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As we set off in the morning, we had already accepted the fact that today was going to be a very similar day to today, if not worse, weather wise. It was already raining as we boarded the Shinkansen bound for Odawara. We changed trains at Hakone Yamoto, and we met a woman from Vancouver, Helen, and a young Japanese woman (I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten her name). Helen hosted the girl on an exchange in Vancouver, and was over in Japan for a few weeks for a visit. Helen is a pre-school teacher, so instantly she was a hit with Charlotte and Angela, and both ladies had the patience of Saints. We took the train together up the side of the cliff from Hakone Yamoto to the cable car. Immediately we noticed (mainly due to the fact that we were actually sitting down on the train) that there were far less crowds around than there were yesterday. We initially assumed it was because of the rain, but we later found out that it was a 3 day Japanese national holiday on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Changed onto the cable car, and half way up the hill we parted ways with Helen and the exchange student, as they had to go to find their Ryokan. As we got off the cablecar and onto the ropeway, the conditions were identical to yesterday. Fog too thick to even be able to tell we were off the ground. As we went up and over the lip of the volcano we had a small patch of visibility where the fog had broken, and we could see the yellow rivers of sulphur on the ground. I snapped the camera away madly thinking that the visibility wouldn't last. We got to the first stop on the ropeway, and instead of staying on as we did yesterday we got off. As we were standing at the lookout staring at the cloud, we sensed the prescence of the only natural enemy of fog: wind. The breeze started to blow, and slowly but surely the fog cleared. For the first time in Hakone, we actually had scenery to look at. As the fog cleared, in front of us the ridge of the volcano extended three or four hundred meters vertically above us. Pillars of gas rose from all points up the side of the ridge. We walked up the trail to the sulphur pools where the black eggs are cooked and sold. As we got closer to the pools the sulpherous smell was pretty overpowering. But I was happy to be at least able to see where we were going today, as yesterday we didn't even know this area existed because it was completely shrouded in fog. When we got up there, I took many more photos and returned to Veronica and Angela, who were waiting upwind of the sulphur pools to avoid the majority of the smell. And it was insanely strong. To get around to one of the observation points, we had to walk along a path which was completely cloaked in sulphurous gas. I was smelling it for the next hour or so. I'm not sure whether the smell was in my clothes or embedded in my nose, but it is pretty pungent. 500 yen for 5 black eggs. What the hell was I going to do with 5 eggs??? I only wanted to try one. Just then, who should we run into but Helen and her student. They had bought a packet of the eggs, and they had one left. Perfect. With some trepidation, I cracked the smelly thing open and gingerly tried it. Basically, although it had a slightly strange smell to it, it tasted no different to a boiled egg. I tried to convince Charlotte to try it, but she wasn't brave enough. I tried to convince Angela to try it, and once she did I didn't get any more of the egg. She wanted me to buy more black eggs so she could keep eating! I'm just afraid that she wont eat eggs now unless they come in black shells. So we got back onto the ropeway, and went down the hill to Lake Ashi, which is far more beatiful when you can actually see it. By this time the fog had completely cleared, with the exception of a mass of cloud surrounding Mt Fuji. This was a fairly big dissapointment, as this would have made the day perfect, but alas for the whole day Fuji-San remained shrouded in cloud. I guess I can't complain too much though, as we got to see the rest of the scenery with no obstructions, which is much more than I can say for yesterday. After a few more photos around the now comparitively deserted township of Hakone Machi. The difference between yesterday and today, crowd wise, was amazing. Today was a far more pleasant day. We had ice cream at the ice cream shop with the weird flavours. I paid closer attention to the flavours on offer today (and actually photographed them). They consisted of: Soy Bean, Black Sesame, Soy Milk, Hokkaido Melon, Chinese Annnin (whatever that is???), Strawberry, Ogura, Caramel, Wasabe, Chestnut, Sweet Melon, Brown Rice, Blueberry and Yogurt, Cappuccino, Grape, Peanut, Greentea, Sweet Potato, Vanilla, pineapple, Purple Potato, Orange, Banana, Vanilla and Chocolate swirl, Vanilla and Strawberry swirl. Again, after the icecream we said goodbye to Helen and her student for the final time, and boarded a bus around to the next Hakone port. After spending a short time there, as daylight was quickly getting away from us, we decided to get on another boat and head back to our original departure point. There was still a slim glimmer of hope that Fuji would be visible, but as we came around the peninsula all that was visible in Fuji's direction was a mass of cloud. Ah well, can't win them all. We followed our original travel plan in reverse to return to Shin-Yokohama: Galleon, Ropeway, Cablecar, Train, Train and finally Shinkansen, all of which we got seats on. We got takeaway from the tempura restaurant, and returned to the hotel. I really like tempura prawns. A lot. Tomorrow morning we get up early to head to Takayama for 2 nights. This will be the 2nd last change of hotels on this trip. After Takayama, we are heading to Kyoto for 3 nights, before getting on a plane and heading home.
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