I thought I'd do a little update post telling you what hubby and I have been up to since leaving Japan. After a stopover in Singapore (vlog to come soon), we arrived back home to the UK in June.
Never ones for a quiet life, we jumped straight into our next adventure. This one wasn't quite as glamorous as moving to Japan, in fact it was a bit of a step back when it came to our living space... a caravan! We bought Cora the caravan (that's right we named her) the same Saturday that we landed in the UK. We picked her up on Sunday and come Monday morning hubby drove her to her new location, and that's where we currently live!
Change is always on the horizon
Hubby and I are currently in the process of turning what once used to be a horses stable into a house. This may sound a bit random, especially compared to our recent expat life in Singapore and Japan, but it's not too random for us. In all the time that hubby and I have been together we've had a tendency to jump from one adventure (and at times disaster) to another, with little time in between. I'm not sure why, but our lives never tend to remain stable, calm and routine-y for long. Change is always just around the corner. I know change is the only constant in life but we just seem to go through more change than most people we know. It just seems to be our thing!
For example, a year after I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis and realising that it was spreading quite aggressively, we decided to simplify and re-prioritise our lives.... by moving half way across the world to a country where we knew no-one, Singapore. It sounds crazy, but in reality and with hindsight, it really was one of the best decisions we've ever made#NoRegrets! I'm not yet sure I'll be saying the same about the horses stable but you kind of get the idea of how our life tends to work.
So what possessed us to buy a building in
a part of the UK that we'd never been to before, miles away from
friends and family? The fact that it was a beautiful blue sky sunny day on the day that we went to view it might have had something to do with it. I'm not sure the outcome of that visit would have been the same had it been typical British weather of rain and drizzle. Also, the fact that the building is less than 30 seconds from the beach, surrounded by beautiful public gardens with a little stream running in front of it may have played a part. The setting is very idyllic and I promise you, the fact that the building came with it's own teeny tiny bridge taking you over the stream had absolutely nothing to do with it- honest! Although, it does make our friends chuckle when they visit and we tell them to park their car on our bridge. OK, so the bridge, even though it's very small, is kind of cool ;o).
I'm going to be doing a series of vlogs on YouTube as well as blog posts here sharing our journey from stables to house very soon, and in the meantime, here's a little taster of what's to come.
For those of you that enjoyed the Japan vlogs/posts, don't worry I still have a few more of those to come from the end of our time there :o).
I've been rather inactive on my blog lately due to struggles with my arthritis ridden body. Living with chronic pain, and the subsequent insomnia this causes, means that I don't have the physical energy to do much at all. Even eating leaves me feeling utterly exhausted at times. However, on days like today when I'm feeling a bit more able, I try to do what I can :o).
An iconic steel sculpture in Yokohama
Yokohama sights, incl. the Nippon Maru ship museum and Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel
In today's post I wanted to share a vlog with you showing you what a typical Sunday afternoon in Yokohama was like for us, sharing some of the local sights. Yokohama is Japan's second largest city and just a 30min train ride away from Tokyo, making it a good day trip spot. It is an old port city and it's proximity to the water gives it a more relaxed vibe compared to Tokyo. Many sights/activities/places of interest are all within easy reach of one another. It's the kind of city that you can easily explore on foot or bike. There are self rental bike stations (Bay Bike) at most tourist sights.
On this particular day we wandered through a less touristy part of Yokohama where there was a street festival taking place. After quickly realising that we'd seen many of the acts at a previous street festival we decided to catch the subway to one of my favourite parts of Yokohama, Motomatchi, the last stop on the MinatoMirai subway line. Motomatchi and the neighbouring hills of Yamate/Bluff area are where many of the foreign traders settled when Yokohama opened itself up as a port town, after the Edo period where Japan's rulers prohibited interaction with foreign countries.
