An Interesting 3 Days

So. Tokyo! Been here 3 days since I left - 3 really long days.

Mumbai airport: Just checked in; Done with immigration - Check for my wallet - not there. Whats in my wallet - USD 100, Drivers Licence, ATM Card - all that. Search half the airport, make an announcement about it walk around kilometer. Then Mum calls… It’s at home.

Then we land in Hong Kong at 8am IST. I went to meet Naten - Mandar decided to stay behind. Mandar got a bit worried because I didn’t come until after an hour. Ate a McDonalds Big Mac for $5 ( thanks for the forex card ) because I didnt have any HK$ on me.

We went left for Honk Kong. A Japanese guy who spoke English was sitting at the side of us in the plane. He was on his way back from New Zealand from watching a Rugby match ( New Zealand vs Japan ). He showed us how to eat with chop sticks. We’ve got his name (complicated and difficult to pronounce) so we’ll add him on facebook soon.

In Tokyo the Japanese Immigration were all fancy and took our fingerprints and retina scans. We met Steve outside the airport. He took us (by 3 trains) to the hotel where we stayed the night. The trains are amazing. Stayed there the night.

Morning 8am ate breakfast. Then went to the guest house’s office (Sakura House) to sign documents and pick up keys (4 trains this time). Then back to the hotel; Lug 30 kilo up and down stairs (mostly stations have lifts and elevators but the route we took had 2 old stations without) to our place. Dumped them their left immediately. Ate at McDonalds (Same as here - bland - though the chicken is slightly cruchier). Went to the office. Started setting up our computers. Steve’s wife called around 3:30 to say that we should leave because of the typhoon.

So 45 mins later we finally left. when we reached the station we were told that one line the we needed had closed (its an over ground line where as the others are subways). So Steve thinks of another route. But at the next change over, all the lines are stuck.

We go aboveground (first time since we left the office) and there are movie-style winds almost blowing people away (or atleast their umbrellas and potted plants). My umbrella got ripped up inspite of it being closed.

Finally we take a bus (which sways when it crosses intersecting roads - because of the wind). Get off the bus when it starts going in the wrong direction for us. Eat at a place called “denny’s”. Theres a single waiter, a manager and probably a single waiter serving maybe 40 people. The waiter bows and scrapes a lot and talks some form of ultra-formal japanese that takes 5 times as long to say anything in - and that steve can barely understand.

After that we took a cab to Steve’s place. After we got into the cab and told him where we wanted to go, he got really upset that we wanted to go into the suburbs rather than into the city center. He kept yelling at us to get out (angry japaneese makes you laugh) but apparently once you’re in a cab, You Are In The Cab.

In the morning, after breakfast, walked 20 minutes (! So faaaaaaar - these are the suburbs you know) to the station. 2 trains to our place. Changed clothes, unpacked a bit went to the office. Bought these little mass-manufactured-fresh-lunch thingys from a supermarket. Went home alone for the first time! (didnt do too bad, took 10 minutes longer than usual).

Bought a box of roadside something-stuffed-with-octopus (yech - smelly) and a box of lunch-thingy. Went to the house common room to eat it. First time we properly stayed there.

Met the neighbours for the first time. They’re from all ove the world. Hawaii(Skylar), Thailand(Gai), Colombo. There’s a friendly japanese woman married to an american with 2 cuuuuuuuuuuuuute half japaneese-america kids around 8 yrs old. The girl bows down everytime she greets you. The 5th floor is supposedly filled with indians who cook well. and we’ve apparently got a (unmet) neighbour who get angry if u bang the door.