Japan Day 2: Mt Fuji

We woke up early on the second day, had breakfast (we bought some bread at Lawson) and made our way to the bus station in Shinjuku. My luggage still had not arrived that morning. Luckily, the night before we went to Akihabara and found a Uniqlo there, so I bought one top, a few pairs of socks and some other essentials. And since all my itineraries were in my luggage, I had to reprint the bus ticket confirmation for our trip to Mt. Fuji. So hopped on the train to Shinjuku we did, and we got there early. So we exchanged our confirmation slips with our actual bus tickets. Our bus was due to depart at 12.30 p.m and there was plenty of time so we walked around Shinjuku to find a place to have lunch. And lo and behold, we found a kebab stall! Hooray!!! Pretty expensive for kebab I have to say (600 yen for a kebab!) but we were to hungry and too happy to have found a halal place to care. After lunch we boarded the bus and made ourselves comfortable. The journey to Mt. Fuji took approximately 2 hours (plenty of time to sleep) but we were too excited and didn't want to miss our first glimpse of Mt. Fuji so we stayed awake the entire journey. Good thing that I had brought along a book for this trip. Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hours Bookstore is an interesting read by the way.

First glimpse of Mt Fuji from our bus

We got to Mt Fuji at 2.30 p.m and checked in. The room we booked was quite big with an attached bathroom. But the thing that we were very happy with was the view. It was gorgeous!

We slept on tatami mats. Cool stuff!

How can you not fall in love with that view? 

The weather was really good that day. Apparently it was one of the best weathers they've this year as we were told by the receptionist at K's House Mt Fuji. If you ever plan to go to My Fuji, I highly recommend staying at K's House Mt Fuji. The staff speak excellent English and very helpful and the place is super cozy. The hostel also offers free pick up from Kawaguchiko station. We were told that my luggage still hadn't arrived but they did receive a phone call saying that it would arrive that day. Since we had plenty of time before sunset, we decided to explore the area. I had read about a cable car at Mt. Kachi Kachi which you can ride and get a full view of Mt Fuji so we decided to check it out. It was quite a walk to the cable car station from our hostel but it was such a lovely day that we really enjoyed it.

Gorgeous autumn leaves

View of Lake Kawaguchiko from the cable car

Mt. Fuji! Isn't she gorgeous? 

Hello us!

Almost sunset at Lake Kawaguchiko

At Mt. Kachi Kachi there were binoculars, the ones where you could insert coins in them and you could see Mt. Fuji up close. And really, what we saw was breathtaking. A majestic mountain with its top capped with thick snow. We had such a wonderful time on top of Mt. Kachi Kachi that we were loath to come back down, but since it was nearing sunset and it was getting colder, we reluctantly descended. On our way back to the hostel we stopped by some shops and we found strawberry cheesecake Kit Kats! Kit Kats of wonderful flavours are pretty popular in Japan and this was the first time we saw one. So of course we grabbed a box, and they were delicious!

Strawberry cheesecake Kit Kats

By the time we got back to the hostel it was dark, and we were greeted with the good news that my luggage had arrived. Yay! 

We had worked up quite an appetite but since the night was still young (sunset was at 5.30 p.m.) we quickly freshened up and made our way to an onsen nearby. I have been wanting to check out an onsen in Japan at least once, and the dude at the hostel told us that there was one just behind the hostel. An onsen is basically a Japanese hot spring bath. It took a lot of convincing for hubs to get on board with the idea, but he caved in the end. We made our way to the onsen and got ourselves ready. Some rules on the use of onsen:

1. No tatoos allowed

2. You must be in your birthday suit in the onsen. No swimsuits allowed

3. You must shower before you dip into the bath

4. If you want to bring a towel, bring a small one. And you must never dip the towel into the bath. It's considered unhygenic

It was quite an experience taking a bath at the onsen. It was really awkward being in the company of women in their birthday suits, but putting that aside (I averted my eyes the entire time LOL), as soon as you step into the hot bath, all you want to do is close your eyes and enjoy it. The water was quite hot (40 degrees) but it was very relaxing. You could feel your tense muscles slowly loosen up. I met a couple of ladies (one from Australia and one from the UK) and they have been going to the onsen almost everyday, and I can understand why. To be honest, I didn't want to get out of there but I knew I had to at some point. When I got out, DH was already sipping his green tea at the lounge and when I asked him about his own experience, he told me it was something that he'll never do again. I'm guessing the whole birthday suit rule freaked him out LOL.

Before we left the hostel we asked the receptionist if there was any halal restaurant nearby and lucky for us, there was one Indian restaurant. We had a lovely dinner of naan and tandoori. It was a bit pricey but worth it. We had the set meal, which was big enough for two and finished the whole thing. It was a really good end to a really good day.