Coffee Pasta Curry Sandwiches!

The next day we went to see the Golden Pavilion, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a beautiful, peaceful Buddhist temple, minus the thousands of Japanese tourists. They did provide entertainment of course. We were once again interviewed by a group of students on a field trip, this time, boys. Much different than the girls. No giggling and no smiling in the picture.

Afterward, we headed off to Pontocho-dori where the Geisha theater was. Of course, we just happened to be in Japan the one month out of the year there are performances by geisha. So we first attended the tea ceremony. Since we weren't quite dressed for the occasion (we in shorts and T-shirts and everyone else in nice summer dresses/business casual) we sat in the back. This was also a good spot because it allowed us to keep an eye on what was appropriate behavior (should we bow? should we drink now? should we eat now? etc.) and it conveniently hid us and any of our faux pas. At the end of the session, we noticed everyone's plates were gone and we had seen them turning their plates upside down and wrapping them in the placemat. So we did that, but no one came to pick it up. So I went to ask one of the waiters what I should do with the plate, but he just made a pushing away motion with his hands. Fortunately a man behind me said, "It is gift for you!" Apparently, we were allowed to KEEP our plates as "gifts." The geisha performance was a good cultural experience, but not the most lively entertainment. In fact, we counted 5 Japanese women around us sleeping. We then headed to a temple Daniel had heard had a flea market that happened every 3rd Wednesday of the month. We checked out some of the stuff, but unfortunately it was closing up.

We found the place we were staying. A 200 year-old working shrine. Essentially, we were staying in the "town church" for the evening. We had this huge room which was basically the living room of owner's home. That night I tried Japanese curry at a local fast food curry place, CoCo Curry, but was not a huge fan. We also explored a Pachinko parlor. Pachinko is like a cross between pinball and slot machines. People sit in their for HOURS. And I have no idea how they do it because it is both the loudest and smokiest place I've ever been in my life. I guess Japanese people can just handle a lot of sensory stimulation. We then walked down to the nightlife area and did some people watching and enjoyed a street performer's guitar-playing skills. On our walk, we saw a restaurant sign that said, "coffee pasta curry sandwiches." Laura and I found it hysterically funny. Since we'd walked so far, we decided to take a cab home, but the cab driver didn't speak English. The phrasebook came in VERY handy and we managed to get back to our shrine.

It's Time to Come Home

A few reasons why Hong Kong is saying, "You've overstayed your welcome."

1) Our Girls Night Out dinner at this "nice" Italian restaurant in Soho - Sole Mio, was a disaster.
a. A huge cockroach (I mean like 2.5 inches long) crawled up between the crack of the tables and into our breadbasket (This isn't America. We did not receive any free alcohol or discount on our food.) Then it crawled back down the table cloth next to my leg and I was right next to it and Laura wouldn't let me get out! because she knows I hate bugs and thought that would be a good way for me to confront my fears.
b. Laura got locked in their bathroom and had to bang on the door for someone to let her out. (love karma)
c. One of our friends had an allergic reaction to her food/wine and had a very swollen upper lip. We told her it just looked like she had had collagen injections.
d. At the end of the meal, the cockroach crawled over Kristen's foot. Then he landed on his back and Laura squashed him.

2) Walking to Lan Kwai Fong, a rat AND a giant cockroach darted across our path. We all screamed and this man walking to his apartment talking on his cellphone bitterly said, "Ugh, I can't hear you, these girls are screaming."

3) It's pouring rain and thundering and "lightening-ing" like I've never seen in my life. It sounds like gunshots it's so loud.

4) I am absolutely covered in mosquito bites.

Arigato go-zai-mas!

I was miserable. Tossing and turning. Sweating and shivering. I just wanted some water, but I couldn't even get up and the thought of the ladder was too much. So I just rolled back and forth. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, so I got down and gasped, "Laura, water!" So she handed me a bottle, I took 2 Advil I had (thankfully) brought and like magic, 2 hours later (a little later than we had planned to leave), I felt pretty good. Advil is magic. I seriously thought I was so sick I would be stuck in Tokyo in the Ace Inn for another 2 days in that stuffy cubbie hole.

