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Our trip to Japan was filled with adventure and walking! As my friend Johnny said after exploring Tokyo for the day, " I think my toe nails are bleeding." No wonder the Japanese are so thin! We walked an average of 25,000 steps every day! I'm guessing about half of those steps were a result of the many times we got lost.

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Day 1 - Beijing!

We landed In Beijing on Friday and made our way through customs. After filling out our foreigner arrival forms, I realized I was missing my ticket for my connecting flight to Tokyo. In a panic, I started rummaging through my belongings looking for my ticket. I was sure Ely had grabbed it by mistake and immediately started giving her the death stare. After several minutes of being in a state of panic, I found my ticket in the trash can. Diana/Ely 0 – Vacation 1.  For one reason or another, I thought it would be a great idea to throw it away.

After finally clearing customs, we meet our tour guide that would take us to the Great Wall in the arrival hall of the airport, his name was Johnny. He knew very little English but said "Take a pose" very well. When we were stopped at a red light on our way to the Great Wall, he played a few audio recordings of his 9 year old daughter speaking English. His eyes glistened with pure joy and he formed the biggest smile as soon as he heard her voice—it was contagious.

Walking up all the stairs and through the Wall was pretty tough. Not only because we had just been on a 13 hour flight, but because it was only 6 degrees Fahrenheit! I felt needles pinning my body and the tears coming down my face turn into icicles. Nonetheless, I wouldn't change any moment of it as it was a beautiful experience! The views and standing in one of the seven wonders of the world made me feel like I too was a part of history. Not to mention, we rode down the wall in the toboggan slide. Both Ely and I were screaming at the top of our lungs while trying to cover our face from the freezing cold! 

After the Great Wall we went to Forbidden City and got to see all the different memorials, monuments and museums. As I stood there in between all those historical buildings, my body was filled with chills. Guards were in every corner watching your every move. Other visitors were flocking towards Tiananmen Square where a ginormous portrait of Mao Zedong was displayed. Our tour guide had his portrait as the wallpaper on his phone. It gave me the creepers when I saw it.

*FYI there seems to be no rules of the road in Beijing and if there are, the people don't give a damn! Cars were honking left and right! Drivers were driving in the opposite direction or cutting each other off. It was quite terrifying and nerve wrecking. As Ely put it, "it's like closing your eyes and crossing the street."

Our flight into Tokyo was delayed. One of my closest friend, Johnny and his fiancé, Angie met us at the station. This was my first time meeting Angie. She is smart, witty and beautiful! Seeing them two enlightened our mood and made us forget how tired we were for a few minutes.  It was about 2 a.m. by the time we got to our AirBnb after being lost and roaming the streets of the Nakano district. My friend Johnny claimed to know the way home but we ended up inside a convenience store instead.

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Day 2 - Tokyo!

Saturday was a fun filled day! We visited a temple, got interviewed by a group of researchers (asked us questions about strawberries in the United States lol apparently strawberries in Japan can cost up to 35 bucks for a packet of 12) and went to the famous Robot restaurant. Johnny and I felt like it was the worst 8,000 yen—we occasionally exchanged “WTF” stares throughout the performance.  Angie and Ely loved every minute of it! 

There are no words that can accurately describe the tackiness and strangeness of this show. There were bright lights, people in strange outfits jumping off robots, A robot shark that ate a “normal” robot, a wannabe dance crew, ninjas....the list is never ending. After dinner Ely and I went to a darts bar to ring in my birthday.

I was sitting  at the bar, smoking a cigarette and drinking an Asahi beer as Ely sang Happy Birthday to me. It doesn't get more Japanese than that if you ask me.

