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Ginza: Toy Story
The realization of leaving comfort dawned heavily upon me as I gobbled down as much Bacon & Eggs as I could over the Breakfast Buffet Spread; this was it, no more comfy hotel beds, no more 2-people-a-room privacy, no more private bathrooms, no more 30-minute hotel toilet shit-fest, no more pampered bus rides, no more scrumptous buffet meals, no more tour guide (though this was not necessarily a bad thing, considering it WAS Chin-chin); most importantly, no more 8-member-entourage.
The last moments of the entourage were savoured through a planned half-day shopping spree, which started at Ginza. Alighting from the bus at the junction, we were presented with two choices, the Burberry's Boutique, which housed the Japan-only Blue Label; or a 4-level toy store; potential gifts for the mother to show filial piety, or the potential of FINALLY buying some interesting trinkets for myself, the choice was obvious, the toy store.
While the first floor got progressively tempting, peaking at a VERY cool home planetarium that projects stars and constellations onto your wall or ceiling, (which I was very tempted to get despite the SGD100++ price tag, considering my obsession for sleek designer stuff); it was the top floor that stole the show. Full of video games and related mechandise, my geek-senses went into overdrive as I gawked at all the Japan-exclusive stuff. In the end, decided to pamper my selfless-efforts in gift-buying over the last 6 days by rewarding myself with a set of Dragon Quest Monster Figurines.... a whole set of them.The Last Lunch was consumed in a Seoul Garden-esque Teppanyaki Buffet Restaurant, but the highlight was definitely not the wide spread of meat, or the potato salad (despite what the gals think); deserving credit naturally went to the 8,000 yen (SGD 104) per piece Kobe Beef, an EXTREMELY expensive delicacies that even the Japanese themselves can't bear to eat on a regular basis. The Kobe cows are fed liquor and given massages regularly, to ensure the softest of meat texture.
While apprehensive at first about paying over a 1oo bucks for ONE slab of meat, the shadows of my doubts were put to ease when I saw the texture of the raw meat as I unwrapped it from its silver-wrapping. The fats on the meat were almost-artifically-evenly distributed throughout the meat, giving me the same shivers as the texture of the Perfect Melon. Since it was a Teppanyaki Buffet, I had to play chef to my own gourmet desires, and for the record, I'm a TERRIBLE cook. After a little clumsy BBQ-ing, some nice stroking, and gentle patting of the little beef strip, I was all set to take my first bite into the legend. A little too hot for me to taste anything at first, I let the juice slowly savour into my delicate gourment tastebuds...then... HOLY SHIT!! EUREKA!!! I could have sworn my soul totally left my body for a
moment; the sweet aroma of beef, the juiciness of the meat, the tenderness of its texture, was enough to send my Immortal Soul into beef-nirvana and back. The Count is and has always been an ARDENT beef fan (just the best meat in the world, in my opinion), but this, was absolutely the best friggin' beef in the whole damn world, and its all without any special seasoning, and by my own novice kitchen hand. And to think that it was ONLY the middle-grade type of Kobe Beef, IMAGINE what it would have been like if it were top grade, from the hands of a master chef; high-heaven i'm sure, high-heaven.In fact, I was SO amazed by the Kobe Beef that I refused to eat ANY thing else for the rest of the buffet, for fear of spoiling the taste of the beef, and simply because my tastebuds were TOO damn spoilt already to savour cheap, ordinary beef (which kept me from dinner that night as well). Imagine the irony of the members of the entourage who had to leave after that and feed on SQ Beef on the way back.
You would look like this too if your Soul left your body.
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Ikebukuro: Declaration of Independence
A short 45 minutes at Ikebukuro Sunshine Plaza marked the final moments with the entourage and the venue for our Declaration of Independence. Using the time to explore the animate and other comic buildings across the street, the final moments very quickly whisked by, as we prepared to say our farewells to the rest of the entourage. As we were lugging our bags out of the bus storage, reflections of the last 6.5 days flashed through my mind.
The fun times that we shared, the ringing laughter during meal times, the late night Bridge-parties, the group photos, the 8-man company; as far as Japan was concerned, that was where it would end. I reflected on the new friendship built (Serena), and the deepening of existing friendships with ALL the members of the entourage (even Bob), especially with Sujun as our two big butts were practically competing for butt space at the back of the bus for most of the bus rides, and not to mention she was good company too. As we bid our farewells and said our "thank yous," a solemn Chin-chin wished us luck and thanked us, all of us, and called us "very smart young people" (whatever led him to THAT idea).
