When I climbed Mt Fuji

Hey ho! Decided to update my blog because I've been slogging my guts out on schoolwork and frankly it's starting to become a tiring routine. The month of October flew by like a Japanese rapid train. Yes, I still miss you Japan! Before leaving your sacred soil, I went to scale your tallest mountain with seven of my Singaporean friends and it was definitely one of the craziest yet most fulfilling experiences of my life.

Someone helped to book the highway bus tickets waay early on. That same someone had previously climbed Mt Fuji once, and he was back for his second time! Haha sick. But thanks to him, all of us felt much more reassured that we were gonna survive. So we each prepared around 3L of water, plenty of snacks, enough layers of clothes to stave off the cold, extra pair of socks in case of wet weather (which there WAS), and at least ten 100-yen coins for the toilets.

It was an arduous twelve-hour ascend because we took many breaks in between, and had to eventually fork out more money to stay overnight at one of the log cabins because we'd otherwise freeze to death in the outdoors. It was around 11pm at night I think, when we checked in. We were fortunate enough that there was a whole sleeping area vacant and able to fit us all (I was even more fortunate to sleep in right in the middle where it was the warmest and furthest away from the walls). During the climb, prices for food and water steeped together with the altitude. I was so so thankful that I had packed a couple of onigiris, energy bar-like biscuits, oreo cookies, Pocari Sweat, and some nuts. We shared our supplies with each other too - it was truly a bonding experience like no other. Trust me, you'll never be as grateful to someone for offering you some of their food as when it happens on top of a volcanic mountain where the winds are crazy. Also, huddling together like penguins when it got cold. It later took us around 5 hours to descend, using a slippery loose ash/smashed stones slope that went in a zig-zag fashion. Occasionally, we'd see people trying to run their way down the mountain only for some of them to fall and scrape themselves hard on the rocky road.

Honestly, the most important part of this climb was the mental strength to go on (besides having some physical training). How you viewed the obstacles and difficulty you faced played a very big part in your physical capability. If you stayed optimistic, you would be able to find the strength within you that you didn't know existed before. I was cheery most of the way up, but after the short two to three hour nap at the cabin, I was losing faith in myself near the top. The panic translated into some difficulty breathing, and I had to stop several times to breathe deeply using the oxygen tanks we had purchased at the Fifth Station stores. It was a last minute decision to buy them, and thank goodness we did. I'd say it wasn't so much of the aches in my limbs and the grogginess in my head than the mental block, that feeling of incompetency which began to terrify me. My friends were extremely encouraging though, and I really think I would not have been able to go on without their support. Thank you guys :')

After we returned to Shinjuku, most of us went for a hearty meal to reward ourselves at Ichiran Ramen. Needless to say, t'was one of the best meals of my life.

P.S. There's an exclusive group photo of us at the peak where everyone is smiling and I'm the only one with a scowl-y face. . . I'm not particularly proud of it but just making it to the top with my own two hands and two feet was a great accomplishment in itself.

Here's to our tired faces after the climb

The girls' team looking all radiant and eager pre-climb. Check out that SMU swag y'all.

And if that's not enough, we got the flag too.