Day 7 - Mt Fuji, here we come!

Posted on May 22, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Stupidity and randomness, Japan, Holidays, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! |

Today was the day of travel. Once again, we packed up all of our belongings into our suitcases and lugged them over gravel, sand, cobblestone and side walks to the train station. Carrying them upstairs was a particular joy that is better left forgotten.

The two and a half hour train ride to Mishima Station passed rather uneventfully as we read and listened to music. Our luggage was safely stowed away leaving us plenty of room in the mostly empty compartment.

On arrival at Mishima, we were meant to catch a bus to Kawaguchiko Station. After asking for a help (a few times) we were directed to the ticketing agent who advised us that it is, in fact, 2 buses. The first of which was TINY. I can’t emphasise how small this bus was! Picture a regular city bus. Now cut it in half lengthwise. Now cut a third off the back.

To top it all off, there was nowhere to stow our bags, so they sat in the aisle and people were forced to climb over them to exit the bus.

*Sidenote* you enter Japanese buses from the back door and exit through the front door, paying as you get off.

After about an hour and a half on this bus, we started to worry. I got up to ask the bus driver if we had missed our stop and he informed me that it was the LAST stop. Joy.

Upon exiting the bus, we found that both of our suitcases couldn’t fit between the driver and the seats. Because neither Sandy, nor I, know the meaning of “packing light” we couldn’t lift them over the coin machine. Thankfully, the bus driver was very kind and not only helped us lift them over; he also carried them to our connecting bus for us. Thank you nameless, Japanese bus driver!!

Another hour of travel up and up the mountainous region had us exhausted and COLD. We hadn’t realized how very cold Fuji would be. Sandy, having just come from Montreal in winter was barely phased but my now Australian blood (I have definitely acclimatized) froze.

Finally arriving at Kawaguchicko Station we called for the pick up service (Thank you K’s!) and made it safely to the next hostel where we found our room to be on the third floor, no lift. Buh…

One herniated disc later, we went in search of food. We asked a bloke in the common room where to go for dinner and he gave us directions to the main strip where we found the best Indian restaurant. The food was abundant, delicious and the nan was the size of my head! We had to have pictures…

 

Monster Nan

Retuning to the hostel with full bellies and shattered from a full day of travel we collapsed in the common room to have a chat with the bloke responsible for feeding us that night.

Harrry.

Harry is from Jersey (U.K.) and was on the last leg of a 6 month holiday around the world. Japan was his last stop after Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand among other places. He was full of great travel stories and we chatted away. Eventually, Gideon joined us.

 

Gideon

Gideon is originally from the UK but has lived in Japan nigh on ten years or so and teaches English north of Tokyo. A freelance photographer as well, he travels whenever he has the opportunity. His knowledge of Japan and his ability to read a little kanji made him a superhero in our book!

We agreed for the four of us to meet the next day for cave tours around Fuji-san.

Sleep came fast and hard that night.

[Post to Twitter] Tweet This

Comments

One Response to “Day 7 - Mt Fuji, here we come!”

  1. Eric on October 27th, 2008 1:15 am

    tours hostel…

    I’m going to look into this and let you know what I find….

Leave a Reply