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Tuesday, November 18 ("Japan Saves the Day"/ Japan): Japan may have saved my Asia experience. After my dismal experience in China, I was not looking forward to traveling in Japan. But good news, good news, Japan wasn't so bad. There were tons of friendly people wanted to help us. A few people may have starred here or there, but as soon as I looked at them they discreetly looked away. Also not one person grabbed, tried to sell us something we didn't need, or pushed through us!
Just a few days ago we arrived in Kobe on Friday. Curtis and I were out all day because I had evening in port duty. I packed for the next few days because Christine, Rachel, and I were training together early the next morning. Rachel invited me to travel…I invited Christine…Christine invited Margarita. Unfortunately, my duty night was busy as I helped the medical team deal with two women who were too drunk to walk from the terminal to the ship. I was up until 4am-ish dealing with drunken non-sense. On a land campus those women would have been transported to the hospital; here, drunk people sober up in the ship clinic.
On Saturday morning Christine, Margarita, and I traveled (with luggage) up to Kyoto. We went there because Christine really, really wanted to see autumn leaves at Kiyomizu Temple so we went along for the ride. We stored our luggage in train station lockers. Also, we had planned to meet Rachel at the hostel in Nara because she was doing a Japenese homestayGoing to Kyoto would help us kill a little time too. As Christine, Margarita, and I were walking down the street to leave Kyoto, we ran into Rachel. The timing could not have been better. We traveled by train from Kyoto to Nara…
We stayed at the Nara Tree Hostel in Nara. I'm not much of a hostel traveler, but Japan hotels were VERY expensive and the hostel seemed to be the most reasonably priced. On Sunday morning we explored Nara. We left Nara around 1pm-ish, to get to Hakone, located at the base of Mt. Fuiji. I felt like we were moving all day as we traveled by train from Nara to Kyoto (1 hour)…on another train from Kyoto to Samura (3 hours)…Samura to Hakone by way of—you guessed it, train (1 hour)…bus from train station to Hakone Hotel (1 hour). Sure, the bullet train (Shinkansen) was amazing technology with cleanliness and comfort. And yes, examples of how seamlessly combining efficiency, beauty and technology abound. I was so glad when we finally arrived to Hakone, not only because the day was never-ending, but primarily because I wanted to experience a Japanese onsen. An onsen is a public bath experience, seperated by men and women. The hotel manager escorted us to our rooms, showed us how to wear kimonos, and explained the difference between indoor and outdoor slippers. Before I can speak about anything else, I must mention Japanese toilets. The toilets are impressive machines because there are heated toilet seats that can be adjusted to various temperatures. There are sensors for automatic flushing, sensors to raise and lower the seat and lid, and a variety of bidet options to suit your temperament and mood. There is strong pressure, soft pressure, and everything in between. There is also a button for the dryer (picture a hand dryer inside the toilet) option and a button that will play the recorded sound of a toilet flushing (without having to waste water on actual flushing). Honestly, this is totally too much information, but I played with the toilet; Rachel, my roommate, must have thought I was being attacked because of my screams & laughs, but I had to know how the buttons worked.
Monday afternoon Rachel, Christine, Margarita, and I had lunch together, then we split into two groups—Me and Rachel…Christine & Margarita; everyone wanted to do something different, but I decided to travel with Rachel since she had invited me initially. Rachel and I packed up our bags and carried them with us to the train station and stored them in a locker. We went up a cable car to see Mt. Fuiji. On the way up we decided to stop and see how the modern marvel of black eggs. Yes, black eggs…which were made from sulfur from active volcanoes. The outside of the egg was black and the inside was normal. Later in the evening we went to another popular onsen and it was ten times better AND more authentic than the one at the hotel. This Japanese onsen offered five temperature baths. The whole experience was nice and now that Rachel and I have seen each other naked, we're officially friends. LOL. Around mid-day Rachel ran out of cash so we were living on my bit of cash for everything, but it all worked out. We returned to the MV Explorer around 1am-ish.
Then, foolishly, we went to Tokyo for the day...way too ambitious for a Tuesday…a sista is tired!!!
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