Crescent Bay

2 weeks left. Things are wrapping up…sort of.

What a term it has been. Alone in a new country. Making new friends. Seeing wonderful sights. Eating delicious food. Experiencing life to its fullest.

It has also left me with a lot to think about.

Another crazy weekend. But definitely a fun one.

Friday night: went to the Kagurazaka Awa Odori dance festival. It was at this narrow little street to the west of Shinjuku. Starting at 7pm, there were these dance ‘teams’ dressed up in the traditional wear and paraded/danced down the street. It was absolutely wonderful to see the colourful dance costumes and the energy the dancers had.

Saturday

7:10am – boarded the Shinkansen, the legendary bullet train of Japan, on route to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan. There was so much leg room unlike the normal trains. The ride was extremely smooth. Before I know it, we’ve arrived at the destination.

9:30am – arrived in Kyoto Station. It was HUGE and very modern. The other intern that I went with, we got lost there easily. But luckily, there were signs (lol). We managed to  find the tourist info centre and booked a half a day tour of 3 temples for Sunday. Then we were off on our own for the day.

(I won’t bore you with all the details of all the temples and shrines we went to because we went to a lot. I’ll stick to the highlights.)

The Nijo Castle, where the Shogun lived, was  a good sight. The wall paintings inside were amazing. Golden background with paintings of animals and nature. The floor was a unique design as well. The wooden floor, when you walk on it, it creaks with every step; but instead of sounding like a nasty creak that you usually are afraid to hear, it sounded like a nightingale’s chirp. It was originally designed so that when people sneak in at night, they would hear the nightingale floor ‘creak’ and know that someone has broken in.  Pretty cool.

We went to two other temples after that.

Here is my favourite part of the trip.

5pm – we got of the subway stop to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. We heard that there was this festival there at 6-7pm. The way leading up to the shrine was a little street with many shops for gifts and local flavours. There was this shop specialized in traditional wears and jewelry. So as girls, we went in by instinct (lol). They were selling yukata (the summer kimono) for a good price. While we were in around the town, we saw girls wearing them. So we did the most impulsive thing: we bought a complete set of yukata (I also bought matching slipper/shoes) and changed into them immediately, then went to the shrine.

I felt really Japanese wearing the yukata. People were looking at us as we passed by because it is not that common yet as there weren’t that many people up at the shrine. Some elderlies told us we looked really nice. One of the them even thought that we were from Kyoto. Haha.

We finally got to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. It was beautiful especially because of the series of ’shrine doors’ up the mountain trail. It was extra special that night because there were lanterns hung all over the shrine. They were supposed to light up at 7pm, that’s what the festival was. At the shrine, we were being  tourists, taking pictures. Then suddenly, one tourist came up and asked if he could take a picture with us. We were very polite and agreed. That lead to many other people coming up to us and asking if they could take pictures with us. Suddenly, we became the tourist attraction. LOL. What makes this even more funny is that those people were all Chinese, and they were trying to ask us using Japanese. Well, my friend speaks full Japanese, so she did all the talking. I just nodded and smiled. Haha. I had a good time.

After 7pm, the lanterns were lit, and there was this stage down at the foot of the shrine, where people sang and danced. Absolutely awesome to see. Oh, there were street markets too.

8:10pm – arrived at ryokan (Japanese styled hotel) that we booked. It was really cute. There was a hot spring too, but we didn’t want to take our yukata’s off because we didn’t really know how to tie the ‘belt’. So we decided to go find dinner in our yukata.

First time in a Japanese taxi. It was cool. Just as I’ve seen on TV before, you don’t open the door, the driver pushes a button and the door opens automatically. The taxi had a complete GPS system and very clean and etc.

We went to Pontocho, a narrow street only fit for walking, hoping to find good Kyoto food. The lane felt old because of the housing style. Felt really cozy. But unfortunately, the food was REALLY expensive. So we just went for a cheaper alternative, which was pretty good as well.

Our last stop of the day was at Gion, the Geisha district and then the Yasaka Shrine. We didn’t spot any geishas, but we did get to see the returning of the Matsuri floats from the day parade at the shrine. There were SO many designated people there, taking turns to carry the massive floats. It is actually very heavy as I’ve been told. Those people must be very tired, carrying from day to night; but they were still very energetic. They paraded the floats around the shrine before returning it to its original place in the shrine.

Dead tired as we came back to the ryokan. Showered and slept right away.

Sunday

7:10am – woke up and went to the hot spring. Water was great. Then went to eat breakfast that our stay included. It was traditional style, lots of variety with little amounts of each. Very good.

8:30am – taxi to Kyoto station for the half day tour at 9am. The taxi company that owned the taxi that we took had a campaign going on, where each taxi was given a set of 3 leaf clovers stickers for its passengers; but 4 of the 1400 taxis where given the lucky 4 leaf clover. And the taxi that we took was one of the 4 that had the 4 leaf clover. So we got a special sticker for it. Lucky lucky ne?

