Blogs from Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan, Asia

Lot z Warszawy do Tokio mija w mgnieniu oka. Ani się spostrzeżesz dostajesz kolację o 15.00 czasu polskiego. Już musisz zacząć walczyć z jetlagiem. Żołądkowo. Po kolacji film. Obejrzałem dokument National Geographic "Free Solo" i muszę przyznac, że nie był to najlepszy wybór jeśli ma się w perspektywie konieczność zaśnięcia na parę godzin zaraz po zakończeniu seansu. Spocone ręce, przyspieszone bicie serca i gonitwa myśli to objawy jakie sobie zaserwowalem i musiałem długo przywoływać w myślach uspokajające obrazy łąk, pastwisk i plaż aby uspokoić wyobraźnię. Dokument jednak świetny i godny polecenia. Nawet dla ludzi kompletnie nie mających pojęcia o wspinaczce. Jak ja. Basia rozsądniej wybrała biografie Quenn i ukołysana głosem Freddiego śpi jak niemowlę. Trzeba było brać przykład z żony. Po filmie trzeba się przespać. Choć 2 godziny. Nasze doświadczenie mówi, że aby zasnąć podcza... read more

It feels like a back to the future moment as its now 10.30am local time so we've lost 8 hours of time in the blink of an eye. Tokyo airport is huge and customs takes a lot longer than expected which is a pain as we are knackered and just want to get there now. I'm really ready for a hot shower and a lie down, but unfortunately that's a long way off at this point. Once we get to the luggage belt, the cases have already started coming out and I get excited when I see both mine and Greg's cases in the distance at the other end of the belt. It feels like a huge relief as I know all too first hand how often Iberia lose cases from working at the airport. But ... read more

This morning's destinations are the Senso-ji Temple and Asakusa Shrine which are both in the older east side of Tokyo. We get off the metro and are immediately mobbed by young men competing for the privilege of carting us around the district in rickshaws. We escape by dodging into a side alley, and from there into a restaurant to get some breakfast. The waitress puts an iPad on our table, opens it at a language tab, and then leaves without speaking. We choose our food from a menu on the iPad, then press an "Order" button, and a few minutes later our meals land on the table. The waitress still hasn't uttered a single word. I'm not quite sure why you'd want to be a waitress if you didn't like talking to people, but if that ... read more

I like food (well, duh! Who doesn’t?) But one of the many things I value about travel is getting a chance to taste and see food that either I’m unfamiliar with, or that I don’t get a chance to eat at home. Tokyo gave me opportunities for both. The Fake You have probably seen fake food, made of plastic, displayed outside of restaurants in order to lure you in. When I found that there was a whole street in Tokyo dedicated to shops that sold this sort of fake food, I knew I had to go look. The street is Kappabashi-dori, located in the Asakusa neighborhood – not too far from Senso-ji Temple. As I was standing on the corner, looking at a map and trying to get my bearings, a gentleman came up and asked ... read more

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, mostly because we’re traveling to many different cities and Tom’s been on the computer confirming travel plans and doing business with US companies (including the Navy Exchange, unfortunately) that can’t comprehend that someone might travel outside the US and not be able to just pick up a phone and call during their business hours. Skype has been very useful, but those companies who say “just mail us a copy of …” should be disestablished. I tease Tom that the reason he likes Japan so much is that it’s pathologically organized. We breezed through immigration and customs at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and were in our taxi within 25 minutes – and almost immediately were tangled in traffic resulting from an overturned truck on the elevated highway. In our hotels, there ... read more