Nikko

I spent the past few days traveling from Nikko to Tokyo, then from Tokyo to Kyoto…….not fun. About 11 hours in trains, and several hours walking from Hostel to Hostel. Thanks to two japanese girls who decided to help me along the way I made it to Kyoto. I was sitting on one of the first trains that I caught out of Tokyo, it had stopped just outside of town, and everyone got off. I thought that I had gotten on the train to Kyoto and all that I needed to do was sit on the same train and wait out the 9 hour trip. So there I sat for a few minutes, knowing that something was not right but not knowing what to do next. So I got up, waked outside the train without my packs, and tried to desipher the train schedule on the poster. That didn’t work so I went back to my pack and sat down when two japanese girls came up to me, one plump and one skinny. When I say plump, I mean healthy, not american plump. There aren’t any fat japanese, not like in the US. I have been here for 9 days now and I have seen maybe 10 fat Japanese. The first ones that I say were in Nikko at this fancy european hotel that served a buffet american style. This girl Julie, a canadian that I kept running into, and myself on a journey to find food, found this place and tried to get in but we couldn’t without staying in the hotel. So ironically, this was my first encounter with a fat japanese family. The whole family!!! I have seen a few sumo wrestling looking young boys but they still aren’t obese, only healthly plump. That’s why the life expectancy here is 85 years old.

So anyways, back to my story. “Do you need help?” the plump one asked. “I saw you get on in Tokyo and I don’t think that you want to go back to Tokyo. This train is going back to Tokyo. ” ウェてィsいsj。っ　てィ(I hit the wrong button on the computer and it started typing in Japanese. So this is what it looks like and this is what you see and what I get to look at most of the time when I am looking for something on a map, in the subway, trains, ect. ) “And I don’t think you are wanting to return to Tokyo.” Slinny girl laughs shyly. “So am not sure, but do you ……where are you going?” ” Kyoto,” I say. “Ohhhhh,” looking around “you need other train. Is it ok that I help you? Because sometimes people don’t want help.” “No,No, I say, you can help me all you want, I need it, “I say .

So anyway, I am not really sure why I decided to write that story book style, but the long and short of this story is that we were on the same trains for a few hours together, and they saved my ass from making this already long journey even longer. The plump one lived in Canada for a year and could speak fairly good english, her friend, very little. They were on a two day vacation to Hamamatsu to eat its famous eel, unagi. They got on their phones and down loaded the train schedules for all of the trains that I was going to hop on and off til Kyoto and let me use their cell phones to call the hostels (which were all booked). Whoooew.

Now I am in Kyoto, paid out the nose for a place to stay last night, and now I am sitting at the cheapest hostel’s computer waiting for check-in. I walked clear across town to get here this morning, toe still red and pissed off, legs still rubbing, and knee very sore. But I wanted cheap living and cheap living is what I have. This place in three levels of dorm, each level one large room with 30 bunk style beds with sheets separating the beds. Sleeping, well lets hope that happens. The keys on this com@uter are horrible and keep sticking, making my already clumsy tpying a real pain. Plus there are extra keys and some of the keys punctuations are in completely different spots.

So, last night, I went walking and found the coolest little restaurant. The two japanese girls gave me some japanese words for food to try and so I went in and ordered what I had written down. The guy was chinese, and very eager to please me, so he started chopping and frying, and I kept motioning for him to bring more. It was the best food that I have had yet. I knew the word for chicken, so when I asked for momo, chicken, he would ask questions, I would just shrug, smile, and motion to bring it. He would keep asking and I would keep shrugging, and then the food started showing up. A chicken cucumber salad with herbs and sauce, fried chichen nuggets breaded with ginger, onions, garlic and who knows, rice, and these great pot stickers with some sort of crepe batter suspending them individually seperate but all together. I would give him the thumbs up,,,,,,,verrrry nice, he would say,…….very very nice, I would say……..several bows, he would do,,,,,,,,verrrry nice, big smile and more bows topping off my beer…..and then the next plate. He wants me to come back every night…….big smile, bow bow…….I probably will.