TOKYO&Odaiba= tired

We were invited to attend someone's 二次会　afterparty (after the wedding) held this Saturday near Tokyo Station. So we decided to make a day trip out of it...first heading to Akihabara to check out some Nintendo DS Lite software...then stuffing ourselves at a really upscale Thai restaurant, Mango Tree located on the 35th floor of MaruBiru building smack dab Tokyo central. Too bad it was rainy, otherwise the view would have been splendorific!

We went there due to fantastic reviews and appeal of an authentic all-you-can-eat Thai lunch. (there are no good Thai restaurants where we live, in Tsukuba) Our review of Mango Tree? Not bad at all - we were impressed by the quality considering it is a buffet style place...heck, they even used vanilla beans in the cream custard...that bit really won us over, considering how pricey the beans are!

Interestingly enough, the customers were predominantly female, more evidence that Japanese men remain on the conservative side when it comes to food. The decor was really elegant, done up in a very tasteful way - I especially liked the corridor entrance (see this entry's pic). It was for the most part Thai food tweaked to suit Japanese customers but a few standout 'authentic' dishes stood out as strikingly Thai: the rice noodle soup station, tom yum kun soup, lemongrass rice porridge soup, spicy&tangy salad, delish curry with Thai rice, coconut tapioca dessert, and rich mango smoothie.

Then we went to a cool exhibit in Odaiba at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, the place where one of my former students now works! It was kind of food for thought - how much longer can people continue to live on planet Earth if they don't consider the serious ecological repercussions. Some exhibits featured things like sustainable building, soil-less based agricultural industry, eco-electric cars, and so on. Hmm.

Finally we topped off the day at the wedding afterparty. Much to everyone's disappointment, the bride could not make the party because she was getting worse by the moment. I mean to say, she had a cold from the get go and it got progressively worse throughout the day. What a pity, considering a wedding and afterparty are kind of meant for the woman...so they all say, but I think men secretly enjoy all the attention in the limelight. Though the Japanese custom of having a couple go to the wedding hall at noon...end the wedding reception at 6pm and then have an afterparty until 9pm...is nuts! If you were not already sick before the wedding due to stress and prep, you might very well be after the whole shindig is over、eh?