2 one week later- take two. part one- traveling to japan
if you're wondering about the title, this is the story. i spent an hour or more writing a post detailing the last week and when i got towards the end of yesterday, i pressed a button and the entire thing disappeared. it was enough to make me give up, but i thought i owed you a post. even if it won't be as awesome as the one i deleted (D:) or maybe it will be even more awesome! (:D) it's not like you'll know (:P)
good thing i seem to be having trouble with the laundry here, it means i have lots of time. yup, just like last sunday, i'm writing to you while waiting for my laundry to happen.
so, as i pointed out, it's been a week since i last posted an entry and a lot has happened, which means i should tell you some of it before i forget all of it. the week covers my days of travel and my first days in kanazawa and some of the adventures i had, so it will be a long one. get some popcorn and some beer (;D)
before i start, though, just a couple of things to do with my sister's gorgeous site. if you want to know when i post something new, then subscribe and you will get and email telling you it has happened. also, as a personal request, i would like you to go to the guest book so that i know who i'm talking to (:D)
ok, let's get this thing started again! and this time i will use the ctrl+c function a lot so i don't lose the whole thing again.
last sunday was a fun one of packing and last minute errands. after my laundry was done and my main luggage was under 20kg (according to the rather old bathroom scales in the house) i went to fenner to pick up my external hard drive- which is now filled with awesomeness thanks to justin, orion and kathy (<3). i hung out with orion for a while before going back home and continuing to agonise over what to put in my hand luggage. reading books? dictionaries? what to do? in the end (after a conversation with mum) i chose to put them all in there and hope for the best.
my optimism was helped by the fact that- after days of complaining to quite a few people that japan doesn't have an earth wire and i couldn't get an adapter for it- my earth wire fell off as i was taking it out of the power board. score. my pessimism was given a boost by the fact that when i put my normal watch on, the battery had run out. on a sunday. on easter sunday. i might have been able to get a replacement before i went if not for that.
anyway, after putting my everyday watch into my main luggage and putting on one of my plainer fancy watches, having a lunch made by my darling sister and reading a few chapters of my travel book, i was taken to jollimont to start the epicness that is called japan.
the first leg of the journey included the arduous task of sitting next to simone (from now on known as simi) for three hours talking and eating the ferrero rochers her grandmother had given her just prior to getting on the bus. i don't know how i ever survived (:P)
we got off at the airport and had dinner at one of their cafes, discussing luggage weight. so we went in search of (and found) a lady who would let us weigh our luggage on her machine. my main baggage was indeed only 19kg (:D) but simi's was 23kg (D:) but her hand luggage was only 7kg (:D) and my hand luggage was 16kg (:P) this prompted the lady to give me a stern lecture about luggage allowances and stuff (D:)
we caught the shuttle bus to the ibis airport hotel and checked in. recomended hotel. efficient staff and non-too-shabby rooms (:D) they also provided us with a wake up call (:D) at four am (D:) so we could catch their nice, cheap shuttle bus and not spend lots of money on a taxi (:DD)
so that got u to the airport in time to catch our six am (D:) flight to the gold coast. i had spent the previous night stressing about the lecture the lady had given me about my hand luggage, but in the end had decided to keep the weight and transfer it if i got caught. nobody looked twice. (:D) simi, despite spending time at the hotel trying to transfer 3kg to her hand luggage, was still over by a kilo or so, but they also didn't care about this. (:D) we were seated together in the very first row of the plane, right behind the cockpit. they didn't close the door for a while and we could see the flashing lights. since she had a better angle, i got simi to (reluctantly) take a picture of it. we also saw fiona (from now on know as fi) getting on the flight. (:D)
we landed in the gold coast with no problems, collected our luggage and made our way to international departures to check in. once again, they didn't look at my hand luggage (or the suspiciously bulging pockets of my large coat, or my extra, small backpack) nor did they care (again) when both simi's and fi's main luggage was slightly over the limit (:DD) then we could have breakfast (:DDD) after which we had to go through another security point, where they made sure we weren't carrying more than 100mL liquid onto the plane. this was right after simi had bought a bottle of water to drink on the plane (:P)
so that worked out fine and we got on the plane and proceeded to spend the next nine hours there. (D:) we were so stir-crazy by the end of it! the situation was not helped by the fact that my entertainment unit was out of practical commission for most of it. i got to watch disney's "the frog princess" (which is two hours of my life i am never getting back) and then tried the games section. i got onto a game which wouldn't allow me to go back to the menu. so i played it sporadically in different forms, but it really wasn't riveting enough to hold my attention for the whole flight. thank goodness my bulging pockets contained books! (;D) oh yeah, and thank goodness i had a supply of food. i went halves with simi, who didn't (<3 -> simi)
