Arrival in Japan

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The flight from Chicago was long and grueling, but I survived and even made a couple of friends. Paul was my seat neighbor and Ben was a guy I met at the airport in Des Moines. Paul is retired and unmarried and was heading for Phuket, Thailand for the second time in the last eight months. He didn’t say it directly, but I gathered that he goes to Thailand mainly as a sex tourist. Several time he alluded to the women and how he needed to save his money for them. His constant references to the women he was going to be spending his time with in Phuket made me uncomfortable. He was actually a bit creepy. I think he’s just a lonely old man that’s looking for some company. The other friend I made on the flight was Ben. He works for a large international bank. He is based in Singapore. We actually met in Des Moines at the airport. He was trying to take a hockey stick onto the plane but the airport staff wouldn’t let him. I volunteered my cell phone so he could call his father and leave the stick with him. He was quite grateful. When we saw that we were on the same flight from Chicago to Tokyo we decided to talk some more. He was so friendly and gave me his email and phone number. I may have dinner with him when I stop through Singapore at the end of October.

In the airport I met Vicky from Newcastle, Austrailia. We were both at the budget accommodation desk at Narita Airport. We rode the train into Tokyo together and I found her to be quite delightful! I think we will be in Kyoto together at the end of the week so I’m going to send her an email and maybe we can get together for dinner on Friday and I would like to invited her to go for a hike with me and my couchsurfing host on Saturday.

I’m already way over my budget. Japan is expensive! I knew it would be, but I didn’t count on the expense of travel to Kyoto. I basically have three choices: the fast train, the slow train or the overnight bus. I think I will take the slow train to Kyoto tomorrow arriving sometime in the evening.

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