Sankei City Hotel chiba

... stores. (Mitsukoshi will sound familiar to those of
you from WDW.) On Sunday afternoons,
they close the main street to traffic and let pedestrians walk freely. We did some window shopping and stopped in
Mitsukoshi for dinner in the basement level food court. (Although “food court” doesn’t do it
justice. More like “food palace” or “food
Xanadu” or “food El Dorado” or ...

... on in my head! I`d love to be able to record what I`m saying and hear it back.... its a crazy stream of "ew bad shirt, ha ha check out that man`s dog, oh that reminds me of a dog my friend used to have, must rememember to wash underwear...." etc etc you get the idea. It just doesn`t stop. Never not even for a second. The strange thing is when you are aware of your internal monologue and actively listening to it, it gets even stranger. I ...

... they were gaijin too. I had a four course meal: cauliflower veloute, giant prawn and kobe beef and dessert, but because of the attention I must have had three different desserts brought to the table. In addition to the one I ordered, they brought house-made marshmellows (lavender and ginger!) and a plate of eight small dessert bites prepared by the pastry chef. Outstanding food and service. Surprisingly the bill was ...

... also managed to disturb some locals with my appetite for sushi at a standing sushi bar - and to have a White Russian on the 39th floor of my hotel. Puha, that was a lot - I really felt like a tourist ! So, my honest opinion about Tokyo ? An impressive city, no doubt. It has everything - and then again, it lacks something ! I don't know if it is soul or what it is. It just doesn't have the beauty and charm of a Paris or the city-that-never-sleeps of New York. Many will disagree with me ...

... the more colours, the better. Cartoon characters are the main theme on store front windows and pink is unabashedly worn by males as convenient store uniforms. Things are squished together incongruously so that you might see a beautiful mansion, a cemetary and a car dealership all in a row. Roads are narrow and twist around blind corners - It's mere chance that drivers don't crash into each other (so it seems to me). The fashion is bizarre, the music ...

... keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling ...

... mean strip clubs. Great descriptions from them though, cant fault their efforts.."hello my friend, you want to see bouncing booby and shaking booty?? we have 17 nationality of girl, lovely jamaican, bermudan..we do you good deal." etc, etc ..... Yes "my friend" im sure you would. Managed to find a few decent bars in the end, one of which we somehow ended up in the djs vip section and were consequently removed. Most of the time tho was spent in a bar on the 7th floor of ...

... little park, an oasis of calm in the bustle of the city. A mother sits and watches her little pre-schooler play happily, while an old man, having earned the right to walk slowly and peacefully, does so under a row of Japanese pine trees. We pause too, next to a small pagoda, for a sip of water. An older couple, probably father and daughter, strike up conversation with us, as the gentleman speaks a bit of English ...

... rehydrating themselves with? "Thorpedo" the energy drink, yes our very own Ian Thorpe is huge in Japan. Speaking of hydration, it wouldn't be a Matt and Nicole thing to do, miss the Sapporo Beer Museum, so we headed there where in the "tasting lounge" we enjoyed what is probably Tokyo's cheapest beer $2 a glass. We said our goodbyes to Tokyo and took the night bus to Kyoto. Stuff the Shinkansen that takes just 2 hours and cost $150, our option was a bit slower but much cheaper.

... time will be spent sorting out where I will go next and what I will do. This will require a lot of computer time no doubt. When not on the computer, I will focus on meditation and building up my inner chi (energy). I quite often want to have periods like this when I am at home but it is rare to get the solitude that has fallen into my lap today. I will not be making any more updates to this travel blog until I am ready to embark onto the next phase of my journey.