Travelogue: Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo, Spring
For part 1 of this Travelogue, click here
I barely slept on the plane en route to Haneda airport even though my flight was a midnight one. I rewatched Frozen and The Hobbits and napped somewhat in between. Was sitting next to a Japanese guy who didn't sleep at all. He ordered coffee and was doing work on his laptop. Guess that was what made it harder for me to sleep. Can't fall asleep knowing a stranger would probably be watching me as I sleep?!!
Haneda airport is really much nearer and cheaper to get into town from. My initial plan was to take an express train to Shibuya, but that was really pricey, like $30 or something. Thankfully, my Japanese friend recommended I take the normal train instead. Though I had to change trains once, the journey was less than $10! Granted there was one portion where I had to lug my luggage down a flight of stairs...
My friend arranged to meet me at Hachiko-mae. All I knew was that it was a statue of a dog at one of the Shibuya exits. What I didn't know was that it was a famous meeting spot and there were like a hundred people standing around waiting for their friends. I panicked slightly as I didn't have an internet connection, so how was I supposed to contact my friend?! Quick thinking got me headed to the nearest departmental store, Tokyou, and to my relief, there was free wifi there for tourists.
Found my friend in no time, and we decided to head back to dump my luggage. The weather was so cold!! I borrowed my friend's thicker jacket (perks of living with a local) and other friends came to join us in the city.
My friend asked me what I wanted to do first, in Tokyo, and I unreservedly said CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!!
Japanese being japanese don't outrightly say no or reject you, but they hesitate. Which is what my friend did. He said we could TRY , but the season for cherry blossoms was about two weeks before my trip. Nonetheless, I was still clinging on to that 1% of hope that a beautiful tree might hold on to their flowers for just a while longer.
I picked mentaiko which had a bit of a spicy zing to it. The egg was oh so delicious!!! Freshly cooked and slightly watery, just the way I like it. My only qualm with this place was that it allowed customers to smoke indoors. Made the whole experience unpleasant ): I will be featuring another blog post with all my best food finds at a later time so I will include the address and all!
After lunch, we stopped by a convenience store, grabbed a few beers and peanuts, headed over to Shinjuku Gyoen, paid 200yen as an entrance fee and walked in. I was already bracing myself for the worst as the greenery from the outside was completely green.
The park is HUGE!!
What did I tell you? All GREEN I say!!
"Which way should we go??" I asked my friends who obviously had been there before. They shrugged, and I just picked any random route. We had been walking for 15 minutes and I had completely given up hope... until.
THIS. One tree!!! I was so happy I started camwhoring already. Bucket list achieved even though it's just one tree right???
It was a cloudy and cool day, hence the scarf, and the 3 layers of clothing.
EVEN MORE CHERRY BLOSSOMS!!
Spotted a few more trees here and there! Some of the flowers were in full bloom and they were gorgeous! It wasn't very crowded so we could hog a tree and camwhore for a long time. If you were in Shinjuku Gyoen at the peak of cherry blossom season, that probably wouldn't happen.
Hullo! It's a dandelion.
Calming place to be!
Okay this one not cherry blossoms but still. Surprisingly even though I barely slept on the plane I was really alert and bubbly! Think it was just the adrenaline from seeing the pretty flowers.
There are dozens of different cherry blossom types in this park, and you can see just from the colour of the flowers that they bloom in various ways!
The good thing about cherry blossoms is that you can spot them from far away. "HEY THAT TREE LOOKS PINK LET'S GO SEE K" Hahah.
I wish Singapore could have these!!! Yes I know they can't survive in our temperature but we should have a modified version? #wishfulthinking
Doing weird things just because no one's around to photobomb us. You can see how empty the park was!!
This tree has blossoms creeping towards the ground lol
Gorgeous, isn't she? Btw, nobody plucks any flowers from the tree so don't do that k. Haha.
I was mega happy because they were all so beautiful and I was still surprised I was ACTUALLY in Japan!! We opened our cans of beer (mind you, it was freeeeezing in Tokyo), ate it along with our snacks and played some random drinking games.
Cute japanese kid
We stayed all the way until it was time for the park to close. ): It was fun!! Guess it's dangerous at night haha. My friends asked what I wanted to eat for dinner... then one suggested Sukiyaki, which I absolutely love!!
I thought that we were going to a Japanese restaurant to have some, but turns out my friend was going to cook us some. On our way back, we stopped by a supermarket and bought our ingredients. I threw in a konyaku jelly because I love that stuff.
Went back and the guys cooked for us. Profit!!! It was reaaaally tasty!! Up to the point until my friend added cheese inside it and that became a bit weird for me.
Doesn't look that appetizing here but trust me it was gooood. Japanese beef and tofu and the glass noodles and oh! We specially bought those eggs that had really bouncy, perfect looking yolks which we beat up and ate together with the broth. Just looking at this picture again is making me hungry...
My friend has a freaking tap!! Just pop a can of beer at the back and it'll draft it. Amazing. Me being so amazed and the noob I was actually turned the dial the wrong way at first which set up a whole lot of foam instead of beer. Haha!!
Played even more drinking games and we just sat down talking til we got too tired. YOLO - You only live once ;)
Will be updating about the rest of my trip soon so please come baaackkk! Do let me know what you think of the cherry blossom pictures as well.
Seeya!!
