Trouble in Tokyo (May 12-14)
From May 12 to 14, I spent my time sleeping in our tiny room in Sakura Ryokan. I came down with a very nasty sinus infection. Dennis was in and out of the room on Saturday as the group went to Kamakura to see the giant bronze statue of Buddha.
Dennis was kind enough to bring me ramen soups of various sorts to eat if I had the energy to sit up. I was happy he was able to get out, but I know he was worried about me feeling so sick. I was going through more than 2 packs of couph drops a day, and about 8 packs of tissue paper!
On Friday night, while I was eating copious amounts of ramen and sleeping, the group went out for some good eats. Dennis came back around 9:30pm, thank goodness since I needed another box of tissues!
On Saturday, the group went to Kamakura to see the giant buddha and also to Kenchoji temple. Quite a lot of walking was involved, and Dennis came back to take a nap!
Later that night, they all went out to dinner for Mexican food and had a karaoke room reserved afterwards. I’ve seen video of the karaoke experience and it looked like a blast, so I was a little sad I couldn’t take part.
Basically, Karaoke consists of a white walled room with very comfy seating. On one wall they project the words to whatever music you pick. There is a setting where if you miss the words the verbage will be partially concealed by cracks (like bullet holes) so it makes it even harder to sing correctly! The game setting is fun, and before long everybody was getting into it. I even saw footage of Sari singing to Eminem! Good effort 8^)
On Sunday morning, Dennis & I got up around 7am and got our stuff ready for another day of travel. We were looking forward to our venture off on our own, but sad to leave all the friends we just met. I was happy because I felt just healthy enough to endure the 2 hour Shinkanzen ride to Kyoto…not to mention all the subway-to-train transitions before and after being on the bullet train!
June 5th, 2006 at 7:49 pm
The day in Kamakura was interesting. The giant bronze Buddha statue was more interesting that I thought it’d be, mostly because the temple itself has been blown away by storms over the centuries, and you can walk right up to the statue and touch it. It’s more impressive as piece of artwork, from that range.
The day itself was just okay, as the rain continued to fall on us.
That evening, back in Tokyo we did a 9-course meal at a restaurant, but the courses were very small. So, you kind of paid for the atmosphere and attractiveness and quality of the food, vs. the quantity. A nice experience, overall.
June 5th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
The karaoke was a lot of fun! I was expecting to sit in a bar and wait my turn (among hundreds of other bar patrons) since that’s the way it’s done in the USA.
Not in Japan! There, you rent a room, and your group has it for as long as you want! (Reservations are recommended, obviously!) More expensive, but a much more fun experience!