They also had the most giant koi I have every seen!!! maybe the Koi is actually 400 years old!!
You can't really tell how big it is -- I'm not kidding its like 4 FEET LONG!!!!!
Here are some more pictures:
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The Most Amazing Garden
My hotel has the most amazing garden -- supposedly its over 400 years old!! Originally it was part of the Imperial Palace Gardens, and when they built the hotel, they built it around the existing gardens. Take a look:
They also had the most giant koi I have every seen!!! maybe the Koi is actually 400 years old!!
You can't really tell how big it is -- I'm not kidding its like 4 FEET LONG!!!!!
Here are some more pictures:
They also had the most giant koi I have every seen!!! maybe the Koi is actually 400 years old!!
You can't really tell how big it is -- I'm not kidding its like 4 FEET LONG!!!!!
Here are some more pictures:
Traditional Japanese Breakfast!!
Imagine having fish for breakfast? Well actually if my mom is reading this -- she sometimes made salmon for breakfast so that's not really all that crazy to think about!!
Ok, so what about having Rice and Seaweed for breakfast??? that is a little more strange right? Here is a picture of the breakfast we were served, our first full day in Japan:
It included: the most AMAZING SALMON, rice, seaweed, some sort of mushroom salad thing, some gelatinous egg thing, a HOT PEPPER, a meaty-ish dumpling, a sausagey meatball, ginger, miso soup (yum yum!), radishes and some green vegetable (chard maybe)? It was a LOT of food for breakfast!
And this is what it looked like when I was through:
Ok, so what about having Rice and Seaweed for breakfast??? that is a little more strange right? Here is a picture of the breakfast we were served, our first full day in Japan:
It included: the most AMAZING SALMON, rice, seaweed, some sort of mushroom salad thing, some gelatinous egg thing, a HOT PEPPER, a meaty-ish dumpling, a sausagey meatball, ginger, miso soup (yum yum!), radishes and some green vegetable (chard maybe)? It was a LOT of food for breakfast!
And this is what it looked like when I was through:
So much too blog on, so little time!!!
We did SO MUCH today I don't even know how to talk about it all!! So I think I just throw up some pictures from today so you can see the neat things we did!
The day started with a traditional Japanese Breakfast -- it was delicious but I'll blog about that in a different post!
We visited the Japanese "Diet" -- which is like their Congress
And we spent part of the afternoon at a Buddhist Temple/Shrine in Akasuka!
I have a bazillion more pictures! I'll post them in another post!
The day started with a traditional Japanese Breakfast -- it was delicious but I'll blog about that in a different post!
We visited the Japanese "Diet" -- which is like their Congress
And we spent part of the afternoon at a Buddhist Temple/Shrine in Akasuka!
I have a bazillion more pictures! I'll post them in another post!
Dinner at a Traditional Japanese Restaurant
On the first night our Fullbrighter Host took us to this really interesting restaurant. We walked a little bit downtown and then took the elevator to the fifth floor of some building. It was really strange because when we exited the elevator we were in a tiny little foyer that was the foyer for the restaurant. I wasn't expecting that -- I guess the restaurant is the only establishment on that floor!
We also had to take off our shoes -- we hadn't been warned before we left so I had no slippers with me. Even worse I had no socks! I was really embarassed, but I got over it. The waiter showed us to our own "room"-- fully enclosed with a low table and tatami mats -- but the interesting thing was that under the table there was a pit for you to put your legs down into. Another unexpected surprise!!
It was difficult for my group to order -- one guy was a strict vegetarian and everything on the menu involved some kind of sea creature. lol. They even had Horse Meat and Chicken Gristle!!! Imagine that????
I listend as our host tried to explain all the dishes so that we could make our choices. It took thirty minutes just to decide on what to order because everything sounded just a little too "exotic" for our group. I saw something that looked like tempura and she confirmed that it was, indeed, tempura. But, it was Eel. She told me that eel is really high in calories, so that was a perfect out -- I told her that I didn't want to eat something high in calories! She finally showed us a dish that was called "baked rice" with shrimp and vegetables. I said "I'll have that!". It sounded pretty tame.
