February arrived in such a breeze as we juggled work, house concerns (which led us to the cancellation of our reservation), and wedding preps. We had no plans whatsoever for the upcoming Valentine's and as I have mentioned in my anniversary entry, we're set for a Japan trip this month. With all the crazy things going on around me, I just found myself packing my winter clothes a week before our departure date.
Fast forward to Valentine's, Adrin took a leave from work that day while I stayed late in the office and waited for him to pick me up. Early morning of the following day was our flight out and we decided to come directly from my place which is nearer the airport.
We reached NAIA terminal 1 fairly early, and since we have business class seats (thanks to Adrin’s miles! woohoo!) checking in has been really swift. After which, we headed to Delta’s lounge to grab some breakfast. Adrin passed his time reading while I was leisurely hooked on the internet. Boarding time came and we comfortably took our personal space for the next 4 hours. It was an uneventful flight spent by eating, watching a movie and consequently sleeping on it while it’s still playing.
 |
| The Delta Business Elite Experience |
Upon arrival at Narita airport, we got our train tickets going to Archie’splace. He is Adrin’s college friend who currently lives in Japan for a work assignment. We roomed with him during our stay there. It was a 2-hour train ride from the airport to Inagi city where he lives. First dilemma, we can’t call Archie to pick us up from the train station since my roaming did not activate (boo!) and we can't call him through the payphone as we can't figure out how to dial in his Japan number.
Armed with the map I researched and printed out, we decided to follow it and search for his place ourselves. Not to mention the 4 big bags we werelugging and the chilly weather with light showers, it has been quite an adventure walking and asking around for directions. It's so frustrating to see how the language barrier can hold the locals back from helping us. Luckily, with the help of a polite middle-aged English-speaking local and his GPS capable smartphone, we were able to find Archie’s crib safely. He was surprised to see us by his doorstep since he’s expecting for us to call first. We shared to him our walking drama as he ushered us in.
Since we were able to settle in quickly, we discussed the plan for what's left of our day. It has been decided that we rest first and prepare our bags then go straight to Shinjuku to have some xiao long bao from Din Tai Fung, see the city's Illumination display and catch our overnight bus to the Ski Resort. Little did we know that Din Tai Fung is also such a hit with the Japanese that when we got there by dinner time, there's already a long queue outside the restaurant. Since we do not have the luxury of time that night, we decided to just skip it and eat somewhere else.
Before grabbing our dinner, Archie took us to the lights display and began to snap away. It has been a joke between him and Adrin that he'll be our photographer as we do a practice prenup in Japan. Haha.
We had dinner at a local place where we ordered a pork rice bowl and japanese curry. It was a new experience to choose and pay for your food via a vendo machine and hand only your stub to the waiter so they can serve it to you. Cool eh? Our meal was brought to us only after several minutes. Next we need to mix the raw egg into the rice bowl. I was able to successfully do it with my bowl when I suddenly heard Adrin yelp. Since his meal has a bigger serving, when he transferred the egg into it, it just slid right off the bowl and landed on the table. Oopsie, no more egg for him then. It was such a good meal still that we're able to finish it in less than 15mins! Whew! What an achievement for a slow-eater like me! Hihi.
 |
| Our food, with the warning for the egg slide scenario, and the actual mess from the mishap. |
With our night's fill, we hastened to the bus stop where will board our ride for the night that will take us to the ski resort. It's quite a long journey, and we're expected to arrive there by daylight. Waiting for the bus wasn't a chore as we observed the locals alongside a few photo ops.
I'll continue in my next post the rest of our vacation story.
Read the rest of the Turning Japanese Series here:
Part 2 - Nagano Ski Trip
Part 3 - Sankeien Garden, Yokohama
Part 4 - Hikawa Maru Museum, Yokohama
Part 5 - Asakusa and Tokyo Skytree
Part 6 - Tokyo DisneySea
Part 7 - Shinjuku and Shibuya
Til the next one!
No comments:
Post a Comment