Tokyo Day 1

Ohai-o Gazaimas!!

Good morning from Tokyo - and when I say good morning it`s 5am. Told you I was overstimulated!!

The story so far -

The flight from KL was practically empty. As in you could sleep accross the 5 seats in the middle. Unfortunately we did very little sleeping. There were around 6 other international flights that landed at the same time we did. We were the ONLY people in line with international passports at customs. But I know there were others from Adelaide on our flight because some tosser was wearing `heaps good` t-shirt. It was a worrying sign to say the least.

The train in from the airport was also empty. It was an hour and a half of rolling countrysides, then suburbs, then the city. By the time we were a few stations from Tokyo the train was choc-a-block with locals. Surrounded by tiny Japanese women scantilly clad despite the cold was a very warm welcome to Tokyo indeed.

The station at Tokyo is MASSIVE, and confusing, and almost overwhelming. I loved it!! We put our bags in lockers and made a toilet stop before heading out into the city. This is about the time that I nearly lost my shit. I`m pretty sure you have to have an areospace engineering degree to work one of those bastards. They sing, they make flushing noises - which makes you thing you`re going to get water in your ass AND THEN just when you think it`s safe it shoots water up your ass anyway!!! And there`s no way to flush it. You just have to leave the cubicle. It took me 5 minutes of panic and the embarasment of having to give up and walk out and leave my dirty business there for all to see, before I figured that out. I`m sure by the end of the week I`ll have them figured out.

Anyway we did some sightseeing, of which we`ll post photos when we can. The East Imperial Gardens, Gojira statue, Ginza, all very pretty all very lovely.

The people here are overwhelming friendly, helpful and welcoming. Every single time we pulled out the map, someone was there to help with directions. One elderly suited man was confused about the `godzilla` statue and when we said Gojira he started acting like Godzilla and laughing. It was very cute. Every time we try to take a photo of one of us posing, someone is there offering to take a photo of both of us. It is truly an amazing city.

Our hotel is wonderful. It`s meant to be budget but we have a king size bed with form fitting pillows and it`s just lovely. There`s a `family mart` in the foyer for all our needs and a free breakfast. Score.

For dinner we went to a little place nearby making sure the menu had big pretty pictures of every thing. It is just like any Japanese restaurent you`ve been to, shoes off, sit on the floor, watch them cook in front of you (not Tepenyaki just a view of the kitchen) We ordered a pot of green tea. We got alcoholic green tea that tasted like regret. We ordered the banquet of BBQed chicken, half of which was great - the other half was liver and gizzards. We ate it all. But not without gagging and washing it down with the regretful tea to make it better!  But the Goyza (dumplings) were to die for.

Feeling a little defeated from the experience we had not had our fill and were too scared to order any more lest it get worse. So we headed to another little cafe not too far away and just pointed at the Goyza. All in all it was a 16 dumpling day.

Today we`re off to Ueno park to see the Cherry Blossoms and the museums and zoo. Then a stop at Ahkibahara (spelling) to see the maid cafes.

Back to being overstimulated!!!

Best Lay (over) Evers

Thinking of going on a holiday anywhere?

Get Carlene Gillie of Hyde Park Flight Centre to sort it out for you. This woman works magic.

Our flight was changed so that we ended up having an 8 hour lay over in Kuala Lumpur. No skin off our nose, we just figured we`d do some shopping. But our fab travel agent was having none of that.

She arranged a voucher for us to have a hotel room to relax in. We immediately started thinking of formula 1 type deal, you know the ones that come with a free herpes shot on departure. But boy were we wrong.

A concierce met us off the plane, put us on one of those buggie things you`ve seen douche bags riding around the airport in, and escorted us to the 5 star resort that would be our digs for the next 8 hours. Wall to wall marble, a king size bed that if you found the matress not quite right you could arrange for a different one to be delivered. Personal trainer, spa, lagooesque swimming pool..... lordy lordy it was lovely.

And then for the icing on the cake - A free buffet dinner. And we`re not talking Watermark Hotel here.... the food was devine and the desert tables (yes TABLES) were covered in delectable delicacies and topped off with a five teir chocolate fountain. We gave Australian tourist a bad name that day my friends. nom nom nom nom nom.

