The Grand Holiday – Part 2

I continue with the American leg of the trip. Getting into New York City from JFK was a breeze. The temps weren’t too bad, and we were early for our coach ride to Boston. That’s when it got a little silly and we were traipsing around midtown Manhattan with our oversized bags looking for a cafe to while away the time. Eventually we settled on Borders.

BoltBus was a good choice, given the comfy seats and free wifi connection. It meant that the 4 hour journey wasn’t going to be that awful, bearing in mind we just got off a 13 hour flight from Asia. Met up with the gang in Boston and we had dinner at a Jewish restaurant. They had this very delicious appetiser platter, unfortunately I have forgotten what the 4 different types of appetisers were, that made up the platter. Scrumptious! So were the bread.

I think the weight gain on the holiday is pretty considerable, given that a number of people have commented on it. But I’m not going to worry too much about it, for the food was so good.

On 3 Dec, we explored Boston, visiting the MIT and Harvard campus. The Natural History museum at Harvard was pretty neat, with its glass flowers collection. Glass was used to create plant specimens as a tool to teach botany during the early 20th century when it would have been difficult to obtain fresh / pressed specimens. You have to see it to believe that glass can be used to create something so organic and lifelike.

4 Dec = shopping extravaganza. We went to the Wrentham Premium Outlets for a full day of shopping. Yes. Full day. From 10 to 7. Had lunch at a great Southern-style restaurant just off the Outlets, and returned for more shopping. The end result wasn’t too damaging on the wallet, because I wasn’t too crazy with the shopping. Haha….some restraint was exercised. Hot on the heels of Southern comfort food, we had Korean BBQ for dinner. Seriously good stuff when the people you see in the entire restaurant were East Asian.

5 Dec, we headed south to Newport, Rhode Island, which was the summer playground of the rich and famous at the turn of the last century. Visited the Vanderbilts mansion and learnt a little bit of American history. Quite enjoy this pace of a holiday, where we take in 1 or 2 sights a day. Lunch was at a New England sort of touristy pub, and dinner was at a Mexican place in Cambridge, MA.

6 Dec, we returned to NYC via Boltbus. Took the Staten Island Ferry on the 7th to zip past Statue of Liberty. Explored the Financial District and SoHo. Did more shopping… and ended up in Times Square. 8 Dec, walked around Central Park. Went to MoMA. Caught ‘The 39 Steps’, an off-Broadway play based on the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name.

9 Dec, zipped off to Toronto on a very small plane. It’s my first experience on a passenger jet that sits only 4 passengers in a row, with 12 rows in total. The flight was very empty, there were only about 10 of us on the flight and the stewardess was able to get all of our drink orders at one go, without having to push the trolley down the aisle. Felt like a private jet, even though it was just a 1 hour flight.

Next up, Toronto!

The Grand Holiday

It was a smashing holiday (27th Nov – 17th Dec) ! Had tons of interesting food and visited neat places. Let me try to do a recap of the highlights…

Flew into Tokyo first and then took the Shinkansen up to Nagano, which is in the heart of Honshu. The city itself wasn’t much but the Shinshu soba was yummy, and there were so many buckwheat-based products. The main attraction was the Zenkoji temple and we managed to catch a glimpse of the 753 festival. At the tourist information centre, I was thrilled that the guide working there commented that my Japanese was kirei (free from a foreign accent). Surely that motivates me to practise speaking more often.

On 29th Nov, we took the local train up to Yudanaka, where the ryokan awaits. We walked through the small town and had lunch in a very small soba-ya. I love the local townsfolk, they were very very friendly and gave us free Shinshu apples for dessert. I must say that those apples are extremely crunchy and sweet. It was amazing to see the apple trees, laden with huge apples along the railway tracks. I don’t think I have seen fruiting apple trees before, so it was a treat.

By the time we arrived at the ryokan, it was time to explore the 9 famous bathhouses of Shibu onsen. Thanks to the hostess of the ryokan who suggested that we should put on a coat over our yukata, since it was pretty chilly outside, we were called ‘kawaii’ by an elderly couple outside a bathhouse. Yes, they were dressed in yukata only.

