Brief Introduction: This time, we joined our family friends, Dawn's family, for a 5 day vacation in Japan.
We have known each other since the Europe tour 2 years ago.
In August we were already discussing for a family outing in Japan and booked our tickets in September. And pretty soon the day had come....
14th December 1999, 2130H
Finally reached Changi Airport after hours of packing and dinner. Met Dawn and her family a few minutes later and soon after waving goodbye to my dad
(he's not following us to Japan), our local tour guide, Brenda, began to brief us on some important things regarding the tour.
We spent the one hour plus waiting time by window shopping around duty free shops before we boarded the plane to Japan at around 2345H.
Japan15th December 1999, 0645H
Ohaiyo gozaimasu! Welcome to Japan and have a nice day!! Like real....
I was just beginning to enjoy my sleep in the plane when we have to alight.
We had reached Narita Airport near Tokyo and after collecting our luggage, we were in the coach an hour later.
Japan is indeed a very beautiful place, but I just kept falling asleep in the coach as our Japanese tour guide,
Sylvia(actually she's from Hong Kong) kept talking about Japan in her Hong Kong slang Mandrain.
My sister was really good man, as Sylvia kept asking if anyone knows how to say "good morning", "good afernoon" etc in Japanese.
Only my sister knew all the answers, as she had learnt Japanese in Sec 1. Let me use this opportunity to teach you guys some simple Japanese....
Good Morning: Ohaiyo gozaimasu
Good Afternoon: Konninchiwa
Good Evening: Konbunwa
Good Night: Oyasu Minasai
Went to some Japanese Buddhist temples(see right) to pray and bought some goodies from the roadside stalls. Made our way to Ginza by coach(kept dozing off again Zzzz....)
and had a buffet lunch there. The seafood fried rice, salmon sushi and deep fried scallops were absolutely fabulous!!
Too bad my mom was a bit too hesistant about eating the seafood fried rice
(she's allergic to seafood) and by the time she wanted to eat it, there's no fried rice left.
Walked around Ginza for an hour or so, it's just like the Japanese version of Orchard Road.
Sometimes I just could not understand why women can be so energetic whenever it comes to shopping.
Checked into a hotel and had a good hour of sleep before dinner at a crammed 'shophouse' chinese restaurant.
Had some traditional chinese cuisine and I can only say that the seafood was very very nice!!
However I suffered from indigestion a while later so I could not accompany Dawn and her family for another round of shopping.
Had an early rest for next day's activities....
Important: Do not take drinks out from the fridge in any case UNLESS you really want to have a drink. What Sylvia told us was that once a man took out all the drinks from the fridge so that he could take a photo of them. However when he checked out of the hotel he received a super long bill of the drinks that he had "drank". Why?
Reason: There's a sensor behind every can of drinks so the sensor will be activated when a can of drink is removed.
Therefore, in order to save yourself from any trouble do not anyhow remove drinks from the fridge under any consequences.
16th December 1999
Checked out from the hotel and we were ready for Disneyland!
Unfortunately our coach had broken down and we had to leave our luggage in the coach till a replacement comes.
However Sylvia took this opportunity to take us for a ride in the Japanese Metro Transit, which is just like the Singaporean version of MRT.
Tokyo Disneyland was almost the same as the one in Paris, except this time there's more Japanese (haha), more Virtual Reality Shows and rides.
Had lunch at a crowded restaurant and took some pictures with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White.
Went for some shopping and bought some chocolates. Left Disneyland at 4+ and made our way to a traditional Hotel near Mt Fuji, Fujiyama.
The hotel(see right) is traditional in the sense that the floors in the hotel rooms are covered by rush matting tatami. There is no beds as expected in typical urban hotels,
only bed cushions futon being laid out on the tatami for us to sleep. However, Dawn and her sister, Hui-Jie, complained that they have no futon in their room,
only normal beds. Hehe....too bad =P.
Dinner was hot pot and sashimi, and some of us wore traditional Japanese costumes (provided by the hotel) down for dinner.
The dinner was fabulous, except some elderies could not stomach the raw fish and cooked their fish in the soup instead.
Tried some sake as Dawn's father had ordered some. It was so strong that I almost got a nosebleed....
After dinner my mom and sister went for an indoor hot bath which I was reluctant to go at first (probably it was due to the effect of the sake I had).
Called dad and talked for a while. Somehow the effect of the sake was gone and soon it was my turn to go for a hot bath.
