So I`ve been here a couple of days now and I`m even beginning to get my head around the keyboard differences. May I just start by saying how lovely the Japanese seem to be. They really welcome you to their country and are so helpful and courteous. What:s more you don:t even tip them so it`s not like they`re doing it for money! They all make a great effort to speak English to us - although I have now mastered at least 4 words of Japanese (my latest being mizu for water - not to be confused with Miso - a type of soup! thankfully when I tried this in a restaurant they brought us glasses with ice in and not steaming bowls).
I forgot to say on the previous post that the plane we flew here on was one of the brand new superduper Airbus 380 oojamabobs - maiden flight apparently (not necessarily what you want to be on actually!). I suspect plane type fans will be impressed with this news. For the rest of us - it:s a very big plane with an upstairs for the posh people.
So yesterday was our first ful day and we packed it in. We visited a couple of shrines in Kobe as well as the shopping area, had a delightful bright green drink which tasted delish and caught a cable car up a mountain. I feel I have mastered the ticket machines at the stations now and was able to lead our party across the city without ending up headed for Hiroshima or Tokyo. SO successful was I that today I ventured out by myself and tackled the shopping district properly. I was delighted to see that the rumours are true - there really is a 100 yen shop (just like the pound shops back home but about 25p cheaper!)...still didn:t want to buy anything from there though! I also discovered china town which you`ll be pleased to know looks the same the world over.
Food has been excellent so far and we`ve tried all kinds of weird and wonderful things. I had rice porridge for breakfast (which looked and tasted like last nights leftovers of rice) followed by chicken terriaki - yes for breakfast! We have a fab buffet at teh hotel so I:m just trying a little of everything. Well whilst in Rome (or Kobe) and all that.
Weatherwise it:s much as expected, very humid and plenty of rain. The Japanese are prepared for this though as most of their shops seem to be underground or connected by passageways to every other building. For example from this hotel I can reach the conference centre, 3 shopping centres, a museum or two, a cinema and the train station without going outdoors - there:s probably more still but I:m still exploring. Tonight I`m off to eat dinner by myself. Hopefully I won:t give in and go to McDonalds!
Until tomorrow - Sayonara.
ooo ooo A380 - Paul helped build that! Probably a good job you only found that out afterwards rather than knowing at the time :-)
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