Tokyo
Trip Start
May 31, 2007
1
72
Trip End
Ongoing
Tokyo, Japan
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Since the last update we've left the US, reached Japan, and have found a (bizarre) place to update - a cheap, rentable all-night manga comic and internet 'booth' of the kind that some people here apparently live and sleep in.
We've got some catching up to do - this entry covers Toronto, Niagara, Seattle, the San Juan Islands and San Francisco - hope you enjoy!
Toronto:
It took a surprisingly long time to get to the Toronto coach station, but the scenery along the way was very appealing - trees with leaves of red, green and gold lined the road on both sides for almost the entire journey.
The low thrum of the bus was only broken by the occasional low muttering of the bus driver urging people to 'keep their laps clear of baggage', which was frankly unsettling. Once we finally arrived, Toronto had the appearance and atmosphere of a larger and more urbanised Montreal, with a similar feel and layout, but no signs in French.
We checked into the hostel and took to the streets for some nightime wandering - the city looked somehow bigger at night, with fully lit skyscrapers stretching up all around us. At one stage we passed one of a bunch of massive trailers by the side of the road, which on closer inspection proved to be accomodation for the 'Betty Ross Stunt Double' in the production of 'The Incredible Hulk 2' - this was as exciting as it sounds!
Toronto was a pretty interesting city in its own right, but we had also intended it to be a staging point for exploring Niagara falls, and a few days later we were onboard a small tour bus with a few likeminded touristy types.
Niagara:
The first stop was a remote Canadian winery that specialised in something called 'Icewine'. We had never heard of Icewine (to me it sounded like an obscure Norwegian metal band) but it turned out to be wine created from frozen/thawed/frozen grapes, apparently only able to be produced in a few locations in the world for reasons I didn't fully understand.
We all lined up for a tasting and all agreed that the wine was 'pretty good' (though I may not be the best judge - my wine expertise is limited to the abilty to pick a red wine from a white by its colour).
After what seemed an age, we were finally on approach to Niagara. The spray from the cascade reached high into the sky, throwing rainbows into the air that could be seen from a considerable way off. Helicopters buzzed high over the spray, and tour busses clogged the streets around the falls.
Niagara as a town was kind of like a mini Vegas, with wax museums, fast food places, tacky gift shops and other tourist traps of every size and shape. In short, the town of Niagara was awful. The falls however, were truly impressive, and we rashly decided to hop aboard one of the many boats that sail directly into the spray.
We joined a long line of tourists in order to get outfitted in a rain poncho that didn't look unlike a giant condom with 'Maid of the Mist' emblazoned on it, climbed aboard the ferry, and got underway. The ride consisted of a slow approach to the roar with some cheesy audio commentary thrown in, followed by a thorough drenching that lasted around 5 minutes - 5 minutes of blinding water and white noise. It was still pretty good.
We headed back to Toronto soaked but satisfied, and after exploring the city a bit more, took a coach to New York to await a flight to Seattle.
New York:
We decided to stay at what was apparently the biggest hostel in the US to save a bit of cash. This was housed in a huge former hospital that had a very creepy 'Silent Hill' vibe, particularly late at night while wandering echoing, empty corridors in search of a toilet.
While waiting to check in, a middle aged New Zealander in a Hawaiian shirt approached me in the line and confidentially informed me that he was a multi-millionaire in town to meet Bill Clinton and to present him with a plan to save the planet.
"Oh, haha..." I started, before realising that his face was a picture of complete seriousness. I quickly adjusted my own expression to one of the same gravity. "Oh, oh. Yes.." I said, slowly nodding and frowning, but it was too late. He had left to find a more receptive audience in the form of a worried-looking Korean girl two people back.
It was eventually time to fly to the west coast - to Seattle via Minneapolis - and after the usual security shenanigans at JFK airport, we were on our way.
Seattle:
We touched down in Seattle in the pouring rain and promptly met with Eb's cousin who was happy to see us. She drove us from the airport over the huge Lake Washington and pointed out the house of Bill Gates (well, the corner of the house) which was faintly visible among the thick trees that covered the shores of the lake.
