Woke up at 7.30am so we could get breakfast and then make a move as we are going on the bullet train today and Phil wants to go and see Fuji Mountain. The weather didn’t look too promising but we thought we would give it a try and see if it brightened up.
Caught the tube over to Tokyo station then bought our ticket for a short trip on the bullet (3 stops) at a bargain price of £31 (NOT). We only had to wait a few minutes when we arrived at Tokyo and the train was in. The seats were very wide and reclined back like a plane and they had a lot of leg room in front. It wasn’t that busy so we had a row to ourselves (not surprised at them prices though). The train picked up speed at various points but it doesn’t really feel like you are going fast when you’re onboard. 20 minutes later and it was time to get off so we stood
around on the platform for a bit as we had seen a few fly past just in the time we had been getting off. Within a couple of minutes a couple more bullet trains went past and it’s then that you realise how fast they go. I only managed to get a video of one pulling into the station which was quite slow rather than the ones flying through the station.
After the bullet we headed over to Odawara (if that’s how you spell it) to catch a train to Hakone to see if we could see Mount Fuji. We bought a day ticket thing for 1500 yen (about £15) so we could hop off at a few of the stop on the way. It was a bit colder as we headed up the mountain on the rickety train and the weather didn’t look too clever.
After getting so far up the mountain on an old train we then transferred to a kind of cable car (not the overhead type). It was a small square carriage that went up a very steep slope with another one coming down the same track in the opposite direction and then passed at a kind of intersection where one did a semi circle to the left and the other to the right.
When we got to the top on the cable car there was then the option to do another ride on some overhead cable cars to try and get a glimpse of Mount Fuji for 1300 yen (one way). It was turning out to be an expensive thing this mount Fuji. When Phil went to ask about how accessible it was to walk part of it he asked about visibility and the guy told him you wouldn’t be able to see the mountain, as it was too cloudy. At least he didn’t sell us the tickets anyway.
On the way down we got off at a couple of places but didn’t really have enough money to buy anything as I have been struggling to find a bank that accepts UK cards. We stopped off at one of the places on the way down and had a walk up a path up the hill as it was a volcano and you could see steam coming out at various points on the hill.
Further down I bought a steamed pudding thing that looked nice and it was filled with something sweet that tasted like mashed up black beans mixed with sugar or something. It was really sweet but you cold tell it was made with some kind of bean.
Tried to get some money out of the ATM when we got back to Shinjuku but couldn’t find the one that was labelled on the map as one that would accept UK cards. There are plenty of ATM’s but a lot of them are all in Japanese and don’t accept UK cards. Waited for ages to get into this booth thing that I thought was the one but it turned out to be some kind of money transfer thing. Eventually on my way back to the hotel I found a CITI bank machine and Halleluiah it accepted UK cards.
Probably not one of the better days on the trip so far as I have been a grump all day as I think I am getting tired from all the non-stop sightseeing. It just feels like there is no time to unwind like you would normally on holiday. The problem is we aren’t at each place for too long so have to try and cram it all in. I feel sorry for Phil, though, cos he can’t do a thing right at the moment as I keep going into a strop over the slightest thing. I know afterward that I was in the wrong but it’s too late then aint it?
I’m not really used to being with someone 24/7 seven days a week as I live on my own and normally just please myself. Plus you don’t have any alone time when you would normally get to just chill out and then things don’t get on top of you as much. We probably need some time to do things separately to give us a bit of free time from each other. It’s been 3 weeks living in each other’s pocket so it’s probably due.
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