Yokohama Japan
Friday
21st October 2016
Unfortunately,
I woke up a lot earlier than I wanted to due to the fact guests on the floor
above were making quite a bit of noise; it didn’t stop me from having a good
night sleep though so I was still fresh as a daisy. This was the morning Craig
and I would move on from this wonderful place as we would be taking the trip to
our last place of the whole trip; Yokohama. Yet again, I was the first one to
enter the lobby area without fail. Moments later, the people that were making
all the noise came down and straight out of the building looking quite wrapped
up as though they were on their way to climb Mt. Fuji. The next person to walk
through was Michal who brought her own breakfast to the table. We soon began in
conversation about our plans and travels today until she had to leave.
A
long moment went by until Marino walked through the door with me saying good
morning to her and she had stated that she had seen Craig and I at the lake
yesterday looking pretty tired. She claimed she recognised the bikes first and
then us two Geordies. We were both talking for quite a long while until Craig
walked in. He made himself a coffee and began acting himself with his Barry
White impressions and Geordie chav accent spoiling the tranquillity of the
place. We were going over our next destination and its directions that turned
out to become very easy to find; famous last words.
Making
sure we had the precise location marked on Craig’s offline map, we could relax
at least for a moment longer. Eventually it was time to pack the last remaining
items for the journey and soon entered into the lobby with all our belongings.
There was still time to take a group photo of Craig, Marino and me making a
peace sign with our fingers. Finally, it was Craig’s moment to shine with his
full comprehensive review of the hostel. He mentally prepared himself for this moment
of writing in the guestbook and for once, he wrote a well-detailed review. Of
course, I had to add at the end ‘this place is canny’.
Unfortunately,
it was time to leave the wonderful place we called home for a few nights and
so, we grabbed all our belongings and headed out the front door where Marino
was waiting for us to bid us farewell, or see you later to put it better. We
both received a hug from her. We headed straight to Fujisan station that was
only a few minutes away and along the way; we had seen yet another perfect
image of Mt. Fuji breaking through the dense clouds with a large stone Japanese
archway at the centre. Craig decided to risk life and limb to get this shot as
he stood in the middle of the road.
Eventually,
we made it in one piece to the station easily finding our way around the area.
We had to purchase our tickets on this train, as this was not a JR train. We
were heading to a place called ‘Otsuki’ station that was far north of Fujisan
and linked with the chuo line bound for Tokyo.
For
now though, we quickly made it to the platform and in no time at all, our train
had arrived. It looked very old once the doors opened due to the fact it had a
varnished wooden floor. Once we were aboard and got moving, it sounded as
though the whole train was rattling and holding on tight to the tracks. We
didn’t care though as we enjoyed the experience; so long as it got us to our
destination, it didn’t matter. The views however were spectacular and most of
the journey involved the breathtaking Mt. Fuji. Then, it disappeared behind the
close by mountains.
The
journey really didn’t seem that long even though the train was quite slow but
we soon made it to Otsuki station. We took our time leaving the platform
looking for the connecting train to Tokyo but as we squeezed our way through
the ever-growing crowd, we stumbled across the correct platform for the start
of the chuo line. We were accustomed to this train as we mainly used it during
our time in Tokyo but with this being the start of the line, we were still in
for a very long tireless journey to Tokyo.
Time
passed until we boarded the familiar train in an empty carriage for once but
deep down I knew further along the route the amount of people would build up.
The first quarter of the long journey had the best views of forests, hills and
fast flowing rivers. As expected, with each station we stopped at, people would
board the train clogging the emptiness but still it wasn’t jam packed; this made
the journey more enjoyable. Soon I had the thought that we would soon be
heading for Tachikawa station, which we used during our first stay in Japan
just over two weeks ago.
Over
time, the train would fill up especially when we stopped at Tachikawa. The once
quiet aisle became full of people and as the stations went by, I eventually had
to give up my seat for an old woman. Time went on until finally after two hours
of riding this train, brought us to Tokyo station. We left the train
immediately joining the busy crowd making our way to the bakery near the south
exit of the station. It truly felt weird witnessing the transition from the
quiet sights of Mt. Fuji to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo.
Finally,
we sat outside the bakers as we took turns entering the shop grabbing some
delicious food. As I received my bill and paid, I spoke Japanese to the worker
saying ‘Have a nice day’ and the workers did a type of school girl laugh which
I found quite funny. With our food in front of us, we ate in silence watching
on at everyone frantically pacing up and down the station.