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Day 3 - Tokyo

Sunday was by far my favorite day of this trip. We went to the anime district...the ideal place to people watch. While in the anime district, we went to a maid restaurant (the employees here are so submissive! You can actually order a drink special where they make your drink while calling you master or by your name). After going to a Japanese arcade, seeing the Shibuya crossing, playing darts at a sports bar, eating sushi and ramen we ended up at a Japanese nightclub. Coolest experience ever! We were dancing (I really should say jumping all night) by the stage and the Japanese boys were just flocking towards Ely and I. By the end of the night, we couldn't feel our feet. The next morning I woke up and my arms were hurting like crazy. Ely had to remind me that I had my "arms up in the air like I just don't care" the night before lol 

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Day 4 - Tokyo

On Monday we made our way to the Edo Castle. We walked for miles looking for the entrance to the castle along the moat before giving up and looking for food instead! We decided to walk down the busiest street we found, confident that we would find varies restaurants. Apparently Japanese business people don't care too much about food. We must have walked 3 to 4 miles before finding a place to eat! After eating the most delicious soba noodles we headed back to the Edo Castle. We walked about 1.5 miles in the freezing cold before getting a taxi for a drive that lasted a whopping 3 minutes. We pulled ourselves together and walked to what we thought was the entrance and boy were we wrong. After walking some more, we finally made it to the entrance of the famous castle and of course it was CLOSED!!!!!

Later that night we visited Tokyo Tower. By this time we were exhausted and starving. We got a taxi and made our way to a shabu shabu restaurant. Before walking into the restaurant we took a look at the menu....7,000 yen was the cheapest option ( which is about 70 dollars) We ran out of there so fast! Lol we started walking again looking for food...before we knew it, we were back at the same place we got a taxi from Tokyo Tower!!!! After finally having dinner we headed back home...our day wouldn't have been complete without getting lost a couple more times! We took the wrong train and all the wrong turns. We were three lifeless bodies walking through the station by the time we finally reached our correct destination. Ely and I decided to run home from the train station as we couldn't last another minute in the freezing weather! This is the most I've ever seen Ely run lol

Johnny showed up about 10 minutes later holding a chicken gyro lol

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Day 5 & 6 - Mount Fuji

On Tuesday we said goodbye to Johnny as he had to go back to base and Ely and I took a bus down to Lake Kawaguchiko to see Mount Fuji. The seats on the bus were very narrow, I practically had one butt cheek on top of the other.

Our time in Mount Fuji was unforgettable and we enjoyed every minute of it even with the few kinks we encountered during our stay. We stayed in a hostel that had the most magnificent view of Mount Fuji. It is absolutely breathtaking!

After leaving the bus station, we headed straight to a local restaurant that served Hotou noodles. The food was amazing…the only problem was  Ely made us sit in tatami mats. She had forgotten that I cannot sit "criss cross applesauce" for the life of me. Knowing how much she wanted to experience eating on tatami mats I didn't say anything to her. Instead for an entire hour I was fidgeting on the mats. I felt like a giant stale cookie unable to bend without breaking.

We walked to our hostel after lunch to check in, actually the wrong hostel. Lol My knees were still adjusting themselves so we opted to take a taxi to the right hostel. After settling in, we walked to a local Indian restaurant. The night would have not been complete without one more kink…our taxi driver took us to a hotel instead of our hostel after dinner. Already angry that he drove us to the wrong destination, he became infuriated when we paid him with nothing but coins! Whoops!  

Wednesday we got to ride on the "Pleasure Cruiser" across Lake Kawaguchiko for another spectacular view of Mount Fuji. After this ride Ely and I accidentally ended up inside a little old bakery and before we knew it we were sitting down at a table with our own desert and the best cup of instant coffee. I packed Lactaid pills given that Ely and I are both lactose intolerant  but they must be using legitimate cow milk because they did nothing for me. The size of our desserts and coffee served as reminder that in America we do EVERYTHING BIG! I needed a magnifying glass to find the crust on the slice of cheesecake I was served. After our little snack, we went on to ride cable cars that would led us to the peak of another mountain for another stellar view of Mount Fuji. Man, I have to say I couldn't get tired of staring at this mountain except for the fact that the sun was blinding my big beautiful eyes, my most prized possession.

Now the fun begins...after our ride on the cable cars Ely and I went to have lunch at a restaurant overlooking Lake Kawaguchiko. I, having a bladder the size of a peanut went to use the restroom once we walked in. This would make it the second time in this trip that I would use a squatty... the first time I used a squatty was in Tokyo. During my first experience, I struggled to maintain my balance and height as my legs were dead after walking 25,000 steps. It wasn't until I walked out of the restroom that I realized I was facing the opposite direction when I used the squatty. Hence the reason why there were no railings in sight for me to maintain my balance.

