2011 Trip Recap, Part I

Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! あけましておめでとうございます *^-^* Hope that 2012 will be a good year for everyone. 

To celebrate the new year, a look back at 2011's trip to Japan which we made and ended just a few weeks ago. Hopefully, there'll be more Japan trips for us in the future! (Although we *agreed* to take a break from visiting Japan in 2012 & 2013). 

We went sightseeing in Yokohama on our second day in Japan, the first day being too late to do anything other than checking-in and sleeping in a hotel near Haneda Airport for us.

From Yokohama, we made our way to Yufuin. Checked-in at a pretty cool cottage and had two baths all to ourselves. 

The first half of Day 4 was spent sightseeing in Yufuin. Pity it rained after I had my morning run there because after we checked-out, we were unable to travel much around the area because it was a tad cold with the rain. But we made it to Lake Kinrinko and walked around the town area.

Day 5 was spent at Huis Ten Bosch, feeling like we were not in Japan but in Holland albeit Japanese speaking part of Holland. LOL

The evening was spent with a blogging friend, Hanny who lives in Kitakyushu, making and eating takoyaki with her two boys.

From Hakata, we made our way to Shikoku Island on Day 6 of our trip. Lrong was in Takamatsu that day and had kindly suggested to meet for lunch but as luck would have it, we were unable to secure any early train seats reservations and with the one we had, we arrived too late to meet-up for lunch.

So instead of heading straight to Takamatsu as planned earlier, we made our way to Matsuyama first. Walked from Matsuyama Station to Dogo Onsen and stopped whenever we see nice/interesting sites; which I will post more of soon.

Day 7 was spent visiting Shikoku Mura and Ritsurin Koen and the evening was spent walking around the port area and what is touted to be the biggest shopping street in Japan.

There were rainy and gloomy days when we were there but through Day 7, we were lucky that the rain didn't spoil our plan much. How were the days after that? Stay tuned!

Day 8 - Day 14 recap soon!

Postcards To Home

Rather than sending them to others back home, we love sending postcards to ourselves from each city we visited when we are vacationing in Japan.

It's fun to look at the postcards and the stamps not to mention if there's any special postmark on it. ^^

This year, we have Hakodate, Yufuin, Dogo Onsen (Matsuyama), Nara, Enoshima, Kagawa added to our postcard collection.

And we have a new set of stamps added too.

Cute, right? *^-^*

An End To An Awesome Trip

Gah! How did the two weeks vacation went by so quickly? What did we do in these two weeks? I wish we have more time! But home we must return and earn more money so that we can afford another vacation in the future. xD

Our flight back to Kuala Lumpur was a red-eye flight so we had a whole day in Japan for us to do last minute sightseeing and we just spent the day in Yokohama. Had some thoughts of going to Kirin Beer Village because... we went to Yebisu Beer Museum last year, so it'll be unfair if we didn't check out Kirin. Right? And why Beer Museum you ask, when I don't even drink beer? Simply because it's there.

Spent some time over at Nissan Gallery

Mommy looked at some cars, Daddy had a rest - sitting on one of the many chairs and couches there and Raimie "learnt" how to drive.

 Did last minute soft drink purchase for Raimie

Mommy drooled over some colourful running shoes and somehow miraculously managed to refrain from buying anything

Raimie wasn't happy to be dragged over to Anpanman Museum. See the "forced" smile on his face? LOL "Mommy! Anpanman is for little kids!" he whines but did we listen? Nope.

Had some ice cream at Baskin Robbins to help the traumatised 9 year old  recover from visiting that Anpanman Museum

 Saw some illuminations

and ate dinner. I've had enough of rice so I insisted on a pasta dinner and got it; but of course with a Japanese twist. They serve a ginormous L sized omuraisu there too, which we were lucky enough to see, because the guys at the next table ordered one. They were enough to feed three adults! I kid you not! @.@

Daddy made some last minute duty-free purchases afterwards and before you know, it we were onboard our AirAsia flight and on our way home. 

No fault with the Air Asia staff but the cabin smelled ranging from dead carcass to rotten cheese to wet dog to damp towel and finally my nose got used to the stank of sweaty, stinky socks and I was able to have some shut eye only to be woken up by this genius of a guy who was playing games very loudly in front of me. If I was his wife or daughter, he'll already be whacked and reminded to not be so noisy and inconsiderate. Meiwaku, and that sort of thing ya'know.

