SEPTEMBER

Well, so far September is creeping along and it feels like the last two weeks have taken forever, which isn't a bad thing but usually we look back and think "my god, where did the last month, two months, six months go?"

So far in September we climbed Mt Fuji, for the second time and thank god we made it to the top. It was much easier this time and much more rewarding. We started at the fifth station, 12km up from where we started the first time, and since it was the first weekend after the season officially closed there were only two busses going up and after luck smiling in us, we got onto a bus and after a traffic jam we were at the fifth station around 2:30pm. Now most people who made the night hike leave the 5th at 7-9pm so that they don't freeze at the top. Knowing this, we waited at the fifth station but got bored and decided we would start to climb at 4:30 and just go 'really slow'. We went really slow taking lots of breaks and enjoying the view. We saw Mt. Fuji's shadow as the sun was setting cast on the thick clouds that had enveloped the bottom of the mountain and that was amazing. We continued up and marveled at the stars, since it was raining and storming the whole way up last time we didn't get a chance to see the stars, but they were clearer and closer than we've ever seen them before and they were EVERYWHERE. The path was not nearly as crowded as it had been last time and we were ahead of the snake of people we could see below us, we sat down a lot partly to waste time and partly to take it all in, it was amazing. The best part of the trip and the part I will never forget was running into a Japanese guy, about our age, dressed as a giant bowling pin and climbing Mt. Fuji. It put the biggest smile on my face and everytime we would see them I would smile. It was the greatest site, many people can say they've climbed Fuji, but not many can say they saw a walking bowling pin while they did it. We arrive to the top at 2 am, THREE hours before the sun was suppose to rise, and as we expected we would, we FROZE. Not that we weren't prepared, wearing our Canadian tried and true long underwear and layers upon layers, we froze, sitting we froze, standing we froze, doing jumping jacks we froze. Lets just say it is freezing up there, it was around 1 degree above zero but the wind would blow and cut right through every layer we had on, but the sun rose and everything warmed up immediately. The sunrise was truly amazing and can only be witnessed, but we took a lot of pictures. The hike down is as tortorous as the way up and after being awake for over 24 hours we were exhausted. But we made it down and had to wait for three hours for the bus back down. It is amazing that getting off the most famous mountain in Japan and one of the most famous in the world is so difficult, although this time we new what we were doing and what to expect I was still flabbergasted.

The next weekend we went to a friends apartment, hers is WAY bigger than ours, for a wine party and that was fun, we played cherades, and lets just say that some people have enough imagination to make the game fun! Denis was hurting the next day so I ventured out on a girls night with my friend Leigh...it was SOO much fun. We went to this bar that plays live music and they had a rockibiliy concert, it was great.

We also went to Kamakura for our long weekend and saw the archery festival which was pretty amazing, and saw a traditional Japanese lantern festival which was also really cool. The next day we walked around Kamakura and saw many temples, the beach, and the Great Buddha. It was a good day all in all, but I think we are in temple overload. Kamakura was very beautiful and thankfully the weather cooperated for the most part although another typhoon was passing by.

So that's it, that is September so far. I'll post some pictures soon - check out sarahanddenis.toadfire.com for the pics!

Take Care
Sarah and Denis