And the night flew by... And we flew through the night.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Sayonara Nippon
Well, the four of us (Jansuz, Praveen, Pradeep and I) spent the night in a single room for the last night. We woke up in the morning and checked out of the hotel. Then, I was on a quest to play some Pachinko before I left.
We found a place and tried to watch other people and learn what was going on, but to no avail. So the best way to learn is to sit down and play yourself. Well, the basics are that you buy balls for money and at the bottom right there is this dial that decides how strongly the balls will be shot into the machine. Then balls will randomly bounce down and the goal is to get a ball to fall through a slot in the center. Once that happens, then it kind of becomes a bonus round and you might get a bonus, but we never did :( Needless to say, it is an easy way to become very confused and lose money quickly, in other words, it's gambling!
By the end of that, we had to head to our train to Narita. The airport is quite a ways from Tokyo. We had a good time trying to spend up all of our coin yen at McDonald's because the currency exchange will only accept paper.
The flight back had some turbulence, but was otherwise pretty smooth. It took 11hrs to go from LAX to NAA but the way back took only 9 :) I had to wait for those non US citizens I was with, who were in a really long immigration line.
But I am back safe and sound and what have I learned from all of this? Well here are my top 5 useful phrases that I picked up:
5. ______ wa doko desuka? - Where is the _____?
4. Omizu - Water
3. Ikuru Desuka? - How much?
2. Sumimasen - Excuse me, Sorry, Can I bother you...
and the number 1 most useful phrase
1. Wakarimasen - I don't understand (said with a confused smile)
Well that is about it and I don't think I will be posting for a while.
Sayonara!
We found a place and tried to watch other people and learn what was going on, but to no avail. So the best way to learn is to sit down and play yourself. Well, the basics are that you buy balls for money and at the bottom right there is this dial that decides how strongly the balls will be shot into the machine. Then balls will randomly bounce down and the goal is to get a ball to fall through a slot in the center. Once that happens, then it kind of becomes a bonus round and you might get a bonus, but we never did :( Needless to say, it is an easy way to become very confused and lose money quickly, in other words, it's gambling!
By the end of that, we had to head to our train to Narita. The airport is quite a ways from Tokyo. We had a good time trying to spend up all of our coin yen at McDonald's because the currency exchange will only accept paper.
The flight back had some turbulence, but was otherwise pretty smooth. It took 11hrs to go from LAX to NAA but the way back took only 9 :) I had to wait for those non US citizens I was with, who were in a really long immigration line.
But I am back safe and sound and what have I learned from all of this? Well here are my top 5 useful phrases that I picked up:
5. ______ wa doko desuka? - Where is the _____?
4. Omizu - Water
3. Ikuru Desuka? - How much?
2. Sumimasen - Excuse me, Sorry, Can I bother you...
and the number 1 most useful phrase
1. Wakarimasen - I don't understand (said with a confused smile)
Well that is about it and I don't think I will be posting for a while.
Sayonara!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Nikko Niceties
So, today we took a day trip to Nikko, which is a place known for its shrines. It was a great trip and we all had fun. Just a quick story and then I will let the pictures do the talking:
Leland and Carolyn recommended this great place to eat "Tsukune" on the way from the train station to the shrines. I was to look for blown up lonely planet article on the left side of the street and notice business upon entering. Well people were hungry and I kept telling them to wait for this great place to eat. We found no such article and finally we found ourselves at the shrines. So we unfortunately couldn't find it, but we were still hungry, so we headed backwards a bit and entered the first restaurant that looked good. Upon sliding open their door, I noticed business cards everywhere! I asked her, "Tsukune?" and she nodded. I wanted to hug her, but we just sat down and happily ate instead :)
Pictures, do your talking...
Leland and Carolyn recommended this great place to eat "Tsukune" on the way from the train station to the shrines. I was to look for blown up lonely planet article on the left side of the street and notice business upon entering. Well people were hungry and I kept telling them to wait for this great place to eat. We found no such article and finally we found ourselves at the shrines. So we unfortunately couldn't find it, but we were still hungry, so we headed backwards a bit and entered the first restaurant that looked good. Upon sliding open their door, I noticed business cards everywhere! I asked her, "Tsukune?" and she nodded. I wanted to hug her, but we just sat down and happily ate instead :)
Pictures, do your talking...
