I arrived home in Gwangju safe but very tired after a whirlwind trip to Tokyo last week. The trip started out ok as myself and 5 other friends took a 3.5 hour bus to Busan. Upon arrival, we took two cabs to the South of Busan where the ferry terminal is. Each cab cost $20!!!!! Not only did we have to pay lots of money (for a cab in Korea), but we almost lost our lives in what was a high-paced and risky journey across the barren back roads of Busan. Then, we had trouble finding a motel to stay in in the area around the terminal which was mostly comprised of seedy back alleys. The motel that we found charged us $70 for a room with three beds which we easily fit six people into. I'd like to add that the room had red lights. Seriously. Four of my friends left on an early ferry. My ferry wasn't until noon so Justin and I took our time getting to the terminal and checking in. We ate some udon and ramen at the terminal and two bad coffees while we killed time. The ferry seemed exactly like an airplane inside which was really odd at first. The trip was comfortable and relaxing. The view was really not as great as one would hope. We made it to Hakata and onto a city bus to take us to the Hakata Station where we would validate our train passes and head to Tokyo. (On a side note, Japanese buses are different from Canadian and even Korean ones. You get on the bus at the back and take a ticket. When you leave, you go out the front doors and pay for how far you went. A little confusing but nice!). The Hakata Station was slightly confusing but we managed to find our train bound for Shin-Osaka. So far, no major issues and good spirits all around. When we got off our train in Shin-Osaka Justin realized that he did not have his passport or his rail pass. INSERT ALL KNOWN CURSE WORDS HERE. Sheer and total panic. We searched his bags through and through, searched the train, but did not think at the time to go through my things. We went to the lost and found and to many desks asking for help. We decided that the best option would be to go to Tokyo and then figure it out from there. We had to spend an extra $130 on a ticket for him to get to Tokyo and then RUN LIKE HELL to catch the train that we just spent the money on. The first night in Tokyo was pretty good overall. We walked around and looked at the lights and went into a big "everything" store. If you've watched the movie "Lost in Translation" it felt exactly like that movie. I felt like I was completely tripping out. Literally there is EVERYTHING you can imagine in the store---raunchy sex toys next to Pringles. Turn to your left there are pillows shaped like boobies, turn to your right there are kimonos. We spent A LOT of time in there that night and probably went back four times to buy souvenirs and cheap things that we can't get in Korea. I managed to find my razor cartridges so I bought four packages since Korea stopped selling mine!
Day 2: The second day was to be the historical day. We started by heading to the Imperial Palace (basically some gardens and what is left of the palace walls). For the most part it was very beautiful and interesting to see. I personally couldn't get over how North American the area felt....which was a great change from the feeling of Korea. However, any pleasure that I got from the sights was diminished by the fact that it was ridiculously hot and sticky out and there was no shade....so I was Miss Grumpy Pants as usual. We went to the Tskiji Fish Market which is the biggest market in Japan and probably one of the best in the world. Men drive these scooter/cart things at high speeds and almost run pedestrians over. There were no fish since it was late in the afternoon but it was still a sight to see. We ate at a sushi restaurant (one of many) at the market. It cost us about $30 for a platter (most of which I did not eat). I'm told it was excellent sushi and compared to what I've had it was good but I'm still on the fence about sushi in general. Then we headed to a nearby area with many different statues and a couple of museums. We went to some more popular areas at night just to see the sights and to check out the shopping. By the end of that day I could not bend over because my lower back hurt so badly. And so come the tears. End of Part 1!!
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