<-- This is what I had to deal with during the entire trip. When he's operating on your brain or spine, think of this photo. :) I met up with Kenny at the Tokyo Narita airport (he flew in from L.A. and I flew from San Francisco). Both of us had to fly California - Tokyo - Guam - Koror because it was cheaper than the more convenient flight through Honolulu. I tried to get a free ticket using miles on Continental, but I couldn't get further than Guam and had to suck up the $800 ticket from Guam to Koror. Continental Micronesia has a stranglehold on flights to and from Koror, so there's no way around paying outrageous fees.

We had an overnight layover in Tokyo, and the "limousine bus" from the airport to the Shinjuku Washington hotel took over an hour and a half to get to downtown Toyko. Narita is likely one of the worst located international airports in the world. Hitomi came to meet us at around 9pm, and took us out to eat at a yummy noodle house. We didn't get to hang out much with her because she had to go back to work, but it was good to see her, and I am grateful for her hospitality. Afterwards, Kenny and I walked around Shinjuku for a little while before retiring to our room.

The next morning we went to the front desk to book a ticket on the bus back to Narita airport. The bus was full. That was not ideal, but what could we do? There was a Narita Express train from Shinjuku station to the airport as well, so we walked with our luggage to the station (15 minutes), only to discover that they didn't take credit cards. Now, I had come to Tokyo under the impression that it was going to be AT LEAST as "advanced" as the States, so I wasn't worried about carrying around too much cash. However, I was mistaken. We walked around trying to find an ATM for about twenty minutes. After finding one, we discovered that none of our cards worked, and money changing places weren't open at 7am. Apparently, there are multiple banking systems in Tokyo, and they don't all work together. Who knew? Panicking, we decided to head back to the hotel to see what other options we had. On the way, we happened upon Citibank. My card opened the door, but wouldn't let me take any cash out. Luckily, Kenny's card worked, and we rushed back to the rail station to board the train after the one we had missed. So, after much stress, we ended up on the airplane to Guam and were able to continue our trip.

walking around in shinjuku	this is hitomi. hi, hitomi!	me and hitomi in a cab
		hitomi in the lobby of the shinjuku washington hotel

Upon arriving in Guam after our "stranded in Tokyo" scare, we gorged ourself on food from Burger King and on udon from the "Local Micronesian Food" stand. Burger King in the Guam airport sucks. Some might argue that Burger King sucks everywhere, but sometimes a juicy Whopper really hits the spot.

Anyway, Guam was just like the rest of the United States. Comfort! Payphones worked as promised, letting me get to my calling card's 1-800 number, and mail there is on the U.S. postal system (zone 8, I think), so domestic rates apply (!). It was a nice layover, althought I sort of felt like I was still in Japan because none of the youth there had the black hair given to them by their genes (you might have to actually go to Japan to see what I'm talking about).

We arrived in Koror in the late afternoon, where a car was waiting for us. We checked into the West Plaza Coral Reef Hotel (it actually is a Motel, but doesn't advertise itself as such), which was fine -- meaning that it had suitable beds, air conditioning, and a bathroom in it. The two women manning the front desk were very nice. In the morning we went to eat at the Sea Horse Restaurant down the street. I ordered some sort of Indian omelette thinking that I'd be adventurous, but what came was a standard omelette instead. Oh well.

view from our room in the west plaza hotel

room in the west plaza hotel

sea horse restaurant

At noon, Lynne came in a van to take us to the chase boat, which would take us to the Big Blue Explorer, anchored in the bay. Speaking of the Big Blue Explorer...
[next - big blue explorer]