Jakey Jake

Friday 30th April
This morning we decided to go with Petes housemate steve for a hike through one of Japans parks. We were headed to chichibu national park. Along the way Steve managed to get us lost, and i managed to find it hhehehehe. We got to the end of the line at about 12.30 and walked about 9km along the road looking for the cable car to take us to the top of the mountain. We werent sure exactly where we were going but i was pretty sure it was straight ahead. We came to a nice looking bridge over a stream that had some big rocks, what else can you do?? except jump off the rocks for a swim?? after a nice refreshing dip we walked up the path to the cable car, which took us on a nice smooth ride to the top. As we started to descend the mountain we managed to get ourselves confused, the map was supposed to be read upside down.. it was very frustrating and all the signs were in Kanji, and the guide we came across couldnt speak any english. Anyway we managed to work it out and found a nice bunch of temples which unfortunately were being renovated. We hiked, stumbled and rolled the rest of the way down the mountain. I was wearing shoes a size to small for me and my toes were killing. We finally made it to the bottom at 6.30 having walked around 20kms. we were stuffed. the train took about 2.5 hours to get us back. Eventually we got home, but Pete had to meet some mates at shabuya and i wanted to go and get some photos… we eneded up getting there at 11.30 and the trains stopped running at 12.20. We didnt have long so pete went to meet his friends and i went exploring. It was a great place with a great vibe, lots of younger people all out partying. I saw the love hotels, theyre quite funny, they have rooms for you to “rest” in for 4000yen or you can stay for around 9000 depending where you go. The rooms were themed with bodange, jungle, teddy bears etc, anything that got you going Anyway to get home we had to catch the last train. Ive never seen anything so ridiculous in my life. THe train was so utterly packed they literally had train guards kicking people on the train so the doors would shut. Madness….