Tokyo day 2

Japan is great!

Introduction to room mates, weird breakfast, general weird-ness and UENO.



So... I went to bed at 7pm last night, my body was so tired my muscles were shaking so decided it was time to go to give up the 'i'm awake, i am not jet-lagged' game and go to bed. My room mates came in at about 8pm and showered/ shuffled around until about 11. I woke up and said hello and smiled at them and they said something back in a language i didnt understand anyway i thought given how terrible i am at understanding or speaking japanese, maybe they were japanese! One of them started crying at about 11.30 so i gave her one of my mini teddies off my rucksack - i felt sorry for her but decided not to start talking at her in english as she might not understand and then think i was telling her to shut up crying or something!! Anyway woke up about 8 this morning and had a very bizarre and full on breakfast of baguette and cheese - the only thing i was sure of what it was from yesterdays shopping spree! Turns out my room mates are korean so we have stuff in common as ive been to korea and they've been to england. They dont speak a lot of english though and i speak zilch korean but we had a mini conversation! I had a shower in the bathroom made for japanese midgets and i couldn't stand up in it but still it was a shower with hot water so all ok! Then i went down into the hotel lobby to use the computers and stash of books and leaflets and work out a plan for the next 23 days! (thank god the internet access is free here and the lobby is like a mini tourist info centre!) Have decided to go to Kyoto, Osaka and Mt Fuji and if i have enough time and money i'll go to Nikko too which has a samurai/ninja themed village! Woop! I will come back to stay at this Tokyo hostel before i go to sydney so that means i can leave the huge backpack at the hostel for free and just travel light with my rucksack to the other places. Anyway, once i'd done that planning this morning, i went on the metro to UENO, the nearest town/area of tokyo to where im staying.. (thought i'd stay local today as i didnt leave the hotel til lunchtime.) Anyway, Ueno is brilliant! Japan is so cool and funny, i love it. I went to loads of street markets selling a huooge variety of things.. including giant pickled octopus, dried fish, a million types of fruit ive never seen before, illimunous yellow and gold flashing trainer boots, beautiful bird cages (i wish i could buy for peter but would be impossible to carry or send), gold ornaments, jewellrey, rows and rows of plush fur coats, kiddies toys etc etc etc.. it is just so random, one street had wind up/battery powered kittens and puppies wandering the streets on their own and talking japanese as they were going along - i assume they belonged to one of the shops, it was so funny! The zebra crossings in Ueno sound birdsong at you instead of japanese nusery rhymes like yesterday! it took me a while to figure out! ha ha! There were loads of huge arcades mostly full of old men and business men and everywhere you go there are vending machines for kids toys and drinks and the vending machines talk japanese at you but despite the fact it sounds crazy it is actually a very peaceful city, what i have seen of it so far. When you stop and listen its actually a lot quieter than you would expect and everyone seems very calm and civilised! The japanese people are so cool, they are all so trendy and they are all really different - not like in england where for example, you get clones of teenagers all wearing the same thing with the same hair-do's.
Another lovely thing about Ueno... one minute you are in the middle of a set of high rise buildings with neon billboards etc and then walk 5 minutes down the road and there is beautiful Ueno park which feels like the middle of the countryside and is sooo quiet and pretty. If i were going to be a tramp, i' definitely pick that park! Despite it being peaceful in the park there was still loads going on - baseball matches, a market inside what looked like a bouncy castle and a really really crazy young japanese guy doing a yo-yo show who then started to do handstands and break dancing to techno music.. and also there was the the one and only pan pipe band who must follow me round the world! I think i'll go back to that park at some point over the next few days as its cheap to get to on the metro and i only saw about 5% of it - (and of course because i cant bear to be seperated from the pan pipes!) I went to the zoo which is inside Ueno park and saw loads of animals (obviously, it was a zoo) including elephants and bears. They looked a bit fed up with being cooped up but the conditions they were in were better than i expected them to be. The zoo closed at 5 and so i headed back to the hostel and i have a confession to make.. via mcdonalds...SORRY!! it was right outside the metro exit and having gone without dinner last night as i didnt fancy braving the packet of donkey i had bought, the temptation of buying something familiar got the better of me.... but I　AM　going to try sushi or ramen or something like that tommorow, i promise. I went via 7 eleven on the way home and bought strawberry yoghurt for breakfast (surely a yoghurt style pot with a picture of a cow and a strawberry on it cant be anything other than strawberry yoghurt?.. i'll let you know!)Anyway I am going to stop rambling but i just thought i'd take full advantage of it while i dont have a hectic plan and while the internet is free! whoopeee! :) xx