Similar to the four adventure-packed days before, our fifth day was planned to be spent at Tsukiji Market and Imperial Palace in the morning, then flight back to Manila in the late afternoon. These were all thrown out the window after we realized that (1) we can't really get up that early in the morning to catch the restaurants in the market since we're so tired from the previous days, and (2) we need to fix our schedule for Narita Express ride to the airport. Following through our initial plan will be a logistics nightmare given the back and forth travel that we have to make.
What
do we do now? Well, we decided to leave reasonably early still, with all our
things (all four luggage), and head straight to Shinjuku. The night before, we
strategically packed our things already and left Adrin’s small suitcase empty
because we still haven’t done shopping. Morning came and it was time to bade Archie goodbye, aside from that we also thanked him for being so gracious and letting us stay with him during our
vacation.
Upon
arrival at Shinjuku station, first agenda was to get a schedule for our train ride
to the airport later that day. After successfully scheduling our ride, we
looked for big lockers to temporarily keep our bags. The first ones we saw were already occupied
and so we circled the station and finally found available lockers. Once we’ve stowed our bags, we headed to Shibuya station to look for Hachiko’s monument.
Hachiko
is the dog famed for its loyalty to its master, and the inspiration of the American movie Hachi. As the tale goes, the dog goes to the station every day at the same time and waits for its master. The routine
of the dog continued on, long after the master has died. Observed and lauded by
the public, they paid tribute to Hachiko and built several monuments when he died.
We also saw and crossed the busiest crossing in the world, Shibuya crossing. We roamed the area for a bit before we decided to go back to Shinjuku for an early lunch at Din Tai Fung.
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| Shibuya Crossing: Busiest crossing in the world |
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| That's me with the red trolley at the snowy Shibuya crossing |
After our failed attempt on our first day, this time we're determined to grab steamy xiao long bao before going home. We arrived there fairly early for lunch but was still surprised to see a long queue outside the place. To while my time, I wandered the Uniqlo store next door and was able to get a bagful of clothes until Adrin called for me as he's already seated in the restaurant. There we devoured baskets and baskets of dumplings of various flavors until there's no room for more. I was happy to see Adrin finally enjoying the famous Din Tai Fung. I really wish for it to be available locally real soon.
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| Xiao Long Bao!!! |
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| Happy to be eating really good food. :) |
Now
that we've successfully enjoyed our favorite food, next on our list is shopping
for goodies and chocolates. The stores we scouted were all for naught.
We didn’t find any big store or grocery with the goodies that we were looking
for. Time is ticking and our Narita Express schedule is fast approaching, and so we just relented and hoped for the best that we'll find a good store at the airport.
Getting
into the train on time however was just a rung lower than amazing race. Our
persistence in looking for a grocery took us to unfamiliar spots and the
direction we’re following is leading us directly onto the train platform. We
need to find the station’s main level first so we can collect our luggage and
finally board our train. While I was a bit panicky already, Adrin was so serene
following my navigation. Eventually we
found our way and hastily retrieved our bags from the lockers. Luckily we made
in on time and were one of the first passengers to board the train. Whew! We
were so close to missing it.
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| Inside Narita Express |
The ride all the way to the airport was spent in dreamland. Before we knew it, we're already there. Not long after we alighted did we see a store with just the right treats for pasalubong. We also looked for the store selling Royce Chocolates and bought two of each available kind.
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| Here's my share of the treats |
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| All that's left after 5 days! :) |
As usual, we managed to complete all the items in our list so we took our time wandering around the airport before grabbing some snacks at the Delta Skylounge.
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| Barely occupied |
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| Our snacks |
Boarding time came, and it was thankfully an uneventful flight as always. Adrin dozed off after dinner and I tried my best to do the same, but my efforts were all in vain so I just watched some good documentaries instead.
All
in all, it was a wonderful trip full of new experiences and a lot of firsts! I would
love to go back in the future. And next time, it’ll be sakura season perhaps? =)
Read the rest of the Turning Japanese Series here:
Cheers!
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