… and the holiday continues

The next day after we touched down in Singapore, we proceed to Universal Studio. I felt that we have picked the best day to come. The place is almost empty! Imagine that you don’t have to queue for any attractions! And that all the characters are out to take pics with you? The most worthwhile $66 we paid for! Hehe..


The Panda is so fluffy ^^

After the whole day in Universal Studio, we had dinner at Baits before going back to home. I was all wet due to the Dino’s ride, and not feeling very well at night. After some consideration, I cancelled my Thursday flight back to Medan. I don’t want to go back and just spreading virus around my family. Good bye Nasi Padang :’( Good bye Nasi Goreng Pekantan :’( My Sate Padang :’( (and good bye $80 for the rescheduling fee. Haha..) I decided that it might be the best for me... as I have tons of stuff to do in SG too (including updating my abandoned blog) Plus the fact that I need to be fit to embrace my two-week-stack of work next week :)

On the last day of my brother in SG, we celebrated princess Aurelie b’day one day in advance, and then went to City hall for the last stop. Well, I sort of picking the wrong day for City Hall. Almost all the routes are inaccessible, thanks to the upcoming F1. We’re stuck in the traffic for so long, and it took forever to get a taxi. All in all, we still managed to accomplish our mission of seeing esplanade, touching fountain of wealth, having Indian’s fish head curry, buying some cloths, getting a digital frame, and reaching back hotel on time for the airport :)


Happy Birthday Princess Aurelie!


I can’t get away from Indian food!

The check-in in airport is a thrilling moment for all of us. With the luggage allowance of only 40 kg (for 2 people), my dear brother have at least 90 kg of luggage in total. Don’t ask me what they have bought. Haha.. Thanks God, the flight is not full on that day, and they meet a very kind two guys assisting them. Plus the charm of the princess, the luggage passed the check without overweight penalty. What a relief! I love Singapore Airlines! :D Muach.


… Till we meet again!

After the check-in, we have a goodbye hug and they went in to the departure hall, and I went to bugis for dinner (later on, I learnt that they again bought some perfume + liquor + food in the departure hall. Hah). Winson and I went to Nando’s for dinner, and then going back to Suntec because we left the thumbdrive in Harvey Norman when we tested the digital frame. The journey to and from Suntec was a nightmare due to the F1 preparation. I didn’t really want to remember it. I’m really sorry for all the troubles :( We started at 8.30 and reach back home only at almost 11pm.


First time at Nando’s! Love the peri-peri sauce :D

Thursday finally marks the real holiday for me :p I slept until 12 and started to tidy up my stuff through out the day. In addition, I did some laundry and swept off some dust from my blog. Haha. At night, we watch Ip Man 3, which was quite a nice movie, comparable to it's first and sequel.

Friday, I again slept until 12 (that’s the real me!) then start to mess around with pictures (burning, zipping, resizing, picking, sending, etc) and blog about the Japan trip. I washed my blanket but alas, it was raining hard and failed to dry T_T for night movie session, we went for Liar Game! Finally :D We were guessing from the very beginning that the 13th round will result in all red apples, and it really did. I like the ending where the old uncle actually returned the 1000 yen to her!

After the movie, I decided to tidy up my iPhone address book (which was one destroyed during the iphone upgrade) and didn’t stop until… 5am =_=’’ After cleaning up my contacts, I was left with 185 numbers which I deemed required. That’s all for my 23 years of life? The painful point was to put the birthday date in each of the contacts. Ha! Now I won’t forget any birthday! :D

Saturday, I slept until 12pm, then cleaned up the room & toilet before going for shower. It was raining when we wanted to go for lunch, so we decided to go for instant noodle :p after lunch, I felt sleepy (maybe due to medication), and slept until 5pm =.=’. I can’t believe how piggy I’m! There is no much time left for Saturday, so I just sent a mail to my sister, then went to Suntec to experience the sounds of F1. Man it was a torture for the ears *.* After dinner + some shopping, we came back and in time for the qualifying round (Thanks, Channel 5!) I like the TV seat much better, without rain and the sound. When the F1 is done, we continued with Big Bang Theory Season 3 (how I love September!) And slept after forwarding some photos to mum and dad.

Sunday, I woke up at 7.30 AM. Not that I'm finally enlighten for good sleeping habit and redeem myself overnight, but for a 2-month-planned ice cream making lesson! After doing some laundry, I headed to Tom’s Pallate for the lesson :) It was a 2-hrs lesson. 25 minutes of demo, 25 minutes of trying out, and another hour for tasting :D I like the last part the best :D haha... My lesson learnt? Making ice cream is not easy... and not cheap also (especially when you have funny flavour) So stop complaining about the price of the ice cream! After the class, we went to Ayam Penyet for lunch, then come back home at almost 4pm.


