We simply could not get to sleep and gave up after the best part of an hour, resorting to a brutal beany pillow fight which we had to stop for fear of doing one of us some real injury or breaking something in the room.
So we got up and played a few games of bao, with me wearing my kimono, but after polishing off my chocolate I had to try to sleep again as I was shaking with lack of sugar or salt or sleep... Bao works better than counting sheep mind, I was asleep in minutes!
After pressing snooze four times I got myself up for the first time since arriving in Tokyo and showered ready to leave the hotel. We checked out of the Dai Ichi Inn and left our backpacks strewn across reception floor under a fishing net.
Armed with twenty odd camera films and a further 5 hours of recorded tapes we took the JR line to Shinjuku station, after a wee while establishing where to purchase tickets from and where to get the train. Following our usual form of directional strolling we observed Ian's micro compass on his wrist watch and headed southwest. We immediately reached the Takashimaya department store and I asked at the information desk for guidance to the Shinjuku Centre building, evidently the only building in the area that wasn't identified on our tourist map. I was glad I asked, for when we reached it the only reference to the building was in Japanese Kanji. We wouldn't have stood a chance without the new map that coincidentally was in Japanese, allowing us to reconcile the pretty shapes on the building to that on the map, apparently translating to Shinjuku Centre building. On enquiring as to the location of FedEx within the building I was redirected downstairs where we found them almost immediately. The next 30 minutes was spent filling in forms and correcting those forms, for each different FedEx office, in each different country, completes the forms in different ways, frustratingly. I'm always bemused by this. It would be better though if the clerk completed the forms with your responses to their questions and forced you to sign the documents on completion.
Satisfied that yet another consignment of films is racing us around the world, albeit at an extortionate cost, we had a measly lunch and returned to Ikebukuro. There we entered the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space and rode the very long escalator to its summit which took a whole 90 seconds. Deferred by the entry fee into the exhibition we took the lift back to ground level before wandering off to the largest Toyota showroom where we spent the next hour or so.
After staring at the joint Japanese and German racing Nissan Skyline yesterday we dutifully stared at the Toyota formula one car today before playing the consumer role to our advantage trying out the majority of the driving seats of Toyota's latest models and observing the concept car, Pod. Ian was rather taken by the four wheel drive monsters, in particular the Prado, which was very nice. Most of the interior of most of the cars striked me as being rather cheap, except for the very tasty Soarer, which was too small for Ian, but it would have suited me just fine, being that much smaller than he.
Back at the Dai Ichi Inn we retrieved our luggage from the fishing net and declined the offer of the receptionist to reverse the direction of the one way escalator to take us down to street level.
On many occasions, yesterday and today, I had suggested to Ian that he withdraw some more money to pay for the shuttle bus to Narita International Airport. As he still hadn't achieved this by the time we returned to the Dai Ichi Inn I suggested he asks the hotel to process a visa transaction thus providing us with cash to pay for the transport. 'No, there will be banks' he optimistically declared. Okay... On the way to our shuttle bus pickup he placed his card into four or five cash machines, most of them displaying the visa logo, but none of them recognised his card. When we reached the pickup point we dumped our bags and I sent Ian off in search of a working cash machine. The bus arrived and Ian reappeard, unable to find a working ATM in the 20 minutes that he had been searching and called on the aid of the concierge. Ian and the concierge then disappeared into the hotel plaza by the pickup point and the bus remained in the road. 10 minutes later our bags were stowed onboard and Ian came sprinting out of the plaza to join me on the bus bound for Narita International Airport, having had to undergo some frustrating transactions involving a foreign currency exchange.
An hour later we checked in at Narita International Airport. Both of us had undergone extensive manual searching of our backpacks despite them being x-rayed. However, I think I was let off lighter than Ian this time, the woman who searched his bag removed everything and failed to repack it quite the same way. When we checked in we discovered that another of our flight tickets was incorrect and our 20:00 plane was due to leave at 19:30. We were due at the gate almost immediately and were due to board at 18:45, only 25 minutes from our passage through to immigration control.
We departed at 19:40 local time, 11:40 BST, and had a very smooth pleasant flight onboard the Boeing 777 until after watching two films on my personal screen, 'The Princess Diary' followed by 'Unfaithful'. The newer planes are providing a much better service, even to economy class passengers! When the second film finished I tried to close my eyes and gain some rest which is when the plane decided to bounce around a bit, until after we had crossed the international dateline and we began to repeat the day, albeit in different circumstances.
Having spent two weeks covered up now I realise I have lost my sun tan! I had had no sleep, no rest during the flight, and soon after I clambered back into my seat having climbed over Ian to use the toilet, and in my attempt to close an overhead locker which had fallen open had woken two people in the process, the lights were on in the cabin and breakfast was served. At the same time I wanted to be in the cockpit as the most stunning sunrise was painting the horizon the most amazing, striking colours as we continued our journey eastbound. A cue for our cameras if ever we had one...
As we descended and banked over Pearl Harbour on our approach into Hawaii I was looking out over the island of Oahu and listening to Coldplay. I couldn't refrain from allowing the smile to creep broadly across my face! We arrived in Honolulu at 07:06 local time, 18:06 BST, and in the space of 6 hours 26 minutes we had effectively fallen back 12 hours from our departure point, which is very confusing but at least we have now reclaimed our lost day from when we travelled to the South Pacific five months ago!
We quickly passed through immigration and customs and perched for a moment to think about a vague plan. We needed to sit with a hot drink and read our guide book but Honolulu International Airport didn't offer us such amenities. We mooched around, established contact with England again and waited for the shuttle bus to Waikiki, having decided not to rent a car on Oahu.
The bus made its way to Waikiki, slowly through the solid seven lanes of traffic, and soon enough we were checking into the Big Surf condos which are slightly reminiscent of the Lara apartments in Lido di Jesolo, although not as big nor as nice.
We instantly went out to Starbucks Coffee to drink and snack whilst writing our journals. Then we strolled most of the way along Waikiki beach towards Diamond Head. As we walked back along the roadside, dipping into shops on the way, we were both fading quickly and Ian insisted that we eat, again!
I have never seen such a huge plate of nachos served and the giant portion delivered was enough to put me off my absent appetite. No amount of eating made any impression on the dish!
We plodded on in the heat and returned to the Big Surf, satisfied that so far Hawaii is a very clean, pleasant, happy place filled with happy people. The beach is how a beach should be and the water beautifully clear and inviting.
We sneaked in a 40 minute snooze which became 90 minutes and then forced ourselves awake for more journal writing and yes, more food...
We walked around the Alo Moana Centre until everything started to close. The mall is reputedly the largest mall in the Pacific and it has a great range of shops. We decided not to eat again today but munched on a chocolate bar while we walked around the block. It seemed perfectly normal to see big Chevrolet vans and Corvettes in the parking lot of a 7 Eleven shop.
We took two anti-malarial pills on the same date but 24 hours apart. Strange.
Now, surely it must be time for bed...it's 22:00...and we haven't slept for two days...although we did sleep yesterday. This is weird.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.