Week 4

Week 4 - Conquering Mt. Fuji

Having such an awesome time at Kyoto, life was back to normal during the weekdays of Week 4. I returned to my routine of: work, eat, watch movies/tv shows, sleep. At least, however, now I could incorporate email into my routine. +D So the weekdays were exactly that, weekdays... until Thursday!

Thursday - Another girl's number and email!?

I left this out of week 3, but while in Kyoto I bought omiyage (gifts, usually some type of food) for my co-workers. I also decided to buy a box for the girls at Kojima, since they had been so nice to me and helped me out so much the previous week. Therefore, on Thursday, I went to give them the omiyage! My excuse for going, was of course, to buy a microSD card +p So! I saw Haruka of course, but didn't get a chance to see Maki. Anyways, I bought the microSD and at the same time, told them I had brought omiyage for them and would like to give it to them as a token of appreciation. They were, of course, quite surprised and thanked me. I stayed a bit and talked to another guy that knew English quite well and this girl comes up to me and tells me she wants to learn English, and I reply with, I wanna learn Japanese too! So she introduces herself as Kotone Suzuki, goes behind the counter and comes back with a business card with her number and email written on it. Just like that, another number and email! (SCORE x2!)

Hmmm, nothing really happened on Friday if I remember correctly... but when Saturday came.. it was time for trip #2!

Saturday - Shinjuku

Saturday comes about quite quickly. First thing on the list, getting my stove fixed! So in the morning, this guy comes and fixes my stove, takes awhile though and I'm getting kinda worried that I won't make it to Shinjuku for the bus! Anyways, stove finally fixed, double check what I packed: shorts, hoody, 2 liter green tea, towel, various snacks, victory beer, camera. Yup! I was ready.. or so I thought +p

Made my way to Shinjuku, and ate a hearty meal at yours truly.. McDonalds. This time I decided to try the Double Big Mac! It was actually quite good and in Japan there's this sweet supersize deal. You can substitute your medium fries for small fries and 5 pieces of chicken nuggets! So of course, I got that!



Anyways, after lunch, boarded the bus for Kawaguchiko 5th Station. Went along with several people from CJP: Scott, Zhi, Vivian and Barry. Here's what I saw on the bus ride there!

Left to Right: Zhi, Scott, Me, Barry


Left to Right: Barry, Vivian, Barry's friend.... (Sorry lol!)

That roller coaster is in Fujikyu.. they have some pretty sick roller coaster rides that apparently sets world records... so yea, must go for me +D

Saturday - Kawaguchiko 5th Station - 8 p.m.

We arrived at 8ish p.m. Kawaguchiko 5th Station is at the 2300m level of Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji is 3776m..? high. So.. We have approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes to tackle 1400m in altitude. I changed into my shorts in this pay-to-use washroom lol.. 50 yen. That was the last time I was gonna pay to use a washroom!

Oh! Beer vending machine! Betcha don't see that in Canada +p Of course, I was smart enough to bring my own VICTORY BEER! A whopping 135ml +p Yes, my fridge is small, a "REAL" can doesn't fit lol.

lol.. 26 People in total doing pre-game stretches! And what's with that sign!? Why's all the English missing... Discrimination! They want us to die on the mountain!

Woot! 2700m and still in my t-shirt and shorts! It was getting cold, but I was a tiger out there! And typical Japan, the price for washrooms increase as you move higher up +p

Note: Many people, including myself were now suffering from altitude sickness. And therefore, headaches were kicking in, and it was much harder to breath as well. Rain was on and off, and wind was getting stronger and stronger as you moved up the mountain... though in hindsight, that was still relatively pleasant compared to the wind, rain and blistering cold at the top.

I made it up to the top at about 3:15a.m. if I remember correctly.. although still dressed in shorts, I had given in to the cold by putting on my hoody about 2/3rds of the way up. Nonetheless, the I was able to withstand the cold due to my Canadian-ness lol.. (for lack of a better word) I waited at the top for an hour or so... I was cold, tired, dirty, cut, bruised and battered and I thought to myself, why I even bothered paying to come to Mt. Fuji and suffer! And then, I saw the sun rise.. I don't think I could ever describe how beautiful it was.. so I'm not even gonna bother trying... it's really one of those things you just have to see for yourself... As the morning sun rose above the clouds, I celebrated.... KANPAI!

Yes... you maybe thinking why I'm trying to destroy this rock.. "Mt. Fuji doesn't own me.. I own Mt. Fuji!" and here's evidence to prove it!.....

Of course.. Then there's also evidence to prove otherwise...



To sum it all up. Mt. Fuji Conquered By CJP 2007!

Aftermath: The not so glorious details of Mt. Fuji. The sun rise was really something! but once you've absorbed all that beauty, you return to reality and realize you're still friggin 3700meters up and you haven't slept yet! So.. lets start going down the mountain...

This was really brutal.. because it was quite steep and the rocks were loose... I musta fell on my ass about 7 times coming down the mountain.. If you're not focused, it's extremely easy to fall because of the loose rocks. Not to mention the blistering heat. Remember, you're above the clouds, so the rays of the sun really hit you hard. I was lucky I managed to escape without being sun burnt... of course, that was because I was still wearing my hoody and had put on my jeans by now..it also helped that I had sunscreen on... So it took us approximately 3-4 hours to get down. It felt like I was walking in a sauna.. but hey, what can you really do?... gotta keep trekking.. When I finally made it down.. I waited about 3 hours for my bus... and the thought of sleeping the rest of the day was extremely appealing.. I got home at about 4-5pm and to no surprise, that was the end of my Week 4 as I took a well needed shower and slept...