♥ shan 杉 signed off at 11:45 AM

JAPAN 2006!

just came back two days ago (:
spent the past week at Mainland Japan! went to places like Tokyo, DisneySea, Mount Fuji, Toyohashi and Universal Studios ^^

pictures pictures!! okay i repaired my videocamera so there's videos too :D

anyway our group got about five families la. plus two tourguides Lily and Julie (:
Lily can speak English, Chinese, Hokkien and Japanese. cool huh!

and look at who me and my sis brought to japan!

Nicky aka KiKi the monkey is mine! and Prince William the frog is hers. yaye!

DAY ONE: CITY TOUR (ASAKUSA TEMPLE, TOKYO TOWER, SUKIYAKI & YUKATA)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F7jK_5f2OA

mainly walking along the streets la. it's quite fun cos it's not hot.. rather quite
cold. heh.



Japan has loads of vending machines.. cos hiring workers to sell stuff very ex ma. so everything has vending machines. drinks, ice cream, food etc.
some shops have a machine where you put in money and get a ticket of the food you want. then bring the ticket to the counter to redeem your food.. lol

at Asakusa Temple there's this big thing where you put the joss sticks.. there's loads of smoke la.
Lily says it brings good luck to wherever you put the smoke. like if you put it in your pocket will get you more fortune, put it on your body you'll get a better figure (o.O)
so Trix went crazy and tried stuffing smoke into her pocket. hahah! actually i dont know how you put smoke anywhere since it's gas particles (o.O)

moved on to Tokyo Tower which looks like the Eiffel Tower. it's really tall! just a little bit taller than the Eiffel Tower. cos Japan wants to be the best in everything hahah!

Trix took this nice picture for me (:



in the video there's this "Christmas Tree" made out of ribbons.
when i first saw it i was like thinking so kiamsiap.. use ribbons to make a christmas tree..
but actually you're supposed to get a ribbon and tie it on yourself for goodluck (:



so i got goodluck!!

SUKIYAKI!
foodfoodfood!!
a bit like steamboat only the soup base is super salty cos loads of soya sauce. but it's niceeee (: the thing that's different is that you cook the meat and dip it into raw egg and then eat it. cool huh. and it's quite nice actually although im not really fond of raw eggs...

found Yukatas in the hotel room so we tried them on! it's like bathrobes. hahah. and then we went crazy and started camwhoring =/



DAY TWO: DISNEYSEA!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YynpaYQ3VKw



it was super crowded. but i guess DisneyLand would be more crowded...
anyway it was really fun. so different from empty Escape Themepark Singapore has... hahah.
the people there dont actually care if they're close to 20 years old but still act as though they're 12. even 12-year-old Singaporean kids dont do what they do. haha!
they buy clips with Minnie, Mickey or Stitch ears and clip to the sides of their head. so they have more ears! lols. and their popcorn boxes are cute.

Japanese people are also very patient. average queuing time is about 50 to 120 minutes. if it's really long it can go up to 3 hours. and people still queue.. haha. luckily there's a fast pass queue where you get a special ticket so that you dont have to queue with the rest of the crowd. Singaporeans like me obviously take the shorter queue (:

i counted 60 people queuing for a hotdog stand. and it's not the only hotdog stand in the area. but they still queue even though there's so many people queuing (o.O)

the whole outlook of the place is really nice. can take loads of pictures!

the souvenir medallions are everywhere!! it's only 100 yen each. mainly just melting a metal coin and reshaping it. like embossing... i got four ^^

I OFFICIALLY TOOK A ROLLER COASTER THAT GOES 360 DEGREES!
vertically la. those who dont dare can go take the one horizontally.. the carousel xP




evidence of 360 degrees!



i'm as tall as the pyramid!, OPEN SESAME!

DAY THREE: MOUNT FUJI, FUJIKYU HIGHLAND THEMEPARK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGyviVzjBoc

Mount Fuji is really really nice!! i like the scenery (:
and the snow!!
we could only go to the fifth station.. there's about nine. but now winter so it's difficult to go higher ^^



actually it sort of spoilt my image of snow. cos some snow turned into ice. so it was like hard.. i thought it should be soft like clouds =/ okay.. snap out of fantasy :D

anyway Fujikyu Themepark is super crazy.



i didnt sit any of the rides.. cos it was rather scary.. quite tempted to sit though. but it's 1000 yen for one ride. one is the longest coaster. and there's one that lets your legs hang out.

and the scary one is the hairpin thingy that is really vertical o.O i see also scared le =/





anyway Mount Fuji is really far from everything else.. about three hours on the coach to get there...

