thankful =)

i'm back now. we got back at 3am yesterday morning, and slept the rest of the morning away until noon. heh.

our last day in hiroshima was really drippy... soggy and unrelenting drizzles and strong winds, so it was quite coldddddd... but still wanted to make full use of the time, so we ventured to plod the 2km or so to Shukkuein Gardens, together with mel's colleague from china.

it was really a beautiful garden. traditional japanese landscaping made it look like a scene from a calendar, even though everywhere was wet wet wet. the trees are painstakingly trimmed to resemble bonsai, at certain parts, and the garden is neatly organised into herb garden, plum blossom garden, cycad garden (they look weird) and little verandas to sit at along the way. only problem was the little verandahs were wet too. haha

after a morning of taking pictures in the garden, we headed off for lunch and then afternoon shopping at hondori street! but by now i had explored almost the whole street already, so there wasn't too much to see. so we went back to the hotel by mid afternoon, and rested in the room until dinner time. went out to look -no hunt - for curry rice, and finally managed to find a shop, and had yummy curry rice! the curry in japan is different from singapore - it's got a sweet taste to it, and it's not really hot, and it's very thick, almost like a gravy.

next morning, we left for tokyo.

ohno met us at the airport, and brought us to a late lunch, then to namjatown, which is a kind of amusement park made in the style of retro tokyo. haramichi met us there too. the main character is a cute cat (called namja lah), and there are various game stalls, toy stalls, lots of food (mostly gyoza) and MANY people. it was a public holiday, so i guess more students came to play the games.

i really liked the whole ambience of the place - kept taking pictures and making the guys do silly poses. hee hee... we also had crepes there, and mel and i shared a giant strawberry custard with chocolate sauce crepe. =D

after that, and shopping in the area a bit, we were suddenly quite tired. so had to cancel dinner plans with some other friends, joy and seng =( as they lived quite a long way from our hotel. so instead went to a nearby place for dinner with the guys, and ohno and haramichi ordered the meal. it was a very cosy little japanese restaurant, and all the food was really yummy, and it was great fun talking to the guys, cos haramichi was just beginning to get comfy with us again. good to find out what's happening in their lives, the story behind the girls they are dating now, their ambitions in life, their problems... really treasure the openness they are slowly having with us.

after dinner, it was straight back to the hotel to rest, because we wanted to wake up early for tsukiji market the next day. BUT when we reached the hotel, we were too tired liao (shame faced) so we didn't bother to set the early alarm. =( it's kinda sad cos i was really looking forward to it, and the market is going to be torn down really soon cos they are relocating, but we were really too tired. so... hopefully we can come back before the move.

last morning in tokyo, we went back to ikebukuro and just walked along the streets on and on, with not much mood to shop, feeling a bit sad that it was time to go already. had a delicious tonkatsu lunch, then went back to the hotel early, cos we had decided to take the normal local train to the airport, to save money. so that took us almost 3 hours total to reach the airport. THEN we found out our flight was delayed. bah.

so we had 4 hours to spend in the airport. at first it seemed like such a long period of time, but the time seemed to fly by quite fast! we had photo moments at the outdoor and freezing viewing gallery, ate sushi from a conveyor belt restaurant, bought some last few japanese goodies, and ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the beautifully crafted origami scenes at an origami exhibition. then it was time for our boarding.

as the plane pulled out of the airport, and i saw the bright lights of tokyo below us and around us, i was filled with a huge sense of thankfulness for this whole trip - a welcome respite from the busyness of work and chockful of precious moments with mel, singapore friends and japanese friends - and also sadness, because i don't know when we will be back again. i really love japan - it's more than the great shopping, the crazy fashion and the kimonos. i love the way people are there, their politeness and their friendliness, the way they walk in the streets, the lights, the beautiful language and the red-cheeks of toddlers. i feel sad for their aloneness, even in such a crowded city, for their unfulfilled dreams and longings, for their distanced families, and for the many girls who give themselves away.

i hope we can go back soon...