Tokyo days 2 and 3

After 2 hours of sleep following my epic night out I was running on empty but ready to continue exploring with the group for a few hours. We eventually got ready and AH and I made our second night reservations at the same hostel as the rest of the group would be leaving for Kobe that evening. We all went to breakfast and continued our adventure. By this point we had gotten pretty good with the train system and made our way to Tokyo Tower for a bit before ED and AB had to take off for Kobe.


AH knew that I was struggling so we went back to our hostel and I took a nap while she spent some time catching up on e-mails. Feeling refreshed we walked through town again and struggled to find a place for dinner and after a few laps finally found a place that did little more than serve a purpose of nourishment. The conversation with AH however made up for the poor service and annoyance of the others around us. Afterwards we continued our strolling and talking about life, love and the pursuit of happiness.

Back to the hostel I had one hell of a time falling asleep. Being as tired as I was I should have passed out the second my head hit the pillow but I could not shut off my head. Maybe it was the two classes of soda I had with dinner but I was convinced that it was my lack of comfort being in a hostel room with other people. I wish I had taken a photo of the room but I didn’t so I’ll do my best to explain the situation to you.

We were in a co-ed 8-bed room, 4 sets of bunk beds. The other people in the room seemed harmless enough, a father/son pair, two Asian people, a random old guy, and a collage age kid. AH was in the top bunk against the wall and I was in the top bunk next to her in between another bunk. There I was, tossing and turning, turning on my ipod (I usually have music on when I fall asleep) thinking it would help. Nope. I just felt really exposed and vulnerable like one of these random people could attack at any second and I had no defense. I was debating getting out of bed, telling AH that we were leaving and that I would pay for a hotel room. I was driving myself crazy. I am laughing at myself now as I write this but it took me what felt like hours to fall asleep. Thankfully once I did fall asleep I slept very well. AH however was having a battle with the other woman in the room over the heater. She told me that every hour or so the woman turn the heat down, then AH would get really cold and turn the heat back up. She said this battle went on all night.

The next morning I was ready to leave the hostel, glad that I have now had the experience and that I don’t need to again. It was a wonderful day so AH and I made our way to the Emperor’s Palace.

I laughed out loud when I read this sign, then kept moving.

'Other people's' are my favorite type of kid.

We took our time walking around, looking at the exhibits, people watching and taking in the city.
With some time to kill before our train to Kobe we explored a mall as AH wanted to buy a book the 3+ hour ride. The mall was all decorated for Christmas and it put me in the spirit so that when we got back to the ship I put a few of my Christmas albums back on my ipod and they have been in heavy rotation ever sense.

The Shinkansen (bullet train) was amazing. It was roomy, comfortable and obviously traveled very quickly. I did some journaling and slept for a good portion of the journey. Like China, the ship changed ports while we traveled. We left it in Yokohama but while we were in Tokyo the ship sailed to Kobe. AH and I found our way to the ship and like every other trip, there was a sense of relief as we saw the ship come into view as our train arrived at the port station. I spent the rest of the evening catching up with ED and AB and making plans to enjoy some Kobe beef the next day.