So, we started walking around 10:00 at night after a mad dash out of the office at 6, a bus at 7, and another bus at 9 to get us to the 5th Station (2300 m) and the starting point. It's very strange walking at night, there's obviously no scenery to look at but the stars were pretty magnificent. This is my second attempt at writing this entry and it's not going so well...so I'm just going to cut it short! Hike very hard, basically a huge queue to get up to the top...literally. At some points, it was like standing on line at the bank (if we did that anymore...how about the DMV?). It started getting cold around the 9th station and I was struggling with being an idiot. I was very worried about my knees so started with my self-prescribed ibuprophen regime around 9:30 forgetting that I didn't have time to eat a proper dinner thus basically had an empty stomach. Then, I took another 2 around 12:00. When I started getting nauseous about an hour later, I thought it was altitude sickness which even in the midst of feeling like crap, pissed me off. I had been making fun of the all Japanese people who take oxygen up with them (seriously) for the past week and have been to altitudes much higher than this without a problem so thought how could this possibly be altitude sickness. After letting everyone else go on without me, I drank a ton of water, ate a museli bar, and felt heaps better. And went back to making fun of the Japanese people with their oxygen. Ok, no...just kidding. I am far more mature than that...........yeah, yeah, yeah.
We were trying to hurry to get to the top for the sunrise but with all the people there was just so way. So, we pulled up a spot on some volcanic rock and watched what proved to be a beautiful sunrise. Afterwards, we walked the final way to the top which was about 10 minutes, got some ramen and a drink from the vending machine. Oh, yes, my friends. This is Japan and yes, there is a vending machine on the top of Mt. Fuji. Two, in fact. We had a look at the crater on the top and then headed back down. And going down was actually worse than going up. You go down a different way than you go up and it's just scree all the way down. You slide down, it's killer on your knees, and you end up eating a ton of dust. After about 3 hours, we made it to the bottom, jumped on the bus, to the other bus, and back to Shinjuku Station. Taxi home to a shower and then to sleep. It was really a fantastic experience, we had a lot of laughs, but it's not a hike that I am going to be dying to do again. Maybe in September, once the season officially closes, when there are fewer people (because the Japanese will only do it during the actual season) but I'm sure there are other things out there to do. It is really cool though now seeing pictures of Mt. Fuji in all it's conical splendor and thinking I was on the top of that. (
I'm off to London tomorrow...and yes, it seems that I either follow problems or problems follow me, I'm not sure which. Last time I was going to London it was 3 days after the Tube bombings. Anyway, all is fine now, I've got my transparent bag for carry on stuff (here's where I love Japan...you can find anything you need here!), have checked the BA site at least once an hour for updates, and should be all set to go. I've had my ramen and gyoza for lunch today...as much as I am looking forward to a trip, I think I am going to miss Japan alot this time.
The proof...