Eventually we entered a heavily wooded suburb owned by Microsoft and seemingly populated almost exclusively by its employees. Small and large groups of programmers wandered the streets wearing scarves and carrying laptops, looking cold and jittery. Others raced past in Microsoft-badged sports cars.
We were staying with Eb's cousin while in Seattle, and were given the guided tour. We liked what we saw - the reds and golds of autumn combined with the evergreens, chilly conditions and weatherboard houses created a nice atmosphere. We also wandered over and took a tour of Microsoft, which proved to be interesting.
Seattle was a good city for walking, with the rest of the week spent taking extended walks around the city itself, visiting a market where the fish is literally thrown at shrieking customers and checking out the original Starbucks store, of which there are roughly 2 squillion in the downtown area alone.
The original Starbucks store didn't seem like much - the mermaid logo was different, it had a local feel - but the place seemed to have spread like a virus over Seattle. At one stage we stood in an intersection and counted 4 Starbucks stores in our line of sight alone. After Seattle, the joke about the new Starbucks opening in the bathroom of a Starbucks didn't seem so far-fetched.
Mount Vernon / San Juan Islands:
Eventually we decided to take a break from Seattle and head north to the small town of Mount Vernon to visit another of Eb's relatives. They were also happy to see us and graciously took us on a tour of the San Juan islands, a beautiful part of the country near the Canadian border.
It was here we learnt of the little-known 'War of the Pig' between America and England. Apparently an escalation of tensions between English and American settlers in the region resulted in the shooting of an English settlers' pig by an American, which triggered the military on both sides to set up opposing camps and await a declaration of war.
The declaration never came, and 20 years later the English went home. I'm not sure why this exciting piece of history hasn't been given the Hollywood blockbuster treatment, but I:m pretty sure the script would write itself.
We wandered around charming hamlets such as Friday Harbour and took a relaxing ferry cruise around more of the San Juan islands, some of which were apparently privately owned. The islands themselves were often teeming with wildlife, and we saw more animals here that at any other time on the trip.
After bidding Eb's relatives farewell, we boarded a plane and headed to warm, sunny San Francisco.
San Francisco:
We arrived fairly late at San Francisco airport, and began the long train ride to the hostel. We had booked a place near the center of town, near a slum area with the memorable name of the 'Tenderloin District'. Tenderloin appeared as if some sort of guerilla warfare had recently occured there - the area was all trashed tenements, police tape and scary hobos. After warming our hands over a flaming barrel, we resolved to move accomodation as soon as possible.
The nicer areas of San Francisco had a strangely familiar look - the steep streets and tramcars served as the backdrop a lot of 70's Hollywood flicks that sprang to mind as we strolled up and down the exhaustingly angled hills.
We took a few pics of Alcatraz off the coast, wandered up past the docks and were particularly impressed by the sight of the Golden Gate bridge - the scale of which we hadn't realised until we were up close. A low haze hung over it in the afternoon sun as it stretched off across the bay.
After a day or two of walking around and checking out the sights, we decided to move to a motel-looking hotel constantly soaked in California sunshine a little closer to the airport. The place was run by a relentlessly cheerful guy who seemed to have originally modelled his look on Don Johnson from 'Miami Vice' and decided to stick with it. He was a wealth of information about the area, and we took several relaxing walks on his advice.
In no time at all it was time to fly out again. After going through security twice due to a ticketing error we were on our way. We seated ourselves, and found that for the 11 hour flight we were seated next to a hyperactive child who proceeded to kick his tray table, slide under his seat, screech, slap his seat-screen, and generally get into 'monkey shines', as the elderly woman next to us would no doubt have called them.
After about 3 hours of this, we were silently wondering whether anyone would notice if we jettisoned him out of an airlock. With an hour to go till we landed, he threw up his airline 'Western Style' meal lavishly in the lap of his mother, then fell into a deep slumber during the last 10 minute taxi down the runway to the gate. At least we were in Japan.
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Thanks for reading this stuff once again. Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji and Nara are (hopefully) coming up soon, as written by Eb. Cheers!
