I know that eventually these words are going to come back to haunt me, but I feel like there have been very few anti-climaxes on this journey so far.Sure, there have been disappointments - most of which I've covered when they've occurred, but I can't think of many moments when I've felt like something hasn't quite lived up to the hype.
On the other hand, there have been plenty of occasions when things have over-matched my expectations, and so far I've been delighted with the wide variety of destinations I've visited, whether that's cities or places in general.
Somewhere like Taiwan is a fantastic example of somewhere that I visited with no expectations and came out ecstatic at my decision to spend time there - I know I've mentioned it a lot so I won't go on too much. As difficult as it is to pick my favourite country so far, it's also equally as difficult to pick my 'least' favourite. I've repeated a couple of times that Korea, Japan and Hong Kong (not necessarily in that order) were the places I was looking forward to visiting the most, and I'm confident that after staying in Korea, it doesn't matter how much I look forward to them, I'm always going to feel like they are outweighing their expectations because of how great I've guessed that they were going to be.
Things were slightly different in Korea because it was a returning to somewhere I'd been before. I often ponder what my experience in Singapore would have been like, because where as when I went back to Korea I travelled to two different cities, in Singapore I'd essentially have been retracing my steps and I wonder if that would have had any impact on how much I enjoyed myself.
Consistently visiting new places can often be intimidating as you never really know what to expect. I usually feel much more confident after I've found that the hotel and area I'm staying in are nice, and walking around after I arrive somewhere usually reassures me of this. Some places it's taken me a lot longer to settle in than others, but I feel like my enjoyment of being somewhere is largely impacted by my surroundings.
Although I am now starting to come to the end of my trip, I'd actually saved my longest duration of being in one country until almost the very end as today I was about to embark upon something which I hoped would again, outweigh the huge expectations surrounding it.
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No matter how much I messed with my schedule I was always going to spend the longest time in the Land of the Rising sun as I feel like right from the start this might have been my marquee destination. I feel like I've done well so far in pretty much every country I've been to, to visit multiple cities (aside from notable exclusions like Taiwan) but my plan for Japan is pretty expansive as I'm aiming to reach at least seven or eight different cities in my time here. This morning though, I had to get the first step out of the way before trying to carry out my plan.
It was time to leave China in the rear view mirror this morning as I departed the country for the second time after my three day stay here. My trio of days in Shanghai seemed to be over in a flash and were filled to the brim with activities, but if possible I feel like my stay in the capital has been even more hectic.
If I'd have been able to get visas arranged and extend my stay further than 72 hours I'd imagine that Beijing would be somewhere that I'd probably have stayed for between five and seven days. There is definitely enough to do here to justify that length of time there, and I feel like I wouldn't have had any trouble filling them with plenty of activities.
China is one of the more interesting and intriguing places that I have stayed on this journey, and you can see that there are definitely battles between ideologies of east and west. I'd have been interested to see what other cities like Guangzhou or Xi'an would have been like in comparison with the capital and one of the world's most internationally developed cities. Chinese people are definitely the most 'curious' out of all those that I have discovered along the way, and it can sometimes be a little off-putting when they stare at you as if you have got three heads, but I take it that they are just interested, and perhaps because they don't get many international tourists here, they are mightily surprised when one comes along.
When I was looking at international teaching jobs, China was one place which I considered, and I think being here would certainly have been an interesting experience. There are pockets of ESL teachers in the larger cities, but generally they are outnumbered by the huge population of people who inhabit every city.
The end of my stay in the world's most populous country now means that I only have three left on my journey to go before return to England, and early this morning it was time to take a trip to perhaps the most eagerly anticipated amongst all of the places that I set out to visit on my long itinerary.
I've written before how I am like the look of Asian architecture, and when I think of Japan, I usually think about beautiful temples surrounded with lakes filled with fish and cherry blossom trees blowing in the background - whether these things actually exist anywhere outside of my mind or not, I have no idea. I guess I will be finding out very soon!
Popular culture has certainly played an impact on my interest in Japan, and Japanese culture. Whenever I have seen it featured on the Internet or TV I've always felt like it was somewhere that I'd love to visit, and I'm pretty sure that it was probably the first country I wrote down when making my list.
I had to take another pretty early flight this morning, so as in Jeju, Shanghai and Taipei I had to be up way earlier than I'd like to in order to be able to get to the airport on time. I left my hotel at about 6:15am this morning as even though the airport wasn't that far away via the metro, and the airport express train, I did have about a fifteen minute walk to get to the station itself.
