November | 2011 | On Chocolate Hill

It’s 3:40am and I’ve just finished the book. It’s a bit unnerving to find 6 book leaves at the back of the book, totally blank; 12 pages of nothingness after having had read that last part of Never Let Me Go that was so profound you’d find yourself reeling in your emotions. It must be a printing mistake, those additional 12 blank pages, but it suited the book just fine. It’s like you need those blank pages to write your thoughts and emotions on.

There’s a big disparity on how I treated this book from the first to the last page. At the start, I find myself getting bored and it was all I can do to will myself to go on reading; oftentimes telling myself that this book hasn’t received all those acclaim for no reason. And I’m glad I persevered. By the time I got to the middle of the book, it was so hard to put the book down in that I find myself trying to squeeze in a few more lines from the book within the last minute during lunch breaks.

One thing I’m thankful I didn’t do before reading this book: to read any synopsis/reviews that may allude to what the story is all about and who Kathy really is. Just go and read it and be surprised and be taken. And be haunted. And be brokenhearted.

I love it when Hubs plans our trips. There’s always that “surprise me” aspect and that I can always be confident while following his lead that we’d be going to an interesting place.

Heard about Enoshima quite a lot but in my four years stay in Japan before, I haven’t really gotten around to going here. Glad it was so; glad to have hubs leading the way.

There are at least three different train routes that can take you to Enoshima but hubs opted we take the monorail to go to the place. With a surprise, I realised this is my first time to take the monorail. I didn’t like it much. Don’t like the idea of a big train being suspended in air like that. True it is much the same as cable cars and cable cars are even suspended waaaaay higher than monorails. But even so, I still find monorails scary especially when we had to make a turn and the train had to tilt at some angle!

Our destination is the last station on the line.

Enoshima is an island and you’d have to cross a bridge to get to the island. This point marks the start of the bridge walk.

The most popular delicacy in the area is the shirasu しらす which looks quite a lot like the fish we always fry with eggs back in Philippines. This shirasu is just so cute! Albeit they might look like worms at some point hehe.

Different variations of shirasu dishes in the restaurants lined both on your left and right.

But eating them raw is pretty interesting.

They tasted so fresh and tastes very good with shōyu (soy sauce).

The other treat that’s distinctly Enoshima is the beer. Quite pricey than normal though, at least more pricey by 200yen.

The walk around the island is more or less uphill.

You’d see a lot of these in Japanese shrines and temples. Wooden slates for couples to write their wishes on.

Relaxing view. Sun seems to promise us a beautiful sunset.

Yachts moored in the distance, and some out at sea, with people enjoying a day of fishing.

Some were content to fish on the island’s rocky boundaries though.

Beautiful,don’t you think?

Had a late lunch at 2pm hence we pretty much had this traditional restaurant to ourselves.

Of course we opted to take the traditional table. Perfect chance to stretch.

Hubs’ boiled shirasu meal.

Of course we had to enjoy Enoshima beer.

Loved this Enoshima cider as well.

Drinks aren’t usually sold in glass bottles in Japan so I guess drinking it from a bottle is part of the novelty. And well, drinks are more delicious when taken from a bottle. Drinking coke from an 8-ounce bottle is much more delicious than drinking from can, right?

We chose to go to the cave first.

Noctiluca used to abound in the area and leave these shining pebbles around.

Loved the local people’s idea of giving us candles to light our way inside the cave.

As is expected, the Japanese are really amazing when it comes to safety.

They have a number of sacred statues inside the cave. One of them is that of Mi-Zo the Snake who likes to curl around in a……..very unusual way.

Hope you didn’t get to read this just before having a meal. 😀 Mi-zo’s eyes look so real though!

The cave also featured the love story of the area’s folk tale.

The statue of the infamous dragon.

This is the dragon’s temple. There were ladies praying every now and then. I wonder if they were praying for a one true love, just as I’ve prayed for it back then. 😀

Didn’t have the courage to take a photo of the inside. Even then, and even when I’m a Christian, the place felt so solemn.

Enoshima also have a Lover’s Hill and true enough, EVERYONE who went there were couples. There was also a place for couple locks just as how it was in the Seoul Tower and in Praha near the Lennon Wall.

The green phone booth-like corner visible in the background houses the Bell of the Dragon’s Love. Wasn’t able to take a picture of it as there were a lot of couples milling about who I figure might want to have some privacy. We did clang the bell though. Giggles.

Cats in Japan are sooo fat and Enoshima practical abounds with fat cats lying about.

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a dragonfly up close!

And as I say, this is more of a food trip. ~sheepish grin~

Grilled shellfish and scallops.

Soft ice cream with different flavors.

More grilled food options!

Churros!!! This was particularly fun for me as I had a chat with the lady selling these, in Japanese! She told me she has been to Cebu and what a beautiful place it was.

As if all the eating wasn’t enough, we also bought dried products. The preserved squid that Hubs bought was just sooo good I’d gladly go back to Enoshima again and again even just to buy that squid. Too bad we weren’t able to take a photo of it.

Capping the day off, the sun was true to his promise. It was indeed a beautiful sunset.