Day 85 - Tree

After getting a whole three hours’ sleep in before having to vacate my bunk bed, half an hour after check-out time as usual, I was expecting the day to be as close to a write-off as it gets. As it turns out… well, that is exactly what it was. Two weeks of more units of alcohol than hours of sleep have officially broken me and getting out of bed this morning was harder than at any other point in this trip.

As I was sitting in the hostel’s common area trying to figure out where to go next I started conversation with two Americans who had been travelling together (having met at a hostel themselves a few days ago) and we ended up grabbing lunch together. Unfortunately my energy levels did not match theirs so I was particularly awful company, but nevertheless they were keen to meet up later to go out, an idea that I would spend the rest of my day trying to convince myself of without any success whatsoever. Two hours spent in an awesome coffee roastery catching up on writing just about managed to rejuvenate my spirits in time to head to the Tokyo Skytree, the second tallest building in the World, for sunset. There I briefly met Anthony, one of the Americans, who could not come up as he was heading to Roppongi to drive Mario Karts in character around the city - as you can imagine, this made me incredibly jealous and annoyed I did not get an International Drivers’ Permit before coming here…

The Skytree is actually more impressive than its 634m of height suggest. From the ground it looks immense, but from the observation deck its towering view over the biggest city in the World is simply breathtaking. I probably sound like I have an unhealthy obsession for both sunsets and Mount Fuji at this point, but the image of a seemingly endless forest of skyscrapers with a Fuji-shaped silhouette surrounded by a red, blue and green gradient made my hangover disappear for a brief moment.

After an hour spent walking around both observation decks my hangover came back, so after grabbing a bite to eat I set off on the daunting task of transferring between the two hostels I foolishly booked for these last three days. The place that will lodge me until I fly away is a capsule hotel, originally designed for drunk businessmen who failed to find their way home after a drinking session but now popular amongst budget travellers who struggle with the capital’s prohibitive accommodation prices.. While even more awkward than Book & Bed (and substantially less hip) I feel like I can just about function with my bag locked in a different room from my bed and the showers in a different floor altogether… Maybe tomorrow’s post will be an extended rent about capsule hotels, but right now I honestly could sleep anywhere, so this will do just fine.

Cheers,
J-Wowww