Mt. Fuji Day One

I head out in the morning getting food for a couple of days and then for the train station. I was going to start at the last train stop, hike along four of the five lakes, and camp in between. The first lake was Kawaguchi. The weather was nice and there was even a big runners marathon going on, and this lake was the finish line. It was a very enjoyable walk with a nice pathway. Then in get to the valley connecting to lake Saiko. At the south most side I had a camp marked and checked and come back. It looked nice but were definitely going to have me pay. So I move on and next door is an empty looking campsite. OK getting better. Then Five minutes later I find a totally deserted site that is high up. Perfect, this is the place to camp for the night, but first there is more to see. There is this old historic village way at the end of the road and I want to check it out today, as it will be out of the way tomorrow. there are many caves and I come to Bat Cave. They want 300 just to go in and I know it is not that big. So I pass, and get onto a trail in the smaller portion of Aokigahara (the sea of forest) that will lead me to the village. A mistake, because my feet are hurting, but I make it. It 5:00pm and the place is closing. All I want is a photo of the old buildings with Mt. Fuji in the background, but the guy isn't having it. OK I got some pictures, but now I have a bigger problem. The sun is going down and I'm going to lose light if I don't book it back. It took some time to hike up so. I take the road speeding past the Bat Cave and the small town. Everything hurts and I'm tired, but I make it back just in time. The campsite is perfect. Nobody has been here in a long time and it is high up so nobody is going to bother me. I set up camp and I have big blisters on the heels of my feet. My sleeping bag is not normal. It is a SOL Survivaly bag ment for last resort conditions, so 45° is as low as this thing will go. So yup it was in the upper 40's. So it was a cold night. Not the best sleep, but not bad as it was mostly my feet that were cold.

Fujiyoshida

Staying in the city of Fujiyoshida for some days rest and doing nothing. My legs need it and are going to need it for what is ahead. Three nights of camping and hiking in between. I have to work my way from here in Fujiyoshida, hitting four of the five lakes, and down to Mishima Station for the bus on Tuesday (Monday had no bus). It is the only for way for a decent price to Kyoto. The bus is $40 and the train is over $100. If you see the journey on a map, it is far, but I will catch a bus from the last lake a local train station. As for the forest I will be hiking? I'll leave that for a future post as it already has quite the history and don't want to spoil it yet.

People in Japan are really nice and will help you with anything. If you even look slightly confused someone will ask you if you need help. At one train station transfer on the way to Fujiyoshida I need to get another line so I'm looking at the big map to figure out how much I need to pay. I think I have it and this girl comes to me if I need help. I was totally wrong on what I was looking out, but she isn't sure what is right. She brings me to the train booth and stays with me to figure out the right place to buy the ticket I need. Simply amazing. Turns out even if I could read Japanese I wouldn't have figured it out. I needed to go through this guys booth, and out the gate on the other side to buy the right ticket.

Finding food has been hard with Google maps as most places (maybe just here) have no information online at all. I read this city has good udon so I search around what is near. One place has no info, but a single picture somebody uploaded. Udon topped with tempora veggies. Oh yeah that will hit the spot. I save the image in the Google maps cache and head off. I pass the place and once again someone asks if I need help. I find the place and the outside looks like a restaurant, but seeing through the window it does not. I go inside, a little old lady sits alone watching TV. She gets up and turns on the lights for the place. It is the right place I guess. The only way to tell that it is place to eat, and not somebody's house, is the one extra table and some cards on the wall with prices. The menu? But I cannot read it. I figured this would happen so I show her the picture of the udon. She gives me tea and goes in the back to make it. I sit alone until she comes back out with the food. It was really good and only about 5 bucks.

I don't expect to get some WiFi until the bus to Kyoto. So it might be some days until my next update.

Better pictures of Mt. Fuji in the future. I hope.

The udon place.

