This story begins one year back in June 2012. While travelling for the first time to Japan, I was woken up by landing announcement in the flight to view the picturesque summit of mount Fuji.
I was mesmerized by the cloudy view of it and decided that someday I would go to this peak and then only write an article about Japan.
My blog would have never been completed without a mount Fuji trip to it. And after 3 more travels and one year time span after this incident, I could go to mount Fuji. Life has evolved for me and the time has changed during this, on the lighter node I must mention that I am no longer a "bachelor" now .
This mesmerising beauty is at 3,776 meters (or 12,388 feet) above sea level.The last time it erupted was in 1708 (oh, and you had better believe I looked up all of these vital facts before going for this crazy visit!) For some educational history, I have pasted some paragraphs to better prepare readers with an unbiased opinion about Mt. Fuji. Unlike some sacred mountains, it is not considered blasphemous to climb Mt. Fuji - in fact, to ascend to the summit is an important pilgrimage.
The mountain is home to many Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples and torii gates. The official climbing season is only two months long (July and August), during which time most of the snow has melted and thousands of pilgrims and hikers make the climb to the top. For the rest of the year you need to take official permission from local police to climb. The climb is no walk in the park - it is very steep and takes about 8 hours - but for many it is an experience of a lifetime. Believe you me, there have been the cases where people were literally blown of the peak by heavy winds and died.It is estimated that up to a third of the climbers are foreign tourists, making for an atmosphere that is at once quintessentially Japanese and international.
As one would say that it is incomplete to visit Japan
if you don't see Mt. Fuji.Let me add to this from an Indian foodie's perspective, it is also incomplete without visiting the restaurant "Shaghun" owned by Mr. Bala Shetty @ Mizonokuchi when you pay visit to Japan. Taste buds feels a astonishing experience from the dishes Shaghun has to offer and the hospitality of Mr. Shetty and staff is just unparalleled.You would never feel away from India with the kind of ambience(also unique in a way) Shaghun imbibes. Eating the mirchi pakoda and aaloo chat with "suhana safar aur ye mausam..." being played in the background and Japanese TV shows on being telecast on LCD screen (muted though) makes it a unique experience.
Coming back to Mount Fuji Me and my friend Vikas planned it a week ago. We started our journey @ 6:15 AM and reached the bus stop at 7:25 AM. We booked tickets for 7:40 AM departure by Keio Bus service. It took around 3 hours and reached the mount Fuji 5th station at 10:30 AM. Mount Fuji 5th station is the last place where a bus can reach. After receiving the necessary information about the tracking route from information centre we started our tracking. Not to our surprise people were fully equipped for tracking with tracking sticks, shoes, gloves and winter wear. We were like amateurs in cotton summer wears and no equipment. But the adrenaline rush to climb up that beautiful volcano just can't let you feel any weakness whatsoever. Temperature starts dripping with every inch of ascending and weather keeps on changing. At one moment sun is shining at its full brilliance and the very next moment its all dark and cloudy accompanying some shower. If you stop more than 5 minutes anywhere you will feel the chill in the wind and your kneecap would start to pain. Rocks and land developed from volcano eruption has made the area pretty porous and fluffy. It makes the walking even more difficult.
The feeling we had at descending was zombie like. Our ears were ringing and head paining. We paid a visit to the shrine at the 5th station. As it is in India, everything you purchase at the high altitudes is expensive by many folds as compared to the main land. We just grabbed softy cones and moved back to the bus stand.
I was mesmerized by the cloudy view of it and decided that someday I would go to this peak and then only write an article about Japan.
My blog would have never been completed without a mount Fuji trip to it. And after 3 more travels and one year time span after this incident, I could go to mount Fuji. Life has evolved for me and the time has changed during this, on the lighter node I must mention that I am no longer a "bachelor" now .
The mountain is home to many Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples and torii gates. The official climbing season is only two months long (July and August), during which time most of the snow has melted and thousands of pilgrims and hikers make the climb to the top. For the rest of the year you need to take official permission from local police to climb. The climb is no walk in the park - it is very steep and takes about 8 hours - but for many it is an experience of a lifetime. Believe you me, there have been the cases where people were literally blown of the peak by heavy winds and died.It is estimated that up to a third of the climbers are foreign tourists, making for an atmosphere that is at once quintessentially Japanese and international.
if you don't see Mt. Fuji.Let me add to this from an Indian foodie's perspective, it is also incomplete without visiting the restaurant "Shaghun" owned by Mr. Bala Shetty @ Mizonokuchi when you pay visit to Japan. Taste buds feels a astonishing experience from the dishes Shaghun has to offer and the hospitality of Mr. Shetty and staff is just unparalleled.You would never feel away from India with the kind of ambience(also unique in a way) Shaghun imbibes. Eating the mirchi pakoda and aaloo chat with "suhana safar aur ye mausam..." being played in the background and Japanese TV shows on being telecast on LCD screen (muted though) makes it a unique experience.
Coming back to Mount Fuji Me and my friend Vikas planned it a week ago. We started our journey @ 6:15 AM and reached the bus stop at 7:25 AM. We booked tickets for 7:40 AM departure by Keio Bus service. It took around 3 hours and reached the mount Fuji 5th station at 10:30 AM. Mount Fuji 5th station is the last place where a bus can reach. After receiving the necessary information about the tracking route from information centre we started our tracking. Not to our surprise people were fully equipped for tracking with tracking sticks, shoes, gloves and winter wear. We were like amateurs in cotton summer wears and no equipment. But the adrenaline rush to climb up that beautiful volcano just can't let you feel any weakness whatsoever. Temperature starts dripping with every inch of ascending and weather keeps on changing. At one moment sun is shining at its full brilliance and the very next moment its all dark and cloudy accompanying some shower. If you stop more than 5 minutes anywhere you will feel the chill in the wind and your kneecap would start to pain. Rocks and land developed from volcano eruption has made the area pretty porous and fluffy. It makes the walking even more difficult.
The feeling we had at descending was zombie like. Our ears were ringing and head paining. We paid a visit to the shrine at the 5th station. As it is in India, everything you purchase at the high altitudes is expensive by many folds as compared to the main land. We just grabbed softy cones and moved back to the bus stand.
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