HakoNEH? Part II

After the museum, we took the cute little red train up the mountain even further to the town of Gora. There we transfered to a little shuttle train that ran to the top of the mountain where we boarded a cable car. Although out in the mountains and off of the peak tourist season, there was by no means a dearth of people. We were packed into our little swinging car with as many people as possible so that not everyone was completely sitting on a bench. No matter, the view was spectacular. Travelling through hakone was one of the few times in Japan that I haven't been completely surrounded by concrete. Our train rides and now the cable car offered a glimpse of Japan that hadn't been turned into the neverending sea of concrete that stretches continuously from Tokyo to Himeji. Real trees, not overly pruned replicas of trees, and actual forests stretched out before us. Pretty soon however, the cabin started to reak like rotten eggs. Below us, the formerly dense forest of cedars and bamboo groves disappeared and was replaced with a landscape of tan and yellow rock, hissing sulfurous gases into the air.
Our gondola swung into the docking bay at the top of what could only be one of Japan's first tourist traps. We soon ran into masses of people, not just deboarding from the gondolas, but streaming out from the parking lot filled with big tourist buses. Everyone was going to the same place. We were swept up in the stream of people and made it to the source. A short walk up the mountain a little path ran around some of the more impressive steaming pools of geothermally heated stinkpots. And this is where people were congregating.
People were engaged in two activities, buying black eggs hardcooked in the sulfur springs, and having their picture taken. Often, the latter involved the display of having successfully completed the former. We took part in both. Our purchase of half a dozen black eggs turned out to be brilliant. Although we didn't eat any of them at the time, they travelled excellently and turned out to be the perfect thing for a healthy snack while travelling.

Black eggs in hand, we reboarded the gondola and swung out past the sulfur springs and on to yet more sights!