Fuji Calm Fujiyoshida

... br>While we were out Wendy had been in touch with JAL and Maria's luggage was finally on its way to Tokyo. We were told it had been unable to leave Beijing due to the bad weather brought on by a faux pas from the Beijing Weather Modification Office (although we discovered later it had inadvertently been sent to Kuala Lumpur - thanks Air China!). So, only two days late - it arrived by courier at around 11pm. Yay.

... weird, but once you crack them they just look a regular old hard boiled egg. They give you some salt but no pepper!
After that we took a cruise on Lake Ashi which is a lake made by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. It was a little rough on the lake due to a windy day so we rode in the enlosed part of the boat.
Lunch was at a local restaurant and we tried some interesting foods ...

... which consisted of a variety of small soups, fish, sushi and rice dishes all with unique tastes, textures and colours, a great place to experience some traditional eats and relaxation.

Only there for a short time but it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and a key souvenir spot! I've never seen so many cartoon fuji-chan souvenirs! Endless!

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After arriving at the train station I purchased a ticket for the "Retro" bus which takes you to several stops all around the lake. They call it a Retro Bus because it is either a reconditioned bus from long ago or it is modeled after a 1940ish tour bus. It was pretty cool looking. I rode the bus until it came to the last stop all the way on the north side of the lake. I leisurely walked around taking ...

Five million hours and as many trains later, we finally arrived at dusk in the beautiful Hakone National Park (the site of Mount Fuji) where after taking in the breathtaking scenery we caught the local bus up the steep road to our guesthouse. Following the ‘no shoes inside’ rule, we were proudly given our guesthouse slippers, and shown our room: a traditional Japanese ryokan (beds = Tatami mats on the floor with a futon on top, surprisingly comfortable) with ...

... is that the guests wear their traditional yukatas (or kimino) to dinner and although I felt very tourist-y doing so, it was part of the experience and I just followed through with it. (Next time I must remember to wear shorts underneath because at times the robe can be quite ...

... br>13:30pm: Departed the 5th station, began climbing.
18:00pm: Arrived at the “goraiko-kan” , the last and highest mountain hut on the 8.5th station (along the yoshidaguchi trail).
19:00pm: Dinner (curry and rice)
20:00pm: Went to bed.

The Folloing Day

2:30am : Woke up
3 am: Left the mountain hut and began climbing to the top
5:30 am: Arrived at the top, wait for the ...

... anything we've done on this trip and apparently even in the Summer climbing months of July and August the temperature at the top is only 5C, plus it's covered with snow and we don't have any crampons! Boy it's big though. We arrived to cloud and rain and wandered about and then slowly the clouds have cleared and the peak ...

... limited express train heading in the correct direction saying "the worst thing that can happen is we just get off at the next station and come back." Unfortunately for us we discovered as the train travelled that it would not be stopping at Otsuki, instead the next station was Kofu. We were unaware how far away Kofu was but travelling in the darkness made it seem like a long journey. Fortunately I spied some Otsuki signs out of the train window so I knew we had passed it ...

... to be done. So, at the top of Fuji are a few vending machines along with several huts with warm places to sit and have some udon and soba. Along the hike there were places to get your stick stamped if you paid 200 yen...so I did get a few along the way but I skipped a few cause I didn't care at that point. I made it to the top at 7 a.m. and we headed down at 8 a.m. and made it to the bottom at like 1 p.m. We ...