Our journey back from
Nikko to Tokyo was about 200kms and 8 hours of travel including a quick stop
for okonomiyaki for lunch. Oko…is a bowl of cabbage with an egg and some diced
pork mixed together, some noodles on top then flipped over. All cooked on a
hotplate like Bar-b-que for 20 minutes, then mayo and sauce pasted on top -
very tasty. The travel is often slow despite fast trains on a regular schedule,
generally not more than 10 minutes apart. Our major hurdle which we have failed
to clear is the signage. Getting out a stop too soon and travelling 2 stops too
far on a regular basis ensures that travelling takes far longer than necessary!
But it has been fun and as we are aware, if you are left on the platform here
then you will see another train very soon, in New Zealand it may not be until
the next day.
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| Hotel View |
Back in Tokyo we
checked in to the Grand Nikko Hotel which indeed was grand. Here we met the
Williment tour we had booked on to ensure that we had tickets to semi’s and
finals of the Rugby World Cup.
We had a day tour of the city on Friday and it
was pouring with rain from the tail end of another typhoon so we just had a
brief look at sights through the bus window and a short walk at the city’s most
famous temple, Sensoji Temple. This is a Buddhist prayer house dating from the
year 630 and has 30 million visitors a year now.
Our trip is called “the
Business End Tour” by Williment and we were in a positive mood as we boarded
local trains to the game. We had a guide at this stage so we negotiated the 4 track
changes well and crammed into cars full of All Blacks and English supporters
along with a few mystified locals. We had a pint of Heineken to support the
sponsors and were in our seats before kick off, still positive and probably
even more confident than when we boarded the train. Two minutes into the game
and a slight crack appeared in the confidence. By half time time the crack was
a little wider but we knew Steve Hansen would sort things out at half time and
we would be back in this fixture in a few minutes and prove ourselves worthy of
a place in the final. But not to be, a sad business end tour limped home. We
needed victim support and medication. Medication was liberally administered in
liquid form while psychological support came by way of giving an English fan a
hug. By all accounts this really had a positive effect on one’s view of the
world but I can’t say I tried out. I went for the cold turkey method and am
slowly coming right.
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| Disappearing highway |
Today we are on our way
to Osako for three nights, first class in a Shinkansen (Bullet) train. It
travels at about 250k/hr and certainly more comfortable than an airliner. It
has heaps of leg space, very comfy recline seats, big windows and you don’t
have to turn your phone off as you come into a station.
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