When we were bored...

This was what we did when we were bored in china.....

First we went to the salon for a hair treatment.

This is what a normal steamer would look like:


And this is what a china-made-UFO-inspired steamer would look like:













From the salon, then we'll practice our hair-styling skill on our dearest hehehhe:


See what see???












Am i cute or what?











Aaron kwok style...












When the fringe meets the brow...













The Mohawk....












When the gravity fails you...










And note that all these were performed on the street-side under the curious gaze of the pedestrians hahahah...

The Country of the Rising Sun - day 6 END

Well...We did nothing much on our last day except SHOPPING :) Frist they brought us to this shinto temple with the HUGEEE lantern.


Then they brought us to the Ginza street which is like the 'Orchard' of Tokyo. The street was lined with international brands:

































Managed a pose while talking to our friend @ the public phone.
ps: wondering wat's that laptop doing over there??? hehehe Japan was so advanced that even such a public area has a free wi-fi :)

Intermezzo: wat a local japanese fast food looked like...



But sadly...we still have to end our tour. Had a GREAT time in Japan. And after exploring the Southern cities of Japan, our next destination would be Hokkaido & sekitarnya :)




Good bye Japan!!! We'll be back again one day....

Note: Many of the things which i've learnt from komik shinchan was actually REAL and thanks to shinchan that i knew what to look for & expect while i was in Japan hahahahha

The Country of the Rising Sun - day 5

Today...we are heading towards Tokyo! Its like the
climax of the entire journey..the buzzing capital of Japan...here we come!

It took us a few hours bus ride to reach Tokyo and headed straight to Disney Sea (well some other may choose Disney Land tho). These are some of the snapshots of the city which we took WHILE on the bus (so please pardon the quality :p )






















It was weekdays afternoon when we reached DisneySea..thinking that if we could use the fast-pass we would manage to try all the rides...but hah! To our surprise...when we arrived, we were greeted by a swarm of people. It was sooo crowded that after spending the whole day in there, we only get our luck on the Tower of Terror (well...of course after 2.5 hours of queueing) and a silly Sinbad show heheheh.
















While queueing for the Tower of Terror :p









Interesting mosaic picture made up of millions of small photos.














Intermezzo:


KitKat with 'unusual flavor








My favorite flavor ever!








After returning to the hotel at night, we planned a meeting with our Indo friend who was studying in Tokyo. In turned out to be the best night out around Tokyo (since our tour guide-as unprofessional as it could be - did not bring us around the city.)

We took the train to the city.
ps: Japan has the most complicated subway system i've ever seen! hah...










Interestingly, they implement this rule where no one is allowed to talk on the handphone while inside the train :) Only sms allowed...




We explored Harajuku, Shinjuku & Shibuya that night. Had a great time shopping, trying the local dishes like crepes, Okonomiyaki & ramen!











The busy Shibuya street.

























The so called Japanese 'boys-gang' hahaha wat a hairstyle! Ah-beng kia :p






































The best meal was when we had a DIY-Okonomiyaki:


All the ingredients were provided and all we need to do was to COOK them...easy, fun & guanteed taste!


Mix the ingredients together...


Put them on the hot pan...








Form the circular shape...



Fry till crisp....

Put the shoju, fish flakes and mayo on top..



Cut into 4...






..and Voila! The original okonomiyaki...


Intermezzo: interesting game we found in Konami ( its like a 5 storeys arcade wowww...).








Last but not least...our supper of the day ( its was midnite fyi)..the famous ramen which taste i'll never forget :p

Out of all the 6 days in Japan...this night is voted as the night! yay...

The Country of the Rising Sun - day 4

The next morning...we were greeted by the falling snow. The view was stunning...and the best part was we get to enjoy the scenery as we walked to the nearby traditional market. Stopped every few meters to take pictures hahahha.


























The interesting part was...altho it was snowing oh so heavily (that each of us was given an umbrella from the hotel)..the temperature was pretty much comfortable, not freezing cold.




In the afternoon, they brought us to a ski resort..not to ski (unfortunately hikss) but to enjoy their sulfur hot & cold spring ")
























Our part time job while in Japan...(lumayan buat uang saku d sana hihihi)















It was snowing heavily.Tempted...we had a snow fight :












We visited the wasabi farm too. Never know that it looks this weird before...




Each wasabi was graded and given different prices.



Every product sold here was wasabi flavoured. There were wasabi ice cream, wasabi tea, wasabi biscuits, wasabi crackers etc..





