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Cherie Thiessen - Travel Writer |
| The Sun Also Rises Westworld - Postcards |
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| text and photography by Cherie Thiessen | ||
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Love in the land of the rising sun |
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| "Irasshaimase", a discrete velvety voice greets us from somewhere above the crystal chandelier as soon as the glass doors have automatically opened, allowing us to skulk into the spacious, gleaming lobby. There is, however, no-one in sight. The lighting is muted, the music is celestial and the inviting decor matches the voice. Furtively my husband and I look around and are relieved to see a radiant row of panels across the room blinking
invitingly. Holding hands, we tiptoe over the marbled, glowing tiles and see ourselves reflected in polished mirrors everywhere we look. We have never done this sort of thing before, honest. |
The panel shows rooms, lots of different rooms at different prices, theme rooms. The Black Leather Room is the most expensive at $210 for three hours, too dark for my romantic tastes and it would take us far too long to work out what all that apparatus on the wall was for anyway. Panel number two, though, now we're talking: a huge oval soaker tub for four in a marbled bathroom the size of my home in Canada, a round bed, and oh goody, a karaoke bar with mirrors and lights. That will give us something to do with the other two and three quarter hours of our allotted time for love. This room is $90 for 3 hours, or we could stay the whole night for $300, but how much decadence can a couple married for 25 years stand? | We push the button under the picture and watch the panel light go off under our coveted room while a room card slips out. Simultaneously the nearby elevator doors slide open, the disembodied voice says, "Arigato Gozimashita," - thank you -, and we slip into the elevator without paying a yen and without seeing a soul. The musak plays on, covering the sound of our beating hearts. Second floor, a red light is blinking off and on at a doorway indicating that the door to our romantic fantasy is about to be opened. We slip the key in and - tadaima - we have entered The Mirror and Marble Love Dreams With Your Sweetheart Room. more... |
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