Day 6 & 7 - Mount Fuji Climb

Today, we are leaving Tokyo and heading to Mount Fuji for the much anticipated overnight climb. We planned everything around this event since we first decided to go to Japan last December. At first we had wanted to visit in April during the sakura season but after some discussion, we decided to do the climb instead.

It all began when I watched Ian Wright on Globe Trekker on his journey up Mount Fuji. There was something about his eyes that said he had accomplished something very special. While the view up there seemed amazing, I think what did it was the sheer number of people on the mountain with him. I told myself I had to do this someday.

Anyway, Mount Fuji's official climbing season is only from July to August. A whopping 3000 people climb it daily during this season. Most are Japanese as they believe that you must climb it once in your lifetime.

We departed for Fujigoko (Kawaguchiko) from Shinjuku bus station today. It's a less than 2 hour ride from Tokyo. We left Andon late and had a hard time locating the darn bus station. Stranded at the bus stop opposite Shinjuku station, we looked lost and this led to an encounter with what I call the 'helpful Japanese'. An elderly man in uniform came up to us and offered his help. Though his directions were vague and we didn't really understand him, we appreciated his nice gesture.

To cut the long story short, we finally did find the station. I was getting increasingly frustrated anyway coz I haven't had breakfast. But then came another problem. Which bus were we to get on? There was an electronic board that stated vehicle numbers, destination and time but they were all in Japanese. We finally resorted to simply showing random bus personnels our bus tickets. That proved to be the right thing to do as we finally found the right bus. Fortuntaely, I found 5 minutes to make a quick run to the convenience store to grab us some stuff to eat enroute to Kawaguchiko.

The bus took us out of modern Tokyo to the countryside. We know we have arrived when we saw the high rollercoaster rides that belonged to Fuji Q highland. And of course, we were greeted by the first glimpse of Fujisan.

Famished, we quickly dropped off our bag packs at the helpful tourist information centre and took off looking for food. There wasn't that much choice to begin with as Kawaguchiko is really a small town. We settled for this simple, homely cafe place and ordered a beef curry rice (miserable bits of beef but the curry taste wasn't too bad) and a Fujigoko specialty - Hoto noodles. It's like Ban Mian but prolly more hearty with huge chunks of pumpkin, potato, meat and the like.



After lunch, we went back to the tourist info centre and they helped us call our hotel for our free pickup. The annoying thing that happened was that the hotel took more than an hour plus to arrive. Apparently they made a mistake of picking up other people and headed back to the hotel without us. The lady at the tourist info centre felt so bad for us that she gave us a can of coffee each even though it was not at all her fault.

The delay kinda thwarted our plans to rest before our overnight climb. Eventually we ended up with only bout half an hour sleep after getting our stuff ready before we had to head back to Kawaguchiko to catch the bus that would take us to the 5th station.

A 50 minute bus ride took us to the 5th station of Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji is divided by 'stations', so you start from the 5th and move on to the 6th, 7th and so forth. The top was supposed to be the 10th station but apparently this season, they 'got rid' of the 9th and 10th stations (more about that later). What's interesting is that you know when you've arrived at a particular station when you start to see mountain huts. Here you can choose to burn a stamp onto your wooden walking stick for 200yen or pay an exhorbitant amount of money to sleep for awhile in there. Another strange thing was that there is not just one say. 7th station. Usually there are a FEW. And guess what, since they got rid of the 9th and 10th, we actually saw an 8.5 one before we reached the top. And darn, we were looking out for that 9th and 10th station tht never came which caused us to reach the top without realising.


Fellow climbers at the 5th station.

We ate a MOS-ish meal of burger and fries here. Also, a special mention about the toilets here. Bearing in mind we were ON a volcano (for goodness sake!), I would guess your toilet won't be your run-of-the-mill kind. Here, when you flush the toilet, instead of the all familiar big flush complete with swooshing sound with gallons of water, you see this strange bluish bubble foam creeping into the toilet bowl in slow motion.


Here we go! Me - still looking fresh.

We started on our journey at about 8.30pm. Pitch dark with a glowing full moon casting an eerie glow on the 5 lakes of Fujigoko below us, me and CK agreed that the whole thing felt surreal.

The trek up got really more difficult after the 7th station when it got really steep. And you had to go on your fours to pull yourself up certain sections. There were metal rails to help you up. Regular doses of oxygen also helped keep us from developing altitude sickness.



