Been about a week since I'm back. Been busy catching up on work and nursing a bout of flu which i suspect is due to me not being used to the hot and humid sg weather... argh.
here's what we did in japan... :)
Day 0 - 7th dec - getting to nihonkoku
went for my jlpt exam at smu in the afternoon. smu pretty well done up, with escalators and security check gates at the ground floor. classroom was big and airy with lots of natural light coming in. seems like a conducive place to study. exam finished at 1800, rushed home for a bath and some last minute packing and off to the airport for checkin. we ended up with JAL flights and we had access to the business class lounge with some food. flight was jal was bearable, but their movie selection wasnt fantastic (i watched the dark knight.. finally... yippee!) and they woke us up at 4am for breakfast. whoever eats breakfast at 4am? nevertheless, the porridge served was quite good.
Day 1 - 8th dec - around tokyo
took limo bus to sunshine city prince hotel in ikebukuro. super far from the jr station. room and bed mediocre. i definitely wont be staying there again. shared the same hotel with mjc band. students are having it good nowadays with these sch trips. bought lake kawaguichi and nikko passes, did some shopping at uniqlo, had lunch buffet at keio plaza hotel, saw tokyo from the tokyo metropolitan govt building (at no charge, haha!)
Day 2 - 9th dec - disneysea
thank goodness for the rain... cos the crowd at disneysea was very little and we had very short waits for the rides. went on indiana jones, journey to the centre of the earth, tower of terror, etc. ok ok la. simple rides haha. the rain and wind on the way back was horrible. our umbrellas were blown backwards and we got drenched... horrible.
Day 3 - 10th dec - move to ueno, hatonosu valley hiking and jieying's arrival.
experienced the morning hr rush when we moved hotels in the morning. an eye opening to the world of sardines. but surprisingly no tempers flared and everyone was calm and courteous... but just crowded... and squashed. hatonosu was very pretty but the hike was horrid. i dun mind hiking if the walkways are well defined. but there was no path! only rocks! upwards is ok, but i got a phobia of going down and this was made worse by the rain yesterday. the rocks were either wet or covered with leaves. thank goodness we made it back safe and sound. met jieying at the train station at night. our foursome is now complete.
Day 4 - 11th dec - disneyland
another day of fun and rides. weather was very good and we had lots of fun. food at disneyland/sea was nice, although a little ex, but was delicious and worth the money. much much much better than wat i eaten the HK disney.
Day 5 - 12th dec - lake kawaguchi
early morning train to lake kawaguchi. mt fuji was majestic and the snow cap covered halfway down the mountain. went to herb hall, made a keychain and hp strap with the dried flowers, mt tenjou, but the sun's glare was very bad at tat time and mt fuji was covered in a mist and we couldnt get good shots. followed by a very delicious houtou lunch and we visited the music forest. later we checked into our ryokan where they enjoyed hot springs bath and we had a sumptous dinner (like those in japan hour, haha!). We met the nice guy who regularly updates the hotel website with mt fuji pics, he showed us many pics of mt fuji which we hv no chance to see. told him how i look forward to seeing his photo updates and he promised to mention my name in his next update, which he really did. see post on dec13th. haha!
Day 6 - 13th dec - lake kawaguchi and shopping
breakfast at ryokan was delicious. yikes! eating all the way. then we went to the natural living centre for jam making. now i know how to make jam! hmmm, alternative career perhaps? hahha. we went back to tokyo and went omotesando for shopping. jieying bought a blue label wallet which she is gonna use for the next 10 yrs.
Day 7 - 14th dec - harajuku, asakusa, odaiba
shopping, shopping and more shopping. and it rained again... the rain stopped at 2plus when we were at asakusa. took the "himiko" water bus to odaiba. 1st time seeing tokyo from the river and the tokyo sunset.... nice nice! went to a new shopping centre at lalaport - converted from an old shipyard. found a bargain for watches at 1000yen (16 bucks) each. heehee.
Day 8 - 15th dec - nikko
woohoo! snow! lucky for the heavy rain yesterday and nikko is covered in snow and we had clear blue skies... woots! went chuzenji temple, kegon falls, delicioous yuba udon lunch, made a snowman (keke!), sanbonmatsu plateau and we had a small snow-covered hill just nice for romping and snow-angel making. yeah! lodging was at la revage pension, with hot bath and dinner was terrific with sweet home grown vege. hv nvr tasted such sweet vege before!
Day 9 - 16th dec - nikko, strawberry picking
visited the world heritage sites of toushogu and rinnai temple. then went strawberry picking.. we got a good recommendation from the taxi driver who brought us to a nearer strawberry park. japanese strawberries are machiam sweet! i hv nvr eaten so many strawberries before in my life. hahhhahah!
Day 10 - 17th dec - home sweet home and ferragamo temptation
shopping at airport and on the plane there was a ferragamo long wallet sold for abt 600 sgd... arghh so tempted to buy... but i'm contented with my 3-yr-old burberry for the time being...
pics "slowly"coming up in the next few posts....
merry xmas!
