DAY 30
the day of our departure did not go well. we woke up on time but took a long time trying to pack everything in. and the keisei express to the airport was located further away than tobias had expected so it was a mad rush. and another shock came when we found out at the ticket office tt we cannot pay with our credit card. we didnt have sufficient cash with us to purchase the limited express tickets so we had no choice but to settle for an ordinary express train which would take longer to reach the airport. we also run the risk of not being able to catch our plane. so it was a mad rush right after we got off at the airport station but thank God we managed to check in before the counter closed.
this concludes our one-month adventure in japan. we are eagerly awaiting the nxt:)
Sunday, December 7, 2008
DAY 29
disneyland day! more buns and more apple vinegar for breakfast. made it down to disneyland but the weather was still super hot. before going in, we checked out the mall that was right beside the maehama station and we found a supermarket in the basement. after ystday's lousy experience dining in disneysea, we decided to sneak out halfway for lunch. there was also a konbini at the station and we each got an ice cream before going in.
crowds everywhere. there was water parade but this one's on land and we observed from a distance, preferring to take shelter under a tree. there were long queues everywhere and all the fast passes were gone by 1pm. so we didnt take rides more than once, except space mountain which we took twice bcos it was such a windy ride!
lunch was at the mall beside the station where everything looked appetising and MUCH cheaper than inside the park. we scouted around a little before deciding on the itallian stall and ordered a pasta set and baked rice, topped with a bluebery dessert. after which we went into the supermart to search for food and ice cream before deciding on an entire tub of cookies and cream ice cream. as we walked out into the heat, diggin into our ice cream tub while ppl around us were munching on their 300Y mickey ice sticks, was such a bliss.
we decided to leave after the 4pm parade bcos i have much shopping to do and we both yearn for a hot steamy bowl of ramen before we return to singapore. besides, i was pretty sure that it would rain later on as the skies began to look dark. along the walkway toward the station, there were mini statutes of disney characters and we posed beside them for more snapshots.
originally, we were heading to ikebukuro for either nobunaga or bomb. but along the way, a sudden thought occured to tobias tt we might be able to find ippudo (the kyushu ramen tt took my breath away) but then again, it was really awkward to approach random strangers to ask for directions for sth tt they might not even have heard abt. finally tobias mustered enough courage and spoke to a lady seated beside us and she clearly had no idea. he tried again when the lady got off and a middle-aged man took her seat. and THANK GOD he miraculously knew just where ippudo was, and THANK GOD AGAIN tt it happens to be at ueno!! so we didnt even have to travel far at all! we were overjoyed and even though it took us quite a while to find ippudo, it was well worth the effort!
before we went in, we saw santouka in the same building (!!!) and we were torn between the two. finally we decided to give ippudo the honour and boy was it GOODDD. as usual we had the red bowl and the white bowl with extra extra topping AND the gyoza. it was such a satisfying meal and we were bloated by the end of it. on the way back, we saw the poor aoba, another famous hokkaido ramen tt we passed by twice without eating and we vowed to pay them a visit the nxt time we're in japan (finally).
it started downpouring (like i predicted) and we scurried between 2 matsumoto kyoshi stores and another store tt was recommended by taiwanese shoppers. after comparisons and contemplating, we did our remaining shopping and returned to cube, glad to end the trip on a high note.
disneyland day! more buns and more apple vinegar for breakfast. made it down to disneyland but the weather was still super hot. before going in, we checked out the mall that was right beside the maehama station and we found a supermarket in the basement. after ystday's lousy experience dining in disneysea, we decided to sneak out halfway for lunch. there was also a konbini at the station and we each got an ice cream before going in.
crowds everywhere. there was water parade but this one's on land and we observed from a distance, preferring to take shelter under a tree. there were long queues everywhere and all the fast passes were gone by 1pm. so we didnt take rides more than once, except space mountain which we took twice bcos it was such a windy ride!
lunch was at the mall beside the station where everything looked appetising and MUCH cheaper than inside the park. we scouted around a little before deciding on the itallian stall and ordered a pasta set and baked rice, topped with a bluebery dessert. after which we went into the supermart to search for food and ice cream before deciding on an entire tub of cookies and cream ice cream. as we walked out into the heat, diggin into our ice cream tub while ppl around us were munching on their 300Y mickey ice sticks, was such a bliss.
we decided to leave after the 4pm parade bcos i have much shopping to do and we both yearn for a hot steamy bowl of ramen before we return to singapore. besides, i was pretty sure that it would rain later on as the skies began to look dark. along the walkway toward the station, there were mini statutes of disney characters and we posed beside them for more snapshots.