We were lucky that the weather tonight was good. Apparently there was a typhoon 2 days before. The wind only got much much stronger after we reached the first 8th station marked by nice red torii gates.



More 8th stations....





I think at about 3am everyone on the mountain started to panic. It was already around 3 plus when we saw the 8.5 station. Less than one more hour to go before sunrise.

The Japanese below started shouting at those at the top to I guess encourage everyone to go faster. The progress was getting slower and slower the higher we got up the mountain as we then ran into complete tour groups. It didn't help that it was also at the 8th station that the Kawaguchiko trail merges with another trail. We forced ourselves to keep going and going as panic started to set in amongst everyone. We only stopped briefly for a whiff of oxygen or a sip of water. No more 5 or 10 min breaks.

It proved to be worth the effort as we reached 9th station (the top and we didn't even know! ) just in time when a spectacular sliver of light first appeared and divided the sky beautifully.



The sun looked very much like a bright egg yolk. Truly a magnificent sight. As the sun rose higher, I asked CK whether he wanted to continue to reach the top. We barely walked a minute or two when we realised, 'Hey! We ARE at the top!' WE ARE AT THE HIGHEST POINT IN JAPAN!

The sun cast beautiful mauve shades in the sky and the mountains below looked just like a painting.



We got our final stamp on our walking sticks that said 'Sunrise at Mount Fuji 2006' ! Another mission I had to fulfill was to post some postcards from the post office on Mount Fuji where it will be earmarked with a special mount fuji stamp indicating it was a card posted from the top. It was quite a long walk to the office as it was on the other side of the mountain. Took me about 45 minutes and not to mention the treacherous road there. Scary.

We started back down the mountain at about 6am and boy, the less said of it the better. The pain on my knees were excruciating and as one fellow climber I met on the way down put it, "It kills all the fun huh?"

We reached the bottom at 9.30am.

Day 8 - Mount Fuji (Fujiyoshida + Fuji-Q Highland)

After the good rest yesterday, I felt pretty much fully recovered from the climb. As we had to check out from Ashiwada Hotel by 9+, we started the day early. I felt a little bit sad that this was our last day in Fujigoko as I really liked the quaint, surreal feeling this place gives me. The small town feel and picturesque surroundings really made me feel like I was in a far, far away place from Singapore. Yet strangely, there is a tinge of familiarity I can't explain. I love Fujigoko. Below is the road outside our hotel:



Needless to say, our 1 kit kat and 1 instant noodles dinner last night didn't really sustain us so food was the first things on our minds this morning.

We went to Fujiyoshida, the other main area in the Fujigoko region besides Kawaguchiko. Fujiyoshida is famous for their udon as it is made with water found in this region. An interesting fact is that most of the udon shops are operated on the premises of people's homes.



We went in search of a Musashi Udon, a place rated highly by a bunch of ang mohs on the internet who ate at almost all the udon shops found in this area. As expected, the place really looked like an extension of the living room of someone's home.
Porn included. The place had a stack of porn magazines for you to browse through while you wait to be served.



It started to rain and we took refuge at Musashi's for awhile but the place closes at 2pm so we have to leave soon. Our next stop was Fuji Q Highland but as we were walking there, it started to rain HAIL! We had no choice but to take refuge outside an office. The weather change was drastic as it started to get really cold. We were stuck here for awhile before the weather allowed us to quickly run to a cafe nearby for some warmth.

Anyway, the rain finally stopped. The bad thing was that the rain made us run wayyy behind schedule (we were suppose to be at Fuji Q much much earlier) but the good thing was that Mount Fuji appeared even more beautiful after the rain coz the clouds were cleared.





The best view of Mount Fuji is none other than at the top of Fujiyama, a roller coaster ride in Fuji Q Highland. The ride treats you to a supreme view of Fujisan and then plunges you right down at XXX km/h.



Fuji Q also had a new ride called Eejanaika, a 3-D ride which I assume is related to the fact that your seat actually turns 360 degrees mid air.



We took the local train back to Kawaguchiko for dinner and check out how kawaii the train is! Why can't SMRT learn a thing or two? If there is one thing we can learn from the Japanese, it is that sometimes we can take ourselves less seriously and afford to be more outrageous.