A (very faint) snow capped Mount Fuji behind the trees in the centre
In this area there are many western style buildings, some of which have been turned into museums and coffee shops, as well as a foreigners cemetery. On a clear day you can see Mount Fuji in the distance near the cemetery's main entrance. There is a walking route which takes you along the edges of the cemetery down to the back of Motomatchi shopping street. Along the way you get a great view looking out towards the iconic Yokohama Landmark Tower and during spring there are some beautiful cherry blossom trees to admire.
Yokohama Landmark Tower and Motomachi
We wandered through the residential streets at the bottom of the cemetery so that I could show you what a typical residential area looks like along with the style of Japanese houses. With space at a premium, houses are small and don't have much in the way of gardens/outdoor space, unless in a rural location (such as what we saw in Kawaguchiko/Mount Fuji area). Even the smallest of house will have a gap between itself and the neighbouring house. You don't see terraced houses in Japan. I'm guessing this is to allow wiggle room in the event of an earthquake. To me, Japanese houses all look very different to one another. You don't see the kind of uniformity that we get in England with streets and streets of houses that all look the same. Even though most houses don't have a front garden, (or if they do it is a very small), there will always be some sort of potted plants/flowers outside the house, which I think is rather nice touch.
In the midst of the residential houses there is a large fish pond which is home to some beautiful koi carp. I remember the first time we came across this purpose built pond, it felt quite random, just tucked away amongst the houses, but then Japan is definitely home to randomness and that's what we love about it. Can you just imagine a pond like this in the back streets of England?!
From the fish pond we headed for a bite to eat, before wandering through Motomachi shopping street. This street is the closest thing I ever came across in Japan that resembled a traditional high street that we get in England. As the name suggests it is a street lined with shops (including many familiar brands like Zara and Gap) and cafes and restaurants. It is especially beautiful during Christmas time when it is decorated with festive lights. It is definitely worth exploring the side streets that come off the main shopping street as there are lots of independent shops selling anything from crockery and lace to food and witches... yep that's right witches! There is a whole shop dedicated to witches, as you'll see in the vlog above.
I hope you enjoyed this little insight into our time in Japan. If you're ever in Tokyo then I would highly recommend a day or two in Yokohama.
I am so very sorry that it's taken me so long to conclude our Mount Fuji trip. I have been struggling so much with my arthritis riddled body this past month that I literally feel like life has passed me by. My arthritis has spread to my jaw which has been causing severe head, ear and teeth ache, as well as making it difficult to chew food. I'm also having difficulty using my right hand as the joint damage and deformity is getting worse. This has been very frustrating given that I'm right handed for everything. I have an appointment to see a rheumatologist next month and recently I've taken a few steps to try and manage my pain levels better. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm living again (rather than merely existing) and so I'm looking forward to sharing more vlogs with you all :o).
Now back to our Mount Fuji trip. After spending a wonderful morning at the Shibazakura Festival (which you can see here), we headed back to Kawaguchiko where we bought a pass for the Kawaguchiko sight seeing bus. The pass cost ¥1,200 per person and is valid for two consecutive days. Even though we were going to be using the pass for just one afternoon, it was definitely worth it because by this point my arthritic joints were starting to hurt quite a lot and the hot humid weather was starting to get to me. The sight seeing buses cover two main routes; one around Lake Kawaguchiko and the other around Lake Saiko, another one of the Fuji Five Lakes. Both routes depart from Kawaguchiko station and when we purchased the tickets we were given a route map along with bus times. It is worth noting that these sight seeing buses only run from around 9-5/6pm and some of the stops along the routes are quite remote so its important to plan your return journey.
In the interest of giving our feet a rest we hopped onto the sigh seeing bus and decided to head quite far out past Lake Saiko so that we could enjoy the scenic views whilst keeping cool in the air conditioned bus. On the bus we met a group of young lads from Singapore who were on their way to the ice caves. Hubby and I thought that that sounded pretty cool and decided to do the same. Once off the bus we followed the signs that led us into a woodland. The woodland was absolutely beautiful with tall trees that had the most amazing root structures all over the ground. It was the kind of place that you'd expect to see in one of The Hobbit movies.