Bathhouse after bathhouse, the water was scalding. We just couldn’t enter the water, until we returned to the ryokan and again the friendly hostess informed us that we should mix the spring water with tap water first. So we soldiered back to the first bathhouse and followed her instructions. Clearly, that was wise.

As we were acclimatising to the scalding water, a group of Japanese ladies entered the bathhouse next door. And all of a sudden, we heard shrieks of ‘Atsui!’ They found the water too hot too! Clearly, they have not heeded the instructions of the ryokan hostess. So, it was an amusing to hear a group of Japanese ladies shrieking through a paper-thin divider while we were soaking in the water. After a while, they gave up and left.

I’m not sure if you could term this as schadenfreude, but it was good fun! Dinner was heavenly! It was a luxurious meal, filled with horse sashimi (sounds scary, but it tastes good), rare mushrooms, braised anko (anglerfish), huge shrimps, pork shabu shabu etc. I’m quite sure a similar feast in Singapore would set you back by 2,3 hundred dollars. But it’s just such an experience eating and sleeping in a Japanese ryokan.

Breakfast was similarly delicious on a smaller scale. Then we left for the snow monkey park, which was where the Japanese macaques revelled in the hot springs themselves. I’m not sure if they were playing to the crowd, but it was interesting to see the little baby monkeys staying by the edge of the springs, never daring to enter. Too hot, I suppose.

By the time we returned to Tokyo, it was late in the afternoon. On 1st Dec, we ventured to Shinjuku gyoen, which is an Imperial garden. I’m running low on the really touristy places to visit in Tokyo. Lunch at the employees cafe in the Tokyo Metropolitan Building was a steal, for its prices were reasonable. At this point I feel that there is so much value in making repeated visits to a place, for you discover different dimensions to it and develop a better picture of the place.

Then we explore Shimokitazawa, a neighbourhood that is filled with 2nd-hand shops. That kind of sums up our Japan leg of the trip. We flew to New York on 2nd Dec.

Hanoi (4th – 8th June 2010)

Let’s try to do this while the memory is still fresh (sort of). Left Singapore for Hanoi on 4th June via Jetstar. I nearly wanted to type Easyjet. Still reminiscing the good old days of backpacking round Europe.

There wasn’t a direct flight to Hanoi, so we had to stopover at HCM. The first flight was alright, but I was worried about the second flight which involved a switch to Jetstar Pacific. Having read about various comments about the airline, they were proven right when the flight was delayed by an hour. No announcement was made. The TV screen in front of the gate just updated the departure time by itself. Of course, being unable to understand a word of Vietnamese didn’t help. Being a domestic flight, there weren’t really going to translate everything into English right?

Finally got onto the flight. Landed in Hanoi Noi Bai airport. Everything about the airport throws you back to the 1970s. It’s difficult to describe but you’ll know it when you see it. Got picked up by the driver sent by the hotel and was driven to Hanoi city centre.

Not too much countryside. Very quickly, we came into industrial areas, interspersed with rice paddy fields. As we approach Hanoi, the deafening blare of the horn overwhelms you. Every second, a motorcycle / car horn will go off. I’m not kidding. The traffic rule there basically is everyone has the right of way. If you are a pedestrian, you have the right to cross the road anytime you want. The bikes and cars just have to weave around you. All you need to do is look straight ahead, walk across at a steady pace, ignoring the fact that cars, bikes, trishaws, bicycles are whizzing by you.

And if you are a driver, again you have the right of way. If something is hindering your way forward, just blast the horn. You feel like turning right, just turn, even if cars are coming at you from the opposite direction. They just have to slow down for you.

It’s pretty amazing that the system works. For I didn’t witness any accidents in the time I was there. And you become pretty skilled at fearlessly crossing the roads, even the 3, 4 lane roads.

The hotel was more than decent, definitely worth the money spent. By the time we got into Hanoi, it was late afternoon. Explored the Old Quarter, which is famous for its tube houses. These shophouses have a very narrow shopfront, but are really deep and long. The front is probably about half the width of a decent shop locally, but they extend inwards indefinitely. The mishmash of architecture adds to the flavour of the place.

