Japan Trip Photo Album 3: Onsen & Snowman

2006 Japan Trip:

The 3rd Collection

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Japan Trip Photo Album 2: Of Geishas & Mt Fuji

Japan Trip Photos:

The 2nd Collection

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Japan Trip Photo Album 1: Let The Pictures Speak For Themselves!

Japan Trip Photos:

The First Collection

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Japan Trip Diary (Day 10 - 11)

Day 10: 21 April 2006

My friends Jacqueline returned to Hong Kong today and Eleanor went back to Singapore today. The house suddenly seemed really quiet with them gone. Anyway Melissa, Arlene and me woke up at 4.45 am to go to the Gala Yuzawa Ski Resort. It was my first time going to a ski resort so I was really excited. For many days, we had been looking at the weather report which told us it will rain today. My friends were apprehensive about whether we should proceed with the trip but I just told them we should just go by faith! So we booked the trip and even when we booked, we were told it will snow early in the morning and rain for the rest of the day. So I just prayed against the rain but since I hadn't seen snow before, that'd be really cool.

We took the shinkansen to the resort station and was told that it was supposed to snow but no signs of snow showed up though it rained a little. We rented our gears and proceeded to take the cable car to the ski zone. And you know what? The moment we stepped into the cable car, it started snowing!!! Praise Jesus!!! And it actually snowed for an entire day!!! I really like what one particular report said, "STRANGELY, the forecast told us that it will snow." I really believe that Jesus made it snow just for me! So blessed!

I enrolled myself for a snowboarding lesson whilst my friends went off for their snowboarding and skiing. I failed my snowboarding lesson and actually gave up half-way. I even gave the remaining of my lesson to my friend who wanted to learn how to do this turn thing. I decided snowboarding really aint the thing for me. So off I went to build... my very first SNOWMAN - SNOWY. *beam* And I even rented a sleigh and happily played with the snow for the entire day. I really enjoyed the scenary and the snow. Strangely, I didn't feel cold until it was time to go home. My friends were really happy that it snowed and told me that I am so lucky... that throughout the trip, even though the weather was supposed to be against me but yet I still managed to see Mount Fuji, Tokyo Tower, sakuras and now it even snow when it's already spring! I told them it's not luck... it's the favor of God!!! Hallelujah!

I also enjoyed the food at the Gala resort tremendously... the place actually didn't look that good but they serve the best cheese garlic pizza I've ever eaten in my entire life... I miss it already... sighz...

After the resort, we took the shinkansen back to Meguro (that's where Kimura lives leh...) and had spaghetti for dinner. Japanese spaghettis is really good leh... I had the season special which is this cabonara with salmon and half-cooked egg. Very yummy. Then I went to buy some bread and more food items to bring back home the next day. More importantly I bought another strawberry shortcake for breakfast. We headed back home and said our goodbyes (as I was leaving very early in the morning). Sort of sad that the trip is coming to an end...

Day 11: 22 April 2006

I woke up at 5.30 am. One thing about Japan - they have really long days. At 5am, you have a really really bright day already. I showered, packed my remaining items, had my strawberry shortcake and headed for the airport. The trains were already quite packed during this time and I was 'suffering' from the burden of my purchases on my backpack... Halfway through the train-ride from Ebisu to Nippori, the strawberries decided to react and I had to make a short stop at Shinbashi before continuing my journey... When I reached Nippori, I was shocked to see long queues of people queuing for the Keisei Skyliner. Praying, I queued and was able to get my ticket fast. I took the 1 hr journey to Terminal 2 and again faced a VERY VERY crowded airport in Narita. Squeezing my way through to locate the baggage collection courier company, I finally collected my mailed luggage and made my way to check in.

I got another shock at the check-in counter. I was told that my connecting flight time in Bangkok is insufficient and they will have to change me to a much earlier flight - which means I have only 30 minutes to get myself through customs and immigration and to the boarding gate!!! Wah.. really rushed man... thank God for His favor for this man let me go to the front of queue for immigration. Once I board the flight, I was really happy for I have an entire row to myself! And during the flight, the pilot announced excitedly that we could see Mt. Fuji for those seated at the right side... and you know what? I was on the right side!!! Praise God right? I even managed to get a 20 minutes massage in Bangkok airport before my flight back to Singapore! So yep now I'm back and missing Japan very much.. the weather, the food, the people, the onsen... must definitely go back agaiN!!!

