Monday, March 02, 2015

the floating world

The contrast between the chaotic intensity of India and the restrained perfection of Japan is crazy to experience on the same trip. Yesterday morning I woke up in Jaipur, got a massage, endured a five hour car ride in the rain, etc. Today I woke up on a plane, took a bus to the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, and had a luxurious, pleasurable experience that would have made the geishas and artists of Edo's floating world proud.

Okay, maybe I didn't do anything pornographic. But I had afternoon tea in the gorgeous lobby bar overlooking all of Tokyo (the hotel is at the top of the tallest tower in the city), then got a facial to remove the worst of India's smog from my pores. After the facial, I hung out in a hot tub with floor to ceiling windows over Tokyo, which was gorgeous. Then I showered (it's amazing how great my hair looks when washed with water that won't poison me) and did some writing over a burger and a rather delicious Japanese merlot in the lobby bar. As you can tell from this, I basically ditched my coworker as soon as we got to the hotel - we weren't supposed to go into the office this afternoon since we got in after three p.m., and I rather desperately needed some hermit time. Maybe I should have gone out...but at this point, Rafe and Octavia are screaming at me to start writing, and I'm feeling like obliging them.

Tomorrow, though, I have to go to the office and do the job I was meant to do here, and I'll probably get roped into have dinner somewhere in Tokyo rather than getting to write tomorrow night. C'est la vie...I'm only here tomorrow and Wednesday, and my flight leaves Wednesday night, so I suppose it won't kill me to be social one more day. Goodnight!

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