I was really tired for the whole day. So I will just post pictures on facebook and they will be self-explanatory. I have to say though, the zen gardens were AMAZING.

Conclusion, Kyoto doesn’t have tall buildings, but it’s streets are very very wide. There aren’t as many people as Tokyo, and it has the small town atmosphere with its old style buildings and temples all around.

Final conclusion, I <3 Kyoto. I will definitely want to visit again in the future, but spend longer and not on a such squished schedule lol.

梁靜茹-可惜不是你

这一刻 突然觉得好熟悉
像昨天 今天同时在放映
我这句语气 原来好像你
不就是我们爱过的证据
差一点 骗了自己骗了你
爱与被爱不一定成正比
我知道被疼是一种运气
但我无法完全交出自己
努力为你改变
却变不了 预留的伏线
以为在你身边 那也算永远
仿佛还是昨天
可是昨天 已非常遥远
但闭上我双眼我还看得见

可惜不是你 陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你 牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔

那一段 我们曾心贴著心
我想我更有权力关心你
可能你 已走进别人风景
多希望 也有 星光的投影
努力为你改变
却变不了 预留的伏线
以为在你身边 那也算永远
仿佛还是昨天
可是昨天 已非常遥远
但闭上我双眼 我还看得见

可惜不是你 陪我到最後
曾一起走却走失那路口
感谢那是你 牵过我的手
还能感受那温柔

感谢那是你 牵过我的手
还能温暖我胸口

———————————

I hope she will release new songs soon~

Oh man, I had no idea walking can be this difficult. Basically, my leg muscles are so sore that I’m walking a snails pace, seriously.

Today, the first thing my manager said when he saw me was, “Wow, you look like you’ve lost weight AND you got sunburned”. Yeah, my face got sunburned as well as my right hand. It’s not pretty. >_<

So back to mountain climbing…

When we were at the rest station, we saw the map had suggested that there was an easier route back down. I was pretty relieved that we did not have to take that tough path again. However, at the top of the mountain, I was horrified to find that the easier path had been blocked due to danger. One of the interns that came with had plenty of mountain climbing experience, and said that it shouldn’t be too bad and we should still go down that path. I wasn’t so convinced but I went with anyways. About 2 minutes down that route, I saw large patches of snow and steep slope blocking our way. I was seriously, seriously scared. I told them that I can’t do it, I can’t go down this path. So we went back to the top. The only option left for us was the hard path that we came up from. I felt really hopeless.

6:30am – we began our descend. It was much faster going down since it was finally light and we could see where we were going. It was still windy and foggy. But in less than an hour, the sky had magically cleared up in an instant. I could see the sun above me in bright blue sky, the clouds below me, and through the cloud patches, I could see masses of green. That sight was absolutely breathtaking. My mood instantly got better. There are no words to describe the joy I felt then, and I got the courage to keep going down that treacherous path.

As we kept moving, we saw more people climbing up. Most of them are Japanese, dressed in professional hiking gear, WITHOUT a hiking stick. They were going up really fast. You can tell they’ve been on this path many times and that they enjoy it. People are really nice, saying ‘konnichiwa’ as we passed by. I felt happier by the minute. But fatigue and tiredness were slowly creeping in my body as well.

Since I can now see where I’m going, I was stunned by the condition of the path that we had to come up by in the dark. It was not a developed path, instead it was rocks, slippery slope, I have no idea where to put my foot down sometimes. How did I actually climb up in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, heavy wind/fog, little sleep and minimal food?

10am – we had hoped to go to the easier down path by going through a road that was near one of the many 7th rest stations. But that road was blocked off as well. So we had absolutely no choice but to climb down the same path. It was terribly hard. Again and again, we asked each other, how did we do it?

By then we had to take many breaks because we were all getting really really tired. around 10:30 I realized that we don’t have much time left until 1pm, when we had to take the return bus back to Tokyo. So we barely stopped at any rest stops, and ‘tanked’ our way down the harsh path.

We managed to arrive at the bus station where we started at 12:30pm, just enough time for me to get a souvenir and run to the bathroom before boarding the bus.

1pm – Boarded the return bus. Fell asleep instantly as the bus engine started. Woke up about 10min before arrival at Shinjuku station in Tokyo.

5pm – arrived home after a good curry meal. Took a shower and passed out on my bed.

Some time in between 9 and 10pm, I woke up by my mom’s phone call, changed my status on Facebook and Renren, then went back to bed. That was a blur…I think.

—–

Woke up this morning. Man, my muscles hurt. I most definitely went over the limit that my body can support. It was a good journey though, I had no regrets. My favourite part had to be climbing in the night/rain/wind/fog on the rocky path. Second favourite was seeing that beautiful view from a top Mount Fuji.

Now that I have climbed Mount Fuji, I feel like I can do anything.

You can say that you’ve climbed Mount Fuji, but I can say that I’ve climbed Mount Fuji in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, in the harsh wind, with little sleep and food, AND I came back down the same path that I came up on (i.e. not the easy path). Therefore, I win.

