A tale that wasn't right.

So.. trip to mount Fuji! Yeeeey! Well, it sound amazing. And I can make it sound even better: Hiking to one of the most beautiful peaks of the world, with good company... on the top checking out as the sun rises from below where you are. It comes out majestically from beneath the sea of clouds... Afterwards visiting a shrine... Sounds lovely isn't it?

Well everything is true, but the reality is pretty disappointing. Unfortunately this trip was... well, not a mistake but it was nearly not half as good as it sounds. Mount Fuji is high. Like super high. More then 3700 meters and it's volcanic so on the top you find nothing but stones and rocks. We arrived to 2300 meter, around 7-8 pm... where we needed to wait  for the organizers who brought us the headlights and the gloves. We decided to climb in the night to check out the sunrise from the top. The beginning was great. Forest, friends, wide roads, nice weather... but  soon the forest ended and you needed to climb 1300 meters high over a stony wasteland. Stones... nothing but stones. The route was totally  artificial... just a zigzag with some rest houses, in where, for a huge amount of money you could have some relaxing time. 

But the biggest problem was... the crowd. I like to say this sentence: I love Tokyo but I don't like Japan. Crowd is something really Japanese thing. No matter where you go there is crowd. I remember my mom said for Malgrad De Mar (Spain) that it's a touristic factory. NO!!!! Mt. Fuji 2012.07.28 midnight: That is the tourist factory!!!! I mean... it was amazing. Mt. Fuji is a symbol. Symbol of Japan. Everybody wants to hike there, and the sport companies make you believe: that no matter who you are, with proper shoes and equipment you can hike and "reconquer Japan". NO! This hill is 3700 m high and the road is very rough! It is NOT for everyone. Only for people, who are strong or have stamina or experience for these kind of things. There were shitload of people on the very very narrow path. But seriously, a really really huge amount. Like in a music festival or on the Csiksomlyói Búcsú. Nearly everyone in Japan wants to climb Mt. Fuji. Which is nonsense. A 60-70 years old grandma or a 6 years old boy cannot do it. Sorry I'm lying... yes they can. In a lot of hours with a lot of suffering. We climbed to the top in 5-6 hours. And most of this time was nothing but queuing. Seriously. It  was not like you are climbing a mountain comfortably in your tempo. You were one person in a really big amount of people who were trying to climb one by one and everyone a grandma, a child or anyone had problems you needed to stop and wait for 5-10-15 minutes. Seriously I stopped to wait people in front of me during this trip, more often then I did actual hiking. It was amazing. 

Hungarian people, do you remember West Balkán? Here it is not existing. Always more people can fit in everywhere and they really don't care how crowded something is. No, the hiking was really not fun because it was supercrowded. PR and advertising is incredible here and unfortunately they really can make believe people who CANNOT climb mountains, that yes they can, if they pay money. There were big amount of 30 people rookie tourist groups, with leaders and everything who were suffering up... and now let's stop for a second.

Our group was lovely. BUT. Some really cool and friendly and awesome people came with us, who I really really like as a person... but because they came from countries where they had no opportunity for hiking or they are super not sporty they had many many problems with climbing. Guys, girls? Why did you come? I mean: really? There were people on the route who needed oxygen at around 2800 meters!!! Every year many people die trying to climb the mount Fuji. We've had friends who could climb up 3-4 hours more than me or my friends did (And we were sleeping 1 hours at 3400 meters, next to a toilet cos we didn't want to reach the top so early and froze to death on the top while we are waiting for the sunrise).  Was it fun for them? I don't think so. Was it fun for the people who could climb slower because of them? No I don't think so.

And here comes the question. Am I mean, because I am angry on the 60-70 years old Grandmas who just tries to "capture" her own country? She is suffering on Fuji! Hiking and climbing is not fun for her! And the problem that she disturbes 100 other hikers and takes over their fun also by "not being able to hike proper". I mean... Hiking and mountain climbing is for fun. You mustn't do it just to capture hills and show up how high you could go. It has to be about having fun while you are doing sports. But Japanese people totally not get it. For them I think it's kind of "Mekka..." A challenge what they must take or I don't know. but I'm sure that the nature and the hiking and the climbing... is not about the fun. And it leads again forward... I'm seriously not sure if they know what fun is or know how to have fun. 

But whatever. Yeah, I queued up to Fuji, on the top it was really really cold and windy I was freezing like hell despite all my warm clothes so I checked out the sunrise took some pictures and we went down. The view was really not spectacular cos you didn't see anything. All around there were only clouds. The sunrise was nice but... you were freezing so despite it was beautiful you couldn't really enjoy it. No It not true. I am glad and happy I could be there it was fantastic and the view was till amazing. But still... But again the road down was the most boring hiking route ever... A zigzag downwards across a red stone desert. Mt. Fuji is beautiful when you look at the pic on my blog's background but... it's a lie. I've been here for a whole month and I haven't seen Mt. Fuji yet. It's always cloudy and foggy here, so you cannot see far away. You cannot see the hill. And when you are up on it you just realize that because of it's height and it's volcanic stuff the top is just a boring desert. Where the forest starts... there are the parking spots and the busses. And we didn't have time to hike in the forests. 

And one more super annoying thing. This whole place is a national park and part of the UNESCO World's heritage. BC the weather is very changeable I took a lot of stuff. clothes, food, drinks... many things. On the whole trip there was NOT A SINGLE TRASH-BIN! Not on on the top not on the bus park not on the bottom not at the houses... nowhere. No trash-bins. It is a big problem also in Tokyo... you cannot find a single trash-bin nowhere but this is ridiculous. We went to the hotel workers and the leaders of this touristic areas just to ask where can we found a trash-bin and they told us that there are no trash-bins here. NO! NOT A SINGLE ONE! In 24 hours more than 2000 people appeared at Mt. Fuji and there was not a single trash-bin for them.

So again... Japan is a strange world. Extreme mountain climbing tourism... trash problems... and diverse feelings. Ok, it was really great and nice to climb to the top of Mt. Fuji but I don't really recommend it to anyone. If one day there will be kind of birth control here or not everything will be supercrowded or ban out pensioners, small children, pregnant women and stuff from extreme hiking routes, probably it will be a better experience. But Japanese people don't mind the crowd and to wait and stand in line... so here we are again. Japan is really closed and it is really really not opened for tourists or outsiders. If you want to enjoy Japan: be a Japanese!