Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Japan 2009 Day 5 [150509: Friday]

This is so typical of me. I always start doing things whenever I'm supposed to study.
I need discipline! No wait! I have God's grace! I can SCORE for JLPT! AMEN!
And i know... sorry!! Day 5!




It’s Friday… and we decided to have Macdonald’s for breakfast! Japan’s Macs Breakfast is no different from Singapore’s – hotcakes, mcmuffins, mcgriddles. The only difference is the butter for the hotcake I suppose. Its weird, and I honestly prefer the butter in Singapore! 10:1! Japan still wins. Haha! Ohh. But their egg Mcmuffin is yummy cos of their half-cooked egg! 11:1!



Our daily morning ritual... Zzz


i love how Ninja provides such small little details everywhere!


our macs breakie!


yums!


Little children loves drinking milk! *slurps*


I actually ordered a mcgriddle! -_-


I love how Japanese cook their eggs!




... and so we were bored and decided to play around...!


.. and they are really excited about it! haha!


m m m m m m m


they said "wooo its cold! if only we could hug and walk at the same time!"... and that's what they did!


went into a shop that sells japanese dolls.... very pretty..... scary!


cin's transforming to be one of them!


Happy Us !


*points points*


ooo?!?!

Today, Asakusa is on our plan! I finally got to see the famous huge hanging lantern but I was a tad disappointed because it was half closed! Nevertheless, the weather was great and it was fun shopping for souvenirs there and I bought a purse for my mom which she loves a lot! So glad I bought it!

Greeted by lanterns once we came out of the train station!


Photos are definitely a must!


Trishaw pullers! ...dressed sexily somemore!


See! Its half squashed! Btw, a guy from Hk approached us to take a photo for him and in return, he offered to take a photo for us. haha! Tourists helps one another!


Ice-cream! honestly.. i can't remember the taste of it, so i guess it was ok. haha!


Resting while eating ice-cream...


... and that's because we can only eat the ice-cream behind the shop and we cant walk around eating it.


Sexy puddings! No photos allowed! *oops




The whole place was so crowded with tourist and Japanese as well as Japanese students! Many many many students! We saw a group of them taking photos and I took a photo of them and “EH!” I spotted someone familiar amidst the student crowd!



Students!!!


Extras!!!!!!!


We went into the temple, and played with the divination lots and we got a variety, ranging from Best Fortune, Regular Fortune and Bad Fortune. For those who received the bad fortune, they were supposed to tie it on this pole so that the bad fortune will go away. Thank God such things were already paid for us on the Cross! :)



Drawing lots!



You could tell immediately who got the good lots and who didn't! :)


Our lots! some of it~

We had a short rest, talked about our itinerary, took a toilet break, took more crazy photos…


:)


Resting!


http://images.danlyne.multiply.com/image/1/photos/82/400x400/193/194.JPG?et=


And we are so blessed! We were pleasantly surprised when we saw everyone crowding around an area and from what I understood; Asakusa had an event on that day! The ceremony was quite freaky because of their dressing and the “ha ha ha” voice in the background which I couldn’t really understand. We enjoyed the whole ceremony, looking at the different dressings and just simply absorbing a different culture.



The event begins!

Some were plain freaky......... like this red haired guy..



Some were quite interesting! .. like the geishas! Check out the one on the left! An ang mor! And on the right -- she reminds me of Quan Yi Feng! haha!




..and even more freaky... they totally didn't smile at all....




... and some were just plain............


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*ahems*

Next, it was lunch!... and more crazy photos! Mad la these people I tell you…

kailin even started self-directing a "movie" when she saw this group of people who ate something that looked really delicious (i cant remember what it was? mashed potatos?) and she acted a whole scene of she approaching them and asking them if it was delicious till the point that they let her have a taste of it, and how she pretended that she couldn't decide if it was delicious or not, so she kept tasting it till she finished the food! It was a very lame act but definitely 100% entertaining! should have video-ed it down!






More shopping and sightseeing! Oh and we saw this thing that looks like the tabernacle!



:)))


2 geishas back!


the boy on the left so cute la! he took plastic bags for us when we bought stuffs! the girl on the right is involved in the event and she's acting some kinda expression~


.... and we saw big doggy!

Next on our list is our last trip to Ichiran Ramen! Back to Ueno especially for our ramen… sadness but delicious as usual! This time round, we had to sit separately; cin and lin ordered extra noodles and 2 eggs to commemorate their last Ichiran Ramen meal!


Asakusa station!


Lazy pig la!


Q-ing at ichiran!!


Waiting for our noodles!!!


...and it arrives!!


It's here!!! Heaven's food!


YUMS!! Look at the egg!!!

Days of walking has taken a toil on us and we decided to head back to the hostel earlier to rest and sleep early and wake up early for the next day, but alas! We decided to play and dye our hair! Resulting in another late night session *yawns*



our innovative "shower cap" -- plastic bags!


OOO...!


we had left overs so juli had a go too!!


Hairrr color!


my bed that turns to "table" with loadsa stuff at the side!


Messsy room and us bidding u goodbyee.....

till my next entry!
*which i got no idea when!*

[More Photos Here!]

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Random

is my blog even alive? haha
last entry was Japan Day 4, and Year 2009 is ending, and I'm already back from my trip to Taiwan. How slow am i? Very slow indeed.. Procrastinator!

But is anyone even reading this boring blog?

this is a very random entry. waiting for time to pass before some errands.

