Our Adventures Begins

After a 7 hours flight from Singapore and a couple hours of sleep, we were kind of ready for our visit to Mount Fuji. After the authentic Japanese breakfast prepared by the hotel, we set off for our journey to meet Fuji-san.

The ride from where we were will be about 3 hours and we stopped by at the snack and rest area after one and half hour of bus ride. We went made after being welcomed by so many different types of vending machines and everyone was busy taking pictures with them. Hahahaahah…. There were different types of vending machines ranging from coffee, snacks, sandwiches to cup noodles. We were supposed to stop by for a quick toilet break but ending up snacking up some of their local snacks and did some light shopping for souvenirs too.

We continued our bus ride to lunch at Kawaguchiko which was very near Mount Fuji. We lunched at an authentic Japanese restaurant and they served simple but comfort food. We all enjoyed the food except the pioneers as they found the food kind of plain.

The view opposite the restaurant was simply amazing and we stopped over for our photo taking sessions and we spent some time enjoying the COLD breeze before we headed up to the mountain. The place was quiet, beautiful and gave the feel of old Japan.

As we continued our journey up Mt. Fuji, the tour guide told us to listen up for the ‘Mount Fuji Song’ when we passed by a route up the mountain. I was puzzled at first but when I heard the music coming from the forest, I was amazed. The music was super crystal clear but it can be eerie if you travelled at night and had no idea of it. It’s called the Melody Road: The Song of Mt. Fuji where it’s a special road that, when you drive over it, causes vibrations in the car that sound like the musical tune. Beautiful and amazing at the same time!

We were told by the tour guide that if weather is fine, we will be able to drive up to the level 5 which is the highest view point for tourist. We stopped by at the level 3 for some photo taking as that was one of the best view for the mountain. I was almost blown away when I got down the bus and I had to push myself against the wind and to stand extremely still for the picture which I had never experienced before. I guessed that would be the fastest photo taking ever in my life! The COLD and Unfriendly wind was simply unbearable!

Wala… we managed to reach level 5 despite the light snow and we ran straight to the souvenir shop immediately when we got off the bus. The wind was too strong and I was considered frozen at that point! We were warming up ourselves in the shop and we tried to have some pictures taken when the wind took its rest. Our little Emma was also upset with the wind and demanded me to bring her to the shop entrance so that she can give a scolding to the wind. Well, she did… she was standing at the entrance and simply blew wind from her mouth and that symbolized her scolding the wind and quickly returned to the shop and warmed herself. Hahahahahaahah…. It was very hilarious actually.

After visiting the iced mountain, we visited the Oshino Hakkai also known as the 8 sacred ponds in the Fuji Five Lakes Region. This is one place where it was strongly believed that their water originates from Mount Fuji.

When we arrived, it felt like a small old Japanese village where we were able to see their houses, ponds and their surroundings were beautiful. As it is a tourist attraction, there were souvenir shops and snacks stalls for everyone. We tried some of their street food like the fried fish cakes, spring toufu and their ice-cream. They were delicious… not that we were hungry but they were fresh and tasty.

It’s time to check out our hotel for the night. It was about 45 minutes bus ride before arriving at our hot spring hotel. After checking into our Fuji Royal Hotel Kawaguchiko, we were told that we are able to use the hot spring in the hotel. Our guide told us about the rules and regulations about using the hot spring and we decided not to try as we were to shy to bare our bodies…

Our tatami style room was pretty big but it’s totally not suitable for elderly. It is too difficult for them to get up as there was nothing much in the room they can use as a support… sighz… The kiddos loved it as they were able to roll around the room… hahaahah

We headed down for our steamboat dinner which was included in our package. The set up was nice but honestly, we didn’t enjoy the food at all… Okay, first of all, the soup was purely spring water and nothing added, then, we were given only soya sauce as compliments to the food. As Singaporean, we usually have sesame sauce, soya sauce and mostly importantly chili sauce for our steamboat and there were none… the elderly did not enjoy at all and they told us that it was the worst steamboat they had ever tried… Ooooppssss…

After dinner, we headed back to our room and tried on the Yukata which was provided by the hotel. Actually, we were supposed to dress in those for dinner but we preferred to wear our own clothes instead. The kiddos were really happy to change into their yukata and all ready for the photo taking. It was really fun seeing them in those costumes and with all that cosplay, they got themselves tired out and gone to bed pretty quickly.

We are looking forward to the shopping spree tomorrow…woohoo!