So I'm finally far enough removed from the situation, and awake enough to write this long overdue entry. I know most of the people who surf to this site don't enjoy reading, so I apologize in advance. I'm about to document my trip.

Tokyo and it's surrounding regions was fun, the tour we went on was pretty good. All Chinese people, which meant my Chinese definitely improved in the few days I was there. The downward slope happened the day I was leaving for Taiwan. Tokyo received a few inches of snow my last full day in Tokyo, and pretty much all flights in and out were cancelled. My flight was due to leave the next day at 10:00. Therefore, we got to the airport around 7:30 AM, and it looked like this:





By the time we finally checked in, it was 11:30, and we heard some announcement that they were starting to board, so my mom and I sprinted to the gate. Turned out to be for nothing. There were people lying on the floor sleeping all over the place, those poor people that were stranded there. I don't even know what time, but maybe like 2ish, we get word that they've cancelled the flight due to 'engine problems'. At first, they're like, please take your suitcases off the plane. And we're all like WTF!! What are we supposed to do w/ our luggage?? So they take us out of the terminal, and we go through customs AGAIN. So we are now sorta illegally in Japan. At this point, to make a long story short, we all sat around protesting about the lack of care for us. They essentially said they'd reimburse us our money if we wanted to cancel our trip, or we could call in tomorrow to figure something out. It's also good to note that everyone who works for Japanese Airlines (JAL) has horrible English, and they pretty much always speak Japanese. There were a few people in the crowd that could translate for everyone else. After that, we contemplated taking the bullet to Osaka and fly out of there, because they didn't get snow, but we ended up sticking w/ some Caucasian foreigners. We ended up getting a flight out the next afternoon (2:45), hotel, bus to and from the hotel, and dinner and breakfast vouchers. Few lessons to take away from here: People w/ white skin are treated MUCH better than Asians. Americans who flash their passport are treated better than non-Americans. But still, I had to fight for what I got. The people kept telling me the flight was full, all the hotels were full, and there was nothing they could do for me. But I was like, THOSE people got it, WHY CANT WE. Stupid discrimination. So that was ANOTHER line we waited in. Finally, we get our stuff, and we head over to the bus counter to go to the hotel, it's around 7pm, and I've been on my feet all day. Unfortunately, the woman there tells me they don't take the voucher, only cash. So I go back to the counter. Please remember the lines here are crazy long, and each customer takes like an hour. I just went to the front and asked. The guy was like, O, we don't have any more cash here, but I'll call upstairs for them to bring some down. I waited 1.5 hours. And he kept telling me 'soon, soon'. Finally, we had to go. The last bus left at 8:30; if we didn't catch it, we'd be stuck at the airport. Screw that. Luckily my mom had just enough yen left to make a round trip (she was saving it for her stopover on her way back to America) so we just used that. The bus dropped us off at the wrong hotel; we had to walk next door to the right hotel. With our luggage. *sigh* By the time we checked in, it was 9:30 and the restaurant closed at 10. We got food, and then went straight to bed. Woke up the next morning, had breakfast, and got to the airport at 10 AM for our 2:45 flight. We got there, and it was slightly better from the day before:




See? There's slightly more room. This time, it's more orderly. We had been in the same hotel as the aforementioned foreigners, so we stuck with them. They go first to check in, and are told that they can't check in until an HOUR before their flight, which is completely unreasonable, considering the line, and there's no way they'd get through again an hour before the flight. Also, I should mention that in Japan, you can't even check in until your luggage is scanned and put through. The other Americans went ahead, RIGHT in front of us, no problem, but when WE tried to go through, they stopped us and were like, O yea you can't go in yet. I was like, dood, we're on the exact same flight as those people ahead of us, so they let us through. Anyways, after those other foreigners get back in line, we try to check in, and we're told WE'RE NOT ON THAT FLIGHT AT ALL. WTF, right??? Then he proceeds to tell us in his broken Japanese that all the flights today are full, but he can put us on one for TOMORROW. My mom and I were like HELL NO. Anyways, after bantering for an hour, we manage to get on a flight that night at 6:55. Few things I learned from this experience: Japanese management sucks. Way too hierarchical. Everything I recommended, he had to run across the building to ask his manager if it was OK. (could I fly out on a different airline? Did you try business or first class? Can you fly me to Osaka and fly me out of there?) I also learned that you get a lot more being polite than yelling and slamming the counter. I never lost my cool; I stayed calm, but I refused to leave the counter unless I was given what I wanted (a flight out THAT NIGHT). Must be insistent, I wielded my bargaining ways. Granted, the day before waiting to get money for the bus, I almost started tearing up, I was so stressed and emotional. Thank GOODNESS for my shuffle, it kept me calm (thanks Kenny!). Here's my mom after we got our boarding passes (tilt your head):



