Yokohama, Mt Takao and Nikko

I won't try to explain myself...everyone already knows what a terrible blogger I am...
lets just pick up where I left off, shall we?

So, Yokohama--After getting a bit lost finding my bus at Yokohama Station I made my way to the Sankeien Garden--a lovely park surrounding a pond which is filled with Meiji-era houses, shrines, tea houses and a pagoda. Though it was raining when I got to Yokohama it cleared by the time I got to the Gardens so I was able to enjoy my leisurely stroll. It was one of the loveliest places I have visited in Japan and I spent nearly 2 hours exploring. Of all of the places I have visited in Japan, I think my mother would have liked the Gardens the best. There were tons of routes through the gardens and lots of beautiful architecture and landscaping to admire.
After the Gardens I traveled to the other side of Yokohama to go to the Ramen Museum, which was a bit of a disappointment. The museum was less of a museum and more of a collection of ramen restaurants (yes people pay admission to this place, stand in line and pay again for their meal). The entire museum was designed to look like a 1950s era Tokyo neighborhood complete with candy carts and dry goods stores and staff members dressed in era-appropriate costumes. I suppose it was pretty cool--but it would have been a lot better if I could actually eat ramen (all ramen broth is meat-based).
After the Ramen Museum I made my way to the famed Yokohama Chinatown. The Chinatown in Yokohama is one of the biggest in all of Japan--but having gone to S.F.'s Chinatown nearly every summer, this Chinatown was a bit of a disappointment also. Trendy shops (Chinese and otherwise) and Tourist Gift Shops were everywhere and surprisingly few restaurants. Everything there was quite expensive (unlike my Chinatown back home) and when the rain started to come down I had no qualms about leaving.
My last stop in Yokohama was to Minato Mirai 21, basically the Yokohama boardwalk area. I wanted to go up to the observation deck of the Landmark Tower and was surprised to discover that the only way to get up was via the second fastest elevator in the world (traveling at 41 ft/s)--we reached the 69th floor in 40 seconds! In the observation deck they had a ton of aquariums, creating an interesting view of Yokohama. The view is much darker than the one from the Tokyo Tower, but seeing the lights from Minato Mirai 21 reflected on the Pacific Ocean was absolutely gorgeous.
After I got out of the Landmark tower (and after getting a bit lost finding my way back to the exit) I walked around Minato Mirai 21 a bit. By this time it was very late and most of the attractions on the pier had closed, but Minato Mirari 21 at night is simply beautiful. I wish I could have shared the experience with someone else--it is times like this that I feel most lonely here in Japan.
Though things didn't go exactly as I had envisioned, I had a wonderful time in Yokohama. The weather was cooler, the sites were lovely and being near the ocean was one of the highlights of my week.

That Wednesday (August 5th) The Tokyo American Club had a Staff Appreciation Day allowing Brittney and I a mid-week vacation. Brittney and Shu headed off for Tokyo Disney Sea and I decided to spend the day climbing Mt Takao. Mt Takao is a small mountain only 50 minutes by semi-express train out of Tokyo, Ryan recommended it to me and I am certainly glad I heeded his advice! Despite being so close to the city, being at Mt. Takao was like being back in Kyoto--green landscapes, cooler weather and lovely shrines. When I arrived at the foot of the mountain I decided to take a chairlift halfway up. It was my first time being in a chair lift and I enjoyed the experience immensely (though I was a bit freaked out--I felt like I was going to fall down constantly!). The climb to Mt. Takao's summit was quite easy and looped around buddhist and shinto shrines--it only took me about an hour and a half to reach the summit. Supposedly, on a clear day, one can even see Mt Fuji--but on Wednesday the skies were cloudy and nothing could be seen except the valley below.
After summiting I decided to have lunch at a restaurant near the summit. After conversing with the owner I was able to order and entirely vegetarian lunch consisiting of rice, pickled vegetables, miso soup and a sticky white vegetable dish that had absolutely zero taste. The meal wasn't unpleasant--but it was probably one of the strangest meals I have had in Japan. (If anyone knows what this mystery dish is please tell me!)
After finishing lunch I decided to climb down to the chair lift using a different path from the one I took up. I chose a path that spiraled down from the summit and joined with my previous path. I walked down the path at a bit of a jog. After about 30 minutes of descending I discovered that the path I was taking had been roped off (the rain from previous days had washed the path away) and I was forced to climb back to the summit of the mountain. By the time I summited again I was starting to get very tired. I decided to take the shortest route back to the chair lift to go home. The path I chose was very steep and had a lot of stairs (you will discover when you come to Japan that there are ALWAYS stairs) but initially didn't seem too difficult. Unfortunately the path became muddier and muddier and Aree the genius decided to wear strappy sandals to climb a mountain. After 40 minutes slogging through the mud I slipped and slid down a particularly rocky and muddy section. Bruised and covered with mud on my backside, I more cautiously climbed down the mountain. A descent that should have only taken 45 minutes max ended up taking me 2 hours.
By the time I reached the bottom of the mountain many of the stores in the area were beginning to close. The chair lift had given me time to rest, and I wasn't ready to end my day just yet. I decided t climb back up the mountain a bit to see Biwa Falls, a famous waterfall that many pilgrims meditate under. I followed the river up the mountain on a rocky and slippery trail. Biwa falls ended up being a rather small waterfall with a shrine attached that was closed. Going through the shrine was the only way to get a close look at the falls and I had missed my opportunity. Tired and rather disappointed I walked back to the train station.
When I got on the train I fell asleep nearly immediately. When I woke up a hour later and was still far away from Tokyo, I realized that I had accidentally boarded a local train instead of a semi-express. A one hour trip became a 2 and a half hour trip. I came home exhausted and collapsed into bed. Despite all of the things that went wrong I still had a great time. I have decided that in travel things will never go according to plan and so it is always good to keep an open mind, remain optimistic and to try to be as flexible as possible. I tried not to let all of the bad things prevent me from having a good time, and at the end of the day I have no regrets about leaving the safety of the apartment.

I will talk about my weekend trip to lovely Nikko in my next post (as well as my reaction to Shinjuku).

Peace like a river~

P.S. I will try to post pics soon!!

Yokohama Today!

It is approximately 9:18 in the morning here in Tokyo. I just woke up about a half hour ago and will be showering soon. Today I am going to explore Yokohama! Unfortunately, it is raining--hopefully everything will be fine.
I didn't make it to Tsukiji this morning because I slept through all 5 of my alarms (only me)...I will have to try to go on Wednesday before I go to Mt Takao/Hakone (I haven't decided which yet).
Yesterday was a bust--I got up too late to go anywhere, DARN! I stayed home and relaxed--it was actually quite pleasant.
I'm off!