I'm in Tokyo
As the plane took off from Sahar International Airport, Mumbai I headed to another new country, towards the eastern most part of the globe, towards the land of rising sun, towards the magnificent Japan. It was a jumble of feelings inside me. I was sad because for first time after marriage we wouldn’t be able to see each other for so long. I was scared thinking about adjusting in a non-english speaking country. I was excited as this will be another new country to explore, in fact third country for me. And I was so sleepy because the flight took off at 6 o’clock in the morning.
As my Cathay Pacific aircraft ascended above the Mumbai thundering clouds, I had about 10-11 hours before me to kill. This was not a direct flight. I had to change the flight at Hong Kong and I was desperately hoping this flight to land on time as I had less than 2 hours for transit. My stomach started gurgling as soon as we reached the cruise altitude. No, not because of height but I started getting hungry. Finally, the beautiful red-polka dressed stewardess brought me my breakfast and as it landed on my meal tray I was digging into it until not a piece was left. Satiated, I sat back and decided to try a movie on the in-flight entertainment system. Many new movies were on. I decided on ‘Kung-Fu Panda’ (somehow Japan was already started getting into my systems). A good timepass for about two hours and I was already started feeling sleepy. The flight was quite comfy, everybody’s window shutter were down, AC was perfect, I had my quilt, seats were relaxing and in no time my eyes were closed and I was in dream world.
It was surprising that I was able to sleep for over an hour owing to the fact that I can hardly sleep while I’m traveling. But it was well needed sleep. We had already begun descent to Hong Kong International Airport. I opened up my window shutter and the weather was clear, sunny and pleasant. As the plane descended flying over the city, I was so mesmerized by the grandeur of Hong Kong. Whatever I had seen, read or heard about the city, it was perfectly in accord. The majestic skyline, the beautiful roads and sea-link bridges, the sparkling green water of South China Sea and myriad of ships, boats, cruisers etc sailing over it gave me quite extraordinary view from thousands of feet above ground. Only I didn’t had the camera ready in my hand at that moment. I would have got some excellent shots.
The Hong Kong airport was as beautiful as the city looked from above. Comparable to London Heathrow but not as crowded and busy than former. My flight was in another one hour and forty minutes. As soon as the boarding started I realized that I’m surely going to Japan. All around me there were Japanese people only. While coming from Mumbai, there were quite a number of Indians or people of different races. But here the scene was entirely different. I could make out about only 5-6 people of different origin amongst the bunch. Even the English accent of flight stewardesses started to sound incomprehensible. I took one of them to repeat the question thrice before I got the gist of it. Anyways, again my stomach needed food and luckily I was one of the first few to get the lunch. I relished the food to the fullest, especially the sweet dish which contained 4 gulab jamuns. Ymmmm.
By the time we were over islands of Japan, it was pitch dark and I could make out that it is quite cloudy too. Many times I could see some fierce lightning over some places. Fortunately, it was not that bad when we landed at Narita International Airport. The immigration check didn’t take much time because I think this was the only flight that landed at that time. But it took almost an hour for the baggage to arrive. I knew I will face problem getting a transport to my apartment at this time and I was quite right. The regular Airport Bus Service was done for the day and I didn’t know the train system over here. Eventually I decided to spend almost 27 K yen for a cab direct from airport to my place.
It was post-midnight hour when I entered Tokyo and the city looked amazing. I was especially impressed by the road infrastructure. It was such an intricate web of roads and flyovers that any person without a GPS system in his car will easily get lost. At one time there were at least four level of flyovers one upon other. Tokyo represents the true essence of a mega-city. I’m sure going to be getting more and more impressed by the city in my coming 5 wks of tenure here.
With a little difficulty the taxi driver was finally able to drop me at my place of stay. As I entered my apartment I was a little disappointed by the size of it. It was just one straight room with a kitchen area, living area and a bed and an attached bath. There was one bed up at attic which was kind of cute. But for a single person I was quite satisfied with it finally. It had all the facilities needed for survival. Although TV doesn’t show anything except Japanese channels, I’m glad that internet connection is there for entertainment. I have killed today’s time with sleeping most of the time. From Monday starts the work for which I have come over here. I don’t know how much hectic its gonna be but if its hectic its good for me as that will keep me busy.
