Asakusa Temple and Odaiba - The Architectural Wonder

I was freakish-ingly busy the past four days (kind of), and didn't get any time for a post but here it is.

Day Nine and Ten

My mornings were a bit calm as usual...but we set off to a purse sale at the main city of Tokyo. There were six floors of purses and by the time I reached the third, I was getting pretty annoyed as I didn't like anything that much. Needless to say, I didn't really buy anything..We set off for another purse sale, and after drinking some Japanese soda (I can't recall the name) went of to the Asakusa Temple.

The Asakusa Temple

The Asakusa Temple or Sensoiji is the oldest temple of Tokyo, built in the year 645. The story goes something like this. It was in the year 628 when two fishermen came across the idol of Kannon - the Godess of Mercy in the Sumida-Gawa river. They therefore built a temple to worship the Godess.

At the entrance is the Kaminari-mon or the Thunder Gate. Ahead of you now comes the Nakamise Dori which is a 300m long arcade.

This is a haven for souvenir collectors - from keychains to chopsticks,










 Wooden dolls to fans,

Then LAnterns

Snacks..

The Wigs!!!!

(Doesn't this look awesome?)

Masks!

You get the point!!! >>>>








We got so caught up in all these miniature Japanese wonders that we were unable to go inside the main temple. :(

The main hall stands beyond the Hozomon Gate. What fascinated me there were not the intricately designed lanterns but the unique kind of 'bhandar'. You could literally throw the coin and it would still go inside. I was also surprised when I saw I couldn't really figure out what/how much was inside it!

There was a huger one inside! I went again....it was like thrice the size of this one˜

These are used to wish...like they write their wish on them..
This was somewhere near the temple btw..

After the Asakusa temple, we left for some more shopping but this time, there was a difference. We were shopping for goodies! :P We bought a lot. Heck! We even finished some of their stock by buying six to ten packets of everything!

Taking a break at my uncles office, visiting a jain temple out there and picking him up, we went for dinner in a restaurent called Kana Pina. It had delicious food and made you feel as if you were in India itself! So after a scrumpulicious dinner, we headed back home.

But our day wasn't done yet! After watching a bit of mean girls and (the whole of) pitch perfect, eating a pan of popcorn, we went into deeeeeep slumber......to wake up the next day (duhhhhhh).


There is loads I did yesterday as well - Setting off at three and changing three trains, we went to Odaiba. The third train was spectacular. So is the place. It's like the road level is for vehicles, the second level is for walking and there is a third level in some places which is for idk what. But I found it really awesome that Odaiba is like a gigantic building with three floors and selective terraces!

Just LOOK at the levels!!

Can someone form a theory of why this is called the rainbow bridge??

We went around in two malls - Aqua city and Diver Ciy. (Did I mention that this whole place is made on reclaimed land? Or that I saw a bullet train? Or the fact that the third train ahd tracks below the rainbow bridge where the cars go above?) We had chocolate milkshake of Godiva which was out of the world and then did the purikura, played table tennis, packman, a teeny bit of kickboxing (I suck) and billiards in the mall. The rest one hour we spent in Karaoke. Trust me, after that, my vocal chords were dead, Anyones' would be after singing to Titanium and I Knew You Were Trouble!

This was just haf of my day though! After all this insane singing, we packed a subway and went off to Odaiba Onsen. An Onsen is a public bath. Literally. We didn't do that, but went all around.

The outside of Odaiba Onsen

Sporting a traditional Yukata (a summer Kimono), we played shuriken and another game where you ahd to blow the dart on the target. We did a massage on the massage chair and Dr. Fish (again) too. To top it off, there was rocks on the exterior that gives accu-pressure points! It was a different experience! We had edamame - soyabeans and tomatos.

This is Taiko-no Tatsujin...It's a pretty awesome game! But them yoir hand hurts like hell!

After reaching home at about 2:AM, I slept. 

Kanksha :)

I know, this is too late...like I hadn't uploaded for ages....at least it seemed like that. 
Today's post is way too long as well, and a bit abrupt. Let me just say I'll make up for it ;)

A Good Day to Live Easy.

Day Eight.

After such a lot of travel, sight-seeing and socializing, we thought we would slack for today. My day went something like this:
Wake up.
Wake Blossom up (to the Tune of Call me Maybe which she particularly despises :P)!
Study some chemistry.
Eat lunch.
Go for shopping - had I mentioned before H&M had awesome sale! :)
Eat a milkshake...well drink it rather...