and i went for hot spring!! natural water from the mountain to the ground and then piped to the hotel. NICEEEEE! although it was really hot. but super shuang. heh (:

we also had KANINABEI.



okay.. seems like a bad hokkien word. LOL! actually already heard many people talking about it. like from jason goh. but it's really funny when you hear the guide keep saying Kaninabei here and there. basically "Kani" is crab. and "Nabei" is soup. so it's like crab soup or crab steamboat :D it's deeeeeelicious!

then we took the bullet train!! it's faster than Singapore's MRT. but it's actually the slowest among the other trains in Japan. cool huh. cant imagine how fast the train would go (:



DAY FOUR: KIYOMIZU TEMPLE, TODAIJI TEMPLE, NARA DEER PARK, SHINSAIBASHI SHOPPING DISTRICT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwAO6MA1Xj4





the big lantern that says Lei Men is very grand (:



then the whole wall of white "buckets" actually contain Japanese Wine - Sake. it's for the New Year :D

seeing the Zhao Cai Mao reminds me of the one in Brigitte's room (:

Kiyomizu Temple is on a hill la.



see the buddha feet imprinted on the rock?



if you see it personally it gives you goodluck (: actually Christians dont believe these stuff.. but im a buddhist! so i do :D

there's also the Love Stone there. two stones about five metres away from each other. if you can walk from the first stone to the second stone with your eyes closed means your true love will appear soon (: but i didnt try it =/ hahah. other people tried la. but nobody managed to reach it..
it's like the Water Maze in Love Magicians ^^

i really like Nara Deer Park! which is also Todaiji Temple. many many deer are just freely roaming about. you can buy food to feed them or just touch them. just anything luh.
we didnt feed them much. just taking pictures (:
kind of scared that they lick me or something =/
have to constantly avoid the massive amount of shit on the floor. cos the deer just shit whenever and wherever they want to. hahah.



at the temple there's a super tall statue of the buddha. then there's this pillar where there's a hole the size of a buddha's nostril. if you can crawl through it, you'll have goodluck.



and i managed to!
actually it's easier than it looks la. it looks super small but i actually went through it (:
see girls. im not THAT fat. hmph..

also went for a Kimono Fashion Show. it's a short modelling show la. some clips of it (:

at night it's Shinsaibashi!! a shopping district-cum-red light district (:
it blends in quite well actually. hahah.

you see loads of shops and suddenly this bright shop which is called "Night Magazine" then there's pictures of pretty girls. that's a brothel. lol lol.
altogether i counted there's about nine to ten brothels. some same name but different branches on the same street.

the funniest thing was i saw this poster thing with many pictures of quite good-looking guys with different hairstyles la.
found it weird why some girls pointed at the picture and giggled weirdly...
then i asked my guide if it was a hairsalon and i malu-ed myself =/
cos it was male prostituition.. im dumb. yes i am.

we had Shabu-Shabu! it's like steamboat (:

quite a nice shopping place. many people. and Japanese people like to dress very elaborately. it's never seen in Singapore. like i can wear shirt and shorts and flops to Orchard. (:

DAY FIVE: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_5ZTrl_QJc

I FINALLY SEE THE HUGE GLOBE AGAIN! yayeness!



chiong-ed for the Spiderman Ride. cos it was popular.



we queued for two hours just for a four minute ride. patient patient. (:

quite worth it though.. cos the ride was good. then we also went to ride Jurassic Park! 25.9m free fall. FUN! sadly it was raining.. so it's like sucky wearing raincoats.. barh.

but the happy thing is that i took pictures with those dressed like cartoon characters!
betty boop, popeye, that bird, marilyn monroe. but didnt take with Shrek :(



i also bought a Pink Panther Pencil! it's niceee! lol lol!
still remembered i watched the hilarious movie with the girls (:

then went over to Hard Rock Cafe and the other shops..



didnt buy anything but ate the very nice Ramen! debiie told me to eat Ramen from Osaka cos it's nice.. and it's deeeelicious!!



anyway.. the Transportation in Japan is very expensive.. one stop of the train is 1500 yen. one stop of the bus is 150 yen.
imagine taking like how many stops from tampines to buona vista everyday? hahahha!! so they ride bicycles... in taiwan there's alot of motorcycles, in japan there's alot of bicycles! and they're not mountain bikes =/


alrights. this post is long enough (: shall end off with the stuff i bought!!
i spent like 5400 yen. which is about $71.28. but quite worth it la. not like all the money spent on one item. but i bought alot for myself (: and also for the girls plus my buddy debbie (((:



I LOVE SANTA!



where's my present? :D

i will never see the shine in your eyes again...

Y