The day started with a train trip from Shinjuku to Otsuki, on a local rattler train (still faster and nicer than our rattler trains!) through the endless
suburbs of Tokyo- they just go on and on and on and on and on!!- and finally into some mountainous country filled with quaint villages and Rice Paddies! If there is a spare 2 inches of land near your house you must fill it with a Rice Paddie! We could actually see them from the plane when we arrived (even though it was night time) and I naively thought they couldn't possibly be Rice Paddies seeing as Japan is such a developed nation and I associate Paddies with poor people... OMG! I am an idiot. Hey, they eat Rice in Japan too you doofus, they've gotta grow it somewhere.
So we changed at Otsuki onto an even smaller 2-car rattler for the trip to Kawaguchiko, the village we were staying at, at the foot of Mt Fuji. We meandered through the hills for about 20mins then all of a sudden the giant Mt Fuji appeared in a gap between the hills! It was amazing! I totally hadn't expected it to be that big so suddenly, but cos it had been hidden by the hills we were able to get really close before we could actually see it! Wow, that was breathtaking!! I love this "Postcard shot" I took on my pocket Canon, Fuji is even reflected in the Rice Paddie!! Wow!!
We were staying at the Kawaguchiko Station Inn which is located right across from Kawaguchiko station (the name doesn't lie!) so we left our bags there with the lovely man who runs it (recommendation: Stay at Kawaguchiko Inn if you're staying at Mt Fuji!! The people who run it are lovely, it has traditional rooms with the tatami mats and the bedrolls, a low table for you to sit at while sitting on the floor, an onsen (hot spring bath) and our room had the most spectacular view right across the road to Mt Fuji!! Just amazing!!)
The man at the Inn gave us a map and directions to the Mt Kachi Kachi ropeway and lookout. Will had never been on a ropeway before and was amazed at just how quiet and quick it was, although it looked as though the carriage hadn't seen paint since 1975- it's rare in Japan to see something a bit run down! Thats more an Australian thing ;) {wink}. The area around Lake Kawaguchiko is so pretty and viewing it from the top of a mountain is even lovlier! At least Will doesn't look too stressed, seeing has he had decided by this point that today would be the
engagement day (see the backpack he wouldn't leave anywhere cos it had the ring hidden in it!) but I still had no idea!! The lookout at the top of Mt Kachi Kachi offers spectacular un-interrupted views across to Mt Fuji! Look how beautiful and clear it was on the 2 days we were there! Apparently it's pretty rare to see it clear and for us it was clear on both days, so I'll take that as a sign for happy days ahead! It was well worth the trip up Mt Kachi Kachi (it only cost about 600Y too I think) cos the view is amazing!
Now we had to decide if we should go to the FujiQ Highland Fun Park with lots of awesome looking rollercoasters and cool stuff like that, or actually go up Mt Fuji, cos we didn't have time for both things. I really wanted to go to FujiQ but Will pushed for going up Mt Fuji (I didn't realise why he wanted to go up! He'd made up his mind thats where he'd propose) and he convinced me we couldn't come all the way to Mt Fuji and not actually go UP Mt Fuji :)
HERE COMES THE ENGAGEMENT BIT!!!!.....
So we took the 50 min bus ride up Mt Fuji to the 5th Station and as soon as we got off the bus Will called out "wait!" and he squatted down with his back to me and was shuffling around in his backpack...I was thinking "oh!! Maybe now is the time!!" then he whipped around on one knee holding the ring box open out to me and blurted out the words "Will you Marry Me?!" and shoved the ring box over to me!! LOL!! I said "You've gotta take it out of the box!" and so he did and then put it on my finger, waited about 2 seconds then said "I need a drink!!" followed instantly by "OOO! BBQ!" cos
there was a lady making BBQ sticks up there and the smell wafted over! My romantic Engagement moment lasted about 20 seconds! Lol :) I love the pic of our hands and our shoes right on the actual spot where Will asked me! Look at our funky bright clothes and my plastic bangles!! Lol, it's not like we were dressed up fancy for a romantic meal! But it was so sweet, I was just so happy and excited and couldn't stop looking at my ring and giving Will kisses and hugs and I looked around to see if any of the other people up there had seen us, but everyone else was just milling around! I hoped someone would rush over, like in the movies, and say "I saw
you get Engaged, how romantic!!" lol! Didn't happen :) But we did get some BBQ sticks to celebrate! And they were so delicious too!
I was so excited to come down the Mountain again and find a phone box to call home and tell the family!! I asked Will if he had asked my parent's permission and he said yes, he'd called my Dad to ask. I was so pleased! How sweet is that!! I mean, I haven't lived at home for 10 years, but still he needed to ask if it was ok to marry their daughter :) Will asked should he have called Mum too, I was like "Don't worry, Dad will have told Mum" but Mum was staying at Felicity's and when I called them to tell them
Mum had no idea! Dad had kept the secret from Mum cos he thought she might like the surprise! Isn't that so cute!! :) Good on'ya Dad!!
As soon as we got back down the Mountain it was about 4pm and Will crashed (asleep that is!) It turns out planning and executing a proposal is stressful and tiring after all! I wandered down to 7/11 to call home, which was very exciting! It was so nice to be able to call and say "Will asked me to Marry Him today up the top of Mt Fuji!!" wow :)
When it came dinner time we then realised just how small Kawaguchiko is! It was a Monday night, and if anything is going to be shut in Japan it will be on a Monday night, we wandered around for about an hour and couldn't find anywhere but an Indian restaurant (which didn't seem right for us in the middle of Japan to eat Indian!!) so we ended up with a little picnic from
7/11 for our Engagement dinner! Can you believe it! But they have great food at 7/11- full dish meals which they'll heat up for you and all types of sushi and noodle salads. Will ate Chicken Katzu and fried rice and I had a cold pork noodle salad with egg, and a sushi and another green salad. It was all delicious, and very special cos I ate it sitting on the tatami mat floor of our traditional hostel room, up at the low table, with the Japanese tea set nearby, Anime on the TV and my new Fiance across the table from me :) So sweet!
So that was our engagement!! And now I am Mrs Lam to be :)
:) C
This is a really CRAP photograph of this layout, so sorry! I love this pic from our Engagement party back in Sep, it was snapped by Will's friend Wei Ke who is a budding professional photographer. We were having a "moment" together just as the party started. It had been a super busy day setting up and a busy few weeks organising. We took this moment to say "right, this is our night and now it's just time to enjoy it" and Wai Ke happened to catch it on film. So sweet!! The silver title sticker is actually a raised embossed silver sticker, it's really cool! It came from RJ's in Wollongong (my fave crap (cheap) shop!) I had fun digging out all my love related scrapbooking gear for this page! The OLD on this page is the I love you sticker, the word stickers, the "cherish" piece, the bird rub on, the PPs and the tab at the top of the pic. Oh, that pic melts my heart. So I guess the only new stuff is the silver sticker and the felt heart. Yay for using up my stash!!