This is where we threw the milkshake cans..in the two holes in between - see them???
I must say - the garbage bin sure is attractive :P

Come home, eat peaches, eat dinner....
Chat with my nine year old sister :D <3
Play cards..
and now sleep..zzzz..z.z.z.zzz..

But this finally gives me a chance to talk abouts something else...like what all is going on in the world.

When I came home and switched on the news channel, I felt extremely sad when I heard about the floods which had struck Uttarakhand. I didn't pay much attention then but felt more pained when my uncle told me more about it!

800 lives lost. A workforce of around 10,000 trying to rescue people. One helicopter crashed. Heavy rains. Biscuits sold for thousands. People watching families die in front of their eyes. Dead bodies sprawled all around. :(

I feel we should do something about it. Help in our own way. Maybe donate some money - as much as you can or feel like.

"Have a heart,
Make a start,
Don't hesitate to do your part!" 
                                  -Radio One's song (94.3) 

Moving from the bass to treble clef (translation: on another note :P) I saw the Wimbledon news as well and was shocked! Federer, Nadal and Sharapova all out? Djokovic got a free pass? What is coming to this world? Have they lost their touch!
Comment and tell me what you feel!

Kanksha :)

Today's words are :

Eki - train station
Train - Densha
Bicycle - Ji-Densha
Vatashi no nama-eh va 'insert name' des. : My name is ínsert name''
   ˆmyself or me

Joke marathon... and a dog sticking out!

Day Seven.

Ummm...I just kind of studied the whole morning while my cousins went for visa and then Bharatnatyam class. I know. That sounds completely boring..but yeah. Then I had lunch and then studied once again listening to music and checking my Facebook account. Less of studying and more of fun, I know. The real fun started now though!

We started getting ready for a party that my grand mom was giving. After a good two hours we finally left, only to realise no taxis were available. Finally, we took the train to 'Khana Pina,' and reached there...

We had some awesome food and chatted all the time. I pretty much got along with everyone as they are all easy to talk to! :) We talked about one direction and how sucky they are, bollywood movies' repetitiveness and love stories and different school teachers. All and all, we must have become the critics of the century. (Yup, I am exaggerating!) And ..to top it off, we had a joke marathon!

Here are a few jokes that can make anyone face palm XD

How do you keep an idiot in suspense?
How?
Like this!

Knock Knock!
Who is there?
Barbie!
Barbie who?
Barbe-cue :P

You what my Patronus is?
It's your face çause it scares the dementors away! :O

Knock Knock!
Who's there?
A person who will keep you in suspense!
A person who will keep you in suspense who?
(Yeah, you don't need to answer that now!)

What do you call a fat person waiting on the bustop?
MOTI-vating! :P (Moti means fat in Gujarati!)

Why were the ducks following the frog?
Because the frog is a MAIN-DUCK (mendhuck (frog in Hindi) get it?)

What would you scream and tell your mom when you are falling off your terrace?
Mother TERESSAAAAAA! ;)

I guess that is enough for today! I didn't do anything really special from an outsiders point of view but had a good time :)

I never knew purses carried puppies..Guess I was wrong!

Today's interesting fact is about how Japanese people are completely obsessed with their pets!! Jelly's friend literally stayed at home for ages when her cat died! I find that obsession a bit silly! But I doubt I have the right to say anything as I am not fond of pets! :P

Kanksha :) 

VocaBuLAry FOr ToDAy :D

Ni-hongo Vakari-Maa-sen : I don't understand Japanese
Sheengho - Signal
Maa-ssu-goo - Straight (direction)

Shopping, Dinner and Disney. :P ˆ_ˆ

Day Five and Six.

Well, I woke up pretty late and had some breakfast at my own 'pace'. Then I felt pretty bad about not studying anything all these days when my friends are slogging around five hours a day, so started studying chemistry. Studying includes watching a video with Blossom, listening to music and memorizing at the same time! :P Oh, and Blossom also had a tutoring session and had to run down to help the girl out. Isn't it sad India doesn't have the same system where a student tutors another one - instead, we have tuition teachers who loot you of as much money possible. :/

After lunch, we did absolutely nothing, then got ready and went to Shibuya - Japan's shopping hub. Out there you will get all the brands you want! But it is pretty expensive. I was lucky though as there was sale in H&M and a bit in Forever 21 as well! :D That is the only reason I bought stuff! But I have come to love Japanese fashion. Everyone is smartly dressed, in the latest styles, with funky accessories and colourful hair. Even the way they match stockings with shorts, tie their jacket on their neck and layer their clothes is fun to look out for!