"Faith is not merely your holding on to God--it is God holding on to you. He will not let you go!" - E. Stanley Jones.

宽，福

屋宽，不如心宽

人要知福，惜福，再造福

Zechariah

This is not about a boy called Zech. My bible flipped to Zech 9 yesterday so I saw this. Pastor has preached on it before

Chapter 9 (Amplified)
11 As for you also, because of and for the sake of the [covenant of the Lord with His people, which was sealed with sprinkled] covenant blood, I have released and sent forth your imprisoned people out of the waterless pit.
12 Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], you prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will restore double your former prosperity to you.

What does a prisoner of jail do? Can't help but stay in jail lor... what to do. Then what does a prisoner of hope do? Can't help but stay in hope. So I think think, I suddenly realize we ought to stay in hope, stay there... not hoping it today & forgeting it tomorrow... is that right? And He restores everything X 2 to us! That sounds like a very good deal.

Then what's my part? What do I have to do? Like nothing leh... just hope. He will do everything.

So in Beng's terms, He's saying, "Oei! Get out of your own jail. Come to the prison of hope. I promise you, everything give you double. Sui bo?" Ok ok this is my paraphrase... please see authorized bible versions for reference

God is so Good

Japan Trip Diary 4 (Day 8 - 10)

Day 8: 18 April 2006

I woke up super early today to try and catch the sunrise at 5 am!!! Think we had soaked too much in the hot spring the night before and felt so hot at night. So turned on the air-con and eventually fell asleep.

The sunrise was nice which I enjoyed from the hot tub. After the soak, I went back for a nap again before breakfast at 8.30 am. Breakfast was really really good. There was grilled fish, porridge, rice and alot of other little Japanese dishes. After breakfast, we all went for our final soak before checking out of the ryokan. (I finally understood why the Japan Hour tour guides never seemed to carry anything around when they go to hotspring ryokans. That's because EVERYTHING is provided there.)

We then took this super cool train (with seats facing the windows) back to Ito. We put our bags in the locker and proceeded to do some sight-seeing around Ito with our Ito Bus Pass. We went to Ippepeki (Lake Biwa) which was a really sad sad place... then to Mount Omuro (a dormant volcano) via chairlift. We walked around the crater top (alot of bugs and very windy... the view was ok... cos it was very cloudy). Finally we rushed down to Jogosaki Coast for a little hike to the suspension bridge. The views were quite nice.

We decided that Ito is not very tourist friendly. First, the travel information people were not very helpful and the buses were really hard to catch.... But the food in Ito itself is super good!

Day 9: 19 April 2006

Today we enjoyed a really relaxing day out in Tokyo. We went out early to try to settle some more issues with the police about my ipod and for the first time, got checked by the police at the train station! (Apparently it's common here - especially for guys so always bring your passport out.)

We headed out to the Ghibli Museum today and I really enjoyed the museum. It was fascinating to see how an anime is being made. The short anime film was also very enjoyable. After the museum, we had pasta at a nearby cafe before heading to Okinimachi.

Okinimachi is THE place to buy all your Japanese snacks. It also has alot of dried preserved Japanese stuff and seafood. I had another small roadside okinomiyaki and also a bowl of salmon sashimi rice which I shared with my friend.

After Okinimachi, we went to Roppongi Hills to the observatory to see Tokyo Tower at night. Praise God! It was supposed to be cloudy and the cost of going to the observatory cost Y1,200. But while walking from the station to the observatory, we saw the tower clearly. It was magnificent. Jac and me were awed. So we took lots of pictures, sat down on the stairs and just enjoyed the sight... FOR FREE!!! Hallelujah!

The girls headed out for karaoke after dinner at this superb ramen place. I went back to the apartment for an early night. =)

Day 10: 20 April 2006

Today we woke up abit later in the morning and headed out to Tsukiji Fish Market. It was M A D N E S S. Why? It was raining heavily and the wind was unbelievable!!! All our umbrellas got damaged on the way there!!! We eventually reached Tsukiji and had this meguro fish slice and fish roe rice and also 2 fried prawns that's super big. I shared this with Jac and we only paid Y1,300 for the food.

