We arrived at the ryokan in the hills after a bullet train and local train and bus ride only to take the bus again up a winding road, up hill, a pirate ship (complete with pirate!) across a senic lake, a steep cablecar ride and a venicular to a sulphurous smoking spot in the mountains where the speciality is boiling eggs wot come up in crates by flying fox from below in the hot water springs... we ate the boiled eggs after peeling off the blackened skin and agreed, they tasted like boiled eggs, and the whole place smelt of egg!
Mt Fuji was nowhere to be seen as i took a pic in a complete whiteout... could not see my hand in front of me with the smoke of the hot springs and the cloud which descended. Then we did the trip down in reverse only taking a switchback train down the hill instead of the pirate ship back to our station. All that travelling for 45 minutes and no view... we were tired and disappointed. Back at our digs we had a very splendid meal laid out for us in a million different bowls and plates. I pity the dish hand as he had to wash everything x 12 so it amounted to a decent number after we were thru.
Then we all braved the onsen, a public hot bath where you have to wash and scrub yourself first and jump in a hot steaming pool of spring water, it was too hot for me and I did not last long, even in the outside pool! I felt hot and sweaty after I rinsed off and went back to my room, not refreshed at all.
Then disaster struck. I went thru my shots on my camera and suddenly it went from koya san to singapore... where was Osaka? Oh my god, not one image was on my camera of my first experience of Japan. I had backed up my photos to a memory stick on the tour guides PC and must have somehow deleted them instead of copying and pasting. I felt ill, so disappointed and did not sleep well.
In the morning we rushed off again (as is the norm on these trips) after a buffet of Japanese weird stuff and some eggs and bread and tinned fruit and I asked our guide if I could check my memory stick to see if the images made it on my backup. But as we were in a hurry I had to wait, back on the local bus, the local train and the bullet train to Tokyo. We saw Mt Fuji in the distance as cameras were pressed to the window. But the train goes so fast you barely release the shutter and a building or pole is in the middle of the pic or it is just a blur.
We eventually arrived in bustling Tokyo at Shinagawa station and as luck would have it our hotel was just across the road, as have been all our hotels on this tour. We could not check in but left our luggage (mine weighing nearly double already) and I grabbed our guide's computer and frantically searched my backup. Nope nothing there, so I opened all the folders and lo and behold there were the missing pics withing 2 other folders... I nearly jumped for joy and had a grin like the Cheshire cat the rest of the morning. We were let loose to explore Tokyo and I went to Shibuya, the worlds busiest pedestrian crossing as seen in Lost in Translation, and the neons at night in the area apparently were the inspiration for Blade Runner. But it was daylight on my first visit and I have since been there at night, really bright, loud, and crowded and a great vibe.
Then on to Harajuku where there was a lovely park and shrine and crazy shopping street filled with tourists and kids, some cosplay kids dressed as fluro french maids and people young and old in kimonos. Then we headed to the Government Buildings near Shinjuku, the busiest station in the world, which have 2 towers and let people up to the 45th floor to get awesome views of Tokyo from all angles and it was free! We were meant to see Mt Fuji from here as well but as usual it was shrouded in cloud... damn you elusive Mountain (fist pounding the air)... until we meet again! We had our last group meal and sang karaoke til they politely told us to stop and piss off, and looked for bars to party on, but being Monday nite everything was closing by 11pm or 12, so I went back to pack as I was moving hotels the next morning.
So am now racing here and there on and off the intricate subway maze, taking lots of photos, meeting lots of friends, both old and new, and still enjoying the weird and wonderful tastes, sounds and sights of Japan.
Tomorrow Studio Ghibli and am very excited to see that with Mariko, a girl that used to work with me at the hotel. I have til Saturday to see as much as I can and eat as much as I can especially green tea ice cream! Over and out from crazy but awesome Tokyo!
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