So then it was back Ｏｎ to the douche bag buggy - but sharing with tｗｏ　ｈｏｔ　ｊａｐａｎｅｅｓｅ　ｆｌｉｇｈｔ　ａｔｔｅｎｄａｎｔｓ．　Ｉｔ　ｄｏｅｓ　ｎｏｔ　ｇｅｔ　ａｎｙ　ｂｅｔｔｅｒ　ｔｈａｎ　ｔｈａｔ．

Stay　ｔｕｎｅｄ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｏｍｏｒｒｏｗｓ　ｉｎｓｔａｌｌｍｅｎｔ　ｏｆ　ｈｏｗ　ｗｅ　ｗｅｒｅ　ｔｈｅ　ｏｎｌｙ　ｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ　ｐａｓｓｐｏｒｔ　ｈｏｌｄｅｒｓ　ｃｏｍｉｎｇ　ｉｎｔｏ　Ｔｏｋｙｏ　ｙｅｓｔｅｒｄａｙ　ｏｆｆ　６　ｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ　ｆｌｉｇｈｔｓ．　Ａｎｄ　ｈｏｗ　ｎｏｔ　ｔｏ　Ｏｒｄｅｒ　ａｗｅｓｏｍｅ　ｃｈｉｃｋｅｎ　ｔｈａｔ　ｅｎｄｓ　ｕｐ　ｂｅｉｎｇ　ｇｉｚｚａｒｄｓ．　

ＬＯＶＥＳ　ＴＯ　ＹＯＵ　ＡＬＬ　ＸＸＸＸＸ

Introducing....

FUNI AND GOJIRA

The official mascots of the Vyner-Medew Odyssey

Please familiarise yourself with them you will be seeing a lot of them in the coming weeks.

Helpful vs Painful Advice

Helpful -
Check your travel insurance to make sure you're covered in do not travel circumstances.

Painful -
DO NOT GO!

Helpful -
Check out this link from <insert government department/regulatory body>. It has some useful information of what precautions to take.

Painful -
Check out this email virus that says there's already radiation in America and that the whole of Japan is fucked and going to die.

Helpful -
Just make sure you've done your research

Painful -
YOU WILL DIE IF YOU GO!

Helpful -
Here's how my friends currently in Tokyo are experiencing things.....

Painful -
Please don't go, I don't want you to die.

Self imposed media ban: the road to superpowers

Watching the news is giving us an ulcer. 

Talking to friends and family about our decision makes me want to cry. 

We are pulling our hair out about what to do. 

So for the weekend we are pushing all of it from our minds and not talking about it or making any kind of assessment. 

Monday we will look at all the information from a fresh mind and make a decision. 

Whatever that decision may be we know it will be the right one. 

Unless we get caught in a nuclear apocalypse. But the upshot of that is we may get superpowers. I'm hoping for some kind of cool weaponry that shoots out of my hands coupled with invisibility. Jazzy is hoping for flight and invincibility. 

Mind you the invincibility would work in our favour now rather than later.....

Earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear reactors....

forgive my disrespect when I say that Japan currently looks like a beloved game of sim city. I'm just waiting for that pixilated image of Godzilla to go traipsing across the screen leaving a trail of fires and explosions in his wake.

It is just that surreal.

The level of devastation that has wracked the northeastern coast of Honshu is phenomenal. The loss of life is beyond comprehension for a little Aussie girl who has never encountered such a disaster on Australian shores.

So why on earth are we still considering going?
The reasons are many and varied.

All reports indicate that the areas we intend to visit are safe and have had little to no disruption at all. As we are visiting areas south of Tokyo we'll be at least 700km away from the tsunami and 600km away from the reactors - That's around the same distance as Wodonga to Sydney. It would be like not going to Port McQuarie in the weeks after the Brisbane floods.

EXCEPT for the first 5 days. In those first 5 days we're intending to stay in Tokyo. Right now, with 12 sleeps to go, everyone we speak to on the ground in central Tokyo is alive, well and functioning with little disruption. The rolling blackouts are not affecting areas that we will be visiting. The decrease in train frequency doesn't mean we'll be stranded, in fact all reports indicate it's still much more efficient than any Australian transport system working at maximum capacity. (again in the areas we are visiting - obviously there are some areas that are completely off line)

So if in the next week things get worse, the power plant implodes sending a plume of radioactive dust across Tokyo for example, we will simply change our flight to come into Osaka. It will be a great opportunity to add back in all those extras on our itinerary that we had to delete due to time constraints. And it means that we will have to go back to Japan again. A horrible shame of course!

So in our minds we have it all sorted. But the constant barrage of news, opinion pieces, uninformed gossip, and just 'unknown facts' is really taking it's toll.

I hope we're doing the right thing. It feels like we're doing the right thing. But we just won't know until we get there.

I promise posts from here on will not be so depressing and sombre.