Advertisement
My Fuji
From a distance Fujimi to Kawaguchiko
116km. 1200m climbing.
Oh! What a difference a day makes, just 24 hours. Who would have dreamt that today would be wall to wall sunshine spending the first 50k going downhill with a tail wind, and to top it all having a magnificent view of Mt Fuji. The descent was through typical Japanese agricultural land with little tractors cultivating the little fields manned by men in straw hats. The towns had the usual beautifully manicured gardens and topiary and there were more grapes and fruit trees in monstrous greenhouses. After a bread and tuna salad lunch we started our compulsory climbing alongside a river which had two small hydro electric power stations at the roadside. At about 80km we had another brew stop, just before my legs gave out and my posterior lost its feeling. Another 2km and we were on the top where we traversed around two lake. The furthest one, Lake Saiko, was particularly nice and at the western end had a plaque denoting that Mt Fuji was made a World Heritage site in 2013. This produced possibly the best photograph of the day with Mt Fuji in all its splendour as clear as a bell.
We are told that it spends most of its time shrouded in must and cloud. How lucky we are. We have been getting glimpses of the mountain all day and since one never knows how much better it is going to be I now have 3 million photographs of it. It is a good job I do not have to have them developed any more. Kawaguchiko is a big tourist area, filled with very westernised Japanese in mini skirts etc and loads of jet skis, canoes and boats. The Asafuji Ryokan is on the edge of the lake and my room looks out onto the mountain, as does he Onsen - Magic. Our guides have gone to another location tonight so we are left to fend for ourselves at dinner. Out with the phrase book and hope they understand a Lancashire accent. As I write this I am drinking green tea and the little cake they leave in every room - nice touch and good tea. They also leave a Yukata for you to visit the Onsen and to use for your evening meal. There are three sizes and often they just leave one size. Tonight I was in the
Mt Fuji
Lake Saiko bathroom wearing the suit I was born with and suddenly there was a key in the door and a lady marched in bowing as she came to check that I had the correct size. Close call!
Just had an excellent dinner again. We never have the same meal twice, which is great. However, we have a problem Houston. I was having a small piece of orange for dessert and bit into a pip by mistake and one of my few teeth broke in half. The front half is still intact but the inner half was a bit wobbly. I have now pulled it out but am on some pain die to the root being exposed. I have Bernard given some pain killers and hope they will cope until tomorrow. I think I will have to find a dentist in the morning. I presume it will cost a bit more than the Sri Lanka dentist at £2 per filling in 2014. Ah! Will I ever get to sleep? Misery.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.496s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 58; dbt: 0.1574s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb