A part of our trip to Japan included three nights in Hong Kong. I strictly wanted to go for one thing: shopping. There is an abundance of stores, shopping plazas, and clothes, clothes, clothes! The prices are beyond reasonable and the fashion is ahead of the United States. Before our trip even began, I had a gut feeling that I would catch the shopping at a prime time: the markdown of Winter clothes, the new styles for Spring/Summer. So the minute we landed in Hong Kong and dropped our luggage at the hotel, The Salisbury YMCA of Hong Kong (which is, by the way, a great place to stay at because it is centrally located and the rooms are gigantic), the shopping frenzy began. I warned Taro ahead of time to mentally and physically prepare for this; the malls don’t close until 10:30-11 p.m. and the street stores are usually open until midnight. With only three days, it was going to be intense shopping. Regardless, the warning was not enough to prepare Taro. His feet were sore, he looked tired, and he gave me the I can’t believe you’re still shopping crazy look. Despite that, I have to give him credit that he came up with the brilliant idea to carry a backpack to the shopping plazas in order to bring all of the clothes back to our hotel…in addition to carrying the bags.
I shopped my heart out in Hong Kong, but we also enjoyed great food, the sights, a foot massage (I warned Taro that it would hurt since it was his first time. Boy, did he cringe!) and back massage – the woman walked on our backs and cracked our necks which was so scary! – and the busy lifestyle of Hong Kong. I love visiting Hong Kong, but after this trip, I don’t know if Taro would ever want to go with me again. It’s okay, though; my mom thinks that we should go back together and bring Vivian with us. Then we can really shop our hearts out.
I love public transportation, the MTR, in Hong Kong because it is so efficient. I took the picture on the left when it wasn’t crowded on the subway. In addition, the buildings in Hong Kong are just immense and Taro captured it well in the photo of the building. I love that you can see a reflection of another building in the photo!
Bright lights, big city. Hong Kong never seems to sleep:
Taro brought with him a pair of old shoes to Japan/Hong Kong. However, with the amount of walking we did in Japan and Hong Kong, his shoes were just not good enough. Luckily, I bought him a pair of new shoes and that revived his feet. However, you can see the exhaustion on his face after a long day of shopping!
The last night we spent in Tokyo was with Taro’s family. They took us to a Chinese restaurant that they love (not because I am Chinese, although that helped a little bit). Despite serving “Chinese” food, it really had more of a Japanese twist and flavor to it. It definitely made it different and I am glad it was more Japanese than Chinese because I absolutely LOVE Japanese cuisine. It was nice to share our final night with Taro’s uncle, aunt, and cousin; it felt like the trip came full circle, ending where it began, surrounded my a new family. I was sad to say goodbye once again, and hoped that “Ja-ne” really meant “See you later” and not anything longer than that.
I do not even know where to begin when people ask me, “How was Japan?” or “What was your favorite part?” because I was so immersed in everything. I will miss the city life with its natural setting only a stop away. I will miss the sight of cherry blossom trees and the beauty of the sky or the delicate petals that fell to the ground. I will miss the people – the politeness, the impeccable service, the suits on the subway, and the fashionistas who hoped on the train with their boots. (I searched everywhere for boots!) I will miss walking down a street and stopping for a random snack – oh how I will miss dango – or a hot tea from a vending machine (which still puzzles me!). I will miss ramen houses, delicious food, fish for breakfast, homemade udon and soba, and cups of green tea at every meal and just because. But most of all, I will miss the family members I have met because they were so kind, welcoming, warm, friendly, and open to me.
It is goodbye, farewell for now, but I will return one day and I cannot wait.
These beautiful origami pieces/sets were in a shop at Narita Airport. I was so impressed by the complexity and design that I couldn’t help taking photos of them. I wish I could fold with such precision, but I get so easily distracted and usually say oops as I press the paper down crookedly.
Where do I begin with just some of the odd things I saw on one level of a store called Don Quijote in Japan? There were full length cartoon costumes – something that resembled the Stitch character and possibly a Pikachu – and strange dress-up clothing – maid outfits, knee high lace socks – for women. I was somewhat shocked (albeit slightly prepared from some of the odd pictures of items my brother photographed during his trip), disgusted, and maybe 5% amused by the madness. Let’s just say we quickly skipped over this level because what we were really looking for were insulated thermos cups. Oh the things you will find in Japan!
You have to love the picture of Taro below. His facial expression is priceless.
When we were in Akihabara there were a lot of girls passing out flyers in maid outfits, dressed similar to Japanese cartoon figurines. Here is our interpretation:
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