Wasabi seaweed....the best i've ever tried so far (since this was the first and the only time i've tasted such a thing hahahha)







After being pampered with the cozy, spacious hotel room, tonight we were back to the small, crampy room. Imagine 3 tatamis + 3 suitcases + 3 grown ups in this tiny room = "-"







We had our first 'real' shashimi during the dinner (at our own expense fyi! ).










Our hotel was located at the lake side. It has a great view of the Mt Fuji:

The Country of the Rising Sun - day 3

Day 3 started with another bento box as breakfast...not really used to the cold food these days :$

Afterwhich we proceed to Omicho Market - a busy and colorful market with 200 over shops selling seafood, vegetable, fruits and flowers. Unlike the market that i have in mind....the market here is sooo cleannn and neat. Unique market indeed!






Everything in this market was auctioned to the stores before they were sold to the customers. So items like crab, octopus ikura, or even honeydew has its own prices.



















































One of the best potato croquette that i've ever tried!







At noon..we visited the Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa, acclaimed as one of the Japan's 3 great gardens.










It is famous for the bonsai trees which are supported together by ropes -- so that the weight of the snow wont break the branches.








Our lunch...the typical Japanese lunch box which consisted of many varieties..all in bite-size portion :)





One of our favourite findings during the tour: FURIKAKE! Its the Japanese flavoring condiment made of roasted seaweed, salt, sesame seeds etc, often sprinkled atop rice. Its nice...



Afterwhich...we went to Shirakawa-Go village, a well-preserved Unesco world heritage site - famous for its old farmhouses with steep roofs. We had fun with the thick snow here. Not to mention it has the best scenery!



































We spent the night at Hida. The hotel resembled a resort - famous for its onsen (japanese hot spring) and that also marked the first time we slept on tatami (yey!!).

For once we get a spacious hotel room. It has a living room, a bedroom, a wardrobe space and 2 toilets!














That nite we tried the very culture of japanese who like to shower in the public bath called onsen. The bath was seperated between male's and female's. There one basic rule within the public bath: no clothing allowed! And we were given only a small piece of hand towel. We were suppose to cleanse ourselves in the shower before entering the pool. They have 3 pools inside the bath: indoor pool, outdoor pool and the last one (which was the most interesting one) was the rooftop pool. We liked the rooftop pool the best as we can enjoy the snow and the night view while soaking in the hot pool.

In the bath, they provided all the things women need like soaps, shampoo, conditioner, scrub, hairdryer, disposable comb, lotions etc. Very convenient indeed!


Before onsen:










After onsen:


The bath did make me feel sleepy :) But itss really worth it. Japanese even take the bath before and after dinner (its open from 6am till 12 midnite afterall!)



The sarupopo -- its the traditional character from Hida :

The Country of the Rising Sun - day 2

Our second day started with a bento box breakfast (which apparently will be our breakfast for the next few days!). A bento box consisted of a variety of food (mainly rice, fish, seaweed, pickles, veggies, and miso soup). Looks healthy at a glance! But as they were mass-prepared long before we woke up..everything was cold by the time we had our breakfast. Everything except the miso soup. Not exactly my kind of taste :(











Luckily we had a chance to try out the Japanese Curry for our brunch :) it was niiiceeeeee...simple yet delicious (and WARM!)











For the first itenerary of the day, we were suppose to take the bullet train (Shinkansen) from Osaka to Kyoto, which took only 13 minutes! We happen to be taking the 2nd generation of Japan's bullet train called Nozomi which travel at the speed of 300km/h.



































This is the overview of a bullet train.

The Japanese tend to be very quite and calm whenever they are inside a train, be it a bullet train or the normal 'MRT'. Hence we made quite an 'impression' when the whole group first entered the bullet train hah!




At Kyoto, we first visited the Kyomizu temple. Fyi, Japan has a LOT of temples because their religion, Shinto, taught them to worship as many gods as needed. So in the case when they need wealth, they'll worship the prosperity god..and so on so forth. Oblivious to all their gods and goddesses, we went to take tons of picture of the beautiful surrounding scenery and ....




















...played with water.....

















People queued to drink the water from these 3 small fountain as they believed that each will bring you propserity, health and ... (can't remember wat's the last one heheh)



...and bought their famous mochi!


This is the grilled mochi.







While this is the original mochi which i think is nice! Especially the sweet potato flavour.

In this shop you could sample all their mochi for free till u drop! (plus they'll even serve u tea and u can sit around the heater hah!).

And last but not least.....


........................do stupid things...like these 2 people:




Afterwhich we visited the Biwa Lake, which size is bigger than Singapore! heheh Coz its the biggest fresh water lake in Japan. We didn't take any picture tho since it was merely a lunch at the pit stop which happened to be beside the Biwa lake. Most of the Japanese fast food always use a vending machine where we insert our money and choose our food. Then they'll prepare the food manually and send it to us :)

That day we spent our night at Kanazawa, a small village few hours from Kyoto. We had our dinner at the hotel:

This is called the Japan crab!






