Loved the bamboo hand rail
After a short walk, we came across a ticket counter where we asked about
the ice caves. The elderly Japanese lady at the counter gestured that
it was a 25min walk away through the woodland and when we looked, we
realised that there was no defined path and the terrain was very uneven.
Hubby and I decided to leave it, as not only were we not wearing the
right kind of foot gear for that terrain, but we would also be cutting it
fine when it came to catching the last sight seeing bus back to
Kawaguchiko. Seeing our disappointed faces the elderly lady pointed to a
poster on the wall which was for a wind cave that was just a few minutes
walk away, so hubby and I bought tickets for that and headed further
into the woodland. You can see the vlog of our afternoon in the video below :o).
We climbed down a flight of steps to the entrance of the wind cave. Once
we came to the end of the first set of steps, we noticed that the
temperature dropped all of a sudden.
Entrance to the wind cave
As we
walked further into the cave we saw icicles hanging from the rocks. It
wasn't long before we were shivering from the cold, and the bamboo hand
rail that I was once so pleased to see was redundant because it was ice cold.
There was no way I could hold onto it for more than a second or two. Not ideal given how wet, icy and slippy the ground inside the cave was.
Icicles
At various points within the cave, the head height was so low that even I had to crouch. Further inside the cave we saw collections of ice blocks and structures. Aside from the ice, there wasn't much else to see inside the cave. There certainly wasn't anything to suggest that this was specifically a wind cave. As we reached the end of the cave, we saw the same group of lads from Singapore. It transpired that they also had the same concerns that we did about the terrain and catching the last bus back.
Inside the cave
Once we made our way back out into the warmth, hubby & I were both kind of glad that we made the decision not to go to the ice caves as we definitely weren't wearing the right clothing. Poor hubby's arms were freezing as he was in just a t-shirt. After catching the last sight seeing bus back to Kawaguchiko, we caught the first of four trains to make our way back home to Yokohama. Although we came to Kawaguchiko on the coach, there were no seats available on the return coach. It was a long 3.5hrs back home. Had the weather been dry for the next day then we would probably have stayed an extra night at Kawaguchiko, but sadly rain was forecasted. Plus we had shipping boxes waiting to be packed in preparation for departure from Japan.
I hope you've enjoyed these blogs and vlogs of our trip to Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchiko. Aside, from the wind cave, I would definitely recommend the other three activities/sights that we did. Had we had more time then we would have liked to have gone to the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, even though we're not thrill seekers.
I can imagine Mount Fuji and the surrounding mountain area being absolutely stunning during the autumn/fall as the maple leaves change colour. Spring would be another great time of year to visit with the cherry blossoms and that was when we originally intended on going, but unfortunately that 2-3 week period when the blossoms were in bloom, was very wet this year. Nonetheless we really enjoyed our time and would highly recommend a visit, if you're ever planning a holiday to Japan :o).
Welcome to the second day of our trip. If you missed day one then you can catch up here and here. I woke up on the second day after a not so great night's sleep. I don't think I've ever slept on such a lumpy mattress before... perhaps that explained why the rooms were so cheap lol!
Pink shibazakra with Mount Fuji in the background
As it was still early the cafes weren't open yet so we headed to a convenience store for a morning coffee. Japanese convenience stores are fantastic! They cater for so much more than just snacks and often have a small dine in section. They provide complimentary microwaves so you can buy a ready meal, heat it up and eat it there. You can also get hot drinks, toiletries, and sometimes even a shirt and tie set, just in case you've had an all nighter during the working week! How cool is that?!
Mount Fuji
We got very lucky with the weather for our second day with another blue sky morning. Mount Fuji was clearly visible although it
did have a marshmallowy white cloud around it's summit. Since we had some time to spare we wondered down a few side streets to look at Japanese houses and gardens, and to admire the different views of Mount Fuji. You can see that and the rest of our day in the video below :o).
We then went back to Kawaguchiko Station to join the queue to purchase tickets for the ShibazakuraFestival. Shibazakura, also know as pink moss or phlox moss are teeny tiny flowers that form a beautiful blanket/carpet of colour on the ground when in full bloom.
