See more by going solo

See more by going solo

'What tour package should I get for Hong Kong?" a colleague of mine asked. This question made me wonder, why didn't he travel by himself? Yes, going with a tour group is more convenient, safer and less of a hassle with the language, but I urged him to reconsider.

At that time, we had both just come back from Tokyo (we didn't go together though). Unlike me, he went there with a group tour. After spending hours telling him about my trip, he said "next time I won't buy a tour package" and here is why.

My idea was to travel around Tokyo without a guidebook, phrasebook or any book, making this a su-mi-ma-sen ("excuse me" in Japanese) trip.

The idea came from a saying "the traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." So it was just me and my iPhone wandering around the streets of Tokyo. As expected, I got lost! Since the iPhone Maps application was displayed in Japanese, my GPS-equipped iPhone was useless.

Luckily, many subway stations and sightseeing spots have English signs while others are exclusively in Japanese. So I started asking for help, the results of which I divided into two categories: people who I understood and "I don't have a clue".

Prior to this trip I requested Japanese locals via tokyofreeguide.com to guide me through this fast-paced city, especially since "all good things in Tokyo are written in Japanese". They took me to a third-ranked ramen restaurant in Tokyo, to try the famous dango (rice flour dumplings) and to watch a very amusing one-man puppet show. As all information is in Japanese, no guidebook can retrace my route; nor can I.

They also gave me tips for Japanese etiquette. For instance if you don't finish your meal, the restaurant owner will think that their food is not tasty, even though you stop because you are full. I also learned how to purify myself before entering a Japanese shrine. Most of the people I met fell into the "I don't have a clue" category in answering questions from where is the subway station to what did I just eat. Knowing that getting lost is pretty normal _ even my guide asked for directions _ it gave me confidence to do the same.

"To-kyo Met-to-ro" is how people pronounce "Tokyo Metro." This subway system has 168 stations and nine lines (by comparison Bangkok has only 30 stations with two lines) and each of the stations have multiple exits. It is like a spider's web so you better start practising how to pronounce words like Kay-say (Keisei), Yu-ri-ka-mo-mae (Yurikamome), "lice" (rice) and Ma-ku-do-na-ru-do (McDonalds).

Strange pronunciations might confuse you a little but you can usually guess what people are trying to tell you.

But what happens when they don't know how to describe something in English? I came across this problem during a dinner, a sushi meal. A man next to me was ordering something that was not on the menu.

I asked him but he didn't know how to explain it in English, so he started to continuously slap the side of his stomach. What you do think this means? He was trying to tell me that it was liver! I also discovered perplexed hand gestures.

How will you explain directions to a train station with "go straight, take a stair, make a u-turn, one more stair and turn right"?

A guy answered fluently in Japanese while performing a snake hand gesture, I only wished there were subtitles so I could get back to my hostel smoothly.

Unsurprisingly, I missed a lot of spots recommended by guidebooks, never having a chance to see sakura blossoms, and only having time to try a few Disney attractions (I went there on the first day of children's spring break) but I loved my trip. And why not? It was my own customised trip.

I met great people (especially my guide, Hiroko), had a traditional Japanese dinner for free (thanks, Emi), got a good-fortune amulet (that comes with a one-year expiry date), bought lots of toys and fell in love with the city.

Most of all, I can start calling myself a "traveller".


Sithikorn Wongwudthianun is a multimedia producer for the Bangkok Post.

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