FISH MARKET FAIL AND TYPHOON WIPHA:
Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan.
October 16th, 2013, 3:29am.
Oh my goodness! What a way to start our day. At about 11:30pm last night, we decided to give the fish market one last go. We went down to the lobby of out crappy Ryokan, and booked a taxi for 2:30am. We had to take a taxi because the subway lines don't start running until 5:30am. I think I've mentioned that before. We walked down the street to the nearest 7 Eleven, (yes, they have 7 Elevens here. They are everywhere and all they carry is Japanese product.) and bought breakfast. I bought yogurt, Ritz crackers, and apple juice, and Real bought a sushi roll, a bun, and a Jello peach cup. We stored it in a community fridge that was conveniently placed in the hall way outside of our room.
Actually, I don't think I've mentioned much about our Ryokan experience... It was a very small place. It took us a very long time to find it. I mentioned it rained all night and all day, so we were searching for this hostel in the pouring, freezing cold weather. Finally, we found it. Soaking wet, we go in, and we were greeted by a dorky looking young Asian boy. He spoke fairly good English... He showed us to our room, which needed a key to be opened. Our room number was 209. My eyes grew wide- My mom's route number at work is also 209. IT WAS A SIGN! (That's an inside joke my mom, Real, and I have, by the way. My mom and I believe in all these "signs," and Real just thinks it's a load of bull. So we always joke around him and exaggerate it, saying things like, "Oh my god! The sky is blue today! It must be a sign!") For someone who doesn't believe in signs, Real sure looked spooked out when I told him what the significance of the number 209 was. We continued into our room, and almost turned to the young man and said, "You must be joking, right?" It was about 5 ft. by 10 ft. In it was a tiny bunk bed that took up most of the space in the room. There was barely any room to walk! I know I mentioned before that if I had eaten any turkey dinner, I wouldn't have fit... I wasn't joking! Real actually almost felt claustrophobic! The washroom was even smaller, with the most stupid layout design I had ever seen in my life. My newly professional building man of a father would shake his head in disappointment. And his partner, Patrick, would probably be so disgusted that he wouldn't even be able to stay there! The bath tub overlapped with the sink... It's so hard to explain. But honestly you had to have one leg in the tub and one leg out of it if you wanted to see yourself in the mirror to do your makeup or brush your teeth. Not to mention the leg that sat outside of the tub was jammed in between the tub and the toilet. And there wasn't even a shower! Just a small shower head with a really short hose. There was a bucket provided for you to be able to rinse your head- that's how short the hose was! And there was no shower curtain! So basically if someone had to pee while someone was in the bath/shower, you'd have to go elsewhere or use the "Don't look!" tactic. Since staying in these small rooms, Real and I have had to use that tactic lots. Good thing we're so close!
The one good thing about that room was that it also provided a hair dryer. We were able to dry out our socks and shoes while everything else was being dried in the drying machine. The washer and dryer were located on the roof, which I thought was weird. But it was a cool experience! We walked up all the way to the top, and put our clothes in the smallest most ghetto washing machine I think I've ever seen in my life. And on the dryer, there was a sign that read, "Sorry, the dryer doesn't dry very well. You can use the clothes line and clothes pins to dry your clothes." *SIGH.* We turned to look where the clothes line was, and there was a door leading to the actual roof of the building. The overwhelming sound of the rain smacking against the roof made the whole situation seem creepy. Everything was dark and wet, and there were lingering sounds of thunder overhead. It's hard to feel uncomfortable in Japan though! And everything is so safe that I knew it was just my mind playing tricks on me!
We loaded up the machine, put in 200 yen, (2 bucks) and went back to our room to get ready for bed. It's stupid because we had to descend from the roof, go outside to get back into the Ryokan, and re ascend the stairs to get to our room. OH WELL! THE JOY IS IN THE JOURNEY! (That's our motto for this trip.) We quickly fell asleep, and within 2 and a half hours, we were up and at it again!!!
We woke up at 2:15am, though, so our taxi was about to arrive. A little dazed and confused, we rushed to get ready. I don't even remember putting my makeup on. It was still pouring rain, so we took our umbrellas and I suited up in my awesome stylish jacket! The taxi was so weird! The driver was on the opposite side, and the door was automatic! He pushed a button and it swung open! It was so cool! It was like an invisible limousine man opened the door for me. We managed to communicate that we wanted to go to the Tsukiji Fish Market, and we were on our way! I was so ready to see this amazing fish auction! Especially in the rain! I had ripped two small holes in a plastic bag to stick my backpack straps out of. That way, my backpack was completely waterproof.
The taxi driver drove like a maniac though! Mom, if you think I drive crazy and stop short, you ain't seen nothin'! This dude was speeding through this major rain storm (Which we later found out was a typhoon) and didn't even slow down for turns or anything. I sort of had to grip my seat... It was that uncomfortable. At least it kept me awake! We finally arrived, forked over 40 bucks, and walked over to the door of the fish market. My umbrella nearly blew out of my hands! We got to the entrance, and to our surprise, no one was lined up! Well, I guess it was pretty stupid to come out in this weather. The man at the door pointed to a sign that said, "Sorry, Tsukiji Fish Market closed because of typhoon." Real and I moaned with disappointment. We had planned it all out! We were so close! I didn't even realize this storm we were in was a typhoon! It was just heavy rain with stronger winds than a normal storm. It wasn't even that bad! Apparently it was the worst typhoon in 10 years. I think my mom and dad were worried about us... But seriously, if only they could see what a Canadian storm was like! Uhhhgg... Oh well, it is what it is. We tried walking around to find something to do, but we just kept getting more wet and more cold. We finally called a second cab over, and we drove back home. This driver drove like a maniac too!!! I was surprised. Maybe all drivers here drive like this. That's when it hit me... THEY'RE ALL ASIANS!!! Hahahaha! (I'm totally allowed to say that because I'm Asian, too.)
So, all in all, we spent 70 bucks on an hour adventure to a closed fish market in a typhoon in Japan. But really, who else can say that they've done that??? Probably no one! Remember, it's all about the journey, not the destination.
We got back to our stupid Ryokan, and dove into bed. We were both so tired. Maybe it was a good thing that it was closed. We would have been too tired to enjoy anything! I slept horribly. The roof started leaking and dripping right on my arm as I slept. Half asleep, I fixed the problem by covering myself with the sheets. This made the sheets cold, so I kept waking up shivering. I layered up my clothes, but that didn't really help. I decided to tough it out until the morning. When I awoke, I FREAKED OUT! The roof was leaking dark brown liquid. I have no idea what it was, but it must have been unhealthy to have slept in it all night. There were brown circles all over the sheets and brown circles on the bed. There was even some dried brown sticky stuff on my arm! I thought I was going to die. (Well, not actually, but I thought my skin might get a rash or something.) That was the end of it. The leaking roof pushed the whole room overboard, making it the worst room I think I've ever (and hopefully ever will) stay in. I looked out the window, and noticed that the ground was drying and the sun was coming out! Yay! Onto our next adventure!!!
We packed up, checked out, and headed to the station. Goodbye Tokyo! Hello Hakone!
Love always,
Lindsay Lehr