Japan

Medals, prizes and a PB: Iwai Aquathlon

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Summer is here! And you know what that means — the open water swimming season is open.

First race for the year was a sprint aquathlon – the Minami Boso Iwai beach aquathlon. I participated in this race last year and was back again this year.

I left home with a towel and goggles, and came back wit medals, prizes and a PB.

Getting up early on a Sunday morning is no fun. It was a 2.5 hour journey but at least I got to enjoy the scenery.

Crossing the Sumida River, with the Sky Tree in the background:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Crossing the Edogawa river:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Chiba countryside:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Finally, the coastline in view:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

The beach was deserted apart from us swimmers.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Race course is set-up; yeah, this is not what I call a surf beach.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Water temp was a fresh 20 degrees. Swam without a wetsuit as per usual. But I did wear my tri-suit. The locals like to wear wetsuits though. Granted, I probably have more natural insulation than most people!

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

The cloudy morning gave way to a nice sunny day complete with blue skies:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Where’s David Hasselhoff when you need him?

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Warming up:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

So first up, I did the sprint aquathlon. A 500m swim followed by a 5km run.
I am quite proud of myself. I came second out of all the females! I was actually leading the WHOLE race (out of the females), and was pipped at the post in the last 30 seconds. My swim gave me a really good lead in the run leg. Damn my shoddy running. I was so far ahead of all the other ladies. Got out of the water quickly and had a super fast transition. Whilst EVERYONE was struggling to get wetsuits off, I just took off on the run.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

I held the lead in the run, and was overtaken right near the end.
Don’t have the swim and run splits yet, but my overall time earnt me second place female, and also second place in my age group. (Will update split times later when they become available).
My time was also a PB for the run which I did in about sub-30 which although is not fast by any standard, was good for me.
Total race time was: 40min, 41 seconds.
My time for the same race last year was: 47min, 45 seconds. I definitely was a lot faster and stronger in the run this time around.

2nd overall female:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

In addition to the aquathlon, I also decided to sign up on the day for the 1.5km open water swim as well. I needed the practice, because I’ve got 2 more 3km swims this month. My need to go fast in the run was partly motivated by the fact that I had signed up for the additional swim. The aquathlon started at 12:00pm and the swim started at 1pm. The faster I ran, the more break time I would have between the next race starting. I would only have about 15 minutes to spare.

After guzzling as much water as I could after the first race, I then braced for myself for a 1.5km swim. Man, I was so hot and thirsty.

The moved the buoys out further for the 1.5km swim and we had to do two laps of the course. Was definitely a lot slower on this swim having gone all out on the aquathlon.

I got second place female for the 1.5km swim.

Come the award ceremony, I got 2 medals and 2 prizes.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

I still haven’t actually opened up my prize bag yet. I think it’s something like a year’s supply of acai power drink. Seriously, lots of acai products. They were the sponsor.

I am a STARfish:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Also took home a ridiculously bright orange race shirt (included in entry fee):

From Iwai aquathlon 2013

All paths lead to water:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Iwai beach is a really nice beach…probably one of my favourites. I love swimming out there. I’ve done about three races there now.

The day turned out to be really warm, I even spent the day there chilling out and went for another dip in the water. Practically had the place to myself.

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

I need to explore more of the Minami Boso region – they’ve got the ocean to the right, and the mountains to the left:

From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013
From Iwai aquathlon 2013

Stay tuned for more swimming reports this summer. Although don’t expect any more medals or prizes. That’ll be the last placing this season me thinks.

Mount Hachijo-Fuji Hike

memoirsofaleisha1 Comment

Whilst on Hachijojima, I managed to hike both the island’s mountains. The mountain that dominates the island is known as Hachijo-Fuji: the Mount Fuji of Hachijojima. You’ll need a vehicle to get to the starting trail point.

We had hired a car, and we missed the start point of the trail and ended up driving around the whole circumference of the mountain and got a 360 degree view of the island.

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

The island’s airport landing strip:

From Hachijo Fuji hike

Managed to drive back to the start point where I embarked on a short solo hike to the summit. It’s not so much a hike, as a giant stairmaster.

Destination: Mount Hachijo-Fuji summit:

From Hachijo Fuji hike

The actual trail starts quite high up the mountain and is a series of steps – all 1,280 of them!

From Hachijo Fuji hike

640 steps at the halfway point!