From here, we had gone to dinner to a family friend's place. My aunt had made a cake as it was my uncles' birthday. Both, the food and vanilla based cake was mouth watering! We stayed there for a bit, talked and had a good time!

The next day (that is today) we woke up early and lined up at the station at 7:30. Along with three of us was Buttercup, her elder sister and Bubbles - two of Blossom's friends and ones' sister. We had to change stations thrice - From Kaminoyoge to Oimachi, then take the Rinkailne to Shin-Kiba and finally Japan Railway Line to Maihama. Disney starts at 9:00 am and by 8:59 (as that was when we reached) we could see more than 30 people in each line!!

After getting in, we went in many rides. To name a few :

1) The Splash Mountain : This is where we had a forty minute waiting. The ride was more like a drop and then into water where a picture is taken during the drop...we all tried making a weird face but it didn't work out :(

2) The Thunder Mountain : It is a roller coaster. But personally, I found it a bit...idk...its just that every time you think it would go fast, it brakes.

3) Small World : This is one of the cutest rides in my opinion! The song was fixed into my head by the end of the day :P

It's a world of laughter, it's a world of tears!

4) Haunted Mansion : The effects, the way it's made and projection is fantastic!

5) Car Racing - The cars are better than BMW - they are completely automatic, you don't even need to steer the steering wheel *sarcasm*

6) Winnie the Pooh! : The whole story, the way it's depicted - everything about this ride was adorable!!

Now what does smackeral mean???

7) Alice's Tea Cups : I would maybe categorize it as one of the most fun rides - you can never grow up enough for them!!

We had a really good time. Our food consisted of homemade Subway, Samosa and 'Roti Rolls' alongwith popcorn, coke and ice cream ;) Oh! And we also saw a musical - Minnie Oh Minnie that was really cute and the electrical parade.

The Red is Strawberry Jam...

Here is a video only of the main castle! It's beautiful! (You may get a bit bored but the way the lights change, I think, is spectacular!)

Kanksha :)

Today's words are:
Dai-Jo-Bu - It's Okay :)
Go-mmen-na-sai - Sorry!
I didn't learn any more new words as I was working on the old ones ;)

WOW. This now was a LonNnGGg Post.

Some wine, coffee, honey and Mt. Fuji ;)

Alright, this is a combined post for day 3 and 4. I
thought we'd make it only pictures and captions..tell me what you think is better! :P

Soba with Soya.
A Japanese kind of noodles.
They are really slippery - we had to use both a fork and spoon to eat them!!

We saw this while hiking (for ten minutes) after reaching Mt. Fuji!

The Ropeway.
It took us from Togendai to Owakudani to Souzan! Awesome place!

Mount Fuji!
We waited for an hour to let the fog clear and this is what we see.
Everybody stops and stares at Mt. Fuji! 

From the ropeway we could see how they were extracting sulphur!
The yellow my friends is *add drumroll* sulphur!!!! 

Hot springs. Smells of sulphur. Ewwww. But awesome. 

Pink flowers (Satsuki)

We are Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

The pirate ship!!

This is a picture at the Yunnesun.
Photo credits to - The Telegraph.

It's a wavy curve ;)
#IfyougetwhatImean

I couldn't really take pictures at the Yunnesun sadly. I'll try and explain as well as I can. Like there were spas and mini-pools full of coffee, honey, green tea, wine, sake (a Japanese liquor) and Magnesium (which makes you float!). All the water was really warm and relaxing so it was cool fun (did you get the irony?) We even tried Dr. Fish - the one that eats up dead skin....it was pretty ticklish though!! 

Back to *Weird Fact of the day*

Take a look at how to open the Kit Kat :P

Kanksha :)

I learnt a few new words today!!!

Aaaa-ri-gaa-toh Go-zai-maas : Thank you!

O-haaaa-io Go-zai-maas: Good morning!

Migi - Right

Hi-daaa-ree - Left

Japan #2

My brain still hasn't digested the fact that I am going to stay in Japan for twenty days. Heck, it hasn't even swallowed it as yet. But let me come back to what all I did, the places I visited and stuff I observed...