We had MOS burger for dinner (strangely it was like 'connected' to a ramen shop, so it was only a half MOS shop) and yes, it is definitely better than Singapore's. I guess in Japan, they just have better ingredients. The taste was very fresh. We had a clam chowder, a yakiniku rice burger and a MOS special burger. It was all good except that the rice burger was juz plain ordinary. Hmm, it even looks ordinary.



We left Kawaguchiko on a Fujikyu bus at 830 pm. Like I said, I was sad to leave but we are just about to begin on our next leg of our trip so I was getting excited about Kansai as well. But it was goodbye to the most memorable traffic light theme song I ever heard in my life. I will remember this tune forever. I'm obsessed with it (And yes, I got it recorded. haha.)

I'll be definitely come back to Kawaguchiko!

Day 9 - Kyoto (Fushimi Inari + Higashiyama District)

We arrived in Kyoto after a gruelling 10 hour ride. Interestingly, the Fujikyu bus was actually very comfortable (but then again, it better be coz we paid 8000 yen for it) considering what a long ride it was. What's amazing was that the bus only had ONE driver!!! Imagine toiling through the night from mount fuji to kyoto non-stop by yourself. Even between Singapore and KL, you get 2 drivers for a 5 hour journey!

It felt a bit surreal when we got off the bus. We've arrived in Kyoto. Though also a city, it felt very different from Tokyo. The bus had dropped us off at Kyoto station and we headed to look for macdonald's for some food. By far, this is the greasiest and tastiest mac's brekkie I ever had. C'mon it was a bacon and egg bagel drenched in mayo!! But what was even more interesting at Macs were all these Japanese ladies eating breakfast and putting on make-up. They all had with them their very own super huge mirrors. We were there at 6am in the mornng and there was this Ah Lian with her hair all done up - sprayed and styled in Barbie doll fashion. Strangely inspiring. Haha



We found our hostel (the very excellent K's house Kyoto), checked in and headed off to our first destination: Fushimi Inari Shrine. You may recognise it from Memoirs of a Geisha. What's special about this shrine is the endless line of bright orange Torii Gates that stretches from the bottom of the hill to the top. But I tell you, it was not funny climbing it at 37 degrees celcius. Me and CK nearly died from heat stroke and exhaustion.



After Fushimi, we headed back to our hostel and decided to have lunch at Dai-ichi Asahi Ramen. A small shop near Kyoto station. Apparently this is a very very popular ramen shop in Kyoto, and judging from the queue, I guess it's really true.



Dai-ichi serves shoyu-style ramen. It was really good as the noodles were silky and had a fantastic bite to it. Incidentally, CK ranks this as one of the top 3 things he ate in Japan.



Next on our itinerary was the must-see Higashiyama district. Here, you'll see old Kyoto with its endless slew of temples, old style shops, shrines and all.



Kiyomizudera Temple was jammed packed with people with several tour groups thronging the place. Anyway, what's interesting was that there was this place just before the main entrance that houses Kwan Yin's womb. Yes, you enter her womb! And basically you walk in complete darkness (it's so dark you have to keep your hand in front of your face) and reach this circular thing that you can turn and make a wish). One of the strange things you can only find in Japan. Here's the signboard of that place (you can read the kanji that says womb):



Check out how super crowded Kiyomizudera is:



We walked through Higashiyama and ultimately kinda ended up past Yasaka Shrine and back at downtown Kyoto, near Gion. Feeling hungry, this weird Okonomiyaki shop that had kinky kama sutra-ish drawings and dolls with pubic hair caught our attention. What's even weirder was their menu, which was soooo big but only contained one item! And did I mention the mannequins dressed in kimono seated at every table "accompanying" you?








And we finally rounded off our day with a Tofu Kaiseki meal (we couldnt afford kaiseki ryori) at Tousuiro, a famous tofu shop.

Day 10 - Kyoto (Arashiyama & Sagano)

It says on our itinerary today we were supposed to visit Kinkakuji Temple in the morning and head on down to Arashiyama. Unfortunately, we were stuck doing laundry and ran really late (partly thanks to this girl who was hogging the dryer for an hour!). I couldn't take the waiting and went to ask Chisato at the reception if there were any outdoor place to hang our clothes. Turned out that there was! But by then the damage has already been done and after a slight argument with CK ( I was pissed I didn't get to go Kinkakuji), we decided to head straight to Arashiyama.

We took the JR train there and as we were in the middle of the Obon holidays, the train was packed. Manage to snag a seat and on our way there, we noticed something moving in a pram. It was a dashcund! Haha... and the girl next to us kept going 'kawaii nehhh' at the dog.

