i'm back from the land of the rising sun!!!
the flights were tiring, to say the least.
my feet looked dead when i woke up yesterday
and i need a massage badly!
it all went quite well, if i may say so,
and the most horrific thing that happened was that i dropped a breadroll.
but ah well *grin*
my first sight of japan was from the cockpit -
was lucky enough to be allowed to sit there for landing!
saw the summit of mount fuji among the clouds,
other planes flying beside us,
and a beautiful, cloudy sunset.
it was unbelievable.
narita was lovely!
cool nights, sunny days,
fantastic service, and lots of bowing.
we had dinner with the seniors after touchdown,
and they brought us to this fantastic sushi place,
found along one of the narrow, winding streets
that reminded us of the lanes in initial d (the movie).
the flights were tiring, to say the least.
my feet looked dead when i woke up yesterday
and i need a massage badly!
it all went quite well, if i may say so,
and the most horrific thing that happened was that i dropped a breadroll.
but ah well *grin*
my first sight of japan was from the cockpit -
was lucky enough to be allowed to sit there for landing!
saw the summit of mount fuji among the clouds,
other planes flying beside us,
and a beautiful, cloudy sunset.
it was unbelievable.
narita was lovely!
cool nights, sunny days,
fantastic service, and lots of bowing.
we had dinner with the seniors after touchdown,
and they brought us to this fantastic sushi place,
found along one of the narrow, winding streets
that reminded us of the lanes in initial d (the movie).
a little mound of rice, and a huge slab of fresh sashimi - mmmmm!we took a long walk to jusco after,
to do some grocery shopping
before heading back to the hotel for a hard-earnt night's rest.
next morning, wendy and i woke up bright and early
to catch the first shuttle bus outta the hotel and into the village.
the hotel staff mistook that shuttle bus for the airport bus though,
and caused us to miss it when we asked her if it's the right one.
but they made amends and paid for our cab ride,
seeing that we're on a tight schedule.
the shops were just opening for business when we got there
and it was fun traisping down the lanes
smelling the sweet aroma of japanese cooking,
tasting the red bean pancake freshly made by a little obasan,
and buying nicely-packed crackers from one of the shops.
we even got to see the way sashimi's sliced -live fish, put a stake through its head,
hold down its wriggling body,
and slide a knife across.
scrape away the innards so that it stops moving about,
and chop it into four.
gross, but that's as fresh as it gets.
we walked on and got to the shinshoji temple,
popularly known as "narita-no-fudo-sama" (the god of fire at narita).
this massive temple is the head temple of the shingonshu chisan-ha sect,
and is a place of prayer for peace and bumper crops.
we climbed many steps,
threw incense into the big urn,
attempted to get our coins to stay on the stone in the turtle pond,
and i bought some amulets that will protect their owners from harm.
after the village, we caught a bus to aeon narita shopping centreto do a bit of window shopping (nothing much to buy)
and have a lip-smacking lunch at semorina,
where the soup pasta's so delicious that one bowl just isn't enough.
and of course, i had to take a photo at the hello kitty shop -when in japan, do as the japanese do:
*act cute pose, smile, hai-cheee-zi!*