originally, we were heading to ikebukuro for either nobunaga or bomb. but along the way, a sudden thought occured to tobias tt we might be able to find ippudo (the kyushu ramen tt took my breath away) but then again, it was really awkward to approach random strangers to ask for directions for sth tt they might not even have heard abt. finally tobias mustered enough courage and spoke to a lady seated beside us and she clearly had no idea. he tried again when the lady got off and a middle-aged man took her seat. and THANK GOD he miraculously knew just where ippudo was, and THANK GOD AGAIN tt it happens to be at ueno!! so we didnt even have to travel far at all! we were overjoyed and even though it took us quite a while to find ippudo, it was well worth the effort!
before we went in, we saw santouka in the same building (!!!) and we were torn between the two. finally we decided to give ippudo the honour and boy was it GOODDD. as usual we had the red bowl and the white bowl with extra extra topping AND the gyoza. it was such a satisfying meal and we were bloated by the end of it. on the way back, we saw the poor aoba, another famous hokkaido ramen tt we passed by twice without eating and we vowed to pay them a visit the nxt time we're in japan (finally).
it started downpouring (like i predicted) and we scurried between 2 matsumoto kyoshi stores and another store tt was recommended by taiwanese shoppers. after comparisons and contemplating, we did our remaining shopping and returned to cube, glad to end the trip on a high note.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Day 28
we had cube hotel's apple vinegar and some buns with custard filling for breakfast. grabbed some more food frm the nearby 7-11 before going down to the ueno station. it is alot more convenient than ikebukuro station for accessing the east side. there were alot of ppl on the train and as usual, we were late so we missed the opening performance.
tobias had alot of trouble with his contact lens so he went to the toilet to get it fixed. while waiting for him, i caught the cast returning to the cast area after taking photos with the park goers. so i managed to catch glimpses of donald duck and goofy.
it was summer so the weather was really hot. they had this new water parade just to cool park goers down. there was damn alot of ppl gathered on the banks already and when chip and dale appeared, it got really high as ppl jumped up and down with the music. its amazing how cooperative and encouraging the japanese can be because they responded in the exact same way the cast asked them to. along with the 3, 2, 1 countdown, a water cannon will fire, sending water bombs up into midair to the cheers of everyone else. there're also smaller cannons at the side of the float that fired time to time at the crowds to the squeals and delight of most ppl.
while we were soaking in the moment (literally), goofy sneaked up behind us and started to hose everyone down. i tried to take shelter and tobias did his best to protect me so he ended up soaking his back. some of those handicapped park goers couldnt escape so they were ruthlessly hosed down until they were soaked.
after the water parade, we sat down at an open-aired theatre to wait for a performance that would start in half an hour's time. it was hot and it grew hotter as more ppl joined us. we only had a pathetic umbrella to shield us frm the scorching sun. our tshirts were soaked and we had to unglamorously put on prickly heat on our bodies to cool ourselves down. there was also a huge need for sunblock since it was summer afterall.
the show turned out to be well worth the wait with beautiful music and an interesting plot. and what amazed us was the dedication and perserverance the actors put up. despite the scorching sun tt was unbearable to us, who were sitting down doing nothing, the performers had thick long-sleeved costumes with heavy makeup and yet they were dancing, singing and jumping around with wide grins on their faces, seemingly oblivious to the heat.
we wouldnt bore u with details of the rides but towards the end, we were withering in the heat and unanimously decided to head to an air-conditioned place so we went for the sinbad ride before watching part of the bonfire display.
it seems to be a practice for park goers to secure a good vantage point before a major parade. in a similar fashion we got ourselves a spot on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. but both times (during the day parade and the night display) there were irritating prcs who tried to cut in to get a good view. immensely irritating i tell u. the night parade had to be cut short and we returned to ueno aftertt.
tried to look for drugstores to do last minute shopping and had to ask for directions. most shops were closed and it looked abit deserted and scary so we ended up returning to cube empty handed.
we had cube hotel's apple vinegar and some buns with custard filling for breakfast. grabbed some more food frm the nearby 7-11 before going down to the ueno station. it is alot more convenient than ikebukuro station for accessing the east side. there were alot of ppl on the train and as usual, we were late so we missed the opening performance.
tobias had alot of trouble with his contact lens so he went to the toilet to get it fixed. while waiting for him, i caught the cast returning to the cast area after taking photos with the park goers. so i managed to catch glimpses of donald duck and goofy.
