A few months ago, when I was in Japan, I decided to clim the Mount Fiji. It was one of my best adventures in life so far.

, was the only one willing to climb the mountain with me. Everyone else was "busy", tired or they just didn't like going out to nature.

One of the things I enjoy the most, is going out for a nice hike. I've been hiking in Mexico and the USA, but only small and medium mountains, nothing like Fuji.

We were so excited about this trip, but unfortunately I didn't have any gear in Japan, mainly because I was on a business trip and I usually don't take my hiking gear in these kind of trips. Long story short, we had to buy boots, jacket, raincoats and backpacks.

From Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko (one of the closest towns to Mount Fuji) is usually 1.5 hours. Unfortunately that was the last weekend the stations and shelters were open, therefore a lot of people were on the way to the mountain. We spent about 3 hours getting to Kawaguchiko because of the traffic.

There's not much to do in Kawaguchiko, I wouldn't recommend staying there more than 2 hours. The only thing interesting in the town is the lake, it's a nice lake but unless you like to lie down and talk (that's what we did) you might find this place boring.

We were told that the sunrise is amazing in the morning and we needed to start at night in order to get to the top before the sunrise. We left Kawaguchiko around 5:30pm, there's a bus that can take you to the 5th station, that's a good place to start.

We arrived at the 5th station around 6:20pm, it was a little bit chilly and rainy but that didn't stop us. We started climbing around 7pm, it was already dark but the way to the top is easy to follow, in addition there were more people going to the top.

After a few hours, it started raining a lot more than before and as we continue getting higher and higher the temperature dropped more and more. Originally we planed to get to the top without stoping at any of the shelters, however my raincoat didn't resist and start ripping apart, mainly because of the rocks.

After 2 more hours walking under the rain and with the temperature getting close to 3º C (37º F) we couldn't resist and decided to rest for the night. When we got inside the shelter, the person in charge immediately said:

I asked how much was for the night (in my poor Japanese), he said ¥7000, which is about $70 dollars. At first, I hesitated because that was not part of the plan, we didn't wanted to stay at these places, we felt defeated and in addition to that it was $70 just to sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag. After a few minutes of discussing with Yadhu, we decided to stay and it was absolutely worth it.

I was completely wet, my backpack was wet and everything inside. Yadhu was also wet but not as much as I was.

The shelters allow you to stay for the night, but they kick you out at at 5am in the morning. Literally kick you out at 5am sharp, in a way that's good because otherwise you will not be able to see the sunrise.

This was the most amazing moment on the entire trip. It was still cold, but at least it was not raining anymore and with sun coming up, things will be better.

One of the things I enjoyed the most it was the fact that I was able to practice my Japanese, on the way up we found friendly people and we talked about several things. There were people from many places, mostly Japanese of course, but we even found someone from Mexico.

We spent almost 18 hours on the entire trip, including the 6 hours in the shelter. The way up is really exciting and interesting but the way down is not because you are already tired and the trail is too boring. It's actually the trail for the trucks that go to the shelters to provide supplies.

Overall, I loved going there! It's one of those experiences you have to do in life. I look forward to my next adventure that involves climbing a 3700 meters (2.2 miles) mountain again, is definitely challenging but really rewarding once you get to the top.

Climbing the Mount Fuji

Hace un par de semanas que regresé de Japón, en verdad que ha sido una excelente experiencia! Iniciando con con el vuelo, viaje en una aerolinea japonesa que se llama ANA, muy recomendable, el servicio es excelente.

El servicio público es muy eficiente en Japón, es muy fácil y rápido moverse de ciudad a ciudad utilizando el Shinkansen, mejor conocido como el tren bala. Es caro, pero para los extranjeros 

 que nos permite ahorrar el 50% aproximadamente. Es importante comprar este pase antes de ir a Japón, de otra manera no lo podrás hacer cuando llegues allá.

Con este pase puedes utilizar el Shinkansen durante el tiempo que sea válido, por 7 días cuesta aproximadamente $240 dolares. Esto significa que puedes viajar 7 días por todo Japón solo mostrando el pase al oficial que está en la entrada de cada estación. Muy recomendable comprar este pase al menos una o dos semanas antes de salir a Japón, ya que te lo mandan por correo express.

Para comunicarte, pedir ayuda o preguntar por direcciones es necesario saber un poco de Japones, posiblemente te encuentres con alguien que hable un poco de Ingles, pero es algo muy raro. La mayoría de la gente solo habla Japones, así que te recomiendo aprenderte algunas fraces:

Sumimazen -> Disculpe, eso se usa para todo. Antes de preguntar algo, para llamar al mesero, para pedir ayuda, para disculparte por chocar con alguien por eso de ir muy distraido o cuando estas estorbando el paso. XXXXXX doko desu ka -> Para preguntar donde esta algo, por ejemplo el baño: Sumimazen, toireto wa doko desu ka. Ikura desu ka -> Para preguntar cuanto cuesta algo, con el simple hecho de señalar lo que quieres comprar te será suficiente. XXXXXX arimasu ka -> Para preguntar si hay algo en ese lugar, por ejemplo el elevador: Erebeta ga arimasu ka.

