We were at the hotel lobby for the Sunrise tour meet up.
It was the last full day in Japan.
We were very reluctant to miss Fuji.
Therefore, we decided to throw in a one day tour to Fuji and Hakone.
The bus took us to Hamamatsucho bus interchange and we switched bus according to the package we signed up.
There was a package which the return trip was via shinkansen and the other was via bus.
We chose the shinkansen =p
Honestly speaking,
The bus trip to Fuji was considered dreadful after a full spoilt seven days of smooth driving and planning our own time and convenience to places of our interests in Hokkaido..
A very enthusiastic and cute elderly tour guide who spoke a heavily Japanese-accented English was allocated to our group.
He was giving a very wholesome introduction to Fuji and spoke the entire trip to the visitor centre.
Felt so bad when the two of us simply concussed the minute the bus started moving.
I couldnt help it when my carsickness was that..yes serious.
The Fuji Visitor Centre
The cold air outside stung our bare faces and gave us a refreshing perk.
Off to the restrooms, then to the souvenir shop.
I loved Japanese souvenir shops.
They never fail to carry authentic stuff that represent Japan so well.
But one thing I hated about guided tours..
There is no time freedom.
Every single stop was a rushed one.
Things were bought by grabbing them to the counter, no room for second thoughts.Then somewhere in the horizon we finally caught sight of the picturesque Fuji-san, partially submerged in low thick clouds.
The bus began its journey up the majestic Mount Fuji.
Snow was very much cleared by this time, but the fifth station remained closed.
As the our guide informed us, we were lucky that very day that we could move up to the fourth station.
The tours a few days back could not even go up to the fourth station.
2020 meters above sea level, Mount Fuji or 富士山
The highest mountain in Japan standing at 3776 meters
Although Mount Fuji appears to be a simple cone-type volcano, it is in fact three separate volcanoes, Komitake, Ko Fuji, and Shin Fuji.
The most recent, Shin Fuji (“New Fuji”), first became active about 10,000 years ago and has continued ever since to smolder or erupt occasionally
Hence Mount Fuji is classified as an active volcano.
According to the tour guide, the snowcapped graceful cone, Mount Fuji is known to be symmetrical from all angles.
Surrounded by Fuji Five Lakes (Fuji Goko), namely Lake Kawaguchi, Lake Yamanaka, Lake Sai, Lake Motosu and Lake Shoji,
It stood alongside Mount Tate and Mount Haku, one of Japan’s Three Holy Mountains.
The most popular period for the hike up Mount Fuji is from 1 July to 27 Aug.
And thousands of Japanese climb to the shrine on its peak every summer.
I thought perhaps one day I shall try to climb Mount Fuji.
Should be fun =p
At our pit stop, it was cold as usual.
It wasn’t as cold as Niseko but the wind was definitely spine chilling.
Saw many visitors took refuge in this little shop that sells ramen and sandwiches.
Cameras snapping away, Caucasian kids playing with the snow remnants, cold adults queuing for the corn and sausages..
There was much vibrant life on this quiet grandeur at this point in time.
The smell of charcoal-grilled corn greeted us the minute we stepped down from the bus.
There was a mid-aged man selling corn on a cob as well as sausages in the middle of nowhere on fourth station.
The sausages were huge, and the corn was longer than our faces.
Both of us could not finish the one corn that we were sharing.
But having the freshly-grilled corn on cold Fuji was really haven =)
Again,
We were quickly ushered back to the bus for our complimentary lunch at the Highland Resort nearby.
Our food was laid and spread out long before our arrival..
Gobbled them up quickly not because we were hungry, but because we wanted to walk around.
The resort had a very spectacular view of Mount Fuji.
As we were about to finish our meal, the tour guide suddenly asked the hotel staff to draw the curtains..
Gosh..
There stood the majestic pride..
Still partially submerged in clouds but it was an absolutely breathtaking view..
In no time to come, the restaurant became half emptied to this..
Found a Caucasian who was as smitten as us..LOL
On our way to Hakone, the tour guide began handing out origami papers and taught us how to create Mount Fuji.
