Japan - Day 2 - ______, Chiba and on the way to Izu islands

September 20, 2010

Today we met up with a few of B先生's friends and went to an old Edo-period town in Chiba. We ended up getting dressed in old Edo-period kimono (I was a Maiko-san and B先生 was dressed as some samurai warlord! We walked around the Edo-period town for close to an hour, getting our pictures taken and trying not to sweat too much in all the layers of clothing. I wore these majorly cool 下駄 (picture to come!) with a 4 inch height increase. It made it really difficult to walk up the stone steps to some of the older buildings on the premises.

After romping around in our cool get-up, we picked up our framed picture and headed back to Kashiwa. I hurriedly showered and packed last minute stuff and headed out to the station to take my train to Hamamatsu-cho to catch the 東海汽船 boat to 御蔵島.

I slept for about 4 hours in and out in a cabin with 4 bunkbeds. Luckily nobody was booked in that cabin as well so I had the whole cabin to myself :) I got up about 15 minutes before 6pm, thinking that I had 15 minutes at least to wash my face and brush my teeth. Little did I know that we made great time on the water and I almost MISSED my stop! Luckily the guy who was coming around to make the beds saw me and told me to hurry my a&& as everyone for my stop was already off the boat!

I rushed out of my cabin and was the last person to get off the boat... man that would have been bad if I had missed the stop!

Japan - Day 1 - Kashiwa, Chiba

September 19, 2010

Wow.. I'm going to Japan, I thought, as I sat in the Emergency row window seat next to an icky American dude. I was happy but at the same time sad as I thought this might be the last trip for a long time... I was excited to see all my friends again, and I was excited to do what I had come to Japan to do, excited to see places I used to visit, and just excited to spend the 7 weeks there enjoying all of what is Japan.

I didn't get much sleep from packing the night before. I tried to pack as little as I could into R's smaller suitcase even though I'd be in Japan for quite some time.

Delta's blankets are so thin, that you seriously need at least 4 blankets to keep warm. I was too lazy to ask for another 3, so just put up with the 1 blanket I had. The plane's bathrooms seem to be designed pretty well -- the sinks were much larger than traditional airplane bathroom sinks and the lights seemed to be a bit softer somehow. The food was gross of course. I didn't watch a single movie. Just tried my best to get some shut-eye.

I got in right on time via Delta but had to wait close to an hour to go through Immigration and all that jazz at Narita.

I was a bit apprehensive as I thought I'd have to figure out how to get to Kashiwa on my own, but to my pleasant surprise, B先生 was there to greet me! I was so happy to see him!

We made our way to the train platform after deciding that renting a sim card would be a bit pricey as opposed to roaming on my mobile. An hour and a half later, we were in B先生's cosey マンション, gnawing on some おにぎり and downing 麦茶！ B先生's flat is amazingly spacious, although his kitchen really needs more counter space.

It was HOT... at least 30C. I took a nap and then we made our way to Woody House for a salsa party! (Stay tuned -- pics to come!)

After a sparkle tattoo and some crazy dancing with people I didn't know at all, we walked home and got caught up on things. It's so good to see B先生 again. I LOVE his quirky Australian humour and his no-nonsense, tell it like it is attitude. He's such a breathe of fresh air from all the BS we'd get in HK.

Exhausted, we got ready for bed. I packed my snorkel bag, ready for the next day, as the day will surely be jam-packed!

Hello Japan!!!!! :D I'm back!

Trying to post again... :P

Ok, so I'm going to really really REALLY try to blog again. I hope I haven't lost what little readers I had :P

Just to give you a lowdown of what's to come, me and R spent some time in the water on a liveaboard to Komodo for 11 days, then some R&R in Ubud, Bali in September.

I'm currently in Japan and LOTS has happened even though I've only been here a week!

R's heading over tomorrow, so I better get to bed and get some sleep.

Hopefully I can slowly start blogging about my Komodo and Bali trip while at the same time blogging about Japan.

Talk to you all soon!!! :D