In 15min, we were in Arashiyama. As usual scorching hot. And as usual super crowded. Went to get our tickets fo the Torokko-Sagano Romantic Train ride but damn, only standing tickets were left. Since we had an hour to spare, we went to this quaint looking cafe run by two old ladies. Why are we not surprised but this shop had the latest porn mags too. We ordered an interesting Kyoto brewed Amber Ale and a not so interesting club sandwich. It did fill us up though.



Time for our train ride. The romantic train is those kinda choo-choo train like Thomas the train. What's very interesting was that we were treated to some lovely Karaoke by one of the train officers while waiting for the train to move on schedule. A cute retro red and yellow color, it took us on a scenic ride at the top of the gorges of Hozu River.



The train ultimate came to our final stop and here, you can take a 10 minute bus ride to the starting point of the Hozu Gawa Boat Trip. A scenic boat trip on the Hozu River, through gorges and some exciting rapids, both me and CK agreed this was one of the best experiences of our trip.

The boat is rowed using bamboo sticks where 3 strong guys take turns to row, steer and helm the boat. It's amazing.
Anyway one of the boat men was really funny. Though he only spoke Japanese, I think he kept telling alot of jokes coz the other 25 Japanese people onboard were laughing alot.

The gorge was beautiful and filled with activity. We came across teenagers camping, a Japanese girl and gaijin perched on the rocks, a labrador and his owner playing fetch and families etc. You get a nice serene feeling from the ride. Most of the trees were green coz it was summer but it was still gorgeousl. Imagine autumn!! What was also intersting is towards the end, a boat selling food and drinks comes to our boat, attaches itself to our boat before powering off together using its speed motor. Had this bbq squid which was damn bloody nice.



Anyway, from lovely Arashiyama, we headed back to Kyoto for dinner. We went to Pontocho, a narrow, atmospheric lane filled with bars and restaurants (notably one of the two hangouts for geishas.)



We finally ended up at this hot stone barbeque place called Ishiyaki Jidori Issian. It was really fun eating here coz we sat at the counter and was treated to various cuts of tasty chicken, pork and beef. We had pork cheek, chicken cartilage, prime rib, liver etc and you had to dip the meat into some grated onion first before dumping on the hot plate to cook. . The meat tastes very different from what we have here. It is simply naturally sweeter. And even the daikon tofu salad was excellent. Till this day I have cravings for it. Love the texture. And apparently even the rice they serve here is of some supreme quality (went very well with the meat) and with interesting presentation. You time your rice using an hourglass.



A memorable day that ended with a memorable meal. What a great day. Love Kyoto too.

Day 11 - Nishiki Market @ Kyoto + Osaka

Today, we are suppose to leave Kyoto for Osaka so we went to downtown Kyoto to do some last minute sightseeing at Nishiki Market. I read that Nishiki Market is a vibrant market that stocks Kyoto's freshest produce and how true.





We went back to K's house, checked out and got ready for our next destination - Osaka! K's house Kyoto is about the best hostel in Japan I think. Coincidentally, It's voted the No.1 hostel in Asia by Hostelworld. In my opnion K's house Kyoto was even better than Andon. Immaculately clean and friendly with superb facilities. Highly recommended.





Anyway we took a limited express train from Kyoto to Osaka and reached at about 3pm. Osaka struck me as garishly fun with a sense of humour. Just take a look at this dog plaza opposite my hotel. 12 storeys of dog related services and the building even has a pug head sticking out!



Our hotel was conveniently located in the Shinsaibashi area, a few blocks away from Tokyu Hands. Shinsaibashi is a covered walkway that stretches from near my hotel, towards the Dotombori River and all the way towards Namba. It's jam packed with people, pachinko parlors, tako ball stalls, food, shops etc etc. I really liked the festival vibe I got at the main Dotombori stretch near the Kirin Plaza where they had a microbrewery. Fun and filled with loads of Ah Lians!



Me and CK went on a street food rampage. We started at the Kirin Plaza for beer and some bratwurst, then had tako balls and teppanyaki beef stomach, moved on to have ramen at this famous stand up stall and then we finally wound up at our last stop, Jiyuken, a place Anthony Bourdain visited on one of the episodes of A Cook's Tour.

