Good morning Mount Fuji! I caught a quick run at 6 a.m. when the air up was frigid and it was strenuous for my muscles to pull this run off. Nothing really eye-catching during this run as I stayed in a hotel which is located in the middle of the jungle. The run was breathtaking as Mount Fuji can be seen every turn that I had taken and the higher altitude was killing my breathing. Here are some pictures.

After the run, I took a quick breakfast and followed the tour to the next location. It was situated in a small township, I did not remember the name. But, it was a place where you can buy souvenirs and drink water from the defrosted ice from Mount Fuji.

Once again, I left the tour group and wandered off alone at the nearby housing areas. I got lost naturally. But, the upside was that I got to see many scenic views of how the buildings there were built to compliment the mountainous region of Mount Fuji.

I got back to the bus just in the nick of time as they were head-counting. The next spot we were heading to was the Fifth-outpost of Mount Fuji. The tour guide cited that it was one of his luckiest tour so far, it was one of the rarest opportunities to get unto that outpost. Unfortunately, the weather acted up, the cold was intense, I was shaking and my leg was close to getting a frost bite as I wore slippers all-round the tour.

Nonetheless, I spent some money there to get some Mount Fuji tea, mochi, chocolate and other souvenirs. It was around 10000 yen which is equivalent to RM 400. The stuffs were very nice.

Lunch was next, we had Houtou noodles, local specialty accompanied with some fried chicken, ramen and soup. It had some ‘pan mee’ texture but more squishy and smoother. The food was nice, I had two and a half servings.

After meal, some pictures were taken in the picturesque township there which was around the highlands of Mount Fuji.

Next up was tea brewing session at a tea house located downhill of Mount Fuji. These two places that I had visited- the lunch place and the tea place- was not known by me, I had forgotten about the names.

The tea session was presented by a local and a Chinese translator. To be honest, the matcha (tea) was simply exquisite, it had a bittersweet taste and a soothing aftertaste, simply remarkable.

Let me briefly explain the tea session. Firstly, we were prompted to eat the mochi as a refreshment before starting the brewing. Secondly, we were offered to pour a small cup of piping hot water into the bowl filled with matcha extract powder. Thirdly, we had to stir the bowl with a miniature wooden whisk in an up-and-down motion until the matcha begin to foam. Finally, three sips were taken from the foamy matcha, the last is meant to be loud. Generally, it was fun and the matcha tasted really good, but the pricing to buy the sachets of matcha back was just too expensive that I would not want to buy.

An hour ride later, we arrived at Shinjuku. Some swagger photos…

We stopped there mainly was to visit the red light district before the night turned young. The tour guide brought us around and talked about how this place functions and the culture behind these. After that, he let us free to walk around and since some of us were interested in buying cheap and useful souvenirs, we were directed to Don Quijote there. It was their sort of Walmart or 99 Speedmart. There were really cheap items there, I bought around 12000 yen equivalent to RM 450 of items, ranging from toiletries, snacks, chocolates, Kit Kats, chips, cooking condiments, and coffee which managed to fit into three big bags.

Dinner was at Odaiba, we had Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ). Fun fact, if a Japan girl agrees to eat Yakiniku with you, that means she has a liking for you as eating Yakiniku requires time and effort in roasting the meat. In another word, much more time would be spent being together and ‘intimate’.

It was 9 p.m. when we checked in a hotel at Haneda. However, the night was still young. Nope, I was not going to the red light district at Shinjuku, but I headed to Tokyo tower instead. I was thinking of getting some shots there without the crowd and perhaps getting a slim chance to see the One Piece tower there. My phone camera was experiencing a bad time at that point in time as the moisture in the air was weird which resulted in unwanted glares of lights.

I got many shots of the Tokyo tower as it was lesser people there compared to the mornings. It was thrilling getting those photos with just a mere iPhone 6S+, imagine what would those photography enthusiast feel with their fully geared DSLR. The photos below were various angles of the Tokyo tower. Enjoy!

The clock struck 11 p.m. I needed to head back before I missed the final train back to the hotel. On the way back, there were a lot of couples still hanging out, just enjoying the moment of their busy lives in Japan. It was a rare sight to be seeing lovebirds flying all around this area in the depths of the night. (My phone camera is cucked, sorry for the quality)

Being me, once again, I went to the wrong hotel and had to walk for around 15 minutes to get back to the actual hotel. It was half past midnight, sleep. Tomorrow would be even more breathtaking.

Yesterday: 27531 Steps From Haneda to Asakusa to Akibahara to Mt. Fuji

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