Our flight to Tokyo Haneda from Malaysia was so smooth and uneventful...I watched some fun movies and then we were there. What that did was lull us into thinking everything was going to go smoothly...Ha! By the time we got through immigration, to the train and to the door of our Air B&B it was nearly midnight, but that was as we'd expected. That should not have been an issue as we had full instructions from our host on what to do. But there was no key where it was supposed to be!! Both of us were pretty tired and chilly by this point as it was 48° or 9°c which is the opposite of Malaysia where we'd been earlier in the day.
We waited a bit after messaging them and then I phoned a nearby hotel. Thankful for the Google maps! Since they said they had rooms for $100 we headed that way...as we were walking Kim asks me ‘is this the one?’ I look up and say no but let's see what they have... 5 minutes and $50 later we have our own small business hotel room 'APA Hotels' and are crashing out for the night.
Woke in the morning to a message about how Airbnb is having an issue with their site and double booked the unit. Getting our money back was no problem. ..it was the stranded in a strange city at midnight that I take issue with. Kim and I are such relaxed travelers that neither of us got even a bit worked up, but we may steer clear of using Airbnb in the future, at least for places we are getting to late or ones where hotels can be tricky or expensive to find in a pinch.
So we extended our room at the APA hotel to cover the days we needed. We spent a little time finding an obscure desk in a Bic Camera department store to grab some discount tourist passes for the metro. Since it cost us $2 each just to get the one trip to the department store it seems the $15each for 72 hours unlimited is a steal!
It had originally been our intention to go to Tokyo Disney but between sorting the room and getting our bearings on the metro we decided to push it to Monday. On my friend May's suggestion we headed to the Harajuku district.
Once there, we walked the Omotesando shopping street which is Tokyo’s ‘Champs Elysées’ and back via the Takeshita teen street which felt much like a cross between SF’s Haight street and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (or Brighton) with all it's candy, ice cream and other sweets shops.
We wandered into a little alley following a food sign and ended up having a yummy ‘make it yourself lunch’ of Okonomiyaki and Monjayaki.
After that we walked Yoyogi park and meandered around the Meiji shrine.
To round out the night we had ramen in the Tokyo station at ‘Ramen Street’. It was a fun gamble and even though we guessed wrong as to what kind we were getting...it was so good we didn't care that we were having Shio (Salt soup broth) instead of the Tonkatsu (bone broth) we were trying for. Each little Shop specializes in a particular kind, and you buy a ticket at a vending machine by the door. When they have a seat and your ramen is close to ready they seat you. You are expected to slurp loudly to show appreciation, which is difficult for those of us taught to eat quietly and now choke and cough when attempting to emulate the locals! Also, you are supposed to eat fairly quickly and no lingering... when done, vacate the seat for the next patron.
Phone says 18,704 steps/ 8 miles...tired feets
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