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I flew to Los Angeles on Monday of this week and stayed in a hotel overnight. I was expecting to enjoy my time in LA, but it was cold and rainy and I just stayed at the hotel. Boring.
Then on Tuesday I hopped a shuttle to LAX, got checked in at Japan Airlines, and spent the next couple of hours in the business class lounge.
I figured this was a good opportunity to get in some practice with chopsticks. What do you think of my technique?
I flew business class. This is my nest.
I was offered a western lunch or a Japanese lunch and I went for the Japanese. Starting top left, that is carrot and radish in vinegar sauce with crab meat, which was really pretty good. In the middle is sesame tofu, which was well, tofu. But that little green dollop on top really packed a punch. Top right was abalone and watercress; it tasted fishy and grassy. Bottom left is a chicken meatball with miso sauce. Meh. And the big serving is beef Tataki salad with Ponzu jelly. Double meh. But strange food is all part of the adventure!
This is a map of what was on the tray.
I was the last to arrive and everybody was waiting on me.
I didn't know who those people were, but two weeks later and we were all friends.
Kaori is smiling at me but you can't tell because she's wearing a mask.
The plane took off at noon and 12 hours later it landed in Japan at 4:00 PM the following day. That international date line really means business. Here are all the Road Scholars getting ready to ride a bus to our first hotel. There are 16 of us. As best I can tell, it’s going to be a good group.
Looks like this is the right place.
I'd say Tokyo is a pretty big city.
Lotsa lights.
I think those space ships are really reflections in the window.
The bus couldn’t drive on this street so we had to schlep our bags a block to the hotel.
Here’s my room. I was warned Japanese hotel rooms would be small. Whoever warned me was right.
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