Despite the word 'common', I have none of the ingredients / utensils. Not my piece of cake T_T

I feel like sleeping now, but if I sleep... I don't know if I ever gonna wake up anymore today ><... so maybe I will just hold it until early evening... hmm.. which movie should I pick now? :P

F1 Final today!
ED

Nippon!

As the flight is scheduled for 8.15 AM, I had to book a cab for 5.30. It cost me a total of 35 bucks to reach airport T_T The rest left from hotel and reached airport earlier than me. After checking in and everything, we flew off on time. Despite feeling all sleepy, I still managed to do my ritual to snap some pics :)

I was expecting that they would have “Liar Game” in the in-flight entertainment… unfortunately they don’t :( maybe it’s not considered the latest anymore. I watched a Japanese movie “My darling is a foreigner”, which successfully made me cried on the very last scenes. Sob. It was quite a nice movie. After that, I also watched 50 first dates, which only rated as OK for me. For the 7 hours flight, I was disappointed that they only served one meal T_T I was expecting two! Our lunch and dinner are not provided, and we ended up eating instant noodle in the Narita Airport while waiting for our connection flight to Sapporo. The first day ended after a dinner at MOS burger and checked in to Com’s New Chitose Hotel.


At Narita Airport

Second day started with a visit to fruit farm to pick grapes! The weather was hot and the grapes were... sour v_v we’re allowed to eat as much as we want, but most people stopped after 10 mins. It was too sour! Soon after that, we proceed to the lunch place, where we had the Japanese set lunch and tried out the live crab. It really looks like the crab stick (which we can get from fair price with the price of 2 bucks for 2 dozen), but for this one, the taste is really sweeet!


The leg part of the live crab really looks like the crab stick

After lunch, we walked to Otaru Canal, which is a must visit place for tourist… The weather is 30 degrees that day… and my parents are staring at me for giving them the wrong information (“Mum, Dad! Remember to bring long sleeves and coat as the weather will goes around 15 – 25 degrees!”). To be honest, there is nothing much to see… it only looks like a big drain ^^; I later learnt that the place is best visited at night, when all the lighting is on. Here is a night picture for comparison.


Otaru Canal (Day)


Otaru Canal (Night)

Next, we went to Otaru Music Box Museum, which is a 2 storey villa filled with millions of orgels. I saw the same music box which my sister brought to me few years ago! Haha.. After walking along the street, we stopped at the (so said) famous cheese cake in town. We ordered two slices of “Le Tao” cheese cake, and yes, the cream was awesome!


Otaru Music Box Museum


LeTao cheese cake!

For dinner, we went for buffet BBQ at Miyanomori and tried out the famous kobe beef. It simply melts in your mouth. Nyummy! By the time we finished the second day, I predicted that I was already 2 kg heavier.


The BBQ dinner

Third day, we went for Sake factory, Nan San (directly translated as “Man’s Mountain” haha) and continued with ramen lunch at Ramen Village. The soup is not as tasty as the one in Singapore, and I feel that the serving is also mediocre. Not sure if I’m too used with the one in SG, or the stall was simply not the best? My bro said the same, that the ramen in Australia is saltier and somehow tastier than the one we had here.


@ Nan San


The Ramen

After lunch, we proceed for the Asahiyama Zoo. It was told that the architects of the zoo actually went to Singapore Zoo to study the structure before they kicked off with the project. How cool is that! The Zoo was pretty similar to the one in Singapore, except for… hmm.. porcupine? It was quite funny that they have even chicken and hen in the zoo ^^;


Asahiyama Zoo

Next! After the Sounkyo Gorge waterfalls, We proceed to our hotel – Sounkyo Kanko Hotel, which is famous for the hot spring bath. Don’t want to miss anything that I have paid for, I went for it even though it means I have to go all naked T_T I feel quite embarrassed at the first time, but hey, all the others all the same too. I am glad that at least I don’t know anyone in the spring bath. I don’t know how to talk to people who have seen me / I have seen naked ^^; We slept on tatami on that day.


Dinner before the onsen =D

Fourth day, we went back to Sapporo, and made some stops in between. We stop at the – so called – “the central of Hokkaido”, then to Farm Tomita, then lunch, then to jam factory & Anpanman’s world.


