Out and About on a Sun(ny)Day

Whilst its howling wind, lashing rain thanks to a raging typhoon out there today, just three days ago was a bright, 33degC sunny weekend with not a cloud in sight.

Saturday was spent walking around Harajuku for a bit, before joining some of the girls from the dorm at Yoyogi Park for a Vietnamese Food Festival!

People bought food from the many many tents, sat down on these stairs and tucked in. =)

One of the things we tried was Banh Mi - a pork sandwich in Vietnamese-style French baguette. It was SO good!

People trying on the traditional Vietnamese attire and taking photos on rickshaws.

After visiting this fair, a never-before-urge to visit Vietnam surfaced. Combined with the Vietnamese dishes that I've been seeing on Masterchef Australia, I cannot wait to go Vietnam and try the food there sometime soon hopefully! This is how travelling itches always hit me - first the food, then the travel. Oh dear.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday was even more blazing hot than Saturday, hitting 33 degrees Celsius or perhaps a bit more. But the sun was the bright cheery type and humidity was not very high, so that made a good day out for walking (and tanning! -.-'').

I started the day with one of my favourite activities in Tokyo - visiting flea markets!

Look beyond the row of bicycles, through the trees and see the ... flea market!

Tada.

I reached there pretty late though - about 2.20pm - and only had around 40 mins to browse around before people started packing up to go. Nonetheless it was a good experience, chatting up storekeepers, checking out bargain wares, and even randomly striking up conversation with a Japanese uncle, who was browsing the flea market too. Knowing a language and a place really opens up windows and doors of opportunities.

The flea market wound up by 3pm and the day was still too beautiful for me to just head back to the dorm. So I decided to take a stroll and indulge in another of my favourite pasttimes - getting 'lost'. Initially I thought I was somewhat headed back in the direction of my dormitory but I soon realised that I went off the opposite way. Nonetheless it proved an enjoyable time with new things and new sights. Ended up in Aoyama - the Beverly Hills of central Tokyo - and had a chocolate shake at a Lindt shop. Wandered into the back alleys of Harajuku, where rather than cheap garish girls' fashion, these were the more chic, funky and creative shops and facets.

Photos and captions to be up on facebook soon; uploading photos and captioning them on blogspot is just too much of a pain. Here are some examples though:

Meiji Jingu Shrine

(Top Row L-R: A wish and token offering I made; Temizusha - a small stone basin where ablutions are to be done before prayers could be made at the shrine; One of the pretty light structures that are frequently found in the park)
(Centre: Barrels of Sake)
(Bottom Row L-R: One of the many wedding processions that took place today; The main gate to the Shrine - made of best quality Japanese cypress trees kiso and in the unique Japanese shrine architectural style called Nagarezukuri; Barrels of wine that were consecrated for the Emperor Meiji; the Shrine building)

Isabel and I visited the Meiji Jingu (明治神宮) Shrine today since Asakusa was quite far and we left the dorm pretty late.

The Meiji Jingu shrine is centrally located - just behind Harajuku Station - and it covers almost 175 acres. The deities enshrined here are the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Emperor Meiji is highly revered for his benign rule from 1868 to 1912. Also known as the Meiji Restoration, this is one of the most glorious and properous periods in Japan's history. The shrine is a popular place for wedding couples to get their blessings and photos, as evident by the never-ending processions today. Sadly didn't get to stroll through the very beautiful Yoyogi Park since it was getting dark already (sun starts setting about 5pm here).

----

After which, we popped by Harajuku for dinner (udon!) and decided to walk back from Harajuku to our dorm! We did pretty fine all the way up till Shinjuku, which was then very messy and disorienting with the amazing horde of people and bright lights, but we did arrive back eventually. 2 hours odd later anyway, including a stop at a really cheap grocer place. Saved 190yen but more importantly, got to experience Tokyo in a different (and many) way(s): The bright lights and amazing vibrancy of Shinjuku versus the slightly subtler tones of Harajuku and the colourful lights of Kabukicho to the quieter roads enroute to Shinjuku; the small Korea town and alleys of Korean restaurants at Shin-Okubo and the dots of halal restaurants/places in between.