plus qu’hier moins que demain

 4 hours.

That was how long we took to get to Nick’s Yoyogi Youth Hostel from Narita airport.

At least it was not the 6 hours which sister took the previous time. -__-” 

The initial bit was alright. I was filled with confidence as we took the Airport Express to Tokyo station [even though we nearly missed the train and had to run rather unglamorously for it - bags flying messy hair and all that]. And then it went downhill all the way from there. If it was a real Amazing Race reality show, we would have been trashed really badly but been given points for sheer determination and comic relief.

But what an adventure we had! 

The station was a maze. Apparently it is the busiest station in Japan with multiple platforms and lines. Sister and I were like lost little sheep being herded and pushed around randomly by the crowd. There were like, 3578 different train lines and we kept hopping on and off trains while trying to figure out if we-were-on-the-right-train-line-if-the-train-was-going-to-the-right-direction-if-we-were-merely-going-back-and-forth-if-we-should-get-off-now-or-later-to-change-to-another-train.

There were a few times when we hopped off trains only to end up at Kanda station over and over again, and sister quipped, “I’m experiencing deja vu… ever heard of Groundhogs Day?”, much to my amusement.

In another incident, sister and I boarded a train only to look at the train-stops map [in the train] when we heard a final-sounding quiet click of the train doors behind us. We silently glanced at each other through the corner of our very wide eyes before bursting into giggles.

It was hilarious. Even the two japanese men near us in the train were laughing quietly at us.

We spotted a really long queue. What were they queuing up for?

 Krispy Kreme!!! I didn’t know there were KK donuts outlets in Nihon! But the waiting time was c-r-a-z-y, so forget it.

Finally! The very ulu Sangubashi station where Yoyogi Hostel is situated near!

So we were at our last lap on finding the Aiyoyo!-gi Hostel [term coined by me], and we just couldn’t find the place [when the north entrance was, all the while, merely about 10 metres away] and when we finally found it, there was a note which said it was closed and please go to the south entrance thank you very much and sorry for the inconvenience. Arghh.. Sister and I dutifully trooped off to the elusive south entrance, which we thought would be close by, but little did we know that the hostel was the size of, say, maybe 200 football fields. Great.

We were faced with the unforgiving neverending great Wall of Yoyogi Hostel, akin to the wall surrounding Wall in Stardust.

Sister and I frittered around at Yoyogi Hostel for an hour or so before dumping out bags outside the rooms of the NUS floorballers and setting off to experience Nihon the right way.

 Just one small section of the horrible Aiyoyo!-gi Hostel.

Our itinerary was a very ambitious one. Anyone who knew about it or saw our schedule has two reactions - incredulity/flabbergastation, and then amusement. Schedule for the first day in Tokyo would be Harajuku, Shinjuku and Shibuya.

It was already mid-afternoon when we walked through the grounds of Meiji Shrine to get to Harajuku. The place was quiet even though there were a number of people around.

The entrance to Meiji Jingu, like, finally can??

Lanterns on the grounds of Meiji Jingu. 

Different types of wine.

The inner shrine itself. Pardon the blurred shot, I think I was too tired by then. Hur hur.

There were sharmans [I have been reading too much 'Buffy'] prayers going on when we reached the inner shrine.

I’d wanted to write my wishes on those wooden thingies but decided to do it in Kyoto instead. In the end, I never got the chance to do it due to time constraints. :( 

 Those wooden thingies.

A charm shop where we stopped by to buy some charms for friends. I bought one for myself as well, a charm for good luck in love, but gave it away before the trip ended.

Sister and I were surprised to see cosplayers at Harajuku as 1) it was not a weekend, 2) it was winter, and 3) New Year was approaching and most of them should have gone back to their hometowns and stuff.

Introducing the Harajuku cosplayers [I was too shy to ask them to pose for pictures, thus the secret paparazzi shots]:

This is for Luvphobia - your pretty sweet kawaii Nihon-jin!

Sister and I spent some time eating crepes [oishii!], shopping at Snoopytown and in the Harajuku area before we realised we had no time for Shinjuku and Shibuya. 

The crowded Harajuku shopping district.

A cute Christmas tree made up of toys and whatnots.

We followed sister’s friend, Bin, back to the hostel where we found out that we have dumped our bags outside the wrong rooms [-_-"]. Those peeps must have been wondering why there were strange bags outside their doors! Bin let us shower and use her lappy to communicate with our Tokyo host, and off we went, to meet Tomoyuki at Fuda station, Keio line.

s t a r m | s t January 13th, 2008

• about funnies , the lost traveller