LOL, just kidding.

Sister A.K. said my last post make it sound like a bad trip. Lol, it  did sound bad, didn’t it? It was tough, but not bad. It was definitely a wonderful experience.

If you happen to be in Tokyo, make sure you climb Mount Fuji. BUT, please keep in mind the following (my lessons learned):

- If the weather says 100% of precipitation, don’t go. Especially not during the night.
- Bring sun lotion, you don’t want to be sunburned the next day.
- Wear something that will protect your ankle and prevent little rocks from going into your shoes (i.e. proper hiking shoes)
- Wear warm and water proof clothes. Even if it’s not raining, there are fog and moisture from the clouds as you go up. Being soaked and blown by the wind is not fun.
- Last but not least, ENJOY YOURSELF~~~~~

^_____^

(I think I will pass out again after I shower today, lol)

I better write this down while it’s still fresh in my head.

Climbing Mount Fuji has got to be the hardest thing I’ve done in my life so far.

Climbing Mount Fuji at night in that severe weather condition has got to be the craziest thing I’ve done in my life so far.

Here are the details:

Saturday:

4:50pm – my and 2 other interns boarded the bus to Mt.Fuji. We knew from the weather reports that it was going to rain there. But it’s the raining season here in Japan, so we decided to head out anyways. I was really excited for the climb, couldn’t sleep on the bus.

7:20pm – arrived at Mount Fuji 5th Station, which is the place where people usually start climbing. With us are all foreigners, who, like us, wanted to climb Fuji at night to see the sunrise. Temperature was significantly colder there. We put on our jackets and raincoats, bought a climbing/hiking stick, did our personal business (i.e. bathroom run), and started our long journey.

7:30pm – started the climb. It was already dark by the time we left the station. We went on the climbing route, which started as none steep and pretty flat road. I thought that this climb wasn’t gonna be so bad. But I was so wrong.

The rain was only a drizzle when we started. But it became pouring rain about 1hr into our climb. With only dim flashlights, we tried to figure out our way through the mountain path, which only got more complicated and harder as we moved up. There were parts where we had to do rock climbing, and because there was the rain, we had to be extra careful so that we don’t slip when stepping on a rock or something. I took a few looks back and I never done it again. The slope was so steep that if I looked more, I knew I would be more scared.

We climbed really slowly to conserve energy and  to get used to the lowering of the air pressure due to high altitude. We would eat and drink a bit at the rest stations along the way. But despite the pouring rain, we  couldn’t rest inside the stations because we had to pay to stay. Temperature was dropping and it was getting foggier. 5hrs into the climb, I knew that I had no turning back. The only way to survive was to reach the top.

Midnight – we arrived at one of the many 7th rest stations up the mountain, after our toughest climb yet. It was purely rock climbing in the dark with dim flashlights and rain. I knew that I had to sleep for a bit to gain some energy back. By then, my sleeves and pants where soaked despite the rain coat that I had on. I paid quite an amount and stayed in a rest station. It was like army styled sleeping, i.e. a long bed, everyone gets a sleeping bag and sleep side by side along a row. The tatami was really soft. But it was not a good night sleep since people kept waking up and packing up to climb further. And I kept on waking up once in a while to check the time. I stayed there for around 2 hours and we started our journey up once again.

Sunday

2am – the rain had stopped, but the harsh mountain winds had started. The road condition did not get any easier. We didn’t really know what kind of road we were climbing on since we couldn’t see much. We climbed even slower because the wind was so strong that it felt like I was going to get blown away. Good thing we had the hiking stick (which is a good souvenir because it was branded with the rest station logo and altitude at the rest stations we arrived at, we had to pay for that of course) to stable ourselves. We were all really really tired, but we had to keep going.

3:30am – finally arrived at a rest station that we can sit inside. But it was time limited and you had to order food to stay in. We didn’t mind some hot cup noodles. By then my jacket was all wet and I was freezing, but because we had been climbing continuously, I didn’t feel the cold that much.

4am – outside has gotten brighter so we didn’t need our flashlights as much. We had one more rest station to go, before we have to face a 1.5hr climb to the top, which we had been told as the toughest part of the climb. None of us wanted to give up since we have came all this way. Slowly we started climbing again, stopping every so often on the road.

I really wish that I could remember more of the last part of the journey. But I guess I was really tired and just wanted to reach the top, that part of the climb as just a blur now.

5:45am – we did it! We’ve reached the top of Mount Fuji. It was foggy. They had built a last station and some shops up there, which were all closed because either its too early or its still not the climbing season yet. It looked kind of like a ghost town, haha. We had of course missed the sunrise. But we have arrived at the top. I felt so accomplished and so proud.

We walked around a bit on the top, but due to the fog we couldn’t see much of the crater or down the peak. The wind hadn’t stopped. I was shivering like mad. We decided to head back down, but little did we know, the journey back down was not as easy as the map had suggested.

—-

Have to head to work now. I’ll finish it up after work.