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

Step 1,100:

From Hachijo Fuji hike

Getting closer, step 1,200:

From Hachijo Fuji hike

All 1,280 steps done!

Here is some of the scenery I enjoyed on the way up:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

And more steps:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

The island coastline:

From Hachijo Fuji hike

Once you climbed up all 1,280 steps (which I did in about 35minutes), you can then walk around the whole mountain crater. It was once a volcano.
You’ll need to wade through bush and scrubs to walk around the whole crater. It was a pretty awesome hike. Definitely one of the better mountains I’ve hiked…although it’s not really long enough to call it a hike.

It was so green, lush and overgrown with trees for what was once a volcano. In the centre, there was also a small pond/lake.

The views were pretty splendid!

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

The tiny lake in the middle of the crater:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

Follow the trail:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

Reached the highest point:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

View of baby Hachijojima:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

Steep cliff edges:

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

The walk around the entire took me 90 minutes (and that was stopping for a lot of photo taking as well).
Then had to climb back down all 1,280 stairs (somewhat faster than going up them!)

From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike
From Hachijo Fuji hike

Definitely one of the highlights of Hachijojima island. (A pleasant 2.5 hour hike up around Mount Hachijo-Fuji).
Hiking is definitely one of life’s free pleasures.

From Hachijo Fuji hike

Hachijojima: Miharayama waterfalls

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Hachijojima island has two mountains. The smaller one has some waterfalls.
Managed to hire a car and drive out to Miharayama and do a nice waterfall hike.
It was quite the leisurely hike. About 45min or so. Would recommend wearing appropriate footwear. Sandals aka Crocs didn’t quite cut it. Anyway, hiked we did in sandals. Was a gorgeous sunny day. Not the most scenic hike, but pleasant enough.

Am loving that it is spring, and summer on the way. I plan on doing more hikes this year. Have no major overseas trips planned this year (unlike last year’s Trans-Siberian month-long holiday), so plan on doing more active, nature stuff and exploring more of Japan.

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

Mount Mihara:

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

We crossed rocks, rivers and walls… in search of this elusive waterfall.

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

And then finally through the clearing, amidst the trees, we could see the waterfall.

From Miharayama waterfall

Ok, so not quite the majestic waterfall I was imagining. More like a refreshing mist of water. Niagara Falls this ain’t.

From Miharayama waterfall

If you got closer to the rock wall, you could stand right under the waterfall:

From Miharayama waterfall

The rockpool it opened into was lovely though. It made for a nice refreshing stop after our little hike. In summer, this place would make a great little secluded watering hole. The water was numbingly cold. I dunked my feet in and waded across to the waterfall, and my feet were numb. Not quite yet warm enough for a proper swim. The rocks were also really slippery.

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

I managed to get right by the waterfall and did a mini photo shoot. It’s not often you get a whole waterfall to yourself.
Here are lots of pics of me (you were warned!)

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

Catching water:

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

BEWARE: Crocs in the water. And by Crocs, I mean footwear!

From Miharayama waterfall

Clear, cold water:

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

On the hike back down, we stopped by the swamp pond.

From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall
From Miharayama waterfall

Hachijojima

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Eeek. It’s May already.
This year, I’ve definitely had way less time to blog.
May means Golden Week – public holidays and long weekends galore.
This year, I went camping on Hachijojima Island – one of the Tokyo seven Izu islands.
Having already visited Shikinejima, Niijima and Kouzushima, I racked up another island – Hachijojima – the furthest of the seven islands (an 11-hour boat ride). Hopefully will get around to visiting all 7 islands at some point.
Spent 3 nights there on the island sleeping in a tent in a nice little camping spot, along with another hundred or so people. It was Golden Week after all.

Here are some initial pics of the Sokodo beach area. Note the absence of white sandy beaches. Hachijojima is a rocky volcanic island with black sand and a helluva lot of concrete and rocks (solidified volcanic lava)

From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima

Mount Hachijo-Fuji in the background:

From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima
From Hachijojima

Shiga Kogen: Snow and Beer

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So it’s been a while since my last post here.
I’ve been busy and sick. When I haven’t been busy, I’ve been sick. One of the things I hate about living in Tokyo is hayfever. The pollen levels in this city is ridiculous. Never got hayfever ever, until I started living in Tokyo. It totally whips my arse. I started some different hayfever medication which my body didn’t like and ended up with diarrhea and just general not feeling well, on top of the itchy eyes, sneezing, running nose etc, and feeling so damn tired.