The festival venue was located just south of Lake Motosuko (the most western of the Fuji Five Lakes) and we purchased a ticket that included entrance to the festival as well as a return coach journey for ¥1,900 each. The coach journey took about 40mins each way and we went past both Lake Shojiko (the smallest of the Fuji Five Lakes) and Lake Motosuko (the image of which appears on the reverse side of the ¥1,000 bill) along the way. Both of these lakes looked very remote and isolated. The surrounding area wasn't particularly built up and there really wasn't much around. Now we understood why people online were recommending that Lake Kawaguchiko was the best for non-Japanese speaking tourists. Also, there isn't much in the way of bus services around the Fuji Five Lakes so you need to get about on the tour coaches or the tourist bus which runs from about 9am-5/6pm, if you don't have your own transport.
We arrived at the venue to a sea of tour coaches. Even though it was still relatively early in the morning tourists were out in force, most probably to get the best photos of the shibazakura before the festival got too busy. It looks like we all had the same idea ;o). We took a leisurely walk around the grounds admiring the shibazakura and keeping an eye for that famous spot where you have a carpet of bright pink shibazakura with Mount Fuji in the background.
The festival area was surrounded by beautiful green mountains of varying shades of green. I can imagine the mountains being
particularly stunning during autumn/fall as the leaves change colour. There were also lots of different flowers in bloom that provided a pleasant contrast to the shibazakura. There was a purpose built viewing platform on the grounds that we went up to get some photos, although to get the iconic photo of the bright pink shibazakura in the foreground with Mount Fuji in the background we needed to be lying on the ground, not going up lol. Hubby did a great job of capturing that shot for me, the one that you see at the top of this blog post :o).
As well as places where we could get a light bite to eat and purchase some shibazakura themed delights, there was a little collection of market stalls to mooch around where we could buy Japanese goods including Japanese Peach Tea. The short text on the tea box is typical of the polite Japanese etiquette that we've always enjoyed, although the man looks a bit too aggressive for my liking!
I hope you enjoyed the vlog and this blog post of the second day of our trip. The final part will be coming soon.
I'm continuing today with the second part of our first day at Lake Kawaguchiko. If you missed part 1 then you can watch/read it here. After checking into our hotel and resting my joints, we headed back out in the afternoon to visit one of Japan's most famous pagodas.
The Chureito Pagoda with Mount Fuji in the background
We caught a local train from Kawaguchiko station to Shimoyoshida station, and from Shimoyoshida station there are signs that direct you towards the mountain where the pagoda is situated. It is just a short 10mins walk to the foot of the mountain. You can see our journey up the mountain to the famous Chureito Pagoda in the video below, as well as the rest of our day :o).
Tourist sgns leading the way to the pagoda
Whilst it was still very warm and muggy the sky had become a lot more overcast and cloudy which was a shame but at least it wasn't raining. The walk from Shimoyoshida station to the foot of the mountain was very pleasant and tranquil as it took us past traditional Japanese houses and gardens. We love the rural landscape in Japan and with the soil being so rich and fertile, it was no surprise to see so many people growing their own vegetables.
Once we reached the foot of the mountain we were greeted by over 400 steps that we needed to climb in order to get to the pagoda. I found the first 100 or so steps challenging as they were quite high and uneven with no handrail. I've never been the most stable of individuals on my feet but since developing an arthritic knee and feet, I do have difficulties walking and climbing stairs especially if I'm tired, like I was on this particular day. However, I was determined to persevere in order to capture an image that I had in my mind that I knew would make this climb so worth it. That image is the photo that you see at the start of this blog post. Whilst I was gutted that the weather had turned hazy and there was no bright blue sky in the background, I was still over the moon to capture it.
The first set of steps leading up the mountain
Things got a bit easier after the first 100 or so steps because the steps then changed. All of a sudden there was a handrail and the steps became less uneven and not so high. We also noticed a road that seemed to be winding its way up the mountain with people walking along it. That road was definitely going to be our route back down this mountain!