The guide on how to use Japanese toilet XD


The flowers at Farm Tomita


For those who didn't know: This is Anpamnan. Hehe

After a long journey, we had our crab feast at Miyabi Restaurant, then proceed to the “Red District” area for a quick walk before going back to our hotel at “APA” (stands for Always Pleasant Amenities” haha..)

Crab Feast!

The Red District…

Fifth day was a shopping day. We went to the Ishiya chocolate factory, which produced the most famous chocolate around Hokkaido. The place was made similar to Disneyland castle, well, maybe not that much, but around 10% of it. Haha.. it showcase all its chocolates, which the cheapest one goes to 3000 yen =.=’’ expensive! And no free sampling some more! Yet everyone is buying like it’s free of charge.

Next, we proceed to Asahi production site, where they served free beer, free snacks, and even free juices! By greediness, I drank one glass of the beer… and my day went down the hill from there +_+ I’m weak with liquor but always refuse to acknowledge it. I almost faint during lunch, and can’t really enjoy the rest of the tour day. We went to “two man street”, then continued with Tokeidai Clock, before finally went for shopping spree at Susukino shopping district & Underground shopping mall.

The last pic @ Asahi Beer Factory before I go all dizzy +_+


Mac everywhere!

Sixth day, we proceed to Tokyo. After 4 days of relaxing tour in Hokkaido, I felt that Tokyo is so messy. Our first stop was Asakusa Kannon temple… which was overly crowded +_+. After lunch, we went to Tokyo Tower. It took 90 mins to queue for the ticket!@#$. Next, we went to Ginza districts for our shopping before our having our last sukiyaki dinner around that area


Crowded Asakusa Temple T_T Why japanese are all so religious!

Tokyo Tower!

Ginza District :) The famous diagonal crossing :D

Sukiyaki buffet dinner @ Nabezo. Very nyummy with the raw egg coating

Seventh day is all about 7 hours flight back to SG :) I completed Karate Kid (1984 version, which is somehow better than the remake) and Die Hard 4.0 along the way.

Despite all the complaints, it was so much fun there! 2 things I find interesting from Japan:
1. The brand of amenities in hotel: They are all famous brands like Shiseido and Kose! Wow!


Kose for everthing @ Sounkyo Kanko Hotel

2. The toilets! One thing I can’t help to notice is… it’s geared with flushing sound device too. What for? It’s to cover the sound of urination, because Japanese is embarrassed of being heard by others during urination.. what is that =.=’’


Sometimes it's easier to find the flush sound device than the real flusher.

Ok, it marks the end of the travel log. I have two thousand pics which I don't think I can finish upload...

Sayonara Nippon!

ED

I'm back! :D

I missed blogging so much! There are so many things happened after my last post. My holiday has come and gone, and here I’m alone at home with medication and a box of tissue. I hate flu :( *sneeze.

My last day at office before the holiday was filled with excitement (and it’s not only me – everyone else was pretty much excited with the upcoming long weekend) I intentionally finished my work the day before as I know well that I won’t be able to concentrate much on the last day. Once I got a text from my brother telling me that they arrived in sg, my mind started to go somewhere else.

Anyway! Due to the weekly 9pm call, I still have to stay in the office until 11pm :( Thanks God that I still have my best buddies to have dinner with me before the call :) After a nice chat and jokes and threaten to bring gift from Japan, I went back to office while the rest went off to enjoy their long weekend. No I’m not jealous, my longer weekend was waiting!

On Friday, my new job started. SG Tour guide! I’m… below average T_T I wake up at 8am, which is earlier than my normal weekday time, but still considered late for a tour guide. My guests woke up at 5am! (since they are still adjusting to the time difference). How can I beat it? I took a cab to their hotel and arrived at around 9am. After some hugging, we went for a breakfast. I proposed boon tong kee, since it was near by. But then... it was still closed when we reached there! who knows they only opened at 11am! (bad uninformed tour guide. Ehem.) We then switched to a bakut teh store near by, which was only mediocre :(


First meal in Singapore!

After the breakfast, we proceed to bugis for some shopping and praying :) We completed Bugis Junction, Sim Lim Square, Bugis Market & Kwan Im temple, with lunch at Crystal Jade La Mien and dessert at Ah Chiu in between. As the baby was not feeling very well, we decided to pack some food for dinner. I went home after the – very – filling and sinful dinner.