We were off to Kyoto! Being well-organized college students, we hadn't bought tickets for the Shinkansen yet thinking, "Who's riding to Kyoto on Tuesday morning at 9:30?" A lot of people apparently because all that was left was the SMOKING section...dun dun dun...It sucked at first, but I took some Dramamine so I slept most of the time and kind of forgot about it.

Just like Lonely Planet warned, Kyoto wasn't much at first sight. The train station was very interesting, futuristic-ish, but didn't quite fit the old beautiful Kyoto I was expecting to see. So then we hopped on a bus and went to Gojo Guesthouse, our traditional Japanese style inn. It was a really cool place and we had a big room with a sit-on-the-ground table, a sweet wooden weaved ceiling, a walk in closet, and lots of space for our 3 futons. Since it was already noon, our plan was to do the Lonely Planet's suggested walking tour of Gion (the "old town" area) on bikes. But there's a reason it was called a WALKING tour. We rode our bikes across the street and then started heading up Gojozaka Slope. About 1 minute up the hill, I was like, "Oh HELL no." So we ditched our bikes and ended up walking. It was a great little street with the traditional wooden houses converted into candy shops selling all sorts of green tea and red bean candy. (I took a free sample at every shop and then felt really sick; I can't even THINK of eating red bean anymore!) We got green tea softserve ice cream. Mmm...so good! We then went to the shrine near by (Kiyomizu Temple) and got interviewed by a group of 5 Japanese school girls practicing their English. As she read off her cell phone, "Hello, we are Japanese students and we are going to read a book on peace and friendship. Our teacher would like us to ask you about your opinions on peace and friendship in Japan." They then handed us a piece of what looked like a yearbook signature page, and we all wrote a little blurb about how wonderful the Japanese had been to us. Afterward we explored more of the little traditional streets and even saw a geisha! This was the beginning of my geisha spotting obsession.

Geisha are silly characters. What if you were a geisha in 2008? You don't make any sense! but I guess that's what makes them special (especially when you see one hailing a cab! that was lucky!) . That night we had dinner at this restaurant that ONLY served dumplings (gyoza) and they were INCREDIBLE. We also really enjoyed watching the 4 old ladies at the table next to us eating 20 and 30 dumplings a piece (Laura and I each had 10 a piece and thought THAT was a lot!) and drinking lots of "birru."

After dinner, Daniel suggested we hit up the public bath house. Having seen pictures of luxurious wooden tubs filled with green tea infused water, I thought that sounded great! Even better, there was one right around the corner from Gojo Guesthouse! So we headed off in our pajamas, towel, and toiletries in hand. We arrive at the door and pay our 400 yen. Daniel heads off to the men's side (after he accidentally had walked in our side - the signs were of course in Japanese), and we ours. So there we were. What now? We were in the front room where there were a bunch of cubbie holes for your clothes, a huge mirror, a coin-operated massage chair and some little stools. Hmm...well (1) where's the bath? (2) do I get naked here? (3) where do I put my towel? can take it to the bath with me? Fortunately, the lady next to us spoke enough English to help us through these questions. As she got naked right there, we realized, okay we're supposed to get naked right here. As she walked toward the bath with no towel, we soon realized, this was no place for modesty. So we did it. We got naked and headed into the bath/shower room with all the other old, naked Japanese women. Okay, so here we are, naked. It looks like an children's bathroom with shower heads all around coming out of the wall about waist high and Hello Kitty toiletries and wash cloths all over the place. Not quite the wooden bath/green tea infused water experience I was imagining, but nonetheless, a cultural experience! So we started to squat down at one of the shower heads next to the woman who had spoke a bit of English to us and she makes a motion to stop and then runs off and brings back 2 stools. Oh! Apparently you don't want to be sitting naked on the tile, but these community stools are much better! To figure out the rest, we just sort of used our prereferral vision. It was A LOT of work when you have to bend in toward the shower head to wash your hair. Man, I was exhausted. And some of those ladies were working up quite the lather. I wasn't so good at it. They must have thought I was still dirty. Then we decided to try the actual tubs themselves. I lasted about 2.5 seconds. They were SCORCHING. So we left to dry off and this tiny old Japanese woman spoke to me and pointed at me, smiled and pounded her heart, then patted me on the shoulder, said "bye-bye" and left. I have no idea what she said, but I assume/hope it was friendly?

