second time around

I am heading for Australia this morning. It was exciting riding the subway to get to Nagoya for my train connection, during rush hour with a suitcase and knapsack, . My car didn’t have a map so I had to keep a close eye out for my transfer station as we were sardines in the can. Now I have a 24 hour run to get to Sydney and then tomorrow fly on to Cairns. Actually as I sit here delayed in Narita airport they have just put me on a different flight, so I will make my connection in Taipei to get to Sydney.

The time here has been great. I had a good flight into Tokyo and did an overnight at a hotel near the airport. Thursday morning I rode the trains and subways from Narita Airport to Toyota-shi to meet up with Daniel. He kept me waiting at the station for about four minutes and then we had some excellent curry dinner. Friday morning I got to go to his school and watch him in a couple of classes. The kids all giggled and pointed a lot, as they didn’t know I was coming and thought we looked alike. I guess all white guys look alike.

It has been a wonderful visit with the boy, and I have enjoyed Japan immensely. It has a different feel than China, more polite and friendly, more open and easy. The Chinese have a great deal of empty space between cities and then very dense, super high rises for miles in the city. The Japanese have spread out more evenly; taking the train across the country there isn’t a lot of completely empty space. Rather there is a continual view of small buildings, individual houses and fields of crops and gardens interspersed the whole way. We have been walking and train riding a lot each day, my feet are sore but it has been great. We checked out the Nagoya Castle and Park and the next day the Nagoya Port Aquarium. They had lots of Dolphin and some Beluga Whales.

Once again the weather is perfect. It is sunny and around 72 degrees with a nice cool breeze. Daniel did give me the bed and slept on the floor the first night. I think the floor was the softer of the two. His “mattress” is about 1/2 inch thick and is on a plywood base. I actually think the carpet on the floor is more padded. The next day as I came home early from his school I stopped in at the local store and invested in a housewarming gift for him of a new 7 cm. Foam mattress which he will enjoy once I leave and quit sleeping on it. I did let him have the “bed” back and am on the floor with my extra thick mattress! His apartment is 8+ feet wide and 25 feet deep. It is so well designed that it actually is very comfortable. The bed is elevated up a small ladder with shelves and a large closet underneath. The galley “kitchen” is very tiny, but has refrigerator with freezer, two burner stove, sink and cupboards. A small washing machine, toilet, shower and sink and entry way for removing shoes. It is a little snug for the two of us, but fortunately I travel light.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 4th, 2011 at 4:25 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.