it was summer so the weather was really hot. they had this new water parade just to cool park goers down. there was damn alot of ppl gathered on the banks already and when chip and dale appeared, it got really high as ppl jumped up and down with the music. its amazing how cooperative and encouraging the japanese can be because they responded in the exact same way the cast asked them to. along with the 3, 2, 1 countdown, a water cannon will fire, sending water bombs up into midair to the cheers of everyone else. there're also smaller cannons at the side of the float that fired time to time at the crowds to the squeals and delight of most ppl.
while we were soaking in the moment (literally), goofy sneaked up behind us and started to hose everyone down. i tried to take shelter and tobias did his best to protect me so he ended up soaking his back. some of those handicapped park goers couldnt escape so they were ruthlessly hosed down until they were soaked.
after the water parade, we sat down at an open-aired theatre to wait for a performance that would start in half an hour's time. it was hot and it grew hotter as more ppl joined us. we only had a pathetic umbrella to shield us frm the scorching sun. our tshirts were soaked and we had to unglamorously put on prickly heat on our bodies to cool ourselves down. there was also a huge need for sunblock since it was summer afterall.
the show turned out to be well worth the wait with beautiful music and an interesting plot. and what amazed us was the dedication and perserverance the actors put up. despite the scorching sun tt was unbearable to us, who were sitting down doing nothing, the performers had thick long-sleeved costumes with heavy makeup and yet they were dancing, singing and jumping around with wide grins on their faces, seemingly oblivious to the heat.
we wouldnt bore u with details of the rides but towards the end, we were withering in the heat and unanimously decided to head to an air-conditioned place so we went for the sinbad ride before watching part of the bonfire display.
it seems to be a practice for park goers to secure a good vantage point before a major parade. in a similar fashion we got ourselves a spot on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. but both times (during the day parade and the night display) there were irritating prcs who tried to cut in to get a good view. immensely irritating i tell u. the night parade had to be cut short and we returned to ueno aftertt.
tried to look for drugstores to do last minute shopping and had to ask for directions. most shops were closed and it looked abit deserted and scary so we ended up returning to cube empty handed.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Day 27
the last day we get to use our jr pass. bcos i was missing triangle and strawberry daifuko so much he actually suggested that we take a 1.5hr Shinkansen ride down to Sendai just to get them (!!!). and he feels that would be the ideal way to fully utilise the jr pass on the last day. but of course im sane and i wont waste 3hrs travelling back and forth. so we decided to tour tokyo!
it was a saturday and the streets were quite crowded. first stop was Shinjuku where we tried to find sundrug, recommended for their cheap prices. we also dropped by other drugstores and grabbed some good deals. a bottle each of the best selling toner in japan. 1 bottle gets sold every 4 seconds. only abt S$7.80 a bottle! which is cheaper than my current toner so i got one to try. then we grabbed 4 packs of this highly recommended eyedrop for contact lens wearers. it was one of my regrets tt i didnt get any beauty stuff on my last trip so im totally making up for it this time round. contemplated getting makeup stuff but thought i could put tt off to the last day so we have less to carry around.
we got a flyer on the streets and decided to check out this optical shop tt has contact lens promotion. they are super professional, not like your typical singapore optical shop. u actually have to get a queue number and wait for someone to come to u with a clipboard to ask u questions and recommend the most suitable lenses for u. quite like seeing a doctor really. but didnt get any in the end cos they're all bi-weekly lenses. apparently no one in japan wears monthlies! for hygiene purposes i guess. plus, i bet the girls wear it every single day so they need bi-weeklies.
then we went to Harajuku, where all the teens hang out. it was extremely extremely crowded. i got tired just looking at the sheer number of pple. shops were kinda small-ish and filled with girls streaming in and out. dont like to shop in places like tt. me likes private space.
last stop was Akihabara where there are tons of electronic goods. one famous thing abt Akihabara is their Maid Cafes. i think there's one in singapore too but tt's just a copycat. asked to take pictures with a few Maids in front of the station giving out flyers but they all said no. i guess its a company policy of some sort. decided to go to the original Maid Cafe and my goodness, they occupied 4 floors. and when we got there, there was a QUEUE to get in which stretched all the way to the stairway. and there was this huge sign tt said no photography. apparently if u want to take photos with the Maids, they will help u to take at a charge of 500Y. damn good at making money. so in the end, i took a photo OF the poster instead. and we didnt eat there cos i know the prices would be jacked up. plus i cant take photos so whats the point.
we ended up at Song Wu instead. the major competitor of Yoshinoya. i got a beef bowl and he ordered the hamburger steak set. tobias thought the guy sitting beside me was insane cos he was only eating an egg. raw if im not wrong. but then his order came so yes, he eats.
