Trip to Nihon
I traveled to Japan for an onsite assignment.
Our journey started around 10:30 with a lot of pain and excitement in our heart. Our relatives and friends were waiting thinking that they might get one more chance to have glimpse of us. But we were busy packing and repacking our baggage to get the exact weight in each bag in the baggage counter. Our baggage constraints were like 20 + 7 maximum and the weighing machine left us in desperation when I read 37+10 for my pm and 36 + 10 for me. We had to pay a sum of 14K to get our baggage checked in. This kept us away from our friends, one guy ‘thadi’ who traveled almost 12 km leaving his daily meeting and my pm’s friend who traveled almost 20 km to just see of my pm with a bouquet were in a bad shape. My pm had 6 kg of pickles which kept him busy repacking everything to the big baggage as we cannot carry pickles in cabin bag. It was new information to me that we can make bombs with pickles and chilly powder.
We ran into more problems when the immigration officer at Hyderabad asked us to put 300 rs in the passport. I was able to make two three phone calls from my project manager’s cell as he couldn’t return it to his wife. We were very sad to imagine the face of our friends and relatives eagerly waiting for us to go back and say …just bye. My pm was in a sad mood saying about the kiddish fight he had with his 8 months old kid Nikhil and his wife ‘ Kana’ on the way to airport in the cab.
After that it was boring & congested. The economy class seats in Singapore airline are just ok as I required more leg space. I think it was designed keeping only Japanese ppl in mind. Except the intermittent call from pretty airhostess for drinks, food etc. I had a good sleep until we reached Singapore. Singapore airport is a huge place and the shops looked amazing. But with a lot sleep left in our eyes in Indian timings 4’O clock in the morning, we were busy looking for a nice seat to sleep. But the search for F59 to catch the next flight kept us awake. It must have been funny for other ppl as two guys dressed up in full suit, with drowsy eyes, looking for a place to sleep. The Singapore airlines kept as busy as they changed our terminal from E42 to F 59 which caused us another 400 m walk in the elevator. Ppl were busy walking over the elevator but we just stood and waited for the elevator to take us. We had four hour stop over and we roamed around the airport. The immigration from Singapore was simple and no bribing required there!
Except the non veg breakfast they provided which was prawn solicitous with ham and vegetables (I couldn’t understand what it was) I had to change to a veg meals and everything seemed in place. I saw ‘Taxi 9211’ on the flight. I was amazed to find Hindi movies in Singapore airlines.
From Tokyo airport ‘ Narita’ we had taken Limousine bus to Shinjuka station in which we again slept happily. The tall building and the cozy bus kept us awake for sometime but then the sleep took over. Since the veg meals were not enough for us, we got hold of 1 bread for each from Narita. We both found out that bread taste ultimate when we are really hungry. From shinjuka station which was a busy looking place just like what we can see in English movie, we got a call taxi to my friend’s place ‘Crystal Village’. According to my friend Daya, the map he had given was enough to get us to this place. But for our cab driver the map was ‘ Mujukashi’ means difficult. He had to ask two three ppl to get to the rite place.
Once at my tomodachin’s place (friend’s place, hope u ppl don’t mind adding these Nihon go words in between :) ) we had Tai rice+ sambhar + curd and pappad which was heaven after eating those international meals from Singapore airline. Three cheers to my friend Thiru ( HOD) who planned everything the rice, two calling cards and all. We were so tired that we hardly spoke. Just called up home and slept. All through the journey the new shoes kept biting me and left with two bruises. One lesson I learned is to keep my shoes old enough to keep away from shoe byte on a foreign assignment.
It was a memorable trip with long walks in Singapore airport, Tokyo airport and in the tube stations. I Will write up soon about the pretty Nihon gals and the hefty client ppl around me.