Next time I'm taking AirAsia flights, I'm bringing over some face masks! I think Air Asia can make good money selling air fresheners to passengers onboard too, if the ventilation doesn't improve. Hu~

Merry Xmas!

In the spirit of Xmas merriness and sharing and whatnot, here's some random illumination/Christmassy shots I took while we were in Japan.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Taito Ward Walking

The second last day for us in Japan was spent with a whole lot of walking.

I started the day with the most ideal way for me; running! Yeay me! My head felt heavy from being "lazy" taking a break from running the past few days since it rained both days we were in Kawasaki and the first two days in Tokyo, my gum was still throbbing painfully.

Started my short run from Sumida Boat River terminal, ran down to the next bridge (it was called Sakura Bridge or something, correct me please) ran back to the Azuma Bridge (the red lacquered bridge in front of the Asahi Beer building) and finish off by running all the way back to our hotel. I can probably search for the correct names of the bridge but I'm feeling lazy to fact-check.

After breakfast, we made our way to Kappabashi first. Spent about an hour there, looking at takoyaki mould and spending much of our time over at one shop there selling everything from food items to bento packaging to souvenir stuff. Cheap stuff and some of the "souvenir"y stuff sold at Nakamise-Dori can be found at that shop for half the price! No, I'm not going to tell you the shop's name. Go and head over to Kappabashi yourself.

Then, our foot took us to Ueno and we found this giant of a panda over at Ueno Station. Please don't try and feed the panda! xD

When in Ueno, gotta stroll a bit in Ueno Park. Maybe not the best park in Tokyo but hey, it is free to wander around it and you can meet some pretty interesting people there. We were there on Monday so the zoo and all the museums are closed. Saw plenty of runners doing their noon runs there. If I have more leisurely time in Tokyo, I am so gonna do a few rounds here, I tell you.

Walked past a few shrines, temples and stopped for a while at the 84,000 Jizo Statue and the Mushizuka, an insect cemetery to console the spirits of dead insects used  as models for drawings.

before finally reaching our destination; the Yanaka cemetery. We talked about making our way to Tokyo University too that day, but eventually didn't.

After spending a bit of time meandering around the cemetery, we continued our walk to the nearby Nippori Station for lunch. A simple bread based lunch and we got on our way back to Ueno.

Raimie was such a good boy, spending more than 5 hours walking with us so as a reward, we spent time looking at games and toys at Yamashiroya and Yodobashi Camera in Ueno later.

Then, it's a walk back to Kappabashi and did some shopping there; completing our purchases moments before the store was set to close for the day at 5.30pm. Yup people, stores in Kappabashi close early so don't plan on late evening shopping there. Malls close at 8.00pm or 9.00pm. Complaining about wanting to do late-night shopping but can't? Go to Korea. Or better still, shop in Malaysia. But you can eat sushi all night long in Asakusa. Sushi Zanmai opens from 11.00am to 7.00am the next day.

Hurriedly walked through Sensoji Temple because I wanted to stop and buy something very "touristy" as requested by my siblings at Nakamise-dori. 

By the time we arrived Nakamise-Dori, we've been asked for directions by Japanese person(s) three times that day! One at Yanaka Cemetery - a lady looking for a jizo or something. Second time was at Nippori Station - an elderly couple asking how to get to Yokohama and the third one in front of the Hozomon Gate - a guy wanted to ask something I didn't catch. Did we look so friendly that among all those people mingling there, we were the ones they asked for directions? xD

Four fridge magnets and a few boxes of ningyo-yaki (or whatever Zaini decided to buy for his colleagues) later, then it's time for dinner! Sushi dinner at Sushi Zanmai.

What's that you ask? That's natto temaki sushi and they were yummy!

All that walking didn't leave me unaffected. Just look at my poor blistered left heel. Poor foot. I really do abuse you a lot, right? Three blisters, forming on top of each other that's been there since Day 4 in Japan. But dear two feet of mine, you know I love you, right? I adore you so much that we'll start training for Standard Chartered Marathon 2012 soon! Yeay us! ^^

We were out from 10.00am and only returned at 8.00pm. I decided not to go out again, after looking at my lopsided face in the mirror (left cheek was obviously puffy, the effects of my swollen gum) but "genki" Zaini went out again and after three hours, still not a peep from him! He must be having a lot of fun! ^^

A week after returning from our 2011 Japan vacation, I'm still halfway through taking antibiotics for the gum of mine. Good times. *^-^*