Its 5am on a Sunday and I'm up and awake. Stupid body clock. Still hasn't adjusted for the hour behind. Apart from the fact that it is just sick to be up at this time on a Sunday, it also means that its dark and no one else is up. So what else to do besides blog.
I think we are getting better at this travelling thing. We got down to Gold Coast without much hassle. After checking the big baggage in, we got a beer at the bar in the Gold Coat Airport. They must be doing a roaring trade. With only cruddy kids shows on the TV (What would a kid be doing in an Ale House anyway?) and expensive drinks ($7 for a Boags??). We were nearly the only ones in there, which was sort of ok as our backpacks were taking up floor spac anyway.
The flight was pretty uneventful with some turbulence over PNG and as we came down through the cloud layers on descent. Have to say though that I much prefer JAL over Jetstar. Smoother pilots, better food and more beer make getting there nicer (not to mention that I prefer cute air hostesses over a couple of dudes and a girl with a guy face).
We got in and after losing Conrad getting off the plane (he came through the rear passage) we were through the Immigration and Customs with the usual efficiency. We walked downstairs into the B1 floor where the train station is, but before we got going, we got a JR East 4 day flexi-pass. This is not a bad option for people who are going snowboarding somewhere in Honshu. For 20000Y (16000Y if you are 25 or under, Damn you Conrad!) it allows you 4 days travel within a month period. We used the first day to get from Narita to Tokyo. The Tokyo Internation airport is in Narita which is actually about 80kms away from Tokyo Central. All we did was tell them that we wanted to jump on the next train to Tokyo and they booked the tickets. It also allowed us to book our Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets in advance. So we are already reserved for the 9.04 this morning. Means we should be at the snow by lunch time. :D
Anyhow, we got the train in, and although I was fine everyone else was starting to feel the cold. It was about 2*C when we landed. I suppose having a bit of extra padding is an advantage. :P We got into Tokyo then had to walk from Tokyo station to Otemachi subway station which kind of wraps around the north end of it, but it involved walking over 800m in the subterranean maze to get to the Hanzomon line. Normally this would be nothing, but with 12kg or so on my back and a 20kg 166cm Board bag trailing awkwardly behind me, as well as everyone else having the same amount of weight, it was a bit of a mission getting up and down stairs and escalators. We were running out of energy so we could get the the hotel soon enough. After checking in and dumping our bags into the small room stuffed with 5 beds, we headed out for noms.
Google Maps/Street view is a good thing, because it allowed us to familiarise ourselves with the surroundings before getting there. We headed up the little alleyway running up the side of the hotel and went to the closest 7eleven (there's about 3 in a 200m radius). Grabbed some cash out and headed for Friggo Est, a belgian bar another 200m or so down the street. Now I'm all for the pub scene, but when they had stopped serving food (It was past 10.30 I suppose) and they were trying to charge 1850Y for a 250ml glass of Leffe Blonde, my tolerance is very low. So before ordering we went again and headed back towards the hotel and stopped in at an unnamed ramen shop. At 680Y for a big bowl of pork ramen, it sure hit the spot. I couldn't even finish it there was that much, and considering all of us were looking out for low flying ducks before hand that's a good sized bowl. There was a weird conversation going on between one of the shop owners and a young patron. We didn't know this at the time, but apparently it was along the lines of "She's so cute", "Yes she is". "I wonder which one is her boyfriend" "You wouldn't have a chance old man" "Awww". Needless to say our little sister was getting a bit flushed, and it wasn't from the hot noodle soup she was slurping away at.
We headed back to 7-11 to grab some refreshments. Although we had briefly been there before to get some money out, this time it gave Conrad a chance to look around. He got to check out the fridge at the back, with various beers, chu-hi, cocktails in a can and such. Both him and Dean had decided on a Highball and a Chocolate beer. Dean is vowing to try as many weird and wonderful drinks/foods as he can this time, but the high ball wasn't too his liking and the chocolate beer was very stouty/porterish (You can check his blog for descriptions when he updates). Conrad being a fan of stout/Guiness liked it, but it was now about 12.30 (1.30am AEST) so that meant we had been up for 20hrs. Time for bed.
Pictures for the trip to GC Airport are here
http://picasaweb.google.com/sciclone/13210?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ6q4ry6zcj4dg&feat=directlink
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