It was our last day with Fred and Lisa so we exchanged contact info and wished each other luck for the rest of our holidays. Fred and Lisa had decided to take our advice in Kyoto and go to Himegi on Lisa’s birthday. She said it was the highlight of her trip.

Glad to oblige!

Friends in Japan (Taken by what I think was a crossing guard)

Funnily enough, Sandy and I had seen a street sign that cracked us up on the way back from Himegi. We liked it so much we took a picture. It turned out that F&L had seen the same sign and taken a photo too! Great minds and all….

Said sign

We popped into the herb museum where Sandy got a beautiful bottle of saki with a cherry blossom in the bottom of the bottle. (I’m still kicking myself for not getting one!) and headed to the train station with Gideon, who was accompanying us back to Tokyo.

In Shinjuku, we parted way and made plans to meet up in Ueno Park for Sakura (Cherry Blossom Festival) and picture taking.

Sandy and I continued to Ryokan Kangetsu, our next (and last) stop of the holiday. Our room was stunning It was HUGE. Much bigger than any room we’d been in so far. There was a mural of My Fuji along one wall, two really comfy looking futons on tatami mats, a table, TV, fridge, tea service complete with a thermos of hot water and plenty of storage for our luggage (which we’d had to heft up the narrowest staircase EVER – another third floor room.)

Our room in Kangetsu

We set off again almost right away looking for food and found a restaurant called “Mario’s” (On the east side of Japan so… East side Mario’s? Eh bada-boom bada-bing)

It was pretty late by the time we left Mario’s (Japanese restaurant staff are SO friendly and love to chat with tourists.) that we settled in for the night marvelling over the noises that the coffeepot made (it was talking!) and Sandy desperately trying to get any TV channel that wasn’t porn.

When we had just about drifted off, I felt the floor shake. I brushed it off ad nothing and started to doze again when it shook again ..HARD.

“What are you doing?” I aksed Sandy

“Cause I can make the whole building shake!” She replied sarcastically.

This is when we realized it was an earthquake! The whole building proceeded to rock and roll queasily and we were so shocked that neither of us got up to stand in the doorway. (Proper procedure as explained in the hotel manual.)

Eventually, the shaking subsided and we both went to sleep again, if a little uneasy.

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Day 10 - Mt Fuji sunsets and blueberry tea

Posted on June 13, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, Things that give me inspiration, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

The morning of our 10^th day in Japan, I looked out the window to our balcony and had a pleasant surprise. It was snowing! Now, I know this really isn’t a big deal to most people, but I hadn’t seen snow in four years and hadn’t realized how much I missed it until then.

It had snowed most of the night and there was an accumulation on the tree branches and roofs. I quickly took some pictures to compliment the ones I had taken the day before and got some nice “Before” and ‘After” shots of the view from our room.

Before

After

On our way out, we met some new people who had arrived the night before. Haiden (2) and his parents. I swiftly fell in love with the half French half Dutch English speaking boy from Spain. (Now there’s a mouthful!) I spent a while chatting to his mother in French (something I never expected to do in Japan) before Sandy and I took to the streets.

Haiden

The snow had turned to rain and everything was getting decidedly slushy so we decided to go to the nearby Gem Museum on Gideon recommendation. It was well worth it and Sandy and I stocked up on some more souvenirs before heading around the lake to Mt Kachi Kachi.

Gem Museum

We boarded the rope car that takes you up the side of the Mountain and ascended into the clouds…literally. It had stopped raining but the clouds had remained lying very low around the peaks of the mountains surrounding the lake.

Mt Kachi Kachi

We met a couple from Hawaii on their honeymoon and took turns taking pictures of each other through the clouds.

The view on top

Stairway to Heaven?

At the top of Mt Kachi Kachi is a bell mounted in a frame the shape of a love heart.  Sandy and I each rung the bell and wandered about taking pictures of the scenery and the usual animated characters hanging about.

The Bell (I wasn’t kidding about the clouds)

What IS that rabbit doing to that bear??

After lunch in a lakeside café, we met up with Gideon and headed to Oishii Park. The clouds had been steadily clearing and we were hoping to get some sunset pictures of Mt Fuji across Lake Kawaguchicko.

There is a lovely little café on the shore of the lake that specializes in blueberry dishes so armed with my blueberry tea, we watched the sun set over the mountain periodically leaving the warmth of the café to take pictures as the clouds blew away leaving a wispy cap on Mt Fuji’s tip.

