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Published: July 30th 2006
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Fuji-San
Mount Fuji from the bus... Hey Everyone,
So, life here has been pretty busy lately. Kelsey left on Monday for Thailand and my Mom and Dad get here in 2 days. I'm getting really excited to have everyone here. Well, Kelsey and I had a great time together. As you know from my last blog we did some pretty cool things, from Climbing Mount Fuji (or as the Japanese call it Fuji-san) to spending the weekend in Kyoto. We really had a great time.
Climbing Fuji was definately an experience. We took a bus from Shinjuku, Tokyo which was a 2 hours and 30 minutes drive to Fuji. The drive was gorgeous. We went through a few small towns and saw a beautiful lake and waterfalls. When we finally arrived at the 5th station, where we started our climb, it was about 7:40pm and the sun was almost fully set. So, we started our climb at night. It took us 7 hours and 55 minutes climbing up the mountain. It was no walk in the park either. It was full on mountain climbing. We were even on all fours some times and as we got higher the air got thinner and the
Fuji-San
Just a little break for a picture... temperature got lower. We were soaking wet from sweating as well so the chill went right to our bones. It was definately the hardest thing mentally and physically I've ever done. But when we got to the top, 3776m, it was 3:15 am. We sat at the top until about 4:00 am when we started seeing some pink and orange beams of light creeping out from behind some of the mountains in the distance. The sunrise was unreal, absolutely breath taking. As the sun rose we began to make out the view, which was also amazing. It made the hard climb up worth it. I have never seem anything so beautiful in my life. It was a little piece of heaven on earth.
After the sunrise, we started our way back down the mountain. The gravel was really loose and thick. So, our descend was pretty much like skiing down the mountain. At first it was kind of fun, but after 4 hours of it our knees and ankles were killing us and it was no longer fun. Plus it doesn't help that we took the wrong turn and went straight down the mountain the wrong way. We
Fuji-San
What a climb... ended up going all the way down to station 3 instead of back to station 5 where we started. But eventually we made it down the mountain safely and when we finally got back to E-Village where I live, we layed down for a short 16 hours. We were exhausted after all that climbing.
The next day we went to Harajuku, where we did some shopping and saw the Meijji temple. Oh and I can't forget we took some pictures with the infamous "Harajuku Girls." When we got back I took Kelsey to the BEST indian restaurant in the world and then we called it a night. On Monday we went to Shibuya, which is where the busiest intersection in the world is and also on that intersection is the busiest starbucks in the world. So as you can tell, it's a very busy place. We wondered around for a while and did some shopping and then I went to work and Kelsey went back to E-Village to hang out until I got home.
On Tuesday, kelsey and I went to DisneySea. She was coming to see my show. Ahhh, I was so nervous. I went
Shibuya
The busiest intersection and Starbucks across the street. with her to the park in the morning and at about 4:00 I went to work. Unfortunately it was pouring rain and poor Kelse was soaked. Thankfully the Mermaid Lagoon is inside so she was able to escape the rain a little. She was so cute in the audience. I don't think she stopped smiling once. She watch three of my shows and each one she saw she was smiling in. It was such a great feeling having her there. What an amazing sister I have.
The weather for the next few days was horrible. It rained and rained and rained some more. That's rainy season for you I guess. Also, I was working day shift, which is smack dead in the middle of the day. So Wednesday was a relaxing day and Thursday after work we went to a place called Odaiba. When I finished work, Kelsey met me a the train station and we went to Odaiba. Odaiba is a very futuristic place. It has futuristic car museum, shopping, the world's largest ferris wheel, many crazy Japanese arcade games. It was pretty fun. But we had to cut it short because I wasn't feeling to hot
DisneySea
Rainy Day at DisneySea! and we had to catch our shinkansen at 6:30 in the morning for Kyoto.
The next morning came too soon. Kelsey and I were exhausted. We had to get up at 4:45 because our shinkansen left at 6:30 from Tokyo Station which is about a 30 minute train ride from Shin-Urayasu Station, which is the closest station to where I live and it take 10 minutes to get to the station from my place. So, we had to get up early to leave room for all the travelling time. I think that is the one thing that Kelsey didn't like about Japan. The amount of time it takes to get anywhere in Tokyo is at least an hour, it feels like your always sitting on a train. But anyways, we took the shinkansen to Kyoto, which is bullet train in Japan. It was my first time being on one and also Kelsey's. It took 2 and a half hours to get to there and when we arrived it was only 9:30 in the morning and we couldn't check into our hotel until 1:00. So we walked to the "Toji Temple" which was pretty close to the train station.
Kyoto
Kelsey and I in Kyoto After we saw the temple we took the train to a different temple called the "Tofukuji Temple". It had a few temples that were surrounded by beautiful gardens and waterfalls. It was amazing. So, after we left that temple we were able to check into our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice. It was a good distance from the station so we were able to get around with ease. The next day we saw four other temples. They were all really beautiful but once you've seen one temple you've really seen them all. They were all amazing don't get me wrong but they are all very similar. It was a very hot day and we did ALOT of walking. So, when we were finished with the temples Kelsey and I went back to the hotel to have a nap. After we woke up, we had an amazing Buffet dinner in the hotel and then hung out together back up in our room. The next day, we went and dressed up like Geisha and got photos done. This was my favourite part of the trip. It was so much fun. However, once we were finished we had to catch the shinkansen
Kyoto
The Golden Pavillion... back to Tokyo and pack Kelsey up for her flight to Thailand which left the next morning.
So all in all, Kelsey and I had a really nice time together. I really enjoyed her company and I got the chance to experience so really amazing things . So, sorry about the long blog. It was a busy week and now I have another 12 days to look forward to with my parent. Can't wait. Miss you all very much and I will see you in a short 5 weeks.
Love ya,
Megs
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Joel
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Mt. Fuji
Photos are awesome, I would have loved to climb Fuji when we were there! oh well it gives me an excuse to come back :P