My bestest weekend ever (I)

A spiritual journey to the ancient city

So I finally went to Japan last Thursday, after so many years of broken promises. Everyone else had visited it but me, so it was about time I decide to visit some good old friends. Excited throughout the entire flight, I arrived at Narita around 9:20pm, where Aya was already waiting for me outside the airport hall. It felt so weird to see Aya there, after all, we haven’t seen each other for almost 2 years, yet it didn’t feel distant for a single bit. We could catch right on on the very instant and start our silliness in split seconds.

From the airport to Aya’s place in Kamakuro took around 2 hrs, that’s when I first experience the complexity of the Japanese transportation system. They have a Metro, JR, and other small local trains that run around the city and its surroundings. It can be very convenient, but honestly, it’s quite complicated and the train maps look like a mess. I think people who aren’t familiar with the metro system in Japan are not worthy to live there. Hahaha~ but once you figure out how to take the train, you’re a true Japan master.

It was already past midnight when Aya’s mom picked us up at the train station and Hitomi was waiting for us in their cute warm house up in the mountains (yes, like Aya’s told us many times before, she does live up in the mountains, and the slopes were quite steep!). Aya and I caught up with some good old times and didn’t get to sleep until 3am, not because we were tired, for both of us were too excited, but Aya had to work the next day.

Woke up the following morning with some gorgeous bright sunshine. Aya had gone to work so Hitomi was my guide for the morning! First stop, we went to see Kamakura’s famous Daibutsu. The Daibutsu turned our slightly smaller than I expected it, but it was still a quite impressive piece of art. What I like about the temples and shrines in Japan is that they all have a garden in it, and all their gardens are adorned with plants that are well taken care of. I was also very lucky to arrive at Japan during the cherry blossom period, thus there was cherry trees blossoming everywhere I go. I didn’t have to fly all the way back to UW and the Quad to see the cherry blossom! Hahaha~

With Daibutsu and Hitomi

Hitomi and I quickly toured around the Daibutsu temple so we can go to our next stop that is another temple not too far from there. On our way to the next temple, we saw some very yummy taro/matcha ice creams. We couldn’t resist and got some! And it was sooo good~ I also got some taro yokan (I like anything with taro~) and local oil-absorbing tissue (that baby sucks oil like wonder!). Aya’s mom joined us for our next temple, this one looked typical but it has a pretty seaside view.

The taro/matcha ice cream was soooo goooooood~~~

Temple. I'm so bad at remembering names.

For lunch, we had spaghetti at an Italian restaurant near the beach. Although I was still full from my late breakfast and taro/marcha ice cream, I finished my whole plate of pasta because it was too delicious~~ I always wonder, pasta is such an easy meal to prepare, then how come mine doesn’t turn out that good??? Where’s the trick?

We later drove to the station to pick up Junjun, that was joining us for the rest of the afternoon. We were waiting and waiting outside the station until this Junjun-look-alike girl wearing kimono approached us. And it was! Junjun, coming back from her kimono class, wearing a kimono!! I’ve never seen Junjun being so “traditional” wearing such traditional clothing or any of my friends wearing a kimono, I think kimonos are a really interesting garment. They have 3 different layers, tons of way to tie up the knots of the obi (belt), and it takes 2hrs just to wear it on. The most attractive part for me is the neckline area, where the collar is semi-open and the subtle contour of the neck looks so sexy~

@ Aya's elementary school. They have very pretty garden for kids.

In any case, Junjun was wearing her kimono and it’s very fun to see her because her movements became softer as she moved slower with all cloths wrapped around her body. We first stopped by Aya's elementary school to look around, and the next place was a bamboo garden. This garden was drop dead gorgeous. After the main entrance, you enter directly to the bamboo garden, formed solely by tall, green bamboo trees. With the bright sun shining above, the bamboo leaves glisten as if they all spread tanning oil on. The place also reminds me of “Crouching Tiger”, hehe. At the end of the rock paved road, there was a small cabin that served tea. We sat down to enjoy our cup of green tea served with 2 cubes of sweets (made with wasanbon fine sugar), admired Mother Nature’s beauty with exchanges of interesting conversations. Very Zen-like. I think my tea was so good that it attracted a bug, and got drowned in it…

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon!

Tasty green tea and sweets

Classic background needs classic model to pose

After the bamboo garden, we headed back to Aya’s place because it was getting slightly late to be going to other places. So we moved back to the house, chat over more tea and yummy goodies to burn some time. We were waiting for Aya and Yui to come back from work, so we can reward their hard work of the day by having Sukiyaki~! Green onion, shiitake, onion, veggies, super silky tofu and uber tender meat. My first sukiyaki tasted so delicious~~ (drool…) Uh… I want to have it again…

Just seeing this picture makes me drool... I want sukiyaki again...