Summer Travels
I'm back from my mini trip which was longer than I realised!
So before Tuesday last week I was having a lazy summer break. I stayed home a lot (until Pokemon Go cam out I guess) and played games and watched Netflix and Youtube.
But Dad and his girlfriend, Jan, came to Japan. Which ment a trip up to Tokyo for me! And me and Hiroshi had decided that since he only got a handful of days off for Obon and such, that we would take a few days for ourselves. Except we still hadn't decided where to go. And that would change what I needed to pack. I ended up ordering a little "small" suitcase that could act as hand luggage on a flight. Which was just as well! Since he decided on Okinawa at the last minute!
All packed! My boots took up about 1/4th of the case!
I took the shinkansen up to Tokyo because I like it and I can't be bothered to travel out of Osaka to fly to outside of Tokyo and travel in to Tokyo. We met up with my (sort-of) cousin in Shinjuku and had an awesome dinner.
I made them all do peace signs.
Next day we had a bus tour around Tokyo so they could experience as much of Tokyo as possible in one day. They really liked the tea ceremony and stone verson of teppanyaki. We finished up by going to the restaurant that inspired the fight scene in Kill Bill. Jan wasn't too impressed by the whole fished she was served, but Dad and I enjoyed our food.
I was impressed at how cheap it was considering we had a bottle of wine with dinner.
Thursday was supposed to be train hopping around Tokyo to see a few extra places, but they were kind of enthralled by the Shinjuku crossing and ended up spending about 2 hours in Starbucks watching it multiple times. We left Tokyo after a late lunch for the 2 and a half hour train ride to Kawaguchiko at the base of Mt. Fuji. Long naps were had. We were in seperate hotels, well I was in a hostel, so we parted ways for the night. Originally we were going to wait until Hiroshi arrived to go get dinner, but he'd taken the bus as it was cheaper and it'd got stuck in traffic and was going to arrive super late. I popped off to the MosBurger at the station and waited for him.
Friday was Mt. Fuji day! We got the bus to the 5th station and started to climb at about 9am.
Team photo!
Around 5th station was foggy to start with and once we got up past 6th station it cleared up a lot. Sun cream was applied liberally. It was pretty fair hiking to start with but after 7th station it got rocky. Like really rocky. As in climbing near vertical. It was very tough. There would be patches of stairs but for the most part it was picking out a route to climb on a narrow path. There were lots of rest stops on the way up with benches for little stops. Sometimes we had to just move to the side and take a sit for 5 minutes though.
Right near the top, the last 1km or so was super tough. The air was thin and it was windy as hell. Wind blowing volcanic ash in your face and eyes is not fun. But we made it! Hiroshi and I got some lunch which was expensive but well needed. Then it was the long walk down, which was made tough because of the soft ash. Needless to say there was lots of slipping. My ankle twinged a lot near the bottom, but thanks to ankle taping, Hiroshi letting me use his hiking poles and some stratigically take painkillers I got down without too much issue.
At the top and the route map.
The next morning we all took the train to Shinjuku where we said goodbye to Dad and Jan. Hiroshi and I dashed off to the airport, sent our hiking stuff home on a delayed delivery and flew off to Okinawa. We were super tired and I was bemused that the airline didn't seat us together. So I barely slept even though I wanted to.
He was very tired until I got some beer in him.
Sunday was spent taking the bus to Hiroshi's friends pizza place, we got some free beer and then a drive around to some tourist points for quick photos.
Very sunny and hot.
Monday was lazy shopping in the heat followed by night-snorkelling! It was pretty cool, but the tightness of the wetsuit and goggles gave me a headache. And Tuesday was back home! This time, we were allowed to choose our seats and we snagged the last two that were next to each other. Nap time was had. Nap time is much easier when you can steal some of the space of the person next to you.
It's two days after getting back I havce finally done all the washing and got around to cleaning my boots!
