Anyway, it's just into the thirteenth day of the year and I felt like I had done so many things!

We celebrated my grandma's birthday on 3 Jan. Subsequently, went to the David Tao's concert on 8 Jan. However, I forgot that I was supposed to attend a meeting on the same night and had to make some last minute arrangements with another colleague for her to cover me for that night. On that same day, I 'conned' my immediate boss out of 2 unopened durians and we had durians for snacks. I then had my first mahjong session of the year on Saturday and finally some rest on Sunday. Come monday, 11 Jan, I went to RELC to attend a pre-trip briefing with the sister regarding her impending education overseas. Had the Korean food along Thomson Rd that I had been talking about trying forever and was indeed worth my perpetual talk. Tuesday, which was yesterday (the REAL yesterday since I finally finished this post on 13 Jan, Wed), meet the kuku girls for xiaolongbao-steamboat buffet at Crystal Jade at Holland Village.

My goodness. I even feel so busy already as I was typing that whole chunk of stuff out. I guess this will be a fruitful year! Considering a few friends are getting engaged/married, busy busy.

Oh ya, and I totally forgot about future events. Booked tickets to Bangkok in Feb, my first time since my memory although my mum insists otherwise. And the highlight of the month - my Amei concert! I almost forgot that I had to attend the concert on 30 Jan and almost booked tickets to Bangkok on 29 Jan. Luckily we had the 'blessings' of the Procrastination Deity and when I was finally reminded of the concert, we haven't booked the tickets! See, reiterated my view that this is going to be a good year despite Fengshui or whoever else who says that this is a bad Tiger year. BOO!

In the meantime, back to work! (Yes, I actually DO work)

Labels: 2010, Amei 张惠妹, Bangkok, Birthdays, books, Concerts/Performances/Shows, David Tao 陶喆, Food, Mahjong, New Year Resolution, Sister, Travel, Work

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Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 9:12 pm :

Japan Day 1 & 2

I finally managed to peel myself away from Facebook and jot down my travel itinerary before I forget all about them. 2 months have passes from my Japan trip till now and I still haven't really finished clearing my stuff, both physical and virtual. Yes, I still have stuff bought from Japan lying around my house, unpacked.

But, that's not the point here. So, the trip to Japan was quite hastily planned as the bf managed to get cheap tickets to fly straight to Tokyo, although the timing wasn't fantastic and quite some time was wasted waiting for transit at the KL Internation Airport.

Had to hype ourselves up after waiting at the airport for 3 hours for another 9 hours flight to Japan

After approximately 9 hours of flying, we finally arrived in Japan! It was a good feeling to finally get off the plane. There was nothing to do except to eat when the stewardess offered food, play Sudoku while I was eating and sleep after that. Felt like a pig. And probably looked like crap too when we finally got off. Don't think many will still look bright and chirpy after hours on a plane.

Left much of the travel planning to the bf and so we took the Narita Express from the airport to Ikebukuro, where his friend Henry was staying. Transportation there is quite expensive but tourists get some package at the airport train station where you can get one their Suica cards (like our EZ-link cards) at quite a bargain, 4000 yen I think.

Oh, and the train stations are quite confusing as many different lines are using the same tracks. You have to open your eyes big to take note of which train is coming at what time and going to which destination. Big trouble if you get on the wrong train because you gotta wait for quite some time for the next one.

Finally got onto the train. Quite empty and actually quite cosy too. While the bf was busy reading the map, I got busy too. Documenting the trip with photos!

The map that we got from the airport.

The interior of the train. Erm, looks like a typical train.

The Narita Express train.

One of the trains that arrived at the station. Apparently it wasn't as crowded as it was always depicted in dramas. Or it is probably due to the fact that it was 9pm in the evening.

Visited Harajuku on Sunday because Soo Hoon said that the cosplayers will be strutting their stuff around on Sundays. It was definitely crowded and we managed to catch this small group of cosplayers sitting around but I had expected more.

The Meiji Shrine was just opposite the Harajuku street so we decided to take a walk there before it closes at 5pm. There are plenty of shrines and temples in Japan, too many to visit in our 7 days trip there. This is a Shinto shrine with this tall structure erected at the entrance. And for your info, the actual building itself was probably a 10 minutes walk away from this structure.