He’s really adorable.
Hakone or 箱根
A popular tourist attraction well known for its onsens and its views of Mount Fuji.
Visitors come to Hakone to relax, for treatment at the health resorts, or to visit the parks and mountains
Its geographical feature is that:
Typical composite volcano generated by Hakone volcano
(belongs to Mount Fuji volcano belt)
According to the tour guide, the volcano collapses and then form a huge crater that is Hakone.
Lake Ashino or 芦ノ湖
Well-known for its views of Mount Fuji and numerous hot springs
A scenic crater lake that lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Hakone volcano.
We took a pleasure boat cruise around the lake with the ending point at Hakone-en or 箱根園
This cruise was bigger than the one we took at Lake Toya and we could walk about at the deck of the small ferry.
Then off to the few souvenir shops located beside upon alighting from the cruise.
Hakone souvenir shops seemed to sell their trademark magic wooden boxes like hotcakes.
These magic boxes had many sleeves and secret compartments to it,
To which one must be able to find the sleeves one by one before you could open the whole.
And they were not cheap.
After some hanging out at the stores, we found this vending machine that had this hot red bean dessert that we found fascinating..
It was very yummy too!
Quickly slot in the coins and the bus zoomed us off to the ropeway.
During the short bus ride, the tour guide again explained the history of the ropeway and the “delicacy” that we had wanted to try badly =p
If we take one, we shall extend our longevity by a good seven years, taking two means a maximum extension of fourteen years..
Taking three will just increase your cholesterol and highly not advisable.
We were taking the Hakone aerial ropeway tram also known as Hakone Komagatake Ropeway to the top of Sounzan, the upper terminal of the Hakone Tozan Cable car.
During the seven minutes ride, we felt the impact of the intense strong wind on the ropes.
The tram was practically swaying from side to side..
And I felt Final Destination at that point in time watching our tram swing limply on the seemingly precarious ropes =x
But we did have a very clear and stunning view of the glowing Mount Fuji capped with translucent snow as it ascended gradually.
The view..
We saw Lake Ashino against the mountains that surrounded it..
And shimmered under the setting sun.
When the view of the Lake slowly merged into nothingness, the Great Boiling Valley came to sight.
The valley consisted of mud-colored rocks and the yellow sulphuric remnants were dispersed all over.
Smoke sizzled from beneath the ground =)
The deserted construction grounds saw half completed concrete barriers and fences to which dear told me those were created to prevent landslides.
The whole place felt like an amalgamation of Noboribetsu Hell Valley, Lake Toya and the Usuzan Ropeway at Showa Shinzan =)
When we alighted from the ropeway station, we came across the huge reservoir which the tour guide had told us just now.
The small reservoir was used to store onsen water drained from the nearby natural hot springs vents and then re-channeled to the numerous hot spring resorts.
Thereafter we popped over to the Great Boiling Valley just nearby.
Great Boiling Valley or Owakudani 大涌谷
A volcanic valley where sulfurous fume reeks and clouds of steam rises from crevasses.
A very strong sulphuric sewage smell approached us at the observation platform.
And damn, we had problems standing firmly on the ground.
The wind was like 30 km/h??!
So strong that we had this phobic feeling that the camera and the video would fly away if we did not clutch on tightly to them.
True enough, the gushing feisty wind came sweeping the video camera bag up..
A good thing was that we had the bag strapped to our bodies..phew.
We quickly proceeded to the stores nearby in search of our desired delicacy that the guide mentioned.
Popped into the first store, it was sold out =(
Quickly went over to the next shop and we managed to get the last pack!!
500 yen per pack and we could not explain our irrational burst of excitement.
The "delicacy" Kuro-tamago or black hot spring hard-boil egg =D
The boiled eggs actually turned black and smelt slightly sulphuric after being boiled in hot springs.
There was an actual site where the eggs are boiled to participate in the ritual egg eating.
It was..fragrant to the taste!
This would be our last stop for the tour.
