A really quick trip to Japan
I went to Japan last week! Talk about getting out of Windsor,
its either Slough or Japan! Sublime or ridiculous springs to
mind.
Well I went on the trip with Sonja, who was working the trip.
We closed up the B&B (not having had more than one day off since
April), left the kids with my mum for their own holiday, and off
we went, 4 days away..... Sonja dropped me off at Heathrow
Terminal 4, she assumed all BA long haul went from there, so
imagine my surprise when I'm told I had to go over to Terminal
1....ummm....So I toddled off to Terminal 1 and as usual had to
wait until 20 minutes before the flight closed to get my seat
assigned, then off I run to the plane. Not as bad as it sounds
when you're on your own, with kids it would have been a
nightmare. I waited till almost the last passengers had boarded
then wandered through the gate, got told to wait even longer as
they were checking my seat. A wonderful treat, I got upgraded
from wing walking class to First! The only shame was Sonja was
not working in First for a change, I always love being able to
order my drinks from Sonja! 11 hours of luxury, sleeping on the
fold down bed under my duvet, ahh how the other half live.
We got in to Narita and off to the hotel, which was nothing
special, had a nap then dragged ourselves up and out to the bar
for a few drinks with the crew then off for a good Japanese meal
in a local restaurant, finishing off with a few drinks in a
karaoke bar, like you have to in Japan. We finished our evening
by having a walk around the temples in the village, and to be
honest I didn't have high expectations, but I was blown away by
the magnificent and splendour of the architecture. The buildings
were set in a beautiful park and even in the night it was
obvious how wonderful they were.
The 8 hours time difference gets the better of you so easily,
and we were awake about 3 am, eventually getting up at 6am and
after a bite to eat we attacked the train system to get into
Tokyo. This used to be Mission Impossible as everything was in
Japanese but these days the stations are in English, so it was
so much easier than it might have been a few years ago.
Tokyo is a really major city. The sights are so varied and so
many in number it is difficult to pick a few things to do for a
1 day trip, but we had a brief look at the outside of the
Imperial Palace - as its only open for 2 days a year - then
wandered into the main shopping area then on to the fish market
- the largest in the world - unfortunately not much was on by
the time we got there, but we did have a fantastic meal in a
little local restaurant. We got a little lucky as the waiter
could speak a little English, otherwise it would have been a
case of pointing at the next persons meal and hoping for the
best, all the menu was in Japanese and not a sign of the old
mother tongue anywhere to be seen. We chose salmon and prawns
and the salmon really tasted of salmon....not at all bland like
the farmed salmon we must be getting here.
Next we got a train out to where the main concentration of
temples was in the city. This to be honest was a waste of time
as it ended up being a little disappointing after seeing the
temple complex in Narita - we later found out that the Narita
temples are amongst the top 3 sites in the country. If we had
known this we would definitely used our time on some more
deserving sites in the city. But it was still a fascinating day
out, and we got on the train out to Narita absolutely exhausted
and slept part of the way home.
We finished our day off in a lovely local restaurant sampling
further the local food and drink, and trying desperately to stay
awake as long as possible - suddenly 9pm seems like a very late
night!
We were up early the next morning and we walked off to see the
temple in the daylight, again it was fascinating and every
corner turned up another surprising and wonderful sight, details
abounded and the closer you looked at the surrounding the more
amazing it all became.
We got back to the hotel about 9am for the bus out to the
airport. Now as Sonja and the whole crew were passengering back
to the UK - something to do with the change in the schedules - I
really was just hoping to get on the flight, let alone a decent
seat with legroom.
When we arrived at the airport I had to wait until the last few
minutes before the flight closed to be assured of my seat, this
time I think it was the wheel bay, short on legroom and
headroom, but at least I was going to get on.
A great trip but over almost as soon as it started.