Thursday morning, the RSGC entourage checked out of the Grand Pacific Hotel to return to Kuala Lumpur. Pakdokter checked out a little later and took the train to Shin Egota, where pakdokter's son's apartment is located. It is about 7 stations out of Shinjuku with good train connections to most parts of Tokyo.
Rastam, pakdokter's son, has also become a victim of the current economic meltdown, his employment contract being terminated as of early April. He has been going for job interviews with no success yet and is, at least for the next three months, able to collect unemployment benefits from the Japanese government! This benefit extends to gai-jin (expatriates) who are retrenched as well...
Friday turned out to be a gloomy and rainy day and the temperature was in the mid-teens. As Rastam had gone to his office for some 'project-based' work, pakdokter and partner decided that we pamper ourselves at the Onzen ( Japanese bath). So off we went back to Odaiba, where a recently opened Edo-Onzen is in operation. A better description about the Onzen can be read at pakdokter's partner's blog titled " On Baring It All..." at http://www.aginghippietales.blogspot.com/. And if you have a pet dog, you may also treat your pet for a spa-treatment....
the 'pet-spa' at the Onzen.... (top pictures...pakdokter and partner at the Edo-Onzen at Odaiba..)
On Saturday all three of us decided to take a trip out of Tokyo to Kamagoe, a little township where the Edo era streets have been preserved as it was till today. It was an almost 45 minutes train ride on the Express train passing through residentail suburbs of Tokyo.
the main street of Kamagoe...
a Japanese ricksha....
the old shops which are now mostly selling tourist items..
an Unagi restaurant (eel restaurant)....
a side street market....
Rastam in front of bars caramelised candy floss..
the town bell tower.....
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