Monday, May 11, 2015

Camping with Tentment

Camping 2xs in one week? YES PLEASE!

On the chalk board wall in the kitchen of my apartment had been a long explanation of some event planned for 5/9-5/10. Of course because it was all in Japanese, I could only read: "onigiri" (rice balls), and the times that planned out some sort of schedule for Saturday and Sunday. Asking about it, turned out that the apartment was planning a camp out at the base of mount Fuji, and better yet, there was still room on the bus and I was quickly invited to join. HELL YES!

For the total price of 15,000 yen (about $135) each, we chartered a private bus, had plenty of food, and all the needed camping equipment for the one-night/2-day camp out! 

We left early morning on Saturday. I packed warm clothes, a sleeping bag, pillow, sleeping pad, and toiletries. All the other supplies were a combination of shared apartment items as well as donated items by some extremely avid campers! 

I have never camped in such luxury and with such a well planned out schedule. From bus games, meal plans, campfire dancing, team building activities, birthday celebrations, and a constant supply of beer. 

The team on Saturday afternoon. You can just barely make out Fuji-san through the fog and misty cloud.

Team challenges! Losing team had to cook breakfast the next morning.

A better glimpse of Fuji-san, and one of several large tee-pee tents.

Amazing food all day and night long!! There must have been at least 4 gas stoves going cooking onion soup, miso soup, and mulled wine, along with 3-4 BBQ grills cooking spare ribs and sausages, 2 dutch ovens (prepared in the pioneer fashion) cooking 2 whole chickens with rice and veggies. 


Early morning view of our camp.

Glorious Fuji-san on Sunday morning.

Must have a jumping photo!! From left to right, Erina, Kana and me.

The group was up for anything! So of course a sleeping bag jumping photo which had to be retaken at least 10 times- see our fail at jumping in sync!

After packing up on Sunday morning, we spent the afternoon at the onsen. Relaxing warm waters, great showers, and delicious curry, soba or udon lunch. 









Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Sun salutation- yoga on our camping trip-

Its Golden Week! That means a slew of national holidays and a 5 day vacation! Hurray.

My friend, Teneal, and I headed out on Saturday night by shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka (south west of Tokyo). We stayed there the night, then trained and bused out towards Lake Biwa and Shiga prefecture to hike in Kusatsu.

It turned out to be a great way to avoid the crowds traveling around this time of year! In fact, no one was camping with us- we had the place to ourselves and rarely saw day hikers on our 2 days of hiking. perhaps the rain thwarted any but the most die-hards!

We enjoyed our hikes tremendously and incorporated the Sun Salutation Yoga series into the day! Below is the series- taken out of order, but pasted together here for you.

Starting pose:

Forward Bend...

Half bend

Downward facing dog...

High plank

Low plank

Upward facing dog

Low lunge


Namaste