Asked the bf and his friend what was this structure for, they replied that it was for the birds to stand because they had nowhere to stand. Am I supposed to believe that?

And that is henry walking behind me, swinging his arms around constantly.

Admission fee signboard for visiting the Meiji Imperial Garden. They were not open on that day anyway.

Shinto shrines not only have the tall "bird-standing" structure, they also have this water thingy near the entrance. In the past, everyone who wanted to go into the main building had to wash their hands and probably also to rinse their mouth as an act of purifying themselves before stepping into the sacred place. Nowadays, it is just another attraction that gets tourists all excited. Oh, and it helps that the water was very cooling and refreshing too.

There are really all sorts of weird people in Harajuku. This uncle just dressed himself up like Sailormoon or something, with bunny ears and pink bears and bags. It's just...weird to look at.

And he was posing for anyone who wanted to take photos of him. The guy beside him had a sign that read 'Free Hugs'. Hope that the free hugs were not given out by the rabbit-uncle. It will be most traumatising.

Entrance to the Harajuku street

And look at the amount of people. I'm not using 'number' because I'm convinced that the people at the Harajuku street can't be counted!

Harajuku Daiso! Damn huge, like 4 storeys.

The Daiso-pig

More weird people in Harajuku. Guy in female garb. The bf went up to take a photo of him and got a fierce glare from the guy-girl.

Plenty of other misspelt signs

The Harajuku Police Station. Looks glam and nice, unlike our Neighbourhood Police Post, looks so unfriendly.

When I say they have shrines and temples everywhere, I really mean it. This shrine was erected right smack in the city.

Blueberry Burberry Blue Label exclusive only to Japan. But nothing caught my eye. :(

Meals in Japan are of huge portions. It is strange how Japanese can keep their slim figures when all the meals come with the main set, another bowl of noodles or soba and soup.

This was from a tempura place we went to in Harajuku. This set came with the tempura-don, noodles by the side, pickles and soup I think.

And this was mine. Roughly the same combination. Can't finish.

One of the streets in Ikebukuro. Somehow, even the pavement looks good. Perhaps the grass is really greener on the other side.

Map of their subway. Our tracks can never be compared to theirs. They have several train operators which will go to various destinations. When I say several, I mean more than two. It looks more complicated than it actually is. Once you get the hang of it, you will be able to switch trains like a local! Quite interesting actually because the train map really looks very very engaging.

For some strange reason, it seems like Japanese doesn't really like their traditional food like sushi or sashimi. They are mostly found in rather high-end places. Their common food are usually Western style or normal Japanese fare like ramen or don or udon.

Had our lunch somewhere near Ikebukuro and it serves mainly Western style food, although there was still the Japanese element by pairing it with rice, tofu and miso soup.

Japan is actually quite a friendly country. There is no problem if you can't speak Japanese. There is also no problem if Japanese can't understand your English or Chinese. Just be sure that you visit eating places where you buy food coupons from machines and you will never have to be afraid of starving to death!

And it comes with pictures!

The Suica top-up machine. Our 'good' friend throughout the trip. Transportation is really not cheap.

The hotel that we stayed in - Hotel Ohedo. The bf managed to source this from the internet and it was one of the cheapest around the area, I think was about 7000+ yen per night or so. You may exclaim that its expensive but hey, accomodation in Japan usually goes up higher than this. And the room was pretty decent too. And the location was not too bad, not too far from the Ikebukuro station.

The Japanese should be kings of propaganda! We always have the preception that Japan has all the great and fantastic dramas and variety shows on TV but when we got there, all that was showing on TV was boring stuff like this! Doesn't live up to the expectations of all the 黄金保龄球 and 魔女的条件s.

Japan is probably obsessed with keeping things small and compact. Henry's place was only enough for one person to live in and the hotel room was just a little better. The toilet in the hotel room was this small. What you see is really what you get. I can probably do everything on the toilet bowl; do my business, brush teeth and bathe, all at the same time.

Yay, end of Day 2! Arigatou!

Let's welcome Day 3 with open arms!

Labels: Food, Harajuku, Ikebukuro, Japan, KL International Airport, Narita Airport, Photos, Shrine, The BF, Travel

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