Chris’s Blog

Went to FujiQ Highland last week with a bunch of other A.L.Ts. It was my first time to visit a real roller coaster park. All up, there were about three large coasters; Fujiyama (Up to 80m and straight down), Don Don Pa! (Shoots you off at about 170kmh in 2 seconds – note that you will go crazy while waiting) and Eejyanaika (Great ride, weird seats and straight down views). We arrived at about 1.30pm on Friday (Three or so hour drive from Chiba) and managed to ride a decent amount of attractions. We got a two day pass (7900 yen). Riding Fujiyama at night is great, it has funky lighting. I might upload some of the shots of me on the coasters when I get a scanner. I almost lost my voice the first time I went on Fujiyama – second time around was alot less freaky and much more fun.

We finished around 8pm (the first day) and headed out to our accommodation. I would fully recommend this place to anyone that needs some place to sleep in the area. Its really new, nice showers, next to an onsen, has a wicked big tv, free Internet, nice kitchen and great people running the place. Its called K’s House Mt. Fuji (we paid 2500yen each) check out http://www.itcj.jp/hdb/419024.html for details

All in all it was a great holiday. Minus the stiff back and neck (thanks to that stupid Panic Clock and Moon Raker).

I was looking at the weather forecast today, might be in for a big typhoon (35mps winds) should be interesting tomorrow. Hope I can get home as they may stop the trains.

First time ever using my laptop while on the toilet! My stomach has been acting up, must have been that random 4pm McDonald’s lunch (missed breakfast and lunch) Bit cramped in here – and oh the smell, but pretty productive if you ask me. First time blogging from the toilet too. Not much going on around in here, so ill update you with what’s happening.

Spent the summer doing nothing much, went to Izu prefecture to go visit hot springs, went to Tateyama to climb a mountain and drank alot with James’s mates. Bought a couple new PS3 games (Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Vegas and Ghost Recon Advanced War fighter 2) been playing Bioshock and that about sums it up.

Summers almost finished, so I will be driving up to FujiQ Highlands on Friday with some of the alt’s and staying the night – full two days of riding roller coasters and such. This will be my first visit to an actual roller coaster park, New Zealand has one, but I wouldn’t really call it a roller coaster, it’s very small.

New school coming next week – going to be a long visit this time, all the way to December. Going to be interesting as I will be taking around three weeks off to go visit and New Zealand for my sisters and fathers birthday. Still wondering what I should get my father for his birthday, I’m thinking along the lines of a nice knife or something.

I think I’ve finished in here – almost destroyed my girlfriends toilet. Everyone is always telling me to watch what I eat, now I know why (Oh the pain!)

Went to Kamogawa Sea world for the golden week. The best bit was being able to drive again. I haven’t had an opportunity to drive until now in Japan, and Toyota’s rental car service is pretty affordable. We rented a 07′ Prius, one of those hybrid cars with batteries and such. Funny thing is to turn it on; you push a key in and push the power button. The engine doesn’t start until you try to floor it, or are going over 70kmh.

The drive too and from didn’t take as long as we had expected. Teachers had said that it would be around four hours due to traffic, but we managed to get there in a hour and a half – talk about good luck. Oh, another highlight of the trip was the cost – we drove over two hundred kilometers in total, and the car only used around 4-5 litres of petrol. Ill upload some images after I’ve copied them over.

Ive been sick for a week (cold + bronchitis) and took my first sick day yesterday. Today the ichinen-sei had a field trip to Sakura and Narita, I tagged along and went to see some sights. First off was Sakura where we went to see some old houses, and the National Museum of Japanese History (Alot of interesting items inside!). After that we headed to Narita to look at some shrines and temples. I got shouted lunch (thanks kocho-sensei!) which was some chicken rice thing. After that, all the teachers got together to have their lunch and i got to eat again. This time I tried some eel. Now, I kinda liked the taste of eel, but I just cant handle eating bones, I feel like puking every time, making the nice taste of the eel less enjoyable. Check out more photos of the sights after the jump.

Pics from Sakura

Pics from Narita