As much as I've enjoyed staying in the FX Hotel Beijing, it's always been something of a relief to get out of my non-air conditioned room and into the fresh air. This morning there was a lovely cool breeze blowing and it was pretty empty on the streets as I made my way to the station.
The train itself was relatively busy when it came along, but it was only one stop before I got to the transfer station for the airport express. It took a twenty minute ride back in the opposite direction to the one I'd travelled from on Saturday afternoon and I made it to the check-in desk all in good time.
Pretty much everywhere you go on public transport in China there are metal detectors and places where you have to put your machine through scanners. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining one bit about the efforts they go to in order to try to ensure public safety, I think the ones in the airport in Beijing were the most stringent as I had to pretty much unpack half of my bag in order to go through security. It amazes me these days how people still don't realise that you're not allowed to carry liquids, gels or sprays through, but I've now started noticing that cameras have to be taken out of your bag, and this morning I also had to take the three notebooks out I carry in my bag as well as a collection of coins I've been saving from each country that I have visited. Not sure why this was the case, but I just go along with what I'm told - especially in an airport.
After my last couple of attempts at getting on a plane have been hampered by delays, I was quite pleased to discover that not only did my plane board perfectly on time, but it also landed a couple of minutes early when we got to Tokyo Narita Airport.
Having got up so early this morning I tried to catch some sleep on the plane, but as usual it probably made me feel worse. There was an empty seat next to me as the guy who'd originally been sat there had shifted to an exit row seat once we'd set off and there were some spare seats. I wasn't complaining about the extra room, but clearly I need to Google 'Is there a comfortable way to sleep on an aeroplane?' because even after configuring myself in about seven different ways I woke up after a short time usually in quite a lot of pain!
We got some food on the flight although no Hagen Daas ice cream this time! When we got off the plane the airport was actually exceptionally quiet and for once I didn't have to line up at customs. I know that Narita is one of the world's busiest airports, although quite a lot of the air traffic is domestic which I guess might explain why it wasn't quite as busy as Seoul when I arrived there at roughly the same time in the morning.
Although I flew into Tokyo, the Japanese capital isn't actually my first destination in the country as from there I needed to get myself to Yokohama which is where I'll be staying for the first three days. Tokyo is definitely the major city on my travels I am looking forward to the most, and I might not actually sleep when I get there to make sure that I fit everything in! I figured that considering to get to where I'm going after Tokyo I'd probably have to travel from there, I thought it'd be most sensible, and give me the most travel options to make a return trip there rather than having to start there then go elsewhere for a few days and then come back.
Yokohama is actually not that far away from Tokyo at all, and when looking it up, I was almost overwhelmed by the number of different transport options I could use to get from Narita. There were so many train lines that it totally confused me, then there were buses and also part of the subway even goes out to near Yokohama as well:
I figured the best thing to do would be to do would just to ask someone at the airport as they'd probably have all the options and be able to lay them out to me. By the time I'd collected my suitcase and gone through customs it was about 2.30pm and I wandered around a little trying to assess things to see if I could get a grasp on the transportation options which were headed to Yokohama. I also had some Chinese RMB left over to change so I sorted that out before I left and then went to the information desk where a very helpful lady ran through the options for me and also gave me some of the prices.
All the options were relatively similarly priced, but then she asked if I would be returning to Tokyo at any point which I said that I would be which changed things. She said that the best thing I could do would be to get a return ticket on something known as the JR Narita Express Train which would allow me to come back for a discounted price of 4000 Yen (about £22).
This option meant going downstairs to the train station where I was assisted by a very helpful man who filled in a form with me in order to apply for a ticket and then put me in the queue where I was able to get my ticket.
I know people in the airport are always helpful, particularly to international travellers, but they were very thorough in getting me to the right place and in making sure that I knew which train I would be taking.
I headed down to the platform where the 15:14 train arrived a little early. We weren't able to get on straight away as some men went on to clean it and also very bizarrely spin all the chairs around in the opposite direction so each one of them was facing forward as on the journey into the train staion they'd been facing the opposite way - which has been forward for those passengers.
Already I was starting to enjoy Japan!
We were able to get on the train shortly after for a journey which took about an hour and a half to get me from Tokyo Narita Airport to Yokohama Station. On the way we made three or four stops, one of which was Tokyo Station which is where most of the passengers got off.