I suppose we ate like kings there, considering the fact that it was rather scary to try to eat like the locals do, sitting beside the road where the food-sellers place their raw foods and prepare them. Zipping into restaurants, which most likely caters to the upper middle class of Hanoi, expats and tourists, they aren’t too pricey, about the price you would pay in a regular cafe-restaurant in Singapore.

Day 2 was spent touring the Temple of Literature and Museum of Ethnology. In the evening, we headed to this really atmospheric food court called Quan An Ngoc. It serves mainly local cuisine and is semi open-air. It looks like a hawker centre, with the stalls surrounding the tables, but there is waitstaff. They bring you a menu, you place your order and they serve the food to you. Surely this is a workable concept in Singapore. You’ll do away with the tissue packet chopeing behaviour at least and you get to see what the entire hawker centre has to offer on a piece of paper.

Day 3, drove to Halong Bay. It was a private day tour and again very worth the money. Lunch was provided on the boat and as you see limestone mountain after mountain, you can’t help but wonder why people love to fix beautiful, fantastical stories to these sites of natural beauty. It can never be just a scientific explanation to explain the phenomenon, for a mystical legend has to be invoked as well.

Day 4 was tricky because the museums were closed. So we took it easy and did shopping in the Old Quarter. Chanced upon chon coffee, which are made of coffee beans that were consumed by civets (similar to kopi luwak of Sarawak). Although it is probable that the ones we got were enzymatic derivatives, i.e. they made use of enzymes to mimic the digestive process of the civets to produce the beans, they still taste amazing compared to the regular, undigested coffee.

Final day. Headed to the HCM museum, to see a collection of exhibits dedicated to the great man. The queue to the mausoleum, which houses his body was phenomenally long. Plenty of locals were queuing in the 35 degrees weather and common sense told us not to join the queue. We probably would miss our flight. Besides HCM means nothing to us. Apparently, he was embalmed by a famous Soviet embalmer and thus the quality of embalming was far superior than the job done on Mao Zedong. This thing about preserving the bodies of their leaders begs explaining even though HCM specifically requested to be cremated.

Well, the return domestic flight was also delayed by half an hour. Yay! No more Jetstar Pacific for me. This virgin experience to the ex-French colonies of SE Asia was an eye-opener and it’s been quite a while since I travelled in our backyard. It’s something that I have been putting off for a while.

Where to next? US & Canada warrants a repeat visit. And SQ flying to Tokyo Haneda is equally tempting. I find the expectation of travelling overseas and the planning so much more thrilling than the actual travelling itself. They invariably let you down, after setting yourself up for the holiday. Oh well, we can only count our blessings that we can travel so extensively.

Hokkaido 2008

So here’s my post-trip review to Japan (14th Dec – 22nd Dec 2008).

[6 Jan 2009: I'm taking a long time writing this, because there's really so much to write about, and I'm not patient enough to sit in front of the computer and type it all out in one sitting...]

14 December (Sunday)
Left Singapore for Nagoya (名古屋). I’m pretty amazed by the new automated check in system they have in place at the airport. Nagoya Chubu Airport is a compact sized terminal and it was easy to find your way around. The inflight breakfast service was meh – is it me or is the quality of food on SIA dipping?

Was originally supposed to fly to Tokyo via Bangkok, but the recent troubles complicated things a bit and we re-routed through Nagoya. That meant a 2 hour ride on the Shinkansen to Tokyo (東京). The valiant attempt to see Mt Fuji whizz past while we were on the train proved futile (for the 3rd time). It is supposed to be visible on the Tokaido Shinkansen stretch, but either I have bad map reading skills, or I simply cannot recognise the beloved mountain, I have to delude myself that the other mountains I see could actually be Mt Fuji.

As usual, the long train journeys necessitate eating on the train. And I love the eki-bento (lunch boxes) sold in the train stations, and I wonder why won’t this idea catch on here? Pre-packed lunches in wooden boxes, with a main compartment for rice and smaller compartments for a selection of nibbles. This offers an attractive alternative to chopeing seats with tissue packets. Who talks during lunch anyway? Everyone is just busy eyeing for unoccupied tables, queuing for food at the stalls with eye-catching displays of their associations with a certain TV programme, and wolfing down the food, so that they have enough time to do some casual shopping within the lunch hour. Lunch hour was never meant to be social, unless you count in catching up with office gossip. OK, i digress.

