I left Christchurch at the crack of dawn- nay, well before dawn. After dropping off the rental car, Adam and I said our goodbyes at the airport and then flew our separate ways. I flew to Auckland and there, my travels underwent a major shift from backpacking with brother to luxury with lover.
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NZ to Tokyo
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Josh, in all his points genius, booked me business class from Auckland to Tokyo so I got my first taste of comfort when I avoided a wait by checking into my flight in the special-people section. They gave me a pass to get passed the passport control lines. With all my extra minutes to spare before my flight, I went to the lounge for a morning snack that could be mistaken for breakfast.
The 10-hour flight was fine except I got really sick but then I took a nap and was okay afterwards. Otherwise, I watched movies, read, and picked at the meals they served to me on white linen. After landing in Tokyo, I had to contain my excitement because I wouldn't be seeing Josh for several hours until his flight from NY landed. I watched a movie on my phone (don't worry, Dad - it was on WiFi), wandered the airport, found an ATM, got directions to the hotel... and waited and waited and waited. FINALLY, Josh arrived (34 minutes later than scheduled) and cleared customs. I ran through the "do not cross this line" area to greet him. We both smelled gross from the planes but it was really nice anyway.
We changed our JR (Japan Rail) reservation for a pass and took the 2-hour train ride to the Park Hyatt Tokyo. By the time we got there, we were completely exhausted and barely appreciated the terrifically helpful staff with impressive English skills, the grand lobby on some ridiculously high floor, or the beautiful room with out-of-this-world views of the city. I took my first barefoot shower in a month. It was glorious.
Let me pause here to tell you about the hotel that we eventually did come to love. First, the toilets. There are 2 types of toilets in Japan - squat toilets and Western toilets. The squat toilet is basically a hole in the ground that looks like a buried, horizontal urinal. The Western toilet, which of course is what the Park Hyatt has, looks like a toilet that you find in the States but with a panel on the side that makes it do tricks. For instance, when you approach the toilet, an eye sees you and opens the seat. Then you sit down and enjoy the heated toilet seat that relaxes your tush. Finally, after your business is complete, there is a menu of spray options that you can choose from (or skip) to clean yourself. You can manipulate the pressure and position so it's perfectly customized before you turn off the spray and turn on the air to dry. Many public toilets also have a flush noise option to give you more privacy. Finally, you select from full or partial flush for water conservation. Don't worry if you're so overwhelmed by the toilets that you forget to flush. The toilet recognizes your disappearance and will flush and close the seat behind you. A toilet is surely an attraction worth seeing in its own right.
The service and hospitality was seriously first class. For our honeymoon, the hotel gifted us a bottle of champagne (classic) and a framed photo (a first). They actually had a photographer (or man with a camera who probably was not especially talented) take photos of us in the hotel and then they printed, framed and wrapped one for us! The staff was also extremely attentive. There was an employee waiting around every corner to escort or assist us. At the pool, we asked a question about the fitness center class schedule and the woman literally ran (at the pool, tisk tisk) to get us a schedule so we wouldn't have to wait an extra moment.
When I awoke from a full and restful night's sleep, we ordered our complementary room service cappuccinos. Minutes later, our coffees arrived and the server apologized for the wait. WHAT?!? We set out to explore Tokyo.
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| Park Hyatt Cappuccinos |
We navigated the trains to the Asakusa area and walked through shuk (market)-like narrow streets until we ended up at the Sanso-ji Shrine. We admired the shrine and I stopped for a Matcha (green tea) and bean ice pop. It was actually pretty good but more importantly a super refreshing reprieve from the oppressive heat and humidity. We watched the Shinto rituals people performed including washing one's hands and mouth at a fountain, burning incense, tossing coins into a receptacle, clapping twice and saying a short prayer.
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| Sansoji Shrine |
We journeyed on through a mostly residential area to the highly recommended Edo museum to learn about the Edo period. It was unfortunate that it wasn't until the end of our visit that we discovered that Edo was the former name of Tokyo. That would have helped. The museum was alright. The exhibits were interactive and varied but the explanations were lacking context so we didn't come away learning much. The air conditioning was terrific though!
We weakly stumbled along through the brutal heat to a vegan Indian cafe for a refueling. I pause here to offer my deepest gratitude to Google. Translate and Maps are lifesavers in Japan; [I highly recommend renting a personal WiFi device so that you always have access to your trusty companion.] After lunch and Japanese tea (basically every restaurant requires that you order both a food dish and a drink in order to sit down) we set off, walking through a charming little park along a stream to take the train to Tokyo Station.
A little too weary to go back outside and also because the train stations in Japan are insane combinations of train stations, shopping malls, food courts, and entire neighborhoods, we first wandered along the vast underground streets inside the station. There were tons of shops and restaurants that we couldn't possibly see them all in an entire day. Eventually, we surfaced and made our first attempt to see the Imperial Palace and gardens. Unfortunately, as we arrived at the outer gardens, we depleted our water supply and I was feeling so overheated and miserable that Josh suggested we turn around and save the Imperial Palace for another day. In an extraordinarily unlikely weak moment, I acquiesced and we gave up on the palace, just meters away.
Back at the hotel, we rode the elevator up endlessly until we reached the lobby, then took another 2 elevators through a a strange fancy multi-leveled maze to reach the spa, where we planned to cool off in the pool. I did not expect the gorgeous views of Tokyo that the pool offered. It was pretty incredible. The perfect end to a great first day.
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| Sansoji |
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| View from Park Hyatt Room |
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| View from Park Hyatt Room |
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