homes there. Looks so picture perfect right. Just like those in the Japanese TV dramas I used to watch!

We chose a restaurant that looked like it had more customers than the others for lunch. Thank goodness we made a good guess and chose one that served food with a home cooked feel. 

I had the hot soba noodles with tempura- super comforting for a cold day. Love how the tempura bits are so crispy and fragrant when eaten with the noodles. Looking back, it was probably the best soup noodle dish that we had during the trip. 

The Wagyu beef set for Dear. It was a tad salty, though very nice, and goes very well with the rice. I wished the beef was less chewy.

We walked over to the Hakone check point attraction after lunch. And took photos of the views in the area.

Then we took the bus to the Hakone-Yumoto station to take the Tozan Train to Gora station for the cable car. Sadly, there were no scenery along the way.

The Hakone-Yumoto town.

The Hakone Torzan Train to Gora station.

And from Gora station, we took the cable car to Souzan station where we took the ropeway to Owakudani.

In the ropeway minutes before something dramatic was going to happen. I'm not afraid of heights but I always get very stiff in a cable car if you get what I mean.

It didn't help that I was getting worried about transport back to our hotel as it was getting late and transportation was going to stop in Hakone. In fact, we took the last ropeway ride at 5pm before it closed for the day. And we still have to take a bus back to the hotel after we reached our stop. So I was half worried about not having any buses to take.

BUT, something was going to happen.

In the middle of the ride, Dear said he wanted to take a picture together. Usually it just means flipping the camera around and taking a self-portrait together. But no, he went to the seats in front of us and place the camera on the top of the seats with the self timer on.

So I half screamed at him not to do that. My Olympus camera! What if it falls? The ropeway jerks from time to time!

He ignored me and walked back to me after positioning the camera. Suddenly he went down on his knees and took out a black box. Everything seemed to happen in an instant.

In a millisecond, my mind realised that THIS is the proposal.

He popped the question and I said yes. And then the proposal was over. I was still in a state of shock, and I think I only recovered from it a few weeks later. 

Yes, we have booked a flat but I was caught off guard by the timing of the proposal as I thought he will do it nearer to the completion of the house. 

But when Dear is in charge of things, something must screw up (although it's not really his fault this time, but still). We realise after the trip that the audio was not recorded in the video!!!! Turns out that we had to manually switch on this function. What the?!?!

The bling.

And the newly engaged couple happily made their way back to the hotel. 

The entrance of our room at the hotel.

The living area of our room, where we are also supposed to place our futons.

There's a balcony too (at the background of the picture).

The toilet. Most ryokans uses common toilets and bathrooms, and do not come with a toilet in the room. Those with these facilities in the room have a much higher room rate. I insisted that it was nonsense not to have at least a toilet in the room and that's how we chose this hotel. It was one of the most reasonably priced ones.

For we went down to dinner after unpacking our luggage.

Sashimi

Some tofu thingy that wasn't too bad.

And duck meat hot plate.

There were a couple more items from the dinner set that I'm lazy to post up as the meal was not like super fantastic. But it was good to order it as there wasn't any restaurants near by and the streets are very dark with nobody walking on it after the sun sets. 

We went to soak in the hotel's indoor hot spring after dinner. Super shiok after a day out in the cold and a tiring flight. My eyes were already closing when we got back in the room after the soak and it was only around 10pm!