As soon as I walked in to the restroom at the restaurant and saw that It was a squatty I was pumped. I felt like an experienced traveler that knew exactly how to use it. I positioned myself and just as I was forming a victory grin, my left foot slipped under me. You can just imagine the horror that filled my body. This will go on as the day in history when I declared war on squatties.

Late in the afternoon we decided to rent bikes and ride them over to a private Onsen before catching an overnight bus to Kyoto. This was another decision Ely and I made without thoroughly thinking it over. By the time we figured out how to unlock the bikes and how to remove the kickstand, it was already 5 pm. Two foreigners riding bikes in the icy sidewalks while the sun was setting was definitely a sight to see. What was meant to only be a 10 to 15 minute bike ride, turned out to be 45 minutes! I considered going back to the hostel when I saw the Onsen across the street but no way to cross the big highway that divided us.

Ely and I finally made our way to the bike lot next to the main entrance. As I was down on my knees locking my bike, I felt the bike rack tremble and shake--ultimately breaking on one side. I looked over and saw Ely hurling her bike over the rack. For one reason or another, she thought she was Hercules.

After rolling on the floor laughing, we finally made our way in. The entire building was made out of wood. It reminded me of the Hunger Games; everything was spotless, in order and people were dressed in the same exact clothes. We walked in to the women's locker room and once again I found myself contemplating going back to the hostel before experiencing a Japanese Onsen. There were naked Japanese women walking around everywhere so nonchalantly. I all of a sudden became extremely timid about my body, it might have also been the fact that my legs and underarms hadn't seen a razor since I left the states. After undressing and being butt naked, Ely and I made our way to Onsens tightly holding our bath and hand towel. As soon as we stepped into the Onsen area, I felt everyone's eyes on us.

As any true American would do, we broke 3 of the 6 rules posted up on just about every wall. 1.       We took our bath towel with us to the area where all of the Onsens were located 2.       People with tattoos are not admitted to the Onsens (we covered Ely’s tattoo with Band-Aids) 3.       We walked into the locker rooms soaking wet

After the Onsen we headed back to the hostel to return our rented bikes and to mount our backpacks onto our aching backs for the walk to the bus station. This was the end to our enchanting stay in Mount Fuji.  

The bus ride to Kyoto was nine hours long; nine hours of me turning from side to side as Ely slept like an angel. The windows of the bus were covered with drapes so I didn't get to enjoy what I'm assuming would have been beautiful scenery. About 60% of the bus was empty yet Ely and I, the American tourist...bigger than anybody else in the bus were forced to sit next to each other.

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Mount Fuji <3

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Day 7 & 8 - Kyoto!

We made it to Kyoto around 6 am. Our noses lead us into the nearest McDonald’s for breakfast before taking a taxi to our capsule hotel…it’s true what they say, the McDonald’s in Japan does taste so much better!!!

We checked into our capsule hotel and took a cat nap as checkout was at 10. Even if you book for more than one night, you’re required to checkout everyday!!!

After we checked out we made our way to the Fushimi Inari shrine. The street leading up to the entrance was lined with food vendors…The ultimate paradise for Ely and I. Ely came across a miso flavored rice pop made by a little old man probably in his 90s. She loved them so much, she got 3 and threatened to put the little old man in her pocket. Lol

After visiting the shrine we went to visit another temple. Right after entering the temple I made a pit stop at the restroom. Having declared war on squatties, I opted to use your traditional toilet. Not wanting to sit on the toilet seat, I accidentally pee’d all over my jeans. If it’s not one thing with me, it’s another.

Later that night Ely and I found ourselves at a karaoke establishment. Ely, being a natural performer sang and danced her heart out to Queens “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “I don’t want to miss a thing” by Aerosmith. I sang and danced Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” like I have never before. It might have been the result of sake and Madonna crossing paths.

And together we of course sang “Make you feel my love” by Adele to reminisce our heartbreaks. Seemed like the only logical thing to do after drinking beer, two bottles of sake and bottled lemonade that contained 9% alcohol. According to Ely it tasted as if it contained Popov vodka.

On Friday we visited Edo Castle, the Golden temple and few other landmarks that we accidently ended up after getting lost. After not being able to walk anymore, we headed back to Kyoto station and hung at the Starbucks waiting for our 11:30 p.m. bus headed to Nagano in search of the snow monkeys.

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