After that, we walked through the shops along the market to buy mango pudding to bring back home. We then walked to Ginza... (MADNESS again) My coat, bag and pants got wet! We finally reached Ginza and sought refuge in the train station. Thank God that the sun came out shortly after that!

We then went to book our trip to the Niigata ski resort for tomorrow. The lady told us that there will be snow in the morning (C0oooLLllll!) But the only part is that we have to wake up at 5.30 am!!!

We then went to Muji (3 levels wor) and had D E L I C I O U S beef shabu shabu!!! Wah really good man! And as we were leaving the building, we all got distracted by spectacles... and yah I bought 1 pair. It was really cheap. S$120 for the frame PLUS thin, UV lenses which are ready within 45 minutes.

After that I headed home, packed my bags so that I can have my luggage MAILED to the airport. (VERY HEAVY & rush hour on Saturday morning) It cost Y2,100 to mail the luggage to the airport.

Japan Trip Diary 3 (Day 7 - 9)

Day 7: 15 April 2006

Finally a beautiful day of sun in Japan! Jac and me headed out to Shinjuku to meet up with Sherli (also from Bus C - if you remember John & Sherli). Anyway Sherli was in Tokyo for the weekend and we decided to meet up to do our travels. We headed out to Hakone and it was really gorgeous. Want to know the best part of Hakone visit? Abba is so good. It was supposed to be a really cloudy day but the skies were clear and we saw Mt. Fuji!!!!! Wah... I tell you... it is SOOOOO AWEEESOMMMMEEEE leh! Really beautiful. We took the boat ride across Lake Ashi, took the cable car and ropeway and also tried BLACK eggs at the fumerole area. Really happy!!! Saw everything I wanted today.

We headed back to Shinjuku happily and had unagi for dinner there (recommended by Sherli). It was really cheap and good. Enjoyed myself tremendously today. Am really glad Sherli joined us today. It's like the Lord sent her to remind me that I have His favor and He is with me throughout this trip.

Day 8: 16 April 2006

We were supposed to go to the Fuji 5 lakes today but because we had seen Mt Fuji and been to Lake Ashi already... didn't want to go back. So we decided to head up north instead to Sendai with our Japan Rail Pass. From Sendai, we took a local train to Matsushima - apparently one of the 3 most beautiful sights in Japan. We went with low expectations after our Most Beautiful Street in Kyoto experience. Thank God we did. Matsushima is a small little fishing town with a few islands. ok lor... the sights were... ok lor... nice red japanese bridges for you to cross over lor... The nature park at one of the island not really that great lor... BUT! Matsushima has 1 VERY IMPORTANT redeeming thing... SEAFOOD! Wah liao... grilled seafood everywhere you go leh... The kaki fried (fried oysters) also really really good lor... And the goban ice-cream (sesame ice-cream).... unforgetable leh... I had sakura ice-cream... quite nice lah.

By the way - the Sendai / Matsushima speciality is BEEF TONGUE. It was too exotic for us... so we didn't try.

Overall, a nice slower paced day out for us which we enjoyed.

Day 9: 17 April 2006

Today is definitely a day we had been looking forward to! It is... ONSEN DAY!!! Yahooooooo!!!! I had done so much research on the onsen and finally am going... We took the shinkansen to Ito and found that the Ito tourism office not very friendly leh... and SECOND - the local train from Ito to Ito-Atagawa (onsen location) which is only a few stops away is EXORBITANT. Actually that entire area's transport cost is SUPER high. We had lunch in Ito (REALLY ENJOYING JAPANESE FOOD HERE MAN) and then headed to Ito-Atagawa.

The onsen has free shuttle transfer from the station to the onsen and we all fell in LOVE with the onsen. It was simply... G O R G E O U S. The room was incredible. The rotemburo were incredible. The service was incredible even though they don't speak English and everyone relied on my broken Japanese. It was my very first onsen experience but whatever hesitations I had melted away in the beautiful hot spring tubs. A definite MUST TRY and HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended. And the food.... sigh... heavenly............. I don't think even my pictures can do the place justice man. In any case, we soaked day and night and morning... until checkout! haha...

Dinner was quite stressful for me 'cos the ryokan lady insisted in speaking to me in Japanese... and kept having conversations with me... I felt like I was in my Japanese conversation class all over again... I think she was immensely amused by me leh... But nevermind lah... she is really nice.. .teaching us all how to eat our food (which sauce to dip where etc) and how to wear our yutaka (cos me and Jac wear wrongly). After dinner, we soaked once more under the stars and then tucked ourselves into our bed with Jac watching SMAP hour and me listening to the sound of the waves...

