16th Installment: Ending Tokyo with a bang

I've shopped here, but not as crazy as when I was in Korea..hahaa...and yay! I stuck to all my budgets too!

Questioned by Cops?!!?
After a long cab ride, which included the wonderful night scenery of Tokyo and the infamous Tokyo Tower we entered Ropponggi. Walking to club we saw many cultures. Des has informed us that many of the black guys here pretend to be American when they are really Nigerian, or at least African. They trick lots of Japanese women into thinking that too. Wahhh we saw lots of them..trying to speak Japanese and trying to get girls into their clubs or pick up.

Oh yes...back to the email. Mellers went to ask the police if they knew where Gaspanic was b/c she hadn't been there before. One officer talked to her and then another one came and he was kind of eyeing her. After we walked away, we told Mel that he was interested and suddenly I look over and they are running towards us. They started talking to Mel and she was talking some fast Japanese. I really couldn't translate much except that she kept saying she didn't know. She started translating while she was talking to them.

They were asking for our I.D. Des didn't have her passport and I showed them my health card. They kept insisting for our passports and Mel's too. She told them we left them at her place and if they wanted to see them, they'd have to drive us back to get them. It was so weird! Des and I are convinced they just wanted to find out our info, especially Mel's since she looked like J.Lo with her outfit. They let us leave but told us that in Tokyo, you always have to have your passport...

Gaspanic - We OWN that CLUB!!
Finally got to Gaspanic. We went upstairs to get drinks..I don't exactly remember what they had, they ordered me a tequila shot. After that we headed to the dance area. They were playing hiphop and R&B. Des was not feeling it b/c she likes other music, so we left her in a corner with her drink. Mellers and I were dancing and many ppl were staring. We looked up at the bar and there were around 5 girls on top of the bar dancing. But they sucked...really...they were barely moving their hips... So sad, so sad...! There was this bar on the ceiling that they were holding on to... Is that supposed to make them look more attractive? Mellers is a really good dancer. I'm very impressed! Seriously, none of the girls there knew how to move their hips, except for a few.

As the night went on, they finally played some house and Des was happy. She danced with us. We were getting quite a lot of attention, b/c we danced differently than the other girls. The girls started competing with us too. It's strange how things happen like that. Fear not, we behaved. We declined a lot of guys... The funniest thing...well it's kind of bad...but there were these two girls on the bar and when the music got really loud they started dancing and fell off the bar. No one rushed to catch them so they just hit the floor. Yikes @_@ They were ok though... There was also this Japanese girl who really needed a toilet. We brought her upstairs to show her the other washrooms and she was so happy she kissed all three of us and the cheek. So random! We made some friends there too and after the club closed, we went to another one with them...yup we left the first one at 5am and left the second one at around 6am. We got home around..oh geez I don't remember..maybe 8am? Didn't sleep till 10am and woke up again at 3pm..hahaha. Mellers and I really suffered too. Our legs are killing us...ahha please no more stairs!! Going down the stairs is the worst...boooo

HARAJUKU - Land of Cosplayers and Teenagers
When we finally left we ate lunch and headed to Harajuku. We saw some funky styles and ppl dressed up as anime/manga characters. I didn't have the guts to take pics of any of them..b/c most of them were just walking around. It was raining but not real rain. It wasn't even spitting or drizzling... Can someone please tell me, why then, did ppl have umbrellas? They had them open and there was barely any rain hitting their heads. Could it have been the bright lights they were trying to shield themselves from? Why they walking around like it was about to thunderstorm? ahhaa... it was kind of funny! Later on, it wasn't raining at all and some still had their umbrellas open. Japanese people are really interesting! ^^

We had infamous Harajuku crepes. Really yummy and we ate dinner there too. After that we took sticker pictures which were really fun to take and decorate. I love Mellers! She rocks. She took us to some really great places to see and good eats. I will never forget the fun we had in Tokyo. I'm gonna miss her lots. Just like I miss the SG gals (thanks for the laughs and just spending time with us) and all the friends I made in Korea. THANK YOU MELLERS FOR EVERYTHING! I definitely would like to visit all these places again.

Singapore was the awesome shopping, good food and lots of awesome friends... Our first culture shock with timed telephone calls, no eating in subways, squatting toilets, standing on the left side on escalators, no tipping, etc. And the heat!!...we must have lost weight from all that sweating!

Seoul was crazy awesome shopping, good food, superfriendly people and networking... Our second culture shock with the no real shower, more squatting toilets AND the evil toilet that sprayed me, trying to figure out menus and signs that weren't in English, stairs oh the stairs and hills and mountains...We met so many great and supercool ppl there. We definitely lost weight from all that walking!

Tokyo was the superexciting memorable time with Mellers. Our third culture shock, yet more squatting toilets as well as nice ones, learning how to say basic things, trying hard not to speak in Korean...ahhaa, etc. Figured out that the women here really do speak with high voices. Every single one...wahhh. It's automatic...even my voice sounded higher when I said thank you. The weight we lost was at the club..hahaa. Don't expect us to look like we obviously lost weight though.

This trip was unforgettable. I really learned a lot and feel that I am a stronger person. Everyday was carefree and relaxing. Go Cathay Pacific for allowing me to visit three awesome places. I would really love to go again next year.

Thanks everyone for going through this long emails, especially to those who responded. Sorry I didn't always reply, but yeah busy as heck here! It is 3:15am here. Des is packing after her nap and I am sending this off. We have an 11am flight to HK, then a 2:45pm flight to Toronto. We'll be home soon!

-Sam
p.s. If this makes no sense, please forgive me..haha it's so early in the morning. Also, I finally asked Des if I spoke to her when she left for Osaka. Apparently we had a whole conversation..why don't I remember?!?!? So yes, please overlook whatever errors are in here <3

originally written: Apr 23, 2006