we board the plane in darkness, it is 1am and sleepiness is clinging to my mind. as we take off from the ground excited butterflies sleepily dance about in my stomach and my eyes drift closed. soon they are open again and the sun is rising slowly over the clouds. i can see the small lights of Malaysia below us and i snap a few pictures from the plane window.
touching down in kuala lumpur and i’m already dreading our eight hour layover before we even step off the plane. sleep in my eyes, limbs stiff and sore we slowly descend into the sticky, warm air that is so very familiar, memories of november in ubud flood back to me. we are ushered through a room for connecting flights and soon find ourselves in the small, budget airport.
i would love to tell you that eight hours flew by… but instead it felt like each hour dragged it’s heels in the sand. we found a quite place to lie down and watch movies on our portable dvd-players (a generous christmas gift from my mother). it is christmas day but it feels too strange, almost like we’ve skipped it altogether for something much much more exciting.
this second flight is more enjoyable, it feels as though we are finally on our way. i watch the sun setting and i can’t believe i am on yet another adventure to an unknown land.
a little piece of christmas cake, a gift from the airline.
we arrive in tokyo at eleven at night. it’s freezing on the tarmac and i’m grateful for my winter jacket and beanie. after making our way through customs and immigration, we find ourselves standing in a place very different from home. soon we make it to our little hotel room near to the airport where we will spend our first night. it’s tiny but cozy, and after twenty minutes of trying to work out how to get the power on, we’re finally ready to sleep.
i wake early. i’m too excited for sleep. opening the blinds i gaze out at the concrete jungle in front of me, each sign decorated in beautiful letters and symbols. i watch strangers wandering the streets below and the many bicycles in a sea of traffic. i use my laptop to plan our journey into tokyo city.
we catch a shuttle back to the airport so we can ride the monorail into town. i am fortunate to have a very good sense of direction, and no matter what country i am in i seem to be able to easily navigate the public transport system.
i am mesmerised as i watch from the window, buildings upon buildings. the architecture is very different to australia, much more square and repetitive, like a very structural painting.
we make it to our hotel in shibuya and when we check in at the hotel lobby the kind man behind the desk asks martin in broken english if he would like to upgrade our room for only $20. of course Martin says yes, as he is always one to spoil me. the man tells us with a big grin that he will give us a very good view and that we will be on level 24. as we get into the glass lift we notice that level 24 is indeed the top level… and when we open the door to our room my breath catches as the most magnificent view stretches out before us. we run over to take pictures. i am lost for words.
the famous shibuya crossing.
my attempt at a panorama to capture even half of the amazing view (which fails to show just how beautiful it was).
riding in the glass elevator.
incredible views as we ride down to the street.
i’m not sure what words to use to describe how vibrant and exciting the streets of tokyo are. even in winter the world is painted with colour.
we shop for warm clothes as we packed very little and are heading to the snow the next day.
delicious lunch at a japanese noodle bar. you place your order on a vending machine outside and take your ticket in with you. ordering for a vegetarian in tokyo is very hard, mainly because we can’t read most of the writing. luckily this noodle bar had one button in english reading “vegetarian noodles, NO PORK!” which made me giggle. Martin is much more adventurous than me, and picks a random picture from the machine. the food is so fresh and incredibly tasty.
i find a wonderful shop called UNIQLO that sells cozy basic clothes and the most comfortable thermals. i stock up for our snow adventure seeing as I only packed two tops, one jumper and two pairs of jeans! (plus of course my doc marten boots and a jacket).
we return to our hotel for an afternoon rest, and i sneak around the hallway looking for more windows to take pictures from. below a soccer game is being played on a rooftop.
in the evening we adventure back out onto the streets, buy Martin a comfy pair of boots for the snow and find a small pizza bar to grab some takeaway. i sit by the window in our room and watch the soft rain fall over a neon world.
