Tokyo

Day 236 AND Day 237 – From blow-up mat to Tatami mat

This morning we woke up around 5.30am, packed up the tent, hopped in the car (which thankfully started first go) and were off for our 8am flight to Tokyo.  We were there with plenty of time to spare, but by the time check-in took forever and then security took for ever, we were one of the last they let on the flight.  Plenty of people missed theirs!

Getting this flight was quite silly really as when we were booking our flights it turned out to be $300USD cheaper each if we flew from Seattle to Tokyo via Vancouver on the same plane as direct from Vancouver to Tokyo!  So of course we took the cheaper option and were lucky that Elliott and Kat were happy to make a weekend of it, otherwise it would have be $25 and 4 hours on the bus.  Cheaper, but not as fun!  We called up to try and cancel the first leg, given we were in Vancouver anyway and Air Canada told us that if we didn’t get on in Seattle, they would cancel the whole ticket!  How silly!

So anyways, our first flight was short and sweet back to Vancouver airport to sit around for 4 hours, but it ended up working out well as we had some time to book some accommodation in Japan and the exact window of time we needed to watch the World Cup Final.  They even held the plane by about 3 minutes so that us and a hand full of others could watch the dying minutes!

Of course out of all the seats on the plane, I got the one with the broken headphone jack, but we were quickly re-seated and ready to begin our task of watching as many movies as possible in the next 9 hours.  We did well.  It was only a problem once we had arrived in Tokyo and with the heat and humidity punching us in the face, it was quite a struggle to stay awake on the two trains and 90 minutes from Narita Airport into Tokyo.

Once we had arrived in Tokyo and navigated to our executive box at the Dormy Inn Hatchobori Hotel, we hit the streets for some food and to stay awake just that little bit longer so that we could go to bed at a normal bedtime.  We managed to find a tiny 8 seater place, the first place we saw with at least a couple of English translations, ordered a few random things, exchanged smiles and head-bobs with the chef who threw in a tough dried piece of fish snack to try at the end of our meal and then we were on our way to fall into our futon – 25 hours after we had woken up in a tent in Seattle!  We had also lost a day during that time.

Day 238 – Finding food in Japan.

This morning we got up and took a walk to Ginza, one of the famous shopping districts, although at 9am everything was still closed!  We wandered into a building and downstairs to what looked like a food court.  A little old Japanese lady came up to us and in perfect English said “Good morning, what are you looking for?”  We explained that we just wanted some breakfast, and straight away her reply was “Why, you passed McDonalds just upstairs!”  We gave a little chuckle and explained that we wanted Japanese breakfast (but didn’t bother to add that neither of us has actually ever had a McDonalds hamburger!).  She spoke to her friend for a minute and I believe they were conferring as to where would be open at this hour.  She turned back to us and explained that everything near here opened at 11am so we were out of luck.  So we trudged back up the stairs and out onto the street. 

 
Ginza, our first glimpses of Japan in the daylight.

It was almost another hour before we found a little back street Ramen noodle place.  Delicious and easy, as you make your purchase by picking a picture off a vending machine that dispenses you a ticket and then food arrives!

The Sony Centre also didn’t open until 11am, so we were there waiting when it did.  We spent an hour or so wandering through all the present and future gadgets on offer and played a few of the video games.  The most impressive piece of new technology (for the average consumer) were the new 3D televisions, however I’m not sure how they will go with customer satisfaction as watching it was giving us a headache after only 10 minutes.  Must take a bit of getting used to.

Matt having his golf swing analysed (like he will ever need to know that!).

And now watching soccer on the 3D TVs.  3D was really freaky!

After the Sony Centre we continued on our walking tour to the Imperial Palace East Gardens...

The Imperial Gate.  Unless you swim the moat and climb a fence, you can’t actually go inside the Imperial Palace, just the gardens to the East.

A small amount of green in a city of grey!

After that it was up the hill a little bit to the Modern Art Museum, which coincidentally was showing yet another architecture related exhibition called “Where is architecture? Seven Installations by Japanese Architects”.  The exhibits were more artsy than architecture, but the best exhibit was one where they had made a model house and set a model sun rotating around it and then in the next room projected what the sun and shadows would look like from the inside of the house.  Clever.  The main museum was also quite good as there were explanations in English.

As it was included free with our ticket, we walked even further up the hill to the Craft Museum, which was showing all kinds of Japanese textiles such as kimono, pottery, lacquerware, glass and the exhibition was called “Colours” so all of the wares were set up to show a different colour in each room.  I loved it, but I’m not sure Matt was son keen.  Luckily there was a man bench on each floor.

