Tokyo - Earthquake post

Hi there!!! Have not blogged for so long! A few things have contributed to that, namely... 1. Mummy can't find her camera charger so she has no camera and has to resort to taking photos with her blackberry so no nice picture quality to post 2. Popo and Ah mah + kong kong came to visit so no time to blog 3. Mummy got stuck in Japan during the earthquake so was too traumatised to blog 4. Mummy has been busy at work so no time to blog. Anyways, now that things have quietened down and we're back to our boring routine, I can blog again!!! First up, mummy wants to hog my blog to talk about her trip to Tokyo. She was there from 7 to 11 March. so she had time to do some sightseeing in Tokyo before the quake struck when she was enroute to the airport. she was there for work, she didn't have much time to go out, but she did manage to see Ometosendo, Harajuku and Shibuya! The day she arrived in Tokyo, it snowed!!! How strange, considering it was March and about to be Spring... maybe a sign of the disaster to come? Here's the view from the airport bus heading to the airport... snow on the side of the road! By the time mummy arrived at the hotel, it was dark already! Takes 2 hours to get from Narita airport to the hotel. Here's the view from her room.. nice hor!

And the hotel is situated next to the Tokyo Tower... nice views.

Next door to the hotel, is a quite famous temple called Dojoji temple which she didn't have time to visit.

Across the road from the hotel, is the Atago Mori tower - where the BAT office is conveniently located. 10 minutes walk each way. But it was very cold to walk - about 5-10 degrees everyday!

Anyway, mummy went to Ometosando on her first night... managed to navigate the subway all by herself in a foreign land! Very clever! It was a very classy shopping district with pretty buildings!

Then, another night, she went to Shibuya to look at the famous intersection. More affordable and trendy shopping! But too bad no time to shop.

Managed to find the famous crepe shops along Harajuku's Takeshita lane!

And then, when mummy was on the bus on the way to the airport, the earthquake struck.

She got on the bus at 2pm and the quake struck at about 2.45pm...

There was a huge billow of smoke behind the bus, from buildings which were on fire. There were also cracks on the highway and the lampposts were swaying from the aftershocks so the driver had to pull over on the side of the highway until things were calmer.

She only arrived at Narita at 8pm.

It was chaotic, but still orderly at the airpot.

Staff were handing out food and water, blankets, sleeping bags, etc.

All flights were cancelled for the night, so mummy had to sleep over at the airport!!!

Lots of other people in the same situation, but everyone was very polite and there was no clamouring or pushing for anything.

Luckily- mummy managed to get a flight out the following night, and arrived back in HK safe and sound. What an experience!!! :)