decided to chiong down to Maihama Outlet since we had the jr pass. they were having outlet sale tt wkend so i thought we got lucky. but we didnt end up with a single buy so yeah. i headed straight for agnes b but cldnt find any nice bag. dont want to settle for a not-very-nice one just for the sake of buying one. looked at coach wallets too and concluded the design isnt tt nice afterall. i think perhaps the whole point of carrying a branded good is just for the brand. i dont think it serves any additional purpose really. but tt being said, i still really really really like the agnes b voyage white bag i saw at odaiba.
went back to Ikebukuro for an early dinner but there was a queue at Bomb. at 5pm. u can imagine how good their food is. queued for a while before deciding to come back after my perm. rushed to Allure to find tt they were all fully occupied so we had to wait. they passed us some hair style books and we started flipping but in the end, i guess the hair stylist would know best so i decided i would leave it all to him.
my funky hairstylist came. thank God he's quite friendly and doesn mind the fact tt we speak little japanese. after almost half an hour of gesturing and communicating in all sorts of ways (including writing in kanji), i finally got started on my digital perm. assistant came over to wash my hair. their chair is like uber cool. u can actually sit upright on it then it kinda like tilts behind so u dont have to sit up and lie down when getting your hair washed.
assistant tried to make conversation. i barely managed. when applying the water treatment for me (which consists of spraying a kind of vapour from this brush-like device), he warned "too hot, tell me!" so some of them do actually speak a little english! then it was time for my cut. and aftertt i got hooked up onto the perm machine. but it was tedious work preparing for it. there were 2 stylists attending to me. one would prepare the styrofoam, the rubber band and the paper while the other would actually do the curls for me.
i was stuck under that machine for less than an hour. during which my hairstylist kept me company by making small talk. i really had fun even though half the time i didnt know what he was saying. i tried to ask him questions too, like abt maintenance, shampoo and i managed. barely. but it was fun. he asked how long are we gng to be in japan. i told him one month. but he thought it was one week and he was wondering how on earth did we manage to visit so many places at different ends of japan in such a short period of time. only toward the end he clarified what one month meant. and i had to tell him 4 weeks = 1 month then he gotit.
i can write on and on abt what we talked abt or what i attempted to communicate to him but it would take far too long. in the end, my procedure dragged on to way past their closing time but they still stayed and weren't in a rush at all. i really think their service is top grade. and even though they were all tired frm a long day's work, they still obliged when tobias asked for a group photo together. the ultra kawaii receptionist is the most pitiful cos i think she was standing throughout the day. she is like super cute and nice!
actually i was worried sick cos tobias hasnt returned back to the salon when they were drying my hair. i was wondering what on earth happened to him. i have no cash. i have no passport. i dont even have my jr pass with me. i cant pay them and i cant get anywhere. but thank God he turned up all sweaty and panting. turned out tt he actually went back to Super Hotel to pick up our luggage and transported them down to our hotel for tonight at Ueno. he single-handedly carried TWO luggages, a big bag of shopping with shoes and clothes inside, plus his own backpack. and according to him, the Yamanote line broke down so he had to transfer to the subway in order to get to Ueno. his sweat soaked through his singlet and everyone was avoiding the crazy sweating guy who ran all the way with luggages and bags. (he ran so he cld make it back to the salon in time)
all this just so tt i wldnt have to go back to Super Hotel after doing my perm to fetch the luggage and drag it all the way to the station, take train, then drag to Cube Hotel. carrying all tt stuff is no mean feat. esp when u still have to retrieve your jr pass, go past the gantry, up the stairs, etc. i was quite speechless when he told me he did all that. who else on earth would do all this for me? i really really really appreciate it. its all bcos of him we're in japan once again. its all bcos of him we have a fun-filled month without any trouble with accomodation or transport. its all bcos of him i got to enjoy my Bomb dinner and travel to Ueno without dragging a luggage. thank u so much for all u've done.
the last day we get to use our jr pass. bcos i was missing triangle and strawberry daifuko so much he actually suggested that we take a 1.5hr Shinkansen ride down to Sendai just to get them (!!!). and he feels that would be the ideal way to fully utilise the jr pass on the last day. but of course im sane and i wont waste 3hrs travelling back and forth. so we decided to tour tokyo!