Difficult to explain how happy we were to get these tickets. I feel lucky, there's so many other people on our flight that got stranded, I felt so bad. They were unable to assert themselves, and resorted to just standing around. There were so many stories of people, some getting stranded in Tokyo for 3 days, no bed, no shower, no food, and no idea when they're getting back. But I won't bore you all with other people's stories, mine is bad enough.

Anyways, my dad was going to join my mom and I in Taiwan the day after we got there. We ended up being on the same flight as him; we had actually thought he was on a different one. Anyways, THIS flight ended up changing gates without telling us, and we were supposed to leave at 6:55PM, right? We ended up leaving at 9. And they didn't even tell us the plane was delayed. We were all like WTF. This sucks. Anyways, finally got to Taiwan around midnight. And that concludes my Japan experience.

This is a picture of the plane that FINALLY took me to Taiwan:


There's currently a class action law suit against JAL in Taiwan, I don't know if there's any in America, but there should be. They SUCK. No other airlines had as many problems as JAL.

Anyways, Taiwan. First night only slept 4 hours, because we had to wake up to take my grandma for her yearly doctor's appointment. In general, I'm a freaking grandma and I go to bed around 10 PM ish and wake up at 6 AM. It's currently 10:10PM now, and it's difficult to keep my eyes open.

So my comments about Taiwan.

CHEAP! LOVE IT!
Everything is also ultra delicious, and I don't have to pay crazy amounts. I can eat 3 yummy and filling meals in a day and spend less than 5 USD.
Guys all seem to be into the long shaggy look (ick).
The female mullet is quite in style right now.
Girls wear some really cute flats here.
There's a LOT more foreigners than last time I came to Taiwan (3 years ago). They all also speak VERY good Mandarin.

I haven't taken a lot of pictures, given that I haven't been here very long, and it's all been mostly family errands stuff.


My grandfather's grave, Chinese style.


Praying to the ancestors.


We burn paper money for our ancestors and the deities to use in their next life.


And this is my mom with some sort of lucky turnip we bought at the flower market.

The market had some REALLY cute orchids, but I just can't bring them back w/ me to America, it's not possible.

And on to Japanese pictures.



Naruto in Japan! Too bad I didn't understand anything.


Cleansing my hands (left first, then right), then cleansing my soul my rinsing my mouth with that water. Quite sanitary, just thinking how many people's mouths have been on that ladle. They have this at every shrine in Japan.


Wall of alcohol at the shrine; rich people buy these things and donate them to shrines.


Steph and her squid balls.


Inside the tail of the horse of a statue (wow that was a lot of prepositions), there was this bird's nest that I thought was cute.


Me and the 2nd largest Buddha in Japan.


(tilt your head). Me before going to take a nude dip in the hot springs thing. All nude. Saw many a flabby body. I have to say, I was kinda scared going into it, but I was like, OK YOU CAN DO IT STEPH! Just don't look at anyone. I'm proud of myself!


Steph and I taste testing preserved garlic, before.


Steph and I taste testing preserved garlic, during.


Me and sweet potato and vanilla swirled soft serve. PS: Japanese has excellent soft serve.


Japanese outfits, FOB style.


Breakfast at the 2nd hotel. It was right on the water, very beautiful.


A super dooper porky pooper!


The toilet at the Toyota display center. I have other kool pictures from there, but I'm getting tired of writing this entry. I like this one, there's a baby toilet next to the full sized one. Isn't it cute?? In this bathroom, it has the butt cleaner, automatic hand washer, automatic baby butt washer, and more. StephFan and I walked in, and were like, uhh... is this a demo bathroom? haha


Mt. Fuji. No, I didn't make the snowman. I knocked the head of the snowman right before this picture was taken. haha I rock. This was also the snow that ended it all.

Whew! That was like the longest entry EVER!