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My birthday is coming up towards the end of this month, and my companion has decided to take me on a road trip down to Southern California (Los Angeles to be exact). We are going to drive my new station wagon (which I found out is also categorized as a “shooting-brake station wagon” in car/auto language) down to Los Angeles for an extended 3-day weekend & just relax. I’ve got my fingers crossed hoping that the weather will be warm enough for a no-sweater-necessary weekend getaway.
Ok, so from where we live (near San Francisco), Los Angeles doesn’t seem like such an exotic or very exciting place to “get away”, but it’s a place very familiar to us that we want to explore more of. Plus, it’s the most affordable option, since April seems to be one of the most expensive months out of the year to travel, & we just want to go there dang-nab-it. Oh yeah… Also, my husband wanted to do something special for my birthday while saving some money by driving instead of flying, since we’re traveling overseas at the end of the year…again. Yes, we’re going to Asia again. Our friends are getting married in Taiwan, so we will be there for 1 week. Then, we planned a 10-day layover in Japan to lower the cost of the plane tickets. (It was less expensive for us to book a flight with a layover rather than fly direct.)
I chose to head to Los Angeles for my birthday & try the local food scene over there. I live near San Francisco & practically go there every weekend, so I’ve pretty much plunged right into the whole foodie culture/movement. I’m not quite at the organic-everything, gluten-free, açai, kale veggie, foodie level… BUT… I have sort-of gotten into the whole locally-sourced, small-batch, seasonal ingredients menu, phase. I thought it would be cool to try out some local (& possibly hip, but not hipster) places to eat. I’m also on a quest to find some tasty pastries & non-Starbucks coffee while we’re there. For my birthday, my companion & I made reservations at a semi-swanky restaurant close to the hotel. (I’m staying at The Standard hotel in Downtown LA by the way.)
It’s only a 3-day trip, but I’m very much looking forward to it. I’ve decided to treat myself to a special manicure with nail art at my favorite Japanese nail salon (Marie Nails), & my companion is going to get his hair cut at a traditional-style old school barber shop (Baxter Finley Barber & Shop) which he read also serves whiskey & other alcoholic beverages to its customers. The birthday getaway trip is only a few short weeks away, but I’m already anticipating it with a child-like excitement. Cheers!
My New Year’s resolution? Well it’s quite simple, you see. It involves a bit of traveling. Well, that’s my personal resolution for 2013. I am hoping to do a little more traveling before really settling down. This year, I am trying to plan at least one big trip (a final hurrah, if you will), possibly to one of these places:
1. LONDON! Yes, yes. I would indeed love to visit this rich city, one which I have never visited before. I have very much professed my longing desire to visit this city to my husband, but he has always been hesitant to travel to London. Instead, he prefers to travel to Asia (i.e. China &/or Japan) mostly to visit close friends & relatives. I think this year may be the right time for us…
2. RIO DE JANEIRO… For a number of years, I have been contemplating the idea of visiting this bright city, the foundation of my passion for Bossa Nova music. What solidified my lust to travel to Rio? Why, the animated movie RIO of course! That movie really painted an irresistible panoramic view of the city I long to visit someday… Maybe I could lay on the beach & pretend that I am that girl from Ipanema.
3. My husband & I have been toying with the possibility of traveling back to Japan again. However, this time, we would like to visit other cities besides Tokyo. I’ve visited Kyoto once before & would love to visit there again with my husband. Oh the possibilities! 2013, we’ll just have to wait & see.
4. Insert obligatory Breakfast at Tiffany’s photo here. Yep. It’s New York City. My husband’s best friend, Peter, shares a birthday with me. (His birthday is the day before mine.) We had some grand scheme to go to New York for our birthday(s) this year as a group until Peter & his newly wedded bride recently bought their first home & won’t be able to go. But…the show must go on, & I am currently trying to convince my husband to take me back to his old neighborhood in Manhattan. (I felt so cheated when I got severely ill on my first trip to NYC & was holed up in the hotel room for 3 days straight.)
2013 is a new year…a time to start fresh. Unfortunately, things have already gotten off to a rocky start. We will be moving out of our apartment at the end of this month (due to an insane rent hike & some specific family matters), & we will be moving into my parents’ house. We are not looking at this as a setback, but more like a step forward. Think positively. I guess you can say that’s one New Year’s resolution/goal that’s already been met. Cheers!
(All photos courtesy of: Wallbase.cc)
Well everyone, our short trip to Tokyo has come to an end. We are now in Guangzhou, China visiting my companion’s relatives. Since pretty much everything Internet-related is banned here in China (even Word Press), I’m not sure I’ll have much opportunities to post regular entries. So, I’ve decided to just wrap up my series of Tokyo travel entries with a photo highlight reel of our last days in the land of the rising sun.
We got to experience a lot of different architecture, like this Hotel Gracer with it’s amazing striped façade.
Stopped by the Nissan showroom in Ginza & got to see this custom-made GTR designed specially for Olympic Track & Field gold medalist Usain Bolt.
I made a trip to my favorite clothing brand’s flagship store in Ginza. 12 floors of shopping heaven! For me, it’s UNIQLO all the way…
A common ritual whenever I visit Tokyo is to have an afternoon cake set. In this picture, I had a tiramisu cake with a drip coffee.
My must-have food while in Tokyo is the famous Mille Crêpe cake. I can never get enough of this cake, & I never miss an opportunity to have a slice (or two, or three).
Speaking of cake, I finally got to try the very famous HARBS cafe. What a delight!! This picture was taken at the Lumine 2 shopping mall in Ginza.
I tried their Crêpe a La Carte cake with layers of chocolate, custard & whipped cream filling. The slices were huge…just the way I like it.
My companion ate the Mille Crêpe cake, with banana, cantaloupe, kiwi & apple fruit filling. This was an interesting mix of fruits & custard.
Oh & speaking of cafes, we stopped by Akiba on our last full day in Tokyo & just happened to pass by the official AKB48 cafe. For those of you who don’t know, AKB48 is an extremely popular female singing group from Japan who sing mostly anime-genre songs. They are considered an idol group, as each band member is a pop idol among all of their super fans.
We also stopped by the Gundam cafe, which was right next door to the AKB48 cafe. In case you don’t know this one either, Gundam is a very popular, very legendary, very long-running robot anime series. (This is like the equivalent to Robotech.) Not only are the various anime cartoons/movies popular, but the DIY plastic model hobby kits are also extremely popular all around the world. I have also made a plastic Gundam model kit myself.
Also got to experience some extravagant architecture all around Tokyo. Here is the Bvlgari (Bulgari) store in Ginza. It has a diamond-like snake wrapping around the storefront like a diamond necklace. The snake is one of the animal symbols of the Eastern zodiac. In the Asian community, 2013 will mark the Year of the Snake.
We also got to experience a lot of Christmas decorations being displayed all around town, like at this Cartier shop (also in Ginza), which looks like a wrapped gift. It seemed a bit odd to us Americanized folks to see Christmas decorations so early on, but I guess since the locals in Japan don’t celebrate a Thanksgiving type holiday, right after the Halloween decorations are being put away, the Christmas stuff goes up immediately.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll try to post some pictures of my stay here in China. So far, there hasn’t been much things of interest to see…unless you like pictures of mega shopping malls & high-rise apartments that look like they came from a cheesy 1990s movie set. Otherwise, cheers!
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