Walked to Asakusabashi to a car hire place, who told us that there were no more cars. This is at 9am.
We
then walked to the other side of Akihabara to another car hire place to
tell us the same thing. Walked back to our hotel and asked the
non-English speaking lady to look up one for us. Then caught a train to Rayogoku and got lost. Asked a guy at a servo where we needed to go. He
said "here!" So that was helpful!
Finally
got into the car and Shane said to the guy "oh, where is the GPS?" The
guy said "no GPS in this car." So The both of us said a little prayer.
Shane's consisted of learning Japanese ASAP and mine was to stay ALIVE
on the Japanese roads.
We
drove back to our hotel so we could google map where in the world we
needed to be going. Shane came back into the car with 1000 screen shots
on his phone, trying to explain to me where we need to go. I just smile
and nod, glad he knows what he's doing. That is until he gets me to
navigate. Uhhh these maps tell me NOTHING. I am incredibly frustrated
that Shane can understand them and i have no idea.
Anyway..
Once
we got on the Wangan (fast enormous highway that circles Tokyo), we had
no idea of speed limits. Shane was going around 125km/h to sort of keep
up with other traffic.. We passed a police car and quite soon
afterwards, saw a 60 sign. Good thing the police over here have better
things to do than chase speed demons on the highway.
We
stopped at Sano- a rest stop with fenced fields to let your dog go
wild, food trucks selling hot dogs, vending machines selling groceries,
and an eating area where you pay a machine, a ticket shoots out, you
hand it to the man at the counter and wait for your number to be called
out when your food is ready.
The
interesting thing is, not only do you have no idea what your ordering..
But they call out your number and order in Japanese.. So I was just
staring this guy down, waiting for him to give me some eye contact when
it was our order that was ready. This tactic worked and we got our
meal.
Shane
thought that the stringy white stuff on top of our ramen was cheese, so
he stuffed a whole bunch of it in his mouth. He said "that's not
cheese!!" And he coughed and splattered.
"I know it's not. It's ginger."
I still can't believe that he thought he was getting cheese on his ramen. LOL!!
The
whole purpose of hiring a car was to go to Nikko Circuit- a drift track
125km north of Tokyo. This was Shane's favourite part of his Japan trip
back in April. He was practically jumping out of his seat as we got
closer and closer to the circuit entrance. And for those that don't know
Shane, for him to SHOW excitement is a huge deal.
We
went and watched the drifting that was happening. I sort of know what's
going on and what to look for. Years with Shane have taught me a thing
or two about the drifting culture.. (Or at least Shane's taste of what's
"good" in the drifting culture!)
We
walked around checking out the "camber" and "body kits" and "engine"
and "how clean that ZX is".. Or something like that. All the while, I am
ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the various paint jobs and the pretty stickers..
And the amazing wooden Coca Cola seats that are so weathered and
beautiful...
After
about an hour, I started to fade. I'm still a bit fluey, but at the
fatigued stage. I sort of start to sleep while sitting in an upright
position. After a while, I went and sat in the car and let Shane enjoy
himself.
The race was on to get the car back by 8pm..
But we kept stopping on the way home to check out car supply stores
called "Up Garage" and Japanese book stores called "Book Off" where
Shane buys all his favourite Drift magazines second hand.
We
spent about aus$100 In tolls all up. Traffic coming back into Tokyo was
a nightmare, as was navigating. But PRAISE GOD- Somehow, we we able to
access Google Maps without Wifi or data roaming or any signal
whatsoever. Huge help!!
After
all the noodles we have been eating, Both of us really just felt like
something familiar. Shane recalled passing a pizza joint so we walked
half the night looking for it. After becoming extremely hungry, we gave
up and settled for Burger King which turned out to be quite pleasant!
No comments:
Post a Comment