A moonlit pathway to heaven...

>Calvin
Yeah...that's true. But sadly, I'm an atheist....I'm not into any religion, so that words of wisdom don't apply to me!

>Kelly
Yeah..my hp's display changed too. But too bad for me, he also blast his speakers during autumn to keep the leaves from falling too near his room.

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It all started from a phone call I received at 11 at night. Conversation is as follows...

Me: Yeah? whassup??
Richard Lee: Randy, you free tomorrow??
Me: Of course! It's holidays....why?
Richard Lee: Wanna climb Mt. Fuji tomorrow?
Me: WHAT THE HELL? Mt. Fuji tomorrow? You must be crazy!! .....Ok, I'm in. Tomorrow you say?
Richard Lee: yeah...let's meet up in Tokyo at noon.

And it is agreed.....we will be climbing Mt. Fuji the following day...just like that!! Man, it is great to have a friend as crazy as him...

So, I packed my stuff that night itself....preparing myself to tread the pathway to the heavens. We met up in Tokyo with 6 other crackheads like us. Long story short, we reached base camp at 6 pm...



As you can see in the pic, we were way above the clouds already....and the place was damn beautiful. The mountain were like a woman's bosom .... teasing us with the challenge to come if we were to reach the tip...... while the clouds were forming various shapes...telling us of tales of travelers who have ventured here and promising to preserve our stories next. It was hard to resist from taking pics everything!!

And we promptly set off on the trail upwards at 8 pm. Didn't take any pics along the way cause it was too dark....did I mention it was dark? Well, it was dark. And right at that moment in the darkness.....a light bulb lit above my head. No, it wasn't that I got any "bright ideas"...a light bulb really lit above my head, I bought a headlamp.



Anyway, at the beginning we were all climbing at quite a quick pace.....we were excited like rabbits. Big mistake that was. We had to stop to rest after just 20 minutes of climb.....lame huh? Ever seen rabbits stopping to rest? That was a saddest day for rabbits since the advert of the rabbits playing drums on TV (Energizer advert). May sound weak but it was really tiring. Long story short, we cleared the greens (trees and shrubs) and soon found ourselves on a rocky pathway. Almost nothing line the trail except rocks and loose dirt....and 7 other crazy guys who tires themselves out as fast as your grandpa.


This, is the 8th wonder of the world. The drink machine that exist almost everywhere in Japan. But like what they put in the website.....the price rises as the altitude rises (This drink normally cost 150 yen....but it's 400 yen up here. )

OKay...here's the pics of the sun rising...











And as a proof that I didn't steal those pics from anywhere, here's me...



The sunrise here is quite special really.....or it must have felt special after a really long ridiculous climb. Yeah....that's right, that moment you tire yourself up completely, you get to rest a bit and enjoy the change of scenery. Shivering from the cold up there, it warms your heart to see the sun break the clouds...just like.....hmm, better not say out loud here. Not sure if I have underage readers....ehem....

Anyway, the climb down is more ridiculous than the climb up....



If I was on a moonlit pathway to heaven, well, it rejected my application and spat me down to a hell of dirt!!! As you can see in the pic, the way down is like a giant ramp of dirt sloping downwards at a 30 degree angle. But it's thankfully brief. Took me 8.5 hours to reach the top but only 1.5 hour to climb down the dirt road. To think about what I said....kinda true right? Takes a lot of hard work and a long time to reach heaven but you can go to hell easily in an instant. From my experience climbing, well..... going to hell is a whole lot easier and fun!! Ehem...forgive me for my blasphemy.

All in all, I had fun climbing. Although now my legs hurt and I can't walk like a 22 year old...it was fun. BUT......but it's not something I would do again. Once is enough.