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Friday2nd October
Arrived at Japan's Narita airport at 9.10 am got the Narita express train into Tokyo to find it pouring with rain. Still warm at 24 degrees so wasn't too bad. Once we got to Tokyo station we had to navigate our way to our hostel location, not easy when there signs are all in Japanese symbols!!!!! Got lost, stumbled upon a florist who were very helpful and printed off maps with more directions. At this point it was still raining, so we were getting pretty drenched, plus carrying our heavy bags…FUN!!
Finally found hostel to find that our room had been given away for both nights, however they were very good at finding us another hostel nearby, also gave us free coffee and let us dry off…first thing the man did was give us a towel to dry off….his name was Hiro! So off we went to find the hostel, luckily it was only 5 mins walk. Once all checked in and had got rid of our bags, we wondered the streets of Tokyo. Bright lights (similar to time square in New York, but everywhere), skyscrapers, clean streets and very friendly people. Got some dinner at a recommended place, was amazing….you order your food through a vending machine, at this point we had realised how Japan loves vending machines….we were told that there is 1 vending machine for every 2 people in Japan! Every street you turn into is vending machines selling snacks, meals, ice cream to soft drinks and alcohol….crazy. Jet lag had set in pretty well by now, we had been awake a total of 26hours at this point (6pm) made our way back to our dorm. Was asleep by half 7!!!
Saturday 3rd October
Both woke up early…wide awake by 5.30am. Used the free internet access to check times for the bullet train to Nagoya. At 7am we enjoyed our free breakfast, coffee and hardboiled egg on toast. 8am we boarded the rather impressive looking bullet train to Nagoya. Train took 2 hours…travelling at 300kph!!!! Ryan loved this of course while kimmy had a nap! Arrived in Nagoya at 10am, again navigated our way through a bluewater sized train station to find our hotel. Upon exiting the train station, Nagoya was very impressive. More skyscrapers, a very clean modern city with a random ferris wheel in the centre. Short walk to our hotel, where we quickly got rid of the bags and made our way to Suzuka circuit for the qualifying. Arrived just in time for the F1 qualifying….wow my god it was so big and busy…the Japs love grand prix, everyone was dressed head to toe in red Ferrari gear. We felt out of place so brought ourselves a wicked redbull baseball cap. It was amazing how many of them were supporting Hamilton and Button. Once we got our bearings we walked the 20 min trek to our stand. Got comfy ready for the qualifying to start. Oh my god how noisy…Ryan had warned me already but it was incredible. The noise of the cars as they whizzed past was crazy, after a while it rings in your ears. It was so good I couldn't wait to return on Sunday for the actual race. There were 3 major crashes, one guy was airlifted to hospital, luckily not Hamilton or Button. Qualifying finished around 4.30pm. Made our way back to Nagoya, checked into the hotel. Very nice hotel and great location. Once showered we headed out for dinner….ate at Denny's restaurant. Back to hotel where we hit the sack!
Sunday 4th October
Up at 7am to get the early train to avoid the mad rush. While on the train we made friends with an American guy….didn 't get his name so we called him the 'fat American' as he was huge! A very nice guy though, he was explaining life in Japan as he had lived there for 20 years and is married to a Japanese lady. Originally lived in San Francisco so gave us some good pointers for our trip up the coast from LA. We were lucky to get some ear plugs from the American. Train was packed and took an hour to the track. Made our way to our seats. At 11.30 we watched the Porsche 9 11 cup race….impressive cars!!!! After the F1 drivers parade the race began….OUCH the pain of the ears. It was mental and noisier than the qualifying. Thank god for the ear plugs. The race was amazing, hard to keep up with who was winning as the commentating was all in Japanese so we had to guess half the time. Only 1 crash so the race lasted about an hour and a half. We weren't sure at this point who won but we did guess right…the red bull car with Vettel won!! Hamilton came third. Made our way through the massive ques back to the station, crammed like sardines, we finally managed to fit on the train. Back to Nagoya, where we went back to freshen up at the hotel. Out for dinner…walked the back streets to find some food. Found an amazing place where the food was lovely, best so far. We have even become good at using chop sticks. Took us a while to eat our dinner but we didn't give up hehe! After dinner we strolled around the main square, had a ride on the ferris wheel. Very high, a little like the London eye. Saw a lot of the bright lights from up high.
Monday 5th October
A day to look around Nagoya before heading back to Tokyo. Started off by looking around Nagoya's Castle. One of the oldest castles in Japan. Very impressive building, the castle was within a huge moat with very pretty Japanese Gardens surrounding it. Inside the castle had all been reconstructed and was a little disappointing but outside it was amazing. The detail that's involved is huge. The castle had been reconstructed as it was destroyed in the 2nd World War as was the 3 guard towers, the 4th tower was the only one that has survived and was the original building. From the castle we visited Nagoya's historic shrine. While looking around we were approached by a Japanese man who took time in explaining the culture of the shrines. We had noticed a lot of young children dressed up in colorful traditional dress. The man told us how every child in Japan visits the shrine at the age of 3, 5 and 7 to pray with their families (similar to our baptisms). The shrines appeared to look new, the man told us the background of the buildings. The shrines are kept new, through family carpenters. He was very friendly and kind. Made our way back to the hotel, checked out and hopped on the bullet train back to Tokyo. Booked into K's Hostel then headed out to find electric city. This place was amazing, very bright….brighter than any other place we had seen…..Time square x10. Full of electronic stores, game stores, arcades everything electronically you can think off!!! The Japs love there animated games, the arcades were packed. After being stunned by all the lights we decided to head back to the hostel. The hostel was nicer than the one before, had a very nice common/lounge area where you have a chance to talk to other travelers, it also had an open kitchen area. Found our room….a 4 bedded dorm with a Spanish guy and a guy from London. We got chatting to the London guy who told us a very funny story about electric city, he got given a leaflet for a place with loads of cats. He had to check it out so ended up paying 700 yen to sit in a small room with 15 cats, had 30 mins of stroking time with the cats!!!!! Mental……made us chuckle!!!!