we were well and truly sick of that plane by the time we got off it. at least the young children didn't cry too much during it. when we (finally) disembarked, we had to catch a shuttle train to go and pick up our luggage. when this was done we got to stand in line while to have our passports and visas checked so that we would be allowed into the country. oh, did i mention that i fail at writing my name on official documents? the green form card thing that you have to fill out to leave australia took three attempts. and the landing form thing that you have to fill out and give to the people in the airport? i got so confused about kanji squares and roman squares ect that i wrote a scribbled out my name about three times before i was done. the official man who was letting me into the country looked at it for a bit, but let me through (phew.) but, of course, that was the part that got stapled into my passport for everyone else to see (D:)
anyway, all that got done and we were exhausted and just wanted to dump our huge pile of luggage. so we walked the couple of minutes to the conveniently placed nikko hotel. as we were getting there, i got my first hint that we were in japan. as we approached this extremely fancy hotel, there were gachapon machines selling their cheapness to the world. only in japan (:D)
the joy continued as we checked in (while we watched an efficient and uniformed man take our pile of bags and put them on a trolley for us). we had been given a free upgrade!!!! we were on the 11th floor- the executive floor. (:DDDDD). it was AMAZING!!! and so exclusive that we had to get out at the 10th floor and go to another elevator before getting to our room. which had 4 beds, a plasma tv, some couches to sit on while watching it, a large bathroom and a separate room just for storing our luggage in. they even hung up my coat!
this restored our energy and we immediately explored and took pictures. then we turned on the tv and immersed ourselves in japanese commercials and game shows. we were reminded (audibly) that we hadn't had a substantial meal on the plane and went exploring. we found a place called restaurant avenue and had dinner while listening to acoustic versions of beatles hits. this was followed by a trip down to the convenience store to check out their range (mmmm hagen-daas ice cream <3) then back to the airport to buy a drink from a vending machine (:D). our adrenaline ran out at this point and we returned to the hotel to watch a bit more japanese tv. no idea what the dorama was called, but i assume it was a comedy because one of the men kept wearing dresses (:D) when we gave up on it, we crashed on our amazing beds (<3) (i managed to claim two of them for myself ;D)
the next morning saw us return to restaurant city and buy a japanese breakfast. back down to the convenience store to buy bread for lunch on the train. then across to the train station to get tickets. they didn't speak english, so it was a humbling experience for my japanese. but we managed it and proceeded to inform the dorm manager of our eta on a green public phone (which is, indeed, 100 yen for those of you who were in itani's class last semester). this was also a humbling experience for my japanese. (D:)
then came the finding the train platform part. important lesson: when in doubt, look like a confused foreigner and the japanese will approach you to help. (:D) so down we went and caught our first train. then we switched platforms to our second train without a hitch. aided, i feel obliged to point out, by the fact that the two platforms were about 5 metres apart. (:D)
the train journey was not much fun, seeing as how it came rather close to being like traveling on the plane with the sitting in a confined, pressurised area for a few hours. but it got us to kanazawa station safe and (physically) fine.
which meant we had to find a taxi. there was a taxi rank. so far so good. there was somone standing there telling people which taxi to get into. still good. we had print outs of the address in japanese. he didn't seem to know where it was, but felt certain the taxi driver could find it. so he handed the piece of paper to a taxi driver, who did a double take at the number of bags. this led to a discussion and accordance of what to do with them. most of them went in the boot, which then wouldn't close properly and got tied shut. my main luggage went in the passenger seat while the three of us sat in a row in the back seat and had trouble with our seat-belts. he kept looking at the paper, but did manage to get us here in the end, the tied up boot door making worrisome squeaking noises all the while.
and i must regretfully end this over-detailed but (undoubtedly) riveting account of my life due to the late hour. i have spent the day writing a post only to have it disappear while going down to the laundry a lot and stressing about strange washing machines- seriously took me the whole day. and then in the evening i left my clothes in the dryer for simi to take care of (<3) while i went to see liar game at the movies with fi and julia. when it was finished we met up with the others and went for a freshness burger. i decided to finish up to the part where we arrived at the dorm before going to bed. so i really haven't done anything practical, but it's still late and i have my first day of navigating the campus tomorrow.
i'll post the post-travel stuff asap. tomorrow, if i'm not doing more amazing stuff (:P) also, will try to work out how to upload photos.