Japan Trip Diary 2 (Day 4 - 6)

Day 4: 12 April 2006

Today we headed out to Kyoto via the shinkansen. It was my first time on the shinkansen and I was really impressed. We actually headed out to the train station during rush hour and it was a SEA of men & women in black! Don't think Japan rush hour is something anyone should try... Really unpleasant.

It was raining all the way from Tokyo to Kyoto so we didn't manage to catch Mt. Fuji... was quite sad about it. We reached Kyoto at 11am, checked into our hotel and had lunch at a restaurant nearby. We weren't too impressed with Kyoto upon arrival.

We headed out to Nara and really enjoyed ourselves there. It was a pleasant walk up to the deer park with little shops and sakura trees. Thereafter, we headed out to Osaka for the okinomiya and takoyaki which apparently originated from Osaka! The okinomiya we had (recommended by my friend) was DELICIOUS!!! Definitely worth our trip out there. We shopped abit in Osaka before heading back to Kyoto.

Day 5: 13 April 2006

Today is not so good. I lost my ipod. Quite upset about it. But trusting Abba that He will restore it back to me. After all, I had prayed His blood over all my belongings when I started out on this trip. Know that you all will believe in agreement with me.

Anyway aside from that, I had a really pleasant day. We went to Arashiyama-Sagano - the place that inspired me to go to Japan and Kyoto in the first place. I set foot upon the beautiful and serene bamboo forest... and I really loved it there. We visited this temple for its beautiful sakura trees and moss garden which the Japanese are famous for. We also took a train ride called the Torroko train (romantic train) which has an open-air cabin as it rides through valleys and tunnels. The sights were magnificent.

We had wanted to take this Hozu boat ride but unfortunately we couldn't due to high tide. But it is highly recommended 'cos we went there and it was beautiful.

The other thing about today is that we RAN alot... we ran to the train station to catch the Torroko train. Then were late for our Kyoto Imperial Palace tour and had to run from the bus stop to the palace office (which was like SUPER FAR)... we literally ran around the entire palace perimeter! sigh... very tiring leh... never run like that for very long. Oh did I mention that in Japan, be prepared to WALK alot? We literally WALKED and WALKED and WALKED... Don't think I did so much exercise for so long. Anyway the visit to the palace was ok... nice architecture but nothing to rave about lor... maybe I'm not that much of a 'cultural' person? But I did enjoy the 'surprise' tour which the palace officer brought us through this secret tunnel to get to our tour group faster. So in a way, praise the Lord for if not for us being late, we won't be able to go through this restricted area.

After the Imperial Palace, we went to another famous Kyoto sight - the Kinkakuju (Golden Pavilion). Again, there is NOTHING there except to see another very beautiful building which is a GOLD pavilion set at a small lake.

After the Golden Pavilion, we took the bus to the Gion district to enquire about the Miyako Odori which is like this geisha and maiko performance that is open to the public only in April. We were told to come for the next day show. So we headed out to Ishibei - apparently Kyoto's most beautiful street. Hmm.. we were quite disappointed lor... very difficult to find and I didn't even know we reached the street already! And when reach, only so-so lor... But ok lah.. saw some maikos rushing for their appointments.

Day 6: 14 April 2006

Happy Easter (or belated)! We woke up early, checked out and headed to the Koban (police) at Kyoto. Wah... really difficult to make police report you know... language a big impediment ah... So eventually filed a report and continued our plans. We went to Kobe to try the famous kobe beef but unfortunately I had thrown away directions to the kobe beef restaurant by mistake and was totally lost. I felt really bad that my friends had to walk round and round trying to find the restaurant. ALSO PLEASE PRAY FOR LOW PHONE BILLS. 'Cos the phone calls to the restaurant was quite bad. Eventually the restaurant people got Daimaru staff to help us with directions. The restaurant is quite nice but I feel kobe beef really quite over-rated lor... Very expensive also (as expected).

Thereafter, we went to Gion to watch the Miyako Odori. Wah!!! Really LOVE this show man... Got some traditional tea performance by the geisha and then the actual show was really entertaining. Highly recommended leh. The geishas and maikos really gentle and charming leh...

