A day at the Zoo

A yawning Hippo, could do with a toothbrush and some tic tacs.
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Today Phil and I went to Ueno Doobutsuen (Ueno Zoo) in Taito. The train there was efficient as always and we were there within 25 minutes. The Zoo itself is only a short walk (< 5 mins) from the station, which was a added bonus.

We checked out pretty much everything in the zoo from the (very much asleep) panda, to the very cool lions, tigers and bears (oh my). Ok there were no bears, I made that up, but there were gorillas.

McDonalds Tandoori chicken burger review score: 7/10

A monkey. Yeap, a monkey.
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It started to rain as we left, but not before I was able to get a few shots of the fountain outside, as well as the jigoku no mon (gates of hell) which were among a few outstanding works of art in the area outside the zoo. There was also a fountain that gets higher and higher on a timer; I actually got a video of it completing, which I'll upload with the rest once in London. After the rain really set in, we went and got Maccas for dinner. Tandoori chicken burger review score: 7/10.

We then headed back to where Phil remembered playing pool: Shinjuku. Unfortunately, he couldn't quite remember so we head to walk around for a bit in Shinjuku before he realised that it might have actually been Shibya (where I had been the day before). Once arriving at Shibuya, however, we finally conceded that it was really in Ikebukuro (where I'm staying). We hung aroud in Shibuya a tad longer and headed back on the train again, and finally found a billiard hall.

ORLY?
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Billiard halls in Japan work differently than pool halls, or bars with pool tables in them, in Oz. You hire out a table and pay for it at the end, not per game. It's reasonably expensive, but only marginally more than paying $3 a game back home. The other perk is they bring beer to you whenever you ask, allowing you to concentrate on the game. Unfortunately, "Billiards Halls" in Japan don't have billiard balls, only pool balls.

We had planned to go to Tokyo Disney Sea the next day and so decided that, as we were being picked up at 8am by Wakako's friend, it was easier for me to stay at their place. After grabbing my bathroom bag and a change of clothes, we headed back to Phil's place and that's where the day ended.