1. i had a haircut! not sure if i like it though..
2. JLPT on 6th December but i've not officially started studying except reading notes here and there whenever I feel like it. i am so "alive". OK. I promise to start tomorrow onwards!
3. Kailin's room is a very sleep-conducive room! Best to cure insomia!
4. I just baked Fine Butter Cake, but it turned out too dry.
5. Its. 5.39PM now.
6. Jeff Chang has a new song! Nice! 张信哲 - 肩膀
7. If only i could travel everyday...
8. Feeling emo today.
9. Caught 3D Coraline the other day and it was good!
10. Caught the korean movie "my girlfriend is a secret agent" and it was surprisingly good and I had a good and great laugh!

utter randoms.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Japan 2009 Day 4 [140509: Thursday]


Thursday! The day where we were prepared to have a sumptuous lunch! We got to wake up later so we would feel more refreshed! We were all donned in black especially for the occasion! :D Gonpachi is the name of the restaurant we were going. It was really difficult to look for and we had to change different trains but thankfully, we found it! It was amazing, the place was really nice and the food, absolute yums! I love the grilled fish! The rice and noodles was amazing as well but the fish! *yums*! They have free flow of miso soup and drinks which you can take from the counter. If there’s a chance, do drop by Gonpachi! (http://www.gonpachi.jp/en/casual/home/index)




Happily taking photos like a tourist! Spotted a Sumo! It was during a festival that has got to do with sumo wrestler! We kept looking at him and i think he noticed! I was tempted to go and ask him if we could get a photo together with him but i was too intimidated so i didnt! Regrets*



Finding our way to Gopachi! Its a longgg way from the train station!


Finally we found it and we were impressed!


Greatly impressed!


*smiles!* The menu comes in english and the service is superb!


We had the set lunch and this codfish is awesome! Very expensive though..


How yummy! The egg was half cooked!


Katsu was really fresh! btw, the soba is handmade! Totally yums!


Oozing yolk! My favourite! Ubber delicious when mixed with the rice!


Friendly staff! :)


Leaving Gopachi and on to the next destination...
Next destination, Shimokitazawa! On the way there, we saw Romance Car (the train we took to hakone) and straight away, we felt so nostalgic! To think we were only there yesterday! Shimokitazawa... filled to the brink with shops! shopping ~ ~ ~



Was asking the stationmaster on getting to Shimokitazawa and he is really helpful and walks really silently! Was asking him questions behind the counter, and before i knew it, he appeared right behind me! Real silently too! I gave a yelp of surprise! But thumbs up to their services!



Finally @ Shimo and posing with a jap phone! How i wish i could own one!


MisterDonut! YUMS! Spot us inside buying donuts! HAHA


KARIN BEER! Kidding! It's Kirin! I added the A inside~ In case you didn't know, kailin's english name is Karin. :)


Who's cuter? Obviously the baby! Genuine Innocence! haha!


The tired feet that walked Tokyo!


Cutie doggie and cute jap girl in kimono! The doggie owner was really friendly and made small chat with us when we took photo with her doggie~ the kimono girl is just as friendly too! She willingly obliged when we went in to take photo with her without buying any things! Kimono is wayy too expensive for us to purchase!
Next! More shopping! Shibuya! Went Shibuya 109 to show them the pretty magazine cover girls and as expected, they are still as pretty as ever. And next, the much anticipated dinner! At the Lock Up! These girls are so excited for it they practically screamed their heads off when we reached there! Lock Up was exactly how I remembered it to be. Dark and freaky inside, as we were led in. This time round, lin and ju was handcuffed and led us to our dining room (which I suspect was exactly the same as the one that nikki and me went to the previous time!). Enough of words, and let the crazy pictures do the talking!



Shibuya 109! Look at all our tired faces.


So we bought ice-cream to refresh and cheer ourselves up! We needed some cheering after seeing so many pretty jap there. Low morale !


Finally the much anticipated... "The Lockup"! These 3 girls were screaming like mad when we finally found the place!


See the excited faces? No longer tired!


Getting scared before the dinner


Action lah lin!! See Juli so happy to be handcuffed!
Gei Gei ah!



Reading the menu and taking photos! Many many photos!


Appetisers and drinks in beakers


See, juli is damn excited to be locked up! SM la she! haha!


Cheers!


Arrival of some food! DIG IN! yumms!

Btw, when the show came on, it wasn’t as freaky as before though I kept screaming. Not adding to the atmosphere but because I was truly scared. And this time round, about 3 monsters came into our room! I even took a photo of one of them, which was the scream face! Lin, as usual is the crazy one, she did a peace sign to the monster and he came “roaring” in her face and made her scream. Haha!





Crazy! I managed to capture a pic of the "Scream"! That totally freaked me out! One of the "ghost" died outside our door even!




Lin went crazy right after the "scare"! And scared us instead with her crazy hairstyles! HAHA!
After dinner, the weather was pretty cold, we passed by a Karaoke building and there was a level where the guys stripped off their tops and were dancing. They saw us looking and danced even harder and waved to us! Crazy people! :D Next, back to Ninja for our rest!


Happy with the day and food!


Crazy KTV guys!


Lounging and looking at photos *only for a while*. Too tired~
[More Photos Here!]

Friday, August 28, 2009

Extraordinary Pantene Commercial

Only the Thais~ Remarkable creativity and innovation for ads!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

KLPT?

How could a mere mention of buying nail polish lead to an impromptu decision to sign up immediately for korean classes?

Nobody nobody but "Triple Sss". *shakes head*
Classes starts this Saturday!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Japan 2009 Day 5 [150509: Friday]

This is so typical of me. I always start doing things whenever I'm supposed to study.
I need discipline! No wait! I need God's grace! I can SCORE for JLPT! AMEN!
And i know... sorry!! Day 5!