After the show, we had dinner at Gion and headed back to Tokyo via the shinkansen.

Japan Trip Diary 1 (Day 1 - 3)

Day 1: 09 April 2006

Woke up at 5am and caught my flight to Bangkok at 8am. Reached Bangkok at Thai time 9am. Did a 15 mins head & shoulder massage and shopped for some souvenirs. Boarded my flight and discovered that the seats are super crammed and no personal TV!!! Requested for change of seats and got front row middle seat. More leg space except man seated beside me super ungentlemanly... Kept putting his leg up against the wall and encroaching on my space. Reached Narita at 1903 hrs and went through a VERY long immigration process... and worse got super checked at customs... they even opened up my SHAMPOO bottle to smell. Anyway got through that... and emerged quite frazzled, tired and hungry. Then went to buy my Keisi Skyliner ticket to Nippori and was told I have to rush down in 10 mins. So rushed to the train, boarded and took the 50 mins ride to Nippori. At Nippori had to carry ALL my luggage through long flights of stairs to take the train to Ebisu. Reached safely at Ebisu and my friend's place. Had dinner (cup noodles) and then just knocked out... zzz...

Day 2: 10 April 2006

Woke up at 10 plus then we went to the nearby park for a walk to see sakuras... it was really nice. Then had lunch (a local tonkatsu place). It was DELCIOUS. Yum Yum. Had 2 bowls of rice! Then we went to Shimon Kitazawa to shop. Very very nice shopping there. It's a local small shopping area not like the big departmental commercialised ones. I even had Age-Pan. A local school snack. It was yet again super delicious. Enjoyed myself tremendously. Then came back for a really great dinner cooked by my friend. =) Knocked out again... but watched Japanese drama before that!

Day 3: 11 April 2006

Woke up at 9.30 am and set off to Ueno Park on own. The sakuras were beautiful. Walked around. Spent some time with the Lord under a beautiful sakura tree. Then weird... Japanese men came to talk to me after that. Just quickly ended conversation and left. Went to the nearby pond... alot of flying insects but got a lot of cute ducks. Then went to this local sweets shop... wah.. went mad buying... Then took the train back to have lunch with my friends (one of them just joined us from a Chan Brothers tour). We went this nearby place to have some western food. I had grilled chicken... it was very very nice... We then went back to the train station to meet up with my friend who came in from Hong Kong. We then placed her luggage in a locker and headed to Shibuya. We had dinner at Shibuya (Tokyu departmental store foodcourt) and then walked around in Shibuya for some shopping. Bought a few stuff again. Headed back after that... (legs so tired!!!)

Tomorrow we will be going to Kyoto!!! Yippee yay yay!!! Will be there for 3 days! Hallelujah! Pray for sunny weather, favor and protection amen? =) Enjoying this trip with Abba tremendously!

Ja Ne!

I now have a confirmed ticket to go Japan on 9th. Praise the Lord! He's SOOOO GOOD!!! ^__^ So see y'all in 2 weeks! Ja'ne! (That's see you in Japanese)

This is my view:

Go, Going, Gone...

Am on waitlist to depart for Japan on 9th... so may be activated to go anytime. I'm already all packed & ready to go! One of my friends has already departed for Japan yesterday to start her tour with her family first. So exciting! When planning for this trip, I read so much guidebooks, I think I went bonkers! Dreamt about Japan. Even wanted to dig out my OLD uni Japanese notes to 'refresh' my now SUPER BROKEN Japanese. (Well I barely scrapped through the classes in uni anyway.) Did so much that to a point, it became quite stressful. It's like WORKING for a trip? Read Ruth's blog on Taiwan and it's really good! Woke me up! That I should just trust Jesus - after all, He gave me this trip! So I stopped reading since last week. Just going to enjoy my time with Him there! And pray more in tongues! hehe...

Oh the other of the remaining 2 guppies died. Confirmed it's the water. Only G1 left now. Growing strong too.

Also I baked DONUTS. Not going to do it again. Baked till 1 am! So tired man... I prefer doing the cookies... Going to try some pies this weekend... if I'm not too tired. ^ __ ^ All I'm thinking about now is... J A P A N. See you all in 2 weeks.

话多, 话少

话多不如话少，话少不如话好。