Japan Day 4 - Changing the scenery

I laughed when Matt casually mentioned that we would have to wake up early to catch the bus... however all week i had been waking up at 5 so that wasn't really an issue.
Still my body decided to be extra cruel and woke me up at 4.... oh well.

But yes Today was the final day in Tokyo, we were heading to our first Ryonkan (hot spring hotel) of this trip. Right at the base of Mount Fuji.

So we got up, cleaned up and made sure we left nothing behind before saying farewell to Bram (whom we will meet up with later) and catching our 3ish hour bus at Tokyo Station.

Now waking up at four has some interesting side effects... one being ability to nod off on the bus... I couldn't stay awake to save my life but I also couldn't sleep because of lack of comfort.
Still the ride was beautiful and we arrived a few hours before chec in time.

After wandering around we found a tempura place and i think we all exclaimed how good everything was with everything we tried. It wasn't even terribly expensive and i managed to eat my whole plate of food (which i did partially because i worry that the ryokan dinner will be too odd for me to eat)

After we were done we were able to check in and do the most important thing you can do when going into a hot spring hotel... take a bath.

Verdict is..... it's nice...
I kind of exprected it to get hotter... but it was enjoyable.

After the bath we chilled till dinner which was... well a challenge.
Traditional Ryokan meals focus a lot of texture more then taste and i am the pickiest eater you have probably ever met.
I did try some new stuff... crab for one but for the most part i just ate what i figured i could stomach.
Apparently breakfast tomorrow should be an adventure as well.

We are staying here another night (which actually is a bit sad... it's nice to see mount Fuji but at the same time everything in the area is super expensive and other then that food place it hasn't been worth it... this hotel feels like it's trying so hard but it's just not what i expected and i would have rather had the extra day in Kyoto.
Still it's all good and tomorrow should be neat to walk around and in the end at least i wont be spending money... so that's good!

Alright... till tomorrow!