Hakone Trip Day 1

We bought our train tickets to Hakone the previous day at Shinjuku train station. There's 2 types of services via the Odakyu Railway, one is by the "Romance Car" which is limited express that takes about 85 minutes from Shinjuku to Hakone costing about 2080 yen per person. The other type is the slower express train which costs 1190 yen per person but longer traveling time of approximate 2hrs and requires a transfer at Odawara Station. We got the Hakone Free Pass that includes a round trip to Hakone by Odakyu Train via the slower express train (you can top up for the limited express train if you want to save time) which also allows us to unlimited use of selected trains, cable cars, ropeways, boats and buses in the Hakone area. The tickets cost 5000 yen per person for 2 days and 5500 yen for 3 days, depending on how long your stay is in Hakone. There is also a timetable of each train so you can plan your time and journey.

Odakyu Train Station

We set off from Shinjuku and got off at Odakyu to explore around. The first stop is the Odawara Castle which is around 20 mins walk from the station and is very easy to find with all the signage along the way. The journey to the castle was nice and enjoyable as we immerse ourselves in the quiet and peacefulness of the small town while enjoying the nice scenery along the way.

Odawara Castle

The Odawara Castle is a three-tiered, four storey castle which dates back from 1416 but was rebuilt in 1960. You can buy tickets to go into the castle but we skipped that and just lingered around the outside and taking pictures of the nice scenery.

After which we then walked back to the station to get some food to fill up our stomach! There are many stores in the station selling titbits and souvenirs.

Tempura Udon

Tempura Soba

We found this little shop inside the train station and went in. They had hot and cold noodles and also rice to choose from. The food was quite alright and filling for our empty stomach. After which we then continued our journey to Gora Station.

The nice scenery along the train tracks

Gora Train Station

Gyoza-Centre

 We took a walk down from Gora train station to this gyoza centre which we found about online. It was a 20 mins walk from the station along the train tracks and we were accompanied by great scenery along the way. This place is famous for its gyozas which comes in many different interesting varieties.

Gyoza Menu

Crab meat Gyoza

Squid Gyoza

Crab meat, squid and gingko fillings gyozas

After the meal, we then head back to the station and waited for the cable car to other areas in Hakone.

Hakone Tozan Cable car

We took the cable car all the way to the last staion, Sounzan Station and changed to the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani, a volcanic region.

 

"Owakudani is located on the northern slope of Mt Kamiyama, which is the highest peak of the Hakone Volcano. It is an explosion crater created by a large-scale phreatic explosion about 3000 years ago. The crater still discharges fumarolic gas containing poisonous hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide. The bedrock in the area is very fragile due to this fumarolic activity having caused numerous landslides in the past." - Extracted from one of the signboards around the area.

We also bought the famous black egg which has an legend of adding 7 years to one's life. These eggs are cooked in naturally hot water whereby the shells are blackened by the sulfur. It taste just like normal hard boiled eggs!

After exploring and buying some snacks and souvenirs in the area, we then continued the ropeway to our hotel. We got down at Togendai station and took the Hakone Tozan Bus that drops us right in front of our hotel. All these transports are inclusive in our Free Pass ticket which is highly advisable to purchase!

To know more about how the Hakone Tozan Bus works and also to download the map of the bus route, you can visit this website: www.hakone-tozanbus.co.jp/english/pdf/intro.pdf. This bus service is so convenient and brings you around the whole Hakone area.

Palace Hakone Hotel

View from the entrance of our hotel

Inside the room which was clean and spacious!

View from our room window

Details of the hotel:

Palace Hakone Hotel 

 1245, Sengokuhara, Hakone-machi
Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Pref, 250-0631
Phone: 81-460-84-8501 Facsimile: 81-460-84-8500
Check-In: 2:00 p.m. / Check-Out: 12:00 noon

After checking in and a short rest, we then took the bus back to Togendai station and hopped onto the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise which was also included in our free pass. The cruise will travel from Togendai port to Hakone-machi port, along the Lake Ashi where you can enjoy wonderful mountain-ringed scenery! The ride was around 30mins and you can either enjoy your view standing at the deck or seated within the cabins.

After getting off the cruise, almost all the shops were already closed (90% of the stores closes at 6pm in Hakone)! So we took the bus around to find for food and also getting lost along the way. Finally after close to 1hr of searching and getting help from a kind soul, we finally found a restaurant which was still open!!