I recovered in about week, which was perfect timing because I had snowboarding plans. Spent the weekend at Shiga Kogen. Unfortunately, the snow conditions weren’t so great, especially being so late in the season. I’m such a powder snob! I’ve been spoilt by living in Niseko.

There wasn’t a lot of snow, and what there was, was icy and hard. We did find some patches of slushier artificial snow though. I only did a half day of snowboarding. Still had hayfever in the snow!

Shiga Kogen is a massive ski resort made up of a few mountains that are spread apart. You need to take the free shuttle to get around.

A bus full of snowboarders:

From Shiga Kogen

Shiga Kogen is up high. You’re at quite an elevation. Scenic views too.

From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen

Where’s all the snow?

From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen

I like this photo I took of the chairlift silhouette:

From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen
From Shiga Kogen

Lake:

From Shiga Kogen

And the day was topped off by a craft beer fest.
Here’s the local drop:

From Shiga Kogen

Got another snowboarding weekend planned for this weekend too. Although I dubious about the snow. Off to Nozawa Onsen, so at least the onsens will be enjoyable.

Bloomin’ Tulips

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Move over cherryblossoms, bring on the tulips.
I think tulips would have to be my favourite flowers. Yep, way better than roses any day.

Went for a gourmet spring picnic with some friends over the weekend, back to Showa Kinen Park for the tulip festival. It’s such a great park. You might recall I went there last autumn to see the autumn gingko leaves. Was nice to go this time around in the spring. It’s supposed to really nice when all the cherryblossoms are in full bloom too, but this year the cherryblossom season happened really early and they were all over by the end of March. Instead, all the tulips were out. So colourful, so pretty, so many people. That’s Japan for you.

Gave the old camera a bit of a workout.

This is how your picnic, gourmet-style:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Ahh, spring love:

From Showa Kinen picnic

Oh, this park bench must be mine:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

A spectacular tulip garden spread:

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Don’t you just want to bury yourself in a bed of tulips.

From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic
From Showa Kinen picnic

Aah so many tulips.

February Long Weekend: Yugawara Onsen

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Every weekend should be a long weekend. Makes the working week so much more bearable.
Last weekend was one such long weekend and a friend’s birthday so it was a perfect excuse for an onsen weekend with friends at Yugawara onsen (only 1.5 hours away from Tokyo).

This is how you ride the train in style – with champagne in hand:

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

We stayed at a really nice ryokan. I thought these silhouettes were cool.

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

Some gourmet food:

Sashimi and edible flowers:

From Yugawara onsen

Appetisers – had romanesca for the first time. Romanesca is basically the lovechild of broccoli and cauliflower.

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

Yugawara onsen:

From Yugawara onsen

It was a leisurely weekend of food, champagne and onsens. And we spent two nights there, which was rather indulgent of us. I have to make the most of long weekends this year (have very little annual leave up my sleeve).

Giant amao strawberries:

From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen
From Yugawara onsen

Taxirobics

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Move over Zumba, Taxirobics is in. I was walking around the streets of Ginza yesterday armed with my camera (as I was on my way to an afternoon tea), and lo and behold, I saw a taxi driver who was obviously taking a break and thought he’d get in a bit of aerobics. He was doing a variety of aerobics moves – side kicks, jogging on the spot etc. He was pretty intense about it. Totally oblivious to everything around him, I managed to capture a few discreet shots. I would have loved to have watched him for longer and taken more photos, but instead of him being the weird one, I started looking like the crazy person taking photos of him! I love that he’s wearing his taxi driver uniform complete with vest and everything. Although, I see he did take off his white driving gloves.

From Taxirobics
From Taxirobics
From Taxirobics
From Taxirobics
From Taxirobics

He’s in pretty good shape, so it’s definitely working for him. Taxirobics – the next big thing. You heard it here first!

Rikugien Light-up

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On Saturday night, I went to Rikugien (Rikugi Japanese garden). For a limited time, the garden is open at night time where they light up the garden and you can view the autumn colours. Although, I gotta say it’s pretty much winter now. It was about 5 degrees out! Brrr cold. The garden is pretty big and there were heaps of people there all with their cameras and tripods. Cold and crowded. And dark too. A good chance to practise some night photography. I took a lot of bad photos. Haven’t quite got the hang of low-lighting/night photography yet. A lot of slightly blurry photos. Also my hands were too cold to really care to fiddle with the settings too much. My hands were practically frozen. It would actually be quite nice to go back there during the daylight. I think the garden would be quite beautiful where you can properly see the autumn colours. Here are some of my photos of the garden illumination.

