Advertisement
Published: October 2nd 2014
Edit Blog Post
Today was my last day in Japan and I'd booked a tour to visit the iconic mountain Fuji. I'd booked a pick up point when I organised the tour but I hadn't had time to go find it.when us spoken to the guy on reception he said it wasn't too far away and I could just grab a taxi in the morning, so that is what I did.
I was up and organised extra early, I'd got the voucher printed out and I'd got the hotel address translated into Japanese for the taxi driver and I'd bought supplies for the trip as I wasn't going to have time for breakfast.
So true enough I flagged down a taxi, he understood the address details and took me there. The pick up time was 7.55am and I had to be there 10 minutes earlier, so I was there 20 minutes earlier just to make sure lol
Whilst I was waiting, after checking with the door staff that it was the correct hotel etc, a couple of Australian people arrived for pick up too. We got chatting and they too had been to the robot
show last night but they went to the one after mine and she got picked out to fight the robot. Her prize was a shirt and some robots shaped snacks/crisps as she of course won lol. We chatted about their trip to Japan and Tokyo and my travels before the bus arrived.
Our names were checked off and we were given vouchers and got on the bus. This was a feeder bus to take us to the bus station where everyone gathered and then caught their connection buses for their relevant tours. It took about 45 minutes to get from the hotel to the bus station. The traffic was pretty busy as it had been a bank holiday weekend for the autumn equinox, and many people had taken the Tuesday off too so Wednesday was a busy day for traffic.
At the bus station everyone queued for their bus and tour information and headed for the relevant bay numbers. I was told bay 2 and got on the bus but then a tour guide told kelvin had got on the wrong bus! He knew that as I was with him and had been told
the wrong information. Grrrr but no harm done.
Any how we were all herded up (about 10 of us) and climbed aboard our coach and headed off to Mount Fuji. We were heading up to the 5th station and on the way our guide gave us some info about the itinerary, timings etch and about Tokyo as we passed certain landmarks and buildings etc. As we got further out he gave us info about Japan - population, housing, schooling and education, work and families and agriculture etc.
When we left Tokyo it was a bright sunny day but sadly due to the tail end of a tropical storm the weather was destined to change. Our first port of call was the visitors centre in the national park that surrounds Fuji. Normally you can get some great views from the viewing deck,but sadly today the peak was surrounded in mist. Also the view we would have had wouldn't have been the iconic one where there is snow around the peak as there was no snow on top.
From the visitor centre we headed up to the 5th station. Just before we got
there we managed to stop,off for a quick photo opportunity and managed to get some shots of the summit!
We then headed to the. 5th station where the weather was closing in and it was getting very foggy and much much cooler. At the 5 the station there are a few tourist shops which we had time to browse around take a few photo shots. Not sure why there was a group of horses there, I'm guessing they offered short horse back rides but business was a bit slow today lol. On our way up to the 5th station we drove over a section of road which played a tune. Not 100% sure how it worked but it had something to do with the ridges in the Tarmac And as the wheels of the coach passed across them it creates a tune at low level, but still very audible. Only in Japan lol.
After the 5th station we headed back down into the valley for lunch by a lake (in don't remember the name ). This consisted of raw veggies and meat which was then fried on a hot plate.
In addition we had some rice in a pot bore cooked and dome noodles in a small pot on a candle lit burner. We had to put the meat and veggies on the hot plate to cook them and then they would be ready to eat. We were all given paper aprons too so that our clothes were covered up from the meat juice spats as it cooked. A similar concept to the Cambodian BBQ and the sechezuan dinner experience.
After lunch it had a wander round the gift shop and I took a few photos of the lake and the clouds coming in before heading off to the hot springs. I had read, and we were also told that this would be a totally naked experience but to my relieve male and female areas were separate.
When we arrived we had to remove our shoes and pop them in a locker and then we could hire or buy towels so I hired one and bought a little pink one in a plastic bag as a souvenir. We were also given a small linen towel by our guide also as a souvenir of our
trip. From reception we went up to the changing rooms and got undressed and again locked our stuff away. We only had our towels and a stiff upper lip lol. Before we got into the hot pools and sauna we first had to shower. The shower stations were all lined up and you sat on a little plastic stool and used the toiletries provided and showered and washed yourself before getting into the hot pools. There were two inside as well as the sauna and two outside which were cooler than those inside. We only had an hour in total at the spa so we only had about 40 minutes in the pools. It was do lovely and relaxing and the outdoor experience reminded me of centre parcs and when Andorra.
After the spa we headed to a shopping complex very similar to outlet villages in the UK for a couple of hours. I only bought a couple of things as I didn't have much money and had forgotten my debit and credit cards doh! But even if I had had them I doubt I would have made any big purchases.
After shopping we
headed back to Tokyo and we were dropped off at the train station which was only a couple of stops from my hostel so it wasn't too far to go. I got back and packed and got myself sorted for my departure to the airport.
Xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.124s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 12; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0824s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb