Round the world trip

[Philipkee]

Spent my day at the beach today.

 

 

 

And somehow this sign seems to reflect my feelings. Yeah, this is a tourist site but it also reflects my thinking. That this will be my last time budget travelling or backpacking. From this trip on I will travel like the "normal people" instead of budget travelling like hitching and hostelling on dorms. It's end of the trail for the backpacker part of my life. Time to start a new phase.

 

And somewhere beyond the horizon, is home.

 

Some sign on the beach and surprisingly there was a debate on marijuana on santa Monica pier today

 

Edited August 7, 2018 by Philipkee

[Kezg1]

....thanks Phillip for the write up..enjoy reading all about it...Cheers

[Philipkee]

Hollywood.

 

Whoever punched him, before anyone asks, it wasn't me.

 

@throttle2 is that you?

 

@RadX is that you?

 

Beverly Hills.

 

Beach from my hop on hop off bus.

 

Tomorrow I leave usa for japan to decompress and relax and slowly move back into the real world.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Philipkee

[Mockngbrd]

Still waiting for amdl xiong

[Throttle2]

Enjoy yourself

Ps, i am crazy sometimes but never rich

[Fitvip]

@RadX is that you?

20180808_061529.jpg

 

 

 

Cannot be Radx lah! He is busy with his 二人世界！

[Philipkee]

Finally in Tokyo. My final stop of the trip.

 

One thing is cos I reached narita airport about 1600 hrs, I reached Tokyo proper at about 1730. I then had to take the metro to my capsule hotel.

 

OMG. The crowd was so bad it was squeezed into the train. I was like almost floating so you can imagine how bad it was. I wanted to take my hand phone out to check on Google maps if I am on the right way but I could not even reach for my phone. After a few wrong trains, I reached the hotel at about 2000 hrs and just went for an early morning walk and breakfast.

 

My hotel room is the one shown in the pic. It does not look like the average capsule hotel room as shown in the Internet but I just went to the next floor and the room layout was different (laundry room is there). I will see if I can take pics cos one thing is the capsules are open so if someone is inside but never used the curtain, might not be good to take picture.

 

Anyway got it but dunno why the lights all off but I better not on, just in case. It's not my level.

 

I plan to go to Mt fuji heritage centre and meet a friend. Meeting this friend is kind of nostalgic cos I met him for the first time when I was in Israel. He was my roommate and he was from another life, so to speak.

 

Me, him and the Korean girl (who we all lost contact with already) used to hang out and it was the Korean girl's trip itinerary that was the inspiration for this trip. It's like one full circle, so to speak.

Edited August 9, 2018 by Philipkee

[Philipkee]

OK. So today I took the shinkansen to the Mt fuji heritage centre

 

One attraction they have is a simulated climb of Mt fuji. Many years ago, when I thought of this trip, I wanted to do am actual climb but after doing a risk assessment, better not....

 

So there was a lot of cloud covering over the mountain so it's kind of fortunate I did not anyhow yolo

 

Settled for a picture of the mountain

 

Unlikely I will go to the museum again even though I leave only on Tuesday. It's over three hours one way. From my station to ueno, transfer to Tokyo station, shinkansen to shizuoka, transfer to local train to Mt fuji station and then to fujinomiya station and a ten minute plus walk. And three hours assuming you never made a wrong turn like get off at wrong station cos it can be a while before the next train comes.....

[Fitvip]

OK. So today I took the shinkansen to the Mt fuji heritage centre

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20180810_122212.jpg

 

One attraction they have is a simulated climb of Mt fuji. Many years ago, when I thought of this trip, I wanted to do am actual climb but after doing a risk assessment, better not....

20180810_122737.jpg20180810_141215.jpg20180810_122122.jpg

20180810_122618.jpg

 

So there was a lot of cloud covering over the mountain so it's kind of fortunate I did not anyhow yolo

20180810_134007.jpg

 

Settled for a picture of the mountain

20180810_123509.jpg

 

Unlikely I will go to the museum again even though I leave only on Tuesday. It's over three hours one way. From my station to ueno, transfer to Tokyo station, shinkansen to shizuoka, transfer to local train to Mt fuji station and then to fujinomiya station and a ten minute plus walk. And three hours assuming you never made a wrong turn like get off at wrong station cos it can be a while before the next train comes.....

You can capture Mt Fuji from the plane if the weather allows!

[Adrianli]

You can capture Mt Fuji from the plane if the weather allows!

Have to sit on the right side of the plane and taking a daytime flight.

[Adrianli]

Philip, u got jetlag when u arrive in Japan?

[Fitvip]

Have to sit on the right side of the plane and taking a daytime flight.

Last time, ours was a red eye flight, reaching Japan in the morning. we were seated on the left side of the plane and we could see it. To take a clear picture requires a good camera, imo.

[Adrianli]

Last time, ours was a red eye flight, reaching Japan in the morning. we were seated on the left side of the plane and we could see it. To take a clear picture requires a good camera, imo.