Ginza Ballers!
Okay, so I missed yesterday and I am going to try and do two days in one night. So if you are reading this, you had better sit down :)
Alright, we decided over Starbucks (you heard me... Starbucks) in the morning to get a 1-day metro pass and check out Tokyo proper. Our first use of our pass was toward us going to the Imperial Palace which is in the heart of Tokyo. It is similar to the idea of central park in the middle of New York, but it has its own unique features. For instance, you can't walk through large portions of and they are under constant patrol. While walking through, I was able to learn that they still have an emperor here and he's about as powerful as the royal family in England.
After that, we went to go search out Shibuya and do a little shopping. All of these places are starting to look the same to me :) In Shibuya, however, we were able to find an amazing sight: the only public trash can that we have seen in Japan. I guess they just don't produce waste here. I left Praveen and Janusz in the middle of their joint kimono quest due to the fact that I had made dinner plans with Mark's "cousins in laws." It's easier to just refer to them as Leland and Carolyn. Even before I met them, they were very helpful in email form with suggestions on sightseeing. We all went out to this great seafood and beer place that actually spoke english! The food and conversation was great. They even recommended a great place to eat in Nikko. In all fairness Leland was pushing for the Sumo, but we are short on time :) Overall, they filled me in on a lot of stuff that I was clueless about.
Earlier that day, Tatsu had emailed me in reaction to us staying in Ginza, "You baller!" I had no idea why this place would be baller-esque. We could find nothing going on during the weekend. However, as Leland and Carolyn explained, Ginza becomes a very happening place during the week, because rich business men come after work to come and share a drink with very beautiful girls. And the streets are fill with beautiful girls and expensive cars on week nights let me tell you. It's hard to even get back to the hotel.
After coming back Jon had this great idea to drag us out to Shinjuku for a great bar. It started out as Roppongi part 2. We were getting swarmed by people who for some reason wanted us to take a look at these strip clubss. We finally found a simple bar that had some people in it. Fortunately, this met Jon's requirements and he was happy on his last night in Japan.
Alright, we decided over Starbucks (you heard me... Starbucks) in the morning to get a 1-day metro pass and check out Tokyo proper. Our first use of our pass was toward us going to the Imperial Palace which is in the heart of Tokyo. It is similar to the idea of central park in the middle of New York, but it has its own unique features. For instance, you can't walk through large portions of and they are under constant patrol. While walking through, I was able to learn that they still have an emperor here and he's about as powerful as the royal family in England.
After that, we went to go search out Shibuya and do a little shopping. All of these places are starting to look the same to me :) In Shibuya, however, we were able to find an amazing sight: the only public trash can that we have seen in Japan. I guess they just don't produce waste here. I left Praveen and Janusz in the middle of their joint kimono quest due to the fact that I had made dinner plans with Mark's "cousins in laws." It's easier to just refer to them as Leland and Carolyn. Even before I met them, they were very helpful in email form with suggestions on sightseeing. We all went out to this great seafood and beer place that actually spoke english! The food and conversation was great. They even recommended a great place to eat in Nikko. In all fairness Leland was pushing for the Sumo, but we are short on time :) Overall, they filled me in on a lot of stuff that I was clueless about.
Earlier that day, Tatsu had emailed me in reaction to us staying in Ginza, "You baller!" I had no idea why this place would be baller-esque. We could find nothing going on during the weekend. However, as Leland and Carolyn explained, Ginza becomes a very happening place during the week, because rich business men come after work to come and share a drink with very beautiful girls. And the streets are fill with beautiful girls and expensive cars on week nights let me tell you. It's hard to even get back to the hotel.
After coming back Jon had this great idea to drag us out to Shinjuku for a great bar. It started out as Roppongi part 2. We were getting swarmed by people who for some reason wanted us to take a look at these strip clubss. We finally found a simple bar that had some people in it. Fortunately, this met Jon's requirements and he was happy on his last night in Japan.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
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