Boon Tong Kee Chicken Rice + Prawn Roll + KFC + Rojak + Wu Xiang

The same thing repeats on the same day. I woke up only at 8am, and they are waiting for me at the café when I arrived =.=; I joined them for breakfast, then proceed to Chinatown for a walk. The weather was very hot and they weren’t used to it. My princess Aurelie face was redder than apple. Pitying her, we went to mall-based spots after the lunch: Orchard!! We spent almost whole day at 313 Somerset, then went to Clarkquay for the night scenary. It was extremely crowded that that time, most probably due to the long weekend + Mid Autumn celebration.


Chinatown filled with Mid Autumn Festival Decoration

Sunday, we proceed to Zoo. Thanks God the weather was alright. After a 10 mins scary fish spa (and my feet didn’t feel any smoother after that!!) we explored the zoo for almost the whole day. it doesn’t change much from when I visited it 5 years ago. Yet, I noticed that construction is in progress for the new attraction: River Safari! Once done with the zoo, we went back hotel for some refreshing, and then proceed to Chili crab at Esplanade. My bro and sis keep telling me of how much they wanted to eat chili crab, but in the end they forced me to eat 50% of it =.=’ I feel cheated!


Chili Crab!

Monday, my parents arrived! :D I went to pick them up, checked in to the hotel, then joined the rest at vivocity. We had lunch at food republic, where my bro has his padang cuisine fresh from Medan. I was literally drooling when looking at it. After a nice lunch, we went to Marina Bay Sands. I wanted to bring them to the sky park, but alas it was closed due to private event. Then I directed them to go to the casino, but alas my bro forgot his passport T_T that’s what we called "no fate". In the end, we just walked around, and then went for dinner at Founder Bakut teh, before proceeding to Resort World’s Casino. My bro and dad spent some half hour in the casino, and then called it a day.


Everyone @ Vivocity :)

Tuesday is the day we have been looking for. Japan trip!! I shall continue the story in the next post before this getting too long :)

I want another holiday!
ED

4 Days!

This week has been a bit monotonous for me… I skipped my exercise for the second week in a row… no one to blame but my own project team who booked the meeting room for the whole two weeks. Aaa! I need exercise!

Last week, I received lots of (honest) feedbacks from friends that I need to watch my diet. Motivated by my ex-flatmate who slim down by at least 10 kg within few months, I decided to control a bit of my diet this week.

Day 1 and Day 2 were pretty good. I survived with some bread for breakfast, proper rice meal for lunch, and a slice of bread for dinner. Day 3 onwards… Well… I can still remember how sinful were the pasta mania’s bake rice, white dog café’s burger, subway’s meal, hog’s breath café’s salmon set, KFC’s buddy meal… and the list goes on ~.~

So, after a week of failed diet... I didn’t know what to say when my mum asked if I had done enough dieting to prepare my stomach for Japan. Aaaa. I don’t know why am I so weak when it comes to food :( And I don’t know if the world is conspiring against me having sports. Even when I’m fully motivated to swim today morning, it decided to rain until afternoon.

Still in the midst of 7th month of lunar year, I don’t feel that gloomy & anxious anymore. After the 15th of the month, the atmosphere now is more of the celebratory mood. Mid Autumn Festival is coming! The decoration is all up in Chinatown. There is no restaurant which didn’t offer moon cake. I didn’t have any particular favorite maker, but I love the double egg yolk moon cake the most (Conclusion: I like the yolk but not the cake… hehe)

Last thing I want to mention about food for this week, we managed to try the most famous Yong Tau Fu in Chinatown this weekend. It's Xiu Ji Ikan Bilis Yong Tou Fu. The amount of fish paste is really generous for the price of $3. Needless to say, I loved the food! :) If only it's not that hard to find...

The Yong Tou Fu - My pic vs the professional's pic... =.='

This week, we watched a Hong Kong movie: Triple Tap. The title reminds me of the “Tap Tap revenge” game in iPhone, but this is definitely different. Even though the movie has actually very little connection with the title, I must say that it’s a really great movie! Daniel Wu and Louis Kho are good! :D

Talking about games, I’m currently playing “God’s Finger”, a cute brainless game where you have followers worshipping you. Hahaha… It’s pretty nice, except for the loading time… Maybe it’s time to upgrade? I can’t help drooling while watching Steve Job presenting the new iPod series… Luv the iPod nano the most!


I melt seeing these candies...

Alright.. on top of all… My brother is coming this Thursday :D I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I never succeed being a tourguide… but I will try my best ;) Mum and Dad will be joining next week… and we’ll be flying off to Japan on 14th Sept. As the tour said it’s not easy to get internet connection in Japan, I might be abandoning my blog for a while…

Anyway! With everything being super nice but expensive, if anyone knows what good to get from Japan, tell me!

Dwipin, bon voyage and wishing you all the best!
ED