The TOKYO TRILOGY (Episode III): INTO ANOTHER WORLD

This is at the Roppongi Hills, one of the best places I have ever been to. The art, the impeccable architecture, the air- there was just so much in it that transported me into a world so different from the one I knew.

Surely reaching these places weren’t written yet in my bucket list. Now I am here way before they were ever written. I am surprised why I was having a lot of deja vu that day - have I been here - even in my imagination? Whatever, my reality goes back to the smallness of my existence – I wouldn’t have dreamed of reaching such places when I was a kid running around with butterflies.

I look up and overhead I could only marvel at the whole place. Intimidating is not the term, beauty and perfection are.

Planning to run away with that bike... hmmm... :)

Picture myself :)

Perfect.


Starbucks, and a warm hardwood floor.

Mad Hatter's ecstasy.

Omg, is it fastforward to 2011 and I am in New York? Look, bagels!

But when in Japan, smile and give that peace sign.

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EPILOGUE

“The world is a book, and those who don’t travel read only a page.”
- St. Augustine

I had to leave on a very gray dawn to catch the morning flight going back to Manila at Narita Airport. During the bus ride, I was looking at my passport stamps and the few territories I crossed for the past years. It made me agree more fully now, as my boss had said on our first day, that you are never the same person when you come back after a trip.

There was also something about this trip that affected me to the core. During the four- hour flight back home, I started to have that flashback- those moments when the scenes of your travel flash before your eyes. The cold weather, the grey mornings, the train rides, your boss and his wife halving a piece of their cake for you to taste; the demeanor of the real zen- sei who taught you not only what you needed to know, but the virtue of respect and humility.

Thirty seven thousand miles above sea level, unexpectedly, my tears start to fall. Half- smiling and half- crying silently- for what reason – I don’t know. It just happened.

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Bogged down....

Would you believe, I was lying down on my bed at home when I took this photo. I haven’t unpacked my luggage, but I just had to check out on this matcha- azuki roulade if it was still ok. It survived the trip! Still very good, however, what used to be a perfect roll collapsed already. I also think I needed some rest.