T and I left Tokyo early yesterday morning with two main objectives in mind. Our first and most important aim, was to Get Out Of Tokyo for once. The second was to see snow somewhere, and possibly play with it. (It rarely snows in Tokyo. We miss snow.)
Other than that we had no real plans. In Japan during this time of year, travel without making any reservations is what some people would call risky and adventurous. Still, most would call it stupid.
I needed to do something a bit crazy though, and it is nice to have an adventure for once that doesn't involve drinking a bottle of Tequila and seeing if I don't end up in jail.
We ended up grabbing a couple of extra seats on the bus that runs from Shinjuku station to the "fujugoko" or the five lakes region that's located right at the base of Mt. Fuji. Here is what the view looked like from the bus.
If you stop your eyes from trying to separate the snow-capped Fuji from the clouds, the whole thing sort of looks like a tidal wave. But maybe that's just me.
After disembarking at Lake Kawaguchi, we hiked along the shore for a while before going to an ice cave that was formed by flowing lava when Fuji erupted, and bathing in natural hot springs. The hot springs were especially kick-ass.
Here we are, waiting for a local bus to take us back to Lake Kawaguchi station.
Consequently, said bus never came.
This was the view from the main road, as we walked 12 kilometers back to the train station, where we eventually scored some seats back to Tokyo last night.
As much as I'd yearned to leave the city that morning, I was just as content to be back to my home. here in post-civilization, where the trains and buses come when they are supposed to.
Happy New Year Minna-san, may it rock!
Cool!
PUT THE SOUND ON AND ENJOY
Happy !! New Year!!
put this in your browser address bar..
http://www.icq.com/img/friendship/static/card_16961_rs.swf
Posted by: Irish Pal | January 02, 2008 at 05:53 AM
"Tidal wave"? Tsk tsk. Surely you mean tsunami?
;-)
"Mount Fuji on a bad hair day" would be my spontaneous "add a caption to this picture" suggestion.
Happy New Year from someone who reads your blog occasionally and can't remember if he's posted here before (and if not, hello and nice to meet you etc.)
Posted by: ThePenguin | January 02, 2008 at 06:29 AM