Tuesday 6th October
Only 2 days to explore Tokyo before flying on. So up early to visit the local shrines, luckily were near our hostel, once again it was pissing it down…on went the rain coats and up with the umbrellas. Off we went for the 10 min walk, arrived at the first shrine then walked through the market stalls towards the second shrine and temple.Both shrines were original Japanese colorful statues with a big red lantern in the center. Went inside the temple, where there were many local people worshipping.It is tradition to bow once, clap twice, say your prayer or wish then bow when finished….off course we didn't do this hehe. Once we had walked around the grounds we made our way on the subway to Ginza.Out Ginza subway straight to the Sony building.Took us around an hour and a half to go around the building, has 5 floors full of Sony software.You're allowed to try the items, we even took photos of us and printed them off!!!! A little souvenir to take with us.Was full of all the latest technology that hasn't been released yet, I even had a little boogey in a booth with head phones on playing music!!! Ginza was the expensive shopping district, if you think London's Oxford street is big….dream on!!!! Ginza was huge full of massive top brands!!! Full of rich Japanese people.
Headed to the financial district to check out the Japan Stock Exchange. Was able to go in the building and look around the viewing gallery, expected to see crazy scenes. However it was a very futuristic computurised stock exchange. Everyone was very relaxed at their separate computers taking it easy.Grabbed some lunch, Ryan is now addicted to chocolate scones!!!!
We then made our way back to electric city to grab a bargain….this is where we brought the Sony pink notebook!!! Lucky for me they only had pink or brown ones left, so off course we had to buy the pink one. Plus it will be mine when we return home!!! We even managed to knock the price down and get a free mouse included. By this time we were both pretty shattered so we headed back to the hostel to relax. Stopped off at the local 7 eleven to pick up some beers….a 6 pack asahi which is their local beer. To my surprise I like the taste of beer while away…good job as vino is expensive!!! We also found a very yummy looking takeaway place for dinner, loaded up we headed back to chill out at the hostel. During the evening we got chatting to different people. Meet a guy from Florida who was interesting to chat to as he has been just about everywhere in the world. We then got talking to a couple which funny enough went to uni in Canterbury so that was very random. Another guy who was from London, was beaming as he had bumped into Fernando Alonzo in Ginza, had photo evidence that he was showing everyone!!!! The lounge areas are great places to meet people.
Wednesday 7th October
Today we headed to Imperial Palace…again in the rain!!! Imperial Palace is in the centre on Tokyo, we were unable to look around the palace as the Japanese Emperor lives there.However we were allowed to wonder the surrounding grounds. The grounds had some pretty gardens, where there was a ruin of the original foundations of the old Imperial Castle.By this point we were extremely wet, so headed to somewhere in doors! Took the subway to the Government building where there are 2 observatory towers. We went to the North tower, however due to the bad weather we were unable to get the full view over the city. We got the idea of how impressive it could be plus it gave us the chance to dry off!!!
Next was the Toyota showroom. Not like our car showrooms, this one was set over 5 floors and pretty impressive. Even being a girl I enjoyed it!!! We had a go on a simulator which was a 4x4 off road track where you do a lap in a Toyota Land Cruiser with No Traction Control, ABS, Stability Control and Slip differentials. It was practically impossible… Then you do a lap with all the technology turned on, much easier, completed a full lap without crashing! There were some lovely looking land cruisers I liked the metallic purple one when Ryan fell in love with the pearl white one!!! Must admit Ryan suited them more, I'm too small hehe! On the basement floor was a formula 1 car, one used in a former race. There was also a Toyota Robot which was walking around playing the trumpet!! Back to the hostel to plan for Hong Kong.
Thursday 8th October
Up extremely early today. Train due at 6.30 for the airport, Narita express line! Also we wanted to get to the airport as early as possible as a typhoon was heading to Japan and due to hit Tokyo around 2-3pm. Our flight was at 11am so we were praying for no delay. Got to Tokyo station to find some delays on the airport lines, the 6.15 line was running late, our 6.30 train then got cancelled so we finally jumped on the next train heading for the airport. Took just over an hour to get to the airport, checked in pretty much straight away. So far no delays on our flight some had been cancelled or rescheduled. Had a look around the shops and grabbed some breakfast, I had an amazing blueberry bagel!!! Headed to our gate 95, no delay!!!!! Flight left on time….Hong Kong here we come.
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