Rained Out Parade on Mt. Fuji

So, on to day three… Day three was by far the worst day of the journey. The struggle with day three was the weather. The really sad thing about it, is that had the weather cooperated, day three would have been awesome! We went to Mt. Fuji, but even driving up there, we could see virtually nothing, just lots of clouds and rain.

Finally we got to our destination on Fuji and we still couldn’t see anything. Not only that, but the winds were so high and it was so bloody cold, that all we could do was look in the gift shop. How terrible! On the bright side, we actually got some nice souvenirs up there. I got a great deck of cards that provided us with much entertainment from that point onward.

Mom, this smells!

So then we went down to Hokkaido and we went to this really stinky hotprings up in the mountains. This was where I hit my breaking point. This was where I was done. It was rainy, I was wet, it was cold, and the whole place stunk. We were trying to catch up with our group, which wasn’t even all our group, because we got totally separated from Dad, which concerned me. But it was pouring rain, and we’re doing an uphill climb, and I don’t even know what’s at the end of it.

I actually stopped and started whining about why are we doing this anyways, I just want to go back to the bus where its warm and dry. Mom this smells… What about Dad? Muahhhhh…. And she just said… “Well, I’m going, you can do whatever you want”. And then I grumbled and continued along behind her.

Honestly, the hotsprings too would have been cool if it was a nice day, but as it was, they were ok. Dad got up to meet us finally and said. You mean, this is it? I came all the way up here to see them boil eggs in a sulphuric spring? He seemed very unimpressed. Haha… There were also sings that were warning about toxic gases and things… I got a neat video up there though, that was a plus.

So, after that, we headed somewhere, we didn’t know where we going, actually. Finally, we arrived at a train station, and found out that we were going to take the bullet train! So that was pretty cool. We had to wait about an hour, because we were so early. But then, dad went and found us some tall boys, so it was all good.

Actually, just when our group was finally moving, we looked around and found that dad was nowhere to be found! And everyone was moving quickly, and we didn’t know what exactly was going on, because of the language thing. We were very stressed about it. But fortunately, the three cute girls I mentioned previously were watching out for him, and one of them went and got him (he was smoking his pipe), and I’m running up with mom and all our luggage and they’re kinda pointing outside… And I said: “My Dad?” and they so cutely said: “Yes, my dad!” Hehe… So it turned out that we weren’t actually in a huge rush, but we did have to go with our group.

So finally we got settled on the bullet train, which are renowned for being crazy prompt. So, people getting on must be very efficient also. So after we got going, one of the Korean ladies in our group came around offering shots of Soju to anyone who would like it. So, Dad, representing for our group said, sure I’d like one. The lady seemed quite pleased about this and poured Dad a massive shot of soju, and everyone in our group laughed and cheered. I think he was accepted as one of them at that point.

After we got off the train (which mom was a little paranoid about, she had to make sure she was at the front of the line. She didn’t want to end up getting left on the train! Hehehe… so cute). We got on a very cramped bus and headed to our hotel. We got to our hotel, just outside the city of Toyohashi, (which reminded me a little of Hamilton in terms of development and size, you know?), and the place blew us away! I mean seriously! Dad said that it was the nicest hotel he’d ever stayed in. It was beautiful, and we had a lovely dinner in their nice dining room. It was a really incredible hotel. It was right on the sea side, and we overlooked the sea from our rooms, which were massive, and had a tatami room for tea service as well.

The hot spring spa at this hotel was up at roof level, and was really beautiful. Mostly, that night, we were just busy being impressed with our accommodations. I didn’t really take pics there, but mom did, so I’ll try to post some of hers, the next time I go to a PC bong. It was a very pleasant surprise to a day that wasn’t really the greatest. (Well, not counting the bullet train, that was cool).

Stay tuned for day four, Kyoto and Osaka… I liked this day!

Much love,

Ash