It’s Friday… and we decided to have Macdonald’s for breakfast! Japan’s Macs Breakfast is no different from Singapore’s – hotcakes, mcmuffins, mcgriddles. The only difference is the butter for the hotcake I suppose. Its weird, and I honestly prefer the butter in Singapore! 10:1! Japan still wins. Haha! Ohh. But their egg Mcmuffin is yummy cos of their half-cooked egg! 11:1!



Our daily morning ritual... Zzz


i love how Ninja provides such small little details everywhere!


our macs breakie!


yums!


Little children loves drinking milk! *slurps*


I actually ordered a mcgriddle! -_-


I love how Japanese cook their eggs!




... and so we were bored and decided to play around...!


.. and they are really excited about it! haha!


m m m m m m m


they said "wooo its cold! if only we could hug and walk at the same time!"... and that's what they did!


went into a shop that sells japanese dolls.... very pretty..... scary!


cin's transforming to be one of them!


Happy Us !


*points points*


ooo?!?!

Today, Asakusa is on our plan! I finally got to see the famous huge hanging lantern but I was a tad disappointed because it was half closed! Nevertheless, the weather was great and it was fun shopping for souvenirs there and I bought a purse for my mom which she loves a lot! So glad I bought it!

Greeted by lanterns once we came out of the train station!


Photos are definitely a must!


Trishaw pullers! ...dressed sexily somemore!


See! Its half squashed! Btw, a guy from Hk approached us to take a photo for him and in return, he offered to take a photo for us. haha! Tourists helps one another!


Ice-cream! honestly.. i can't remember the taste of it, so i guess it was ok. haha!


Resting while eating ice-cream...


... and that's because we can only eat the ice-cream behind the shop and we cant walk around eating it.


Sexy puddings! No photos allowed! *oops




The whole place was so crowded with tourist and Japanese as well as Japanese students! Many many many students! We saw a group of them taking photos and I took a photo of them and “EH!” I spotted someone familiar amidst the student crowd!



Students!!!


Extras!!!!!!!


We went into the temple, and played with the divination lots and we got a variety, ranging from Best Fortune, Regular Fortune and Bad Fortune. For those who received the bad fortune, they were supposed to tie it on this pole so that the bad fortune will go away. Thank God such things were already paid for us on the Cross! :)



Drawing lots!



You could tell immediately who got the good lots and who didn't! :)


Our lots! some of it~

We had a short rest, talked about our itinerary, took a toilet break, took more crazy photos…


:)


Resting!


http://images.danlyne.multiply.com/image/1/photos/82/400x400/193/194.JPG?et=51e2TfSQFGwrYZED97PfVw&nmid=268211683


And we are so blessed! We were pleasantly surprised when we saw everyone crowding around an area and from what I understood; Asakusa had an event on that day! The ceremony was quite freaky because of their dressing and the “ha ha ha” voice in the background which I couldn’t really understand. We enjoyed the whole ceremony, looking at the different dressings and just simply absorbing a different culture.



The event begins!

Some were plain freaky......... like this red haired guy..



Some were quite interesting! .. like the geishas! Check out the one on the left! An ang mor! And on the right -- she reminds me of Quan Yi Feng! haha!




..and even more freaky... they totally didn't smile at all....




... and some were just plain............


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*ahems*

Next, it was lunch!... and more crazy photos! Mad la these people I tell you…

kailin even started self-directing a "movie" when she saw this group of people who ate something that looked really delicious (i cant remember what it was? mashed potatos?) and she acted a whole scene of she approaching them and asking them if it was delicious till the point that they let her have a taste of it, and how she pretended that she couldn't decide if it was delicious or not, so she kept tasting it till she finished the food! It was a very lame act but definitely 100% entertaining! should have video-ed it down!






More shopping and sightseeing! Oh and we saw this thing that looks like the tabernacle!



:)))


2 geishas back!


the boy on the left so cute la! he took plastic bags for us when we bought stuffs! the girl on the right is involved in the event and she's acting some kinda expression~


.... and we saw big doggy!

Next on our list is our last trip to Ichiran Ramen! Back to Ueno especially for our ramen… sadness but delicious as usual! This time round, we had to sit separately; cin and lin ordered extra noodles and 2 eggs to commemorate their last Ichiran Ramen meal!


Asakusa station!


Lazy pig la!


Q-ing at ichiran!!


Waiting for our noodles!!!


...and it arrives!!


It's here!!! Heaven's food!


YUMS!! Look at the egg!!!

Days of walking has taken a toil on us and we decided to head back to the hostel earlier to rest and sleep early and wake up early for the next day, but alas! We decided to play and dye our hair! Resulting in another late night session *yawns*



our innovative "shower cap" -- plastic bags!


OOO...!


we had left overs so juli had a go too!!


Hairrr color!


my bed that turns to "table" with loadsa stuff at the side!


Messsy room and us bidding u goodbyee.....

till my next entry!
*which i got no idea when!*

[More Photos Here!]

Japan 2009 Day 3 [130509: Wednesday]




As usual, Lin woke up the earliest! This time, I was the 3rd? The futon was way tooooo comfortable that I really can’t seem to pluck myself out of the bed. Zzz … and off we went to enjoy our last day at Hakone.


Tourists Must-do! Take a photo outside your hotel!

We left our barangs in the locker at the train station first before heading out to Hakone Machi to see the Hakone Checkpoint. We bought some expensive but yummy bread before embarking on the 45mins-1hr ride. Once we reached, we were excited when we saw the pirate ship that we were going to embark later and immediately took some photos!



Ship! Ahoy!

