Contingency plans [More Updates]

When I got off the plane at Narita and saw the list upon list of names (my name included) taped to the wall and the crowd converging on three poor AC employees, my spidey senses told me I was in for a rough ride. A) I was definitely not alone in missing my connection and B) oh man I'm going to have to wait for a good long time in line. [Blogger's personal note: I really wanted to take a photo of the crowd and the lists of names taped to the wall but ultimately decided against it. People were already pretty annoyed by the situation. They definitely did not need a camera flashing in their face on top of it all.]

So when it became my turn (after a good while, I might add,) I was handed one of these [see right]. Even my flight arrived at 6:40 pm and the last flight to Taipei wasn't until 8:10 pm, there weren't any more seats. So, I got a new flight ticket for the next day and a hotel voucher for a hotel stay.

My recollection of the next 30 minutes or so was slightly blurry. Ran around filling out the proper forms to enter Japan. Got fingerprinted and photographed at customs (gah! I'm in the system now.) Picked up luggage. Exchanged some money (the currency exchange guy didn't speak english. He basically pointed at some figures. I nodded dumbly and gave him an hundred dollar US bill. He ran the bill through a machine twice. Smiled and nodded. Gave the bill to the guy sitting behind him and gave me some bills and coins. He didn't count the coins out by hand like I thought he would. A machine automatically dispenses the correct change. Pretty cool.) All the while I was trying to find/connect to free wifi so I could call my parents and they (along with half a dozen relatives) can stop worrying. 

Shuttle bus. More lining up at the hotel waiting to be checked in. AC was nice enough to include a complimentary dinner at the hotel. Overall, dinner was not that great (kind of hurting my perception of Japanese food,) but the fried things were really good (prob. because they were the only food that was actually piping hot.)

Here's my room. It wasn't anything fancy but it was clean and well-maintained. I was half-expecting some sort of fancy toilet with buttons galore in the washroom but it was as normal as can be. One thing I thought was strange was that the toilet had its own room separate from rest of the bathroom but no sink. Weird right?

My parents were adamant that I not drink the water in Japan. To pacify them, I bought two bottles of Evian (ironically, I never buy this brand back home. Too rich for my blood.)


And finally, here's the view from my room.