Continuing on with our walking, we walked back through Ginza where I found an 11 storey stationary store.  Gold!  As we were so tired, we only did the first two floors, but I marked it for return as it looked like the perfect place to pick up some cute little (lightweight!) things.  

Only in Japan!

With our feet killing we had just enough energy to freshen up for dinner and find something local again.  We each picked a picture off the wall and sat up to the counter in the tiny eatery.  When my food arrived it turned out to be a cheeseburger (it looked like an okonomiaki (Japanese pancake) in the picture) which if I wasn’t feeling so tired and lazy, I would have known if I had bothered to read the description of the meal I had picked!  It came in an obento box though, so there were plenty of other bits and pieces to try!

We jumped on google maps and worked out we had walked at least 14km today.  Japan is going to be good for us, but not for our poor feet.  I did all of that in my Havaianas!

Day  239 – Mushrooms and Beer!

This morning we woke up early as we had wanted to hit the Tsukiji Fish Market before 8am, which was when it was supposed to be at its best, but as Matt read the description on how to walk there from our hotel, he realised it was closed the second Wednesday of each month, which happened to be today.   Not wanting to waste the fact we were up early, we caught up on domestic things and found some more phrases on the internet to learn and waited for Tokyo to wake up.

We got a snack at Daimaru given it was at the train station.  We have already learned that Japanese people are the way they are because they never rest!  Not a bench or stool in site in the entire Tokyo Station or its surrounds.  We settled for a quite corner to sit on the ground and munch on our sushi.  The second thing we have noticed is that there are never any bins anywhere, despite the streets being spotlessly clean.  So we carried our rubbish around most of the day (because of course everything comes in tiny individual packaging!)

First destination this morning was the Metropolitan Government Offices Observation Tower, which is a free ride up to the 45th floor of the offices for a view out over Tokyo.  From the view we saw a really interesting looking building called the Cocoon and as it was on our way, we popped in there too, but only got a look at the foyer.

The view out over just part of the city.  It looks like this in every direction!

The Cocoon Tower.

Matt had our lunch destination picked out already, a restaurant called “Mushroom”.  It was a bit on the fancy side and we had a lot of trouble with the menu which was all in Kanji (I can read Hiragana and Katakana, but not the third alphabet Kanji!) but managed to explain what we liked and got the waitress to pick.  We weren’t disappointed!!

 

Next on Matt’s destination list was the Yebisu Brewery for some beer tasting.  We weren’t disappointed there either!  Matt decided he would work towards being a “Bi-i-ru tou”, “Beer Master” or “Beer enthusiast” and earn himself a Yebisu Happi coat with the Yebisu God on the back.  I think he may already qualify!

Some Yebisu sexy advertising from back in the day.

The Yebisu God!

Around the same area was the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography which was showing the World Press Photography 2010 exhibition.  The exhibition was made up of all the winning photos for each category from World news events in 2009.  The overall winner was very moving being of a lady calling out in the middle of the night from her rooftop in Tehran in protest of the resent election results, thought to have been rigged.  There were even a couple of photos of Victoria’s Black Saturday that won awards.

The Ebisu neighbourhood was quite trendy in itself so given we had some time to spare we went for a wander.  One of my favourite things to do in new places is exactly this, people watching as everyone goes about their daily routine (and often watches back!).  We came across a really cool bookshop, so that put an end to the wandering, so much so we had to quickly hike back to the train to get back across town in time for our dinner date.

Tonight was very exciting as we were meeting up with Shouko, an exchange student my family hosted when I was 15 who had come back to Australia and stayed with us again two more times since.  The last time was about 6 years ago, just after we came back from our last long overseas trip, so we weren’t sure if we would even recognise her.  Of course we did straight away and although she is still tiny, she has turned into a gorgeous little women!  It was so different to see her dressed up in her business clothes and drinking beer!  Shouko took us to a trendy, tall stooled tapas-type bar filled with salary men and women near her work and we caught up on the last 6 years.  She particularly remembered my very tall brother and we remembered that she never got lost in Melbourne (but now we now why – if you can navigate Tokyo, you can navigate anywhere!).  She is now working as a pharmacist with the Japanese Government’s drug approvals agency and works from 9am until 7pm everyday, commutes an hour each way on the train and has learnt to sleep standing up!  The poor thing hadn’t finished her work for the day and had to go back, so we tried not to keep her long, but had organised to come back towards the end of our trip to visit properly when she had two days off work.

