An epic day tour to Mount Fuji

The whole purpose of coming to Tokyo, was solely to go on a bus tour to Mount Fuji and the Chureito Pagoda.
.There is a photo of Mount Fuji with the Pagoda and the cherry blossom. I wanted that picture!! So a day's travel yesterday from kyoto to Tokyo...an anxious mega early 7am start to find the meeting point...which hadn't been clearly described! and tomorrow a day's journey back to Osaka to the airport! ..
A taxi helped me get to the right place, but there were loads of people waiting for trips so finding the right guide was an issue.
In trying to find the guide I became adopted by an Indian family from Bombay who also sat with me and took photos for me. They were lovely !
My 1st sight of Mount Fuji caused me to say" Wow" so loudly I woke up the Indian man sitting next to me.
It is absolutely amazing.! We were v lucky with the weather today, as yesterday was raining.
We were able to stop for photos and I actually had a half decent brew !
We eventually arrived at the area where the Pagoda is..but were expected to do the 20mins walk there and 20mins back leaving only 20mins to climb 397steps ,get the photo we all wanted , for which there was a huge queue and back to the bus or risk being left behind ! It.was unreasonable.
I decided I had come specially for this moment and that I'd leave the tour at this point take my time .
While waiting to do the much needed photo, clouds came down over Mount Fuji! Gutted .
The couple behind me said all the buses for getting back to Tokyo had sold out ...oops didn't think of that one 🤔😅
I knew there was a train station so went straight there in the company of a girl from Lebanon who.lives in Dubai and a guy from Turkey.
Getting back to Tokyo involved 2 train changes and a period of time sitting on the train floor as I was knackered and no idea how far we were going 😅 .
Arriving back at Shinjuku station in Tokyo, I went in the a cafe where i had tea which they put in hot milk !! plus some fruits which were rock hard ,seemingly covered in ??? Sugar.
Then I went in the supermarket and risked a potato and beef croquet and some beef ...all ok ...just hope it stays that way !

Tokyo appears to be lots of gigantic high rise buildings but the effort in coming to go on the outing today has been worthwhile.
In the lift at the hotel I was.chatting with a guy from Barcelona now living in Indonesia and a lady from Stockport! ..now living in Turkey, her partner was from Turkey.
Lots of Australians here ,who I tell i will wave to when fly over them on the way to new Zealand...( flight booked to Christchurch this evening for 24th May, plus flight to Vancouver for mid June)..yet to book UK return flight ✈️ 😀 .
Lots of Americans here to whom I say I was going to come to the USA inc Alaska but changed my mind thanks to Donald Trumps latest border controls ...iv not experienced much support for him.in those i have spoken to .
It seems even within families there are divided opinions . A guy on the train yesterday from Winconsin ,says that is a very "red area" and he daren't say anything, even to his dad ,who is a Donald fan
The conversations with people from all over the world are what makes travelling fun and interesting...learning similarities and comparing differences.
The Indian gentleman wassaying there's no way his daughter could/ would have a pre University gap year...which compared to Math having at 18yrs old ..He was saying she wouldn't earn much money and even when I said neither had Matthew, it just isn't a thing in India, until she's done Masters level..(poor thing ) ...the daughter was lovely and didn't know what she wants to do but likes languages and is considering learning JapaneseRead more