Pues esas son muy básicas pero te ayudarán bastante, ya cuando te repondad pues a señas o como sea, realmente es una verdadera aventura moverse por Japón sin saber el idioma, pero aún asi es posible, sobre todo en Tokyo donde casi todas las estaciones del tren tienen letreros en ingles, ya cuando te alejas de Tokyo es más dificil.

Si por supuesto, sobre todo si les hablas en Japones, inmediatamente están dispuestos a ayudarte, si les hablas en Ingles posiblemente no, ya que seguramente no sabrán Ingles e intentarán ignorarte para no ahcer el ridiculo ante los demás, pero si tu haces el ridiculo intentando hablar su idioma, pues si que serán muy amigables.

En mi recorrido note que la gente en Osaka son mucho más amigable, más abiertos y mucho más ruidosos. En tokyo son más serios, claro no quiero generalizar porque igual conocí a uno que otro loquillo.

En este viaje decidí quedarme en AirB&B, muy conveniente y más barato que los hoteles, aunque definitivamente recomiendo quedarse en un Ryokan al menos un par de noches.

Los Ryokan son hoteles tradicionales, duermes en un futón, cuentan con los famosos Onsen y te dan Yukatas para usar dentro del hotel. Claro, no son nada baratos pero definitivamente vale la pena la experiencia de meterse a un onsen y relajarse un rato. Generalmente estos hoteles están fuera de las ciudades, así que también es un buen momento para salir de la ciudad y conocer la zona rural del país.

¿Es cierto que hay vending machines de cualquier cosa por todos lados?

No, realmente no es que hay vending machines por todos lados. Si hay más que en ciudades Europeas o Americanas, pero realmente la gran mayoría son de refrescos o tes, no me toco ver ninguna de ropa interior o cosas raras, si hay de otras cosas como cafes, botanas, etc. pero no tantas como he escuchado a la gente decir.

La comida es deliciosa, lo que más me ha gustado es que todos los restauranes a la entrada muestran sus platillos, esto permite ver y hace que se te antoje. La comida no es cara comparada con New York por ejemplo, con 8 dolares se puede conseguir una muy buena comida, cosa que en NY ni de chiste (solo pizza realmente).

En fin, hay tantas cosas que ver, probar y conocer que el tiempo no alcanza para ver todo lo que uno quiere, aún así es una muy buena experiencia que le recomiendo a cualquiera. Definitivamente volveré a este país para seguir aprendiendo y conociendo de su cultura.

Recorriendo Japón

I have returned home from a trip to India. It was my first time visiting that country, and it was a great experience. I had the opportunity to learn about the culture and how their society functions, based on their religious beliefs. I met a lot of people and spent a lot of time talking with them about their culture, traditions, festivals, religions and many other interesting subjects.


I spent two weeks in Chennai, training and helping a team of engineers to kickoff their project.


It was a huge cultural shock, everything is so different from the western countries. Here are some of the things that I found the most interesting:


Seems like they don’t have rules while driving. There are no speed limits, no lines and people cross the streets at any time and at any place. Here’s a short video of my experience while crossing an avenue in the city.



They love animals - cows, monkeys, elephants, camels, pigs, snakes, almost any animal can be found in the street. People feed them, they throw away some food  to the street so animals can eat something.



Temples. There are temples everywhere, in every corner there’s at least one small temple. Seems to me that in the south of the country the Hindu religion predominates, while in the north the Muslim; this is just my opinion based on the architecture of the temples.



They are vegetarians. Most people are vegetarian because of their religious beliefs. Not everyone is, but a lot of them are. The food is really spicy with a lot of flavors and is not common to find beef.


They have serious issues with hygiene. There’s a lot of trash in the streets, seems like that’s part of their culture. I couldn’t find a trash can while I was walking on the city. The following picture is from the beach, it was really dirty.

Even if it is a different country, I had a great experience. India is a country with a lot of history and ancient monuments. The flight is very long and tiring but the experience is worth.


Would I come back to India? Absolutely! I really enjoyed my this trip and I hope I can go back some day, in the meantime I’m telling stories to my children when I rode and elephant or fed the monkeys, lot’s of great stories from this trip.

I totally recommend the experience, of course if you are not confortable or open to get to know other cultures, I recommend you not to go. You need to be very open minded.


The Blog

Latest Posts

Climbing the Mount Fuji

Recorriendo Japón

My trip to India

Connect with me!

Tags

You can follow me in these other places too.

I'm also on YouTube