Day 5 & 6 - Mount Fuji
On Tuesday we said goodbye to Johnny as he had to go back to base and Ely and I took a bus down to Lake Kawaguchiko to see Mount Fuji. The seats on the bus were very narrow, I practically had one butt cheek on top of the other.
Our time in Mount Fuji was unforgettable and we enjoyed every minute of it even with the few kinks we encountered during our stay. We stayed in a hostel that had the most magnificent view of Mount Fuji. It is absolutely breathtaking!
After leaving the bus station, we headed straight to a local restaurant that served Hotou noodles. The food was amazing…the only problem was Ely made us sit in tatami mats. She had forgotten that I cannot sit "criss cross applesauce" for the life of me. Knowing how much she wanted to experience eating on tatami mats I didn't say anything to her. Instead for an entire hour I was fidgeting on the mats. I felt like a giant stale cookie unable to bend without breaking.
We walked to our hostel after lunch to check in, actually the wrong hostel. Lol My knees were still adjusting themselves so we opted to take a taxi to the right hostel. After settling in, we walked to a local Indian restaurant. The night would have not been complete without one more kink…our taxi driver took us to a hotel instead of our hostel after dinner. Already angry that he drove us to the wrong destination, he became infuriated when we paid him with nothing but coins! Whoops!
Wednesday we got to ride on the "Pleasure Cruiser" across Lake Kawaguchiko for another spectacular view of Mount Fuji. After this ride Ely and I accidentally ended up inside a little old bakery and before we knew it we were sitting down at a table with our own desert and the best cup of instant coffee. I packed Lactaid pills given that Ely and I are both lactose intolerant but they must be using legitimate cow milk because they did nothing for me. The size of our desserts and coffee served as reminder that in America we do EVERYTHING BIG! I needed a magnifying glass to find the crust on the slice of cheesecake I was served. After our little snack, we went on to ride cable cars that would led us to the peak of another mountain for another stellar view of Mount Fuji. Man, I have to say I couldn't get tired of staring at this mountain except for the fact that the sun was blinding my big beautiful eyes, my most prized possession.
Now the fun begins...after our ride on the cable cars Ely and I went to have lunch at a restaurant overlooking Lake Kawaguchiko. I, having a bladder the size of a peanut went to use the restroom once we walked in. This would make it the second time in this trip that I would use a squatty... the first time I used a squatty was in Tokyo. During my first experience, I struggled to maintain my balance and height as my legs were dead after walking 25,000 steps. It wasn't until I walked out of the restroom that I realized I was facing the opposite direction when I used the squatty. Hence the reason why there were no railings in sight for me to maintain my balance.
As soon as I walked in to the restroom at the restaurant and saw that It was a squatty I was pumped. I felt like an experienced traveler that knew exactly how to use it. I positioned myself and just as I was forming a victory grin, my left foot slipped under me. You can just imagine the horror that filled my body. This will go on as the day in history when I declared war on squatties.
Late in the afternoon we decided to rent bikes and ride them over to a private Onsen before catching an overnight bus to Kyoto. This was another decision Ely and I made without thoroughly thinking it over. By the time we figured out how to unlock the bikes and how to remove the kickstand, it was already 5 pm. Two foreigners riding bikes in the icy sidewalks while the sun was setting was definitely a sight to see. What was meant to only be a 10 to 15 minute bike ride, turned out to be 45 minutes! I considered going back to the hostel when I saw the Onsen across the street but no way to cross the big highway that divided us.
Ely and I finally made our way to the bike lot next to the main entrance. As I was down on my knees locking my bike, I felt the bike rack tremble and shake--ultimately breaking on one side. I looked over and saw Ely hurling her bike over the rack. For one reason or another, she thought she was Hercules.
After rolling on the floor laughing, we finally made our way in. The entire building was made out of wood. It reminded me of the Hunger Games; everything was spotless, in order and people were dressed in the same exact clothes. We walked in to the women's locker room and once again I found myself contemplating going back to the hostel before experiencing a Japanese Onsen. There were naked Japanese women walking around everywhere so nonchalantly. I all of a sudden became extremely timid about my body, it might have also been the fact that my legs and underarms hadn't seen a razor since I left the states. After undressing and being butt naked, Ely and I made our way to Onsens tightly holding our bath and hand towel. As soon as we stepped into the Onsen area, I felt everyone's eyes on us.
As any true American would do, we broke 3 of the 6 rules posted up on just about every wall. 1. We took our bath towel with us to the area where all of the Onsens were located 2. People with tattoos are not admitted to the Onsens (we covered Ely’s tattoo with Band-Aids) 3. We walked into the locker rooms soaking wet
After the Onsen we headed back to the hostel to return our rented bikes and to mount our backpacks onto our aching backs for the walk to the bus station. This was the end to our enchanting stay in Mount Fuji.
The bus ride to Kyoto was nine hours long; nine hours of me turning from side to side as Ely slept like an angel. The windows of the bus were covered with drapes so I didn't get to enjoy what I'm assuming would have been beautiful scenery. About 60% of the bus was empty yet Ely and I, the American tourist...bigger than anybody else in the bus were forced to sit next to each other.