Days 12-14

Days 12-14: Matsumoto, Wasabi, Dengaku ...Sukiyaki. :)

hey peeps!
Uploading photos is tiring! heh. takes a lot of effort man.. haha.
Well its been 2 weeks already here in Japan, 5 more days and i'll be leaving Takasaki and heading back to Tokyo to catch a domestic flight to Osaka. Im gonna miss it here.. kinda like a home away from home.. theyve been really like family to me..
oh ive finally managed to connect my laptop to the cable! so dont have to take time translating the jap settings on the com first.. haha..

i miss home!!

yest i got a lil bit of a scare.. cos my face started itching like crazy.. thought my whole face would end up in spots or sth.. but thankfully its better now.. think it was some kind of allergy to the cold.. plus its extremely dry over here.. 40/50% humidity only.. much less compared to singapore.. so maybe my face couldnt take it.. so .. yeah... just hope it doesnt come back.. otherwise i'll have to pull stockings over my head already.. haha..slabbing on moisturizer is also one thing i have to get use to doing over here.. heh.

was looking at juns pics of europe.. really beautiful.. would really hope to travel there someday.. maybe try backpacking.. heh. somehow i'd like to give backpacking a shot.. sometime in my life:)

hm back to my past few days.. we drove up to this other city called Matsumoto which is famous for their art, large proportion of scholars and musical talents.. it was a nice quiet town (though they had quite a vibrant youth scene) and it also houses one of the remaining castles in japan..
The view there was spectacular.. snow mountains lined the sides of the town.. got chilly though.. temperature hovered ard 1-5 i think..

anyways, check the pics out!




our first stop when we arrived in matsumoto: chestnut restaurant -they served chestnuts ( gao lak) in the rice.. and salted fish..miso soup..mixed veges.. healthy but delicious ;) the rice was a little sticky .. as little like what we find in bak chang.. heh



next stop: wasabi farm! behind me are the wasabi plants.. apparently they can only grow in extremely clean water.. the water flow from the mountains in this case. .



the place was huge! did you know that most wasabi we see isnt the real thing? mostly made up of powder.. the real thing is pretty costly and youd have to grate it off the plant..




matsumoto castle! it was gorgeous..the mountains behind actually had snow caps..

another view of the castle...

Dinner! : Dengaku.. Tofu satay with miso sauce.. :) delicious! had yakitori too.. the shop we went too is pretty famous.. one of those traditionally ran kinds.. theyve been in business for like 80 yrs already!!

The morning view of Matsumoto: Can you see the mountains behind? It was fantastic! The sky was a clear blue and we had full sight of the entire mountain range..

Had breakfast in this little bakery which was first established in Seattle by some Japanese.. they then brought it back here .. allow me to repeat the splendities of japanese bread. heh

Last stop before heading back: Karuizawa

A little street with shops by the sides.. kinda seems a little like holland v.. but more slow paced..

Day 14:

Homemade okonomiyaki! Pancake with noodles.. egg.. bacon... mayo.. jap sause.....One thing i'm definitely gonna miss is the food...........

Before dinner today: From Left= Mr. T. , Julia, me, Mihoko Sensei ( the teacher teaching me jap now :) she can drink A LOT. Finished 3/4 a bottle of wine by herself! and she was completely sober!! heh. i had some sake and im half struggling to keep my eyes open now... haha)

Sukiyaki: The whole works. mmmmm.. think theyre trying to let me try as many types of jap food as possible before i leave.. from what i hear.. theres hamburger steak.. some sort of a bento awaiting me still . hee............

Sizzling beef!!! Nice tender beef..............

Mr. and Mrs T getting eth ready :)

Thats all i guess! Was walking ard the house for like an hour after dinner cos i was so full. haha. They were pretty amused at this.. even more so when i told them we all did that at home.. =)

Alrights.. night for now!! Oyasumi!