The Climb Up Mt. Fuji

Aaron had never even thought about climbing Mt. Fuji until I surprised him saying that on our way back to China, we were going to stop in Japan to climb it.

Most tourists start the climb up Mt. Fuji more than half way to the top.  There are 10 stations on Mt. Fuji (each station has resting areas and hostels to stay in), and most people start from station 5.

I should have known what I was getting into when I told Aaron we were hiking Fuji....Aaron doesn't consider starting halfway up actually climbing Mt. Fuji. So we started from before station 1, in the town closest to Mt. Fuji.

A non-snow capped Mt. Fuji from the nearest town

The start of the trail for us began at a Buddhist temple

He's ready to go.

We left the town around 10:15, and made it to station 8 where we spent the night (just a few hours) by 7:30pm.  Then we got up at 2:30 to make the last little hike up to the very top to watch the sunrise.

We got to the top around 3:30am and the sun was starting to rise.  We still had about an hour left from this picture.

The line of people hiking up Fuji
all of those lights are the head lamps of the people climbing the volcano

They play the Japanese National Anthem when the sunrises

trying to get a picture with the sunrise in the background

the crater of the volcano behind us

It was a hard hike for me.  We climbed from around 2,000ft to 12,388ft at the summit.  But it was worth it in the end.  And now I completely understand the popular saying about Mt. Fuji: 

"He who climbs Mout Fuji once is a wise man; he who climbs it twice is a fool."

Whoever said that must have started from where we started.

虎跳峡 Hu Tiao Xia, Tiger Leaping Gorge

Have you ever mentally thought that you could do more than your body is physically able to, but didn't realize it until your body was forced into one of three things: passing out, pooping your pants, or throwing up?


That's what happened to me last week.  Aaron and I went to Yunnan Province to Tiger Leaping Gorge (the deepest gorge in the world) to do a couple day hike through the high trail.  Aaron had been before 5 years ago and after seeing his pictures I really wanted to go.  So last week during our International Labor Day Holiday Aaron and I did the hike.  When we got to the start of the trail there were a lot of other people joining us, so of course, I wanted to pass them.  I didn't want other people on my quiet, get away from the city and other people, trail.  So I pushed hard (or at least hard for me).  And then about 30 minutes into the trail, I asked Aaron if we could stop for a break.


Then I sat down.
"I think I'm going to pass out....."
"....I may poop my pants...."
"....Can you sit down next to me?"
Lean my head on his shoulder, then immediately bounce my head back up, turn away from him and throw up down the trail.
Twice.


I had to sit there and watch as people I worked so hard to get in front of walked through my vomit.  Whoops.


I'm not sure why I threw up actually.  That part of the trail isn't that hard.  It wasn't too hot.  I was going fast for myself, but not super fast - I mean, Aaron kept up without throwing up.  We were at 7,000ft which is higher than we live at, but we had been at the elevation for a couple of days already and I felt better after I threw up.  I may have drank too much water or not enough....not sure.  But I threw up.  We sat for a minute, then we kept going.


And we still beat everyone we started with to the Halfway Guesthouse.

on the way to the gorge

not too long after the throwing up incident.  feeling better.

at halfway guesthouse
what a hottie.

strike a pose, there's nothing to it.

This week our catalogue came out.  This is a catalogue that is given to people who sell outdoor clothing, not to consumers.  So, we only have two copies for our own personal collection.  Sorry to anyone (our neighbors) who were hoping for their own personal copy to show other people and say that you know us.


Here it is.  The catalogue.  There are pictures in here that I pretty much hate, but I'm still choosing to share this with y'all anyway.  Maybe we'll be able to share a few laughs.

And, remember, you can be anything you want to be in China.

Carava Medium

Internationally known and locally respected

We had an entourage of about 14 people. 1 professional photographer, 1 person for the lighting, 2 wardrobe people, the boss of the outdoor clothing company we were modeling for, 2 professional mountaineers, and the rest just all along for the ride, invited by the boss man.

We modeled "summer" clothing when it was about 50 something degrees outside and raining. We modeled quick dry clothing, horse riding jackets, mountaineering gear (which we wore as we hiked up the side of a mountain at about 14,000ft), hiking boots that were WAY too small for Aaron and too large for me. I wore a Chinese ladies's size Medium, which meant I had to squish my hips into what we would consider a Child's size Large.  Worst.  We rode horses for 3 hours up and over mountains. We spent one night camping out by the mountains (best sleep of the trip) and 3 nights getting "beauty rest" at hotels. We went to a Tibetan theater show - where we danced on stage and I was awarded with white scarves for my sweet moves.

We learned that "look natural" does not mean - do what you would naturally be doing, but hold a pose and make your body strong in a strange position that is actually not natural at all.

I learned how to say "Get out of the way of my picture," "Wear the bag on your back while taking the picture," "Wear the gaiters," "I'm allergic to horses" and, "No, I'm not sick. I'm just allergic to horses" all in Chinese.  

For some reason posting pictures on this blog sometimes takes a long time, but posting a youtube video, not so much. So I threw together some of the pictures that Aaron and I took into a video. These are not the professional ones. If we get those, I'll make sure to post those too.

Go and Bear Fruit

Two years ago teams of people went into the lower Himalayas armed with apricot trees from Pakistan with the hope to provide a rural mountain community with some much needed vitamins,a potential new source of income, and a different perspective on the future. The teams planted more than 400 seedlings in about 10 different villages. A few weeks ago Aaron and I had the privilege to join the teams that would hike back to these villages, prune the trees, and start discussing with the villagers the idea of bearing much fruit.

James and Laura are friends that we recently made when we met in the U.S. and found out we were both going to be living on the same side of the world for a while. The two of them plus us made up our 4 person team, as we went and pruned around 100 of these trees. We spent a week in the mountains, walking from home to home, eating potatoes with the locals, and sleeping wherever anyone invited us to stay.

James put together a really great video of our trip that he put on his blog. I'm putting it up here, but encourage you to check out James and Laura's blog at http://jamesrosenberg.blogspot.com.

Enjoy!