We walked back to Gojo Guesthouse with our pajamas on and towels wrapped up on our heads giggling the whole way.

SUMO

The next morning we got up at the ungodly hour of 4:45 so we could get to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market while things were still busy. The fish market was CRAZY. There were all these little scooters (more like tanks of gas with wheels) with truck beds carrying enormous dead tuna (maguro) whizzing around, bicycles, cigarettes, shouting, intrusive tourists getting in the way of these guys' real work, shouting at the intrusive tourists getting in the way of these guys' real work. It was all so macho, so masculine, in a good way. I don't really know why it was so cool, it just was. I even almost got run over a few times. By the time we were done there, it was only about 8:00AM and tickets for sumo went on sale at 8:30, so we darted over there.

Even just waiting in line for sumo was an experience. This guy was pounding on that big Japanese drum (taiko?), so me and a few other tourists in line jammed a bit. I posed like a sumo wrestler for Laura to take a picture and a Japanese guy passing on the street took a picture of me as well. From there we headed off to Akihabara, traditionally the "tech" area of Tokyo.

Here we went to Don Quixote, this crazy store with everything from hardware to...you guessed it... French maid costumes and even a French maid cafe! (I told you they like that costume thing...) We walked around for a while and I gave into the very Asian phone charm obsession and bought myself a charm that is a Shinkansen with Hello Kitty's face on the front. It's adorable. Oh and I bought a charger for my camera, phew! We then headed up to Ginza, which Lonely Planet calls, "the Fifth Ave of Tokyo," because my dad wanted me to see it. There were tons of galleries (Chloe, you'd appreciate the Japanese appreciation of art), expensive shops, and beautiful people. We felt a little out of place, so we ate delicious waffles. Finally, it was time...for SUMO!

Sumo wrestling was quite possibly EXACTLY how I imagined it and probably how you imagine it too. So they take about 10 minutes to "prepare" for the match. The faceoff and get into their squat position, do their leg stretch (check out the awesome picture Laura got of it) like they're gonna go at each other and then one will break position and head off to his corner. Then they faceoff again and you think alright that was weird, but I guess now they're going to fight. Then, the other one breaks and goes off to his corner. So now you're really like, "What are they doing?" Finally, on the third try, the crowd gets rowdy and excited, so their massive bodies leap at eachother and if you don't watch carefully, you'll miss the match because it really only takes about 10 seconds. Essentially, you just have to get the other guy to step out of the ring, but usually, they'd end up pushing eachother off the platform altogether and both would go rolling down into the crowd! Dangerous! I probably would have gotten killed down there. Soon we realized that they are allowed to do that "walk away" business 3 times before they fight for real. We figured they probably always take the full 3 because the fight itself is so short. You might as well take as much time on that stage as you can! Especially when you dedicate your LIFE to it! I have to admit, I got bored after a while, but it was good to rest my feet. So if you want to know more about sumo, Laura was absolutely fascinated, I'm sure you could ask her. I decided to check out the bathroom.

To satisfy all of you who like my Asia bathroom stories, here's a new one. While there were squatters in Japan, they were easy to avoid. They're not what was interesting. What was interesting in Japan was that the average toilet seat was HEATED! Not only that, most had the option of a bidet, and to top it all off...there was a button that made the sound of flushing water to "cover any embarrassing noises." Of course, I got to experience all three.

So that about concluded our Tokyo adventure. The next morning we were off to Kyoto. It was an awesome experience and I thoroughly enjoyed the city, the people, and the "overexaggerated-ness" of it all.

