Come Away with Me

Where fairy tales came to life

3 weeks ago Alvin visited Japan for a second time. And the most unbelievable thing happened soon after he touched down at Fukuoka airport: we won the grand prize at a local convenience store 15th anniversary lucky draw and got ourselves a pair of tickets for a 1-Day trip to the Netherlands! I am serious and i have pictures to prove it!




Amsterdam looks beautiful by day or by night doesn't it? Too bad we only had one short day before having to fly back to Japan.

Nah... for those who hasn't heard of Huis Ten Bosch in Japan, I was just pulling your leg (erm, that is for those who even bought my story in the first place! :P). Of course we didn't fly to Amsterdam overnight, we were just in Japan alright.

The morning he landed, we wasted no time and took the train to Sasebo, a city located in northern part of Nagasaki prefecture to meet the Hanasakis at Huis Ten Bosch. On hearing Alvin's second visit, they had generously offered to bring us to the Dutch-themed resort for an all expenses paid one night stay! Thanks to Teruko's brother who used to work on the project while the resort was being built, we could all get free one day admission and accomodation :)

In Dutch, Huis Ten Bosch means 'house in the woods.' It was born in 1992 as a replicate of a 17th-century Dutch town. Essentially, it's a theme park and residential-style resort with amusements, museums, shops, restaurants, hotels and more (think Disneyland but this place is more suited for adults).

As always, the Japanese managed to do what they do best i.e. imitating and coming out with an end product that is almost always better than the real thing. Whether it is technology or cuisine we are talking about, the Japanese have this historical knack of learning and borrowing from its source and perfecting it to another higher level. And Huis Ten Bosch is no exception for when we stepped into the spacious and lushly forested 150-ha site with 6 kilometeres of canals winding through it, we certainly felt as if we had stepped into another world. For a split second, I thought we were at the scene of a Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale and Alvin echoed my thoughts when he commented that he felt like eating one of those Hansel & Gretel lookalike houses and cottages!

There was the annual tulip festival going on and I've never seen so many different colors and varieties of fully bloomed tulips in my life. I'm sure Mommy would have been exhilarated at the sight of endless sea of flowers and a mental note was made to return to this place with her.


Flowers flowers everywhere!





It really looked as if we went to Holland doesn't it?


Taken at the garden of Palace Huis Ten BOsch, a faithful reproduction of the palace used by Queen Beatrice of Holland.

Because it was the second time Alvin were seeing the Hanasakis, there was not much need for getting used to. It was like a meeting between old friends and even though they could not communicate directly for most part of our trip, we still had a good time hanging out together.

posted by テレサ @ 10:43 AM