Back at the hotel, we decided to bite the bullet and try the hotel’s onsen (hot spring/bath, traditionally enjoyed naked, genders separated).  We had a shower in our room, so hadn’t had to experience communal bathing yet, but decided we had better get used to it!  The setting was very pretty (no photos sorry), but the baths a scorching 40 degrees, so I only stayed in about 10 minutes and returned to the room to find Matt had done the same. 

Costumed (or lack there-of) ready for our onsen!

Day 240 – Smells like fish

Up early again for a second go at the fish market, we made it down there by about 7.30am.  An extremely busy place, made even more dangerous by the forklift/mini truck drivers zipping about the place at top speed, we walked up and down a few isles looking for interesting fishy creatures and giant tunas.  Walking around in thongs was a bad idea, but I only got a minimal amount of fish guts on my dress! 

 

We picked ourselves up some fresh tuna for breakfast and ate it on a park bench on the walk back to the hotel.  Before leaving on our Shinkansen to Kyoto I got to visit Itoya Stationery again and we had a tasty vending machine picked lunch.  This one didn’t have pictures so we had to match the Kanji on the plastic food out the front with the machine! 

Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest

Day 234 – Up the creek without transmission

The Vancouver weather was again outstanding, so after going out for a spot of breakfast in Gastown we found a nice patch of lawn by False Creek and did some Japan reading (better late than never).

As we were due to fly out of Seattle on Sunday (it was US$300 each cheaper to fly from Seattle, despite the flight being with Air Canada and going back via Vancouver anyway!) we had pestered Elliott and Kat into driving us down there.  As a sweetener we decided to do a spot of camping along the way.  So we headed back over to Mountain Equipment Co-op to hire some equipment for the weekend.  I astounded Erin by being able to quote our seven year old phone number when it came time to look up our membership number, of course I can’t remember the names of most of the people we lived with!

I spent most of the afternoon trying to find a good spot to camp on the way between Vancouver and Seattle, but was frustratingly finding out that most places were booked up (Washington State Park Service have an online booking system for camping and cabins in State Parks, whilst this makes it easier to find a camping space if you are prepared, it also makes it much harder to find one if you are trying to do it last minute). 

Elliott was slightly delayed at work so we set off a bit late, stopping for pizza just before the border.  Crossing into the US went the same way it usually does (slowly and unpleasantly) but we eventually hit Highway US5 south just as it was getting dark.  At this stage I finally made a decision about where we should head.  Along the Snoqualmie River in the Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest (try saying that one five times fast) there are about half a dozen campgrounds, many with first in best dressed spots.

It was pitch dark by the time we found the first of them and discovered the campground full sign.  By the time we found the fifth full sign and realised that the car was starting to die (we’d used half a tank of petrol in about 100km and the transmission was acting funny) we were starting to get a little worried.  Abandoning the campground idea we went in search of a bush site.  When trying to restart the car after an unsuccessful bush bash in search of spot down a side road we were rather alarmed when the car wouldn’t budge out of park.  It was beginning to look like we’d be sleeping in the car when Kat had the bright idea to try shifting into 4WD.  Amazingly this did the trick and from then on we left the car in neutral and became less picky about a spot. 

Sometime after midnight we found a slightly lumpy patch of ground just big enough for our tent between the river and the road, quickly erected our tent, went through the headspin inducing  undertaking of inflating the airbed and quickly collapsed asleep.

Day 235 – Changing fortunes

We awoke in the morning to the sound of traffic (we really weren’t that far off the road) and surveyed our campsite, deciding to go in search of a less precarious spot.

Packing up campsite one, there is a steep drop to the river about 2m behind Kat and the main road about 5m in front of me.

We soon discovered that finding campsites in the daylight was considerably easier and about 5 minutes up the road came across a nice spot, well off the road just a bit back from the river amongst tall trees.  When we went down to inspect it the guys occupying prime position in the area (closer to the river, more secluded) were packing up, so all we had to do was wait for them and their two Pomeranians to vacate and the spot was ours.  Jackpot! 

Furthermore as the guys were leaving one of them said to Elliott and I, “There’s a bit of firewood down there, I tried to burn it all but I couldn’t, so you’re welcome to it”, “Thanks” we replied.  “A bit” of firewood was a major understatement, we didn’t burn it all either.  If we had, you would have been able to see the flames from wherever you’re sitting now!

After quickly re-establishing our camp we headed into nearby Robe to grab some supplies and have some (really greasy) breakfast at the town’s only diner.  From there it was a matter of spending the afternoon lazing by the river, playing cards and making some more s’mores! (S’mores: Biscuit, slice of Mars or Snickers, freshly roasted marshmallow and biscuit lid to make a sandwich!)

