Day 3 was a very eventful day! it was of thrills and spills...we had to bring our luggage down to the lobby at 5.30am for loading on the bus. the bus driver will then head to the mount fuji area while we laze around and have a slow and relaxed breakfast. after which at 9am we will take a slow and short bus ride to the shinkansen station for a 10 mintues journey to join the bus driver and our precious luggages. noticing the time difference, you would have guess that the shinkansen is the bullet train!
having woken up so early, we set out to explore the place around our hotel. i don't think i'd ever forget the blast of cold air that hit my face when i walked out of the hotel. it was soo sunny but damn cold. even colder than the night before because there was like a strong wind.
anyways here's a picture of the shapeless christmas tree at the hotel lobby..rather adorable..
this picture wouldn't make sense til you see the next one
!!!! told you it was sunny didn't i
we went to refuge from the wind in a cinema that was still closed.
The Devil Wears Prada - NOW SHOWING!
on the bus to the bullet train station...i don't get why the emergency exit of the bus reads as fei chang kou hmmmm
we reached the bullet train station that looks anything but a station
down at the tracks. we had to reach there early as the train would arrive right on time. if we missed it, there goes the tickets which cost at least a hundred dollars.
we saw this train that bypassed the station and it was travelling like soooo fast!!! it passed the entire station in like i don't know maybe 3 seconds...
haa..miz BEE will show you exactly how fast the train is travelling..
the inside of the train rather resembled a plane's interiors
i got the window seat!
something that was pasted on the seat in front of me
the train travelled so fast the tracks just flew past
happy people getting down from the train
from osaka to the mount fuji area in 10 mins! here's us at the station at the other end.
i didn't want to say bye to my 'hundred bucks but it's still a piece of paper' ticket. but the ticket gates would keep it when you exit the station.
i had an obanyaki on the bus. somehow it didn't taste nice...
some road sign that proposes road safety
i have no idea now what's this. but it looks like a stream splitting in half...
we had a toilet break when mount fuji started appearing from behind the mountains!
speaking of toilet breaks, japan has the nicest toilet stops i've ever seen. a far cry from those in nepal of course! they have special toilets along long stretches of roads. and the toilets are huge. like 6 times your average shopping mall toilet. also, it's airy and clean and most imptly, it's stocked with toilet paper! the tap water is blardy cold though!!!
anyways this shocked me when i reached our next destination - fuji-Q amusement park!
here's bernice with one of those huge-ass coasters
but really it's a really nice place. imagine screaming your lungs out while on one of those huge-ass coasters!
my mum and i decided to have a go on one of the coasters..it was 1000 yen a pop..around $15!
jap girls belting up before us.
okay i thought the ride i took was called au and is sponsored by kddi..but silly me that was just an ad...it's actually called Dodonpa.
got some info about it off the net.
It is 52 metres (170 feet) tall, and has a launch speed of 172 km/h (107 mph), which is reached in less than 2 seconds. When it was opened it was the fastest roller coaster in the world. As of 2006 it is the 3rd fastest but still has the highest acceleration at launch time.
Woot! i took the world's 3rd fastest coaster!!! haa..the launch was really damn fast man, something along the lines of a G force of 4.25G (whatever that means). When the ride started, all i could think of was, 'Ohh shhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt!!!!!'
The name 'Dodonpa' comes from the musical sound which is played to customers waiting to board it.
haa..i don't exactly remembered the music, but it was sort of a fun but chilling tune if i don't rem wrongly..
The queuing time was crazy. me and my mum were crazy too. we had one hour to spare before lunch but we just went right on past the sign and joined the queue. and if you scrutinize the picture above, you'd know that the queue went on right out of the building. yeap, there's a longer queue inside the building.
took this off someone's blog.
apparently, you couldn't take the ride if u had a pot belly...
if u sleep in class...
if you hammered someone on the head...
if you were a metallic robot (v.beckham would not be allowed here)
or if you were old!
here's the tip. when we were going down, i felt as if i was going to fly out of the coaster anytime, until i remembered in the safety video that one had to lean back at all times. freak! we were going down at 90 degrees, rather hard to do that man...but while we were going down, i saw mount fuji! then i chickened out and closed my eyes because it was way too scary...
the coaster had a really cute head.
more pictures!
because we queued so long for the ride, we were running to the restaurant where the tour group was supposed to have lunch just in time to watch them leave. then we began to feel really bad because the fuss the tour guides were kicking up. he wanted us to leave early to see mt fuji because it was a very clear day and the peak of mt fuji could be seen very clearly. i felt really terrible because we were queuing for a ride of all things while they were clearly very worried about the time. lunch was steamboat. a rather yummy steamboat but i just didn't have the appetite. o wells!
after lunch, we began the ascent.
and soon we saw snow!
me hearts snow!
we reached the 5th station of mt fuji as can be seen from the signboard! but we couldn't go any further up because the rest of the stations were closed due to it being winter now.
whoever eats ice cream on snow-peaked mt fuji!
there was a letter box at the 5th station of mt fuji surprisingly
little red riding hood and the big bad wolf
the store at the back gave everyone a bell and a cup of warm mushroom soup. the bell is supposed to be tied to the walking aid of a trekker. in the case he gets lost, help would be able to reach him by listening out for the tinkle of the bell.
some road thingy with jap printed on it. it looks almost chinese!
here's mummy with the peak of mt fuji
and i got to utilize my very furry hood
i had a red runny nose when i got back to the bus.
and so did miz Bee!
we then headed to our hotel which was overlooking a lake. In the hotel itself, there was a hot spring bath. All of decided to try it since we were in Japan already. Although you see people wrapping a towel around themselves in Japan Hour, in reality you are supposed to be totally naked while in the hot spring. Also, you had to wash yourself very throughly by sitting on an wooden stool and rinising your body with a hand shower before going into the pool.
Going into the hot spring was very tortorous. The water was like soooo hot. i think i took about 20 minutes before i totally went in. Bernice didn't even make it in totally at all. While we went ouch-ing and ooh-ing, my mum and this old lady from our tour group was already partially-submerged in the pool. The guide was saying that first-timers should not stay in the pool for more than 15 minutes. RIGHT and i took 20 minutes going in.
the only thing we could bring into the pool was this small hand towel that one is supposed to wet and then place on the head to cool oneself down. After 5 minutes of being in the pool, i could feel all the blood rushing to my head already. and that is what the wet towel is for. i didn't dare stay too long in the pool as the guide was saying that first-timers should really be careful or one could just faint in the pool.
fainting naked in the hot spring. now that is something i wouldn't want.
after the dip in the hot spring, all of us felt radiant and energised!
dinner was at this small communal hall and everyone had their own small steamboat
bernice was very happy because there was fried chicken (her favourite food!) that night
here's our spread. there was chawanmushi in the covered pot as well.
after dinner, we relaxed in the inn.
papa and bernice trying out the food massager
here's bernice in yukata complete with the jacket
MOI!
the inn we stayed at
we decided to take a walk to the nearest 'mini-mart' after lounging around the inn for some time. This is the inn looking all pretty and chrismas-y at night.
bernice looking ever so fashionista-ist with her balenciaga and hot pink gloves
we bought kahlua and fresh fruits and headed back to the room, where the 4 of us sat around the tv, eating fruits and drinking fresh green tea.
here's bernice and mine room! rather different from your average hotel isn't it? floors laid with tatami mat, no bed stand to speak of, only a matteress on the floor.
anyways, the hot spring was so good, mummy bernice and i sneaked back into the pool around midnight for another dip!
