Taiwan: Japan

December 24^th 2:55pm Hakuba, Japan

The trip had gone so well up to this point. Almost too good. No way can a trip to an Asian country go without a flaw, can it? The previous two days were spent skiing and exploring this small mountain town in the middle of the Japanese Alps. 1ft of fresh powder, good food, good friends, a cup of hot cocoa that melted my soul. It was hard to find anyway things could get better. I was feeling really good about life, and riding some awesome vibes. So why is 2:55pm on December 24^th important? It’s important because it’s where it all went downhill.

Sarah’s cousin teaches in Japan and she came to ski with us for the weekend. Sarah and I had bus tickets back to Tokyo on our way home, so her cousin Madison bought one to go with us so she wouldn’t have to take the train. She got a ticket, but it was for a Bus #1, when Sarah and I are in Bus #2. Since I get(have) to hang out with Sarah everyday, I decided to take her cousins ticket so Sarah and Madison could chat for the 5.5 hour bus ride home. Why is this a big deal? I’ll tell ya.

December 24^th 8:15pm Tokyo, Japan
The plan was to get off of our buses and wait for the other bus to get there. The problem is, we assumed that the buses would drop off at the same place and the same time. How wrong we were. My bus dropped off first and was a couple blocks away from where Sarah's bus would drop off. I had absolutely no clue where that was and nobody could speak English. My cell phone didn't get service in Japan. So there I was, alone, wandering the cold streets of Tokyo searching for the girls. This went on for about an hour. As you could imagine, I was not a happy camper….err traveler. Every person I talked to was less than no help. No one spoke English. It was really frustrating, and I’ll be honest, I was a little worried.

December 24^th 9:15pm Shinjuku bus station, Tokyo

We finally found each other and had bus tickets to the airport. From there the owner of our hostel would give us a ride. We said our goodbyes to Madison and boarded the bus for the airports.

December 24^th 10:20pm On a bus somewhere in Japan

The bus driver stopped the bus and let us out at “the airport”. But was this the Narita airport, the one we were trying to get to? Noooooo. It was the Haneda airport. Rewind 1 hour: Sarah said, "NARITA AIRPORT", while showing him our plane tickets, and he still sold us tickets to this airport. No big deal right? Just take a bus, or a taxi….Wrong! BIG DEAL! No more buses for the night and a taxi would have been $300usd. That's right 300

*That brings me to a side note. Japan is expensive….REALLY expensive! Easily 4 times as expensive as Taiwan for most things. Public transportation was way worse. A similar taxi ride in Taiwan would cost $20-$30

So a couple of the info people at the Airport helped us out. And my oh my, were they helpful.

*Another side note. Japanese people are extremely friendly.

Hotels were $160 and we didn't have that much money. So the only option that we could afford was a train to Narita station. This train required 4 or 5 transfers, many of which only gave us a few minutes to find the next train in stations with very little English. But, what other options did we have? When does this train leave? 10:42 you say? And what time is it now? 10:40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RUN!

December 24th 10:41 pm Haneda Airport

Feet stomping, heart pounding, bags swaying. We literally ran through the airport following a lady from the info desk, and damn she was quick. We went down the elevator sprinted to the train as the doors were closing. The info lady screamed something in Japanese and they opened them back up. We were on the train and moving before we even had a chance to say “arigato”(thank you).

December 25^th 12:38 am Narita Station

After many transfers and many helpful Japanese people we made it. Tired, smelly, cranky, but we made it. Now we had to find our hostel owner to get a ride. We had used several random Japanese people's phones to keep him up to date on where we were. We found him with very little trouble. Finally, something went easily.

December 25^th 1:10 am Hostel

We made it to the hostel and were dying to sleep in a nice, comfy, warm bed. Is that what awaited us? Of course not. Rice mats, rice pillows and an unheated room. It was FREEZING in the room. Literally -2 C. The only form of heat was a kerosene heater that was out of kerosene. But it still reeked of Kerosene. Worst of both worlds. A good night of sleep was had by none.

December 25^th 9:00 am In the van on the way to the airport.

The rest of the trip went pretty well, but we didn’t make it back to our Apartment until 7pm. I. AM. TIRED!

The skiing was really icy on Sunday, but perfect on Monday. The 1998 Olympics were held at the resort we skied at. I skied the men's downhill course. It was pretty fun, but I didn't ski nearly as hard as I usually do. I mean, I didn't even get hurt! Maybe next time. The mountain was much smaller that most Colorado resorts and the runs were generally easier. The blacks were more like difficult blues. The ice did make it much tougher though. The town of Hakuba is in the middle of 6 mountains much like the one we skied. Pretty neat how it was set up. The town was also fantastic, no mega condo's. No chain restaurants. I didn't get the touristy feel that I get at most places in Colorado, and I liked that.