Finally we found our way to the Checkpoint! Hakone Checkpoint is a replica of an old checkpoint (currently known as Immigration) that links Tokyo to . They showed the life of the soldiers who lived there, their living quarters, toilets, kitchen, study area, training area, horse stables etc etc. There we met a guy who asked us where we are from. We told him and it so happens that he is one of the engineers that helped in the research for our Singapore’s NEL (North East Line). We were awed and heaped praises upon him and made him a very happy man! Haha! We chatted a little about Singapore and about our time in Japan and he wished us a fun and safe trip. So sweet! :)


Hakone Checkpoint!


This place is where they housed convicts!


The kitchen!


Cooking yummy food!

We proceeded to climb this long and steep stony flight of stairs to the Lookout Point and it was breathtaking but tiring! The climb back down was scary and I felt like an old lady looking out for her every step in case she starts tumbling down like Jill without her pail of water. :p bad joke.



Height Phobia!
As we walked, we passed by this tea shop that sells souvenirs and food so we had a short rest before going to the museum (which none of us really knew how to appreciate and everything was in Japanese and photos weren’t allowed to be taken.) and back to the port to take our pirate ship ride (5-10minutes) to Moto-Hakone where Hakone Shrine is situated. As we walked there, we were tempted to take a private boat ride/Cycling Swan thingie but yet we decided against it. $$$ So we took a photo with it instead~



i like the umbrella ella ella eh eh eh ella hor suah!


Captain!


Aye ayee~


Finding solace~
The road that led us to the shrine was lined with tall cypress trees (according to websites, these trees are 800 years old!) and it was so beautiful. The air felt really cool and fresh. The weather felt so perfect! When we reached the foot of the shrine, we were delighted! It was our first time in a shrine and there were things which we were unsure of, and what we should do. According to this video (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2228570/learn_japanese_culture_how_to_visit_a_shrine_in_japan/) we had to purify ourselves with the water, by holding the ladle in our right hand and was our left hand and vice versa. Then, gather some water in our left hand and wash our mouth (we didn’t do this step though!) They even have a step to wash the wrist! There was a cartoon there that taught us too (excluding the wrist part)! We had a rest before climbing a flight of stairs (again! Japan is full of staircases!) to the shrine. Took some pictures, bought some stuffs, played around and headed towards to torii located at Lake Ashi. The water at Lake Ashi was freezing cold, if it wasn’t that cold, I’ll be tempted to jump into the water!



Climbing steps up to Hakone Shrine




The shrine!


At the shrine!


The stairs that we had to climb to reach the shrine.


We had a short rest and chat by beautiful Lake Ashino. Some how, (correct me if I remembered wrongly) Juli started saying about how she missed seeing Mount Faber. We started laughing like crazy because she mixed up Mt. Faber with Mt. Fuji! Cin laughed the loudest and we started making fun of what Juli said, when suddenly Cin asked, “where is Mt. Faber? America ah?” We really laughed the loudest at that point! HAHA!

Along the way back from Hakone Shrine, we saw a group of grandmamas and grandpapas having a picnic and enjoying the view of Lake Ashino! I thought it was so cool so I approached them and asked if we could take a picture together with them. They were shocked and happily obliged and these 2 photos are the most precious photo in our entire Japan Photos Collection! The chatted happily with us despite our language barrier, but miraculously, we understood a little! In turn, the grandpapas wanted to take a photo with us using their own camera and he was excited just like a small boy, and he tripped! Our hearts dropped. We were so afraid, but he picked himself up and despite a look of pain that flashed across his face, he said he is alright and wanted to take a picture with us. We were worried, and so was the grandmama. *frowns* I really do hope he is alright… But sadly, their camera didn’t have any battery and couldn’t take a photo. We offered to send a photo to them instead but grandmamma insisted not to because it is too troublesome. :( Before we left, the grandmamas had wrapped fresh onigiris for us! We were surprised and refused it at first but accepted later on. They were the yummiest onigiris ever! We thanked them profusely and waved our byes many times.. Took a group photo with us eating onigiris and created a crying session. Not exactly sure what came over us but all of us started crying badly and stood far away from each other (as if we just had a huge quarrel!) we kept crying non-stop and it was really hard to stop the tears from coming. I felt it was a touch from the Holy Spirit, telling us that our trip will be very much blessed and we’ll meet great people along the way. It was just a really indescribable feeling…



I love them!


So sweet and dreamy~


The yummiest onigiris
After that bawling session, we rested, took some Polaroid shots and took a bus to head back to the train station. We didn’t have much time left and so we had to skip Gora Park from our itinerary. When we reached the train station, we decided to look for lunch and met the Englanders from our previous night’s karaoke session! We shared on places we’ve went and they asked, “karaoke tonight?” Sadly, we couldn’t cos’ we were going back to Tokyo. Alas, thus ended our trip in beautiful Hakone.


The Romance Car that will bring us back to Tokyo.


In the comfort of the train!


(R) Introducing u to the toilet~

Once we reached Shinjuku, we went in search of Tokyu Hands – a shopping area located inside Takashimaya and has a lot of creative and innovative stuffs which comes with a price! Levels and levels of different stuffs! Ju and I stopped by HMV because she wanted to check some stuffs, and obviously I went to check out some other stuffs too! And eune-chan! This was where I bought your birthday present! ^^ Ureshikatta! Zenbu SS CD o kaitai!


Tokyu Hands (Shinjuku Branch)


View from HMV!


OOOO!!!!


Wiggys!


What the! You guys same as shinlang!!


Chocolates?! Puzzle chocolates!


Specs keychain! suki~

[More Photos Here...]