Left is somewhat rinsed. Right not so much.
So before Tuesday last week I was having a lazy summer break. I stayed home a lot (until Pokemon Go cam out I guess) and played games and watched Netflix and Youtube.
But Dad and his girlfriend, Jan, came to Japan. Which ment a trip up to Tokyo for me! And me and Hiroshi had decided that since he only got a handful of days off for Obon and such, that we would take a few days for ourselves. Except we still hadn't decided where to go. And that would change what I needed to pack. I ended up ordering a little "small" suitcase that could act as hand luggage on a flight. Which was just as well! Since he decided on Okinawa at the last minute!
All packed! My boots took up about 1/4th of the case!
I took the shinkansen up to Tokyo because I like it and I can't be bothered to travel out of Osaka to fly to outside of Tokyo and travel in to Tokyo. We met up with my (sort-of) cousin in Shinjuku and had an awesome dinner.
I made them all do peace signs.
Next day we had a bus tour around Tokyo so they could experience as much of Tokyo as possible in one day. They really liked the tea ceremony and stone verson of teppanyaki. We finished up by going to the restaurant that inspired the fight scene in Kill Bill. Jan wasn't too impressed by the whole fished she was served, but Dad and I enjoyed our food.
I was impressed at how cheap it was considering we had a bottle of wine with dinner.
Thursday was supposed to be train hopping around Tokyo to see a few extra places, but they were kind of enthralled by the Shinjuku crossing and ended up spending about 2 hours in Starbucks watching it multiple times. We left Tokyo after a late lunch for the 2 and a half hour train ride to Kawaguchiko at the base of Mt. Fuji. Long naps were had. We were in seperate hotels, well I was in a hostel, so we parted ways for the night. Originally we were going to wait until Hiroshi arrived to go get dinner, but he'd taken the bus as it was cheaper and it'd got stuck in traffic and was going to arrive super late. I popped off to the MosBurger at the station and waited for him.
Friday was Mt. Fuji day! We got the bus to the 5th station and started to climb at about 9am.
Team photo!
Around 5th station was foggy to start with and once we got up past 6th station it cleared up a lot. Sun cream was applied liberally. It was pretty fair hiking to start with but after 7th station it got rocky. Like really rocky. As in climbing near vertical. It was very tough. There would be patches of stairs but for the most part it was picking out a route to climb on a narrow path. There were lots of rest stops on the way up with benches for little stops. Sometimes we had to just move to the side and take a sit for 5 minutes though.
Right near the top, the last 1km or so was super tough. The air was thin and it was windy as hell. Wind blowing volcanic ash in your face and eyes is not fun. But we made it! Hiroshi and I got some lunch which was expensive but well needed. Then it was the long walk down, which was made tough because of the soft ash. Needless to say there was lots of slipping. My ankle twinged a lot near the bottom, but thanks to ankle taping, Hiroshi letting me use his hiking poles and some stratigically take painkillers I got down without too much issue.
At the top and the route map.
The next morning we all took the train to Shinjuku where we said goodbye to Dad and Jan. Hiroshi and I dashed off to the airport, sent our hiking stuff home on a delayed delivery and flew off to Okinawa. We were super tired and I was bemused that the airline didn't seat us together. So I barely slept even though I wanted to.
He was very tired until I got some beer in him.
Sunday was spent taking the bus to Hiroshi's friends pizza place, we got some free beer and then a drive around to some tourist points for quick photos.
Very sunny and hot.
Monday was lazy shopping in the heat followed by night-snorkelling! It was pretty cool, but the tightness of the wetsuit and goggles gave me a headache. And Tuesday was back home! This time, we were allowed to choose our seats and we snagged the last two that were next to each other. Nap time was had. Nap time is much easier when you can steal some of the space of the person next to you.
It's two days after getting back I havce finally done all the washing and got around to cleaning my boots!
Left is somewhat rinsed. Right not so much.