via The Longest Way 1.0 – one year walk/beard grow time lapse on Vimeo.

春夏秋冬 : 鎌倉から江ノ島へ・・・そして、どんぶり飯

I never got to see the monument in person, but it’s one of the first visuals that comes to mind when I think of Seoul, or Korea. It’s sad to think then when I get to visit the place in person, it’ll be the rebuilt version, not the original that had stood there for 600+ years.

Reflections of a foreigner in Seoul

It was our second time staying at an Onsen Ryokan in Hakone, after some research on Japanese travel websites, reading reviews and looking at amenities, we decided to make our reservation here at Yaeikan 結いの宿 – 弥栄館. It turned out to be a great decision as we had an excellent time there, highly recommended.

We made the reservation using the Japanese travel site Rakuten, total was around ¥23,000 a night for 2 people. In-Room breakfast and dinner included, as well as taxes and service charges. It’s a short 10-15min walk from Hakone-Yumoto station, and there are souvenir shops for Hakone omiyage along the way.

↑ Dinner spread. Typical traditional styled Ryokan dinner. All the dishes were very good, the staff asks you to choose a time slot for both breakfast and dinner when you check-in, and they come in and set it all up right in the room.

↑ After dinner, they cleaned up and laid out the futons for the night.

↑ … and breakfast. Again, it’s traditional style, no ham and eggs here! It’s not as much food as dinner, and I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t any natto. We enjoyed all the dishes just as we did at dinner.

↑ room was spacious, not as big as another Hakone Ryokan we stayed at, but definitely enough for 2-4 people.

↑ Lobby/Reception area. The staff first greets you here when you arrive, offering slippers (no shoes allowed in the building). They then carry all the luggage to the room while you check-in.

↑ Inside the “first come first serve” private bathroom. Apart from the separate male and female baths, each group of guests gets a free 30-min time slot to use the private “family” bathroom. But besides that, there’s another room that’s “first come first serve” with no time limit. We liked this one more since the private one was open to the outdoor, and it was a little too cold for that. Since we stay there on a weekday night, this room was available most of the time we were there.

I found this youtube video that helps show how to get to the ryokan from the Hakone Yumoto station. It basically starts where the station is, it’s the structure you see on the right, and if you pause at 00:41, Yaeikan is the dark building on the right. It looks like it was under exterior renovation when this video was shot.