October 21, 2015
Wednesday
I will be separating the posts based on the places so it won't be jumbled up and also won't be a very long essay. Although it is already lengthy on its own hahaha,
As Qiu Qiu said on her blog, "Usually friends go overseas there's only two outcome when they come back, they see true colour and they don't gel so much after that OR they see true colour and they gel even closer LOL." to which I agree. See, they are friends that I feel that I got closer to after the trip, but also friends that got me even more confused by their attitude. To the friends I got closer to, I'm glad we got to know each other better.
It wasn't easy travelling with 7 other people, as anyone can imagine. To top that off, Japan has narrow streets and mini everything and people riding bicycles everywhere. I couldn't get used to which side of the path I should walk for the first few days lol. Basically you just follow everyone, which is the logical method, but if there is not enough people to show a way, then just stick to the side or don't move around too much if you walk in the middle. The cyclists will find a way to get pass you.
Let me show more of our bus ride from Haneda Airport to Asakusa, and also our supper hunt! We reached Asakusa really late and I think it might have been almost 4am when we finally slept.
Limousine bus ticket
Bus driver-san
We set off to find food (I had a cup noodle for dinner on the airplane because I was getting a gastric) right after dumping our luggages in our rooms. We aimlessly walked around to find a conbini.
Karaoke
After crossing the main road which wasn't far from our hostel, we found a 7-11. It was about the same size as our 7-11 but definitely with more choices.
Look at the bottom price when you buy (eg: 213 yen instead of 198 yen) because that is the price inclusive of tax that you will pay.
A whole aisle of ice-cream!! What!!
Gudetama donuts
Got porno magazine also, obviously hahaha.
It took me some time to decide on what I wanted to eat because THEY HAVE TOO MANY THINGS. I don't even know what some of them are so I took those that looked unique and yummy.
My supper!
I never convert yen to MYR but now I did it and found out that each of these cost RM5. *cries* They are considered affordable in Japanese food standard.
So, never convert.
Our first hostel was Khaosan World Asakusa Hostel. Let me show you around the kitchen:
Amazed!
Hoji tea, coffee and English tea is provided (sugar and creamer too) so that saved us a lot of money. There is a pantry area as well, so you can store your food items separately into dry or refrigerate storage. You write your name so people won't take your food.
Vending machines in case you don't feel like going out.
Dining area
Ceiling of one of the elevators. <3
Hostel in Halloween mood!!
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the hostel and won't mind coming here again! Though I want to try their other rooms.
On the morning of our 2nd day, we went to the balcony on the 6th floor. It was chilly~
We went out to buy our breakfast and finally will get to see Asakusa in daylight.
It was a chill unlike an aircond. And it felt better than an aircond. Had to jump around a bit though. There are 2 entrances/exits to the hostel which is side by side. One for normal entrance/exit, another for late night entrance/exit.
Alleyway
There is a shrine with 2 wolf statues that we always pass by on the way back to the hostel. We were mesmerized on the first night we saw it that we stood there for a while trying to peek in through the side of the shrine. My first time encountering something that looked like it came out of an anime.
To me, Japan wasn't very different from Malaysia. I was waiting for the culture/place shock thing to happen but it didn't happen so much for me. The places had pretty much similar structures except for the fact that Japan undeniably is a lot cleaner and didn't have destroyed public facilities.
Asakusa wasn't hard to get used to because there are prominent landmarks that I use to get around. I usually use the karaoke building with blue lights (the one I mentioned above) and the market with ceiling near Sensouji which I will show later.
The 7-11 is right beside a subway station with the Tsukuba Express line that we rarely use, or did not - I forgot. There are 3 subway stations in Asakusa that I knew of, 2 of which are quite far away from our hostel but which we often used.
One special thing I noticed since my first day here was that birds are not scared of humans. I think they don't feel threatened, maybe. We tried stomping our feet or walk near them but they stayed put. That's when I truly felt that people live in harmony with animals and that's the way it should be since our Earth is shared.
I tell you they really have effort in drawing their menu.
Credits to Eli (I think)
The picture above is a theater where mostly it's just old people and they line up for it. Everyday there is a long line.
I read online about theaters that have all-female cast in Japan but never thought I got to see them! The theater shops I mean. I saw a handful of them during our time in Japan. I never thought they were a norm.
Credits to sis
A bit blur because I took it from FB hahaha.
Oh, I mentioned I brought a journal there (it's the book in my hand). I brought it around with me for a few days and then gave up on it because it was taking up too much space in my bag, and I didn't really write spontaneously so it was meaningless. I took to writing when I got back to my bed instead by spending an hour or so expressing my day and pasting in all the tickets, cards, leaves, etc etc. It was unexpectedly relaxing and I hope I could do more of it if I have the time.
I had mixed feelings about keeping a journal once I got to it. A part of me enjoyed it a lot and couldn't wait to write and paste down all the stuff throughout the day, but another part of me just wanted to not do anything and go to bed instead because I was so tired. :P
When you see something in Google Maps and then seeing it in real life, it felt like you achieved a great deal in your life. Like this ROX Dome:
The first thing we did was to find the Information Centre which was some distance away from our hostel. It took us some time to figure out how to navigate with Google Maps because there were too many buildings and was confusing as hell.
The market with a ceiling! I'll call this Ceiling Market so you know what I'm referring to in the future.
I can see Tokyo Skytree almost everywhere in Asakusa - the market, the hostel window, random streets.
The Ceiling Market leads out to the market in front of Sensouji, supposedly the famous market. It is in between Sensouji and the Kaminarimon Gate, which is the fake Sensouji because they both have a big red lantern. The market is like Chinatown; a lot of people, souvenir shops, snack shops, shoe shops, anything shops and very happening. There is not a day where no school doesn't go here for a field trip.
Speaking of field trips, Japanese kids seem to have field trips everyday lol. They are everywhere!! Random high school students sometimes hang out too so I'm always wondering whether they are skipping classes or having a free day. Though I think skipping school is less likely to happen in Japan.
Asakusa being Asakusa, the things are more expensive there because it is a tourist area. I wanted to buy a coin pouch but was constantly stopped by sis because I didn't know it was overpriced. Later on I kept asking sis and Eli whether so and so was OK-priced or not hahaha, since they'd been on a homestay and knew roughly the prices for items.
Asakusa is the place to be if you want to buy things you want and like, but not necessarily need. :3
Kaminarimon Gate
The men wearing short pants have really great legs!! They are trishaw runners; they bring you, give guidance and help you take pictures of you around Asakusa!
The Info Centre is just across the crossing. It is called the Asakusa Culture Tourist Information Centre.
Police box.
Mikoshi at the Info Centre!
After this, we will be heading to Ueno Koen (Ueno Park)! We wandered into Ameyoko for a while on the way there because Google Maps was being confusing. My first train ride! We used the Tokyo Metro line if I remembered correctly, which takes us to most of our places and get us back.
