A long and tiring journey...(2)

The two mistakes

Not taking 138 and 150 seriously caused us our first mistake. Well, it is not that we don't care or pay much attention on these two exit points, but we didn't expect that missing the exit point will bring us misfortune. How?

We overshot the 150 exit point because of several reasons. One, the day was already dark and therefore our vision weren't that good. Two, the exit point sign board that bears the "150" exit point number is just too small for us not to miss it. Three, Nesan was speeding too fast for us to notice the exit point sign board.

Consequences? Only one, and yet a big one. Without realising that we missed the point, we continued to head on until after sometime, we agreed that we might be going on the wrong way. Therefore, Nesan did the 3-point turn stuff to get to the opposite route and headed back. On our way back, there were a lot of cars lining on the road - the traffic congestion. It took us more than 30 minutes following on that track. On our way fighting with the congestion, we noticed the exit point, and we yelled with happiness. Then, we made our turning and head to the mountain - the 5th stage.

The 5th stage is the place to start for most of the Mount Fuji climbers, it is located somewhere in the middle of the mountain hence the 5th stage. From 5th stage, we will need to pass through the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th stage, before we finally reach the top.

When we reached the 5th stage, we were lucky enough to get a parking space. After that, we get out from the car and shivered a bit as the temperature is not the like the summer temperature we are having now, but a genting-like temperature. Everyone, except me, transformed to their winter-look. I did not transformed myself just because I wish to see and challenge the temperature. Most of the climbers make note that we need to bring our winter clothes or sweater in order to climb the mountain because it is damn cold up there. I wish to know how true it is.

The second mistake was the weather. Although I got to know from the TV weather forecast prior to the climbing and noted that the weather is not so promising for climbing on that day, we ignored that. I will reveal the weather condition on the third chapter of the show - the journey to the top.

[to be continued...]