Mine was the flight back to SG in the afternoon. The SQ pilot made an announcement of the Mt Fuji sighting and everyone rushed to the right side of the plane.

 

Too bad, i was seated on the left side. I could see it even from my seat.

[Fitvip]

Mine was the flight back to SG in the afternoon. The SQ pilot made an announcement of the Mt Fuji sighting and everyone rushed to the right side of the plane.

 

Too bad, i was seated on the left side. I could see it even from my seat.

Well, it is good that we are able to see it with our own eyes, though it may not be close enough!

[Philipkee]

Philip, u got jetlag when u arrive in Japan?

Yes cos I was from LA. Did not sleep well but it's OK cos on holiday. After one week in Japan, I will be more or less used to Singapore time since its not that far off from Japan time then no issues.

 

Surprisingly this is first time I got jet lag during the entire trip.

 

Cos Singapore to Seoul to Beijing, timezone is same or about one hour's difference only.

 

Beijing to irkutsk to Moscow to Paris, yes the time zone change but I was in the train so easy to adjust. Paris to new York not much difference. Across USA I was on land so again not much difference. Lol.

Well, it is good that we are able to see it with our own eyes, though it may not be close enough!

I saw before, in 2011 at shirato falls. It was Jan 2011. Time flies.

Actually i tot summer was best time to see mt fuji. Another misconception.

[Philipkee]

So today I toured Tokyo with my friend.

 

Went to edo Tokyo museum. This year is the 150th anniversary of Tokyo. Prior to that, it was known as Edo.

 

Saw some ww2 exhibit. Something new. A model of a fire balloon sent by Japan to bomb USA during WW2.

 

Lunch with my friend. This friend is kinda special cos I first met him during my first ever extended vacation ever. He was my room mate in Israel. We were volunteers in a kibbutz. It was also during that trip that I had the plan for this trip so I thought it was kind of fitting that I meet up with him again during this trip.

 

Saw this in the car park. What happens is that after you park, the sensor will activate and the barrier will go up. So your car cannot leave. The barrier will only go down after you made the payment. Seems like a good idea to tackle illegal parking at the loading bays.

[Philipkee]

Today, I actually planned to go to the skytree to look at mt fuji. But as I left my hotel, I noticed it was cloudy so views might not be good so I decided to go all in and go to kawaguchiko to Mt Fuji fifth station.

 

The route there is at least three hours one way, just in case some are interested to go there and it costs close to 5000 yen to make a return trip and it assumes you have a JR pass.

 

Akabane to shinjuku to otsuki - JR pass

Otsuki to kawaguchi - 1140 yen one way

Kawaguchi to mt fuji fifth station - 2200 yen return (same day only)

So I kind of don't recommend a day trip to climb mt fuji and back from Tokyo.

 

When I reached there, a man asked me if I intended to climb to the top of Mt fuji. I wanted to scold him. "You crazy ah, I never bring water or sweater.."

 

On the other hand, maybe I am a little crazy

 

Anyway, I better say this thing cos I dunno if any MCFer wants to climb mt fuji in the future so if he thinks you can dash up mt fuji without water since @philipkee did it, I better declare that the climbing photo was posed. I was really there and I climbed the trail (a few steps only ). Visibility is good but it can change suddenly.

 

 

 

These two photos are barely a few minutes apart so one must always be prepared and do a proper risk assessment before attempting to climb. Bring water with you from kawaguchiko. Don't assume you can top up water at Mt fuji itself. There are vending machines if you feel rich enough though to spend money on small bottles of drinks to last you up and down mt fuji....

 

 

When I came down the weather suddenly cleared and mt fuji appeared. Normally it is covered in fog.

 

Did I get altitude sickness? Well, fifth station is over 2000m above sea level. It was OK but when I bent down and suddenly exerted myself getting up, I felt a bit dizzy suddenly for a short while. But it's OK. I am not going to do burpees up there. Bottom line, don't exert yourself unnecessarily. Do a proper risk assessment. I walked in the fog and rain but I could see where I was going, it was level ground (except that few. Steps up the trail ).

 

Tomorrow I have no real plans since I have done all I wanted to do today. Probably just go and chill and relax in an onsen. It's been a long trip since my first destination at Seoul almost two months ago. Even my first extended vacation was different. While it was longer, I was mostly in a kibbutz in Israel so while I moved around, I had a "base". But this trip every few days I have to pack up and move, and keep moving.

 

It's been one wild trip but it also has its moments of stress tiredness and as I spend my last full day of my trip overseas, it's probably time to relax and reflect. I leave Japan on Tuesday and it's back to the real world.

[Philipkee]

OK. Back to Singapore now. Same luggage bag but with many more stickers. Whew. One long trip. It's been a wild trip.

 

In terms of cash spent, it's less than 2k SAD but obviously it's not accurate until I have also calculated my credit card expenditure.

 

I will calculate my expenditure over the next few days. My budget was 10-12k SGD so let's see if I fall below, within or over the budget.