Here's a longwinded journal i wrote to sher while in Jap/for my own reference. CAUTION: Read only if bored. (but not too depressed-ish bored. Cos it might cause greater harm..)
sat on a plane, SQ636, for about 6 hours... watching MEGAMIND (but napped in between cos it was a night flight and i was sleeeeepy). We had two meals on board the flight, supper and breakfast before landing in the relatively-new Haneda Airport, TOKYO(:
DAY 1 (18th Jan)
The sun was peeking out from the LAND of the RISING SUN as we took the local train to our accommodation for the next 3 nights-Sakura Hostel in a town called Asakusa.
After we'd left the bags in the hotel, we decided to explore the community! The major attraction in Asakusa is the Sensoji Temple. It houses a Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) and a Buddha statue. Legend has it that two brothers fished the Goddess of Mercy statue from a lake and each time they threw it back, it returned to them! haha, believe it or not, 20 million visitors come to the temple annually! The main entrance to the temple is the Kamanarimon, or lei men (thunder gate). A huge lantern hangs from the gate with the two words.
Thank goodness for chinese-Japanese overlapping words cos it helped me understand a bunch of stuff. I mean, even a single word could clue you to know what's in a particular dish or what a shop sells. hee.
After touring the attractions, mom,my cousin, mi chelle, and I went to this restaurant - Wanentei Kikko (recommended by Frommers!). It was kinda hard to locate, but with the awesome hospitable people of JAPAN, we found the quaint, tiny traditional shop house tucked in a corner. The place served Bento Sets while you enjoy a cultural Shamisen (san xian, a three-string instrument usually plucked by a BIG pick) performance(:
I thoroughly enjoyed trying all sorts of colourful, foreign looking sashimi! Definitely my first experience being so adventurous with RAW fish and seafood. The usual salmon sashimi was outshone by TUNA. Melts in your mouth, if you know what i mean.. And then there were other queer looking things like snail as well as the more harmless cooked stuff like cod fish and miso soup and pickled boiled veg.
After a heart-warming lunch, we were kinda groggy and wanting to check in, back into the hotel (or rather hostel) for a nap to compensate for the tiring fly-over. So we did, meeting up with Lolo(mommy's colleague), her husband Philip and her mom, and we slept till DINNER(: That was about 7pm. The foody couple (Lolo and Philip) brought us to a nearby street stall for what looked like less-than-appealing zhap fan (mixed rice). We were so wrong! the food was inexpensive and delicious and award-winning! The jap rice we had was soooo sweet and delicious, plus the warmmmm dishes...mouthwatering. mmmm...
Following dinner, we walked around town, and ended up at SEIYU! haha, it was a supermarket and not a department store though. And we bought some bread and snacks for breakfast.(: the foody couple however, shopped for SUPPER. yes, they bought crabs and some cabbage and cherry tomatoes intending to bring it back to the hostel to boil/prepare. When we paid for our goodies, i was kinda surprised by the cashier. It was semi-automated, with a machine dispensing the exact amount of change after we'd paid. SO COOL. cheap thrill i know, but Japan's really an eye-opener. For example, SMART TOILETS. In the Bento Restaurant we went to and Haneda Airport, there were these toilets with WARMED seats. And not only a spray to wash your behind, BUT A BLOWDRYER TOO. and then there's a button to adjust the temperature, a button for music, a button to alter the angle, and the intensity of the spray. AHHHH! ;D
We then proceeded home to the common area of the hostel (which gets pretty crowded around late evenings) for supper. We had Hokkaido cheesecake, bought from the supermarket and hot tea(: pleasant end to a sleepyday
The sun was peeking out from the LAND of the RISING SUN as we took the local train to our accommodation for the next 3 nights-Sakura Hostel in a town called Asakusa.
After we'd left the bags in the hotel, we decided to explore the community! The major attraction in Asakusa is the Sensoji Temple. It houses a Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) and a Buddha statue. Legend has it that two brothers fished the Goddess of Mercy statue from a lake and each time they threw it back, it returned to them! haha, believe it or not, 20 million visitors come to the temple annually! The main entrance to the temple is the Kamanarimon, or lei men (thunder gate). A huge lantern hangs from the gate with the two words.
Thank goodness for chinese-Japanese overlapping words cos it helped me understand a bunch of stuff. I mean, even a single word could clue you to know what's in a particular dish or what a shop sells. hee.
After touring the attractions, mom,my cousin, mi chelle, and I went to this restaurant - Wanentei Kikko (recommended by Frommers!). It was kinda hard to locate, but with the awesome hospitable people of JAPAN, we found the quaint, tiny traditional shop house tucked in a corner. The place served Bento Sets while you enjoy a cultural Shamisen (san xian, a three-string instrument usually plucked by a BIG pick) performance(:
I thoroughly enjoyed trying all sorts of colourful, foreign looking sashimi! Definitely my first experience being so adventurous with RAW fish and seafood. The usual salmon sashimi was outshone by TUNA. Melts in your mouth, if you know what i mean.. And then there were other queer looking things like snail as well as the more harmless cooked stuff like cod fish and miso soup and pickled boiled veg.
After a heart-warming lunch, we were kinda groggy and wanting to check in, back into the hotel (or rather hostel) for a nap to compensate for the tiring fly-over. So we did, meeting up with Lolo(mommy's colleague), her husband Philip and her mom, and we slept till DINNER(: That was about 7pm. The foody couple (Lolo and Philip) brought us to a nearby street stall for what looked like less-than-appealing zhap fan (mixed rice). We were so wrong! the food was inexpensive and delicious and award-winning! The jap rice we had was soooo sweet and delicious, plus the warmmmm dishes...mouthwatering. mmmm...
Following dinner, we walked around town, and ended up at SEIYU! haha, it was a supermarket and not a department store though. And we bought some bread and snacks for breakfast.(: the foody couple however, shopped for SUPPER. yes, they bought crabs and some cabbage and cherry tomatoes intending to bring it back to the hostel to boil/prepare. When we paid for our goodies, i was kinda surprised by the cashier. It was semi-automated, with a machine dispensing the exact amount of change after we'd paid. SO COOL. cheap thrill i know, but Japan's really an eye-opener. For example, SMART TOILETS. In the Bento Restaurant we went to and Haneda Airport, there were these toilets with WARMED seats. And not only a spray to wash your behind, BUT A BLOWDRYER TOO. and then there's a button to adjust the temperature, a button for music, a button to alter the angle, and the intensity of the spray. AHHHH! ;D
We then proceeded home to the common area of the hostel (which gets pretty crowded around late evenings) for supper. We had Hokkaido cheesecake, bought from the supermarket and hot tea(: pleasant end to a sleepyday
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