Hitting the Waves...

Literally.

After some homemade Mexican food the night before at their homewarming party, a friend took me surfing in Shonan, a stretch of coast of Sagami Bay in Kanagawa prefecture, and it was my first ever time doing it. The waves were rough, and areas were restricted, so all the surfing newbies were clustered together... not ideal conditions for a first-timer. I came away with a busted lip after leaving teeth marks on my friend's surfboard. Fortunately, it didn't get in the way of our lunch at the Red Lobster, which was yummy, even if the presentation was a little lacking. (http://www.redlobster.jp/index.html)

[We walked off lunch at Enoshima Island.]

Bike n' Hike

After getting back from crossing two prefectures yesterday, I went to hike in Tanzawa in Kanagawa. It was my first time riding on a motorbike, albeit in the passenger's seat, but it was quite the exhilarating experience. After a 2-hour bike ride, we got to the trailhead near Tosawa Sansou (mountain hut) before embarking on a 5-hour return hike to Mt. Tonodake (1491m). We could have done it in less time, but my legs were sore from the weekend. It was a bit of a sadistic decision for me to go ahead with this hike, but a good time was had, and we ended the day with dinner by Lake Miyagase before heading back up north.

The Beach Called Miura

I've been concentrating so much on the mountains, that in the blink of an eye, the summer had past. And so it came to be that my first visit to the beach this year was in November.

Lunar New Year in Yokohama

After an all-you-can-eat lunch, we checked out the Lunar New Year events. Except for small acrobatic and lion dance performances, there wasn't that much going on. The streets weren't decorated, nor the shops, not like it is in London Chinatown. What I really miss are proper Chinese bakeries, filled with the aroma of egg tarts and sweet breads, but disappointedly, all I could see was cookies and pastries all individually packaged up in plastic, all very Japanesey. But Chinese bakeries aside, I did quite a bit of grocery shopping ;)

Pilgrimage and Chinese

From Oimachi Station to Nishi-Koyama Station, there's a little pilgrimage called The Way of the Ebara Seven Lucky Gods which goes around the back streets of Shinagawa in East Tokyo.

As we were crossing some train tracks to our last temple of The Way, I stopped to take a photo of  "this way to the light":

"If we stay here a little longer, we'll definitely be on our way there," was how one of my companions responded. It was a wry comment, but it managed to amuse.

Pilgrimage completed, we headed down to Yokohama for an all-you-could-eat Chinese dinner, which was the closest thing to authentic Chinese food that I had eaten in absolutely ages. Granted there were some dishes that weren't quite there in terms of authenticity, but everything went down the right way, and overall it was pretty good for a price of 2880yen. The not-quite-clean eating utensils, the tacky deco, and service that's rough around the edges made me feel a little nostalgic. I will come again.

Kamakura amd Zushi

This day trip was organised by a member of the BOE (Board of Education) for ALTs and BOE members. It was a nice day out with some sightseeing and excessive amounts of eating. We got to go inside the Big Buddha, and see the Yabusame (horseback archery) Festival.

[Top, left to right: The Big Buddha; Ebi-don aka. shrimp tempura on rice, a local specialty; burning incense by the Big Buddha. Bottom: proper coffee ice-cream; a Yabusame contestant; matcha and purple potato ice-cream.]