Tuesday 1st September

Just got up and out of the hostel in Tokyo in time, before being charged for another night DOH!! I guess we didn't hear the alarm. Popped to the internet cafe quick so Adam could burn our photos on to disc to send home, took a little longer than we expected, so I went and got us lunch ready for our long journey, a couple of lunch boxes - which includes sushi bites and meat bites. Lovely YUM YUM.

Went to Shinjuku to initially get our train, but were later told we didn't need to start our rail pass and it would be cheaper to bus, found the bus easy and off we went. 1 Hour and 30mins later we arrived in the Mount Fuji area, outside the local train station. Stomach still turned after driving passed the theme park and seeing how big the rides were SCARY.

Met some Scottish lads that were also going to the K's house, so grabbed the free K's bus with them. First impression, amazing accommodation, looks like a hotel, area seems really nice, can't wait to venture out. Chatted to a Canadian guy in dorm, he's a teacher in Canada and is taking time out to travel, he told us that the onsen around the corner is well worth trying. So after a walk around to get our bearings, we gave the onsen a try, walking in was instantly relaxing with its Japnanese wooden structure and zen garden it was superb, we both pretty much had the onsens to ourselves (seperate onsens for female and male) but we didn't care, we were far to relaxed, looking up at the stars in the hot baths to care.

Onsen rules: Most are seperate for male and female. 1) Strip 2)Wash all over on the little stalls provided to one side of the onsens, to make sure your are cleanesed
(onsens are purely for relaxing and not cleaning yourself) 3) No diving, no running around, no washing or taking a towel with you. All baths have different heats, so tred carefully (for the lads, be extra carefull). You wouldnt get a group of guys planning to have a bath together in England, but they do here!

We met after in the lounge and both collaspsed in the chairs where our bodies were over relaxed soooooooo nice, was hard to leave. Back to the hostel where I skyped Dad to sing happy birthday as we were 8 hours ahead. Was great to chat to Mum and Dad, in fact I think I stayed up till the early hours, as nobody was waiting to use the computers - Skype is Wicked.

Wednesday 2nd September

The weather was a bit rubbish today, not raining, but too cloudy to see Mount Fuji, we didn't want to waste the day, so decided to go to the local Theme Park, just the thought of it turned my stomach, but I know once on the rides I love it.

Got the Thomas the Tank Engine train to it, was so funny, but well cute (ali dont write cute! its only a train!). Anyway..... Managed to get a nice discount on theme park ticket using our Student Cards (Oh yes didn't you know I'm a student now te he). Ad being his typical self wanted to go on the fastest, highest, scariest looking ride first, which I thought would be fine, but having to wait for 2 hours, with a stomach like a washing machine didn't do me much good, by time we got on it I looked like a ghost te he, Ad found it hilarious, but I have to admit, the ride was WICKED!! Well worth the torture of waiting. (Adam is there something you would like to add here?) - he's just knocked a picture off the wall trying to kill a mosquito. Blooding things keep biting me! Yep so this ride was nuts it had the most chair revolutions in one ride, nice idea.

Back to me - anyway, so feeling blown away by that ride, we went on one that was supposed to be one of the highest in the world, it was def high, but not sure if still the highest, it was scary though cos it felt like you were going to fall out of the seat, it was slightly older than the others, scary stuff but great fun. The last brilliant ride we went on was the fastest in the world - OH MY GOD, we was not sure it would be worth it, another 2 hours wait, but not only was it out of this world, but just by chance we got to sit right at the front, how perfect is that, WOW!! We managed to get in the turbo before leaving which is a favourite of mine, but Ad felt a bit sick afterwards as it has a constant turning motion, not for everyone, I loved it though.

On the way back we had a constant song playing in our heads, sounded like "Hey Jamacia, Hey Jamacia" for some reason, they felt the need to play this continuously in the queues, not good, oh and we got small video clips of Power Rangers dancing, was great TV NOT!! My head was spinning on the way back, luckily the hostel was about 1 stop away, so not far.

We were walking back to hostel when we found a Traditional Japanese restaurant, where you have to sit on the floor, perfect, we stopped there and had Sushami (Raw Tuna), followed by some noodles, chicken kebabs and rice dishes with some veg and a really nice chilled beer each PERFECK!! The staff spoke a little English, not much, but were so friendly. On way back from there, we popped into a supermarket to get some bits for tomorrow and found a packet of what looked like cat poo, had to buy it just to see if it really tasted as bad as it looked...........tbc

Back at the room we chatted to a guy from Belgum and girl from Mexico, they gave us tips on Kyoto - our next stop and we gave them notes on Tokyo, one of the real advantages of being in a Dorm, the note swapping. An earlyish night for us, as a day of travelling tomorrow. GOOD NIGHT!!

Thursday 3rd September

Started the day on a high, with our Jam on toast and cuppa's, very nice in such a chilled hostel like this one. We popped to the local post office to send home our first set of disc's, was actually fairly cheap to do, which is always good.

Set off on foot to the local lake, a very nice area, calm waters, few small boats out and people cycling around, all very paced and peaceful. Still quite cloudy and no mountain in sight, but the sun was poking through, so hope yet that at some point today, we will be able to see Mt Fuji - fingers crossed.

Chose to take the cable car up to a viewing point, which more often than not you get to see a perfect view of the mountain. It was soooooo lovely up there, you could see for miles and miles, we had great views of the theme park that we visited yesterday, was fun watching the rides and remembering how crazy they were.

We sat for ages, I think at some point we even had a little snooze whilst waiting, but the best we got was a snipet of the sides of the mountain and to be honest that was breathtaking in itself, I really didn't realise quite how big this mountain was. Even though we didn't get to see it all, at least we did see some of it. We stayed as long as we could but gave up in the end and opted for a nice walk around the rest of the lake, which was really nice. Such beautiful scenery. The way the clouds moved slowly over the tops of the other hills, it was like a scene from Gorilla's in the Mist, so nice.

Ad cooked up a gorgeous chicken noodle dish for dinner, went down very well, delicious, chillies were given to us by some German guy, who reminded me a bit of Carrie's best friend in Sex in the city. We sat around chatting to others in the hostel for a bit, swapping stories, always good to hear what everyone has been up to.