I've been to Tokyo. That's crazy.

Harajuku Girls You Got that Wicked Style (Japan P2)

So the next morning, I'm woken by the sound of ridiculously loud snoring. I'm thinking to myself, "Laura, that is so embarrassing, at least when we're at UST it's just me who hears you, now you're keeping this whole place awake!" So I peer over the end of my cubbie hole and see Snorlax (if you know Pokemon at all, hopefully you'll enjoy that reference) - this MASSIVE Asian guy with long hair and a turquoise stone belt is laying on his back on the carpet in front of Laura's cubbie! So I climb down my ladder and over him to get to my locker which makes a whole bunch of noise.

Laura and I head out for our morning routine. Unfortunately, at 8:30 AM, still 3 of the 4 coffee shops on our street were closed. Our place was good, minus the smokers. There are a LOT of smokers in Japan, at all times of the day. We go wake up Daniel and head off back to "Shibby Shibby BOOYA" (aka Shibuya where we were the day before). We went to this store called Tokyo Hands and spent way too much time and money buying stationary, bday cards, pencil pouches and erasers and trying on all sorts of interesting "costumage" (it is apparently Halloween all year round in Tokyo, there are costumes EVERYWHERE! though mostly Sailor Moon, school girl and French maid uniforms. I wonder why...?). Afterward, we went to find a place for lunch and happened upon a crazy street parade with hundreds of Japanese people in traditional outfits doing dances. So we tried to find a restaurant that overlooked the parade. The food sucked so I had a salad and then went next door after the meal to a vending machine restaurant and had a plate of 5 incredible gyoza (dumplings) for 100 yen (about $1USD).

We jumped back on the train to see Harajuku. I was SO excited to see Harajuku, but it was also about this time I my camera started flashing "low battery" and I still had 5 days left in Japan. I was not happy. It was a really cool area though, full of interesting designer stuff, coupled with cheap/cheesy shops, sex stores, and vintage stuff. We were lucky enough to see some real Harajuku girls with their rolly suitcases and Edwardian attire. If you ask me, they looked more like little Bo Peep, some girls even had staffs. I sang Gwen Stefani's song, "Harajuku Girls" the whole afternoon.

After that we got back on the subway and headed up to Asukasa. Have I mentioned how lucky we got with the timing of our trip? We were there for 2 parade/festivals that only happened once a year, sumo wrestling that only happens 3 months out of the year, and a geisha dance show that only happens one month out of the year. So we were heading to a shrine at Asukasa to see one of the festivals. It was probably one of my favorite parts of Tokyo because to me it represented the genuine pride the Japanese have in their beautiful, rich and incredibly well-preserved culture. We got to see men and women dressed in traditional outfits all stomping along together, carrying these massive shrines (?). They were all pretty drunk, shouting and smiling with their faces all smashed together. I felt like I was in a mosh pit. I got stepped on multiple times. It was awesome. Then we had chicken yakitori and beer at a one of the many food stands.

That night, Daniel had an EXCELLENT idea to go to one of Tokyo's silly themed restaurants. So we decided to try "The Lock Up" - a dungeon themed restaurant. We waited in the waiting room for 20 minutes and got excited as we heard door slams and screams as the other customers entered the restaurant, but when our turn came, well the language barrier detracted a bit from the experience. We walk in, the door slams, then we can't figure out how to open the next door and the "dungeon keeper" on the other side is giving us some instructions in Japanese and we're trying to tell her, "Ego please!" (oh yes, the Japanese word for English is ego). So finally, she just opens the door for us and says, "I arrest you," as she puts my wrist in a cuff and leads us down the staircase. We are given cell 82. (Don't forget this number!) We order all sorts of funny drinks. Mine is called SHOCK and is essentially pure vodka with a squeeze of lemon. Laura's has a syringe full of "blood." Daniel's is a pina colada with some sketchy pills. About 30 minutes into the experience, the lights go out and there are red sirens, a loud speaker (but of course in Japanese) and girlish screams from all other cells. We were crying-laughing as this "monster" comes clambering at our cell, pawing our faces. While the food wasn't great, it was a NECESSARY part of the Tokyo experience. I love Tokyo and all it's outrageousness.

