A Fine Weekend

Well since I'd been to Tokyo on Friday, this weekend is basically pretty much limited around my place in Kawagoe, Saitama.

Saturday

The weather was great! It's a waste if I didn't go out to explore the place!


The destination is the Shingashi river (新河岸川) which is the local river that will eventually flows into Arakawa river (荒川), coincidentally is near where I stayed in Tokyo last year.


The glorious weather was infectious, and it "infected" me and raised the mood up for the day!


Having said that, for the past few weeks my mood had been shooting up and down.


But thankfully the shallow mood wouldn't last long. I'm glad that now things are started to be in order, and I'm back on track!


Nice garden with a mini golf-course!


Having living in Japan for a year, I would say that Spring is my favourite season of all.


Spring marks the beginning of a new cycle after the cooling winter. It's the time when things are getting warmer and livelier again, especially the floras and faunas.


Spring also marks the start of the new season in Japan, especially for students and fresh graduates entering new semester or new company.


It's great that the season of flower blooms coincides with the season for the people to start things off refreshed and continue work hard to achieve goals and achievements.


My bicycle. Love the blue skies and green grasses.


Stopping by at the Asahi Bridge (旭橋).


Recharge some fluids at vending machine. This pineapple cider cost 100 yen, tasted quite nice.


Ultraman and Kamen Rider-themed can drinks.


These old folks are actually playing a sports like golf, except it doesn't involve a full 18-holes course. They mostly play near temple or shrine compounds.


Blue-green-blue layer.


A great spot for fishing.


It's just great.... scenic weather and nice view. It's one of my favourite ways to spend the weekend. :)


Unmanned fishing rod.


The yellow flowers along the riverbank.


Over here in Saitama it's still possible to see well-maintained traditional structures meant for residence like this one, as it escaped from the bombing during the World War II which destroyed large parts of Tokyo.


A landmark telling me where am I as I only rely on my compass lol.


Cold tsukemen for late lunch. One of the better ones I've tried but the location is a little too far away for frequent visits.


Did I mention that some housings especially in Saitama looks like those back in Malaysia, so sometimes riding in the residential areas reminded me of KL hah.


In Malaysia, it's common to see arrangements like this in taman ("garden" in Malay language), and yes at some places in KL you still can plant your own greenies too.


Another specialty of Saitama is mixture of agriculture and modern lifestyles.


Watergate.


This bicycle trip will be one of those which I'll remember for a very long time.... everything seems to be perfectly pictured!




I headed into a Book Off shop which sells 2nd hand CDs and books. I'd spent some time inside there going through their racks and cabinets hunting for some surprise albums. I didn't went out empty-handed. The loots will be shown at the end of the post.

It's evening when I'm done with the loots. Looking at the west, I see this familiar "egg yolk".



OK here's the treasures I got.
English novels, which I need not to introduce except the one on the right, an English-translated Japanese novel. Each of these cost just 105 yen!!


What a rip off! 105 yen for Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring's soundtrack!

Sunday

There's this mini-welcoming party for us in the hostel today, introducing most of the newcomers who just got into the hostel like me since weeks ago.

Prizes for the bingo session, and these stuffs are kinda useful! Nothing seems to be bought from 100 yen shop lol.


The bento lunch, one of the better bento box I had so far.



While I got myself a wallet, the guy next to me got this wristwatch.


In the afternoon, headed to Kawagoe to find a book needed for university lesson.

There's this street not far from the train station, where many shops are concentrated over here. It's the local shotengai (商店街) called Crea Mall (クレアモール).


Few major brands, fashion boutique Uniqlo, bookshop Kinokuniya, electronic shop Sofmap and musical instruments chain Yamano.


Pre-ordered the books for me and the other 2 Malaysian friends, and got myself a new pair of jeans for 2000 yen at Uniqlo. Didn't take any pic of it though.

Tested the Starbucks' Italian roast coffee for free. Was too bitter to my liking.


Bump into another Book Off shop again today, and looted some stuffs too.
Highlight of the day is asked for the job in the shop and will be taking interview tomorrow.
Wish me luck this time.... as the previous sushi shop job didn't went well.


Visited Nakain (中院) again for it's post-sakura look. Now green dominates!



A hand-illustrated colour map of Kawagoe landmarks....


Followed by this explanation in English. This is one of the rare flawless English articles I've read in Japan so far and I'm impressed. Thanks to it I managed to learn a little about Kawagoe's past.


Looking at the Kawagoe train station while waiting at the train-crossing.


OK today's loots...

Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers soundtrack! Now I need the final "The Return of The King" to complete the collection!


The Very Best of Enya. Was surprised that this album, released last year was being sold. Was thinking to get it in later years but I was more than happy to grab it as I've been wanted this album for some time.


Well that's what I've been up to this weekend. I'd say it's one of the better ones I had so far, and hopefully I'll have more weekends such as this one. But if I do indeed got a job, weekend like this may be scarce and precious to be spent nicely.

Next week will be the Golden Week in Japan, so I'll have like a week's holiday. Still not sure bout any plans, but might be visiting Calvin at Chiba, and bring friends tour in Kawagoe.

'til then.... April's coming to the end pretty soon as well.... which means warmer weather ahead! Time to keep the winter jacket lol.