Arriving in Tokyo in the early afternoon, we had to kill some time before checking in the hotel, so we zipped down to the Harajuku area. There were these crepe stands all around the place, and bananas wrapped in crepe is such a wonderful combination. There was a H&M there, but you actually had to queue to go in. Either it is newly opened, or they were having massive sales. I’m inclined to go for the former. Somehow mid December sales doesn’t have a nice ring to it.

The plan for the evening was to catch a kabuki performance in Kabuki-za. First, dinner. As we wanted to catch only a single act of Kabuki (couldn’t bear the thought of sitting through 7 hours), this meant we had to queue for tickets half an hour before the opening time. So, dinner was in a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop (or so I thought at first). Remembering that my Japanese is not that good, trying to figure out the vending machine that dispenses out coupons (you had to place your order using the machine before sitting down) turned out to be a rudimentary affair. This is spicy. This is miso. This has vegetables, i think. So, thinking that we are having ramen, we sat down. Now, when you settle down, and have time to look around, you see what other people are eating. They all had this plate of noodles and a bowl of something, and were dipping the noodles into the bowl. OK, so this is some kind of dipping ramen. More searching around the shop and finally I realised that they were actually selling tsuke-men (where the soup and the noodles are served separately). The noodles were very springy though, i must say. One of the best ramen noodles i have ever tasted. The amount of spring in the noodles is phenomenal. With every bite, your jaw seems to spring back as you chew on the noodles. Sometimes, taking a gamble in a hole-in-the-wall shop pays off, sometimes it doesn’t (See later). This time, it did. I think, we were comforted by the endless stream of locals entering the shop and punching their choices on the vending machine.

Kabuki Here is the synopsis of the performance we caught that evening.

The Courtesan Yatsuhashi and Sano Jirozaemon
This is one of the most sensational plays of late kabuki and shows a humble, pockmarked merchant from the country named Jirozaemon (Koshiro). He is wealthy, but because of the way he looks, has never thought that it would be possible to have a woman. He and his servant go sightseeing in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters and a chance look at top courtesan Yatsuhashi (Fukusuke) who smiles at him, makes Jirozaemon fall in love. However, the pleasure quarters are full of intrigue, and on the eve of the day that Jirozaemon is to buy up Yatsuhashi’s contract, her true love Einojo (Somegoro) forces her to reject and humiliate Jirozaemon in the middle of the celebratory banquet. Jirozaemon seems to forgive her, but returns with the sword Kagotsurube to exact his revenge.

It was extremely difficult to follow what was going on (yes, it was in Japanese, and it was slow-paced). And it was somewhat disconcerting to see female characters played by male actors (all kabuki actors are males), given that they had to affect a voice that is meant to be feminine, but still you knew they were male voices. Thank goodness for the synopsis, which helped to provide the rough guide to what was happening during the 2 hours. There were also men situated around the theatre that shouted during the performance. No idea what they were shouting about, nor their purpose. There has to be a purpose, because they were repeating a similar set of phrases throughout the evening. Their voice projection is fantastic though, in a hall the size of Victoria Theatre, with no microphones. Here’s a picture of the outside of the Kabuki-za, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary.

15 December (Monday)
Early morning (5am-ish), we had to catch the Yamanote Line from Ikebukuro (where the hotel was) to Ueno, and then get onto the Shinkansen for Hachinohe. From Hachinohe, we had to transfer onto another train for Hakodate (函館). The one neat thing about taking the train up to Hokkaido from Honshu is having to cross the Tsugaru Straits. The 2 islands are linked by the Seikan Tunnel, which tunnels under the seabed. There is a notice on the back of the seat that tells you the precise time the train will enter the tunnel, and when you’ll be at the deepest point. Comforting to know the times if an earthquake were to strike the area and cause damage to the tunnel.

