This is the continuation of my RTW diary from November 2003.Ryokan demand that guests are out of the building between certain daytime hours so they can clean. It’s kind of like a youth hostel in that respect. This particular Ryokan had me out at 9am on a Sunday morning!
I headed into Kawaguchi-ko town and the only thing to do was to head up Mt Fuji to Station 5. This is at 2305m. and is as high as the road goes up the mountain. Climbers start their ascent from here. If you are going to climb, apparently you leave station 5 at 8pm, and hike up to Station 8 at around 3200m. You sleep there and get some food, striking out at 4am, aiming to make the 4000m summit in time for sunrise.
Climbing Mt Fuji in November is heartily discouraged, so I had to make do with taking the bus to Station 5. Sadly, and I think the earliness of the departure had a lot to do with this, I only had a shirt on. I'm easily confused early in the morning! The wind was blowing at 40mph, the cloud was descending fast and it must have been about 5 degrees at Station 5.
After taking a few quick photos (as you can see, Station 5 should be twinned with Brighton pier), I headed into the café and nursed a cup of tea. There was an unusual range of souvenirs available at the café. I was tempted to get my friends’ new baby a cuddly Mt Fuji for example. But I’m not sure what any baby could do with a 3 foot tall stuffed felt cone, so I left it on the shelf!
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