We were hoping to have gotten a little bit more sleep on the plane, because we now had a whole day we had to get through, without sleeping, so as not to muck up our body clocks!
We managed to find our way out of the train station and to our hotel with a surprisingly minimum of fuss. The weather here in Asakusa, Japan is deliciously warm at the moment; 30 degrees and fairly high humidity. Such a welcome change from frigid Hobart! By the time we got to the hotel with our two backpacks on our backs, and smaller day packs on our fronts, we were fairly dripping with sweat! Absolutely loving it though!
Check in was at 3:00, so we had sometime to kill. It was a great afternoon and evening in the end. Our hotel is located right next to the Sensoji Buddhist temple, which itself is located at the end of a long thoroughfare (Nakamise Street) that is lined with dozens of stalls selling everything from yakitori to yukata! Such a great buzz walking amongst the locals and, despite the afternoon thunder storm, getting stuck into some amazing street food.
Here’s the street:
And here’s some of the many delectable morsels that we stuffed our faces with:
Dango (i think?) – rice dumpling dusted with a sweet powder
Senbei – rice cracker on steroids, dipped in a soy sauce
??? – Rice dumpling outer, filled with a sweet bean paste. I had cherry, Karen had red bean.
Taiyaki – waffle mixture filled with red bean paste
Cooking the Taiyaki
Takoyaki – Octopus balls, battered and fried and covered with takayaki sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes. This one came served on top of a cup of green tea with a straw stuck in the side (the T-rex claw was complimentary)!
There’s more to come, so stay tuned!!