Monterey Yokohama

After another relaxing morning we headed back to the train station to go back to Yokohama. Today's stops included the Ramen Museum, Chinatown and a Baystars game. Yep, that agenda included a trip to a Ramen Museum.

The first stop was the Ramen Museum which was a little difficult to get to with a map that didn't have any street names! After getting some general directions we got pretty close but was unsure ...

... birthday yesterday. So basically I had to fake an argument with her at the front of the store about her age, but it had the desired effect as she wasn't charged for her meal. The desert bar was similar, with vanilla, chocolate or mixture ice cream, and a range of other cakes and deserts such as crème caramel etc. The drinks bar was absolutely huge. There was about 6 different types of tea on offer, and about 4 different types of ...

... to find a phone or something that could help us. We then found out that they do not really sell many of them and that it was a hard process to get a phone especially since we are tourists. When We went to Sayaka's class to teach on the first day, we got to know the kids and the parents. Well this is what happened. We were done with the class and were about to go home. Chris and I had acquired a taste for MISTER DONUT ( an awesome japnese donut ...

December 17, 2007 JEFF IS HERE!!! He came in Saturday and I was very happy to have him here! Brooklyn will be here next week and then the only thing missing will be Kris, who can't be here this year. Yesterday Jeff and I spent the day rather lazily. We slept in and then went to lunch at "Jonathan's." It is what they call a "family restaurant." This includes places like Coco's, Denny's, and other chains we don't know. They are all pretty much ...

... I was not in the mood to walk any longer. I was freezing. It dawned on me why her expression grew from cordial to almost stern when she insisted on the 8 pm time limit. The rest of the evening he was wont to head towards the temple, whilst muttering to himself about the snake, his dad, his collapse, the lanky man, in a random order. These topics just rotated. I listened to his oral Mary-go-round ...

... tall red and white tower. I crossed the street and went inside to see if Jenna had checked in. They did not have her name, so I called her cell phone. Luckily, she and 2 of her co-workers were just around the corner and came to meet me within minutes. Jenna, Angie, Julia & myself walked to the hostel where they had a room for the past few nights, called Tour Club. Ugh, my bag was HEAVY. I put down my bags and we were back out the ...

... like myself, this is far too late. I decided that it would be better and cheaper to run to the closest train station, hop on the train, and run again to work. This was a great idea. I am quite grateful to my colleagues to let me get changed at work. By Japanese standards, this is like having cake and eating it. Running to the station is surprisingly pleasant. I run along 'dote' - riverbank. The river itself is quite uneventful. Hayabuchi River is a tributary to Tsurumi ...

... horrified to see us and said something quickly to the receptionist who let us stay, which basically was along the lines of 'what the hell have you let in here and don't you dare let them stay again'. The Japanese don't like sharing with foreigners. I tentatively asked the girl if we could book for another night, she said no because we we're 'aliens' and they didn't want any trouble!!!!!!! Victor tried his 'money talks' routine, which failed to achieve anything. I asked her ...

... for true sleeping. Not without a good drink at least. Arrived to Tokyo at 1:10pm Saturday and waited about 25 minutes for customs. There was a tense moment when I thought my backpack hadn't made it, but it was just hiding behind larger luggage. The train from Narita to Tokyo wasn't too crowded by Japanese standards, but I had to stand for all but last 15 minutes of the hour ride. The scenery was first houses and rice paddies, then tiny houses squashed between apartment ...

... big department store. Seeing as it was raining (heavily) we thought we would check out the food halls on the top 3 floors. All the food was pretty expensive so we headed out to find somewhere cheaper in Kabukicho. Kabukicho is basically the red light district but it is full of bars, pachinko parlours and food vendors. Found a good looking Irish bar but it was closed so we ended up in McDonalds. Dave commented that it "didn`t have the raw sewage taste ...