5-Day Dash between Hong Kong, Singapore, Shuzenji, Nasu & Tokyo
I arrived in Singapore Friday afternoon for what I had expected to be a leisurely weekend hanging out, eating and drinking with friends. Just as I was getting ready to head to Chubby Hubby and his S's Bhutan-inspired dinner, I got a call from M, a client in Tokyo. First of all, M never calls. Either his assistant emails or P calls. So as soon as I heard I heard M start with, "I was wondering if you could do me a favour...", I knew that saying "No" wasn't really going to be an option.
The favour, it turned out, was to check out two venues outside Tokyo on Monday so that the venue for a May 2008 event could be confirmed by the end of Tuesday (spaces in ryokans go fairly early). It would not have been a problem, except I had to be back in Hong Kong to host an event Tuesday evening, which meant that I really only had all of Monday to visit the properties, which were both 2 hours from Tokyo, in opposite directions. Assuming that train schedules and appointments worked out, I would have to arrive Sunday night in Tokyo, which meant cancelling my early morning pilates session with Ole and bailing out of a Sunday poolside brunch that RB had so graciously organized for me. For much of Friday evening, I was on the phone with MM and KM in Tokyo trying to figure out whether it was actually logistically feasible to visit both Asaba in Izu and Niki Club in Nasu in one day. Once we figured out that it was, I had the near impossible task of getting on a flight out of Singapore. In the end, I managed to get the last business class seat on an 8am flight from Singapore back to Hong Kong to connect with an afternoon flight to Tokyo. I barely had enough transit time to head back into town to swap my summer clothes for some warmer clothes, which BL, being the life-saver that he always is, managed to scramble together for me. My schedule on Monday looked like this:
9.06 Tokyo - 9.49 Mishima
10.04 Mishima - 10.36 Shuzenji (local train)
5-minute car ride
10.45 Appointment w/Asaba at for one hour
5-minute car ride
11.56 Shuzenji - 12.31 Mishima (local train)
12.57 Mishima - 13.56 Tokyo
14.20 Tokyo - 15.35 Nasu Shiobara
30-minute car ride
16.00 Appointment w/Niki Club at for one hour
30-minute car ride
17.28 Nasu Shiobara - 18.44 Tokyo
Not so bad, really. I noticed that I would get back to Tokyo in time for dinner so I dropped SM a line via facebook to see if she if she was free.
Here are a few highlights from the 5-day trip that involved 16 hours on planes, 9 hours on trains and 2 hours in automobiles:
1. Chubby Hubby & his S's mac-n-cheese made with Bhutanese Gruyere & Emmanthal cheeses (OK, the cheeses aren't exactly Bhutanese, but they were made by a Swiss cheesemaker living in Bhutan). They had just gotten back from 10 days in Bhutan the day before and had tried to manage my expectations by telling me it would be a very "simple" dinner. But I always believe that it's in the simple dishes that true talent reveals itself. And their mac-n-cheese certainly did not disappoint! Nor did their expertly-roasted, super-succulent castrated chickens.
2. Losing myself in Joshua Yang's continuous line drawings and paintings, which have a meditative quality about them while being a meditation on time and memory. A selection of his works will be on exhibit at Marina Mandarin Hotel in Singapore (Level 5) from 11 December 2007 to 31 January 2008.
3. Going for a spontaneous, but oh-so-therapeutic, hair wash at local institution Salon 916 (916 East Coast Road) with A&D. Not for the faint of heart!
4. Shopping for Christmas goodies at Jones the Grocer. Cafe service was appallingly non-existent though; JL never got his cheese platter!
5. Admiring the gorgeous setting of Asaba's Noh stage while sipping a soothing bowl of green tea.
6. Witnessing a queue form outside Krispy Kreme at 6:15am, when the store doesn't actually open until 7am!
The favour, it turned out, was to check out two venues outside Tokyo on Monday so that the venue for a May 2008 event could be confirmed by the end of Tuesday (spaces in ryokans go fairly early). It would not have been a problem, except I had to be back in Hong Kong to host an event Tuesday evening, which meant that I really only had all of Monday to visit the properties, which were both 2 hours from Tokyo, in opposite directions. Assuming that train schedules and appointments worked out, I would have to arrive Sunday night in Tokyo, which meant cancelling my early morning pilates session with Ole and bailing out of a Sunday poolside brunch that RB had so graciously organized for me. For much of Friday evening, I was on the phone with MM and KM in Tokyo trying to figure out whether it was actually logistically feasible to visit both Asaba in Izu and Niki Club in Nasu in one day. Once we figured out that it was, I had the near impossible task of getting on a flight out of Singapore. In the end, I managed to get the last business class seat on an 8am flight from Singapore back to Hong Kong to connect with an afternoon flight to Tokyo. I barely had enough transit time to head back into town to swap my summer clothes for some warmer clothes, which BL, being the life-saver that he always is, managed to scramble together for me. My schedule on Monday looked like this:
9.06 Tokyo - 9.49 Mishima
10.04 Mishima - 10.36 Shuzenji (local train)
5-minute car ride
10.45 Appointment w/Asaba at for one hour
5-minute car ride
11.56 Shuzenji - 12.31 Mishima (local train)
12.57 Mishima - 13.56 Tokyo
14.20 Tokyo - 15.35 Nasu Shiobara
30-minute car ride
16.00 Appointment w/Niki Club at for one hour
30-minute car ride
17.28 Nasu Shiobara - 18.44 Tokyo
Not so bad, really. I noticed that I would get back to Tokyo in time for dinner so I dropped SM a line via facebook to see if she if she was free.
Here are a few highlights from the 5-day trip that involved 16 hours on planes, 9 hours on trains and 2 hours in automobiles:
1. Chubby Hubby & his S's mac-n-cheese made with Bhutanese Gruyere & Emmanthal cheeses (OK, the cheeses aren't exactly Bhutanese, but they were made by a Swiss cheesemaker living in Bhutan). They had just gotten back from 10 days in Bhutan the day before and had tried to manage my expectations by telling me it would be a very "simple" dinner. But I always believe that it's in the simple dishes that true talent reveals itself. And their mac-n-cheese certainly did not disappoint! Nor did their expertly-roasted, super-succulent castrated chickens.
2. Losing myself in Joshua Yang's continuous line drawings and paintings, which have a meditative quality about them while being a meditation on time and memory. A selection of his works will be on exhibit at Marina Mandarin Hotel in Singapore (Level 5) from 11 December 2007 to 31 January 2008.
3. Going for a spontaneous, but oh-so-therapeutic, hair wash at local institution Salon 916 (916 East Coast Road) with A&D. Not for the faint of heart!
4. Shopping for Christmas goodies at Jones the Grocer. Cafe service was appallingly non-existent though; JL never got his cheese platter!
5. Admiring the gorgeous setting of Asaba's Noh stage while sipping a soothing bowl of green tea.
6. Witnessing a queue form outside Krispy Kreme at 6:15am, when the store doesn't actually open until 7am!
posted by 10000miles at 11:02
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