I've got so many things to blog about that I don't really know where to start! As well as exploring new places (and old favourites) around Sendai with my parents, we also went to Kyoto (with day trips to Nara and Kobe) and Fuji 5 Lakes. Luckily, life has quietened down for a while, so hopefully I should be able to get on top of things this week!
I suppose I ought to start at the beginning (as Maria so sensibly says, it is a very good place to start). We met Mum and Dad in Tokyo, and after a short chance for everyone to stretch their legs, we got on a bus for Kawaguchiko, one of the Fuji 5 Lakes. It's the biggest and most populated (and therefore touristy and busy) lake, so after about 5 minutes there we got on a bus for somewhere quieter! I'd booked us a cabin on a campsite on the eastern side of Lake Sai (nb: I feel rather pretentious calling it lake Sai, rather than the more common Lake Saiko, but ko means lake in Japanese, so Lake Saiko actually means Lake West Lake. Which just sounds ridiculous). It was pretty rough and ready, but had everything we needed (except a shower, although there was an onsen within walking distance, and other than that we just washed with water we boiled on the fire). We had a lovely, simple few days there, with lots of exhausting walks during the day and open fire cooking and card games in the evening.
The walks we did were lovely, and I'll blog about them in more detail soon, but for now here are some photos of where we stayed. The website for the campsite we used is here; it's only in Japanese but fairly easy to work out. I had to get a Japanese friend to book it for me though; my Japanese skills are not good enough for phone calls! I'd definitely recommend the site as a cheap, friendly and relaxed place to stay!
View from the campsite
Eating pizza for dinner
We had a visitor in the night!
Dad didn't use the most practical thing for sweeping up the ash (I promise that it wasn't actually on fire, despite what this photo suggests!)
Sunset over Lake Sai
Cooking curry wearing John's glasses to protect me from the smoke!
Our final night's meal; not pretty by certainly delicious!
Dad and John weren't excited by the prospect of playing cards, but we soon got them into it!