Menu

Roasted Pork Meat

Sashimi

Beef mixed rice set

The restaurant had a large variety of food available and the menu is written in Japanese, English and Chinese, making it easy for tourist to order. The food was delicious and we cleaned all our sets out! Really loved the food and ambiance of the restaurant and would definitely come back here again if I were to visit Hakone!

Details of the restaurant:

Ginnoho 箱根・仙石原

817 Sengokuhara, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo District,

Kanagawa Prefecture 250-0631, Japan

Tel: +81 460-84-4158

Opening Hours: 11am - 3pm; 5.30pm - 9pm

Closed on Wednesday

URL: www.hakone-hoshino.jp

After filling our stomach and having a good rest at the restaurant, we then make our way back to the hotel via the Hakone Tozan Bus service which was about 15 mins walk from the restaurant. We then finally end off the day with a good outdoor onsen and hot soju in the hotel!

Will continue to update the rest of my trip in the next few posts! Do stay tune! Xoxo (:

Warakuya Japanese Restaurant - Johor Bahru

Was introduced by my friend to this Japanese restaurant while we were planning for a day trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It was highly recommended by my friend after their visit to this restaurant a few weeks back so we decided to try it out ourselves. We went into JB in the afternoon and went to shop around first before heading to the restaurant at 6.30pm for dinner.

This is how the shop front looks like and the place was crowded when we reached there. Quite a number of people was already waiting outside and lucky we made a reservation beforehand as advised by my friend as they previously waited for quite some time before having a table. As there was quite a few of us, we made a reservation for a private room so that we can enjoy our meal and laugh as loud as we wanted!

The restaurant is located by the main road and has a very big signboard outside, so it's quite easy to spot. Sorry for the bad lighting in this picture as this was taken with my phone cause my camera died on me :(

 All their pictures looks so nice making it so hard to resist!! Everything looks so nice and delicious we can't decide on what to order. And what's worse, they have lots of variety to choose from. There's individual items, ramen sets, bento sets and of course sashimi sets.

Salmon Belly Shio Yaki - RM 14.90

One of our favorite dish that we will always order in a Japanese restaurant is this Grilled Salmon Belly. We are a major lover of salmon and the salmon belly and head meat are the most delicious parts as it is tender and juicy, which is why we always order both! The salmon was fresh but it was a bit too greasy.

Shark Fin Chawanmushi - RM 8.90

My must order item whenever I am having Japanese cuisine is this little baby - Chawanmushi! I love eggs, especially steamed eggs! It didn't tasted much different from the normal ones in my opinion.

Our Sashimi Set topped with one serving of sea urchin. We ordered a few different type of fish and they put them together into this one big plate. This dish is so refreshing as they are all soo fresh. We had this finished as soon as it was served!

Top: Kani Karrage Maki (Soft Shell Crab) - RM 19.90, Bottom: Cheese King Prawn Maki - RM 23.90

Next up for some more filling dishes! This 2 dish was one of the few recommended items on menu and the pictures just made it even harder to say no, so we ordered both. Both tasted really nice but if I could only choose one, I would pick the Cheese King Prawn Maki.

Top left to down: Grilled Wagyu Beef - RM 129, Fried Chicken with Tartar Sauce - RM 13.90, Barbeque Squid - RM 19.90.

The Wagyu Beef was superb!! It was really juicy and totally melts within your mouth. It was kinda small but it was the most expensive dish of all that we ordered. (We did not noticed the price when ordering as we were so attracted by all the pictures and was totally shocked when we saw the bill!!!)

 We ordered some other side dishes along the way to go with our sakes before leaving the restaurant close to 3.5 hours later. Overall, the food here is pretty good and the service was excellent even though they had a full house. The dishes are a bit pricey but I would still come back again as the variety here is really amazing and the overall experience was great! If you are looking for good quality and nice ambiance Japanese restaurant, do try this one out. But do remember to make a reservation to avoid long waiting time.

Warakuya Japanese Restaurant (和乐屋日本料理)

43 Jalan Kuning 2, 

Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru

Johor, Malaysia
Tel: +60 07-332 0789 / +60 016-777 8234

Business hours: Monday to Sundays, 11.30am - 11pm