Lost In Translation

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And On To the 4th.....

Leaving a couple of hours after Amy from Phnom Penh, meant I could indulge in some of my favourite pastime.... people watching!! Have you ever actually really sat back and watched how people react to things.... some of it is priceless.

Arriving in Hong Kong in the midst of a crackdown on swine flu was an interesting situation, especially when combined with only 20 minutes to get to my next gate and an enormous amount of airport between me and it. Imagine seeing one of the only white people around, bolting along the moving walkways, almost yelling at people to get out of the way. I would have liked being the watcher in those circumstances.

Another 3 hours and I touch down in Tokyo.... with only 8 minutes to collect my bags, get to through customs and make it to the Japan Rail Office to exchange my rail pass!!! It was close, let me tell you. Next problem.... I seem to recall that check-in at the hostel closes at 10pm..... oops!!! Already 9.50pm and the next train is at 10.19pm. Back to the airport where a lovely information lady managed to look up the phone number for me so I could call them and tell them I'd be there as soon as possible. The answer....."We'll be here until midnight but then the place gets locked up."
"How long does it take to get from Narita Airport to there?"
"About 90 minutes if you catch the express."
"I'm catching the last train for the night and I think it's only a rapid."
"You'll be lucky"
SHIT!!!!
Off the phone, onto the train, transfer at Tokyo station, transfer at Akihabara station, walk to the hostel (thank god the directions were good) all by 12.15am. Not a bad effort if I do say so myself. The door was still open and I ended a LONG day by collapsing with a beer in hand.

Tuesday morning it began raining, but a little water never hurt anyone so first port of call..... Tokyo Tower.With two observation decks at 150m and a third at 250m it gives you a great guide to Tokyo from above. They say on a good day you can see Mt Fuji from it but alas, the rain was persistent. The bottom four floors are filled with everything from wax museums to aquariums and the ever present tourist junk stores. Not a bad way to spend a rainy day.

Since then, I've managed to keep myself extremely busy with some of the Prefectures of Tokyo. Ueno is a gold mine of museums and so far I've managed the Metropolitan Art Gallery (with a special exhibit from the Louvre), the Museum of Nature and Science (with a special exhibit on dinosaurs) and the National Museum (with a special exhibit form Cartier Jewellers), all set in the beautiful Ueno Park, which also houses the Zoological Gardens.

A trip to Ginza showed how the other half live, with stores like Louis Vuitton and Chanel on every corner,and a side trip to the Sony Building to check out the latest and the greatest electronics before a heading to Ikebukuro for the Toyota Auto Salon and a preview of what Toyota are doing in the way of production and environmental options. It also gave me a chance to have a good look at this years model of the Toyota F1 car which I just couldn't pass up on.

Akihabara, known as Electric Town, is the place to head for all things electrical funnily enough. From TVs to wire cutters and robots to cameras, it's all available under the glowing neon signs, and fun to walk around at night looking at the people playing in the game arcades. Shinjuku is a better example of neon city with signs and lights as far as the eye can see, but it does have an undercurrent at night that tends to be on the seedier side of life.

Yesterday I found the perfect place for people watching!!! Shibuya is marked as the next big centre for Tokyo and has the neon of Shinjuku, the funkiness of Harajuku, and the crowds like you couldn't imagine. Sitting on the first floor balcony of Starbucks, overlooking the exit to the train station, with chai latte in hand, watching as every three minutes the little man turns green and the crowd erupts!!!! I'm sure about 1000 people cross this crosswalk every time it changes to green and that was only on a Saturday..... I don't know if I would be game to cross it in peak hour.

So far, I can say that I could spend years in Tokyo alone and never see enough to make me bored. I think this is going to end up another destination for a second visit and at this rate I'm going to have to go round the world again in the future..... oh it's a hard life.

"Don't tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you have travelled." — Mohammed

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Photos

Typical Side Street
Just near the hostel

Festival
The local council threw a festival for me.... how nice of them.