Jiyuken is famous for its curry rice which is actually a very very delicious simple dish. It's literall rice mixed with curry sauce and served with a raw egg on top. You mix up everything and the result is this very lovely home cooked taste. Most people also order a serving of tempura to go with it. Simple, yummy and memorable. Mmm...I like it very much.

Day 12 - Himeji Castle + Kyoto Daimonji Festival

Had breakfast at the hotel today. Hmmm. Not very good. I was disappointed actually but we were going on a day trip to visit the Himeji Castle (one hour away from Osaka) so we stuck to whatever that was convenient.

Got on the way and tried to buy the JR west kansai one day pass but I had left my passport back at the hotel! Ugh. I had to go back to the hotel in the end to get it. What a damper.

Anyway, back to Himeji Castle. Himeji Castle, also called Shirasagijo (White Heron Castle) due to its white outer walls, is the best preserved castle in all of Japan. A classic example of Japanese castle architecture, Himeji Castle has never been damaged by warfare, even during the Second World War. That is one of the reasons why Himeji Castle has kept its original form for nearly 400 years. In 1993, Himeji Castle was registered on UNESCO's World Heritage list.





Really beautiful and well preserved. We walked around the castle grounds and proceeded to the main castle building where it acts as a museum of some sort, showcasing the artworks and other belongings of the Shoguns who ruled this castle. I was very amazed at how well well kept the items were. This was one of the artworks showcased in the castle



And at the 6th floor of the castle (the top) where you can see the city of Himeji.



We spent half the day at Himeji and ate at Macdonald's before heading to Kyoto to catch the Daimonji Festival. Daimonji Festival happens every year on August 16 where beds of fire in the shape of the Kanji 'Big' are prepared and lit by monks. Also considered the most magnificent of Kyoto's August Obon festivities.

Day 13 - Osaka (Tempozan Harbour Village + Caramel Frosty @ Den Den Town + Nin Nin @ Shinsaibashi)

We headed to the bayside area of Osaka today where Universal Studios, the Osaka Aquarium and Tempozan Habour Village is. Hmmmm, another scorching hot day and it was quite a torture even when walking from Osakako station to the shopping mall.

Tempozan Harbour Village was a bit of a non-event. It was small and not exciting... not to mention still very hot despite it being a mall! Anyway we went around in search for our lunch and was pretty disappointed with what we had in the end. Started off with this savoury crepe thing that had a long line (not very fantastic) and since we both had a huge craving for Oyako Don, we ended up eating at the food court. Taste wise the Oyako Don was pretty alright but presentation its almost nil.

We left the bay area quickly and headed back to Namba. Definitely more interesting. Walked round and we decided to seek refuge from the heat at a nice cafe called Caffe Kohikan. What a choice. Coz I had the absolute best ever ice blended in my entire life. I was totally blown away!

Those who know me, usually I only drink hot drinks but somehow I ordered a Caramel Frosty at this place. With my first sip, I was jolted up by the smoothest, creamiest, most balanced ice blended I ever had. Orgasmic.

Then we walked around Den Den town (Osaka's equivalent of Akhibara in Tokyo) where we came across a stretch of gay comic shops. We walked on further and saw this, I assume, lesbian bar .



From Namba, we walked up towards Shinsaibashi. Dinner time was approaching and we started looking for a place to settle our dinner since we had a bus to catch to Tokyo tonight at 10.30pm. In the end, we went to this little gem in Osaka called Nin Nin @ Shinsaibashi, a place recommended on gourmet navigator. Here, we had one of our most memorable dinner ever.

Foie Gras with Daikon Consomme. Sent me to the moon and back.



A5 Black Fur Wagyu Beef Sashimi. Look at the marbling. Melts in your mouth. Me and CK agreed it tasted like Otoro. For the uninitiated Black Fur Wagyu is a more highly prized variety of Japanese cattle and within this species, there are 5 grades, A5 being the best in terms of its marbling.



Satsuma Chicken done rare. Check out the presentation with the flames and all.



Dessert Platter of Almond Jelly, Creme Brulee and Dark choc cake with green tea ice cream. What a way to perfectly end the meal. The almond jelly tasted like custard and the creme brulee was done on a flat dish so you get the 'maximum' caramelized crust on top. The chocolate cake and green tea ice cream (covered by the sugared crust on top) were excellent too.



Top everything off with the very sensual decor. One of the best dining experiences I ever had. Food, presentation, service, decor and atmosphere were all top-notch.