Just When You Think You've Crippled the Crowds, Subbed the Subways and Suckered the Sushi....

Samir's article. Samir here, alive and dry (and Im only saying that because there was an earthquake only 300 miles away from Tokyo, which brought up a tsunami warning) and finally in TOKYO!!! We've left the persisting sales people of India, and since most of our conversations went like this: "You want henna? Ok I give you henna." "No, I dont want henna." "Yes, you want henna. I give you henna." "No, I don't want henna." "How about baby? Baby like henna?" "No, baby doesn't like henna." "Yes, baby like henna. Baby want henna." "No baby DOESN'T want henna!" [and so on and so forth] we were pretty glad to leave. We waited awhile for our first flight which came at 11 pm, and then we stopped in Malaysia for an hour or so and then flew to Tokyo. We're staying with a really nice Japanese family now that Mom knows from 20 years ago. They don't speak too much english, so we're learning a lot of japanese. After much waiting, we got our much needed japanese food at last. We also ate out once, and I got to try squid. Me and Dad ate it all, Jamil didn't try it, Alia didn't like it and Mom had tried it the last time she as in Japan. (Which life?) We also found out that nobody sells cucumber rolls because it's too boring for most people, so we've made a lot of special requests for them. On our second or some day we visited the Ueno zoo which owns a giant panda bear. Every last person in Tokyo wanted to feast their eyes on him, so we only got a little glimpse of Ling Ling while waiting in line. We also saw tigers, lions, gibbons, penguins, gorillas and the common red bottomed primate. We've been exploring Tokyo quite a bit, and we've discovered it as the city of vending machines and TVs. There are drink and cigarrete vending machines, vending machines with dancing bottles inside and little TVs. And TVs. There are giant screens and little screens and little screens made to look like giant screens. But actually, Tokyo is less busier than India, and it doesn't smell like freshly filed toenails at all. I've also regained the courage to look at what people are selling. The same day we went to Tokyo's largest shrine, and there were a lot of stores on the way to it. Around the shrine there were lots of ENORMOUS lanterns, big enough to make you feel uncomfortable when you walk under them. The next day we went to DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!! There was no line for getting in, but there were huge lines for rides, food and melon soda flavoured popcorn.

Sorry about that. Samir still here, but since we've only got two weeks here, we're cramming a lot of stuff into one day, so I don't have much of a chance to go on the blog. Anyways..., continuing where I left off...

6th April 2007
But we managed to get onto 7 rides and two simulations. One simulation was based on Star Wars, but it was talking in Japanese so it was hard to understand. There were a lot of robots surrounding the line, which was really strange (ever heard C3-P0 call R2-D2 a nitwit in Japanese?). One of the rides we went on was Big Thunder Mountain and, (even though it sounds like the ride has a couple chilli dogs sneaking up on it) it was AWESOME!!!! Day or two after, we went to the Imperial Palace on sunday, which is basically when bikes take over the streets around the park and you can get a free rental from the park staff. The same day we began the greatest search for a boxed lunch the world has ever not-seen -- THE GREAT BENTO QUEST!!!! (bentos are japanese boxed lunches) We turned Tokyo upside down 27 times, and finally found something like our goal (it was worth it, I'll tell you that). The same day we went to a car showroom where you could ride driverless smartcars or drive a hybrid go-cart or do a racing simulation. Later we got on to the world's biggest ferris wheel, and got a really good view of Tokyo. The next day we moved to Mom's friend's (Miho's) house. She lived out in the country, a ways away from Tokyo so it took some time to get there. Miho also has two girls, so we went to a place called Kamakura the next day (I'm guessing your sick of me saying "the next day" by now). First we went to a temple that had a big garden with fat carps, and then we went to the HUGE Buddha staue. It turns out, the statue was hollow so we went inside, where it looked like a big mosque-monastery-statue combination. We lounged around the next day before hopping on the monorail and heading to Kakio, where Mom & Dad lived a looooooong time ago. We stayed and snacked there a bit, then rode the train for a reeeaaaally long time, then got to Dad's friend's place. Yesterday we went to a bowling alley/arcade where you could have your picture taken so that there were different backgrounds and then you could draw on the pictures and they came out that way. We're hear five more days, so maybe I'll get on before Indonessia. Sayonora!

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