Habz, Soffz and I went to Ueno because Habz wanted to check out shoes. Ueno's a great place to shop for sportswear, especially shoes and kits. Men would go crazy here.
There are rows and rows of shops selling all the cool junk that cool or wannabe cool guys love.
I know my brother, when he was in Japan last December, bought several pairs of limited edition sports shoes and my mom was gushing about how competitive the prices were.
See here, a sea of shoes.
Of course, for the foodies, Ueno has plenty of cosy little restaurants and cafes. We drank iced teas and coffees at Blendz Coffee and bought big, juicy kebabs from a newly-opened halal kebab stand ran by a Turkish guy.
And, if you have, like me, missed out on all the action at Tsukiji Fish Market, go to Ueno.
We found ourselves on a street of loud, noisy fishmongers calling out for customers to buy their fresh eel, shell fish, crab, prawns, salmon. So fun. Plenty to see.
To end our day, we went to Krispy Kremes in Tachikawa. Omg I was looking forward to this for a very long time.
I was so excited to finally be able to join the queues at Krispy Kremes.
I am nuts for donuts. Look at the trays of treats. Ahhhh.... *drool*
And while queuing, a Krispy Kremes staff gave out piping hot, melt-in-your-mouth glazzed donuts for everyone waiting in line.
But of course, Tachikawa has more than just Krispy Kremes. At the basement of the mall linked to the train station, one can find hot snacks and full meals and desserts aplenty. One afternoon, Habz and I decided to try some delicious pre-packed seafood and pasta salads and some light cakes with fruit cream filling.
These were very delicious.
Japan is a great place for adventurous foodies and I cannot emphasize this enough. One evening, Soffz took us to Akishima where there were several huge malls housing lots of fantastic labels. After some heavy duty shopping (on my part), we sat down for an awesome all-fish-and-sticky-rice meal.
Soffz introduced us to a stall at the food court (of the mall next to the train station) which served all the different types of seafood prepared in a variety of ways.
Salmon, eel, snapper, squid, shrimp, fish roe, fish cheeks (!!) served on a bed of sticky rice with seaweed, garnish, some sesame seeds and sauce. Pardon the last slightly blurred image. I was so hungry and excited, I couldn't wait to dig in!
For me, this is bliss - living up my singlehood eating, exploring, discovering and travelling with good friends. Here's to more trips with more friends - old and new - this year and the year after and the year after! Up next, France and Morocco in December!
