Transition to Tokyo (東京)
Onsen EncounterImagine this scene in the early morning:
I enter the ladies room which leads to the indoor bath. To my slight surprise, there is already a middle-aged lady soaking inside. And I can see right through the clear clean water.
At my entrance she looks up. I avert my eyes and change out as quickly as I can. However, it is not quick enough. She opens the door that leads from the bath to the changing room. She greets me cheerfully, standing there in all her naked glory, "Ohayou!"
I bob my head without meeting her eyes and emit a strangled sound that can pass for an acknowledgement of her greeting.
She takes her time rinsing off and padding around collecting her clothes from the locker, while I delay removing my last bit of defenses. FINALLY, she gets dressed and leaves the changing room and I can skittle over to the warmth of the bath.
Toshogu (東照宮) and a series of Animals
We only had time to visit Toshogu before moving on to Tokyo that morning. Toshogu Temple is best known for the famous 3-monkey pose: Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil (below. Sorry, couldn't resist the pose):
It also has a Sleeping Cat,
And a Dragon, whose temple was under renovation, and photos were not allowed. Needless to say, shops in Nikko sold countless souvenirs with the monkeys and the cat on them.
Lugging our backpacks around the site, we trudged up a series of flights of stairs which led to some bell-shaped structures. The guys were joking that they could get the Nemesis guys over to Nikko and do physical training by running up those stairs in winter. I even managed to get a cramp in my quads when I was descending those same stairs, partly due to the exertion and partly due to the cold.
That's me and Alvin panting on the middle flight. Behind HC was 2 more flights leading upwards, and behind us were another 2 leading down I think. It was terrible climbing especially with our luggage, and to make us feel worse, 2 little boys were prancing up the stairs beside us counting the number of steps. All the way to the top.
We lunched at a ramen store at Lalasquare at Utsunomiya, where you order from a vending machine outside the store. The guy at the entrance went on and on about the dishes in a singsong manner while we totally caught no ball. Eventually, we made our orders by jabbing at random buttons on the machine; the food didn't turn out too bad though.
But then, we missed our train! We were hurrying along to the station when we saw the clock. Alvin and I tried to catch up with HC's long legs as he sprinted up the escalator, but to our dismay, the train was already pulling out of the station! Punctual to a fault. HC lamented that he shouldn't have had my last few pieces of char siew.
We had a little trouble explaining our predicament to the station control and trying to make them understand that we wanted to book another 3 seats on the next train, but we managed to sort that out after a few minutes and finally were on our way to Tokyo, about 2 hours late.
Goji kara rokuji (五時 から 六時)
Kenichi (兼一)was even later. We reached Shibasaki station at 4 plus. I had the honour of calling Kenichi from the nearby 7-11, and through a mixture of English and Japanese on both sides, I deduced that he would arrive to fetch us between 5 to 6 pm.
We set off down the street to explore our surroundings. It took us at most 45 minutes, including feeding HC's tummy. I must put on record that HC is hungry ALL the time! He needs to eat every hour or so! I think most of his money on this trip was spent on food.
Anyway.
After exhausting all possibilities of places where we could sit down to rest our feet, we landed up at 7-11 again. HC lingered in the warmth of the store, eating, while Alvin and I shivered in the chilly evening breeze outside. It was 5+ pm but it looked as if it was 8 pm back in Singapore.
Just as I bent down to retrieve Kenichi's present from my backpack so that I could pack it nicely into the Bee Cheng Hiang paper bag, he appeared in front of us like an apparition. Wearing his signature deadpan look, he led us to his van parked beside Shibasaki station and hurtled around the corner and we arrived at the apartment we would stay at for the next few days.
It was a small room along the corridor on the 2nd storey of a double-storey apartment building. The door opened into an outer area where the sink, toilet and bathroom were, then beyond a sliding door was the sleeping area, with a heater thankfully. The room was bare, and Kenichi asked if we wanted to follow him to Kasumi's (霞) house to pick up the futons for our bedding. HC was trying to be casual about it but I think he really wanted to see her, heh!
Before we set off for her house, he walked us over to his house across the street to meet his dad.
The compound was larger than I'd expected for a typical Japanese family in the city. The house was about 2 storeys high and there were 2 other vehicles parked on the compound outside. Facing the house was another low building but till now, we've no idea what it is.
Is it a Trend to hold more than 1 job in Tokyo?
Having settled the courtesy call to our host, we headed for Kasumi's house about 10 minutes away by car. Kenichi and I managed to keep up a conversation with the help of his Canon pocket translator. Actually I didn't realise he could speak so much English. He's a student in University, on his winter break. He's only 21, a number which surprised me, coz Ayako's (綾子) a year older than me. Perhaps the dating culture is different in Japan. He had 2 jobs later in the evening. From 7 - 10 pm, he was a fireman, and after that, he had to work as a cashier in a convenience shop till the pre-dawn hours. When I couldn't understand him, he elaborated by bowing and beaming "Irasshaimase!"
He pulled into a tiny alley and stopped in front of a house about 3 - 4 storeys high (the 1st level was a garage outside, and a storeroom inside, beside a flight of stairs leading to the rest of the house. Seems like Kasumi's from a well-to-do family too. She pointed out a small blue car beside the house as hers, and the red Jeep in the garage as her dad's. She was also going off to her second job as a bartender in the evening. Behind me, I could hear Alvin commenting to HC in Mandarin, "Wah, ze me ping ming (Wah, really go all out)".
Kasumi and Kenichi conversed rapidly in Japanese, and turned to me in English whenever they needed to clarify some points. They asked about our programme for the following day and laughingly corrected Alvin's mispronuciation of "Asakusa" (浅草). Kasumi commented that our itinerary was "jammed", when I told her that we were going to Tsukiji Fish Market (築地), Asakusa and Disneyland.
Keiko (佳依子) called Kenichi halfway through to confirm the time and place to meet for our day trip to Hakone. We would witness this network among them in the days to come. Everyone seemed to know our programme and the person who would be with us on certain days.
After we got back to the apartment and unloaded the bedding, Kenichi warned us about hanging out in Shinjuku too late as there would be groups of Japanese ah-bengs on the streets. Before we left, he informed us that Tomoyuki (知幸) would be dropping by after work at 10+ to visit.
Shinjuku (新宿)
When we finally reached Shinjuku's Takashimaya Times Square, it was almost closing time. We were waylaid by the huge underground maze that was Shinjuku station; no matter which exit we chose, we landed up in a part of the shopping centre above it. It was madness. We had dinner at some food court, where the patrons were allowed to smoke, and HC and I practised our katakana reading of the menu nearby. Alvin went off for dessert and returned with a glass of what looked like tiramisu ice-cream. Apparently he just pointed randomly to the menu.
We returned to the apartment to find no Tomoyuki waiting outside for us. As we entered, Alvin called out happily to the empty apartment, "Tadaima!" I think he just wanted to have a feel of the authenticity.
Cold baths
After the long day, we were bustling around one another, preparing to take a shower and go to bed. To our utter horror, after running the hot water tap for about 30 mins, we realised the water was still icy. The cold the cold! My fingers nearly got frostbite when I washed my hands, and I could feel my eyeballs shrinking back in their sockets in fright when I removed my contacts. Alvin was even braver.
He. Actually. Washed. His. Face. *Clap clap*
Oh! For a hot indoor bath again!
The sleeping area took very long to warm up, so long that we snuggled under the covers with layers on. The cold and the weariness made me fall into an instant sleep.
posted by Addy @ 10:51 AM
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