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Yokomura Sensei Farewell

Yokomura Sensei isn't my actual japanese teacher but i happened to chance upon her class a few times when i skipped class on sundays. :p My first impression of her was that, "She must be from Tokyo!" because she speaks really fast and the pace she teach is really fast too! I couldn't get used to her before but by the 2nd/3rd time i went, I quite like the way she teach because it forces me to memorise! Sadly but fortunately, when I went for make up class last week, I was told that next week (which was today) is going to be her last lesson as she would be going back to Japan. Pretty sad I must say.. So the week before, her classmates asked me to join in their farewell, and so i did!




We'll miss you Yokomura Sensei :)

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Japan 2009 [Day 2]: Part 2

Yunessun Hot Spring (http://www.yunessun.com/english/ or http://www.yunessun.com/)

Our next stop is Yunessun Hot Spring Theme Park! Everyone’s excited for it! We took the Ropeway back to Sounzan, changed back to the Cable Car to Gora Station and took the Hakone Tozan Bus bounded for Yunnessun.



Waiting for the slow ropeway.


Finally its here!


At the bottom, going off to catch the bus!


(L) This handsome guy is very shy, he refuses to look at my camera!
(R) The children so cute!


Waiting for bus!

Yunessun was like a large palace and they had super many types of Hot Spring! Lin and Cin went for this Hot Spring slide called “Rodeo Mountain” which they kept raving about and even went on it a second time! Lin even said the slide was quite slow so it will be fine. One of my resolutions for this trip was to try new things, so I decided to heck it and go on the slide with them on their second time. Trust me, it was a wrong move for me. The slide did start off slow at the beginning for 3 seconds before it went really fast like crazy and I SCREAMED all the way down (Resonance of “SOB! I DON’T WANT ALREADY! I DON’T WANT ALREADY!!”) till my voice turned hoarse, and I swear my tears were flowing as I smacked into the water! I sputtered and coughed my way up and I felt cheated. The slide was a killer for me! Definitely not fun for the un-adventurous and weak hearted.



Have we reached? Seems like it!


whoaaa~ Palace! Almost Paradiseeee....!


Yep Yep! Quick lets go already!


Cute chairs and a cute girl :)


Entrance Fee! Actually, it could have been cheaper but i forgot to print the coupon! Dang! They have alot of promotional coupons in their Japan website. Do check it out if you are going!


Changed and armed with the map! Ready to explore!


Whoa "blue skies"! bad camera~


In our first hot spring! you'll see plastic in these few photos cos we wrapped the camera in it. haha.


The FREAKY slide! Grrr..

The next we tried was this floating bath which had us floating once we turned our backs! I couldn’t control where I was floating to though!


Floating!
Next, we tried the Coffee Bath! The color and smell looks like coffee, and it was warm! How good is coffee for the skin? Maybe it helps in awakening our skin~




Next, normal hot spring!


The small boy so cute!
Next, Red Wine Hot Spring! This doesn’t look like nor smell like red wine though. The color was pink and smelt quite icky. We were just in time for the guy to pour real red wine for us to put on our body! What a waste! I almost wanted to drink it if the guy didn’t say that its not for drinking. :(



Wah big bottle of red wine!


Guy pouring red wine for everyone!
After a luxurious red wine bath, we ran all the way back to the main hall as it was time for the fish spa! You know those we see in Singapore where we dip our feet into the water and the fishes will nibble at your dead skin? Yeah! That’s the one! We Q-ed up and listen to the guide blared off in really fast and cheem Japanese which I don’t understand a single bit. The other 3 looked at me and waited for translation and I told them, “Monkey See, Monkey Do!” So that’s what we did! We followed whatever the Japanese did! Soon after, all I remembered was "eeks! aarghhh! eeeeee! so itchyyyy!!!!* and grabbing of each others hands really hard! It was ticklish! We took a photo and paid 1000Yen for it.



Timing for the fish spa! See the people in the background enjoying it!


Monkey See Monkey Do! I have totally no idea what he was saying!


Fishes!!! Tickles!


Happy ~
Next up, more coffee boiling, Hot Sake, Warm Green Tea, Charcoal Bath, Waterfall bath and Marbled floor! I love the marbled floor! It feels shiok! The weather is cooling but the floor is miraculously warm and it just feels so soothing and comfortable that I could drift in to a deep sleep. Zzzz... Ju & Cin started taking some nonsensical photos where they called out different "themes" and they were supposed to act it out. -_-


Boiling coffee pool!


Enjoying and intoxicated! This Sake is the shiokest~


Green Teaaa~


Smiles! Notice there is no more plastic thing! haha~ I couldn't take it any longer! I want a waterproof camera!



Charcoal bath with real charcoal (duh!)


(L) Floating Corpses
(R) Enjoyed & Satisfied!


The Charcoal House from another view!


Walking Bath! Crazily pain can! Its foot reflexology at its best and my feet smarts like crazy!


Marble Floor! Best! I love it! Acting as the korean ahjumas. haha!
Time's drawing near and theme park's closing, so we headed back to the main hall with the main pool with jacuzzi and it was so cool! We entered into a thunderstorm! The whole hall had "lightning", accompanied by sounds of thunder and even with water spraying from the ceiling! If i'm not wrong, there was bubbles even :) cool!


Pose! Enjoy and relax~~ Lin does a mean foot reflexology! Very shiok ah!


Ramen Sweet Drops! So tempted to buy! But I didn't. Wonder how it tastes like..


840 yen for 3 types. They have curry flavour too!


Very satisfied and relaxed !


So cute! 3D neoprint!

