BAMBOO GROVES at ARASHIYAMAĀ - our shelter from the April rain. To avoid other tourists, we snuck in from the riverside and were rewarded with beautiful views.
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KAISEKI at KIKUNOI HONTEN - if one could capture all of Kyoto in a meal, this should be it.
Hammad and I arenāt fancy eaters. We occasionally treat ourselves to a nice restaurant to celebrate something special, but otherwise we are totally content eating ramen, pizza and tacos err'day. But this is Japan - THE food paradise, and a must-try is the Japanese kaiseki: a multi-course meal carefully made with local ingredients from that prefecture, and presented in a way that more closely resembles art.
This is where Kikunoi comes in. This three Michelin star restaurant has deep roots in the history of the Higashimaya area, which definitely adds to the novelty. Everything was perfect, from the seasonal decor to the serene private rooms overlooking a peaceful garden. Bonus points for the clearest glass window ever - it was like a windex commercial. I loved how much care and thought was put into all the small details, including how the kimono-clad lady would enter the room, carry the food, and very eloquently present it to us. It was kind of like watching a dance, but in the end, I get to feast! At times the wait between dishes was longer (not that we minded really), but it was neat how they also left us a book called Kaiseki that described the chefsā creative process behind the food.
The food itself was of epic status. Iām not one of those super refined foodies - like most things are rated in mehs, awesomes, and super amazings, so Iām gonna save you from the vivid description of the fresh red sea bream sliding down my throat (sounds icky innit). But yeah, things of note: lily bulbs with salmon roe are surprisingly the best thing ever. Sticky rice wrapped with steamed Wakasa tilefish and submerged in a thick clear ginger sauce is genius! I was obsessed with the play of colours in the pea soup and prawn dumpling - tasted pretty super amazing too! And lastly, pistachio ice cream and mango juice?!!! Theyāre my new favourite IT couple.
Tldr, Kikunoi is the Kaiseki king of Kyoto, k!
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Fushimi Inari Taisha and Senbon Torii - a popular Shinto shrine with thousands of gates that crawl up and around a mountain.
At the sound of our 6am alarm, my eyes snapped open excitedly, and I threw on my warmest gear in order to get ready for our visit to the sacred Mount Inari. We wanted to get there as early as possible in order to avoid the hoard of tour bus self-stick tourists that can ruin even the most beautiful photo ops! The result was totally worth it. When we finally got to the start of the thousand torii gates, there were only a handful of other DSLR-clad early risers on the prowl. Our ascent began.
What impressed me about this network of trails was how well integrated it was to its natural surroundings. As you start climbing, the gates start to stand further apart from each other so we could peak out into the lush forest and gaze down at the city rooftops below. We didnāt get our green on in Mount Fuji cause of that darn April fog and rain, but this was definitely a satisfying alternative!
I was feeling quite good about myself (working off all that ramen we have been eating) until I met my hero, the lady in picture 5 and 6. Here was this elder, petite Japanese lady with an umbrella walking cane, climbing up the same mountain of steps! You could feel her determination in her heavy pants and her sweat lined forehead. What a lady! As we passed by, I wanted to give her an enthusiastic thumbs up or a cool pat on the back, but settled on reassuring nods and smiles. I hope she didnāt find it creepy.
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HANAMI
, flower viewing šø
yasakuni shrine
- where we had a special moment watching the wind carry the cherry blossom petals like falling snow,
chidorigafuchi park
- where we watched the little boats weave in and out of the blossoming branches down below,
meguro river
- not even the rain could dampen the beautiful river lined with cute shops and houses,
yoyogi park
- loved watching the scene of drunken youth gallivanting and enjoying spring.
Despite all the random April rain and cloudiness, we are so fortunate to have experienced the magic of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo.
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The Internet as aĀ Tweenager
There is this thing called the web archives, and it makes for a hilarious Saturday. It's the closest thing I have to a time machine, and so it must be used to go back in time and re-visit this personal blog site creature that I started when I was a rambling thirteen year old,Ā and much less awkward.
So to paint this picture: it's around 2002, and I was a tween living in Jakarta who had just discovered the magicks of HTML. At the same time, there were things that I may have liked way too much - cats, Harry Potter (Emma Watson was my hero), Buffy & Angel, Lord of the Rings and fan-fiction. This love was so much of a love that it morphed into this obsession with creating fansites, and eventually led me to run a personal site that was so personal, that it was practically my diary... but then it became so much more than that. I spent all my free time creating and tearing down new fansites, blogging (sometimes about nothing at all), creating new site layouts with Photoshop and Flash, updating tutorials and talking to people online through blog comments.
Back in the early 2000s, Internet culture was really just starting. There wasn't really an Internet etiquette, so web pages didn't seem dominantly like a branding/marketing platform, but an outlet that people had to talk about their lives. Ok yeah, people do that now with 124 characters on Twitter, and herp (I can't english all the time), we now have blogger rockstars in all categories like food, travel and fashion... but back then, it felt different. I'm talking forums, chat rooms, tag boards, guest books, cliques, fanlistings/directories, fan signs! Anyone remember BLINKIES, website buttons, pixel cams?! Does that even exist anymore, like I don't know and I'm kind of afraid to find out. Of course it wasn't all pretty. Ahhh... them fonts, all those marquees, so many moving/flashing things, and holy fuck, iframessss!Ā
Oh Internet, you so awkward.
One thing I did love was that budding sense of community in this strange space that I always found myself. People who had domains would host other blogs (oh how much I loved my hostees), and websites had tutorials and freebie sections just cause it's great - and it helped you make more friends. Plug developed a total new meaning (in an aggressively non-sexual way). There were award sites for sites - think Oscars but the academy is totes your tween niece who read too much X-men and Buffy fan fiction. Some people I knew were into the whole LiveJournal scene, but I was more of a DIY type, so I had other bloggers teach me what CGI was and how to set up this thing called Greymatter.
When I look back, I was riding a wave that was soon going to take over everything. It's cool though. I do love the Internet and what it has grown up to be. I too have grown up a bit, I think, but some things don't change - like right now, I'm am totally going to go and watch some Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
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