It was actually a great dish -- I don't know what all was in it. Various gelatinous vegetables, etc. A couple of shrimp... but it was absolutely tasty. The best part was that they served it in this crazy hot bowl then poured the shrimp and veggies over the top and that's how they cooked. It smelled YUMMY! I think everyone else was jealous, especially my friend who ended up ordering sushi with sea anemone (she hated it). hehehe. The other two friends ate bean curd and buckwheat soba. But, they said that it was good. I was too chicken to try it. Aparently bean curd (fermented beans) is a really popular staple food here. I'm still afraid of it!!
It was a great time though. The atmosphere was amazing. I felt like I was in that Jackie Chan movie we just saw -- the one with the Monkey King? It was like the restaurant that kid is getting tea in. Anyway, it was really amazing. Loved it!
We also had to take off our shoes -- we hadn't been warned before we left so I had no slippers with me. Even worse I had no socks! I was really embarassed, but I got over it. The waiter showed us to our own "room"-- fully enclosed with a low table and tatami mats -- but the interesting thing was that under the table there was a pit for you to put your legs down into. Another unexpected surprise!!
It was difficult for my group to order -- one guy was a strict vegetarian and everything on the menu involved some kind of sea creature. lol. They even had Horse Meat and Chicken Gristle!!! Imagine that????
I listend as our host tried to explain all the dishes so that we could make our choices. It took thirty minutes just to decide on what to order because everything sounded just a little too "exotic" for our group. I saw something that looked like tempura and she confirmed that it was, indeed, tempura. But, it was Eel. She told me that eel is really high in calories, so that was a perfect out -- I told her that I didn't want to eat something high in calories! She finally showed us a dish that was called "baked rice" with shrimp and vegetables. I said "I'll have that!". It sounded pretty tame.
It was actually a great dish -- I don't know what all was in it. Various gelatinous vegetables, etc. A couple of shrimp... but it was absolutely tasty. The best part was that they served it in this crazy hot bowl then poured the shrimp and veggies over the top and that's how they cooked. It smelled YUMMY! I think everyone else was jealous, especially my friend who ended up ordering sushi with sea anemone (she hated it). hehehe. The other two friends ate bean curd and buckwheat soba. But, they said that it was good. I was too chicken to try it. Aparently bean curd (fermented beans) is a really popular staple food here. I'm still afraid of it!!
It was a great time though. The atmosphere was amazing. I felt like I was in that Jackie Chan movie we just saw -- the one with the Monkey King? It was like the restaurant that kid is getting tea in. Anyway, it was really amazing. Loved it!
The Arrival!!!
Its hard to believe but I am here. The plane ride was incredibly long -- 10.5 hours -- even worse, we sat on the tarmac at San Francisco for an hour, because according to our Pilot Air Control "lost" our flight plan. ummm.... yah. =-)
I had a window seat, which was good and bad -- good because i could take pictures, and bad because I was crammed into the smallest imaginable seat!! Even worse, I was sitting next to a really nice old Japanese couple. This was bad because I had to inconvenience them every time I had to get up to go to the ladies room! I wouldn't have felt bad if it were some of my colleagues.
The flight was long -- REALLY long. You don't really know how long 10 hours is until you have to stay in the same spot and not move! Try it some time -- you'll know what i mean!
Once we arrived, guess what? We had a two hour bus ride into Tokyo!!! Wow -- I literally felt like I was travelling for 24 hours. It wasn't that bad, but I don't think I've ever traveled for that many hours in a row -- ever!'
We finally arrived at our hotel, got checked in, then met up with former Fullbrighters who would be our "hosts" for the evening. Their job was to take us to enjoy some of the local night life and food.
I had a window seat, which was good and bad -- good because i could take pictures, and bad because I was crammed into the smallest imaginable seat!! Even worse, I was sitting next to a really nice old Japanese couple. This was bad because I had to inconvenience them every time I had to get up to go to the ladies room! I wouldn't have felt bad if it were some of my colleagues.
The flight was long -- REALLY long. You don't really know how long 10 hours is until you have to stay in the same spot and not move! Try it some time -- you'll know what i mean!
Once we arrived, guess what? We had a two hour bus ride into Tokyo!!! Wow -- I literally felt like I was travelling for 24 hours. It wasn't that bad, but I don't think I've ever traveled for that many hours in a row -- ever!'
We finally arrived at our hotel, got checked in, then met up with former Fullbrighters who would be our "hosts" for the evening. Their job was to take us to enjoy some of the local night life and food.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)