Note:
Ironic, because i’m still in Perth. Flying back tomorrow 6am i wanna die. So sleepy. Too busy to update so this is a pre-written post about Tokyo.
On Day 6, i woke up at 6am in the morning as i had to catch the 8am train back to Shinjuku, Tokyo.
This was the last meal i had in Yuriko’s house.
And the last time i had her mentaiko topping on rice. T_T
It was a cold morning. Yuriko sent me to Matsumoto train station.
Sent me all the way into the train.
And we had to part at the station. Those are other student’s host family. Everyone got teary-eyed. Most of them were sobbing in the train after the train had left.
I know i would have described Yuriko’s cooking as rather tragic, but there’s one thing i didn’t tell you. Well i actually did. I said she was a creative cook. When her kids refuses to eat, she would play with them. She would pick up the piece of egg or veg or whatever the kids refused to eat with chopsticks, and then pretend to do the aeroplane thing and fly the food into their mouths until they giggle and swallow their food willingly. Great patience, i thought. If i became a mom, i would either let my kid starve until they pick up and chew on a dead lizard on the floor or shove the damn carrot down their throat.
But that wasn’t what i wanted to say! I wanted to say, there’s this thing Yuriko did that made all other homestay students on the train green with envy (while they were busy comparing with each other, who receive a more expensive kimono, whose mom showered them with more gifts, brought them to more places etc etc etc sien).
Because Yuriko makes the best bento.
I didn’t know how it looked like until i opened the paperbag.
I mean, basically it was still all the same stuff, veggie pickle, sausage, strawbie, potato salad and all, but it was the effort that totally melted my heart.
T_T
And that was really my last meal from Yuriko. I can’t say i don’t miss it even a tiny bit at all.
3 hours later. We arrived in Tokyo.
Tokyo tower!
An entirely different world from Nagano.
We got down at Idabashi and checked into a Youth Hostel nearby. Albeit its name, the hostel is actually for anyone to stay. Sorta like backpacker’s.
5 of us in a room. Tokyo is crazy expensive. I think a night in this kind of place still cost about 3500Yen a night. And it was quite nightmare because they only have shared bathroom. Meaning you go in naked and just shower on the spot with plenty other naked young girls. I know it sounds like a dream paradise to whoever ticks M on the gender box but trust me it was quite traumatic. Imagine people queuing behind you looking at your ass while you wash your ahem.
And they got curfew!!! Doors closed after 10 and all lights off at 11. Cheesus crust. It’s like school camp all over again. Or MDG.
Apart from the inhumane kid-like treatment to a wonderful grown-up tourist like me, and the incredibly sour face fluent-in-English Japanese receptionist, the room was really really decent. Each bed had it’s own individual curtains and fluorescent light. So after lights out, you can still read if you want. Or you can pull the curtain and sleep if everyone else wanna read.
It has got quite nice view.
Oh. You have fold your futon the way they originally had it when you wake the next morning.
There are more tragic stories about the hostel, but i will leave it for later. I just want to tell you all to better book your hotels look it up carefully online. Don’t make it end up disastrous like mine. One site i would recommend is Hotels Combined . There are hundreds of hotels for you to choose from, in Tokyo city alone, ranging from as cheap as RM200+ to four figure, if you plan to splurge. There are lotsa detailed reviews on that site about the hotels, and i love how everything is shown in RM.
Now we are going to Akihabara. I was kinda upset i didn’t get to tour around anywhere else except Akihabara, which, is really nothing much. Unless you are like some hardcore Otaku or some pervert. Because they have a nine-level adult shop.
To Akihabara.
Some costume shop.
Everyone is using those kind of transparent ella ella e!!! Reason being, since it doesn’t concern the sun, might as well make it see-through so you can admire the sky! Which is quite a cool idea. If you are lost you can still look up and spot the signboards without getting wet.
AND IT SNOWED!!!
No la. I’d love to lie but it was rain that looked like snow. It was crazy and not fun. Was wet and raining and cold as hell (if hell is cold la.)
So we had to buy the ella ella e also. It was 300Yen. I think it is really cute! But I don’t think it is of any use in Malaysia. So i left it in Disney the next day.
At one of the HUGEEEEEEEE Pachinko center. It was so funny. Bear and I went to this mall wanting to shop, only to realize it’s a Pachinko mall. And all the hentai old men were staring like us like one kind!!!
Ok this has to be your favorite shop in the world.
B1-AVs and Porn books.
1F2-AVs and Porn books.
2F-Original goods. (God knows what that means. I’d prefer original to used goods. Thanks.) (Then again i realized some of you might have a penchant for very used goods. *shrugs*) Hole. (HOLE!!! What turf.) Ring & Sack & Power Up. (errrr)
3F– Vibe, Roter (whatever turf it is), Condom, SM, Anal
4F– Lingerie and Costumes
5F-Costumes
6F-Used video
7F&8F– Office
No goods no life. Lol but of course.
There’s this thing about this shop. You can try on any costumes you like (if you are a girl la), and you know how normally they don’t allow you to take picture one.
HOWEVER!!!
If you allow them to take picture of you in certain costumes, you get like, 30% off the costume or something. It’s crazy how many girls would go that extra mile to save a few thousand yen.
O.o
After that we went for dinner. That was like the BEST dinner i’ve had since i arrived japan. Seriously.
Tendon. I don’t mean like, beef ligament tendon, though there’s memang such thing as beef tendon. But tendon as in Ten-Don (天丼). A rice bowl with Prawn and veg tempura.
Wa can you see the blurry edge of the photo? It was the steam!!! Damn shiok on a cold night!
Bear was content.
Anyway, after that we went back to our hostel to sleep.
Night.
Morning. And i went to the canteen and queued up to have the most atrocious breakfast in my life.
Breakfast was included in the program, but if you’re an individual tourist you gotta pay 400yen for it. Which is like, RM16. Behold what you can get for RM16.
I couldn’t believe it.
Congee. And some atrociously scarmbled egg. And some… grass. The plate was shallower than a guy who thinks with his penis.
Other guests got to have some ambiguous looking chicken, but we couldn’t have the chicken because our group consist of mostly Muslims. No meat for them.
T_T
To illustrate its atrocity more clearly, here’s a closer photo.
I was freaking hungry, so i managed to cajoule myself to down it with a mix of magnificent stoicism and great reluctance.
But no matter how stoical i braved myself to be, i couldn’t tahan the grass. leaf. Whatever.
In fact, nobody could.
That was the most atrocious breakfast I ever had in my life.
Next up: Disney Tokyo!!! 😀
PS: Perth update later la ok. Too many things to blog. And the weather here is making me sick. VFest today was great! Snow Patrol and The Killers and whatever. Ok god i’m so tired and i need to pack my luggage T_T. Bye Perth.
PS2: Ok bloody hell, just confirmed the grass is called Mizuna. Hate it.