Needless to say, I'm back! But this blog is once again turning from a record of our renovating adventures to our travel adventures, just like it did when we went on our Europe trip last year (see here for the first post of that trip).
The reason? We've just been to Japan!! It was kind of a last-minute trip. Tom's been away with work quite a bit this year, and we discovered an opportunity to meet in Japan for about two weeks of non-work time and sightseeing!
And so, the trip began with a little plane ride!
I arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan at about 6am. Tom wasn't due to arrive for about another twelve hours, so we'd agreed that I'd just make my way to our hotel, get myself freshened up, and wait there. After spending a night on a plane not sleeping much, and feeling in desperate need of a shower, I was ok with that plan.
So I hopped on the transfer bus to take us to our hotel, which was actually outside of Tokyo itself, on Tokyo Bay. This was about the only photo I was lucid enough to take on the journey to the hotel.
I trudged up to the hotel reception desk at about 9am (I'd had to wait for a while for the transfer bus), and began the interesting process of trying to check in with virtually no Japanese on my part, and only very limited English on the receptionist's part. I was too tired and gross-feeling to be in the mood to pull out my phrase book and attempt to construct entire sentences in Japanese, so it was a frustratingly limited conversation for both of us, to say the least.
The result? I couldn't have my hotel room (and therefore a shower) until 3pm, which was their usual check-in time. And so I had my experienced my first example of Japanese intractability. They follow the rules. Full stop. No exceptions. In the politest possible way with limited English, I was told to get lost for six hours.
Obviously I was not particularly happy with this idea, in my tired, and plane-dirty-feeling state, but that state also meant that I was feeling more miserable than confrontational, so I sighed and decided to try to make the best of it, left my bags at the hotel, and went for a wander around Tokyo Bay.
My first photo of the area? A 7-eleven convenience store. Go figure! Probably because I was very hungry, having had my last meal at about 4am on the plane. I went in, assessed the options, got despondent, and left.
I might also mention that in the middle of summer, Japan is stinking hot, with ridiculous humidity levels! Coming from a resident of Brisbane Australia, that's hot! I had worn comfortable, warm clothing on the plane (including ballet flats with virtually no soles, not designed for much walking), so it didn't take long in my exploration of the streets surrounding our Tokyo Bay hotel for me to get pretty hot and uncomfortable, with blisters an almost certainty in my near future.
Thankfully, across the road from that 7-eleven there was a shopping centre that included a supermarket which, wonder of wonders, included a lovely little section devoted to fresh sashimi! This delectable selection cost me 500 yen, the equivalent of roughly $6.50 AUD. Not bad, huh?
I settled myself into the centre's foodcourt with my meal, and enjoyed it immensely. It satisfied my hunger for sure, but I was still by no means completely happy. For a reason that completely escaped my hot and bothered self at the time (hey, it still escapes me now), the Japanese seem to like to set their summer air conditioning at a temperature of 28 degrees, which is certainly not very cool. It was better than the outside temperature though, so I tried to count my blessings.
I dragged out my little meal as long as possible, and nearly finished the book that I'd started on the plane over, but it was still only about 12:30pm when I decided that I should give my Tokyo Bay exploration another go.
I tried valiantly to continue in the direction I'd started in, walking towards the nearest train station. The heat and blisters were beginning to really get to me after a while though, and I knew that every step I took in that direction meant another step I'd have to repeat on the way back to the hotel. So I turned around.
A couple of blocks away from the hotel, I found this little park, and decided to sit there for a while to try and work on improving my attitude a bit, since I was getting pretty darn uncomfortable, and was beginning to really think of myself as miserable.
The next photo I took probably speaks volumes about my mood. This was that park from a slightly more miserable perspective.
But then I tried to look at the positives, and didn't have to look far. The same little park had this lovely little flower bed...
And this cute little raised bed too...
And this was the view when I sat down in that little gazebo. Some nice symmetry in the massive blocks and big skyscrapers.
I dragged that little respite out for as long as possible as well, but ended up back at the hotel at about 1:30. By that stage I was exhausted and well past caring much about sightseeing around Tokyo Bay, (which seemed kind of boring to me) and just wanted to be inside an air conditioned building not walking around in my uncomfortable shoes. So I decided to just plop myself down on one of the couches in the lobby, and promptly went to sleep, not caring who saw me snoring. And so I stayed until 2:55pm, when I re-approached the reception desk, not willing to take no for an answer.
Thankfully they gave me an indulgent smile and handed over the key, and I could FINALLY make my way to our room and get in the shower!
The room was very nice...
With two beds to choose from, no less! The Japanese way, I'm told. Husbands and wives apparently don't normally sleep in the same bed together.
I couldn't care less at that stage. What I cared about was this! The shower!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once I was finally showered I was able to appreciate the finer details. Like this fancy Japanese toilet (the first of many like it), with bidet buttons on the side, an automatic running water sound effect, and heated seat! I hardly knew myself!
And so, finally feeling clean again, I managed to keep my eyes open for about 30 seconds before crashing on one of the beds. When Tom arrived and courteously knocked on the door, I was disoriented, to say the least. I groggily wrapped myself up in the doona (not wanting a poor prudish Japanese person to accidentally see me in my pajamas), and staggered up to the door.
And so began our little holiday in Japan!
Not a particularly auspicious beginning, but when is a long flight ever a good start to anything? A decent dinner that night in the hotel's quite reasonable buffet restaurant and a good night's sleep later, and things started looking a lot rosier. Stay tuned for the next installment!
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