(Btw, I will be talking about two of my cousins pretty often. Since they don't want their identity disclosed, the one my age is Blossom and the one two years younger is Jelly!)

I woke up pretty late and went out for a jog with Jelly. She took me to her school and Yorkmart, showed me the laundry place and cycles parking lot. One thing I noticed here was cycles have like first priority - so many people travel by cycles...then whether it is raining or not doesn't matter! In the afternoon, I took a kind of tour to the local places - we went to the laundry and supermarket. Oh my, the apples are HUGE. So is the bitter-gourd and orange! They have almost every flavour yogurt from strawberry to aloe vera and orange kit-kats as well :P

SHoes that people actually wear. Unbelievable.

The Laundry :)

In the evening we went to an Indian restaurent to give a family friend a surprise birthday party and I met a whole new bunch of people there! Apart from the beginning awkwardness, I had a pretty good time :) 

On the way back home though we saw the Sky Tree and Tokyo Tower both lighted up. They were simply beautiful! The Tokyo Tower was prettier though! 

I didn't do much today but found out quite alot and made a few realisations...

1) Communication with Japanese people is completely impossible if they don't know English. I tried talking using actions to the person who comes to help at home but it didn't work :/

2) People bow (like a nodding bow if you get what I mean) when the car lets them cross the road.

3) Drivers flash the hazard light twice when a car lets him/her change the car lane as a thank you!

4) Everybody follows traffic rules here...

5) There is an emperor who lives here and has an amazing palace with water all around it. 

Kanksha :)

One last thing. Jelly told me that battles in Japan were fought in a weird way. The two sides would stand facing each other. It would begin with one man coming forward and boasting about all his achievements, with another man from the other side doing the same. They would then fight and the procedure repeats till one army is finished. Isn't that scary?

Trip to Japan #1

I love excitement. A few of my friends have observed that stuff starts happening wherever I go. Well, what can I say? It does seem to be true.. Anyways, I set off for Japan yesterday and am currently in Hong Kong while typing this!

After watching A Good Day to Die Hard in the plane yesterday, I went to 'half-sleep' and woke up to watch half of Les Miserables! (I must say the latter was amazing - even if I watched only half of it!) a couple of light snacks, it was time for landing. I wish I could capture it - it was a scene that was one of a kind! Till the last moment I was scared that we were going to land in the water! To top that, the view being a cocktail of mountains and skyscrapers caught my interest. Moving to the transfer line I had around 5 hours to kill! The airport was huge as well and had a lot to offer! Using WiFi to the fullest and charging my phone, assuring my parents I had my passport and boarding pass and using the metro (super fast I must say!) to reach my gate, Skyping my cousins...time flew past! Before I knew it it was time to board the plane to Narita!

(The part after this sentence is typed at my cousins place after reaching Japan!)

Hong Kong Airport!

So the flight to Tokyo was good as well. Once again, I passed time watching movies. By the time the flight landed, I was so excited to meet my cousins that I finished all the procedures within half an hour and was out! My cousins and aunt I guess weren't expecting me to be as fast though! :P From there, we took the train - Narita Express till Shibuya where my cousins introduced me to the 'health drink' - Pocari. It was pretty nice :) The metro again was spectacular - we even saw a double decker train which is supposed to be very rare! To top that my cousin's seat number was 1-D (and she is crazy behind one direction) so you can imagine how 'on top of the world' she was! The rest of the journey passed in merry chatter! We took a taxi from the world famous Shibuya Crossing, saw forever 21, found out 'poppo' means hair salon, saw the expressway, 24 hour shops and experienced quiet....Silence..and peace. 

On reaching home, I met my grandmom after a month, ate delicious food and 'kulfi' (you could call it the indian version of ice cream!) and opened up my bags :) After chatting for a while and cracking jokes, the clock struck two and we thought it was a good time to sleep, so yeah, we slept. 

Kanksha :)

Well, it was a pretty abrupt ending, I know...

But I have an interesting fact for you - Taxis out here have automatic doors - the open and shut on their own! Isn't that weird and cool at the same time??? 

Happy Fathers' Day :D

We intended to post this yesterday, but due to a couple of technical errors, were unable to do so! We hope all the fathers had a very happy Fathers' day yesterday!

On this auspicious occasion, (I know, it isn't actually auspicious...but auspicious sounds good, right?) we made an audio! So do switch it on and sing along! The lyrics are written below!
(Tune credits - The makers of Barney. Lyrics Credits- Aditi and Kanksha.)