Thus, ends our wonderful Hot Spring theme park experience and back to our hotel! Wonderfully recharged, and slightly hungry, we checked in and 'complained' about the number of stairs we had to climb. (Thankfully, they gave us a room on the 2nd level!) Oh! And they were so nice! They already put our luggage in the room so we didn't have to lug it up 2 levels :) *melts*

When we opened the door, we were pleasantly surprised! The room is huge! Not exactly really enormous but compared to our small hostel room, we had plenty a place to walk and hop! We even had a tatami floor with a very comfy futon bed that we melted right into! Immediately the bed people (lin and cin) started fighting for it with the floor people (me and ju) and even suggested that all 4 of us squeeze and sleep on the floor! HAHA *crazy people* After a short discussion, we changed into our yukata and took some pics. Who was to know, these set of pictures will be our last set in the hotel… why? Read on!



Sitting area which in turns become our sleeping area with futon beds.


"Clogs"


Hahaha Action.

With grumbling tum tums, we headed to the hotel’s café and ordered a few dishes. They gave us Oolong Tea, on the house they said! Yeay~ The café was quiet and only had a man with a lady in kimono. We didn’t hold high expectations of the food thus, we were pleasantly surprised at how yummy it was! We decided to order Sake too and it was yummy as well! The staffs were friendly but slightly reserved and who was to know, that night would turn wild, fun and so memorable!



Don't Mess with Us!


4 bananas? 4 corn? Nah... 4 yellow wet towels!


Happy, where's the food!


Sake arrives first! yums!


Spaghetti! Looks plain and normal but its super yummy!


Fried Rice which was surprisingly nice too!


This is so singapore taste but nevertheless, yums!


Role Acting !


Happyyy


Pizza! Wah nice!


i think she's intoxicated. haha!

We had a very full and satisfied dinner, when one of the staff came and plonked this book on our table and said “Karaoke, on the house!” We were shocked and happy (cos’ we are all karaoke people!), especially when the menu wrote “Karaoke 300Yen”. But, it was on the house too! From then on, things got wild! We sang songs, got to know the man and the lady in kimono and the staff who’s English is really good! Soon, an angmor couple came along and joined in karaoke-ing! We blended really well and had the time of our lives! The lady in kimono asked where we came from, and once I said Singapore, she said “Yakun Kaya Toast! Oishii desu ne! Suki desu!” She loves Yakun! So sweet! We entertained them with chinese songs, in turn, they entertained us with Japanese songs ( I even asked her to sing Namie Amuro’s “Can You Celebrate”! And she has a really good voice!), and the angmor couple also entertained us with English songs! We had a fun time laughing, clapping, chatting … memories! The staff even handed us Sparkles and lighted the Sparkles for us! So cute!! I Love Them ALL! One of the most hilarious part was when the angmors (whom we chatted and got to know them as England-ers! They were friendly and doesn’t karaoke often!) sang the song “We are the world”. omg.. it was hilarious! The song kept repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating and repeating AND REPEATING and repeating and repeating and REPEATING and repeating and repeating and repeatingggg… You get the idea!! Till the guy sang “We are the world, we are STILL the children…….” Absolutely hilarious! :D



The Karaoke book with many many songs! Pretty cool huh


Enjoying!


The 'geisha'! She wanted to take the photo!


Chinese songs with japanese subtitles! haha~


Us all! Enjoyinggggg


Our turn!


Claps and claps and claps!


The England-ers!


Happy! she's a Gay-sha!


Sparkles! Even our eyes are sparkling from the happiness!


This photo look weird but I wanted to show u one of the friendly staff! He has a good command of english and is sooo helpful!


The guy who offered us drinks on the house~


Our 2nd glass of sake!


They got high! In their own ways! A scene that i will only see in mangas or anime!

Lin video-ed and took photos throughout and that’s when the bomb dropped on us. Both cameras were on low battery and we just realised that we left the camera charger in Tokyo and only brought 1 extra battery along, which is also on low batt… And we are thrown into despair as we still had one full day in Hakone with many places planned out. Our only plan was to go back to our room and check through our bags and hope for a miracle. We even asked the staff, *the one that i say the picture looks weird* if they happened to have a charger, but he didn't, but he took the liberty to go find those travel adapters for us, thinking that we might need it! He is so kind and i was very overwhelmed and touched. Thank you so much! :)

Nevertheless, this still marks our wonderful one night in Hakone with meeting the best people! Eth & Qara! I still remembered how down and worried I felt about our dinner in Hakone cos’ it was known that Hakone sleeps early, and we won’t be able to find dinner after 7pm. God’s Good! No, He is Greater than Great! :D

When we went back to our room, we were dead tired, but Ju started rummaging the bags for a miracle. Nothing turned up, we started thinking of alternatives and changing of itinerary… And we prayed! Took our anointing oil and prayed over our batteries and cameras that it will give it supernatural strength! :D But most importantly, we decided to get disposable cameras the next day. We then took turns cleaning up, and soon after, we were asleep.

More photos here and here!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Japan 2009 [Day 2] Part 1

[Sidenote: i broke my promise! I said it would be up by end of the month but i'm late. Grrr.. upset with myself. Because of this, i will speed up and put more up real soon!]

Day 2 [120509: Tuesday]


We were dead tired and couldn’t sleep as well as we would have liked but we were excited as we were travelling to go Hakone today! We left the hostel almost half an hour late. We were supposed to leave the hostel at 5.45 but ended up leaving at 6.10am, and as I was afraid that we couldn’t be in time to catch the 7am train, I made the stupidest decision ever, plus I got cheated by the policeman. He told be the trip by cab will be about 10 to 15minutes but it took us almost 25minutes and the cab fare was horrendously expensive. My heart jumped simultaneously with the meter. I tried to get my mind of the fare by making small talk with the cab driver but it only helped to levitate my heart attack.




