Hakone

Our first stop was the Open-air museum in Hakone, one of the sculptures was particularly captivating. A head of a woman with tears flowing into a pool and leaves for hair. It was definitely a unique museum featuring a lot of avant-garde and interactive art. We had some vegan curry while we traded life stories and went off to our next stop.

We went to Owakudani, a volcano with sulfur mines, the smell was quite strong. Here, the black boiled eggs are very famous souvenirs. Unfortunately, I couldn't be bothered to try it out. The wind here was sharp and icey, we couldn't stay too long outside being exposed to nature.

Lastly, we went to an onsen to end the day. It was my first time having an onsen all to myself as there was nobody at all at that time. I swam around like a child and stayed extra long just to savor the moment. Afterwards, we headed back to meet with our Couchsurfing host, Eliska. Eliska is from Slovakia, and she is just about the kindest person I have ever met. She was very cheerful and friendly from the get-go. We had some more vegetarian Indian food and talked for a longtime before she took us back to her place so that we could rest.Read more