San-Ai Yokohama Hotel

... before hopping on another bus to the Waikiki beach. Once there, I grabbed a biscuit from McDonalds and experienced what felt like the biggest language barrier that I have had so far on trip. The woman taking my order could not decipher my Southern accent and from the look on her face you would have though I was speaking Chinese! Eventually I got my correct order and then headed off to look for a hotel for the night with the girls. We eventually ended up at the ...

... use our imaginations to enjoy, because they were probably curled up in their air conditioned pens in the back of their enclosures staying out of the heat. Onwards, through the bird exhibits, which, lets be honest, nobody really cares about. Yep, great. Birds. Moving right along. There were a couple of animals I'd never seen before, such as a "bush dog" which ran around in a pack and looked like a cross ...

... and yes it involves a lot of jumping. Poor Chris was a real sport today. He was really sick and still sang and jumped around with the kids. I have a lot of respect for him. I was feeling kind of sick at first, but it's funny because as soon as I started to play with the kids and stuff, I felt better. Kids are my remedy:) So Chris told a story with felts about the boy with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. I translated to the kids and found myself to be pretty enthusiastic. I ...

... met jullie delen in de vorm van beeldmateriaal, hoewel er met Kevin -in het Nederlands- openlijk over praten niet opvalt, zal het filmen toch wat verder gaan. Vandaag zijn we de dag gestart in de wijk Shinjuku, bij `s werelds drukste voetgangersoversteekplaats, Hachiko crossing. Vanuit de Starbucks (met zicht op dit kruispunt) hebben we de drukte bekeken (die nog enigszins meeviel vanwege de regen van vandaag). Daarna hebben we ...

... an infinetely nicer area. Of course with this status is the darker side of Japan's past during WWII when, amongst other things, it was then obliterated by the Americans & had to be rebuilt. The harbour area is without doubt a very tranquil & beatutiful stretch incorporating Yamashita Park which has as its backdrop the impressive Yokohama Marine Tower which (i've just read) is the tallest lighthouse in the world! Coming back down to earth you can mill ...

... There's a place where you fan yourself with incense smoke to increase your good health, intelligence, or wealth. It really works because I fanned some smoke onto my shoulder, which was sore from lugging my bag (which had bottled drinks, my CD player and CDs, and my camera) everywhere. We then bypassed Akihabara, the land of the otaku (the Japanese version of a "geek", usually referring to somebody obsessed with anime and video ...

... self so much so that people allow themselves to be selfish and not worry about the people in need or respond to crisis. Why? Because they do not want to get into trouble by doing something not their own business. Self-initiative to keep harmony or to keep a sense of community may be lacking in Japan. Again, a small example might illustrate the case. The train PA system reminds passengers not to extend or cross legs because of potential problems to other passengers ...

... a platter of random. A whole bunch of stuff ranging from the mild tuna to gelatinous peppers and fish roe rolls. ALL of it was amazing, and a grand time was had by all... Including Judy, who said that she loved it!! We sent Cheryl on her way back to the hotel as she had a bus to the airport to catch at 11am. Me and the Fitts clan headed to Harijuku, and did a bit of window shopping, a McDonald's coffee stop (No Kelly... I only peed there... I ...

... the outer area, but the real action is of course at the wholesale market. To get there, I had to dodge bicycles, running people, carts, and 3-wheeled vehicles. I felt like Frogger trying to cross the road without getting squashed! The tuna auction is no longer open to the public, but I saw a few big tunas going by on carts. Inside, there were more kinds of food and unidentifiable seafood than I could have imagined. Much of it was still alive. The workers were chopping ...

... I got a large bowl of rice with some braised beef in some sauce on top. Whatever it was it was tasty and far more appetising than a McDonalds any day! Feeling refreshed we decided to hunt down those shops and found them just round the corner from where we had eaten. Quite how we missed them I don`t know as there are whole streets of them and they are all about 10 stories tall! I saw a Sony PSP on sale for 20500 yen, about 100 quid, and was very tempted but can`t ...