Blogs from Mt Fuji, Shizuoka, Japan, Asia - page 2

Die letzten zwei Tage waren unerwartet schön, auch wenn es bei der Abfahrt in Kofi erst mal geregnet hat. Ich fuhr ihnter Hiro her, war etwas faul und wollte nicht selbst navigieren. War dann auch ganz froh, denn er bog in Straßen ein, die ich nie in Erwägung gezogen hätte. Und dann wurde diese eine Straße plötzlich ganz schmal, kein Teer mehr, an den besonders steilen Stellen Beton, ansonsten Schotter, nasse Blätter. Genug der Begründungen: es schmiss mich. Leider fiel der Seitenkoffer ab und so habe ich mir zum ersten Mal den Fuß eingequetscht. Ich verschwendTee erst etwas Zeit mit laut brüllen, weil's so weh tat. Aber dann wurde ich wieder vernünftig und begann meinen Fuß herauszuziehen. Ohne meine panzerartigen Stiefel hätte ich mir den Knöchel gebrochen. So tut er nur weh. Wieder einmal hat es ... read more

Day Two: my five fluent basic Japanese greetings and phrases are being stretched to the limit. This morning we had breakfast at the bakery next to our hotel because it just smells so good. Pastry= breakfast. They also played awesome jazz music in there. We then walked down to Shinjuku station to take the first of two trains to Kawaguchico (Mt Fuji.) We could not go the whole way up the mountain because of snow, so we found other entertainment. We walked around the local area and found a very small shrine. On the way back into town we found a traditional Teppanyaki restaurant. James ate possibly one of the best meals of his life here. A small distance out of the town centre, was an Onsen (hot spring). We endeavoured to walk there. once at ... read more

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 ... read more

Saiko Iyashi no Sato Nemba, the healing village of Nemba on Lake Saiko, is a traditional village which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1966 and has been rebuilt as a folk village to display the crafts and way of life of the people who have lived here for hundreds of years. It is a charming village of about 20 bamboo-thatched cottages nestled under Mt Fuji. (Unfortunately it was hidden by cloud today but we can't complain. We had great views yesterday and it's common for visitors to this area not to see Fuji at all because it is often wrapped in cloud.) The cottages display different aspects of life in the village including ceramics, paper-making, silk-making, wasabi-cultivation and a water wheel mill. There is a little museum with a clock that stopped when the earthquake ... read more

Tuesday 22nd September 2015 Although the national holiday had scuppered our efforts to find overnight accommodation at the lakes of Mt Fuji, we took advantage of the great transport links from Tokyo and took the 2.5hr bus to Lake Kawaguchiko for the day. It was a day of lessons. Lesson #1: Always retrace your footsteps in a new place. The day got off to a cracking start as we got monumentally lost in Shinjuku station. Located the bus station half an hour before we had to leave. WIN. Nipped into Shinjuku station to get some food. FINE. Got cocky and decided to exit from a different part of the station, as we were sure we had this travelling thing down to a fine art. FAIL. 5 mins before the bus is due to leave we are ... read more