Sunrise At The Top Of The World

What a difference from yesterday! Whereas yesterday was sunny and warm. this morning was freezing cold and windy. 

Lights went on at 3.50 am. We all got up to eat breakfast at 4 am. Then, at 4.30, everyone was kicked out of Fuji Sanchou Base Station to experience the sunrise whether they wanted to or not. I'm sure everybody did want to, though, because it was magnificent.

At 5 am the doors re-opened and most people, like me, bought a hot coffee to warm up. My fingers were numb, even with gloves on.

I began to make my descent at 05.40 am. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I much prefer walking uphill than down. I did fall over three times but I wasn't injured, thankfully. After descending 1,000 meters, the air temperature was already very warm again. 

The hardest part of the descent seemed to be the final 1,000 meters. Looking down, the route seemed to look nice and flat. However, there were still difficult rocks to negotiate with pretty much every footstep, and every footstep leaves you feeling just that little bit more tired. No wonder nobody looks happy when they reach the foot of Mount Fuji; misery and exhaustion is pretty much the universal facial expression. I'm sure I was the same. Anyway, I reach the First Base Station at 09.20 am, about three hours and forty minutes after beginning my descent. I was pleased with that.

I found Nicolas and Suzanne in the restaurant of the Base Station. I very happily changed out of my stinking, sweat drenched upper body clothing and Nicolas returned my rental gear for me. I thoroughly enjoyed my 300 Yen 500 milliliter Coke, just as I had enjoyed my 500 Yen bottle of Coke at the summit yesterday (a 500 milliliter bottle of Coke usually costs 160 Yen from a vending machine.) We browsed around the souvenir shop until it was time to board the coach at 11 am. There were several things I  wanted to buy but I decided to wait until the coach made the scheduled stop at a big souvenir shop on the journey home. All I bought at the Base Station souvenir shop was a tote bag for my laundry.

Our first stop was a hotel not far from Mount Fuji. There we enjoyed an onsen and a buffet meal. Boy, did that onsen feel good! There is no running water on Mount Fuji so I had not washed or brushed my teeth since Monday morning. I shaved, brushed my teeth and enjoyed a couple of first time experiences at the onsen. One of the baths was full of very salty water, just like at the Red Sea, so you could lie on your back and float in it. Wonderful. The other first was putting my feet in a tub filled with fish that ate my dead skin. It felt lovely.

My favourite bath in the onsen was very cold one. It was wonderful to lie back and relax in that. Usually, men and women with tattoos are not allowed to enter an onsen if they have a tattoo because tattoos signify membership of the yakuza. That was the stated rule in this onsen too. However, one man entered the onsen literally covered from head to to in tattoos. While I was sitting back in the cold bath, he put his leg in, shivered, decided it was too cold and went into the sauna. I thought, "Ha ha, mister tough guy mafia, you can't even get into a bath of cold water." Of course, I didn't say anything because I like having ten fingers.

After eating our meal, we boarded the coach again and made our next stop at one of many temples across Japan dedicated to Mount Fuji. The big souvenir shops next door were tiny and had none of the items I had wanted to buy at the Base Station shop, so that was very disappointing to me. I couldn't even buy any Mount Fuji sweets and chocolates for my family because when we stopped at a service station afterwards that never sold any Mount Fuji souvenirs either, so my family ended up with Nagoya souvenirs instead. However, I did discover something delicious in the 7-11 store of the Nagoya service station; mochi with mint cream and chocolate chips inside. I am going to buy some for Kazuko, Valerie and Arthur tomorrow.

Anyway, we arrived in Osaka at about 7.45 pm. I left Nicolas and Suzanne at J.R. Osaka Station, and Nicolas and I plan to climb Mount Fuji together next year.

I got back home at about 9 pm, delighted to see my family again and share with them all my experiences over the past three wonderful days. If you ever get the chance to climb Mount Fuji ...... absolutely do it!