Wednesday 8th October 2008

Started my 12 month round the world trip today from Heathrow terminal 5. Was a nightmare as mum drove me to the airport up the M40. Well we gave ourselves plenty of time, but suddenly we came to a standstill as there had been an accident, and we were crawling along at 1mph for over an hour. We were watching the clock and panic was setting in more and more. It got to the point where we had 30 minutes left. I was staring out the window thinking how typical was this - what a bloody start to the trip, and mum turned round and told me to go ahead and cry if I wanted to, so I did. Tears of frustration sprouted out, then the traffic cleared because we got past the accident (which was on the other side of the road and people were just crane-necking for gods sake!!!!). I sprinted into the airport, threw my bags in at check in and could barely breathe, and the woman behind the desk laughed and told me it was fine as I had 20 minutes to spare, so a quick goodbye and hug with mum, and off I went. When I got on the lane my heart was going ten to the dozen and I had butterflies in my stomach, then as the plane went down the runway and took off, a huge lump filled my throat, tears welled in my eyes and I wanted to cry as the reality that I was leaving everyone behind for the next year hit me, but I held the tears back and came to terms that I was actually on the start of a huge adventure!!

Got to Tokyo at 9.00am on thursday at Narita airport. Staying at Ks hostel in Asukusa.　Took a walk around the area and saw the Senso-ji temple which is Tokyo's most famous temple.

Friday I met a girl called Deborah who I met on the Gapyear website, and also her friend James. We took a boat ride up the river from Asukusa to the island Odaiba, and they have a shopping centre called Venus Fort which is designed specifically for women, it has the ceiling painted like a blue sky with clouds, there is a huge water fountain in the centre and all the tops of the shops are like balconies from Romeo and Juliet. Its awesome. We then went to Ginza which is the famous expensive, designer section, its like the equivalent of Bond Street in London. English WAGS have nothing on the Japanese girls. I have also never seen so many pampered, dressed up toy dogs in my life as in Japan. I saw one in tiny denim jeans, and a glittery jacket with pink flowers in its ears. Thats the normal thing around here, and the men walk around with these poodles, dachs and Paris Hilton rats. They have been bred to be extra small and they are carried everywhere, and they all have bows, flowers and sparkly clothes!!!!!! We looked round the Sony building - had to do some tech sights as in Tokyo, they certainly are tech mad. Later on caught the train to Shinkanyu where the film 'Lost in Translation' was filmed, and went up the Metropolitan Government buildings on the 45th floor to get some amazing sights of Tokyo at night. I left the other 2 and got a bit lost on the subway, so a lovely Japanese woman about my age showed me where to go, and she came and found me on the carriage to take me to the correct platform. There are some lovely people who are willing to help, and even though they don't understand you, lots of smiling and hand gestures on both parts seems to work.

Saturday - gorgeous hot sunny day. Went to the Imperial Palace gardens which was lovely, nice and chilled away from the craziness of the city, then this evening went to Roppongi where I saw the Tokyo tower all lit up. Very impressive　- its like the Eiffel Tower. I had gone to the wrong subway station before, as they are so confusing here with different lines at different station stops, so I asked a middleaged woman where to　go (using my phrasebook). She was on a bike, so she got off her bike and walked with me the whole way to the station entrance to make sure I got there okay. She didn`t speak a word of English but she was so smiley and sweet, so we just spoke to each other in our own languages, not understanding a word, but smiling and laughing together all the same. The women here are so lovely.

Sunday - went to Shibuya in Yoyogi park which was huge and loads of families soaking up the sun. There were some DJ`s at the back of the park playing some tunes, so went to have a look and it transported me back to the London clubbing days, and it was pumping out through the park. Awesome tunes! I then went back to the centre and sunbathed, then met a young Japanese guy called Tom, who was going around doing charity stuff, but he soon realised I was just a poor backpacker, so　he showed me the front of the park where loads of bands were playing. They all come down on a sunday to play, and some of them were great. There was one teenage rebellion punky band, and the teenage girls were at the front of the crowd moshing like crazy. My mum thought I was a nightmare teenage daughter? Ha ha, she is sooooo lucky we were not Japanese, these teens really do rebel against society. Just over the bridge every sunday loads of them gather all dressed like goths to `rebel` and pose for photos, I took some, and they are world famous for being `costume kids`. Tom　took me back to the park entrance to　show me where all the Elvis impersonators gather, and they put on music to Grease and twist. The crowds love it! Met Laura Cooper also from Gapyear this evening and we went back to Shibuya which is crazy at night, the neon lit up world of Tokyo that you imagine, with huge screens on tops of buildings blasting out music and the latest advertisements. We went to the famous meeting point which is the Hachiko the dog statue. Shibuya has the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world - I have never seen so many people in one place in my life!! Their department stores are huge, and Laura took me into a photobooth in one to get our picures done. As everything is so kitsch and cutesy here, afterwards you decorate them yourselves with pictures, colours and glitter on screen, then they are printed out and transferred onto your internet. Its mental what these people do. We then popped back to Shinkanju, then to Roppongi. This is really touristy with most of the expats here, and Laura took me to a restaurant where we ate chicken heart and chicken intestines. Its a cross between barbequed chicken and beef - but bloody horrible. We were making such a mess with the food everywhere due to lack of chopstick skills, the floor around me looked like the floor around a toddler eating in a highchair. We were laughing so much we were literally crying, the guys in the restaurant thought we were mad.

Monday - checked out of hostel today and met Tom　back in Yoyogi park just for a couple of hours, and he speaks great English and was filling me in on Japanese culture. I then got the female only night bus to Kyoto which took 8 hours. There was a lovely Japanese lady probably in her 60`s who obviously took pity on the poor English girl sat　on her backpack looking pasty, tired, lost and fed up. She came over and made sure I knew I was in the right stop, then she showed me my allocated seat which was one away from her. She spoke　a bit of English, and she showed me how to set up my reclining seat, informed me when the driver stopped for us to have a toilet break as I did not understand the announcements, then she shared half her mandarin with me. The journey wasn`t too bad, but didn`t sleep much - it seems all Japanese women snore!!!

Tuesday - got to Kyoto and the little Japanese lady made sure I got my bags okay, and she was staying in the plush hotel in the station, so she took me to the really nice toilets up there to freshen up so I didn`t have to use the crap ones downstairs like everyone else. Afterwards she asked if I wanted to have breakfast with her, but I needed to check into the hostel, so she gave me another mandarin to go on my way. She was absolutely adorable, and its moments like that of human kindness when you realise there are lovely, kind and generous people in the world, that it makes everything worthwhile.