I’m really liking this waking up early business. Oh, did I mention how utterly amazing sleeping on an actual bed is? Back in Tokyo we sleep on the floor…and I mean an actual floor, not tatami mats, but a thin yoga mat sitting on top of some floorboards. Wood is hard. I discovered yesterday I was deathly allergic to the NATIO sunscreen on my face, so I had to live without sunscreen for a day. Boo.

So we stocked up big time on breakfast ochazuke because we didn’t have to worry about our insides falling out today. We also discovered a cemetery right beside the hotel last night, but totally forgot about stopping by before we checked-out and headed off to Kawaguchiko. Luckily, there was another on the walk down to the lake. This is the first cemetery I’ve felt mildly creeped out in for a long time. Something about being in there reminded me of Japanese and Chinese horror films. You know, those films with the Chinese vampires? Those things scare the crap out of me.

Kawaguchiko Cemetery

The lake was huge and we took some shots, but we couldn’t see Fujisan today at all; it was completely clouded over.

Kawaguchiko

We went into some hotel area to check out the lake and there was a sign that read the viewing point was for hotel guests only. As we were walking in there was actually hotel staff there by the lake and when she came to speak with us we thought she was going to kick us out, but she asked if she could take our photo instead! HAH!

Tourists!

We also had every intention of hitting up the ice caves, but my neck was so fucked from Fujiyama and the reviews mentioned the caves being rather short. I literally couldn’t move my neck forward or back without being in pain, and I’m not using literally figuratively.

Since there was nothing left to do we decided to head back to Otsuki on the scenic train. The train was so cute! There was even a crib/baby-holder in one of the carriages and they pointed out the scenery as we chugged past.

Kawaguchiko Station

The Scenic Train

Check out that view

We also ended up catching an express back to Shinjuku, we didn’t know you needed an extra ticket to catch it so we were shitting ourselves when the officer came around to check our tickets. Luckily, it was painless to purchase a ticket off him. *wipes sweat*

When we arrived home Mum Yee said we should go check out a department store in Ogikubo, so off we went again. It was quite possibly the lamest department store in all of Tokyo. Better leave. It’s still early, so we went to hunt down some Shirohige’s Cream Puffs…and by we, I meant Chen. I left the navigating and the scouting to him. A train ride and a one hour walk later and I was taken to the wrong place!!! I was so defeated and Chen was sad that he lead me astray. I was sad also…in case you didn’t realise. It was getting late and we had to head back and there mightn’t have been time in the future to come back out the direction of the real cream puff. Sad faces all around. Then Chen reset and said “Fuck it, let’s go find it.”

Another hour later we finally arrived at the real Shirohige’s Cream Puff Shop!! Less than half an hour before they close. When we arrived there were only two left! Bring out the tears. Actually, I don’t know if that was a good or bad thing. Only two means I didn’t get a choice of which ones I wanted, but only two meant I didn’t have to make any difficult decisions. We bought both, one matcha with red bean and one vanilla custard. They were so cute…and also tasty. Loved the slight bitterness in the matcha and I didn’t even mind the red bean because they were actual beans, and not the paste.

Other cute Totoro shaped goodies

How cute

We were having a home cooked meal tonight so met up with Dad Yee at Shinjuku to shop for some last minute goodies. We ended up stopping at Odakyu, Takashimaya, and Isetan. Dinner consisted of grade A5 wagyu, shishamo, ikura, ginger pork, toro, ika, uni, and more. So much slimy food. I overdid it on the slime and started feeling really gross. So squishy. Japanese people really like squishy foods: uni, marbled beef, soft corn, ikura, raw fish, fatty tuna, onsen eggs. You’d think they had no teeth or something.

The melty beef

My fish veil – Shishamo

Too much uni

The spread

Super expensive mango

So anyway, we waaaaaayyy over did the food and slimy quota. Sleep it off!