The Taxi Driver Details! In case he cheat our $! haha


Total bill! Grrrr! 100yen = SGD$1.50.. Calculate yourself!

Once we reached Shinjuku, we scrambled and asked around before we found the correct train station with Oedo Line heading for Hakone! It was quite confusing and I panicked slightly but it was such a relief when we finally found the place but only to panic once again because we didn’t know how to buy the tickets for the Romance Car Limited Train. Finally, we managed to find a lady who helped us to ask around and guided us! Thank God for her! We thanked her profusely and I felt happy that DaddyGod sent someone nice and friendly to help us! Once again, we RAN for our train because it was due to move off in 5minutes! Rush rush rush! (*sings: It came over me in a rush, When I realise that…! Eunechan! haha)

The train ride took about an hour plus and it was cool that we could reserve and choose the seats we want, but the observatory deck (front) was taken up, so we had to take the observatory deck (rear). There are a variety of romance car trains, and this is the 2nd newest one. The newest train will be taken on our way back to Tokyo. In the train, I was tired, wary and very excited! It’s my first time in Japan where I’m travelling with my 1/12th knowledge of their language, and travelling to a place outside of Tokyo! I did a lot of research of Hakone and its one place that I’m really looking forward to and excited to go to! Hakone seems beautiful in the pictures and sounds wonderful but I wasn’t sure if it was really so but I just had a feeling that we all will and true enough, we love Hakone with all our hearts!




Happy to have caught the 7am train! (Singapore Time 6am!) Right on schedule!


:D


Our breakfast! its very very very yummy like mad!


I was acting as a decoy for Kiyoko to take the photo of the "squeezed sardines"!


(L) I printed a menu of this place we're gonna eat at, and wrote the SGD price next to it! :D
(R) Lin was taking a self potrait of herself (with a guy sleeping behind her)... and...


...then she asked cindi to take her own self potrait but somehow, cin started being shy and started laughing non-stop! haha! So we weren't supposed to look at her when she takes her photo!


The front of the train! No difference from the back actually! Now the question is, WHERE'S THE TRAIN MASTER?? Who's driving the train?


Yeay! We reached! The train that served us well!


Pretty Train! and Pretty us! :D
Hakone is a quaint little Hot Spring town, dotted with many mountains, green trees and flowing streams. We followed the map given to us by the information counter and found our hotel, Senkei Plaza, after 10-15mins walk. It is really pretty and seems comfortable! They were really nice! I actually found this hotel online and they just require a web reservation. When we arrived, they didn’t even ask us to pay upfront. We only paid after we finished our stay! That’s trust! :)




Shops we see along the way, later on, we'll buy something from this shop!


ume! sour plum! i don't really like these but it looks pretty!


How beautiful and clear the streams are!! We were practically screaming already!

Can't resist getting a picture eh!


Awed by the sights we were seeing!


Its just a small little town~


So so so pretty!!


More Streams!


Road leading to our hotel! not hostel! Finally a hotel! Cheap one too! $90+ a night!


More clear water streams!


Finally! Senkei Plaza !


Put our big luggage and off we are to our next destination! Lin's carrying the bag containing our stuffs for hot spring later on!


Go go go!

Owakudani Valley
After some rest, we walked back to Hakone Yumoto Station to catch the train which will take us to Gora Station, where we will change to the cablecar to Sounzan, and then to the ropeway to Owakudani Valley! Just Travelling to Owakudani Valley gave us the opportunity to take 3 different types of transportation: Train, CableCar and Ropeway. I wasn’t really looking forward to the ropeway actually because of my fear of heights. (Btw, their cable car is more like a tram and ropeway is actually cable car. )

In the train, we spotted a camera crew video-ing a couple, who looks pretty plain. Didn’t pay much attention to them after we realised they weren’t some hotshots. Haha! And we started imagining how cool it would be if we saw Shinlang & Hwang Buin! (some show that all of us watched!) Lin was hilarious! She started saying how Shinlang will be attracted to her cos she have the same bright hair as he used to have! HAHA!




Egg like thing, who's name is Hakone no ogetsu sama!


A variation, but more expensive by 100 yen! We bought both!


trying the taste...


... and honestly it tastes like 'huat kueh'. not very fantastic.. haha~


the camera crew behind! curious!


uhh.. who?


yeay~ the train started! Sunny!


All geared up with our sunnies! To hide our dark eye rings!


The sights we see.. way too pretty!
The train ride was a little draggy and we were all starting to feel the sleepy monster coming upon us, and just as I think I was about to doze off, a group of grandmas and grandpas boarded the train! So we let up our seats for them and they seemed shocked and declined. We insisted and they finally sat. It’s weird how shocked they were when we let up our seats to them. Finally we reached Gora Station, and all of us clambered into the small cablecar, which traveled at a snail’s speed.


Transferred to the ropeway, and boy.... was it crowded! Filled with Japanese tourist!



Very slowly... very very veryyyy slowly..zzzz....
At last! Sounzan stop! We practically ran up the steps so we could be a little faster than the group of grandmas and grandpas who seemed much more healthier and genki as compared to us! We got into the ropeway and the ‘stationmaster’ was really friendly and kept smiling at us and gave us the whole cabin to ourselves! We waved bye to him but he seemed shy and did a quick and low wave to us! ^^


MORE STAIRS!


The friendly but shy station master! Blurred though!

In the cabin, I freaked out a little but I forced myself to open my eyes really big and take in the scenery. Cin kept telling me “don’t look infront, ok, now don’t look behind!” haha! But eventually, I even forced myself to stand up and walk around to take a few pictures! And I’m proud that I did so! Actually, the ropeway wasn’t as scary as I thought it could be because it wasn’t shaky till it reached the top and when the wind blew. I totally freaked out when the wind blew that all I did was squat there and pray for it to stop!