Along the way up north, you can start seeing snow-mottled landscapes. It begins to pick up in frequency as we headed into Aomori Prefecture, and really turns white once we crossed into Hokkaido. Pristine white blankets across desolate fields, with nary a footprint in sight. This is what makes winter magical. By the time we arrived in Hakodate, the snow started to come down. It turned pretty heavy (at least i think that’s heavy, going by my paltry experiences with snow). And so we plodded up Mt Hakodate by ropeway in the snowy weather.

The snow had kind of wrecked the view, but patience pays off. Browsing in the souvenir shop up on the mountain and watching people shovelling the snow (at least a good 3-4 inches dumping) helped to kill time. The snow lightened up and the spectacular 函館夜景 appeared before us.

The ropeway ride was way too short. Well, partly because the mountain isn’t really very high (roughly 300+ metres). Hakodate was a compact city (i would class it more like a mid-sized town), with trams. No subway system. Taking the trams / buses were slightly tricky, because passengers board from the back door, retrieve a ticket (which tells you which stop you boarded) from a little machine, and then you alight from the front door, by the driver. You pay him the fare according to the fare table on the front of the bus. The table lists the fare you have to pay according to the stop number you got on. So the further you travel, the more you have to pay.

Skipping lunch wasn’t too bad an idea. Just think the amount of calories you burn, trudging through the snow. We had a 2-part dinner. Part 1 was in this fast-food chain called Lucky Pierrot, which is only found in Hakodate. It has a French-inspired design with old movie posters and paintings of France. But the burgers are amazing. They had this chicken burger which uses real chicken parts and a scallop burger. Omg! Two juicy scallops grilled lightly between 2 warm buns.

Part 2 was at this posh-looking restaurant. Again, my crappy Japanese failed me. I think the waitress wanted to tell me that they had seats available both in the Western style tables and the Japanese style tables (where you sit on the floor). But I just said the Japanese tables are fine. Simply because I couldn’t tell what she was trying to say. Sigh… but the food was good! We tried the Hakodate specialty, ika somen, which is actually fresh squid sliced so thinly that it resembles somen (noodles). So you have these translucent strands of squid on a plate, accompanied by sauces. The squids had a slight crunch to it, but was mostly gelatinous in texture. I’m doubtful Western palates would be able to take it, but it was pretty yummy.

16 December (Tuesday)
Morning breakfast at the Hakodate market. It’s pretty small compared to the Tsukiji market in Tokyo but the quality of the breakfast don is good. They really serve only scallops / crabs / uni / ikura in different permutations. Passed by this whale shop!!! They have all these posters of different whale species, and freezers containing slabs of whale meat. The shop was closed though so I could only peek in. This little banner stood in front of the shop.

In the late morning, we took the train to Noboribetsu (登別), where a luxurious stay in a small inn (don’t ask me how much I’m paying for this…), complete with meals (dinner and breakfast) served in your room, and outdoor hot spring baths awaits.

17 December (Wednesday)
To Sapporo (札幌). I’m looking forward to the German Christmas Market and the White Illumination. Mulled wine, here I come!

18 December (Thursday)
Plonking in a day trip to Otaru (小樽). The canal area, the glass factories and the music box museums. Hee, just imagine the soft lights bouncing off delicate glassware and reflecting against the spinning music boxes, matched with the swirling snowflakes descending from the steel grey skies.

19 December (Friday)
Sapporo once again. Night train back to Tokyo.

20 December (Saturday)
Tokyo.

21 December (Sunday)
Day trip to Kawagoe (川越), a small town steeped in history.

22 December (Monday)
Return journey.

Pulau Semakau Part 2

Back from Pulau Semakau. The 3 hour whirlwind tour of the island was interesting. The place is refreshingly peaceful; makes for a nice short getaway from the main island. And the photo opportunities are pretty decent.

Tipping cells are created by pumping seawater out, ash is then dumped into the empty cell, and when the cell reaches level ground, it is covered with topsoil and planted with grass seeds. Here’s one cell that has been colonised by a variety of plant species. This could have been such a great experimental set-up to study species richness / colonisation of a barren island, like the experiments done on the islands in the Panama Canal.