Quite
often, I would look on at specific people and wonder where they were heading to
or where they had come from to be here. Time passed on, we had to figure a way
to get to our next destination. We soon realised that it wasn’t going to be
easier than we thought as the host lived in an out of the way area above
Yokohama which no JR line could reach. Therefore, we had to go to the
information desk to figure something out. We received the information we needed
and it meant we had to board another three trains to get even close to our
destination. I could see Craig was becoming tired with his heavy rucksack over
his shoulders plus, the thought of riding on another three trains.
We
had to leave Tokyo using JR line subways and then the next two trains we had to
pay for. The only positive side about the last two trains were that we were
only on them for at least five to ten minutes. Between both stations was a
small walk but with our rucksacks, it seemed longer. Our last station was
‘Takata’ station and it was a relief to arrive with no more trains to ride this
day. However, the next part would prove the most difficult for us, as we didn’t
have the greatest instructions in the world to get to our destination.
Craig
had pinpointed the area we had to be at but again it wasn’t enough information
so instead, we just headed to the pinpointed area hoping we would stumble upon
the place. We had to climb up a very steep hill in vain where we ended back on
the main street. As we were searching for the right route, I turned around and
just happened to notice a large family peering through their kitchen window at
the sight of us as though we were aliens landing on their housing estate. I
gave them a friendly wave and they all responded with a bashful wave back and
laughter.
We
seemed to be wandering around at this point like headless chickens therefore;
we had no choice but to ring the host to help us out. He eventually answered
his phone and I tried to explain where we were to him but he didn’t seem to
know himself the place I was stating. Suddenly, he picked out the place we were
standing and successfully managed to guide us to his place. What a relief it
was finally locating the apartment block and we soon grabbed the key and
entered his nice quaint living area. He was at work so we had the whole
apartment to ourselves. We were eager to place our heavy rucksacks down and
head back out to explore the area; and we were hungry too.
We
immediately headed back to the main street and came across a restaurant called
‘Fujiya’ restaurant. It looked like a typical American diner on the outside so
it looked very inviting plus, the fact there was a nice selection of cakes and
decorations at the glass counter. It definitely made us want to walk in and
immediately we were greeted by the friendly staff.
We
were escorted to our table and were surprised to find hot food on the menu as
we originally thought this place was cake/dessert based place. We ordered a
lovely spread of food and spent the waiting time laughing and joking once more.
We were also surprised about the different flavours of Coca Cola they had to
offer which were orange, apple and my favourite was grape; incredible. Our food
was incredible too and then we could hear a happy birthday song over at the
opposite side of the restaurant.
Then
a large group of family sitting close to us had a birthday song played to their
one-year-old twins. The twins were looking over at us intrigued about our
appearance as we waved at them; of course, they were bashful which made
everyone laugh. Time went on through the evening as our table was filled with
empty plates of dessert; it was time to pay up and leave.
As
soon as we exited the building, we headed off along the main streets of ‘Higashi
Yamatacho’ to see what was in the area. To be honest, it was an area full of
car manufacturers from BMW, Volvo, Toyota as well as Kanazawa motorbikes. We
walked on for the next 30 minutes until we ran out of things to see. Therefore,
we took the walk back to the apartment again laughing and talking away. Once we
returned, we sat in our shared room relaxing and getting used to our
surroundings and then, the host came into the apartment.
His
name was ‘Tsubasa’ and he had just returned from his job as an entrepreneur. He
spoke very good English despite his Air-BNB intro being vague about liking
tomato, beer and hot stuff. He offered us a type of sweet-based cake that we
ate and enjoyed straight away; as though we hadn’t ate for days. He then rushed
off to grab our bed sheets persistent he would put them on for us. He seemed to
know what he was doing so we watched on as he was asking us questions about our
time in Japan.
He
spent the next 15-20 minutes preparing our beds with a bit of difficulty but he
managed. With everything now prepared, we could all relax having a long
conversation about everything funny and serious. Time went on with us not
realising how late it was so it was time for lights out hoping for a pleasant
night’s sleep. As there were two separate beds with one of them being more
comfortable than the other, we decided to play rock, paper and scissors to see
who got the better bed for the first night; I won.
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