So...I have a girlfriend now.
It's been years since I had an actual girlfriend. And there I was saying that I don't want a Japanese girlfriend because of (stereotype, stereotype, and stereotype). But, I found one that makes me eat my words.
8.12.2010
8.10.2010
Mt. Fuji
The climb to Mt. Fuji took place a week after Yakushima. It was quite possibly the most physically excruciating experience of my life. With my fat ass and slow pace, it was 6 hours of pain going up and 4 hours of more painful pain going down.
The adventure started with Sara, Tuan, Michelle, and Leigh. We met up with Mayumi, Tuan's girlfriend, at Fukuoka Airport, from where we departed to Haneda. We crashed at a capsule hotel for the night, then met up with Hiromi, Michelle's friend, at Shinjuku, then hopped on a bus towards Kawaguchiko in Shizuoka-ken. We walked around and wandered the majority of the day before hopping on the last bus towards Fuji. We started our hike at around 11pm from the 5th station.
Fuji has a total of 9 stops: 8 stations and the summit. We started halfway and reached the top just in time for the sunrise. During the way up, I was getting week from the altitude change. I was so tired, that when I reached the top, I napped for a good 2-3 hours.
The way down was tougher than the way up, in my opinion. Sure, it was faster, but it was very steep and 90% of the way was filled with soft sand. So basically, if you were like me and didn't wear ankle covers, rocks entered your shoes and the soft sand made it very easy for your feet to rub against the inner part of your shoes. Needless to say, I got blisters. Lots of them.
After the climb, we spent about 3 hours on various bus routes trying to find our way to our hotel in Hakone, where we basically crashed immediately. The next day we spent walking around town and finally heading back to Haneda, then Fukuoka, then back home.
Some highlights taken from my Flickr.
The adventure started with Sara, Tuan, Michelle, and Leigh. We met up with Mayumi, Tuan's girlfriend, at Fukuoka Airport, from where we departed to Haneda. We crashed at a capsule hotel for the night, then met up with Hiromi, Michelle's friend, at Shinjuku, then hopped on a bus towards Kawaguchiko in Shizuoka-ken. We walked around and wandered the majority of the day before hopping on the last bus towards Fuji. We started our hike at around 11pm from the 5th station.
Fuji has a total of 9 stops: 8 stations and the summit. We started halfway and reached the top just in time for the sunrise. During the way up, I was getting week from the altitude change. I was so tired, that when I reached the top, I napped for a good 2-3 hours.
The way down was tougher than the way up, in my opinion. Sure, it was faster, but it was very steep and 90% of the way was filled with soft sand. So basically, if you were like me and didn't wear ankle covers, rocks entered your shoes and the soft sand made it very easy for your feet to rub against the inner part of your shoes. Needless to say, I got blisters. Lots of them.
After the climb, we spent about 3 hours on various bus routes trying to find our way to our hotel in Hakone, where we basically crashed immediately. The next day we spent walking around town and finally heading back to Haneda, then Fukuoka, then back home.
Some highlights taken from my Flickr.
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