Just hanging out with ducks

Since we arrived back in Tokyo we have been hanging out with some of the people who we met back in Mt. Fuji a week or so ago. Last night we all met up at the bar under Khaosan Tokyo Smile where we are staying and had some drinks, It’s nice just to relax a little and have some beers with new friends you meet on the road. At some point a Japanese man showed up and joined our group, he said he liked to take photos of travelers which we thought meant group pictures or something. Maybe it was just a little weird to us but he started taking pictures like six inches from our faces, and I’m pretty sure he had a fascination with me and one of the other fellows beards. Could have just been a difference in cultural norms maybe? But I’m not one to judge.

This morning we all met up again and headed out for some sushi for lunch then over to one of the bigger parks in our area called Ueno park for some sight seeing; turns out there wasn’t much there but we did get to see lots of ducks and other random animals hanging out at a huge man made lake. I had to break up a duck fight that could have ended tragically, over a bread crumb no less. We decided that we were going to buy some Christmas stockings for each other just to make it seem a little more like home while were away, we may even wrap our bags with spruce bows and hang ornaments off them… Well Carolyn might. I’ve spend a few to many holidays away from anything I could ever call home to miss these occasions. Tomorrow were headed off to another hostel in a little bit bigger part of town, hopefully it will have a little more space than the one we are currently in; A foot and a half on each side of the bead just isn’t cutting it for us. Most people have closets bigger than the space we’ve been living in.

Mike