Monday, December 01, 2008
hee. back from japan. :) here's a sumary of what happened bah. =D
DAY 1!
actually today's not really counted as a day. we went to the airport and checked in our luggages. walked about and boarded the plane at 11 something. the plane took off at 11.25 like that. had the window seat. ^^ YAY. haha. we took NH902.
DAY 2!
we were still on the plane. quite difficult to sleep though. anyway, we arrived in Narita International Airport at 7 something (Japan's time) japan is an hour ahead of Singapore. :) our local tour guide came to fetch us. he's an Indonesian that came to Japan to work. but his chinese is quite difficult to understand larh. cos his sheng1 diao4 is anyhow fit in de. XP so it was quite tough deciphering what he was saying. anyway, we went to the Asakusa Kannon Temple. it's the oldest temple in Japan, i think. and there's a shopping street in front of the temple. called Nakamise Shopping Street. many stalls there, mostly selling the same stuffs. Japanese pancake, keychains, rice cracker and other things. we bought some food. like Japanese pancake and takoyaki balls. octupus in it larh. its the only kind of filling there. 6 balls for 500 yen. quite ex larh. but yummy. ^^ heh. we had lunch after that. its a barbecue buffet. like seoul garden in Singapore. quite nice too. we went to Ueno after that. a shopping area larh. quite sian though. plus it was raining then, so it wasnt nice to shop at. then we headed to Haneda airport for a domestic flight to Osaka's Itami airport. the plane was delayed due to the bad weather. slept throughout the flight cos i was super tired. heard that the turbulance was quite bad. =X left the airport at around 7pm. had a chinese dinner. the food was quite nice. :) we went to the hotel after that. hotel called Senri Hankyu Hotel. oh yeah, one good thing about Japan is that the toilets are very clean and quite high tech. even the one at the temple, quite surprisingly. and the toilet in the hotel room has a seat warmer, so that your butt wont feel cold after sitting on it. also, the water is warm and you can control the pressure of the water flushing. haha. cool eh? ^^
DAY 3!
woke up at 7plus and got ready. went down for breakfast after that. we went to Universal Studios Japan today! reached at 9plus. took some photos while waiting fot the tickets to be bought. the queue was very long, even though it wasnt a public holiday. anw we got the tickets soon and went in. headed for the Spiderman ride cos we heard that it was very nice. and the wait is a whopping 60 mins long. the ride was so-so. we got to wear 3d glasses though. that's the cool part of it. ^^ after that, we went for the Back to the Future ride. also a very long wait, like close to an hour. but this ride was more worth it. :D we went to the building outside Universal Studios for lunch. called Citywalk. quite a lot of food there. we finally decided on a buffet lunch that serves some chinese food. wasnt that nice though. oh there was this takoyaki factory kind of thing. a lot of shops selling takkoyaki. =D hahah.. very cool. went back to Universal Studios after that. queued 60 mins to take the Hollywood Dream ride. it's a roller coaster ride. with a very high drop and lots of ups-and-downs. =X anyway it's quite cool larh. pretty lights at the front and sides of the car. and you get to choose what music you want to hear. 5 songs to choose from. different genres of music. there's Hiphop, Rock, Classical and 2 J-pop songs. so finally it was our turn. we sat at the 3rd last row. the ride was definately thrilling. but i sort of wasted it by closing my eyes when we went down. XP heh. anyway, time was running out so we could only go and see Jurrasic Park which we wanted to take but missed. very fun too. ^^ after leaving, we went for a Shabu Shabu dinner. buffet style. quite yummy. and after that, we went to a shopping street that was 2km long. the things were quite expensive though. =X heh. returned to hotel after that. :)
DAY 4!
woke up earlier today. had breakfast and then we got up the bus to Kyoto. slept through the journey. at Kyoto, we visited 2 temples, very beautiful. and at the first one, Kiyomizu Temple, there was a shopping street. so we bought soft ice cream. one green tea and the other a mixture of green tea and chestnut. yummy. ^^ and we visited the other temple too. its called the Golden Pavillion. cos it is plated with gold. :D Pretty. bought some souvenirs from there. lunch was buffet again. we were all getting sian of buffets. D: anyway, there was a 100-yen shop there. and we bought 43 items in total. :D hee. headed to the Nishijin Textile Centre for a Kimono show. quite boring though. after that was a supposedly 2hour plus journey but ended up a 3 hour plus journey to Toyohashi. delayed due to a traffic jam. dinner was a BUFFET in the hotel. sian leh. zzz. XP went to the supermarket beside the hotel and bought lots of goodies. ^^
DAY 5!