Sayo-Nara.
As my Cathay Pacific aircraft ascended above the Mumbai thundering clouds, I had about 10-11 hours before me to kill. This was not a direct flight. I had to change the flight at Hong Kong and I was desperately hoping this flight to land on time as I had less than 2 hours for transit. My stomach started gurgling as soon as we reached the cruise altitude. No, not because of height but I started getting hungry. Finally, the beautiful red-polka dressed stewardess brought me my breakfast and as it landed on my meal tray I was digging into it until not a piece was left. Satiated, I sat back and decided to try a movie on the in-flight entertainment system. Many new movies were on. I decided on ‘Kung-Fu Panda’ (somehow Japan was already started getting into my systems). A good timepass for about two hours and I was already started feeling sleepy. The flight was quite comfy, everybody’s window shutter were down, AC was perfect, I had my quilt, seats were relaxing and in no time my eyes were closed and I was in dream world.
It was surprising that I was able to sleep for over an hour owing to the fact that I can hardly sleep while I’m traveling. But it was well needed sleep. We had already begun descent to Hong Kong International Airport. I opened up my window shutter and the weather was clear, sunny and pleasant. As the plane descended flying over the city, I was so mesmerized by the grandeur of Hong Kong. Whatever I had seen, read or heard about the city, it was perfectly in accord. The majestic skyline, the beautiful roads and sea-link bridges, the sparkling green water of South China Sea and myriad of ships, boats, cruisers etc sailing over it gave me quite extraordinary view from thousands of feet above ground. Only I didn’t had the camera ready in my hand at that moment. I would have got some excellent shots.
The Hong Kong airport was as beautiful as the city looked from above. Comparable to London Heathrow but not as crowded and busy than former. My flight was in another one hour and forty minutes. As soon as the boarding started I realized that I’m surely going to Japan. All around me there were Japanese people only. While coming from Mumbai, there were quite a number of Indians or people of different races. But here the scene was entirely different. I could make out about only 5-6 people of different origin amongst the bunch. Even the English accent of flight stewardesses started to sound incomprehensible. I took one of them to repeat the question thrice before I got the gist of it. Anyways, again my stomach needed food and luckily I was one of the first few to get the lunch. I relished the food to the fullest, especially the sweet dish which contained 4 gulab jamuns. Ymmmm.
By the time we were over islands of Japan, it was pitch dark and I could make out that it is quite cloudy too. Many times I could see some fierce lightning over some places. Fortunately, it was not that bad when we landed at Narita International Airport. The immigration check didn’t take much time because I think this was the only flight that landed at that time. But it took almost an hour for the baggage to arrive. I knew I will face problem getting a transport to my apartment at this time and I was quite right. The regular Airport Bus Service was done for the day and I didn’t know the train system over here. Eventually I decided to spend almost 27 K yen for a cab direct from airport to my place.
It was post-midnight hour when I entered Tokyo and the city looked amazing. I was especially impressed by the road infrastructure. It was such an intricate web of roads and flyovers that any person without a GPS system in his car will easily get lost. At one time there were at least four level of flyovers one upon other. Tokyo represents the true essence of a mega-city. I’m sure going to be getting more and more impressed by the city in my coming 5 wks of tenure here.
With a little difficulty the taxi driver was finally able to drop me at my place of stay. As I entered my apartment I was a little disappointed by the size of it. It was just one straight room with a kitchen area, living area and a bed and an attached bath. There was one bed up at attic which was kind of cute. But for a single person I was quite satisfied with it finally. It had all the facilities needed for survival. Although TV doesn’t show anything except Japanese channels, I’m glad that internet connection is there for entertainment. I have killed today’s time with sleeping most of the time. From Monday starts the work for which I have come over here. I don’t know how much hectic its gonna be but if its hectic its good for me as that will keep me busy.
Sayo-Nara.
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