22 October 2017
Typhoon Lan
Escaping a typhoon at Tokyo soup stock
More weather talk time, and hotel photos, brace yourself, but thats what happens on a 3 update day which is mainly travel.
It is raining, a lot, there are floods. Its raining so much there is actually a name for the rain, Typhoon Lan. However its really not windy, and by 9am tomorrow the sun is supposed to be out, time will tell.
I had at least 3 hours to kill in and around Ikebukuro station before I could check into my hotel, fortunately they were happy to store my bags, because I have walked a long way with my backpack, I think I have shrunk an inch from the pressure.
Unfortunately, Japan does not believe in awnings covering the street hanging from shops, presumably because you only have to rebuild them when the next natural disaster destroys them. What this meant today is that due to my morbid fear of umbrellas I periodically got wet.
I could have just stayed indoors, theres an underground mall to my hotel, but its too damn hot inside stores. This is all quite boring I am sure.
To kill time I enjoyed a non fatto matcha tea latte, which was delicious, the initial shock of grass taste is replaced with a lingering hint of high fructose corn syrup blended with nuclear green coloring.
I had only a couple of sudden moments where I felt tired and dopey, 3 hours plane sleep does wonders compared to none. I wont go to sleep properly until at least 9:30pm local time, even if that means doing jumping jacks in my room to stay awake.
Eventually after a bit more stumbling in puddles I could check in to my room and wash 2 days of aircraft air conditioning distributed mucus off myself and brush my teeth. The hotel shower was predictably fantastic.
Also - my lunch was awesome and very healthy. I need more amusing stories, I have none yet!
Here is my lunch from Tokyo Soup Stock, you can find them in most stations. You get to choose 2 different soups, rice or a roll. And its great.
One of my soups was listed as a Japanese style vegetable soup with ginger, and there really was a lot of ginger, I want this ginger soup to be available in Australia. Hopefully my hair doesnt go ginger as a result.
Outside in the rain. My camera is not waterproof, neither was my last one, and that got soaked many times. Still new camera is still new so I am still cautious.
I tried to get on the roof of various buildings to take rain photos, but they had the roof closed off due to typhoon.
So I had an ice cream and marshmallow cookie sandwich instead.
Here is the path to my hotel, it is long and crowded, and there are 10 good places to eat along here. I fell hungry again already.
This is my hotel room, my mother insists on these photos, and since shes the only reader, here it is. This is Tokyu Stay Ikebukuro, and it seems great, $200 for 3 nights attached to the station.
It gets great ratings and provides many amenities you wouldnt normally get, such as a microwave and.....
A full size washer dryer in the bathroom? Never experienced that before in any hotel room, just serviced apartments. The bathroom is nearly as big as the main room.
I laid down on the floor and then took a ride inside the huge washing machine.
My budget room even gets a pretty good view of the grey. I can watch the typhoon, and keep an eye out for North Korean missiles appearing below the clouds.