From Rikugien

Bamboo trees:

From Rikugien
From Rikugien

Leaves on the ground:

From Rikugien
From Rikugien

Shadows on the wall:

From Rikugien
From Rikugien

I like the lighting in this next shot:

From Rikugien
From Rikugien

The garden island in the middle of the pond is the piece de resistance of Rikugien.

From Rikugien
From Rikugien

Still water reflection:

From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien

Interesting branches:

From Rikugien

Figures in the dark:

From Rikugien

Light and mist:

From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien
From Rikugien

Entry into Rikugien is 300yen. The night entry light-up is on until December 9. Closest station: Komagome station (3min walk from JR South exit).

Hotel Tokyo Palace Afternoon Tea

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The Palace Hotel Tokyo right near the Imperial Palace garden precinct and Tokyo Station district opened earlier this year in May. It’s also really close to my office building. I’ve been able to see the hotel being constructed over the last year or so. Since the hotel opened in May, I’ve been meaning to go and check its afternoon tea. Finally got around to getting there last Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny, warm autumn day. Such a shame I had a bit of a hangover. It was a rather subdued afternoon tea as we’d all been out the night before celebrating a friend’s birthday. I took a stroll through part of the Imperial Palace area. Lots of people out and about enjoying the sunshine. (All photos taken on iPhone and not my SLR this time).

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Marunouchi CBD in the background.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The Palace Hotel:

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

They don’t take reservations on weekends for afternoon tea. Most unfortunate. They only take reservations on weekdays. We arrived at 2pm, and had to wait about 30minutes for a table. The Lounge was quite busy, and weddings were also going on in the hotel. We waited in the hotel lobby until a table was available. We finally got a table for our party of six. Afternoon tea is served in the Palace Lounge (lobby lounge).

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The hotel is very new and the interior is nice with lots of natural light. The new polished floors were a little slippery! Wasn’t a huge fan of the ergonomics of the decor. It’s one of those lounges with comfy soft chairs, but with coffee tables built way too low. The Afternoon tea set here is pretty good. It gets bonus points for creativity and it’s serving ware. I kind of like it when places don’t serve afternoon tea on 3-tier platters. This place serves its afternoon tea in a really cool way. Autumn place setting:

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The tea set includes unlimited tea of any variety. Yay. I think I tried four different kinds of tea!

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Loved the teaware!

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The tea selection is very decent. I was suitably impressed. My favourite of the day was a black tea blend called Trois Freres. A good strong tea best served with milk. The genmaicha was a nice tea to end with. Also had the English breakfast (not that good) and the light Ceylon tea which was too light. The way the afternoon tea is served here is really cool. No tiered platters…instead you get a lacquered wooden box! It kind of looks like a jewelery box with little drawers.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Pretty neat, ay.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Each drawer pulls out as an individual box of food, kind of like a bento. One of the slim drawers then serves as a plate.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The top drawer contained the scone.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

The scone was pretty awesome. Definitely one of (possibly if not the best) scone I’ve had in Japan. It was definitely less ‘biscuity’ and more softer/fluffier on the inside. It was also square-shaped. I wish there had been two scones to a serve though. Scones should not however be served with honey and apricot jam. Where’s the regular strawberry jam?! And honey has no place on scones. Crumpets however are totally deserving of honey. Oh well. The savoury “drawer” was my favourite.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Two portions each of sandwiches, quiche, pork rillette on baguette, and even inari sushi! The quiche was pretty divine. I thought the raisins and dried apricot was a nice touch. The dessert drawer was ok – an assortment of cakes and berries.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea
From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

And I always save the scone for last. Sadly, sans jam.

From Palace Hotel afternoon tea

Afternoon tea here is standard fare. Not the best and not the worst in Tokyo. Location is convenient though and the food is decent, as is the tea selection. The service however was ridiculously slow! Be prepared to wait 30minutes for each pot of tea. I am not exaggerating. Doesn’t help when the wait staff are shuffling about in kimonos – makes it awkward to carry trays and serve food etc. It is all very pretty though. Afternoon tea (includes unlimited tea) is 3800yen plus tax (about 4100yen). Menu can be viewed on their website.