Spot the 40-year old balding Tour Guide: Chin-chin
End of the Road
Waves of goodbye echoed the realisation of a much smaller and lonelier 3-man tripatite now, as we decided to head inside Sunshine Plaza to do some shopping, big-bag-lugging included. Inconvenient shopping yielded a lot of shoulder-abrasion, tired legs and a SGD-40 dollar shirt after much deliberation. As we left Ikebukuro, the independence of self-navigation kicked into full-gear. If tour was auto-pilot, then this new self-navigation independence would be likened to a damn rickshaw.
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Asakusa: Heaven and Hell
A little navigation through the convoluted Japanese subway lines took us to Asakusa, the neighbourhood we would call home for the next 4 nights. Map navigation took us a huffing 15-min walk (instead of the stated 5) across a bridge in the middle of the relatively quiet Asakusa district, to our Hostel, Khaosan Tokyo Annex. The stillness of the streets were a stark contrast to the bustling Shinjuku nightlife we had grown accustomed to, as our pants echoed loudly through the silence.
Vampire in the Twilight
Upon arrival and checking in, we scaled 4 stories up to our floor only to open the gateway into accomodation-hell. Walking in to a level with one kitchen area, one shower, one toilet and one dining table in the centre, the rest of the level was partitioned into smaller compartments. And each of the compartments were considered one "room." Ours being a 6-man room, was basically just a little walkway with 3 double-decked beds, and I could have sworn it the air-con was down. The partition was also thin enough such that when ANYONE on the floor snores loudly enough, its audible to everyone. Stark thoughts of the heavenly hotel accomodation flashed in my mind, as I sighed to myself that it was gonna be a VERY long 3 nights. Salvation came for the hostel in two forms, a free drink at the neighbourhood bar for hostel tenants every night, and the cute owner's daughter with an equally cute "Hi!" as we headed towards the bar.
The (now) tripatite headed to the bar to study the maps to get to Tokyo Tower, under my insistence, since I am such a fan of the night view. Given that we had to get there before 9.30p.m., we sure took our time sipping our drinks (Vodka Apple), and ogling at the cute bar babe with even cuter boobies as she bent down to take orders. When (I) we finally picked (my) our jaws off the floor, we made a hasty trip towards Akabanebashi.
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Tokyo Tower: Tokyo Nights
A surprisingly reasonably-priced fee took us on a suspenseful lift ride up towards the 150m Middle Observatory. I held my breath in anticipation as memories of the Lights of Seoul flashed in my head, the utter amazement I experienced as I overlooked the millions and millions of lights up on the windy Namsan. "It would surely be a tough act to beat," I told myself, as I stepped out of the lift into the observatory.
Dimly lit, with soft jazz music playing in the background; the observatory provided a 360 degree paranomic view of Tokyo city through the glass panels. Due to the rather central location of Tokyo Tower, lights could be seen from every angle, and sight boards indicated the districts that you were looking at. I was IMMEDIATELY floored, the ambience: soothing yet romantic, the view: SIMPLY BREATHTAKING. Better than Seoul... HELL YEAH! In fact... it was the...
BEST-NIGHT-SCENE-VIEW-EVER
The China-man's words rang true as I heeded his advice to just absorb the essence of the view, and not concentrate on photos first. I let myself get totally immersed in all the beauty, watching the millions upon millions of lights, soaking in the classy jazz atmosphere, before I took a deep breath to try to capture the beauty on camera. But the China-man was spot-on when he said that the night scene is not something that can be accurately caught on film, its something that you MUST see in person to truly appreciate its beauty.
The beauty of the night scene INSTANTLY validated my extension, as I thought to myself that I would never be able to describe the beauty of it accurately through words or through photos, and the rest of the entourage had no idea what they were missing. The couples enjoying the romance of the night view stirred the romantic in me, since Vampires are romantic and charming creatures after all. Imagine a scene with dim lights, soothing jazz music playing in the background, two lovers huddled at one glass panel, staring at the lights together, a warm kiss followed by a sincere proposal; probably enough to melt the heart of the most hardened. Well, guess we'll have to wait 7 years to find out who the lucky gal is gonna be.
Time seemingly cuts corners when you are totally immersed, so much so that when they were beckoning us to leave at closing, I still felt that I haven't nearly quite stared at the blinding dancing lights enough yet to leave with a satisfied soul. In fact, I partially resented not paying 3,000 yen to go to the special observatory at 250m, I'm sure the view from up above would be even more spectacular. As we headed back to Asakusa for a late-night sandwich dinner, thoughts of revisiting the tower one more time before I left Japan, lingered hauntingly at the back of my mind.
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