Lunch that afternoon was a short 5 mins walk to a quaint little town away from the hotel. There was a neat little wooden building which served lunch. Most of us has Japanese curry rice. Again fluffy rice grains paired with fragrant sweet but mildly spicy curry. It was cold outside, and I was quite hungry. So when lunch was served, I started eating very quickly and forgot to take pictures! Grrr..... But I remembered when they served my dessert though! Hahaha...
Meeting continued again in the afternoon. Draggy as usual. Dinner that night was the same place as the 1st night. Similar but more food. This time, the atmosphere was more relaxed. We joked more, laughed more. In fact, laughed so hard, especially when Kevin & Wannong were talking about family names. Kevin, the joker, never failed to perk us all up. We had a lot more alcohol on the 2nd night as compared to the 1st night. More beer, and more sake. Somehow, all the sakes I had in Japan were very nice.
Day 3, we checked out after breakfast and headed for our road trip back to Tokyo. Another 2 hours on the bus. We got back into the city around lunch time. dropped our bags in the office, and headed out to the convenience stores to buy lunch. A norm for many office workers in Tokyo. Everyone would just pick up a bento from either a street vendor, or one of the many convenience stores. Easy, fast, and not as expensive as dinning in one of the eateries (which was always jam-packed).
After lunch, we worked as usual in the office as appraisals and discussions were conducted. Then in the evening, we headed to the nearby Sardonyx Hotel to check in, quick shower, and then off to dinner. See, time was so critical. Everything was like jammed together with no time to waste.
Dinner on day 3 was sushi. Lots and lots of the freshest and bestest (is there such a word?). We had a lot fun that night over dinner. Everyone was more relaxed. We sat on tatami mats, ate 毛かに (Hairy crabs) いくら (Salmon roe), 寿司詰め合わせ (Assorted sushi), 刺身盛り合わせ (Assorted sashimi) and more! And of course, the beer & Sake never stopped flowing! We booked the entire 2nd floor dinning room and every corner was ikura & sake! Like BT said, eat until orgasm! Wahahaha.... But it was the company that counts. Great ppl, good conversations, completely wonderful night.
Day 4 was R&R. We started the morning visiting Tsukiji fish market; tuna auction. And because it was really freezing that morning, we went off to have piping hot ramen! Shiok to the max!!! Then late morning, we wandered off to Asakusa. Took the train there. Saw lots of pretty Japanese ladies in their kimonos going to the grand old temple to offer their prayers & ask for blessings. There was also lots of shopping just outside of Asakusa. Lots of fun we had.
After Asakusa, we went to Ginza. I arranged to meet my old pal Rumiko! And I was sooooooooooooooooo happy to see her. Missed her so much after she left us. We went for Monjayaki, and then the rest of the girls went roaming around shopping while I caught up with Rumiko on gossips. Bitchy Mich came by after that to join in our girly gossips! Hahahaha
Later that afternoon, we parted ways as Rumiko went snow-boarding, and Mich brought us to more shopping around Ginza. Haiyan wanted to buy a DSLR camera for her hubby, the rest of the ladies wanted to buy cutesy Jap make up, toilettries and accesories etc. Vincent & I went wandering to look @ mobile phones. So tempted to buy them cos they're not expensive and so many nice designs that cannot be found in Singapore. But the sales guy was saying that only certain models can be used outside Japan. Not all. Bah...
Oh, we went to Tokyu Hands too. It's a really huge place with EVERYTHING under one roof. EVERYTHING means everything you can think of, from handy home DIY stuff to toys to make up to sationery to clothes to bath & accessories to handbags to luggages to gifts to kitchenware to baking stuff to electrical applices to whatever! If i didn't remember wrongly, it's 9 storeys high!
That night, Charlie took us all to a nice dinner. BBQ Japanese-style. I don't remember the name of the place unfortunately. I was quite tired, and it was very cold that night. Everyone was also very hungry. Mich had dropped us all back at the hotel, and then we jumped into a taxi and headed off to dinner with Charlie giving indtructions to the cab driver over the phone.
Dinner was really good. Charlie did all the 'cooking'. And needless to say, when eating out with Charlie, always expect the best and the unexpected! The beef we had that night was really good stuff. Kobe beef. Which we ate raw! Beef Sashimi. then we also had RAW BEEF LIVER!!! We were cannibals for the night. Thks to Charlie Brown... But of course, there were also gother nice and surprising/interesting stuff we ate over the grill. See pics...
Over all, it was another good trip. Learnt lots, as always. Great to catch up with collegues we speak to everyday but don't get to see all so often. Great oppotunity to meet old friends. And new experiences and new sights too. Most importantly, expectations were made known, targets were set. Now, we'll depend on captain's directions so that we can all sail in the right direction... AHOY!
