Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After a 10 hour turbulent night flight from Colombo we finally arrived in Tokyo, Japan. We had very little sleep on the flight so were looking forward to arriving at our accommodation. The first challenge we had was to navigate Tokyo's rather busy railways which was straight forward enough, despite getting on the wrong train! The trains are the cleanest we have been on and despite been busy were very efficient at getting us where we wanted to be.
The first thing that seems to hit you in Japan is the language. The language is near enough impossible to understand! Although we have had plenty of locals help us out when we have been looking at the ticket machine with confused looks on our faces! They help here without us asking; showing us to the correct platform on one occasion. I am not sure if we could say Londoners would do the same on the Underground!
The area we are staying in seems typically Japanese with locals cycling around on bicycles, small bar's cafes and and little shops with paper lantern hanging from them. It's surprisingly quiet as our expectations of Tokyo were a busy and noise city.
As you can imagine we can't afford five star accommodation in Tokyo so we opted for something a little more affordable. It has air conditioning, a kitchenette, small television , small double bed and a compact bathroom. However it has the style and finesse of an 80s style trailer caravan (photos will follow). We can complaint too much it just a step down from the accommodation we have stayed in previously in Sri Lanka.
After a couple of hour's sleep we went out into the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, which is the nightlife area. The streets are filled with high rise buildings complete with hundreds of neon signs. The Shinjuku station we arrived at is one of the busiest in Japan and took us about half an hour to find our way out! After a good hour exploring we found an Udon noodle bar, we had two bowls of Udon noodles in broth and Nicole had a raw egg in hers. Surprisingly the raw egg tasted very nice in the noodles! The hardest part of the meal was picking it up with the chop sticks which takes a little bit of practice and some observing of the locals.
Japan is similar to home but it provides a host of new experiences in its culture, history and language. We are looking forward to exploring this country for a few days.
- comments
Fiona Kon'nichiwa. How lovely the people from Tokyo are welcoming & helpful, they put us to shame. Not sure about the raw egg & noodles, your braver than me! The hotel seems the same size as the caravan that Grandma had in her garden, even looks the same inside ! Go & explore & I shall await your next chapter xx mum