Anyway, so after a long day of traveling on Monday (2 hours to kuala lumpur, 4 hour layover in a sucky airport-what kind of airport nowadays doesn't take credit cards?! It was the biggest hassle just trying to buy a bottle of water! And 6.5 hour flight to Tokyo) I finally arrived. I was really glad I decided to just stay at the capsule hotel that night cuz it would've been a pain trying to get to another hotel and working about the subways closing down before I got there.
The capsule hotel was an interesting experience. Glad I got to experience it at least once. It was just beds separated by walls, with this sliding blind thing for doors. The bathroom facilities were pretty nice though. They provided nice Sheseido products, even face wash, makeup remover, etc. so I had a decent night there. Got up earlyish the next morning to look for a courier service to send my duffel bag to the Narita airport and store it there until I leave on Sunday. So useful! I know I definitely would have died trying to transport everything to the temple! Seriously. It was cheap too-less than $20!
After getting the luggage situation figured out, I took the subway and found the temple without problem. Good thing I had a map! I dropped off my stuff and headed out to see the Meiji Shrine. The shrine wasn't all that exciting, to be honest. You first walk through the Nakimise(?) street which was lined with souvenir shops and food. I bought my Japan magnet and stopped by the shrine briefly. Then headed to the Takeshita Dori street which was lined with boutiques. Nothing too exciting there. The only things I got was from the Daiso store- more stationary and treat bags....I think I have enough to last me the next 20 years. Also got some candy. Japan, or Asia in general, has the best candy!
I kept walking after I past the street and saw a Forever 21 which I decided to stop at and bought some clothes. I think I'm done shopping for the trip! Ive spent more than I planned already. Whoops. After that I wi Dow shopped a little more and decided to head back to the temple for a little nap before meeting Anthony at 5:30. Except his flight was delayed and he didn't get there till 8! Grrr... Wasted a bunch of time doing noting....we were supposed to meet Aiko for dinner but couldn't make it since anthony still had to check in between 9- 10. So we went near by for yakitori, which was so expensive!! They made us buy drinks, whic was at least $3, and their kebabs were all SO tiny. I only got 3 and some tofu, and was still hungry afterwards. That definitely made me miss all the cheap food in Thailand! And HK!
Anyway, the next day Anthony and I headed out later around 11 and first headed to Ginza. I actually had itineraries planned but Anthony just wanted to "chill", so we wandered aimlessly. Waste of time in my opinion. We went to the oldest mall in Japan supposedly and grabbed a quick lunch from their food....how to call it...vendors? It was just a bunch of counters with food you can buy. What I got wasn't that great unfortunately. Some kinda beef with rice. And i had the biggest trouble finding a drink to buy there. What kind of food place doesn't sell drinks!? So frustrating cuz I was dying of thirst.
After the quick lunch, we wandered around and anthony decided to go to this store called the Loft, which had a bunch of random stuff like stationary, male up, clothes...and it was there that we lost each other. Probably actually a good thing, cuz he didn't wanna do anything I wanted to do anyway and was pretty much doing his own thing. So whatever, I left and went to the sensoji temple. That was pretty. Then went for a boat ride down the sumida river and took the train to odaiba. The train ride was so fun, cuz I sat in the very front where I got the perfect view. There weren't operators on the train so there were just big windows in the front. It was like a fun ride!
After the short train ride, I got off and walked the two minutes to the bath house. Perfect timing too! They had a discount for after 6pm, and so I waited the ten minutes or so and got a $5 discount! The bath house was quite the interesting experience. It was actually quite enjoyable and I'm glad I got to experience more of this Japanese culture. So first you put your shoes in a locker, then they issue you a bracelet where they use it to charge everything you do there to pay at the end. Then you get a yukata that you put on in the dressing room. After changing, you got out to this public area with little shops and food. I ate a quick meal of pork katsu and then headed to the foot baths. It was outdoor with a few long shallow ponds of warm water to dip your feet in. It was a cute place. What I really wanted to try though was the fish therapy, where you put your feet in a pool of water and these fish come and eat the dead skin off your feet. Kinda scary at first and not to mention ticklish! But I got used to it after a while and it felt quite nice! Like a massage! The. These two girls came and stole all my fish away :( sad day, but it was funny watching other peoples reaction too. That was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I tried it! My feet are much softer now! I wish I could do it everyday!
After that I went to the actual bath area. That was definitely an experience, getting naked in front of everyone! They separate it into gender though, but I still felt weird about it. The baths were really nice though! There were a whole bunch of different ones to choose from, like different temps, sizes, ones where you laid down for a jacuzzi massage, steam rooms, saunas....I didn't stay too .9long cuz it got so hot, but I enjoyed it. Then there are a bunch of stations where it's like little vanities with a chair, mirror, and shower head to shower. They provide shampoo and all that too. Then you dry yourself off and put your clothes back on. And there are more vanity stations with hair dryers and all these fancy face washes, lotions, hair products, etc. quite nice. After getting all ready, you go out and pay.
After the fun bathhouse, I headed over to the shopping area only to look at the giant gun dam statue. That was huge and it was fun to see it. And then I went to the big ferris wheel at palette town and got a ride! I really liked that- such nice view of the city and lights. The. I rushed home cuz I didn't wanna miss curfew and be homeless for the night!
The next day i woke up sick! I already had a sore throat the day before, but I think I had a fever and I was coughing. No good, but at least I wasn't so sick I had to stay in bed. Anthony and I headed to the imperial palace garden first. He was basically ignoring me and just going off by himself, so I just left and walked by myself after a while. It was kinda a nice garden and walk. A little but hot, although I still stayed for at least an hour. Then I went to the station where this Japanese garden was supposed to be, but after I got there, it wasn't even on the map and I wasn't up for looking for it and walking around anywa cuz I was getting tired. I ended up stopping by this theater area at the subway station where there were a bunch of food stalls and got some ice cream. Then I headed to see the sky tree. When I got there, I found out I had to get a ticket where I had to wait an hour and a half to buy the real ticket to go up. I just wandered a bit, got this yummy cake filled with cream and custard, and waited till it was time. I stayed at the top for over an hour cuz I wanted to see the night view. I almost didn't want to wait so long, but glad I stayed cuz the view was beautiful. Especially the dusk view. After being satisfied with the night view of Tokyo, I headed back home early so I could get good sleep.
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