STY '14: Aftermath

---

Monday: Rekindling Mt Fuji

Yes! Great sleep!! Woke up fresh and early. I must have eaten good yesterday. I was hungry but didn't feel deprived. We went to Lawson down the street at 7am to get a morning coffee. Just outside the house, there was nobody on the street at this wee hour except one lonely runner slowly coming toward us. Wait, that's Kaburaki san! Wow! He was running way slow. Hmm, learn from the master. From Lawson, we walked to Kawaguchiko. The event setup was being taken down. Awww. I felt strange nostalgia. Cherry blossom was in full bloom. So many fishermen were sitting ashore on high chairs. What a gorgeous day. Needless to say, my quads were shot but walking felt like a good active recovery 😊. We walked along the lake eastward toward the station to catch a bus at 9:30. Nice encounter Of the day: we were looking at the map in front of koban police station. I didn't want to bother them. Omawarisan popped his head out and asked where we wanted to go. He grinned to my response, pulled out a pre-made direction card to the station. There's your friendly local police 😊. We got to the station safely and got the day's schedule squared out. By the time the bus left at 10:15, we were hungry again :p. Timely, bus had ~30min dead time at Fujisan station. Yoshida udon and Fujiyama taiyaki (shaped in Mt Fuji, lol) were nice tie-over. A short ride from there, we arrived at Sengen shrine. Legend has it that this is where the founder of Japan established a shrine to keep Mt Fuji calm. Also there is the trailhead to the only hiking path to the peak from the very bottom. Most hikes start from half way up. Back at Kawaguchiko station, we had just enough time to squeeze in the Kappa meshi that I had been eyeing, mmm. Shige san had told me about this, now a rare find :D. Shortly after, we had to hop on another bus to the 5th station. It's the closest car access to the top at 2300 m elevation. Realistically, to have more than 5 min up there, we had to catch the 1:15 bus because the last bus back doesn't run late. Bus was full of foreigners. 5th station was snowy still. We were in the snow cap of the mountain! It's a bit out of the way but definitely worth visiting. We caught the 3:40 bus down. From the station, we walked back vis Onsenji hot spring, ahhh. Another stop at supermarket to pick up food and wrapped up the recovery day 1.

Tue: Thank you, Mt Fuji

Love the convenience of konbini. Good coffee and little bit of sweets hit the spot!. Shortly after, the lodging owner gave us a ride to the station. If I ever come back to this area, I'd definitely stay here. It was super clean and comfortable. We took a local train to Shimoyoshida, just a short trip from Kawaguchiko. We wanted to get the last glimpse of Mt Fuji with a pagoda on the hilltop before we left for Tokyo. Shimoyoshida station was tiny, reminding me of my hood. There was a nice grandma whom I exchanged a few words with. A short walk toward the hill took us to the entrance to Arakura Shrine. I read at the station that it was a bit shy of 400 steps to the top. We were accompanied by local elderlies who looked like it was their usual hiking route. They took the stairs like it was nothing. Recovering younger couple (us) were clearly struggling with those steps. After reaching the pagoda, the trail goes further up the mountain. It looked like a nice but tough hike. Unfortunately, Mt Fuji was behind the fog and we didn't score the epic shot with the pagoda.

We made sure we had enough time for the last round of Hoto before we left for Tokyo, mmm. It had been short but amazing adventure in the foot of Mt Fuji. As always, Vinh and I made the best of it and left the mountain with great memories.

---

Photos

Commuter Train to Shimoyoshida
Cute!