it was a saturday and the streets were quite crowded. first stop was Shinjuku where we tried to find sundrug, recommended for their cheap prices. we also dropped by other drugstores and grabbed some good deals. a bottle each of the best selling toner in japan. 1 bottle gets sold every 4 seconds. only abt S$7.80 a bottle! which is cheaper than my current toner so i got one to try. then we grabbed 4 packs of this highly recommended eyedrop for contact lens wearers. it was one of my regrets tt i didnt get any beauty stuff on my last trip so im totally making up for it this time round. contemplated getting makeup stuff but thought i could put tt off to the last day so we have less to carry around.
we got a flyer on the streets and decided to check out this optical shop tt has contact lens promotion. they are super professional, not like your typical singapore optical shop. u actually have to get a queue number and wait for someone to come to u with a clipboard to ask u questions and recommend the most suitable lenses for u. quite like seeing a doctor really. but didnt get any in the end cos they're all bi-weekly lenses. apparently no one in japan wears monthlies! for hygiene purposes i guess. plus, i bet the girls wear it every single day so they need bi-weeklies.
then we went to Harajuku, where all the teens hang out. it was extremely extremely crowded. i got tired just looking at the sheer number of pple. shops were kinda small-ish and filled with girls streaming in and out. dont like to shop in places like tt. me likes private space.
last stop was Akihabara where there are tons of electronic goods. one famous thing abt Akihabara is their Maid Cafes. i think there's one in singapore too but tt's just a copycat. asked to take pictures with a few Maids in front of the station giving out flyers but they all said no. i guess its a company policy of some sort. decided to go to the original Maid Cafe and my goodness, they occupied 4 floors. and when we got there, there was a QUEUE to get in which stretched all the way to the stairway. and there was this huge sign tt said no photography. apparently if u want to take photos with the Maids, they will help u to take at a charge of 500Y. damn good at making money. so in the end, i took a photo OF the poster instead. and we didnt eat there cos i know the prices would be jacked up. plus i cant take photos so whats the point.
we ended up at Song Wu instead. the major competitor of Yoshinoya. i got a beef bowl and he ordered the hamburger steak set. tobias thought the guy sitting beside me was insane cos he was only eating an egg. raw if im not wrong. but then his order came so yes, he eats.
decided to chiong down to Maihama Outlet since we had the jr pass. they were having outlet sale tt wkend so i thought we got lucky. but we didnt end up with a single buy so yeah. i headed straight for agnes b but cldnt find any nice bag. dont want to settle for a not-very-nice one just for the sake of buying one. looked at coach wallets too and concluded the design isnt tt nice afterall. i think perhaps the whole point of carrying a branded good is just for the brand. i dont think it serves any additional purpose really. but tt being said, i still really really really like the agnes b voyage white bag i saw at odaiba.
went back to Ikebukuro for an early dinner but there was a queue at Bomb. at 5pm. u can imagine how good their food is. queued for a while before deciding to come back after my perm. rushed to Allure to find tt they were all fully occupied so we had to wait. they passed us some hair style books and we started flipping but in the end, i guess the hair stylist would know best so i decided i would leave it all to him.
my funky hairstylist came. thank God he's quite friendly and doesn mind the fact tt we speak little japanese. after almost half an hour of gesturing and communicating in all sorts of ways (including writing in kanji), i finally got started on my digital perm. assistant came over to wash my hair. their chair is like uber cool. u can actually sit upright on it then it kinda like tilts behind so u dont have to sit up and lie down when getting your hair washed.
assistant tried to make conversation. i barely managed. when applying the water treatment for me (which consists of spraying a kind of vapour from this brush-like device), he warned "too hot, tell me!" so some of them do actually speak a little english! then it was time for my cut. and aftertt i got hooked up onto the perm machine. but it was tedious work preparing for it. there were 2 stylists attending to me. one would prepare the styrofoam, the rubber band and the paper while the other would actually do the curls for me.
i was stuck under that machine for less than an hour. during which my hairstylist kept me company by making small talk. i really had fun even though half the time i didnt know what he was saying. i tried to ask him questions too, like abt maintenance, shampoo and i managed. barely. but it was fun. he asked how long are we gng to be in japan. i told him one month. but he thought it was one week and he was wondering how on earth did we manage to visit so many places at different ends of japan in such a short period of time. only toward the end he clarified what one month meant. and i had to tell him 4 weeks = 1 month then he gotit.
i can write on and on abt what we talked abt or what i attempted to communicate to him but it would take far too long. in the end, my procedure dragged on to way past their closing time but they still stayed and weren't in a rush at all. i really think their service is top grade. and even though they were all tired frm a long day's work, they still obliged when tobias asked for a group photo together. the ultra kawaii receptionist is the most pitiful cos i think she was standing throughout the day. she is like super cute and nice!
