20122012 Kowakudani

First stop of my Hakone trip. From where I was staying, took the train to Shinjuku and from Shinjuku, the express train which was aptly named Romancecar to appeal to those Japanese seeking a romantic getaway in Hakone. Had to get the tickets with a help of the friend a month in advance, and even then, it was difficult to get the first row seats which promised you the best view from the front.

Best seats I could get was on row 5. The train driver’s seat is on the upper deck of the train, therefore promising those on the first few rows views free from any obstructing driver. From my row, it was difficult to see anything, so had to settle for what was outside the window on my right. The train made a brief stop at Odawara before continuing on to Hakone Yumoto.

From Hakone Yumoto, had to switch to the Odakyu Tozan line, which means ‘climbing up the mountains’ literally. The train was much smaller, but to make up for it, was lucky to get onboard the train with a very interesting train driver cum announcer. He seemed to take much delight in amusing everyone on the train with his witty comments on the sights passing by us. There were two drivers on each end of the train, as the train had to stop at certain stops to do a ‘switch back’. As the mountains we were scaling were steep, railway tracks couldn’t be built around it, so they had to make it in a zig-zag fashion all the way up, so there was where the switchback and drivers came in. Each driver at each far end of the train took turns to drive at every switch back, because the train would be going in different directions uphill.

Got off at Kowakudani station because I wanted to see the Chisuji waterfall (Waterfall of a Thousand Streams) which was also a hot spring. It was a 15 minutes walk to the place, past some houses and uphill. Walked on and on but couldn’t find it at all so stopped to as some locals to point me in the correct direction. My one and only regret was bringing the wrong type of baggage along, those with wheels. It was a great hassle to carry it through the late fall foliage, which included dry branches and withering maple leaves, plus the road leading to it was a dirt track. The best part of it was passing a large huge field with lots of susuki grass which was absolutely beautiful. Japanese associates the susuki with time travel, though I’m not too sure how it works.

Finally, finally made it to the waterfall, and it was much smaller than I had expected it to be, given it’s name! There was a river running beside it too. The water of the waterfall is actually warm, so the stream rises out of the surface, giving it its nickname of ‘Little Hell’ in Japanese.

Crossed the bridge over the river running next to it, and was tempted to follow the track but some locals came down and when asked, said that it was going to take some time, so didn’t attempt it. Plus with the wrong type of baggage, I couldn’t go very far either.