After over three weeks of being away from my family, I made the trek to Osaka to pick them up. I rode the Orange Ferry, a small cruise ship that travels from Toyo port (about a half-our from our apartment in Imabari) to southern Osaka.
At about 10PM, I grabbed my ticket, boarded the boat, and rode the escalator(!!) up to the main floor, which looked like the inside of a hotel. They had two lounge rooms, including one for smokers, with chairs and tables set up in pairs facing a giant wide screen TV. There was a full scale restaurant, as well as a coffee shop and snack kiosk. Each floor had hallways filled with rooms on both sides, just like a hotel.
The rooms range from wide open rooms where the floor is split up into thirty spots for futons, to luxurious private rooms with big beds. I originally chose to sleep in the room with thirty other people, until I realized that I could upgrade to an 8 person bunk bed-style room for only ten dollars more. When I got to my room, someone was in my bed. Each bed has curtains that shut to both block out the light from outside and keep in any light from the overhead reading light in each nook. I knocked on the bed wall and asked if perhaps he wasn't mistaken, and he responded that he hadn't really made sure. Looking at his ticket, he realized that he had entered the wrong room. His stuff was strewn all over, so I offered to just switch rooms with him.
I put my backpack on the bed and took my shoes off, seeing slippers at the foot of each bed. In Japan, people never wear shoes inside their own house, so any walking around inside (though not on tatami) is done while wearing slippers. It's the same in any public place where shoes aren't allowed. Everybody wore their complimentary slippers. Everybody. I slipped my feet in, the back 5 inches of each foot hanging off the back end, and waddled my way to the kiosk to get a drink.
I popped my head into the men's shower area, which unsurprisingly featured a whole lot of Japanese male nudity, without any sort of barrier to keep passersby from catching a glimpse while the door was open. Not in the mood to hang out with a bunch of naked boys, I went back to my room to try to sleep.
The boat departed at about 10:30, but I didn't even realize we had left the port until it was after 11:30. I slid the curtain shut, took my evening meds, and fell asleep right away.
At 5AM, I woke up, having drunk a bit too much water the night before. I tried to go back to bad after a quick trip to the restroom, but right as I started to doze off, the wake-up chime and announcement sounded:
"Thanks for riding the Orange Ferry. We'll be docking in about 45 minutes. Feel free to buy our repulsive, outrageously overpriced breakfast buffet, or just wait until we get to Osaka so you can search aimlessly for a McDonald's that will leave you with lots of blogging material. Have a pleasant day."
I slept pretty well on the Orange Ferry. I'd definitely be willing to do it again, though next time I think I'll go straight to my cubicle bed and fall asleep before the boat even leaves the port.
No comments:
Post a Comment