Sorry to disappoint you horny perverts again, the hot bath was divided into the male and the female section.
Before you enter the pool, you have to strip (in the changing room of course!!) and place all your clothings into a basket
(which was in turn to be slotted into shelves) and walk into the bathroom naked.
Hehe by the time I went in everybody had left so I had the bathroom all by myself.
The hot water pool inside the bathroom was so boiling hot that it too a long time for me to get used to it....
but once you got used to it you wouldn't want to come up. That's what happened to me,
I kept swimming in the pool until a tour mate of mine (male one) came and asked if I can help him open a bottle.
That was pretty embarrassing, as I had to take the bottle from him naked and tried putting the cap in the water to see if it expands.
Unfortunately it didn't and the tour mate had to ask somebody else for help. Went back to my room soon after and had a good night sleep.
17th December 1999
Breakfast was simply fabulous!! Pot of porridge being warmed under small fire plus sweetened egg roll, grilled salmon and green tea.
My mom enjoyed it so much that she had 3 bowls of porridge. After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and the whole hotel stuff,
including the adorable old lady who served us during dinner and breakfast, waved at us as our coach left the hotel. Sayonara!!
Went up to the 5th level of Mt Fuji (see right), and it was terribly cold. There was too little snow to play with, but the ground was very slippery.
Had to help the ladies move down the slope in order to prevent them from slipping. An hour later we reached Fuji Q Highland, an amusement park near Mt Fuji.
It is the home of the roller coaster with the world's greatest drop, 70m. At first I was pretty on about taking the ride, but somehow I got cold feet and didn't take the ride in the end.
We had lunch there, tepanyaki in which sliced pork, sausages and vegetables were barbecued and eaten with rice. Very delicious indeed.
After lunch we had some rides and bumper car games before we took a bullet train ride to Toyohashi.
Dinner was another buffet, this time at the hotel in Toyohashi. Had a 'night walk' along the streets with my mom and sister, and we saw some schoolgirls visiting game arcades as late as 9+.
Had some green tea before sleeping.
18th December 1999
Checked out from yet another hotel, and that's the start of the second last day of our journey. Time really flies especially when you want it to be slow....
Made our way to Kyoto and watched Stephen Chow's "Shi2 Shen2" in the coach. Reached Kyoto at 12 noon and had lunch at a Chinese Restaurant.
Picked some maple leaves with my sister and Dawn before we took a ride to watch the Kimono show.
Bought some souvenirs and took some photos.
Visited the beautiful Kyoto Palaces and temples. Went to one of the temples and prayed again.
Dranked some 'special water' from cups which have to be sterilised by UV lights for hygiene purposes (see right). Left Kyoto at 4+.
Reached Osaka at 6+. As it was winter, the whole place looked as if it was already 8+.
We had an hour or so of free time, so we went to the Osaka Hard Rock Cafe and bought some shirts.
On our way back we saw a ramen stall and was tempted by the delicious looking ramen.
Hold on, do not pay for the ramen by cash. There's a vendor machine at the side and you have to pay 650 yen (around S$10.50) for a bowl of ramen.
We chose chicken ramen and we bought 2 tickets in exchange for 2 bowls of chicken ramen.
Can you imagine how hygienic Japanese are? No wonder Japan is so clean. It's something that we should learn.
Had dinner soon and it was tempura but couldn't eat much because of the ramen I just ate.
Made our way to another new hotel and made orders for some Japanese goodies like pistachio nuts and dried scallops. Had an early rest for the next day's activities.
19th December 1999
Last day in Japan, kind of sad.... Checked out from the Osaka Hotel and went to Nara Deer Park.
According to Sylvia, Nara was once the capital of Japan, until the year 794, when the capital was relocated in Kyoto.
In the past sayo was known as goodbye, but since the capital was to be relocated, they added nara to sayo to make it sayonara,
meaning goodbye Nara. Hence the word sayonara is the modified version of goodbye.
Bought some food to feed the deers (see right), they were so cute!!
Some deers were so hungry that they kept nibbling on my coat and pestering me for food.
Bought some souvenirs there and had some delicious ramen again. Moved off to Kansai International Airport for our flight back to Singapore.
Bought a G-Shock watch there and took some group photos before boarding the plane.
Played poker and other stuff with my friends on the plane and reached Singapore at 2245H.
Uh uh uh uh uh.... will definitely miss my friends again.