Hotel New Central Fuji

... about the "black eggs". Supposedly if you eat a black egg which had been cooked in the sulfur springs you will have 7 years added to your life span. So Jeremy and I said that sounded great. The eggs are put into little baskets and dropped into the sulfur springs to boil. Talk about stink - the springs were awful, and the eggs made it worse. Anyway, when they come out the shells are totally black ...

... had baths with views of Mount Fuji- oh yea, we managed to get one of the 100/365 days when you can get a clear view of the Fuje- but it also had a proper outdoor bit with a bubbly spa pool, hot lake pool, ceramic bathtub pool and bamboo bath pool- spoilt for choice really and absolutely gorgeous after a long day hiking! We also got their taster dinner one ...

... to miejsce gdzie można przekonać się, że wulkan wciąż tętni życiem. Właśnie stąd wypływają gorące źródła. Odór jest niesamowity, w powietrzu wyraźnie czuć zapach siarki. U ujścia źródeł, w scenerii spowitej parującym gorącym powietrzem wydobywającym się gór wulkanicznych, można skosztować gotowanego jajka. Okazuje się, że jest to ogromna ...

Meera and I successfully summitted Mt Fuji sometime around 7am this morning. We probably should have been able to see what our adventure would entail when we were trying to get tickets. To be on the safe side, we had a Japanese friend book the tickets and when she couldn't reserve them on the website, she called and found out that there were two seats left but on separate buses on the last departure from Tokyo. The returns seats seemed unavailable for anything after ...

... On the way up to the shrine there were various lion type animals that looked like they were symbols of various Asian countries. On the way up to the shrine there were two gongs.... one small one and HUGE one. Chrystal tried to ring both of course, but the big one was tethered so it couldn't reach. Chrystal however was successful ...

... onsen as inconspicuously as possible. Very unfortunately, I somehow managed to become lost inside the changing room, attracting lots of attention whilst I desperately tried to locate the exit. I eventually asked a nearby family but they didn’t understand me and directed me to the toilet instead. After a while they finally realised what I was asking, and showed me the exit, but not before they kindly tied my Kimono up properly for me :) We were feeling pretty exhausted ...

After doing absolutely nothing last night (well I did nothing - the other two went to the Tokyo Tower. It was "orange" and the view was "lighty" according to them). We made the long bus trip to the Fuji five lakes area for our brief, one-night, visit to Mount Fuji. After arriving at the excellent hostel (they even picked us up from the station for free) and fixing the broken patio door (which, incidentally, was not broken until Kirill used it) we headed out for ...

Going the summit of Mt. Fuji:

Here is the itinerary of how we did it.

7 am : Took a train from "fujiyoshida" to "kawaguchiko" station to pick up a rental car
10am: Had a breakfast at skylark, a local family restaurant near the hotel.
11am: Fredrik drove on the fuji Subaru line (a 18 mile long toll (2,300 yen) road) to the fuji 5th station.
12:00pm: Arriving the 5th station, stayed there for 1 hr for ...

... An entire small fish, salted, to be eaten like corn on the cob, though one teacher chose to start by biting off the entire head! Wow! Then came the chicken...first, nothing but chicken skin roasted on a skewer...mmm! Haha...Truly devine, in comparison with what followed...I picked up a skewer that arrived shorlty after, only to find it was several 5cm-long pieces of roasted chicken cartilage. I'd read and heard about this izakaya snack, but had ...

... I WILL see that sunrise), but on the peak there are many shops; and if you go at the right time of year you can even send a postcard to all your friends from the famous post office (yes, at the peak). Theres always the crater, or even the functioning weather station that warns of all major typhoons and more across Japan. Also if you search hard enough I've heard it's possible to find a nice burn brand for the "tsue" (pilgram stick), although I ...