Lost In Japan

Still raining today, but at least it’s not as heavy. Our day started with packing and getting ready for Nikko. So we made our way down to the train station where we had breakfast again, this time I was quick to eat as the place was getting too smokey. Tara in need of fruit bought some strawberries, which we consumed in one hit. A small water mellon costs bout 10 bucks in this shop. While eating strawberries, I watched an old lady cough up some flem and spat it out, which was really disgusting (they seem to do that a lot here). Tara went to look at yet another vintage shop and I went to an internet cafe to post a blog.

Next up was a visit to Yokohama’s bay area, which was only 2 stations from Jo’s place. Straight up we headed for the Yokohama sky building, but discovered we had run out of cash. Windy, wet and with no money, it was time to find an international ATM. We walked over a bridge to a trendy shopping centre where we walked around ‘window7 shopping. I did see some shoes I wanted, but because the Japanese must have real small feet, they didn’t have my size. Next we headed back over to the Yokohama sky building and to go up and have a look around. $10 it cost to go up, but it was well worth it. The lift took about 43secs to make it up to the 69th floor (I think). The view was amazing, we could see Tokyo in the distance, all of Yokohama and the bay area. You can’t visibly see where Yokohama finishes and Tokyo starts. After taking lots of pics, we decided to try the curry in the sky garden restaurant, I also had another watery iced coffee, you’d think I’ve learnt by now.

Approaching 3:15 we dashed back to Yokohama to catch the train to Tokyo in order to get the 4:08 Shinkansen to Utsunomya station. We we’re cutting it fine, real fine. But after a mad dash we missed it, not that it matters, because we have our JR railpass, so we booked another one. This time we had about 5 minutes to make it from the booking office to the platform, but we had to find out which platform we needed. By the time we did that, it was too late. Once again, it was back to the office to book another ticket, and finally caught it.

We got to Utsunomya, with plenty of time for the train to Nikko. So we looked around a little, Tara bought some banana flavoured Kit Kat balls, I got myself a drink. The train to Nikko was great, we got to see the land change from intense city scapes to mountain villages. Plenty of rice fields along the way. It’s about 7:30 and FREEZING, just after getting off at Nikko station, only realising that the hotel we had booked is not in Nikko, it’s actually in Shinagawa, which was about 14km or so away, on another train. They have a a local train system in the region. We found out finally how to get there after lots of squabblingand frustration. With just enough time to grab some dinner at a curry shop. We caught our train, which we needed to get off at Imaichistation, which was 2 stops away. Tara misjudged this one and we got off at the 1st stop. With not a person in sight and the station all closed up, we had the choice of walking to the next station, or wait another hour for the train. So we took the walking option and headed down a few backstreets. It’s unbelievably cold and we got lost a few times, but finally found the station. We checked the time of the next train, and decided that 1 hour was a bit too long to wait.

We thought maybe it was better to just get a taxi, so, we got in one. After travelling about 7km we realised it was going to cost more than we had, and they don’t take Visa! We told the cabbie to pull over and that all we had was 3500 yen. And that’s exactly how far we had gone. He insisted that he take us there dispite in my best efforts to explain that we had no more money. Tara is freaking out and was now in tears, I’m quickly looking in my phrase book to find something to say. We passed a 7/11 and tried to ask him to stop so we could get some cash, nope, he didn’t. So now we think we’re really stuffed. We finally get there and the bill is about 4600 yen. We had a heated argument in the cab outside the hotel, and I tell tara to go ask for help. The cabbie　told me to get out and went to see what Tara was doing, I followed. Inside the hotel guy is trying to book us in, they cabbie is asking for his money, some lady is asking if Tara is ok, another guy is trying to gesture and translate stuff, and I’m flicking through my book trying to find something to say. My thoughts we’re to get the hotel to pay the cabbie, and then we’d put the extra on top of the hotel bill.

The hotel guy is saying NO CARD, the cabbie is saying we owe him and people are speaking very fast, loud and not making much sense. Tara is in tears and I’m at a loss, my phrase book wasn’t getting me out of this one. All of a sudden, the cabbie is leaving and the hotel guy is telling us to say thankyou to him. We thank him and the hotel guy gestures that it’s ok to go sleep. We’re taken up to our room and the guy gestures if we need food. He seems nice and helpful, but all we wanted was to get some sleep and to forget the dramas. After settling in, the guy comes back to tell us that the showers stop at 10. Tara had to wait about 10 mins for the water to get hot. Time to pull out the traditional floor beds (sheesh, my third night on a floor) and watch some TV to get our minds of things. The room is nice and has a traditional feel. We get another knock and it’s our hotel man with giving us an urn to use for making some tea.

Photos to come, our internet machine is locked away somewhere under the desk…

Lights out, end of day 6.

Our top five things for the day: (no particular order)

1. Finding sophisticated toilet seats on the train, with toilet paper hidden in a drawer.
2. Yokohama tower view.
3. The old woman spitting.
4. Nikko and it’s landscape
5. Banana flavoured Kit Kat balls.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Japan.