today we got up early to put our luggages on board the bus to leave Toyohashi to travel to 1-dont-know-what-place. we took the bullet train there. and the bus picked us up from the train station. the bullet train wasnt that fast though. it's the 2nd generation train out of 8 generations. so its quite old larh. and then it was a very long journey to this hot spring with sulphur in it. very very smelly leh. it's like a million rotten eggs placed all over the place. =X it was really misty due to the rain. and we climbed many many uneven steps to get to the top of the sulphur thingy. they sell this famous thing which is eggs cooked in sulphuric water (cooked with the shell on larh) the shell is black but the inside is as usual. it is said that every egg eaten will extend your lifespan by 7years. daddy and i shared an egg. so it means that my life is extended by 3.5years! haha. dont believe it larh. the egg tastes like a normal egg. after that was a bus journey to our lunch place. its a buffet lunch again. nicer food though. ^^ and then we headed for mount fuji. however, due to the poor weather conditions, we could only go to the 1st stop. supposed to go to the 5th stop. =X couldnt see any mountain as the clouds were blocking it. so to compensate for it, we were brought to a shopping mall! haha. with a 100 yen shop there. :D headed for the hotel after that. as it is a resort, we could wear robes called Yukata that were provided in the rooms down for dinner. so the 12 of us (aunt's family, uncle francis and family and my family) wore it down for dinner. a few other group members and the guide wore it down too. very warm though. our dinner was really yummy. :) hahaha. and it wasnt buffet. ^^ after that we changed into our swimming costume and went down for the hot spring. it was supposed to be naked, but we didnt really care and wore our costumes. =D haha. so Pauline, jie, san and i were alone in the small pool. quite comfortable after you get used to it. :D stayed for quite sometime and went to bathe. after changing, we went to play cards with the other kids around our age. was very funny. =D oh and there's spongebob squarepants in japanese too. :D haha.
DAY 6!
hmm. today after breakfast, we took a 2-hour plus journey to Tokyo for Disneyland or Disneysea. Disneyland is more for kids or for those who wish to relive their childhood. :D we chose Disneysea as we've been to Disneyland before. Disneysea isnt called Disneysea because of water rides, but is cos it is built near a sea. :) the rides in Disneysea are meant for older people (meaning not kids larh.) more thrilling rides. so the first ride we took was called Journey to the Centre of the Earth. queued for 20 over minutes. the ride was quite nice. slow at first, and it gradually accelerates and ends very quickly. all the way down the track. roller coaster like that larh. the wind was very shiok cos you dash down. :D lots of jerks and bumps. took the Indiana Jones ride next. not that interesting though. and Stormrider after that. its a simulation ride. nothing much too. and then Aquatopia. its definately meant for kids cos its so slow and all you do is turn rounds, move a little, turn more in a small cart like thing. had lunch after that. had some yummy pork cutlet. western food. :) watched the parade that's on the water at 2.30. its interesting and pretty. ^^ took the 20000 leagues under the sea ride next. a slow but pretty ride. after that we were contemplating whether to take the Raging Spirits ride. cos it has a 360degrees loop upwards. =X bleah. decided to take it in the end. :) wasnt much queue. sat with ben the first time. screamed and screamed. heh. XD it wasnt that scary after all. cos we were heavily protected by the harness. very shiok in fact. we went for a second time. :D haha. and mummy took with us. went for a 3rd time. managed to persuade chin kuang to take with us. :D and after that, we took the Tower of Terror ride. in this ride, you sit in a lift and it travels up to the top and then suddenly drop down and up again and suddenly down and up again and down. was quite scared at first, but after that i felt that it was quite alright. :D we went to take the Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride again. sat with sis. and since the queue was just 5 mins, we chiong to take it again. sat with chinkuang. :D after that, as time was almost up, so we went to meet our parents. we split up cos they didnt want to take. hee. and we went to a Taiwan restaurant for dinner. and then to the hotel. it is a very good hotel. in Shinjuku. Shinjuku is a famous among the people, esp the younger ones. so we walked around and it was very crowded even though it was already quite late. went to the 100yen shop and bought more things. :D ate some ramen at a roadside stall. not bad. and nice cos it was a cold windy night. returned to the hotel and played cards with them again. :)
DAY 7!
last day already. woke up slightly later and had breakfast. finished our packing and brought our luggages down. went shopping at Keio after that. its a departmental store. bought some presents there. and sushi from the supermarket. on the way back, we saw an authentic Japanese restaurant selling ramen and other things. went in to eat as we had some time left. kept rushing the waitor as time was running out. we bought 3 bowls of ramen. very nice. and different from those in Singapore. handmade noodles. ^^ mmm.. rushed back to the hotel after that. we went to the airport for our flight back. continued shopping there. and had some dessert in a restuarant. Ice cream. :D haha. finally boarded the plane. took window seats again. ^^
well, i enjoyed this trip loads. haha. and if you managed to finish reading this whole post, i must say that you're good. :D hahaha..
shall post the pictures some time soon! ^^ heh.