Not sure if they tracked the diversity of Semakau before. But I think they are doing it now with Project Semakau. Birds and other dispersers have brought seeds in, so you see stray trees (e.g. coconuts) sprouting on the sites. Clearly, we know that coconuts are great, primary colonisers of barren islands.

The mangroves on the original Pulau Semakau have remained healthy, judging by the luscious green leaves. Didn’t see any fauna, apart from the birds (swallows actually). Would love to make a repeat visit to the island with RMBR on their intertidal walks.

The clarity of the waters around the island was a pleasant surprise. It was a nice blue, and you could see the seagrass teeming under the surface. Definitely a great place to get away with a bunch of friends. Just bring some camping gear and food, rent a boat, and you have the entire island to yourself.

Growing Pumpkins

Did I mention that the 2 pumpkin seeds I planted last month have germinated and are growing? They were planted on Dec 16 and for a whole week, nothing happened, until one day, I chanced upon 1 seedling.

Excited. I transplanted them into a pot (up till then, they were sharing a pot with some other adult plant). The first 2 leaves that emerged were smooth and elliptical in shape. The 3rd leaf that emerged is hairy, palmate-shaped. Seriously, I never had such good luck with growing things. The 4th leaf has emerged on both seedlings. And i’m observing the buds of the 5th. So far so good for my 3 week old plant.

Photo of Danshui, Taiwan below. An old gold mine, it retains some old-Taiwan charm. Does make for a pleasant day-trip from Taipei, if you want to get away from the urban landscape. Plus it’s set on a hill, so the weather’s much cooler.

Giant Spider Crabs

Another video taken at the Osaka Aquarium. I have no clue what the bigger-sized crab was doing to the smaller crab. It really looks like mate guarding of some sort. And then he later fends off some other crab.

Japan: the minutes

Landed in Kansai International (KIX) on the morning of 2nd Dec. KIX is built on an artificial island on the Osaka Bay, so it was amazing to see the plane descend over a large body of water. Very similar to the feeling you get when you land at San Francisco International (SFO).

Caught the 0910 train into Osaka. Kind of had breakfast on the flight, so we settled for a light snack (read: exploring the convenience stores). Picked up a rice ball (I will begin to fall in love with them) and a tuna/potato bun. Then, headed for Osaka Castle. It was a nice walk, the ginkgo trees were in full golden glory. Really wanted to lie in the heap of golden leaves on the ground. Thank goodness for the monks who cultivated the ginkgos. If not, we would have lost these glorious trees for good, since they are no longer found in the wild.

Proceeded to the Osaka Aquarium. Lunch was at Kineya – where our first attempt at ordering in a Japanese diner was. A bit intimidating… haha. The aquarium was alright… one of the more amazing creatures there were the giant spider crabs. Very disconcerting to see them prance around on the sea-bed.Headed back into the city and got take-out from Takashimaya. The large department stores have these amazing food halls. And you see so many great Japanese stores that have pulled out from here: Daimaru, Sogo… Ah, good times.

On the 3rd, we headed out to Nara. Breakfast was simply bento from the train station.

Let me try to recall what was in this particular bento. Top left: egg, salted salmon and fried chicken. Top right: rice with shredded egg. Bottom right: daikon, some tofu thing, fishcake, pumpkin, mushroom. Bottom left: purple rice.

In Nara, you see lots of sika deers roaming around. Visited Kofuku-ji, Todai-ji, Daibutsu-den, Nigatsu-do and Kasuga-Taisha. Feels very ‘Lost in Translation’, when you walk around the temples/shrines, carrying an umbrella in the light drizzle. Lunch was at Mos Burger. Just had to compare the quality. And yes, what nonsense we get here. Exact same burger. Completely different taste. So much, so much better on home ground.Picked up Takoyaki (Octopus balls) and excellent nigiri sushi. Best I ever had for just 700 Yen (approximately 9 sing) for 10 pieces of raw fish sushi. The cuttlefish was fantastic, not like the rubbery kind you get here. The sea urchin was good. The fish were glistening. You would never get such great grade sushi at 90 cents.

