Hiking Mt. Fuji!

Prior to living in Asia I had gone hiking a total of 10 times in my life. Maybe 15. I even went to college out by the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains and still didn't go exploring nature as much as I should have! Well, I don't if it's the whole cultural immersion thing or being surrounded by hiking lovers but I've definitely done A LOT of hiking on this side of the globe. With that said, when the chance came to go climb Mt. Fuji, I said YES and proceeded to use up my Delta miles (only 15,000 round trip from Seoul). 

Here's a little info about Mt. Fuji in case you want to hike it:

Mt. Fuji  (富士山)  is Japan's highest mountain, volcano and peak in Japan. It's visible 
from Tokyo on clear days. The official climbing season lasts for only two months (July to August) so if you want to go, make sure you plan ahead. It's possible to hike Mt. Fuji outside of this time frame but it's not recommended as temperatures are low and there's risk of snow, ice and avalanches.
Mt. Fuji is divided into ten stations with the first station at the foot of the mountain and the tenth station being the summit. Paved roads go as far as the fifth station halfway up the mountain. There are four 5th stations on different sides of the mountain which is where most people start the hike. 

  

Being that this was in August and two weeks into the school year; I didn't want to take any days off from work so we had Friday night to Sunday night to make it all happen. School ended at 3:00pm, I got on the subway by 3:30, took a 2 hour flight into Japan and landed at Tokyo-Narita around 9:00pm. We took the airport line into the city center and spent the night at a sleeping capsule hotel called Ace Inn which is in the center of Tokyo. This was my first experience in a sleeping capsule and it wasn't bad at all. It was really clean and I slept peacefully after a long week of work. This is definitely an inexpensive way and easy way to stay in Tokyo!

Good thing I'm not claustrophobic!

Sleep capsule

We woke up early on Saturday and headed to the Keio Subway Highway Bus terminal at Shinjuku station. With only a couple of minutes to spare, we ran, then bought our bus tickets and we were on our way. The ticket was 2700 yen (~USD22) and it took 2.5 hours to get to the 5th station of Mt. Fuji.

On our way!

At the 5th station and ready to hike!

We've got this!

We started the hike around 10:15am and made it to the top around 3:45pm. It was rainy, wet and windy but definitely worth it! That "Fight song" was stuck in my head as an inspiration to keep going! 

There are multiple resting stops along the way (with pricey restaurants FYI) as well as places where you can spend the night and relax. I was nervous hiking up this HUGE VOLCANO but it wasn't as bad as I had pictured it. Only at some points is the terrain steep and rocky. There are many signs along the trail warning you of sudden wind gusts and falling rocks. Also, the rest stops along the way were really helpful. The most challenging part was adjusting to the air as it got notably thinner as we gained altitude. 

You are here!

Looks like the moon

We did it!

The descent took about 4 hours. We caught a city bus and headed into K's House Hostel in nearby Fujikawaguchiko where we spent the night and let our feet heal. The next morning we headed back to Tokyo and had a few hours to before the flight back to Seoul where we got some yummy food and then took the express train to the airport. 

Mt. Fuji: CHECK! 

Summer 2015

• Outer banks 
• California 
• Arizona for the American School Counselor Association
• White Ford Bronco concert 
• Back to Korea early to do Mudfest 
• Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
• Mongolia 

Mongolia: Land of Blue Skies and Nomadic Hospitality

I just got back from Mongolia this this morning and although I'm tired, exhausted and going back to work tomorrow, I HAVE to blog so I can remember everything!

Mongolia is a place that I didn't think about going to until the past few years. After seeing friends' pictures and hearing their stories, I knew I had to go. After a lot of research and knowing that we had a week and half to spare during summer vacation; my travel buddy/ awesome friend and I decided that now was the time!

 Mongolia is a land-locked country in east central Asia. It borders China and Russia. The capital is Ulanbaataar and is home to close to 50% of the entire country's population making it the most sparsely populated country in the world. Most of the population has developed a nomadic lifestyle.

We landed in Ulan Baator (UB) on a Sunday evening and for about 15,000MNT (~USD7.50) headed toward Meg's Guesthouse and Tours in the center of the city. We went out to dinner with some of the travelers staying at the hostel (I always love hearing people's travel stories). The next couple of days were spent eating horse meat, being super tourists and more meat eating.

Chinggis Khan: founder of the Mongolian empire

 Meg, the hostel owner, helped us organize a tour through her company. It was a 7 day tour spanning 1700 kilometers (1056 miles) on extremely bumpy roads. We slept at ger camps and in real actual gers with nomadic families! We ate goat meat and drank the local Vodka. We went to the bathroom out in nature. We ate a lot of yogurt. We went 5 days without showers. Our hiking shoes got muddy. We drank goat vodka. We road on double-humped camels. We bought cool souvenirs. We hiked sand dunes of the GOBI DESERT.  The trip definitely exceeded my expectations and if you haven't added Mongolia to your Bucket List then do so now and GO. We've decided we want go back and see more of the country, the next time with husbands, though:)

Greetings from the Gobi Desert (hiking up sand is WAY harder than it looks)

Selfie with a baby camel.

Our ride

My humps, my humps, my humps!

Gers