As soon as we cleared customs we were faced with our first challenge...navigating the Japanese Rail system. The signs rarely have English and after repeating the word "asakusa" to half a dozen puzzled people we somehow managed to get there. It was an interesting and new experience for me to leave an airport and go all the way to our hotel without seeing a non-asian person.
Challenge Number 2 - Finding our hostel (Dave forgot to print a map). This once again involved attempting communication with another half a dozen Japanese people, some of who appeared to be somewhat afraid. Then a lady, insistent on helping us, went out of her way to show us where our hotel was. We were beyond grateful, as we had been walking around in circles for about 40 minutes and with an extra 20kg strapped to our backs, our patience was slowly evaporating. This kind of mentality in such a big city is something unparalleled (at least in my experience)
Challenge Number 3 - Trying to avoid hitting my head. As our Dutch roommate Patrick told me (He must be at least 6'4) "After a while your body tells you to get used to ducking." Previous to this advice, i managed to hit my head twice, and I'm almost certain it was in exactly the same spot. As a result i now have a giant egg on the top of my head.
The Fourth and Final Challenge - It wasn't really much of a challenge at all but Dave and I managed to convince the ticket lady at the Zoo we were 14 (save us 400 yen each - approx $5).
The conversation went like this:
Dave: Two student tickets please
Lady: How old are you?
Dave: 14
Lady: 400 yen thankyou!
As you may be able to gauge, i have already fallen in love with this city, it's food and it's people.
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