Thereafter the bus brought us to Odawara Station to take the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
Instead of a two hour plus bus ride back to Tokyo, the Shinkansen ride would take only 30 minuntes =)
Our tour guide passed us our tix and off we go into the station.
While waiting for the Shinkansen, we were suddenly startled by the loud train braking sound on the opposite track.
Then the train was gone.
That was my very first encounter of the speed of Shinkansen at 300 km/h.
Surprisingly,
We did not really feel the force in the train when the it was moving off or stopping.
The ride was quite smooth in fact.
Arrived at Tokyo Station in no time.
Took the Yamanote train line back to Shinjuku.
And we finally felt the rush hour of Japan.
In fact, it wasn’t much different from the rush hour in Sg.
People squeezed themselves in like canned sardines or bottled plasticine =x
If one had noticed, we weren’t much of a public transport analysts.
I had planned the entire Tokyo itinerary based on the JR Yamanote Line..
LOL
The station at Shinjuku was already a huge challenge for us..
This was just something I decided upon to minimize the time of being lost.
And my brain could only work so much for a ten days Japan trip =p
Back at Shinjuku,
We dropped by Starbucks again for some green tea latte.
Just like our first night in Tokyo, we had Starbucks in the drizzle.
Define deja vu..
Bought some instant cup noodles for dinner from a nearby Shinjuku convenient stall.
This was our “spread” =p
And the stuff we bought..
*****
Chartered the earliest limousine bus at 5:55am back to Narita Airport.
Had to wake up at 4 am =x
At Narita Airport, did a last minute grabbing of more foodstuff.
This was also when I finally found the brown rice green tea..
Aboard SQ 777,
I was surprised that I did not catch a wink.
Watched my movies and played Nintendo games =P
We had two full meals on board while watching movies and my favourite CSI =)
This, was a real holiday.
From the corner of my eyes caught a sight of this..
Such an irony when I happened to capture this movie scene at the same time o,0
We felt the reality sinking in fast just outside the borders of Japan.
Touched down back home, A heart-warming sms came in the minute I switched on my phone.
Don was at T3 alright waiting for us =)
Then..
He asked me help him buy wine and cheap perfumes..
LOL
Alright I shouldnt phrase it in this manner.
I was quite touched when he waited there for almost an hour and helped me carry luggage.
And I must have had that faraway and despondent look cos he asked me whether I had the feeling of not wanting to return home.
Perhaps..
*****
Had a hard time tuning back to life in Sg in fact.
Life in Hokkaido was so much simpler.
The people respected one another..
Stunning sights and awesome geography blew us far away..
Define that paralyzing emotions when nature brushed us by..
I cant explain..
The Japanese had to adjust their lives to a bigger force..
That is the forces of nature.
Back here,
We need not be afraid of volcanoes or landslides or even snowstorms..
In fact we knew very little about the world out there..
But we do make a lot of noise..
And what do we really have?
Suddenly I felt so insignificantly small..
Suddenly I yearned for a simple life just like the one in Hokkaido..
My job is the reason why this trip was made possible..
But it shall also be the biggest deterrant to my next trip.
Sighz..
*****
This entire trip,
We started from zero to something.
The ambitions on my part, the expertise on dear's part..
We made it work pretty well =)
I did not remember how I started my research on Japan and Hokkaido..
The language barrier made it almost impossible to get things done through online..
There was many planning bottlenecks, felt like giving up..
Wondered why did I ever put ourselves in such a position..
The stress and frustrations that we had been through..
That was history now.
From experiencing the good services in Japan, to the shocking cold weather, to snow in Hokkaido, to all those mountains and volcanoes climbing, breathtaking sights, skiing, hot springs etc..
Brought home a bag full of valuable experience and memories and photographs and videos and bruises =)
The overpowering feeling of earning your very own trip, to doing detailed research on a gracious country like Japan, living through a smooth trip, realising the places that I saw on the net on Japan hour and accomplishing things that we set out to do..This is something that I felt soooo damn proud..And I am lucky indeed.
Will I do free and easy trips again?Definitely yes.
And I will definitely be back to the eastern land..
*****
irony @
1:34 PM
