The Punishment for Being Tardy acc. to Ms H (album)

May 9, 2008
Nara-Kyoto-Tokyo

Since things had been going well so far in my trip, I thought Fate would throw in a wrench somewhere to balance it for me...and she did..with my lost bag (which I still recovered) and then with my being incommunicado in Nara and being late on the train to Tokyo.

I couldn't call out from Nara Park to inform Ms. Helen (Sir B's sister whose handle in multiply made me think of using Ms. Y instead) that I was a bit lost with only deer around me and would be late. I had guessed I would be in Tokyo around 2 pm and upwards. I had planned to call her when I arrived in Tokyo and wait for her at the station.

The first public phone I passed was out of order, the next one spit out my coins, and on my cellphone, I was being told I could not make a call from my mobile. After experimentation with the numbers, and some more half-walk-half-jog back to the ryokan, I finally contacted her, and to my great embarrassment and distress, I found out she had made a trip to the train station to meet me and back to her house (which was a long way off, not to mention the fare!) and even asked the officials for some help in case something happened to me.

Oh dear, that was just great for first impressions, and she hadn't even set eyes on me yet.

I made it back to Kyoto and onwards to Tokyo but it was already dinnertime. Remembering that in Japan, restaurants don't usually stay open that late, I was wondering how to treat Ms. H (if I called her sis-in-law as Ms. G, it follows that I call her Ms H in my mind) to dinner as it was the least I could do for the great favor she was doing for me and her older brother who was my classmate and friend. At least for Nagasaki, and now in Tokyo, I could have some company and guidance. 

While I can travel alone, I do enjoy being around other people especially fellow Filipinos. It is a more happy part of traveling when one can resort to antics which your fellow countrymen can understand.

Since the Tokyo train station is quite big, we also didn't find each other that quickly. Good thing I wore red hehehe...

We had dinner at a restaurant whose name I cannot now recall, but whose food was absolutely delicious to a starving and drained traveler like me. She was like a mother and sister and aunt rolled into one person and I ended up emulating either a fat, sushi roll or an imperial-sized spring roll...yep, yep, I tried to eat everything she gave me...

....and then she wouldn't let me pay for the dinner too...*hangs head* but took me back to her house and was very hospitable...I fell into bed exhausted and happy at 4 am...its nice to meet kind sisters of good friends....zzzzzzzzz

- Sep 19, '08 2:29 AM