The entire meal revolved around CRAB. Crab meat, steam crab, crab leg soup, mashed potato in crab shell etc etc...






After dinner....we were greeted by SNOW! yey...tat was the first time it snowed since we reached Japan. So..the first thing we did was grabbed our umbrella and ran out in a rush to play with the snow hehehe



Some......even tot that snow = ice kachang!












Then....unstoppable picture-taking frenzy!

























All the way..until the snow stopped falling...


































And late that night...in the privacy of our room:


Let the battle begins!!!!





















And the defeated one is......



*poor little thing *






While the winner:














And the climax for the day:

*Sadako in action* (scroll faster to view)

The Country of the Rising Sun - day 1

I was quite skeptic when the idea of going to Japan came out in Nov mainly because it was a last minute thing. To make it worse...our proposal to apply for Japan visa in Fuzhou's Japan Consulate was rejected. And guess wat...Ryan's mom had to go back all the way to Jakarta to apply for everyone's visa...just one week before departure! Hah! So..i'd considered this as God's gift for us (especially the jobless me..going to Japan would be the last thing in my mind :p ).

Well...we participate in Chan Brother's 6D5N Japan Sceninc Delight. Here goes the story:

After a sleepless 7-hours flight, we arrived in Nagoya Airport. The sudden temp drop forced us to change into a thick jacket (luckily i bought this thick bubble jacket just the day before...). Then we had a 3 hours drive to Osaka by bus. Along the way we made a pit stop at Nara, a small town before Osaka. As exciting as it was to first step into Japan, we can't help but to fall asleep once we sat on the comfortable chair of the bus.

Intermezzo:




We met a bunch of high-school kids with one and only one style of hair cut! hehehe maybe they r from the army?


Our first stop once we arrived in Osaka was the Osaka Castle:


It is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century. The central castle building is five stories on the outside and eight stories on the inside, and built atop a tall stone foundation to protect its occupants from sword-bearing attackers.











Duhh...sengak nya...hihii











A nice cauliflower-look a like :)








We had udon for our first lunch in Japan. Loving it! Even after only a few hours in Japan, we realized how friendly the Japanese are.





They even have takoyaki-key chain .... jepang abiesss!










Not to forget...takoyaki pretz!










After that..we visited Shinsaibashi, a shopping area in Osaka. Here we can find Daimaru, Parco, Sogo Dept Store and many other branded shops. One shop which caught our attention was Matshumoto kiyoshi. Its a well-known pharmacy chain in Japan (something like Guardian). But interestingly all pharmacies in Japan sell a lot (and i mean A LOT) of cosmetics items. So..there u go.. we had our first shopping spree of Japanese eye liner..mascara..etc etc in a pharmacy :)














The 14 storeys' Sogo dept store.



One of the wedding gown on display in Sogo (the checkers remind me of our table cloth at home! heheheh)


We found this Sanrio Gallery along the Shinsaibashi, and as expected...its FULL of Hello Kitty! You can practically find everything from stationery to golf ball with Hello Kitty logo on it.




























Their unique gas stations where all the dispensers are suspended from above







See the capsule hotel in the pic? Worth a try!






In Japan..only 3G phones work. Hence they have their own version and brand of handphones. And they don't SMS anymore! Instead they email each other thru handphones...w o a w !

And when we arrived at our hotel...it came as quite a shock...It was sooo small and tiny (especially with the triple beds inside it).







Even the toilet is small.....





But interestingly...all the toilet bowl in Japan is very high-tech:

Well..i guess the first 3 buttons are self-explanatory rite? heheh its just a different directions of the water spray. The last one (the music note sign) is the flushing sound (meant for a rather LOUD and excessive discharge)...interesting huh?


They also have services such as the warm seat for winter, deodorizer, adjustable volume and pressure to suit our liking! Wowww!

And in every cubicle they have special child seat so that mommies won't have to leave/carry their young ones when they go to the ladies.


Guess the Japanese are considerate, toughtful and of course CREATIVE people that they put such a great effort into making a toilet...a very user-friendly and also comfortable place to be in.

At night, we visited a small traditional restaurant which supposedly served a good okonomiyaki and takoyaki.






















First impression on the takoyaki:
Tako-pochi @ Takashimaya could have done better than this!
(But it turned out that the takoyaki at other places...even the one @ the highway pit stop have scored better than this one hehehe not bad indeed).





Intermezzo:

Straight tea...



Never know that there are 'gay' tea?