In the evening Kat decided to cook us up some damper, we disputed the correct method, whether it should be done over flame or buried in coals, and ended up doing both, resulting in decent damper twice over.  We also had tinned spaghetti and soup, cooked in the tin over the fire (no pots or pans you see), and of course jacket potatoes with onion and garlic, not bad all in all.  Eventually we retired for the evening, dreading our early start in the morning, and trying not to dwell too much on whether the car would get us to Seattle Airport in time for our flight (or at all for that matter)!

 
Retrieving the beers from the fridge.

 

Men say ‘ugg’, what do women say?

Elliott and I may have added to it a little once the girls got it going!

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[Footnote – We’ve borrowed heavily from Marg and Jeff and Kat and Elliott’s photos over the last few weeks worth of posts.  Unlike in South America where we individually credited Hanneke and Maaike’s photos we’ve been too lazy this time, so instead a brief thanks here: thanks heaps guys, not just for the photos but for spending the last few weeks with us.]

Vancouver again!

Day 223 – We must be homesick!

Apart from a brief attempt to run, today we spent most of the day in Kat and Elliott’s apartment, watching cable TV, baking, cleaning and doing everyone’s washing!  Our evening was spent sitting around in the apartment with a few tinnies with Elliott and Kat and the boys.

Day 224 – Model fun

This afternoon we headed over to Granville Island again for a bite to eat at the market and to check out the Emily Carr University of Art and Design which shows student art and other exhibitions for free.  The exhibition happened to be “In Study Model Wonderland – from Halifax to Vancouver” displaying architectural models from various firms across Canada and discussing how modelling assists in the process of designing a building.  Interesting stuff.

After that we walked up to one of our favourite shops, Mountain Equipment Co-op, to look at all the pretty gear and test out some tents.  Then we walked over to some of the more girly shops I wanted to look at, but they were all gone!

Day 225 – Adera Mini Reunion

Tonight we caught up with Tim, Freddy and Clayton, our former housemates from Adera House, at the Irish Heather whisky bar.  It was fantastic to hear all about what the guys have been up to in the last 7 years and the others we came across over time and also to find that as with ourselves, everything and nothing had changed.

Tim, Freddy, Clayton and us.

Day 226  - Canada Day

Today we all had a sleep in and then got into the spirit of Canada Day with some drinks and maple leaf tattoos before we hit the streets to see what was happening around town.

Leftovers from the recent Winter Olympics.

It was a really nice night sky, so I decided to take some more pictures from Kat and Elliott’s apartment balcony:

 

Fireworks starting.

 

The view of the fireworks from the apartment was a little obscured by one building in particular so we quickly walked down to Canada Place to take a look.

 

Day 227 – We heart Footscray

As soon as Kat and Elliott got home from work tonight we jumped in the car and headed out to the Richmond Night Market for some cheap eats and people watching.  Richmond is the area of Vancouver that we can equate most to Footscray as there is a high population of Asian immigrants and accordingly excellent cheap Asian food.  The food isles were packed but we still enjoyed going from stall to stall munching and lining up for whatever had the biggest line (because it must be good!) and then poking around the imports in the market section.

  
Hurricane Potatoes, definitely a winner!

Day 228  - Dutch for the day

During the day today, the guys had people over to watch the World Cup match which was at a very sensible hour in Vancouver, 11am.  Matt and I had been asked that many times in South America whether we were Dutch and so accordingly we decided to go for orange [Matt – as Australia never made it to the World Cup during my lifetime until 2006 I had been taught as a child to go for Holland anyway!].

That night it was off to Lamplighters for a spot of UFC – Ultimate Fighting Challenge, something Matt (Grogan, housemate) was particularly excited about as it was apparently an important match.  Matt and I just came along for the beers and Kat promised a dance floor at the end of the night so it wasn’t so bad after all!

   
Ben, Megan,us, Elliott.

Day 229 – Losing our stamina

Today was a long day of recovery, movies at home and general hangout given it was a Sunday.  We did however get out of the house and over to Shabusen, our favourite all-you-can-eat Japanese for lunch.  It was still just as yummy and we even got our usual table!

Day 230  - Even fuller full house

Today it was back to domestic duties as the apartment was a bombsite after the weekend and Libba (James Liberatore, friend from home, nephew of the great) was arriving this afternoon.  We did however get out for a run along the seawall and over to the Olympic Village for a look around and then for a walk into the city to pick up our JR Rail Pass Vouchers ready for Japan.

Libba found us and the apartment, despite Ben and/or Matt’s dodgy directions (though he did need to be aided by some kind policemen after wandering into one of Vancouver’s dodgier areas!) and needless to say another round of drinks was enjoyed until the early hours.

