Tired And Wired

Words from the sweatiest person in Japan, FACT:

Although it has only been five days, I feel like I have been in Japan for weeks. I'm not sure if it is my disconnectivity anxiety that has distorted my concept of time but it's certainly eating away at me. Technically, I have updated my blog and been active on Facebook more times than I had done in the same space of time at home, so I don't know why I'm so worked up about it. I hope it passes!

I guess I should be thankful as it means I have more time to talk to people face-to-face. Things have certainly picked up on that front. For my first couple of days I just spoke to random Japanese people who helped me out. I still find that standing with a map looking confused is the perfect way to speak to the locals. It works much better than going up to people and asking for directions as, most of the time, the people I go up to and ask are not sure or don't understand me. But things have changed. I have made friends. Hooray!

Let me introduce you to Maluen, Ben and Morad. These guys were my hiking buddies. We took this photo in the men's toilets some time up Mount Fuji. Moments before I got really excited as I found a patch of me that was dry...it was my chest. Obviously delirious from the altitude and sleep deprivation I thought it was fine to point at my top and go "look guys, part of me is dry". I didn't really think about the area I was pointing at. We all laughed and they ribbed me ever since.

Sometime later we were greeted to the true sights and smells of Fuji-San:

This was not in the brochure...

This is one of many things which I wasn't prepared for. As well as the bottled urine, I didn't think there would be as much rain as there was. Because of this, I was soaked through and absolutely freezing. I felt sick from shivering and the altitude but was determined to make it to the top. I was 500m from the top and I felt faint, my teeth were chattering and I nearly fell over the edge. The last 2km of Fuji-San consists of loose rock and narrow pathways. This terrain would be unsteady at the best of times but in complete darkness and wetness it was dangerous. Now I wanted to get to the top, believe me I really did, but it wasn't worth my health or my life! Thanks to a very quick-reacting Japanese guy I did not become one of the 4 a year who die climbing Mount Fuji. Myself and Morad went back down and Ben and Malwel continued and made it to the summit. They said we didn't miss much. I'm not sure if they were just being nice or not but the photo they showed me of the sunrise didn't match mine. I even filmed it as I didn't trust my camera work! I tried to upload the video but it didn't work. Sorry! 

So the silver lining is that after all the awfulness of the past few hours, I still managed to see the beauty of the sun rising and the sea of clouds afterwards. Lovely. Another thing is, when I told people I climbed Mount Fuji, nobody asked whether I reached the top so there won't be too many times where I have to shuffle my feet from side-to-side, tilt my head and mumble something or other about techincally not reaching the top.

Despite feeling a little rough from the night/morning before, I managed to make friends with another lovely girl I dormed with. We spent a few hours chatting away about all sorts of random things and the delightful idiosyncracies of Japan. I'm in love with this place already. As well as the guys above, Nadia suggested we meet up again before I go. We both share a love for food so I'm looking forward to enjoying great comany whilst I'm stuffing my face.

I hope by that point I will be stuffing my face. Unfortunately I seem to have left my appetite at home. I think it might be the heat. I can't handle it. It's so humid, even in the shade! I have a fan that I cling to as hard as my phrasebook. It's helped me to keep concious but I still sweat like Lee Evans on opening night. My back is dripping. I understand that I'm not really painting a pretty picture but hey, if you're still reading after I showed you a picture of bottled pee, you must have the stomach for it! Everyone - gaijin or Japanese - look clean, tidy and relaxed. I look like a puffy sweaty ball of anxiety. My hair curls up and I look like I've had a fight with a plug socket. It's not sexy. I entered the hostel I'm staying at tonight and someone asked me if it's raining. What a lovely introduction.

It doesn't help that I have a beast of a backpack to carry around.

Damage from the beast :-(

My lack of eating has been good news for my wallet but I know my stomach must be aching for some local food...

When in France...wait...oh...

So I've not been that great at eating locally. I've been snacking here and there. It takes me back to the days when I had to force myself to eat more after I was ill. It is a strange concept. Some people would be happy to eat less and lose weight. I hate it. I love foooood. Hopefully I'll feel better soon.

Oh before I go, I must show you this...

Is it bad that I want to take this home with me?

The toilets aren't all like this but in the majority of hostels you get the option to bidet or have a spray. You can also play a flushing sound so people can't hear you do your business. It's not very clear on here but there is an option to activate a "powerful deoderiser". Hilarious but kind of a good idea really!

I've gone a bit photo crazy as I'm not sure when I'm next going to get chance to add any. A typhoon is about to make it's way to Tokyo which has completely ruined my itinerary. I have no idea what I'm going to do over the next few days so there probably won't be much to report. I might take some more random photos to share with you.

Meals eaten: 2

Body sweat emitted: Enough to fill a paddling pool

Weight before I arrived: 68kg

Weight now: 66.5kg