Sunny Hitachi Seaside Park

What a disaster of a day. It started bad when I got up and tried to book my next Airbrb place. I go in the app and book the next place. For whatever reason they want me verify my identity this time. There is a whole bunch of steps, but the one I can't do is verify my phone by getting a number via text. My phone does not work in Japan so this is impossible for me to complete. Airbrb shuts off and I can't make a reservation until I finish the verify process. A big problem as Airbrb has a lot of place for me to stay on the cheap in the future. I'm in front of the train station, getting one bar of some random WiFi signal, on Skype with home trying to find a solution to this problem that is much harder than it should be. I'm mad and getting no where, so I decided it is time to get on the bus and see the park again.

I'm on the bus and time to enjoy the rest of my day. I'm halfway to the park when I realize something is off. Something is missing. The black pouch holding my camera is not on me. How do I not have something that has been attached to me all the time? Then it hits me. I dropped my gear on the sidewalk at the station to solve the Airbrb problem. I start to get really close to a panic attack. I get off the bus and run back as I just missed the bus across the street, but it is way to far to run especially with the weight. I get to a bus stop and wait. At the station I was close to a police box (Koban) so that is the first stop, as that is were lost items are usually taken. They don't have it but take information. Maybe it is at the capsule hotel. So I go back to retrace my steps. Waiting at the cross walk one of the chubby cops runs calling my name. He is out of breath as he looks like he never ran a day in his life. He found my camera. Somebody took my camera up into the station box. I think if I was in any other country that camera would have been gone. I offered to buy the cop a drink, but he declined. The Airbrb was finally fixed the next day so everything went bad to OK.

Hitachinaka Is a very American type of town. Big shopping centers and parking lots. There is even a Costco here! I didn't even know there were Costcos outside the US.

The tripod self shot is hard.

A giant jungle gym thing that looked like a lawsuit waiting to happen in the US.

Looks safe.

The Costco menu is the same. I go for the old stand by hot dog and soda.

Cloudy Hitachi Seaside Park

I has to got out of the way for this park. It would have been perfect to go Hitachi Seaside Park I had landed in Narita, but the flowers I wanted to see were not in bloom, so I waited until now. It started as a sunny day in Tokyo, but then was very overcast when I arrived. The flowers don't pop like I wanted them to. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I will try again. I was going to camp, but the site is out of season and closed down. I could have easily still camped, but somebody recently cut some trees, and I did want to scare some guy working there when I woke up. So I walked to the local train and man my body hurts. Back, knees, and feet all hurt from lugging the 30 pounds (give or take) on my back. I head back to the station for the capsule hotel. My body needed a break.

Before the hotel I stopped for dinner as cup of noodles wasn't going to cut it. I see this Hawaiian themed place and they have long board beer. I have to go in because who knows if I will see it again. A total mistake, as it becomes the only negative experience so far. In short, the place is empty, I go in order a beer, and I wait almost an hour for my food. I'm pissed, but I  waited as I didn't want noodles or the McDonald's next door. Of course they bill me in full. I say I will not pay in full for how long I waited to get my order. They said I needed to get them when I order, but the the Japanese girls after me didn't have to do that. The owner comes out saying it's free, but it seems he just doesn't want to deal with me. I try to pay, as I want to pay what is fair, but it is free now. Fuck it. I'm done so I leave. Cultural differences? Probably, but they still ignored me, and it put me In a bad mood after.

Capsule hotels are actully kind of nice if you just want to sleep. Sweet sweet WiFi, laundry, and vending machines for a cheap dinner. There is an open bath that would seem weird to to Americans. It is a big open room and you sit to shower and dunk yourself with a bucket. Don't like getting naked in front of people? Too bad as it is the only way. Apartments are the same. The whole room (bathroom) is the shower and you sit to wash. The tub is ment to just soak in and to not clean. A better system I think. Tomorrow more Hitachi Seaside Park with hopfully more sun and blue skies.

The other side of the Pacific.

Only one car for this local seaside town train.

The driver left for whatever reason and I was tempted to sit at the controls.