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Published: October 8th 2009
Well leaving Tokyo wasn't easy. Our deadline was to reach Tokyo station at 10.30am to catch our Shikansen train south. High winds from the offshore typhoon "Melor" meant cancellation of the Chou Line (Rapid Service) that we had planned to use to Tokyo. With lots of help from station staff, almost running from one side of the Shinjuku station to the other (its BIG), around the outside, and Maureen almost being blown over by the wind at one stage outside the East entrance, we finally got in a very long queue for the subway, before we even reached the turnstiles to get in to use the Marunouchi line subway to Tokyo. It was a bit scary, the queue was long and stationary and lots of unintelligible announcements were made - we figured all was well because hardly anyone was jumping out of the queue. The lines on the platform itself was also big. We finally reached Tokyo after stopping at all stations. By the way, getting on board at Shinjuku at peak hour + dealing with cancellations, is not like those Australian rumours, where its said station platform staff force cram passengers on board a crowded train, in fact the staff
JR Station Toyko
Standing in line, no pushing or jumping the queue here !are very courteous and thorough and make sure nothing goes wrong, I didn't see them touch or push anyone, and it was very crowded!.......
The Shinkansen was interesting - loads of power, it just accelerates and accelerates. It was 16 carriages long !!. Not much country side to speak of between Tokyo and Kyoto; it was mostly rural areas merging into small towns and cities with a few rice fields. Japanese houses along the line are mostly small two storeys, with hardieplank exterior walls and no flowers or trees anywhere - a bit bleak!
Kyoto is nice, very clean and the same 1960s type taxis as Tokyo. After leaving the Shinkansen, we then caught two more short subway trains to our Hotel after a very nice Japanese man helped us with our ticketing. Kyoto is a very well layed out, with cross patten streets and is like a very large country city. We strolled among the shops and got some really great Japanese food in the basement of the Takashimaya department store. It was like a market down there but very flash. Customer service is off course ten out of ten - no cuts backs here, just service + (strongly
Shopping for our tea
Takashimaya Department Store recommended), Oh yes, our room here is much bigger than Tokyo, its about normal size, at the Kyoto Royal Hotel and Spa. We kind of felt good too, when the lady who brought our bags up in the lift, thanked us for choosing their hotel and staying here !
PS just saw the BBC News on TV and they ran a long story about the typhoon and its affect in Tokyo today
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sarah
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dad again
Dad writing the blog again! How is your conversion chart going dad? The camera looks like its taking some good shots- is it good and easy to use. The battery isnt dying on you??? Is travel blog working well and uploading the pics. Are you using the internet at the hotel with ur laptop or using an internet cafe?