Hakone - Day 1

This was my first time visiting Hakone so I took a LOT of photos. This was also day nine of Mia's visit so we were both feeling pretty tired by this point. It's a beautiful place but the weather didn't really cooperate. I definitely want to go back for some better weather.

We took a very windy bus ride which left me feeling pretty queasy, this cute little kid did keep me distracted for a while though.

This was the best view we got of Mt. Fuji. The weather only got cloudier as the day went on and soon we couldn't see the mountain at all.

One of the items on every "must do while in Hakone" list is eating the famous black eggs. They're cooked in the hot springs and are meant to make you live for longer. I can't say they tasted any different to any other hard-boiled egg I've eaten but I like eggs so I enjoyed them!

There are many, many cable cars to be taken in Hakone. One of them is particularly high up and go across this quarry.

Mia bought many Totoro things while we were in Tokyo, including this little keyring and the big fluffy Pasmo/Suica travel card holder.

The Hakone open air museum is wonderful and I recommend you find time to visit if you're ever down there. Unfortunately this sculpture/climbing frame was closed because of the rain making it slippery, there were museum staff inside trying to dry it out with towels so the kids could play in it again. Even if it had been open, there was (much to mine and Mia's disappointment) an age restriction.

There was also an age restriction for this amazing woven play area. Kids get to have all the fun in this place!

This sculpture/tower/stained-glass thing of wonder was fantastic for shooting portraits in.

Thankfully there was no age limit for the outdoor footbath which was AMAZING after a days and days of so much walking.

Mia: I'm going to stick my foot in the orange
Me: ew, gross!... what does it feel like?
Mia: ...Like sticking your foot in an orange.

All the rain clouds may have obscured many of the views Hakone has to offer but we did at least get to enjoy this dramatic scene as we made our way to our hotel.

Kyoto - Day 3

The rainy weather that had been forecast showed up again on day three. Although it still wasn't really that bad. Certainly the worst weather we had while we were there but it didn't really slow us down much.

There were a couple of heavy downpours on our way up the mountain to visit the monkeys but also conveniently placed huts to shelter in until the worst had passed. By the time we had reached the top it had stopped raining and we were able to wander about and watch the monkeys eating. It was kind of of surreal, they really don't care about humans unless you make prolonged eye contact. I did that by mistake after taking the camera away from my face on a couple of occasions, but doing a kind of long slow blink made them calm down right away as they realised I wasn't threatening them. Interestingly, that is also "cat speak" for showing trust.

You can feed the monkeys by hand providing you're inside the cage-like hut. I quite liked seeing humans being the ones behind bars instead of the animals.

Mia loves lychees and I had already told her about all the lychee flavoured things I'd seen in the summer, we found a drink in a combini (that's the Japanese pronunciation for convenience store).

Finally heading back to Tokyo. We managed to cram a lot into three days. It's possible to take slower trains or even much cheaper overnight busses between Tokyo and Kyoto, but for a first time visit and when you're trying to fit a lot into the trip, the Shinkansen is the way to go.

Kyoto - Day 2

We made some new friends during our wanderings. These cats were all super chilled out, obviously used to people and didn't really care much about us taking photos and petting them. Some of the older ones avoided us more but the kittens enjoyed the attention.

The weather was wonderful and I got a little burnt. The forecast hadn't been great, cloudy and maybe even rain so I forgot to put on any sun block. We were treated to some fantastic blue skies and fluffy white clouds in the afternoon.

Finding food can be difficult sometimes as a vegetarian. I can't read Kanji yet so menus can be a bit of a nightmare. Can't go far wrong with pizza though! I was equally as happy as Mia is in the above photo. With only a few days as exceptions we were averaging 10km of walking or more a day so we were very much ready to refuel at this point.

This guy shouted down the street, I assume telling people to watch out, as he ran full pelt down the hill. I don't think he could have stopped if he'd needed to.