Do Re Mi

Here's my long awaited pictures from my family visit back to sunny HI~!  I had lots of fun on this trip and re-visited many places. Pretty red ginger that's forever growing near grandma's apartment. Bird of Paradise  Shirokiya is a really popular Japanese store in Ala Moana shopping mall.  It's been there since Ala Moana opened in 1959! I was surprised at how different Shirokiya was when I visited with grams and my auntie.  It's been maybe 5-8 years since I've been there.   It seems like they have less stuff like books and magazines and opted for having lots of food and beauty items instead. All the food is on the upper level.  It's set up quite similarly to Japan with various cubic-like spaces for each seller resulting in a sort of food maze.   You'll find bento's galore up here.   Lower level.  They set up a pretty seating area.  Downstairs you'll find a couple of bakeries and other various i...

Hello again! Apologies for not posting in so long.  Where have I been all this time? In Hawaii-!!!   More specifically, on the island of Oahu.  I decided to go back with dad to visit family and some friends.  Especially Grams.  I always feel sad when leaving her because she always says how she will miss us when we leave and that she misses us when we're not there.  It's heart wrenching. ( > ^ < )  We spent a lot of time together while we were still living on Oahu. It was a nice trip, besides the fact that I was sick with a cough on my way there.  Coughs really suck for me because they don't seem to want to go away.  Even when the congestion is gone, the stupid cough persists for weeks..  And get this, I actually got sick AGAIN when leaving.  It's like, I had my first cold while going there, then it may or may not have gone away, and then I catch another cold for my trip back home.  Thanks Hawaii! (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻ Now I...

Hello, hello!  So finally I'll be talking about my first EVER onsen experience! ♥ ♥ ♥ It's sort of sad in a way because I've visited Japan a few times before and not even once have I considered going to an onsen.  I suppose I must be more adventurous now. (　”＞　ｗ　＜”　）  The onsen I went to was Kurama Onsen （ 鞍馬温泉） . It's located north of Kyoto.  It's easy to get there as long as directions are written down.  I went with my mom and we took about three trains to get there from Kobe.   At the train station to get to Kurama. Kurama is famous for being one of the homes to the 'Tengu', a legendary mythical creature of Japanese folklore. Kurama was a very quaint little town; very pretty and natural located deep in the mountains.  Unfortunately we were short on time and couldn't walk through the town.  Instead we opted to take the complimentary shuttle bus to the onsen. My first time riding a vehicle in Japan... x...

While in Japan, I was regularly updating my phone blog so it's pretty accurate in the times we did everything.  I only noticed about a day into the trip that the time on my phone wasn't showing Japan time so I had to manually type it in. Anyway, this is just something I thought would be cool to post.  It shows all the events that happened on the trip in brief detail.  I still plan to write more in depth about the trip though!  This is just a brief and accurate overview of what we did. ;) The newest posts are at the top and the oldest are at the bottom.  To get to the start of our journey, simply read from the bottom.  Sorry for the inconvenience! ( > __ < )     - 2013/10/17 At home in bed.  Had to sweep my room and put all the stuff we brought back away. - 2013/10/17 Got on the plane and went back in time to the US.  I'm pretty tired and want to take a shower.... - 2013/10/17 15:43 Made it to our departure gate....