Mount Fuji and Fujiyoshida city
It took us quite a while to climb the mountain as every so often we would stop and look back to admire the views of Mount Fuji and Fujiyoushida city beneath it. However, once we eventually made it to the top, it was simply amazing!
The Chureito Pagoda
The pagoda was built as a peace memorial in the 1960s and forms part of the Arakura Sengen Shrine. The Chureito Pagoda is primarily famous because of it's unique location. It truly is a photographers dream and people flock to it for that reason. The view of the vibrant red five tiered pagoda in the foreground with Mount Fuji in the background is simply stunning. There is a postcard in Japan of the pagoda in spring with beautiful pink cherry blossoms to the left, the pagoda to the right and a snow capped Mount Fuji in the distance. It is one of my most favourite postcards EVER! And the closest I could get to that image was the very first photo you see in this blog post. However, in order to get that shot we had to climb further up the mountain and stray of the path to some seriously uneven terrain with a very high drop that had no barriers... risking our necks all for that one photo ;o).
After getting the photo we started to make our way down the mountain because the mosquitoes had started to come out as the afternoon turned into evening and these pesky little things seem to love me a bit too much for my liking! Going down the mountain proved to be much easier and we came across the Arakura Sengen Shrine along the way. As is typical of the shrines and temples in Japan, there was an area for cleansing at the entrance but instead of the water flowing out of the usual bamboo pipe, this one had a rather ornate dragon from which the water flowed.
Arakura Sengen Shrine
As we made our way back to Kawaguchiko Station, hubby and I discussed our dinner options and decided to go back to Lake Kawaguchiko where we had spotted an Indian restaurant called Alladin, earlier in the day. To our amusement the restaurant was actually a halal restaurant. This was the last place we ever imagined finding halal food, but hey, I wasn't going to turn down the rare opportunity to have meat in Japan. I opted for a set menu that came with a lentil curry, rice, freshly made naan, mutton curry, salad and a yoghurt dessert whilst hubby opted for a vegetable pizza. Yes, it was an Indian restaurant that also served freshly made pizza!
The restaurant was a small place, as is often the case in Japan, and the staff spoke good English as well as Urdu/Hindi, and Japanese of course, so communication was easy for once ;o). The Indian food was hands down the best Indian food I've had in Japan. The curries were so authentic that I could easily have mistaken them as my mum's curries in a blind taste test, and the portions were deceptively large. Those little silver bowls hold a lot more than you think. Hubby's vegetable pizza was.... well... a vegetable pizza but the first pizza he's ever had with cauliflower and carrots ;o).
After dinner we walked down to the lake just to see the lights reflecting of the water before walking back to our hotel. Whilst the streets were very quiet with little traffic on the roads, we felt perfectly safe walking back in the darkness. We noticed that most coffee shops/cafes and stores close around 5-6pm and most restaurants close by 10pm so it's not really the sort of place where you're going to be having a particularly late night. We didn't mind this at all as our partying days are well and truly behind us, plus we were planning on an early start the next day.
Lake Kawaguchiko at night
I hope you enjoyed this video and blog post concluding our first day at Lake Kawaguchiko. Day two will be coming soon.
Before leaving Japan, hubby and I were very keen to go see
Mount Fuji closer up and today I’m bringing you the first part of our two day
trip to Mount Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes. There are many organised tours and
day trips to the area surrounding Mount Fuji, and if you are pushed for time
then these are definitely a good option, especially if you don’t speak
Japanese. However, we opted not to go down this route because, firstly the
organised tours typically depart from Tokyo (and we were living in Yokohama),
secondly as we weren’t pushed for time we wanted the freedom to go where we
wanted (rather than where the tour took us) and do what we fancied rather than adhering
to a schedule, and finally the organised tours were working out to be more
expensive compared to doing it ourselves. We opted to go on our trip mid-week
in order to avoid the weekend rush.