Dear daddy, I love you,

16 years I've spent with you,

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you,

A Happy Fathers' Day to you!

When I was little, you rocked my cradle,

But that didn't manage to put me to sleep!

So you got books and read them to me..

And even played catch-catch at three!

While crawling and walking, when I fell down,

You picked me up and wiped my frown;

You held me tight and encouraged me,

So I'm a confident girl for the world to see!

You're as sweet as Barney the Dino!

And you bring sunshine to my sorrow;

When I'm worried and confused as can be,

You fit the puzzle pieces for me!

Dear daddy, I love you,

16 years I've spent with you,

With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you,

A Happy Fathers' Day to you!

To all the fathers who are reading it, hats off for being so amazing! And to all the people like us, go ahead and dedicate this to your dad - it's better late than never ;)

<3

School Tour!

Alright. It has been ages since I last posted. You could take that literally as well. My PACE Age is about to get over (Well, I am going to get a month of vacation time!), school age officially came to an end and well yeah, that's it. But I digress as I was supposed to be telling you guys about how awesome Sikkim and Darjeeling is - no sarcasm involved!

WARNING : I suck at writing something when I am supposed to write about it, so sorry if this post isn't as exciting!

Yes, Sikkim is a marvelous place to visit. The climate was favourable, so was the gentle touch of wind and whisper of leaves. Ahhhhhhhh! I don't even make sense anymore! I'll give it one last try, and this time, be informal!

My journey was nothing short of happening. We got our tenth grade board results on the first day, got (almost) attacked by stones on the second and pulled the chain of the train we were supposed to change and catch 5 times. If this wasn't enough drama, we saw an empty jeep fall into the river (since the poor driver had forgotten to put  the handbrake!) in front of our eyes on the third day! We stayed in Sikkim for 4 days in all. Waking up at 5 in the morning, one day we embarked on the journey to Chhangu Lake and Baba Ka Mandir 13,000 feet above the sea level. I must say, the view both ways was spectacular! Actually the following is the list of places we visited:
In Sikkim..
1) Dro Dul Chorten, Energy Park. - Mind Blowing Waterfall and a dragon.
2)Enchey Monastry
3)Flower Hall
4)A Local school - We had visited Holy Cross school where they gave an amazing performance and so did we give a couple! We had a kind of interact programme with them as well where phone numbers were exchanged?! *coughs coughs* :P (Not really!) Though, their hospitality was noteworthy!And all the students were friendly as well :D
5)Chhangu Lake

Beautiful View!

6)Baba Ka Mandir - This place, my friends, has a story that I will tell you someday. It is supernatural...and interesting..and unbelievable.

In Darjeeling..
1) Padmaja Naidu Zoological Park and Mountaineering Institute - We learnt a bit of rock climbing and proceeded to the zoo with an ice cream each in our hand. Boy! The ice cream seller must have earned loads :P
2)Tiger Hill - Tigers do not exist here and neither could we see anything much because of the mist but we still took loads of pictures ;)
3)Ghoom Monastry - I don't know whether it os 'Ghum or Ghoom' as the station has both spellings, but its a proper noun, so the rule holds true!
4)Japanese Pagoda - According to my friend, he felt 'ultimate peace' here while listening to the beat of the drums! Bang....Bang...Bang!


Mind you, I haven't mentioned a 'pebble-ing' surprise DJ, watching a movie at Inox, playing badminton/table - tennis/football/lawn tennis, attacking each other with toothpaste, butter, jam and ketchup or sneaking away to a different market to find tea at lower prices. I didn't even mention ten people sitting in a place meant for six, eating four kilos of litchi, listening to a song gazillion times, staying up all night cracking lame jokes and playing cards (or should I say cheating at cards!)!

This last tour with friends was the best ever and nothing can change that! :)

Kanksha :D

PS: Aditi, you haven't been kidnapped but I am confident you HAVE been cyber-napped. So could you go all kung fu on the cyber-napper, run away and come back? Please? :P

We found this hilarious! XD

Perfection.

Hi! Actually I am on a school tour to Gangtok and Darjeeling, so have been really busy but I have learnt one thing - free WiFi makes your day :P I promise a travelogue later but for now, take a look at this spider web. It is the definition of perfection.

Wait a second, is anything actually perfect?

Kanksha :)