My Tea

I’m afraid the quality of my pictures can’t stand up to Gideons’ SLR and tripod but I think they turned out OK. Perhaps my perpetually shaking hands (It was damn cold, I tell you!) had something to do with my poor pictures.

Shortly after we got there

After waiting for the clouds to blow away

A little later…almost dusk (See the pink tinge?)

Sunset

We stocked up on more souvenirs and headed back to the hostel feeling pretty satisfied with the day on the whole.

Met by the incredible bowl of multiplying spaghetti (Fred and Lisa had cooked enough to feed an army) we ate dinner and settled in the movie room with the whole gang (Fred, Lisa, Gideon, and Ryan, Haiden’s dad, Sandy and Myself) to watch Kill Bill.

Post movie madness

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Day 9 - Even God rested one day

Posted on June 6, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

Finally, a day of rest! After 8 days of solid walking or travelling we decided that we needed a day of nothing to break up our holiday. It was raining most of the day so we didn’t feel that we were missing a great deal. It was too wet to climb Fuji or go on any of the trams or even just walk around the lakes.

A second attempt at laundry didn’t repair the damage the last machine did and Sandy’s purple clothes remained purple but we did replenish our dwindling collection of clean clothes and nothing new got ruined.

Sandy and I curled up in the movie room and watched a few movies while we waited for loads to finish and dry.  Folding clothes was about as much exercise as we could handle.

That evening, Fred and Lisa arrived at K’s House with a stray they had picked up in Kyoto and had convinced to join them in Fuji. Ryan turned out to be a bit of a photographer himself and we all got on like a house on fire.

Ryan and Gideon comparing cameras

Fred Lisa & Gideon, chilin’ out

We popped out the grocery store to pick up some dinner and hilarity ensued as I couldn’t distinguish between milk and cream. (We wanted cream for strawberries – our dessert) After standing and staring at the milk section for, what felt like, forever, a man approached and offered to help us. He found the cream for me and we were on our way.  As a blond haired woman with fair skin and eyes, I felt a bit like a celebrity in Fuji-san. People stared and children would try to touch my hair.

On the way out of the shop, we were stopped by a man carrying his 3 year old son. “Please,” He said “can you talk to my son in English?”

Of course, we did! I asked the little boy lots of questions and showed him pictures of Tomi. He seemed shy at first but quickly warmed to us, laughing and smiling.

That little boy made my night!

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Day 8 - Less is more in Mt Fuji

Posted on May 29, 2008
Filed Under Australia - The land down under, Japan, Holidays, Breaking news, A "How-to" tutorial of insanity, Photography - All about the photos Baby! | Leave a Comment

Today started off nice and slow. A nice change after getting up at 6:30 most days. We ate breakfast and took advantage of the free internet access at K’s House while waiting for the boys to get up.

Harry and Gideon made an appearance around 11:00am and we headed off in the direction of the bus stop. With his power of Japanese, Gideon deduced that the bus was about an hour away so we decided to head to the local Japanese-style family restaurant and get some noodles. Gideon and I decided on duck, Sandy had a vegetarian bowl but Harry was brave and went for wild boar. Yum!We proceeded to 3 of the local caves.

First stop -The Bat-less Bat Cave
As implied by the name, though it was fun to crawl through (and boy, did we have to crawl a lot) there was nary a bat to be seen. At the end however, we did receive a stamp! Batman jokes continued throughout the day.

Gotta love the mandatory hard hat – a necessity for a reason.

Next – The Windless Wind Cave
Once again, there appeared to be no reason for the name other than making it a point of interest. Not a breath of air stirred in the wind cave but it was a fun climb none-the-less. Another stamp for the collection.

Silkworm coccoons found deep inthe wind cave

Finally – The Ice Cave *Now with Ice*
At last a cave that lived up to its name and yet another stamp. Do these count as proof that you saw the place in question? I don’t know who wouldn’t believe you without a stamp but I have my proof just in case. Ironically, one of the cave gift shops is where I bought an inkless pen as a souvenir along with some little Mt Fuji mountains (stuffed) with cheery smiley faces, key chains and other typical touristy stuff.

After yet another day of what seemed like endless walking (in freezing cold weather I might add) we all retired to the hostel for dinner and night in the common room playing Kings and A**holes.