Ramen, and haircuts and.... fake moustaches?

Well hello, we are in Tokyo now watching some Japanese tv.

The trip yesterday wasn't too bad it was a bit hot and everyone's backs got a little sore from our backpacks but other than that all good.

Cairns airport is awful. That's all I'll say. Don't go there if you can avoid it. I have very good reason to say this.

But moving on from the very unpleasant, we are in the beautiful cold. It was I think 2-4c when we got in last night (it's 6c right now), we all got very cold but it was great not feeling faint from heat. We weren't able to get food until a bit later because of things with trains and putting luggage away, but we went to this little place with the most beautiful ramen and mum had this lovely prawn kind of soup which she absolutely loved. The people spoke no English but were very hospitable. (we overheard they were actually closed but they made food for us anyway! So nice! :)) We were eating this at like, 10:30 at night and hadn't eaten since 11:30 so you can imagine the joy whilst we devoured our delicious meals. We thanked them and told them it was delicious and left. Then we went and got the necessary stuff for showers and what not. Not much else to say.

This morning the boys were up earlier, possibly mum but Conrad and I woke up at 7. After we all got ready and bought a coffee we had breakfast at Lotteria (?). Mum and I bought these sausage burgers and a pepsi and a coffee and also some Japanese pancakes, all up around $10 AUD. Pretty awesome.
Then we went on a search for Don Quixote. We must've gone through one of the strangest parts of town, and also Akihabara, looking for it. While we walked we saw many a maid cafe and various anime and manga places.
After walking around for about an hour looking for Don Quixote (we got a bit confused) we finally got there.
I bought 3 pairs of tights, a fake moustache (hilarity will ensue) and these face masks for your skin that smell like different dessert. This is my challenge for the boys tonight. Facial masks... To relax... oh the torture...

Mum bought socks and gloves and a toothbrush.
I'm not sure what the boys got yet (at the auto salon atm) but Conrad has some green tea/white chocolate crunky chocolate, which is interesting but nice. He also got a fake goatee. I'm not sure why yet. haha
Steven bought me this grapefruit jelly stuff cos it was low sugar and it was really yummy :) I hope I can get some more.
Dean bought these body paper deodorants I found and showed to him. That wasn't from DonQi but still cool.

After the boys went to the auto salon mum and I set off for Tokyo Metro. Mum had clam chowder for lunch and I had spaghetti bolognaise. It was really good. And we got Grapefuit juice and iced cocoa.
After that we walked the rest of the way to Tokyo metro from Takashimaya area, and got our hair cut.
Mum wasn't sure she wanted to at first so I got mine cut. The people at Hanako are absolutely lovely. They are so polite, put your bags and coats in a closet while you get your hair cut, they also give you a little tray to put earrings and glasses on so they don't get in the way while your hair is being cut.
I had a bit of trouble saying what I wanted to at first (I get flustered and embarrassed sometimes cos I, like the rest of my travelling companions, stick out like a sore thumb) but after that it was alright. I showed the person what I wanted from the magazine and they got to work. They were so good the whole time- very thorough, won't move on to the next part unless every hair is perfectly cut and styled- they asked whenever they were going to do something to make sure I was okay with it which was good. I chatted with my hair dresser in broken Japanese/English (he spoke to me in Jap, but if I couldn't understand something he tried to say it in English, not much problem though) about where I was from, what we were in Japan for, if we'd been before, what are some nice foods, general chit chat.
The painstaking efforts taken to make your hair perfect at that salon are amazing. They use a blowdryer and a paddle brush to heat it straight, and the reason it needs to be straight is that they want it to be symmetrical and perfect as possible. After they do all the can to manicure your hair, they style it for you. My hair was curled and then they did this thing where they kind of ruffle your hair with the non sharp off the scissors and use a comb to fluff it up. I'm guessing it was for volume, but he said it wakes the hair up. :) haha
Mum then decided she'd have her hair cut too. She had a different hair dresser but I had to help translate because this hairdresser spoke zero English and Mum speaks very little Japanese. He spent SO much time on her hair (mainly cos mum's does the opposite of what you want it to, ie. when he was trying to make it straight to get it perfect it kept bouncing up) and he had a lot of fun I think. Mum allowed him to cut about 3-4 inches off of it so he had a lot to play with. He nearly slid on her hair a few times cos there was a fair amount of it on the floor haha
After spending so much time perfecting it he then curled it and put product in it. Looked really nice. :)

So right now we're waiting for the boys to come back so we can go get dinner. Seeing as none of our phones are working we will need to wait until they arrive. : |
Because of Virgin mobile's poor service mum's mobile isn't working over here and mine isn't working for some unknown reason, so we have to wait for the boys at the hotel.

Well, I'll go see if I can get reception or something outside. Hope this works.

C yous later, update later,
Whitney

Roughly 11 hours to go!!

Yay! Getting ready to go!

Everything is packed now besides my insulin, but I can't take that out of the fridge just yet. Everyone is tired but excited, I still don't know how we'll be able to sleep though. We'll see how that goes.

I'm kinda glad the flights not at like, 11 or something, cos then I'd probably wake up early and be waiting around in suspense, at least if I wake up early I will either be on time or slightly early and be able to get everything packed and still be able to sit for a minute and collect my thoughts.

We're stopping over in Cairns, which my dear sister informed me is a very dumb idea this time of year, especially around lunch so we may be crispy by the time we get to Tokyo, but we'll have the lovely cold to put on our burns. :) And ice cream, and cake om nom nom nom. And I'm not talking cheap and nasty stuff, I'm talking the lovely cakes from the department stores that have been made and packed expertly, and the ice cream that is of the highest quickly. *drool*
I'm also really looking forward to ramen when we get there, if that's what we get. It's an easy thing to get good ramen in Tokyo but as we don't have that luxury here you certainly enjoy it over there and appreciate it.

Now I just have to think of what presents I'm going to get people. I have a rough idea of what to get my niece-lings, my bro and my sis, my cousin, a few people I'm getting thank you gifts for, I'm not sure what to get them yet. I can't believe the time already. I felt like I've barely been awake that long.
Oh well, long day tomorrow. Better go to bed. I'll try and update this as much as possible, but we'll see how that goes hehe

C ya,
Whitney

A video for you:



This show is hilarious, strange and fascinating all at the same time. Most will just call it strange. But I like it.

38..... hours left!!!!!

Wheeee excitement is building! 38 hours to go!

We are pretty much finished packing, just a few things here and there. We finished buying the last of the necessary things today, insulated cases for insulin and stuff, socks for the snow...


I'm just hoping everything will fit in my backpack for the plane. I still have DSs and games, and my phone and the insulin to chuck in my bag but other than that it's packed. I think it may be heavy though.

Supposedly, it's going to be 4c in Tokyo when we get there, which is colder than usual this time of year, and it's also going to be -17c or round abouts in Shigakogen which is even colder than normal. Glad I packed plenty of warm stuff and hats! Also get to take my pretty rainbow scarf that Dean bought me from Shanalogic.com a couple of years ago, looks something like this: ...... Okay, so the links not on the site anymore, but I for one think this hair clip is adorable: http://www.shanalogic.com/girls/accessories/hair-goods/lovely-butterfly-hair-clip-purple-2841.html



Don't know what else to say other than I'm so excited to go! :D
Will be a good one I'm sure. Can't wait to see a bit what Kyoto is like as well and do snowboarding this time :) Will be good.

Anywho, will post more tomorrow probably (seeing as I probably won't be able to sleep!!!)

Bye bye,
Whitney

Here's today's video:



I am forever singing this adorable song...

11/01/12 5:18pm