Shinkansen! (Japan Part 1)

So I just got back from Japan. Yeah. Japan. It just might be the coolest country in the world. Since I am in finals and would like a little distraction each day, I think I will have a new blog about each day of my travels in Japan.

After the excitement of finishing my musical (that's another blog in itself), 2 projects, a final exam, a paper, and my Citi employment forms (for the most part), I was SO ready for my Japanese adventure. We had an early flight on Saturday morning to Nagoya from which we got to ride the bullet train (Shinkansen in Japanese) to Tokyo! When we first stepped off the plane, I shouted out of excitement, "HELLO Tokyo!" (even though we were in Nagoya, whoops!) I thought everything was beautiful already. We then had to figure out how to get to the Nagoya station via subway, not too difficult. At the Nagoya station, we had our first meal of sushi and the waitress was lovely. I assumed everyone didn't speak any English so I had the phrasebook all ready to go - "okanjo-o-kud-a-sai!" (check, please!) She laughed and said, "You speak very good Japanese!" Then we got on the train and I was SOOO pumped because my dad always talked about how cool the bullet train was and it was. I loved just looking out the window as we passed all the rice paddies and little houses. Once we arrived in Tokyo, we were given instructions by our friend Daniel (who was had already been in Tokyo a day) to meet him at the Hachiko dog statue in Shibuya. Well, we somehow made it to Shibuya and it was INSANE! There were so many people and we couldn't figure out how to get out of the station. Laura got so overwhelmed she just stopped in the middle of the bustling crowd and starting crying/laughing with a tomato red face saying, "I can't get out of the way! I can't get out of the way!" So finally we figure out how to get out of the way and out of the station. We get out, and there are MORE people, EVERYWHERE! in all sorts of outfits, chic, high fashion, goth, punks, children, kimonos. So we cross the street with everyone and we're looking for the dog statue. So we decided to ask these young guys we think may speak enough English. They figure out we're talking about a dog and point back toward where we had come from so we go back across the street. Well we're about 20 minutes late and this dog seems to be THE meeting place. There must have been hundreds of people around this silly little dog statue and we could not find Daniel so we watched the crazy, exaggerated people of Tokyo a bit and then decided to just go explore. Daniel said if we didn't find him, we could just meet him at the hostel. So we go diagonally across the street with everyone else because this is a cool looking area and we need a beer (or as they say in Japan - biiru). Everything was so eye-stimulating. We couldn't stop saying, "what is this place? what is going on? who are these people? this is crazy! this is AMAZING!" Turns out, Shibuya Crossing is THE busiest pedestrian crossing IN THE WORLD! Anyway, we found this really cool place, no english, and it's kind of expensive, but oh well! As much as we wanted to keep exploring, we figured we should find Daniel. We manage to get the subway to our hostel and meet up with Daniel. Our hostel, the Ace Inn, was AWESOME! We each had our own "cubbie hole." It was clean, convenient and had free internet, but the keyboard was a pain because my emails would become Japanese characters randomly and I couldn't figure out how to fix it and I didn't want to be the stupid girl that couldn't figure it out because no one else seems to be typing like a turtle, so my first e-mail was just a long string of letters!

That night we were looking for a restaurant near our hotel. After one failure at a yakitori place that had no English menu, we ended up at the local fast food place. It wasn't bad, but oh well. Afterward, we went to this art exhibit that was on the 53rd floor of a big building to get a view of Tokyo at night. It was definitely a date place. So many couples! We slept well that night after all our travels and looked forward to our breakfast in a cute cafe like we've made travel tradition!

How'd that get there?

So I just realized I some how got a mosquito bite on my left buttock. They're tricky little devils. It is a nuisance.