The train actually split in half there with the back half going to suburbs of the city, and the front bit (the bit I was on) continuing on to Yokohama.
Arriving in Yokohama at about 4.45pm, my next job was to work out the best way to get to my hotel. I knew that the stop I needed to get off at was called Kannai, but again there had been so many options that I decided not to confuse myself and instead ask someone in the know at Yokohama Station. I picked up a map which explained whereabouts I needed to go, and out of the four options of how to make it to the right stop I decided to use the metro as it was only two stops away and perhaps the least confusing.
I genuinely think that trains might be the death of me in Japan and expect a story at some point coming up about how I got on the wrong one and ended up somewhere I shouldn't be!
Even getting from the JR Station in Yokohama to the metro was confusing. Part of the reason why I'd decided to go to Beijing first before coming to Japan was because of something called 'Golden Week' which is essentially a week of holidays throughout the country which meant that all of the hotels were essentially unavailable. Today was 'Children's Day' the last day of Golden Week and due to this the metro station was absolutely crammed.
I followed signs towards the subway, map in hand, hoping that eventually this confusion would be over, and after walking through what appeared to be a department store, and then into another station I got to the ticket booth for the metro.
It was a bit like the one in Taiwan where you have to look at the board and select how much the fare would be rather than simple selecting a destination, and it's never helpful when you haven't quite got used to the foreign currency yet and have to dig through your wallet to find the right change. I really do despise large denominations of currency. There should be a law that you have to have it somewhere between one and fifty, and in helpful multiples for people who don't want to have to do mental maths every time they go into a shop!
The train was pretty quiet going the direction I was headed in, and thankfully when I got to Kannai there were lots of maps which helped me to eventually find my hotel after a couple of checks. As well as a route finder for things close by, it was useful that on the map there were a number of local hotels, and mine was on there. I definitely think that would have been helpful to me a lot of the time in recent journeys!
Hotel Wing itself is actually fairly easy to find, once you familiarise yourself with the area. It is actually opposite the Yokohama Stadium where I guess there'd been a baseball game this afternoon as I saw lots of fans in variations of blue and white shirts leaving the stadium and entering the station as I was going the opposite way:
The hotel itself is very nice, and just like when I arrived in Busan it took about five or so minutes to take everything in and figure out what was what:
Now as well as being well known for its technology and it's food, Japan is also notorious for it's toilets.... yes I'm going to go there.
Perhaps the most fascinating thing about my room is the toilet itself - maybe that says a lot about me. Essentially when you sit down on it, there is a little remote control to the right hand side which allows you to set the water flow and also clean yourself after you've finished. It even has a special setting for water temperature, water velocity and also for males and females.....
After that had entertained me I decided to go out for a little walk to familiarise myself with the area, and as I was looking at a map, one of the receptionists came along and offered to guide me through where the best place to go was. He said if I keep walking in a straight line I will get to the international pier and as he saw me with my camera over my shoulder he said that would be a great place to start.
Stopping at a shop on the way to grab a snack I got to the pier which seemed to be where quite a few people were heading. As it's an international pier, I figure it gets quite a lot of traffic coming in from elsewhere in Japan and perhaps even Asia, but I was more concentrated on the spectacular view which was in front of me as I looked across the waterfront:
I haven't even checked to see what these buildings are as yet I just know that they looked superb from different angles:
Advancing from there, there was a large structure which was actually in the shape of a ferry cruiser which allows you to get an even better view out over the waterfront itself, and made it look even better:
There were quite a few people standing on there admiring how great everything looked and I took around the whole thing as people sat around and enjoyed coffee and food whilst staring out at the beautiful sunset:
Already I was very impressed by Yokohama and as I walked back to my hotel I began looking for somewhere to eat.
I found a little restaurant just near to where I am staying which appeared to have a few people in there eating alone which I thought might bode well for me.
Language is always a bit of an issue when it comes to ordering food as I'm usually reliant on pointing and head nods and shakes to get my point across, but what was fabulous about this place was that it was almost entirely automated. There was a little kitchen at the back where the food was cooked and brought out to you, but essentially I ordered by dinner on the computer at the front of the restaurant and then sat down on a long bench waiting for the lady to take my ticket.
Within about three minutes she returned with a plate of food as I started tucking in to a well-deserved meal after a long day.
I felt like a special moment arriving in Japan, and I really hope that this eagerly anticipated stop on my stay can be even better than I expected - I have a good feeling about it already....
Let's Get Started
All Saints (1997)
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