Day 231 – The Grouse Grind

Today there was more 11am soccer followed by a big effort to get off the couch and over to the Grouse Grind.  We had to do something outside as it was the first 30 degree day we had had despite it apparently being Summer.

The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km walk up 853 m with an average grade of 56%.  Over 100,000 people a year hike the Grouse Grind, so we were hardly in for a wilderness experience – just some exercise!

A few Nannas past us along the way, but we made it in just over an hour.  Nowhere near the 20-something minute record, but we didn’t die!!

The view from the top of Grouse Mountain, looking back over to Vancouver.

The cable car that took us back down as the Grind is only a one way track.

That night whilst everyone else had fallen in a heap (the weekend and working catching up I think!), I was keen to go and get some night photos of the Lions Gate Bridge.  This involved getting a bus over to Stanley Park, not such a scary prospect until we (yes, I dragged Matt) realised how long it was from the bus stop through the park to the bridge and how poorly lit the park really is – a little on the scary side!

The Lions weren’t as lit up as I had hoped they would be (those are the two sculptures at the entrance to the bridge at the bottom of the photo).

Day 232 - Long time Pho see

Today we worked a bit on our “future plans” i.e. check on the money situation, book some things to do in Japan, think of what to do next and maybe even think about going home!  We got a bit of blogging done too, as the fans were getting restless as we have been lazy of late!

As it was Beck in particular that hinted about our lack of blogging, we both got the urge to seek out some Footscray style Pho for lunch!  We were in luck as there was one in the food court in Elliott’s building.  Nowhere near as good as being down in Footscray with our friends, but not too bad.

As it was another glorious 30 degree day, as soon as Elliott and Kat got home from work we packed up the picnic rug, some munchies and coldies Matt and I had prepared earlier and headed for Kitsilano Beach.  A lot of other people had the same idea too, which made traffic a little congested, but also made for good people watching!

From the car park we could see a nice free patch of grass and so headed for that.  Just as we were a few steps away, a tall blonde girl sat down and set up her stuff.  Damn! We all said until we looked over again and saw that it was actually Megan (Ben’s girlfriend) out of the 5,000 people it could have been at the beach!  So we crashed her party of one and once a few more people had arrived, our picnic of four had turned into a beach party.

Day 233 – From Pizza delivery boy to Prime Minister

As it was yet another bright and sunny Summer day, when Freddy invited us out on a bit of a boat trip we snapped it right up.  Freddy, former Adera housemate of ours, was newly arrived from Brazil when we met.  He was in Vancouver trying to learn English, earning cash by delivering pizzas from a beat up old blue van, chasing girls in his spare time and sharing a room with another Brazilian girl (without the benefits) to save money.  When we arrived in Vancouver this time around, we were not surprised one bit to see that Freddy is now a high up salesman in a telecommunications company and flying all over the place, speaking English better than us, married to a beautiful Brazilian lady, owns a house in Deep Cover (think Brighton Beach, or along those lines), drives a brand new VW Taureg and of course owns a boat!  All this and still down to Earth as ever.  Freddy, sorry Francisco, you deserve every bit of it.

So after work, generous as Freddy is, he picked us up from the apartment (Elliott was unfortunately feeling unwell and had had the day off work and Kat was too tired to move after falling in a heap – missed out!!) and drove us out to his place at Deep Cove.  Tim was also coming and was already waiting for us.  He took the three of us for a tour of the palace and showed us the fixing up he had done and would be doing and then with beers safely in the hidden esky, we jumped in the car with the boat hooked up and down to the nearby marina. 

Once the boat was in and the tunes were on, we were cruising… no sorry speeding down the Indian Arm to a waterfall and water access only camping area Freddy wanted to show us.

 

Freddy, chatting and driving!

No slowing down for photos!

 

A disused hydro plant that I reckon I could turn into a great hotel!

 
Not sure if the waterfall has a name, but the camp great looked like a great place to stay.  Freddy reckoned that if you timed the tides right it was only a few hours in a kayak to get you there from Vancouver.  Nice.

 
And, the stupid Canadians got in the freezing ice melt, despite the sun going down and with no towels or bathers!

The campground.

The boys and the expensive toy.  None of us were game to learn to wake board in the freezing waters!

Dusk over Van on the way back.

After the trip was over and we made it safely past the police without them checking for empties, we took the boat back to Freddy’s and helped him rinse its bits’n’pieces and then Freddy drove the three of us back into Gastown.  We dropped into the Cambie for a beer and a burger on the way back to the apartment.  An extremely pleasant evening!  Thanks again Freddy and Tim!