Tuesday 5th July 2016

Waking up at around 5am, I really didn't want to wake up. I was still feeling gross and disgusting and kinda wanted to vomit. We slept for a bit longer and at about 6:30am we packed up and said good bye to the most uncomfortable sleep but best accommodation experience. We walked out into pure whimsy. The sun was up and the view incredible!

It was so beautiful, to be in the brisk cold air, feeling on top of the world...looking, down on creation...I joke.

Anyway, we had to take a moment to take everything in before we set off down this magnificent mountain. Taking in everything we started our descent, and boy did I feel shaky. But, it was much better than going up. Apart from when we reached the steep rocky paths. As you saw this post's first photo, I was wearing my pink rainjacket. Naturally wearing a hood cuts out some of your peripherals. Now, going down these rocky steep parts, I was too busy looking at my feet to make sure I wasn't going to slip that I banged my forearm on this massive volcanic boulder on my left side. And boy did I hit it hard. I thought I almost broke it. It's a bit hard to see in this photo but almost instantly I had a dark bruise that got darker in time. It was so painful.

 Anyway...I got a boo boo. Carrying on we carried on down the Mountain. This time, being by ourselves, we took our time. Taking in the scenery and things we might have missed earlier while looking at our feet whilst climbing up. If you're interested in the terrain of the mountain I was explaining in the previous post, here it is...

Such a wonder, isn't it. Making our way down...town, faces pass and I'm home bound (*cue piano riff*)...Moving away from that Vanessa Carlton song, we were making a good pace down the mountain, saying good morning to fellow hikers of which were making their ascent. Such lovely people. Something that was very surprising and which you would almost rarely see in Australia is the amount of older people climbing. The average age of climbers where around 70 years old, not including tourists, just native Japanese folks. Taking their yearly trip up this sacred mountain. It was an incredible sight to see seniors with walking poles and all their gear making the incredible journey. Very inspirational.

It didn't feel too long at all when we finally reached the last stretch...which frustratingly was slightly back uphill to the 5th station. I was dead. I could barely walk up this slight incline without feeling really out of breath and uncomfortable. I wish that feeling left as quickly as it's onset, but it didn't. I figured my body was in full anxiety, panic attack mode as my heart rate would not drop below 140bpm. Even when we finally reached the 5th station and sat down to rest at approx 8am, my heartrate was resting at 100bpm. I could feel my chest tighten and my heart palpitate. It was not the best feeling in the world. It was so uncomfortable to constantly have such weight on your chest and in your heart. One thing that helped is that mentally I didn't panic. I tried to stay as calm as possible for the longest time possible, but even when the rest of the tour group finally got back down and we got on the bus at 11:45am my heart rate was still erratic. I wasn't feeling that great in my stomach either so tasteful foods I felt wouldn't agree with me, so I passed my bento onto Simon and I had gotten a hot corn on the cob from one of the shops at the 5th station.

Thankfully though, we were on the way to food and onsen. Because I wasn't feeling the best and because I have a tattoo, plus I wasn't in the 'get naked in front of everyone and sit in a communal bath' feeling. The bus ride down the mountain, I fell asleep. It was a nice little nap, and when I awoke, the town was so foggy, it was amazing. Incredible to drive through.

  

We finally reached the onsen, and of course, we all had to take our shoes off. Everyone was so hesitant because we all knew it wouldn't be the best smell. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as bad as everything thought it was and we piled all our things into the coin lockers. Some went off for onsens, others like myself, went to the food. Still my heart rate wasn't at my usual 69bpm which is my resting rate. It kept going from 90-120bpm. But I just went through it, we had some katsudon, and waited for everyone to finish up so we can be back on the way to Tokyo.

We didn't have to wait long, before it was time to all pile back onto the bus for the 1.5hour ride back to Shinjuku. It was such a smooth ride back, and it didn't feel like it took long at all. Simon fell asleep and I mostly just looked at all the landscapes. I love Japan. Such a beautiful country, full of whimsy and even in summer, it gives you a cozy feeling. Still feeling cozy but with a racing heart beat, we reached our destination. Back in Shinjuku, we were keen to get back to Shibuya, and the apartment for a much needed shower, and change of clothes. 

When we did reach back to the apartment, we thanked the universe that we didn't lose or misplace the key and we bundled into the room. Fast forward 2 hours and we were both clean and relaxing. Finally my heart rate was going down and I was so hungry. In clean clothes that did not have any dust embedded in it...which felt nice. We decided to venture off to Harajuku to have ramen at the ichiran located there as I figured it might have less people as the one in Shibuya usually has a line even to 10pm. At this point it was around 8pm and Shibuya would definitely be packed, hence the Harajuku choice. My feet were dead, and so was Simon's, but we powered on because noodles were calling. 

We finally reached the store and HUZZAH! There was barely a line, only 2 people in front. We got our tickets from the machine and we were pretty much taken in straight away into a private booth. I didn't know it was a thing in this chain but they managed to fit in little private eating booths for pairs and for mothers with children which was nice. We dinged the order button and soon we had our hot delicious bowls of yummy. We pretty much devoured our food and it was amazing as always. 

After our meal, most stores were closing, but we thought we should take a leisurely stroll back to the apartment, via Shibuya and tower records. Which we went into and perused the music and some of the levels. It is an amazing store, huge and a lot of music. You're bound to find whatever genre here. With sooooooo many CD's with some books, DVDs and other merch thrown in...even a themed cafe that changes time to time. So Much Yay.

It got to that time though, where we were so tired and just wanted to lie down. Wearily walking back to the apartment, we made in just in time before I collapsed, lol. I was so tired, we were bound to sleep well tonight...and that we did.

Until next post..

xxT

Steps taken this day: 23,520f

Floors climbed the day before: 220!!!!!