actually i was worried sick cos tobias hasnt returned back to the salon when they were drying my hair. i was wondering what on earth happened to him. i have no cash. i have no passport. i dont even have my jr pass with me. i cant pay them and i cant get anywhere. but thank God he turned up all sweaty and panting. turned out tt he actually went back to Super Hotel to pick up our luggage and transported them down to our hotel for tonight at Ueno. he single-handedly carried TWO luggages, a big bag of shopping with shoes and clothes inside, plus his own backpack. and according to him, the Yamanote line broke down so he had to transfer to the subway in order to get to Ueno. his sweat soaked through his singlet and everyone was avoiding the crazy sweating guy who ran all the way with luggages and bags. (he ran so he cld make it back to the salon in time)
all this just so tt i wldnt have to go back to Super Hotel after doing my perm to fetch the luggage and drag it all the way to the station, take train, then drag to Cube Hotel. carrying all tt stuff is no mean feat. esp when u still have to retrieve your jr pass, go past the gantry, up the stairs, etc. i was quite speechless when he told me he did all that. who else on earth would do all this for me? i really really really appreciate it. its all bcos of him we're in japan once again. its all bcos of him we have a fun-filled month without any trouble with accomodation or transport. its all bcos of him i got to enjoy my Bomb dinner and travel to Ueno without dragging a luggage. thank u so much for all u've done.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Day 26
Second last day before our precious 21-day JR Pass expires. We had completely gotten used to the convenience of having it, punching in and out of stations and hopping on onto random Shinkansens like taking MRT. To fully utilize the JR pass, we decided to head down to the famous Mount Fuji, even though the weather forecast wasn't too optimistic - cloudy. And one can only see Mt Fuji's tip on a clear, cloudless day. We still went ahead nontheless, just so that we won't be regretting it in the future.
Yamanote line to Shinjuku, changed train to Otsuki, and then we had to change to the private Fuji line. There was a big crowd at the ticketing office, and everyone was anxious as the next train would depart in 5 minutes. They won't accept credit cards however, so I had no choice but to fish out the last few big notes hidden in my secret compartment as inconspicuously as possible. We bought the return train + ropeway package, thinking that it'd save us some money, but it turned out to be a big mistake on hindsight.
We hopped on to the cute train with different versions of Mt Fuji on it:
The cabins were spacious and seats had plenty of leg space, so much so that we could easily stretch out our legs without even touching the seats in front. The windows were huge as well, but unfortunately dirty too, so the scenery along the way turned out to be a tad greyish. We made a brief stop at Fuji-Q theme park, where everyone marveled at the "Iijanaika", a new roller coaster that featured crazy spins and dips. After seeing the insane slopes, Grace was glad that we chose not to visit the Fuji-Q.
It was upon reaching the Towadako Lake terminal that we panicked, having realised that we were supposed to go to Gotemba outlet later in the afternoon, and thus we didn't need the return train trip. It took quite a while for us to find two Caucasian ladies who eagerly snapped up our tickets at an absurdly low price. After settling that, we set off for the ropeway, but got lost halfway through as the map provided at the JR station was anything but detailed/useful. We had to intercept a poor lady who seemed to be rushing somewhere for directions. When we almost reached our destination, i made a blunder and made us climb up a steep slope that led to the CARPARK of the ropeway station rather than the actual station. Grumbling and throwing her arms in the air in exasperation, Grace made a little fuss before I coaxed her into walking down the slope again and up the other way to the ropeway station proper.
The ropeway station didn't appear too new, and the little cabins were at least a decade old. It had a funny name though, called the Mt Kachi Kachi ropeway. Legend has it that once upon a time, there were an evil beaver and a good rabbit. The beaver stole from the farmer, and the rabbit promised to avenge the farmer. On the first attempt, when rabbit and beaver went into the forest to gather firewood (dun ask me why), rabbit set fire to the firewood on beaver's back, scorching the latter but didn't kill it. On the second attempt rabbit succeeded in killing the beaver, but the method was forgotten (by us). These "legends" were written on the back of the ropeway tickets, and there were figurines of the animals at the station and at the mountain top observatory.
The view on the ropeway was breathtaking, the Towadako lake looked truly magnificent as we climbed further up into the air. Unfortunately Grace left our Vivita wide-angle lens camera at the hotel, so we could only try to snap a few pictures with our canon ixus. The end product could not do justice to the scenery at all.
