Nikko and Shinjuku at night

we ventured out of Tokyo on thursday to chill out at Nikko. chill out wasn't exactly what we did. two transfers and two hours later we were starving in Nikko. yes, every morning we wake up starving... i don't know why!

anywaz, we were smack in the middle of rush hour, not surprising since we wake up super early here. it's fun to be packed like sardines! people push you around and you get to push back! P hated it! i liked the pushing! heheheh

NIKKO JR STATION

SNACK

this is an agemanju stand outside of the JR Nikko station. Agemanju is basically battered fried manju.

we had never heard of it until we saw it. but it was super yummy! this one was fried all the way through the bready part until the azuki filling.

we were super hungry so we got two buns at a local convience store. the one on the left is a 'pizza maan' (pizza bun) and the one on the right is a regular niku man (meat bun). the pizza maan tasted like "chef boyrdee filling but not too bad" quoted from P. the niku maan was okay nothing to write home about.

THINGS ALONG THE WAY
we sorta decided that we would walk from JR Nikko station to the Nikko temples. apparently everyone was going to Nikko along with us and the crowded buses "bothered" P. it took about half an hour or so of walking and a whole lot more minutes since I was snap-happy with the camera......

Japan's stimulus plan at work......

japanese firestation with trucks...

these were the sweetest strawberries in the world! they were so good we couldn't stop! and gobbled up the whole container near the best water in the world!

authentic Japanese bug!

this is the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge. we found it kinda funny that one would need to pay for when there was a perfectly good road to walk on right next to it. sorry pix came out junk. the sun was in the way. supposedly people come here to take wedding pix so there are willing guinea pigs!

LUNCH

this is P's 'enya steak'. we stopped off at some Japanese dinner/lodge looking thing along the way and this was our meal. P's steak was kinda cool. the steak was served on a bed of onions and shaved garlic all on top of a sizzling plate. we were curious as to why they had served his steak sauce cold along with his salad. we figured it was to cool plate as it got to the table. the sauce was good .... sorta like an onion-grated daikon jus.

these are the part of the yakitori set. the one on the right consists of skin, shio chicken meat w/ fat, cartilage, and liver. P loved the cartilage. the chicken liver wasn't too 'livery' until it cool down. the plate on the right has thigh meat, meatballs, wing, gizzard, and tuna cheek (we had to try it!). highlights were definitely the meatballs (soft and moist) and gizzard (crispy, slightly chewy). the tuna cheel was a fishy disappointment.

authetic Japanese ladybug that begged to be photgraphed!

this is the best water in the world! we only took one pix of it since we were too busy emptying our yucky water from the hotel and filling our water bottles with this good stuff. we probably didn't tell you that the water at Tokyo Bay Sheraton was super chlorinated, had a strong earthy aftertaste, and no it didn't give us diarrehea cha cha. this is a water fountain right by Rinnoji temple. we washed our strawberries here and they instantly vanished.... we swear they did! heheheh the water here was sweet and super cold. according to P, Nikko has the best water. needless to say we drank lots of temple water and washed our hands a lot (in case you didn't know, virtually all japanese temple will have some type of hand washing/drinkable water well thing right by their entrance).

TEMPLE
the following pix will not be label since neither of us knows kanji and frankly we went to so many they all blended into one BIG walking expedition......

sad to say that we actually lost some of our pix since I was snap-happy and used up our good 1G chip. the other one decided that we weren't good enough to use it and shat on us as were were almost done with all the temples. by the time we figured it out all the pix had gone to pix heaven. we did what anyone would do..... we sat down and did a mass delete of I's useless pix (or so P thought they were). we still had the rest of the night....

SHINJUKU AT NIGHT

can you guess what this shop sold?

yes Jen, this is for you.... P only let I go into one love hotel to take this most coveted love hotel vending machine pix. the pix on the right shows ammenities that could be purchased if the need should materialize.

we believe these establishments are purely innocent in all their business dealings........ but, everyone has a price....

PACHINKO BABY! we didn't attempt since we can't read the instructions and don't have that kinda money to waste....

gourmet fruit stand

SNACK

we got gianourmous dorayaki from a street vendor (will be refered to as yatai from now on). cream on top and azuki bean on the bottom. as usual, P liked the azuki bean and I liked the cream.

DINNER

I's tonkotsu ramen with kimchee. this was from a ramen yatai. all they offered was tonkotsu ramen with different toppings. totally yummy.

P's chasiu with extra negi (green onions).

these were the condiments at the table. raw chopped garlic, pickled chili stuff, and ginger. the pickled chili stuff totally made the ramen. it was full of flavor with just a touch of spice. P loaded his bowl with at least two tablespoonfuls.... which means it's pretty mild