Izuuuuu…again!

15 Jul

My friends back home envy that I live in Japan and can travel to her multitude of culinary delights and quaint sights. Yup, I do know I’m lucky. While living in a teeming city like Tokyo is pretty cool most days, I also love taking off on a road trip to the boonies for a change of air. I’ve been to Izu twice (here and here) and there’s always something new to discover in this popular peninsular.

Here are my top 10 moments in West Izu…

#1 Umiiiii (the sea)

The blue blue sea was just therapy for the eyes. Japan’s coastal line is truly stunning…I took a lazy stroll along the beach with the kangaroo and it was lovely.

#2 Barbecuing by the beach

Although I didn’t eat any of the BBQ food that was cooked, I still enjoyed flipping skewers and chicken wings on the grill. I’m a weird veggie lover. I think it just reminds me of fun times. I actually liked hanging around the aromas but was strangely not tempted at all.

#3 Pretty sunsets

#4 Random Japanese-ness

#5 Faux sashimi

A friend organized the accommodation for the trip and arranged for a special vegan dinner for me while everyone had the standard kaiseki set. I’m not quite sure what the green slabs were made of but they were kind of like konnyaku (jelly made from sea vegetables). The ginger and wasabi in shoyu made it even more sashimi-like in flavour. Yum.

#6 Karaoke…twice

What can I say, my friends love to take on the mike and belt out their fave tunes. Even though we had a late night session on the first day, we were still up for more. The next day, the onsen that we went to had a free karaoke room so we sang for a couple of hours after soaking in hot spring baths.

#7 Fresh fruit

These are sisters of kumquats I believe and they are called lowquats. They may look like apricots on the outside but they are sweeter in taste and have three or four seeds inside them. And mango at Denny’s — uh huh…