Once we reached the top, we rushed to see Mt Fuji. But there wasn't any to be seen. The entire top portion of Mt Fuji was obscured by clouds. We could only make out the outline of the mountain, far from what we had expected. Disappointed, we tried to stay for a while and see if the clouds would be blown away, but nothing much changed after 20 minutes. While more Caucasians were camping out in the hope of the sky clearing up, we headed back downhill to catch the bus to Gotemba Outlet, the second largest outlet in Japan. Along the way, we heard a familiar tune - the one that was played at the junction between Hakata station and our Comfort Hotel when the pedestrians were crossing. Hearing that tune brought back fond memories, and we could hardly believe that we had barely 3.5 days left in Japan.
Long bus ride to Gotemba, and then a shuttle bus to the Outlet itself. Gotemba outlet was HUGE. It was divided into the eastern and the western district, each big enough to house an entire outlet park on its own. There were plenty of recreational facilities and parks along the way, and it even had its own Ferris wheel. Madness. Land is free here.
We headed over to the western district to fetch some lunch first, and after much walking around, we settled for this stall where you pay 990 yen for a plate, on which you can put as much food as you can. The guys before me made a huge pile of meat and veg, while I did a fair job with hamburger patties and a spread of other dishes. In retrospect I could have done better by alternating layers of hamburger patties with layers of rice, and emerge with a ridiculously huge pile, but that might have been a little too blatant =P Being poor folks we shared the plate between us, and were still a little hungry after it.
Then we headed to the Creamery, where they serve an interesting variety of custom-made mashed icecream sundaes. And the staff sang too!! Every now and then they'd follow the prompting of the lead girl and go "Yokoso~!!" or "Dozo~!!", before starting on a cute little song, ranging from Disney songs to Japanese children's songs. Grace's eyes were sparkling as she adored such songs, and they even had beautiful harmonizing mixed in as well. At the end of one song they ended off with "Dong dong~!!" in such a cute, nasal voice that'd give you goosebumps. The sundaes were delicious (and expensive too), but the atmosphere was terrific.
We didn't have much success shopping at Gotemba. Grace saw a nice Samsonite suitcase going for a special price of only 180SGD, but she dropped the thought of buying it after a phonecall to her dad. The GAP was thoroughly raided by the time we reached (almost everyone we saw in Gotemba carried a GAP shopping bag), so we didn't find anything satisfactory. At the end, we settled for another serving of Creamery icecream, before taking shuttle bus + local train + shinkansen + yamanote line back to Ikebukuro.
It was already 9+ pm when we reached Nobunaga, our 4th favourite ramen shop. We didn't see the Hideaki Takizawa look-alike staff that helped us last time, but we managed to figure out how to order via the vending machine ourselves. Grace got a regular bowl while I got a large bowl, and we both added extra charsiew, veg and egg. Everyone around us had upsized bowls with all toppings too, so we were actually eating the least amongst them. We had two different soup bases, both tasted fantastic, and this time we order hot noodle rather than the cold ones that we got last year, so our soups didn't get cold halfway through the meal. It's incredible how such a simple combination of soup and noodles could be so delicious. Full and satisfied, we headed back to hotel, barely 50m away from Nobunaga.
Second last day before our precious 21-day JR Pass expires. We had completely gotten used to the convenience of having it, punching in and out of stations and hopping on onto random Shinkansens like taking MRT. To fully utilize the JR pass, we decided to head down to the famous Mount Fuji, even though the weather forecast wasn't too optimistic - cloudy. And one can only see Mt Fuji's tip on a clear, cloudless day. We still went ahead nontheless, just so that we won't be regretting it in the future.
Yamanote line to Shinjuku, changed train to Otsuki, and then we had to change to the private Fuji line. There was a big crowd at the ticketing office, and everyone was anxious as the next train would depart in 5 minutes. They won't accept credit cards however, so I had no choice but to fish out the last few big notes hidden in my secret compartment as inconspicuously as possible. We bought the return train + ropeway package, thinking that it'd save us some money, but it turned out to be a big mistake on hindsight.
We hopped on to the cute train with different versions of Mt Fuji on it:
The cabins were spacious and seats had plenty of leg space, so much so that we could easily stretch out our legs without even touching the seats in front. The windows were huge as well, but unfortunately dirty too, so the scenery along the way turned out to be a tad greyish. We made a brief stop at Fuji-Q theme park, where everyone marveled at the "Iijanaika", a new roller coaster that featured crazy spins and dips. After seeing the insane slopes, Grace was glad that we chose not to visit the Fuji-Q.
