Ari's Planet

That is so much more dramatic than what really happened. I had a plan, and it didn:t happen. and why is the apostrophe somewhere weird on japanese keyboards. i give up on shift key. shift or get off the can. day started out great with morning visit to temple and traditional breakfast with the ryokan keeper. what was that sticky beans thing? i like the rest, but those beans... then tokyo national museum, which was interesting and not overwhelming as id feared. plan was to sign up with hostels (should have done at home), book a place outside tokyo, pickup bag, and go to new town.

what happened was: hostel main office closed 4th saturday; other hostel place closed until 5pm. it was hot. i had 1500Y left. no problem, if plenty of sweat. lots of atms in tokyo. only all three didnt like my cards. or credit cards. ok, minor problem, its saturday, where do i get dollars changed? remembered seeing citibank back at ginza district, but where? so just took train, looked around, there it was. simple enough, worked like a charm. got list of citibank atms. at least i requested a visa debit card. i really really want an hsbc account now.

money secured, but lightweight bag from mom broke open. uh oh. back to shinkuju, where i saw all those outdoors stores the other day. good chance to get a japanese phrase book. ah, the schlep. well, stores here have better inventory than us stores. bigger ramge of stuff. prices comparable. found bag, but phrasebook is really lame, not what i had hoped for, well it will have to do.

now, not having a reservation, i called around, but ended up back at the hostel in a room with ten beds (how many guys?) earplugs tonight.

should i fly straight out of beijing or toodle around a day or two before mongolia? i say go right out next morning. need to book flight and hotel. and hotel for tomorrow, havent made proper plan. maybe in am.

sayonara for tonight.