A Testing Day
Having a hangover (thank you Brett for reminding me why I don`t usually follow a few beers with a few glasses of wine) does not make one very well equiped to deal with the rigors of 14 hrs of flight, two airports, an 11pm hostel curfew, 28 degrees and humid or trying to lug a suitcase weighing 32kg, a backpack weighing 20kg, a laptop that is a desktop in disguise and a 10kg cabin bag around three train stations that do not have lifts.
Needless to say - after starting out at 5:30 am and arriving at 11:45 pm I was very sweaty, tired and highly irritable. The fact that I made it into a hostel room at all was due to the assistance of a lovely Japanese woman at Osaka who assisted me in the ticket and platform location process and my sweet talking the Hostel worker through the intercom 45 min after curfew. Bless them all.
Osaka is very interesting. Unlike Tokyo people do stare at foreigners and I only saw 2 other caucasians during my nightmare ride from Kansai airport to the Hostel in Osaka. The people are still very nice though, and I had no problems getting accurate directions from people - unlike the many instances in China with Sir S where the response was either alot of chin stroking and then directing in the wrong direction or to run away screaming (quite alarming I can tell you).
Another interesting observation I made, which is something that is not seen in European cities (or Australian for that matter) is that there was still a good number of people rushing around the trains (of all ages and sexes) at 11:30 pm on a Tuesday night. Not as many as in peak hour I wager but still a testament to the old traditions of long working hours (or at least spending alot of time away from home socialising with your boss or work colleagues)
Anyway - a short basin wash and a stumble around the dorm later (the lights were off - I can only thank divine providence that I found a spare bed in the pitch darkness) I was asleep, eagerly awaiting 6 am when the bathrooms reopened so that I could expunge the filth from my body (but unfortunately not my mind - that grime is firmly entrenched).
So today I shall attempt to buy a decent coffee and possibly do a small amount of sightseeing - possibly take in the local ambience and read a few more pages of Rik Mayall`s biography: Bigger than Hitler, Better than Jesus.
Oh - I might also attempt to find a computer with a back slash key that I can make work so that I can check my email.
So, ja mata as the say.
Needless to say - after starting out at 5:30 am and arriving at 11:45 pm I was very sweaty, tired and highly irritable. The fact that I made it into a hostel room at all was due to the assistance of a lovely Japanese woman at Osaka who assisted me in the ticket and platform location process and my sweet talking the Hostel worker through the intercom 45 min after curfew. Bless them all.
Osaka is very interesting. Unlike Tokyo people do stare at foreigners and I only saw 2 other caucasians during my nightmare ride from Kansai airport to the Hostel in Osaka. The people are still very nice though, and I had no problems getting accurate directions from people - unlike the many instances in China with Sir S where the response was either alot of chin stroking and then directing in the wrong direction or to run away screaming (quite alarming I can tell you).
Another interesting observation I made, which is something that is not seen in European cities (or Australian for that matter) is that there was still a good number of people rushing around the trains (of all ages and sexes) at 11:30 pm on a Tuesday night. Not as many as in peak hour I wager but still a testament to the old traditions of long working hours (or at least spending alot of time away from home socialising with your boss or work colleagues)
Anyway - a short basin wash and a stumble around the dorm later (the lights were off - I can only thank divine providence that I found a spare bed in the pitch darkness) I was asleep, eagerly awaiting 6 am when the bathrooms reopened so that I could expunge the filth from my body (but unfortunately not my mind - that grime is firmly entrenched).
So today I shall attempt to buy a decent coffee and possibly do a small amount of sightseeing - possibly take in the local ambience and read a few more pages of Rik Mayall`s biography: Bigger than Hitler, Better than Jesus.
Oh - I might also attempt to find a computer with a back slash key that I can make work so that I can check my email.
So, ja mata as the say.
posted by Sgt M at 6:22 PM
3 Comments:
I doubt you'll see many more non-Japanese people. I counted around 40 total in an entire week in Tokyo, majority were at the goth club or US sailors.
- Sukotto
Our Wik has a biog? Bravo!
Welcome, sushi-side, Sgt M! At the mo, it is stinking hot in Hirosh, and the air is as thick as honey. One has to constantly dab at one's neck, forehead and eyelids with a Hello Kitty sweat-towel, just so that one can read one's post.
Am readying your Reconnaissance Kit this weekend! Larks a-plenty, or what?
Hello my son!! Glad 2 hear you found a place to rest your head on the first night. keep the tales a comin!! My feet are getting itchier for travel than a mozzie bite on a hard to reach place!
The wooly one
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