On July 30th, 2011, we were invited to Dracula's Ginza crib for a special dinner in my honor...
Little did I know that my little coffin full of birthday treats was just a distraction, and it was actually I who was on the menu.
In the background you can see the coffin and wax covered candlestick that were the centerpieces of Dracula's cafe. Nice interior decorating.
The next day we set off to climb Mt. Fuji. Mt. Fuji, or Fuji-san (Mr. Fuji) as the Japanese call it, is Japan's tallest peak at 3776m. The mountain is divided into 10 stations, with buses and roads leading up to the 5th, where you can start your climb all the way to the 10th. Unfortunately, when we got there it was raining, and as we climbed the mountain it didn't let up. My waterproof pants ripped along the way, and I had puddles of water in my pants and shoes. The thin air made me queasy, and it was quite possibly the most miserable experience of my life. I'm still relatively happy in this picture, but that's because I have no idea what awaits me.
The climb itself is not difficult. The bigger problem is the traffic jam of people climbing the mountain in a neat line, when the climbing slope is acutally quite wide. We would frequently break out of this line and climb elsewhere, at which point people followed us - but no one wanted to be the first.
After hours of climbing we made it to the 8st station and checked into our lodge. At that point we were above the clouds so at least it wasn't raining.
We had dinner and went to bed as soon as the sun set, to be ready to climb before sunrise.
The beds were massive bunks; it had a very barn atmosphere.
We could watch the sunrise from our station. It was very impressive to see a sunrise from above the clouds and not be in an airplane for it.
Unfortunately the clear skies didn't last, and it started to rain. After 6 more hours of misery, I made it to the top. In retrospect I'm glad I made it, but at the time it really was the worst experience of my life.
Mt. Fuji is an inactive volcano, and Rick had a chance to check out the crater. By the time I got there it was already covered with fog.
It was a birthday weekend I will never forget, and a mountain hike I will never do again.
No comments:
Post a Comment