It was upon reaching the Towadako Lake terminal that we panicked, having realised that we were supposed to go to Gotemba outlet later in the afternoon, and thus we didn't need the return train trip. It took quite a while for us to find two Caucasian ladies who eagerly snapped up our tickets at an absurdly low price. After settling that, we set off for the ropeway, but got lost halfway through as the map provided at the JR station was anything but detailed/useful. We had to intercept a poor lady who seemed to be rushing somewhere for directions. When we almost reached our destination, i made a blunder and made us climb up a steep slope that led to the CARPARK of the ropeway station rather than the actual station. Grumbling and throwing her arms in the air in exasperation, Grace made a little fuss before I coaxed her into walking down the slope again and up the other way to the ropeway station proper.
The ropeway station didn't appear too new, and the little cabins were at least a decade old. It had a funny name though, called the Mt Kachi Kachi ropeway. Legend has it that once upon a time, there were an evil beaver and a good rabbit. The beaver stole from the farmer, and the rabbit promised to avenge the farmer. On the first attempt, when rabbit and beaver went into the forest to gather firewood (dun ask me why), rabbit set fire to the firewood on beaver's back, scorching the latter but didn't kill it. On the second attempt rabbit succeeded in killing the beaver, but the method was forgotten (by us). These "legends" were written on the back of the ropeway tickets, and there were figurines of the animals at the station and at the mountain top observatory.
The view on the ropeway was breathtaking, the Towadako lake looked truly magnificent as we climbed further up into the air. Unfortunately Grace left our Vivita wide-angle lens camera at the hotel, so we could only try to snap a few pictures with our canon ixus. The end product could not do justice to the scenery at all.
Once we reached the top, we rushed to see Mt Fuji. But there wasn't any to be seen. The entire top portion of Mt Fuji was obscured by clouds. We could only make out the outline of the mountain, far from what we had expected. Disappointed, we tried to stay for a while and see if the clouds would be blown away, but nothing much changed after 20 minutes. While more Caucasians were camping out in the hope of the sky clearing up, we headed back downhill to catch the bus to Gotemba Outlet, the second largest outlet in Japan. Along the way, we heard a familiar tune - the one that was played at the junction between Hakata station and our Comfort Hotel when the pedestrians were crossing. Hearing that tune brought back fond memories, and we could hardly believe that we had barely 3.5 days left in Japan.
Long bus ride to Gotemba, and then a shuttle bus to the Outlet itself. Gotemba outlet was HUGE. It was divided into the eastern and the western district, each big enough to house an entire outlet park on its own. There were plenty of recreational facilities and parks along the way, and it even had its own Ferris wheel. Madness. Land is free here.
We headed over to the western district to fetch some lunch first, and after much walking around, we settled for this stall where you pay 990 yen for a plate, on which you can put as much food as you can. The guys before me made a huge pile of meat and veg, while I did a fair job with hamburger patties and a spread of other dishes. In retrospect I could have done better by alternating layers of hamburger patties with layers of rice, and emerge with a ridiculously huge pile, but that might have been a little too blatant =P Being poor folks we shared the plate between us, and were still a little hungry after it.
Then we headed to the Creamery, where they serve an interesting variety of custom-made mashed icecream sundaes. And the staff sang too!! Every now and then they'd follow the prompting of the lead girl and go "Yokoso~!!" or "Dozo~!!", before starting on a cute little song, ranging from Disney songs to Japanese children's songs. Grace's eyes were sparkling as she adored such songs, and they even had beautiful harmonizing mixed in as well. At the end of one song they ended off with "Dong dong~!!" in such a cute, nasal voice that'd give you goosebumps. The sundaes were delicious (and expensive too), but the atmosphere was terrific.
We didn't have much success shopping at Gotemba. Grace saw a nice Samsonite suitcase going for a special price of only 180SGD, but she dropped the thought of buying it after a phonecall to her dad. The GAP was thoroughly raided by the time we reached (almost everyone we saw in Gotemba carried a GAP shopping bag), so we didn't find anything satisfactory. At the end, we settled for another serving of Creamery icecream, before taking shuttle bus + local train + shinkansen + yamanote line back to Ikebukuro.
It was already 9+ pm when we reached Nobunaga, our 4th favourite ramen shop. We didn't see the Hideaki Takizawa look-alike staff that helped us last time, but we managed to figure out how to order via the vending machine ourselves. Grace got a regular bowl while I got a large bowl, and we both added extra charsiew, veg and egg. Everyone around us had upsized bowls with all toppings too, so we were actually eating the least amongst them. We had two different soup bases, both tasted fantastic, and this time we order hot noodle rather than the cold ones that we got last year, so our soups didn't get cold halfway through the meal. It's incredible how such a simple combination of soup and noodles could be so delicious. Full and satisfied, we headed back to hotel, barely 50m away from Nobunaga.
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