Testing waters...


oo.. its going up!


ok, not so scary! Better take some pics!

On this ropeway, we experienced God’s love! On our way to Hakone, I was telling them that I was afraid we couldn’t see Mount Fuji because all the reports wrote that Mt. Fuji could only be seen when the skies are clear and best viewed in Winter. Other than that, its near impossible that we could see Mt. Fuji at all. Ju was adamant and said that we will see Mt. Fuji because DaddyGod gave us this trip! How sweet is that :) And just like that, we saw Fuji San! Honestly! What are the chances that we could see Mt.Fuji? The 4 of us screamed like crazy and laughed like crazy! We really did scream and scream and scream and SCREAM! Such is how we expressed our excitedness! We thanked DaddyGod immediately and continued screaming! Mt. Fuji was sooooo magnificent! But our DaddyGod is so much more magnificent because He created it and let us see it! :D :D :D We almost wanted to break out into a small Praise and Worship session then and there in the small ropeway cabin!


*SCREAMS* Mt Fuji!! *SCREAMS*


See! So happy to see Fuji San! Fuji san! Hajimemashite! :)
When we reached the station, we screamed when we saw Mt. Fuji again, went out and saw some stationmaster’s uniforms on the rack so we took some photos, and even with the stationmasters who were friendly and sporting!


Station masters for that minute!


salutes*


With the real station master!


Yes, How may we help you? :D

Once we went out of the station, the wind was really strong and we shivered! The weather sure is colder at the top! We took photos of Mt. Fuji, took photos with Mt. Fuji, helped people take photos of them with Mt. Fuji.. Everyone was just so awed by Mt. Fuji! But Mount Fuji is too magnificient and grand to take a picture of! The sun was at its brightest, and it was really hard to capture the real magnificent Fuji with a compact camera. I want a DSLR!


Quick take our pictures already! stop fidgiting with the camera!


SMILES!


Awww..such a serene Fuji.


Did i mention how big the crows in Japan are? I have absolutely no idea what they eat but they are like twice the size of the ones in Singapore! Its Freaky! Same big size as those we saw at chiba that time with nikki!


More Fuji! Btw, i didn't see Fuji Apples there though.... hmmm... :p


The sun was wayy too bright that we had to see the photos in the camera by hiding it in my jacket!

After staying and wowing at Mt. Fuji, we went for lunch and it was sumptuous!
Oishii! There i was worrying about food in Hakone when i was planning in Singapore, and here I was in Hakone enjoying super good food!! Beyond blessed-ness!


We saw a handsome guy! Yeah right, we were ordering food!


Presenting our lunch! Udon Soup! Slurps!


Cold Soba which is super delicious like crazy with side dish of yummy crispy tempura!


Black Curry Rice! Unique! and it really tastes like curry!


This is a MUST TRY! The Katsu is really KATSU KATSU! very firm and nice like siao!
After a fulfilling lunch, we started climbing Owakudani Valley and we decided to change out of our boots to our comfy slippers so we could climb better. (Vain Singaporeans!) At the valley, we were too filled but we wanted to try the famous black eggs! The eggshell actually turns black after being cooked in the hot boiling water! But buying 5 eggs were too much.. but Thank God, again! We actually met a man who was alone, and he bought 5 eggs and offered the remaining 4 to us! How cool is that!! So I made small talk with him in my very broken Japanese language and found out that he is actually Korean (Double S!) who is in Japan for business trip alone and he works for Panasonic.


We are "A"!!


Resting while we *ahems* change our shoes.


Beginning our climb!


The basket that transports the black eggs down to the 'shopping area' after its cooked in the spring up at the Owakudani.


Tired but satisfied! Take a pic to show that we are here!


*shashin!* Here's the pic!

Hot hot valley!


Egg selling area! 5 for 5ooyen? can't remember!


Black Eggs!!! Salt Provided!

The Panasonic guy! Guess he must be feeling sleepyyy!


Invaded by Students!!


Owakudani Valley 1050M!


More pics!


Mikki, Kiyoko, Aiko, Jyuri
We went down the valley and bought some foodies back home from a shop. After spending about 20minutes inside, we came out of the shop with our mouths opened! I kept repeating myself “What happened! What happened!” The whole valley was filled with fog and wind was really strong and we couldn’t see past 100m! The whole area was fogged and cold and we were excited! It was like a reconfirmation from DaddyGod! It’s as if He was telling us, “I made that special Mt. Fuji moment just for you girls!”

*Sings: So blessed! I can’t contain it! So much I gotta give it a way! Your love, taught me to live now! You are more than enough for me!* claps happily!


Yaki Soba wrapped in bread?? Only in Japan!


Going down the treacherous stairs!


Stop irritating me! Or i'll bite uuuuu!!!!!!


GROWLS! ME TOO!
haha! we were actually doing the 阳光男孩 *zzzhar!* thing by the Taiwan guy Nono. It's alright if you don't know, its a lame thing. haha!


FOGGY like crazy! the area behind was our eating place and where we saw Fuji San earlier on!


We better hurry!


Students squatting while listening to their teachers brief. When the teachers ask a question and its a yes, the students will stand up, teachers count, and they squat back down again. So tiring... and the teachers ask alot of questions!


Back down... ok im worried cos its shaky!

Overall, Owakudani Valley was beautiful and one of nature’s wonders! I Love such sightseeing! Mt.Fuji was definitely an added bonus! It was like the cherry on top of a very yummy cake! Like the egg that comes together with Ichiran Ramen! Yummy and Lovely!

More coming up!!

Photos Here and Here!