This ain’t Kansas…

Well, not saying it’s one of THOSE days, but…

Northern Japan was just what I expected, colder’n a well diggers ass, wind blowing with snow flurries and wind chill in the single digits… Just lovely… I knew it was not gonna be good when we got off the airplane and were waiting for the bags and I saw two Mamasans, both looking like the Michelin man.

Transportation was fine (thank you Duty Drivers), until we went to dinner and one of our party decided to be nice and let the Duty Driver go BEFORE we got back to the barracks. After a %^&* mile plus slog back through the cold and wind (did I mention single digit wind chill), I was so cold I managed to drop my room key and kick it UNDER the #$%^ door… sigh…

After finally getting into the room, it was off to a nice hot/cold/hot/cold shower… I think every time anybody in the whole damn building did anything, the water temperature changed.

Up at 0400 again, trust me there was not a damn thing stirring other than the wind. Finally got the rest of the crew up, did another bag drag and another flight back down to Tokyo.

I’m typing standing up since I think I have a permanent crease in my ass from straddling my bag riding the train from Haneda to Shinjuku in Tokyo. Nothing like an hour of being a sardine in a can, and this is on a weekend day no less… Dreading Monday morning when we have to do this in rush hour for 2 hours down to Yokosuka.

Staying at the Hilton Tokyo (NICE hotel by the way), so not much in the way of affordable things to do, but I think I’ll take a walk (hopefully I can’t get charged for looking). Gotta love Japanese efficiency too; as I’m walking up to the room, the maid(s) were finishing the final positioning of the flowers in the room and bowed me in.

p.s. after looking at the hotel restaurant list and prices, I think I’ll be eating out of the machines at the train station!!! 30,000 yen ($300 per course) in the Chinese restaurant and not much better in the Japanese restaurant. Hell for that price, maybe I could sell Toto at the back door of the restaurant… (just kidding)

Comments

This ain’t Kansas… — 11 Comments

  1. Pictures! Photos! Do you take pics when you are traveling? Can you put them on the blog if you do? I think it would be awesome to see some of the places you describe!
    (Have the prices gone up since our economic meltdown or were they always that high?)

    Ha ha… my word verification is efetera…. made me think of cafeteria?

  2. Never been to Japan except for a short stopover on a ferry flight in the early ’70s. Did not much like it then, no desire to go back.

    Just too crowded for me.

  3. Wichita at 1000 Hours Local on 24 January: 14 degrees with wind chill of 0 degrees. No snow, though. That is due in a wintry mix on Monday/Tuesday

  4. cj/Kvegas/ADM- Just another day at the “office” so to speak… Problem is the office keeps moving… 🙂

    FF- I forgot my camera this trip (standard rule #38, one item will ALWAYS be fogotten)

    Crucis- Been coming out here 30+ years, it is different to put it mildly… I haven’t lost anything out here, if you know what I mean…

    Anon- Advantage is you are at home! I don’t like being this cold unless I’m sitting waiting on a deer to walk by 🙂

  5. I hear they have really cool cameras in Japan. 😉

    Hope your stay at the hotel is a nice one. Good luck finding affordable food.

    So, it would be a bad time to mention that I have a homemade pizza with fresh spinach, garlic, and olive oil baking in the oven right now, huh?

    Yes, I’m my own special brand of evil.

  6. I could have sworn I replied to this earlier, but then I was knee deep in a stupid math problem for extra credit at school for half the day. (Damned old age and forgetting how to figure out trinomials!)

    Anyway, try clicking your heels together 3 times and saying, “There’s no place like home”.

    It won’t do anything but make those around you think you’re slightly cracked, but from what I’m hearing, slightly cracked is all the rage these days. 😉

  7. RT- shaddup… 🙂 Cameras are actually cheaper in the states than here.

    Sings- CRS is the first sign of old age… 🙂

  8. PS…………. You want to go Cheap go to China……. OMG you can get anything over there for just about nothing…………. The Pearl Market and Silk Market are amazing and great prices!!