Kiraku Hotel Chiba

... friendly
and accommodating, and were even kind enough to comp us in after I dropped
Hayami-san’s name at the front gate.
(Mr. Hayami is the director of
Joypolis.) The park was very well run,
and it was interesting for me to see attractions operating in Japan that I had
only seen under construction in Dubai.
Joypolis is sensory overload, with sights/sounds/smells (crepes!) to
excite the senses.

My personal favorite ...

... them by their first names (I guess they figured saying their last names and adding 'san' was well above my language capabilities). It's a little strange though when I call them one thing and then they call each other other names. I bet there was some discussion on what to call me (I think they quickly gave up on calling me by my last name). I introduce myself with my first name and then last name. Mostly they call me 'Beth-san' or just 'Beth' but no one ...

... to a very cool thing to witness! So i strolled the crazy busy streets befriended a random turkish kebab shop owner who offered me free food and drink for the duration of my trip spoke to some people who were eating and explored the cramped but cool teenybopper shops before finding the bridge filled with kids dressed as goths, blood stained doctors, little bo peep, and ninja assasins! Very cool.  Very close to hear is a temple called Meiji Jingu so i headed through the Towering wooden ...

... toilet could easily pass for an electronic gadget, you'll see why in the photo. I'll spare the description. We had a walk around the Shibuya area in Tokyo, and it doesnt really matter where you are, but there are always going to be 2 things: people and lights, like neon lights and signs. Its like Times Square x 100 neighbourhoods. This is by far the most vibrant city I've ever been ...

... this is quite rare.The site of this giant mountain amazed me. The best part about this tour was that I got to ride in a bullet train which was very cool. This was about a twelve hour trip. Today I spend a great total of $150 for my day tour bringing my budget down to $8,42.09.

I finally arrived in Bangkok just over a day ago but must first tell you a bit about a little place called Japan. Bangkok will have to wait as it's whole other novel. Everyone asked me before my trip whether I was excited for it and I can honestly say that I really wasn't feeling too much in the way of excitement - not in the sense that I didn't want to go, but that I just didn't have time to think about it. I also knew that any preconceived notions I ...

... backpack (for when igo travelling). so nothing i took out of the big bag really could possibly fit into the backpack.. so needless to say: it was HELL. the people from the embassy started to join in on our struggle.. then finally we had it! 2 bags that were 32 kgs. AHHH!!! MY TRAVELS- as many of you might not be surprised, i slept the ENTIRE way to tokyo! haha. we took a plane OTTAWA - TORONTO, then direct form TO to TOKYO. we flew ...

... an early start due to the emergence of a snorer in our dormitory. I wore earplugs, coughed loudly, and even moved beds to be further away from the culprit, but all to no avail, so I headed off to the train station just after 7am. I arrived a couple of hours later, and walked uphill to the main attractions, namely a large number of impressive shrines and temples. I passed Shin-kyo en route, an attractive red bridge that crosses the Daiyo River, and gave an old ...

... remove the little chunks. The texture is just too weird, haha. Some of the ladies shopped at UNI QLO today, which is something like a Japanese Old Navy/Urban Outfitters/GAP. There were so many cute outfits and things - Japanese women have an incredible style, although it is one that unfortunately looks good on them and not many others! During the afternoon we had our first Japanese language sessions with Japanese instructors from Waseda Daigaku ...

... but this is no small place...anyways theyre great. Im going to put pictures on here as soon as I can. Last night I ate Japanese Curry and rice at their house, and didnt understand one thing that was going on. But I slept on a futon!!! So awesome. I woke up this morning and was like rock on, I slept on a futon! I think futon=genki in the morning. So this morning after breakfast I sat staring blankly at my Japanese phrasebook, on the couch ...