Konnichiwa, Tokyo

I made it to Tokyo last night. Yesterday I had to get up early and go to the Russian Market to pick up my vest. When I went there the night before to pick it up at the time I was told, I had to find an ATM first. By the time I got back, the tailor had left. So I went yesterday morning to pick it up. It looks quite nice.

Bad picture of a good vest.

Then I hired a tuk-tuk to take me to the airport. It was still several hours before my flight but I figured I might as well head there. It's a good thing I did because it took forever to get there. The traffic in Phnom Penh was the craziest I have ever seen. Thousands of cars and motorbikes were at a standstill in the road all trying to nudge a little bit ahead.

Chaos.

I finally made it to the airport only to find out my flight had been delayed by 40 minutes. I breezed through security and waited at my gate for a couple hours. The flight was to Taipei where I had another flight to Tokyo but when we arrived at Taipei, I was met by a guy with a sign marked "Tokyo" and rushed to the gate. I was the last one to board the plane. 

We arrived in Tokyo and I made my way to the train station. Using instructions I had copied down from the web and utilizing the English translations on the signs, I was able to take the two trains to my hostel pretty easily.

Sign in the train station

I haven't seen much of Tokyo yet but it's still pretty amazing. I'm experiencing a bit of culture shock 

at being back in a fully-developed country after over a month in Southeast Asia. Thailand and Cambodia put on a good show for tourists but the truth is that they are both still developing. Last night was the first time I've been able to brush my teeth with tap water (instead of bottled water) in a month.

I'm hanging out in my hostel right now but soon I will leave to meet my friend Oona. She's in school so I'll meet her in between her classes then again after she's done for the day.