Mount Fuji from the Kachi Kachi Ropeway observation deck
Mount Fuji is surrounded by five lakes to its northern side and after a lot
of online research we decided to head to Lake Kawaguchiko, the second largest of
the five lakes as this is the most developed, and recommended as being most
suitable for non-Japanese speaking tourists. Hubby had managed to find a travel
agency near Yokohama station that offered a coach service directly to Lake
Kawaguchiko, taking about 2.5hrs. Although Kawaguchiko has a train station,
there are no direct services from Yokohama.
I woke up super excited on the day we were leaving because not
only was the trip a welcomed break from all the packing but it was also a dream
coming true, to go see Mount Fuji. We had an early start that day as the coach
departed from Yokohama at 7.30am but hubby and I both manage to snooze on the
journey since it took an hour longer than expected due to heavy traffic.
Kawaguchiko Station with Mount Fuji behind it
As you can see in the video below, it was absolutely amazing
to get off the coach at Kawaguchiko station only to see Mount Fuji behind the station.
We headed to our hotel which was directly across the road from the station to drop off our overnight bag, and then we went straight to tourist
information. Luckily, the staff at tourist information spoke good English and
provided us with maps in English and directions to our first attraction, Lake
Kawaguchiko. The lake is just a short 15min walk from the station. At the lake
there are paddle boats for hire and boat trips that take you around the lake. You
can’t see Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchiko unless you go further out into the lake
on one of the boats. The lake is surrounded by beautiful mountains, some with snow-capped
peaks in the distance. There are a few cafes, restaurants, tourist shops and
convenience stores on the main road leading to and around the lake.
After admiring the lake we walked towards Mount Tenjo to get
the Kachi Kachi Ropeway, a cable car ride, up the mountain. A return journey
costs ¥720 per person but there is also a hiking trail back down the mountain
which takes about 30mins. The ropeway is open from 9am-5.20pm and the journey up takes just 3mins. The Kachi Kachi Ropeway is decorated with large rabbit
and raccoon cartoon characters as Mount Tenjo is the setting of a folk story in
which a rabbit gets revenge on a thieving raccoon by setting him on fire and
drowning him in a river… not the most pleasant of stories but at least the
cartoons are cute ;o).
Lake Kawaguchiko
At the top of the ropeway, which ascends 400 meters, is
an observation deck sitting more than 1,000 meters above sea level with the
most breath taking views of Mount Fuji, Lake Kawaguchiko and the Fuji-Q
Highland amusement park with its Guinness World Record breaking roller coasters. Whilst I love the excitement of amusement parks and crazy rides, neither hubby or I actually tend to go on them due to our joint problems which is why we prioritised other sights over Fuji-Q. However, if its something that you enjoy then I'd highly recommend a visit. You can pay an entrance fee and then pay per ride or alternatively you can get an all inclusive ticket which gives you access to all of the rides - great for thrill seekers!
Fuji-Q Highland Amusement Park
There is a small shop at the observation deck where I
indulged in an ice lolly made with water from Mount Fuji to cool down as it was
quite a hot and humid day, before we made our way back down the mountain to go
eat our lunch by the lake. We still had a while before we could check into our hotel
room so we headed back towards Kawaguchiko station and passed some time in a
little coffee shop, whilst sheltering from the afternoon sun.
Most hotels around the Fuji Five Lakes area offer a whole
Japanese experience where your breakfast and a traditional evening meal is
included, and you sleep on a Japanese style bed. Hubby and I did not want this
as we’re not fans of Japanese food and have a number of dietary restrictions.
Plus as we were only there for one night we literally just needed a place to
sleep and so opted for a room only hotel stay. Whilst our room was very basic and worn, it was clean and conveniently
located across the road from the station, plus for ¥9,500 it was pretty cheap, although that was reflected in the quality of the mattress!
Given that we were only in Kawaguchiko for one night we didn’t want to splash
out on a fancy hotel when we’d be spending most of our time outside, doing the
sights. After a brief rest we headed back out to visit one of the most famous pagodas in Japan, The Chureito Pagoda. To be continued....
I hope you enjoyed part one of our trip. Part two shall be
coming soon :o).
