Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Day 5 - Mt.Fuji & Hakone Tour

Day-5 was the day sudhakar chose to tour with us because it was a tour to The Great Mt.FUJI. We started as usual very early from the hotel. The Hato Bus picked us at the Hotel and after registration at the World Trade centre Bus Station we joined a packed Bus to our tour to Mt.Fuji. We visited Mt.Fuji first. It was very rainy and cloudy and we couldn't get a full view of the Snow cap. Mt. Fuji is 3776 metre high. The highest motorable point was upto 2305 metres. After that one has to trek to see the full view of the mountain. Since it was windy and raining we were not able to stand in the open area and had to retreat to the souveneir shops nearby. We didn't expect this at all. After some 30 mins we drove down to Hakone. The tour includes a cruise on the lake Ashi in hakone from where, if the weather gets good, you can have a full view of Mt.Fuji. But as expected the rain gods persisted and the weather got worse. After the cruise we had Lunch and straight went for a Rope care ride to Mt. Kamigatake. Here once again you are given the choice of viewing Mt. Fuji from a higher plane. No, Not this time. It was not our day in any way. I know something about Sudhakar's luck. I do not know how much importance it has. We used to observe, that whenever he enters the factory the power supply cuts off. Or whenever he travels by the car the Tyre will go flat. So today when he cose to join us we couldnt see Mt.Fuji. On the way back we returned by the Shinkansen(the bullet train) from Odawara Station to Shinagawa Station. It was a great experience to travel by the Shinkansen. Kutty loved the sound. We made some good friends too during the tour. Special mention about the couple from Australia with their 18 months old boy, whom we named as "Baby's Day Out".
We returned to the Hotel, planning to go to GINZA area for a quick shopping. But it got pretty late and the people from KWE were already waiting to take us for Dinner. We went to Maharaja restaurant in Ginza, had a quick and delectable Dinner. But we couldn't shop as it started raining heavily. So returned back to the Hotel and Slept off.

Day-6

Day-6 was the day to pack off and say Sayounara to Tokyo. Our flight was at 16.30 and we had to take to the 11.55 Airport Limousine to Narita, as the 12.55 Bus was full. We thought of going to Akihabara in morning and shop for sometime and get back to the Hotel in time to check-out. But I decided afterwards that we will be cutting it too fine. Instead I decided to take Kutty to the Epcot water world inside the Hotel itself. So after Breakfast we went their straight and waited for the gates to Open at 10AM. Sudhakar went to the room to take rest. Epcot centre was very good with a good collection of fishes and all kinds of marine animals. Kutty loved to see 'NEMO' and ' DORI' in the collection. We had time to see the Dolphin show and the SeaLion show. After buying some souveniers we came back to the Lobby, where sudhakar was waiting after checking out. It was a 2 hour ride by the Bus and before we entered Narita Terminal 2, we are checked for our passport in the Bus itself. So if you do not possess a passport you cannot enter the airport itself. I think India can think in these lines. Atleast to curtail the traffic inside the airport. Think of a Van Load of people from Thittacherry or Adiyakamangalam coming and spoling the whole airport to see off just one person who is going 'payanam'.

In Narita we waited for 3 hrs and had time for Lunch. We decided to check-in at the Bangkok Airport Transit itself for our flight on the next day. The stay was OK, as all we wanted was to stretch and have a quick wash for the next day. We had to check-out at 8AM itself the next day. So after that shopped in the duty free for chocolates. When we landed in chennai on 21st it was humid and hot.

Sudhakar went to MYD the next morning and I started my daily chores as usual.
So that was my Japan tour details.

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