Girls Gone Wild...Tokyo Edition

I had the opportunity this weekend to go to Tokyo with some friends from church to spend some time at the temple. It was an incredible trip, and I was proud of all of us for just 'going for it' and not putting it off for another time.


Here are my travel companions, Melene and Amy


Here's our first view of the Tokyo temple as we walked up the hill Thursday night.



Our flight got in quite late, so we arrived after the normal operating hours of the temple annex (where our sleeping accommodations were) but we called ahead, and a very nice gentleman waited up for us and let us in. Here we are, ready for bed, and feeling thirsty and adventurous! We bought about 6 drinks to try from the vending machines. (Yes, they even have them on temple grounds...they really are everywhere!) This turned out to be a good plan since we poured half of them down the sink. One of them tastes like tea made from unsweetened wheat puffs. I kid you not! I think if I knew how to read Kanji, I would have found it listed on the ingredients (puffed wheat extract). There was another version that was at least sweetened, so it was more like elixir of Honey Smacks.


Here we are stepping out of our rental car after spending all day at the temple on Friday.



Loved this shot...told Amy to make sure to get the bikes.


Here's where we went to dinner. The Concierge at the New Sanno* gave us several restaurant recommendations that all sounded great, but we were really favoring Thai, so "Bangkok Kitchen" it was!


The hike down was kind of cool...


I cannot believe I forgot to take pictures of the food! We were that hungry, and it tasted that good! We ordered and shared 4 dishes and 3 desserts between the 3 of us. It was all spectacular! This was the only pic I took inside.


Heading back to the temple to sleep after a fun night on the town.


Saturday morning, we decided to go to the Ginza district (Tokyo's Fifth Ave.). Here we are headed down to the subway.


This was almost too exhilarating for me...but I am kind of easily impressed.


The fashion in Japan is just too much!


Randomness on the subway...


Here we are at Ginza. It was mind blowing!


Isn't this cop in the box cute? I was getting some serious, "do not mess with me" vibes from her, though.


More Ginza...


Here we are on the top floor of a shi-shi-poo-poo boutique where Amy was dropping some serious change on a green leather purse that felt like butter. I seriously wanted to take a bite out of it. Isn't Melene cute on the lip sofa?



More Ginza (and no, that's not the green purse Amy bought, she collects them)...


Has anyone else seen this shirt? I wasn't sure whether it was some more Engrish, or there is something to it of which I'm unaware.


And here we are back at the airport Saturday afternoon. Here's a group of kiddos headed on a school trip to Okinawa. Notice the masks? They were everywhere in Tokyo. We approached a man for help, and as we did, he hastily reached for his mask. Wouldn't want those Amerikajin to get their swine flu germs on him! Just for that, I wanted to be extra breathy..."Koh-NEEE-cheee-WAAAAHHH!"


And here's our ride back to reality. It was a super quick trip, but SO worth it. These ladies were so laid-back and agreeable. We had lots in common, even though we are all in different stages in our lives...Amy's the young, single gal, Melene's a grandma (albeit a young, hot grandma) and I'm somewhere in between. It reminded me that you can never predict who your friends are going to be, or what awesomeness you might cheat yourself out of if you strive for a homogeneous circle of friends. Next, Melene wants to take us to Korea. She lived there for several years and knows her way around. I guess there's better shopping there, too. There's also a temple, so I think that's a pretty fair trade, huh? A little temple work here, some shopping and dining out there? I know, I know...Carrie Stuart...once again proving the human mind has an infinite capacity for rationalization!

*New Sanno: An awesome, first-rate, luxury hotel for military families in downtown Tokyo (like the Hale Koa in Hawaii). It's also right down the hill from the temple. Although we slept at the temple annex (because the New Sanno was booked), we ate, shopped and used the concierge at the New Sanno. I can't wait to take my kids there for vacation this summer!