The next day, we headed out to Kyoto. The train station is this modern glass-fronted building. Wow. Took the guided tour of the Imperial Palace, where you need to pre-book in advance. But, it’s definitely worth it. Free! And it was in English. Navigating the public bus system in Kyoto is really easy! They have the most amazing bus stops. There are these panels which tell you when the next bus is arriving. It doesn’t give a time, but it shows you where that bus is located at the moment. So when it is 2 bus stops away, the board will light up. And then you can start queuing up for your bus.

Went to Kinkaku-ji and had lunch at Ukiya. Gosh, this is a soba place. And they made these unbelievable soba. Think they foamed raw eggs into this white fluffy coat, over your soba. And the soba soup base was somehow fused the egg, so you would think the soba was just housed in a white cocoon. But as you eat, the soup starts oozing out. Fantastic.

After lunch, we headed to Kiyomizu-dera, Ginkaku-ji, the Path of Philosophy and Gion district. Dinner was at a okonomiyaki restaurant, Hanamaru-tei. Japanese-style pancakes are an Osakan specialty.

On the 5th, we took the Shinkansen – bullet train to Tokyo. Lunch again was on the train.

A 2-layer bento, with the rice below, together with fishcakes. The top layer was a smorgasbord of small dishes. From top left (clockwise): eel on sweet potato mash, salted fish, potato mash with herbs, forgot what this is, desserts – jelly and fruit, boiled egg, sausage and cutlet, prawn and finally, squid wrapped over glutinous rice.

Arrived in Tokyo. Didn’t really feel the speed of the train, although it must have been over 200km/h. Had dinner at Inaba – a restaurant that serves tonkatsu. The pork cutlets were amazing! And i am so loving genmaicha 玄米茶, which is basically green tea mixed with roasted brown rice. Plus the pickles. Gosh.

Here’s a sample of the pickles. The bright blue thing is actually pickled baby brinjals. And the brown one is some kind of pickled plum.

The 6th was spent touring Tokyo. First, we headed out to Yasukuni-jinja. Followed by a guided tour of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, where the current Imperial Family reside. This tour was in Japanese, so we had to listen to audio guides. Got buns from the famous Kimuraya bakery. Visited Yushima Seido and Kanda Myojin, before having lunch at Kyari.

Then visited Asakusa-jinja, Omote-sando and Shibuya. Found almond beancurd ice-cream! It really taste like the real deal, but the cup is really too big.

On Friday the 7th, took the train to Nikko. Markedly colder than the other cities, we visited Shin-kyo, Rinno-ji, Taisho-gu, Futarasan-jinja and Taiyuin-byo. Lunch was at Hippari Dako, where we had yakitori. Again, all these hole-in the wall places really have fantastic food for decent prices. Took the bus to Chuzenji Lake and Kegon Falls. In the evening, we were back in Tokyo and did shopping.

On the 8th, we headed down to Tsukiji Fish Market and it was super crowded there.

Lunch there was a simple fish with rice. Slices of super fresh fish on top of rice. Yum. And i love how tea is always complimentary there. Toured Odaiba in the afternoon, before catching the Shinkansen back to Osaka.

Left for home on the 9th.

Sardines

As promised, a video taken in Osaka Aquarium of a huge school of sardines. I have never seen so many of them together. Next up will be video of the Japanese spider crabs, Macrocheira kaempferi. I have no idea what the crabs were doing – some kind of mating behaviour seems likely.

Nikko

Next set of photos, taken in Nikko. Took the train out from Tokyo to more rural areas. Nikko is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with the temples and shrines. A short bus ride from Nikko brings you to the Lake Chuzenji area. The photo below is Kegon Falls. A bit disappointed not to see snow in the area, even though it was around 1500m above sea-level. The neat thing above this particular fall is the elevator that brings you down from the ground level, through the bedrock, to the base of the falls.

A few minutes away is Lake Chuzenji. Always blustery by the lake (recall Lake Michigan in Chicago), the views there are gorgeous. You can see rolling hills in the distance.

Took a couple videos, and will post them up soon. A sequence of food photos will be next and I suppose a proper write-up of the trip is in order. Just have to motivate me to do it.