| June 7, 2001
Thursday (cloudy, heavy rain starting from late afternoon)
The weather seemed
alrite in the morning, so we decided to go sightseeing. We set out
for the imperial palace thinking we'll make a reservation so we can go the
next day. However, the journey soon turned out to be really
long. Most of the palace is closed off with a moat around it.
We had to walk all the way around to get to the east garden which is the
only part that's open. Many police and cameras can be seen around
the palace. The garden wasn't extremely impressive. We saw the
gate, the base of a former castle, some guard houses, and some art
exhibitions. We stopped at a resting place and bought some really
good $1 ice cream =] I bought some postcards which I stamped w/ a
date stamp w/ imperial east garden written on it. Yes,
I actually took effort to make those postcards more valuable, please don't
lose them =]
We
then actually walked all the way to Tokyo train station We asked
some students on a filed trip for directions. They yelled "see
you next week" as we were leaving. Ah,
textbook style. Tokyo station is
really big. Failing to find the place to get our JR pass (Japanese
railway), we decide to eat first. After much wondering, Andy settled
for ramen while my bro and I went for pork chop and unagi (eel) donburi
(rice plate). I think that presentation is really tricky. The
rice seemed to be in this really huge bowl when it came. But it
wasn't anywhere near filled. And when I started eating, I found out
that the bottom part of the bowl is solid. so it's actually just a
thin layer of rice spread out in a plate which is shaped like a bowl and
elevated. But it was pretty tasty nevertheless.
We looked at some
electronics afterwards. There weren't too many games for PS2.
The console was seling for about $300.
It took us forever to
find the place to get our JR pass. The girl helping us was pretty
cute =] Sometimes I feel this
journal is getting TOO personal, lol
We reserved a hotel room in Kyoto and train tickets. Then we went to
make reservations for our hot spring trip which took at least 2
hrs!!!! The girl helping us turned out to be a n00b (meaning she's
new to the job) In fact, there were many new workers there.
But she was very helpful and friendly. Btwn my half Japanese and her
half English, we finally straightened things out.
 |
We finally got the JR
pass. It allows you to ride any JR trains and subways for free
for an entire week =] |
We then went to Asakusa
to see some temples, except it was pouring rain when we came out of the
subway station. We didn't really see any temples except some
gates. There were many small shops selling fans, wind chimes,
Japanese snacks, etc. Andy bought 2 wind chimes and the lady
mistakenly gave him an extra 1000 yen back. When Andy gave the money
back, the lady looked pretty confused. Afterwards, she gave Andy a
lil magnet for Kimochi (good feeling) My bro and Andy did much
shopping in this 100 yen store.
We then went to
Akihabara, the district with all the electronics stores. We had to
pass this realy stinky river to get there =( I kinda liked the
tiny mp3 players (about the size of a gum pack) but it was like
$300, so I gave up. We didn't end up buying anything and all the
stores were closing.
We ate at a Gyuudon
(beef bowl) place. It was pretty good and cheap. We went home
pretty early cuz we walked a lot and it was raining. We had some
Takoyaki (baked food with octopus filling) at a convenient store, so we
can compare it with the real thing later. We tried to call Shihomi
(girl Andy and my bro met in Las Vegas) except the line was always
busy. Girl they met at Vegas? that
doesn't sound right somehow..... Andy got
through once but she didn't really know how to speak English and I wasn't
there to translate.
I'm
deleting most of the rest of this journal entry due to the personal nature
of the content. In short, I received some rather bad news through
email. I felt like I was dropped
into the cold Arctic ocean and my heart stopped pumping, a chill went down
my spine. I'm trying really hard to enjoy the rest of my trip.
Don't worry, I still had fun for the rest
of the trip. =)
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