A Peek Into Piddles World: Tokyo 22

I've split the Japan posts into 2 parts cos really got tons of pictures to upload even though I've tried cutting back a lot liao.. Here goes..

22th Oct, Fri

We were shopping at the DFS counter for some SK products. As usual, Roy's not interested & waited for me outside. And it so happened that my cuz, Shirleen is flying to Perth that day, all dressed up in cabin crew uniform & Roy still managed to recognise her. So dragged her to take a quick pic with me before she rushed off to prepare for the flight.

We were happily seated & the pilot announced that they couldn't start one of the engines! OMG! We're stucked in the plane for 2 hours while they tried to manual start the engine, and I was seriously worried of not being able to fly! My prayers were finally answered when I heard the familiar noisy engine sound and we're on our way!

But by the time we touched down in narita airport, it's already nightfall. So all our plans of doing some shopping that night were busted. Passed by Tokyo Tower on the way to shinjuku.

Most of the hotel rooms in shinjuku are small, even their doors. If Roy tiptoe a bit, will hit his head liao..

After checking in and dumped the luggages, we were famished cos haven't taken dinner. Went nearby to check out what's good to eat.
It's close to 10pm on a friday night & you still can see office workers knocking off either on their way home or a friday nightout.

And when you're in japan, you gotta try their yoshinoya. Now, in sin I've never step into the eatery cos it's nothing like the real ones in japan! The thinly sliced beef.. woolala! Damn shiok! I was marveling in awe with every mouthful~~

And nothing is wasted, not even a grain of rice! LOL.
We're such gluttons.

Even before we started spending in tokyo, we've already spent a bomb on buying a Macbook Pro at the transit area cos tax free. Roy's lappy of all time, had to conveniently kaput at that week.

After a satisfying dinner cum supper, we settled down and did some unpacking. I'm enjoying their handfree wash toilet bowl while Roy plonked himself on the massage chair. Everything is available there, even though small yet compact. Good enough.

Dropped by the sightseeing centre at shinjuku station to arrange for a day trip to hakone for the next day. Their staff have this tag on them that says, I speak English. Ha..

Imagine we've been to tokyo for a number of times but never thought of checking out mt. fuji.

We're on our way to yokohama (abt 1/2 train ride away from tokyo), mainly to the famous chinatown in Japan & sea aquarium. I like how they create their local map, drawn so cute & colourful.

Really felt quite at home there, and most of them understand you speaking in mandarin.

We're sharing my Oakley cos Roy broke his..
We'll try to visit the various Chinatowns in the countries that we've visited. Maybe cos we're Chinese? Heh..

Some local delights..

People queuing up for the meat paos.. Being a pao person myself, I still think ours taste nicer..
Theirs have quite a bit of meat in them, which is overwhelming & no egg!

Normally we don't plan what to eat each day. If we see something nice or smell something mouthwatering, we'll just will our bodies in that direction.
In this case, it's a tiny eatery with just enough space for a row of table for us to sit.

Ahhh, I love their rice the most. And normally I don't like hard boiled eggs but their version on the contrary, was actually a bit soft with runny yolk!

Their xiao long paos on a plate.

A popular chinese temple smacked in the middle of chinatown.

More pictures by myself since I lamented Roy's eyebags were atrocious in the pics.. :P

A intricate carved dragon guarding each side of the roof.

Praying for good luck, good health for my family & that J will be a good boy & listens to mommy always!

There's a school next to the temple, the girls practising lacrosse.

Really very intricate details, wonder how they maintain them under the mercy of the mother earth.

Taking our own picture again..

But there's this kind angmo saw and offered to take for us, so hard to turn him down right?

So its the usual whole body picture, no close up shots..

Their underground subway station with a huge ceiling.

Along the way to the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise Aquarium. The tide's raising so high, floodling the steps near the shores.

I found it interesting how the guy can always manage to pull out a balloon from all the tangled strings..

Up close to the polar bear and it's huge!

Really a spectacular view from where I was standing..

Took a short clip for you to see just how tall the thick glass were. We stood there for quite some time just to watch the fishes swimming by. Very relaxing. No wonder sometimes people rear fishes for stress relief..

The cutest pokka dot jellyfish I've seen.

There're actually 2 fishes there, can you locate them?

Such a tiny yellow fish, compare to my finger.

Stick-like looking fishes sticking their heads out for a breather. LOL.

Tiniest lobster, so cute..

Red-bellied piranhas from Amazon.

Trying to stick finger in to test if they find Piddles's finger tasty or not.
I wonder if my travel insurance cover this, hmm..

Humongous stingray. They really have a ugly face to begin with..

Every country that we've been to, we'll make it a point to check out their macdonalds, more so in Japan. They have special value meals every week in Oct cos of Halloween.

Roy had german sausage burger. Taste not too bad except the shape of the bread had a slit in the middle. That's Roy showing how soft the bread was, haha!

24th Oct, Sun

Next morning woke up early, getting ready to head to Hakone for the daytrip. Wearing the toe socks that Hoops got for me from her previous trip to tokyo. :D

Took a train to Hakone, foot of Mt. Fuji. Transferred to local rail & reached Hakone Tozan Railway.

The cabin that we're in was pulled entirely by cable if you can see from the tracks. At the intersection, making way for the one coming down from the mountain.

We're seated right at the top, so I took a quick shot down the cabin as I think it's interesting how it's built slanted cos it's being pulled up the mountain.

Waiting for the cable car to continue the 2nd half of hakone. It's a first time for Roy.

Up up & away..

I'm really terrified of heights but still managed to force a smile for the cammie. It's really cloudy that day so we missed out seeing Mt. Fuji. -_-

Approaching Owakudani or so called The hell valley. You can see smoke out of the mountains.

This is a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and the locals like to bring eggs to cook in the hot springs. The boiled eggs turn black and smell slightly sulphuric, yucks!

Piddles!

We're too lazy to walk up to the hot spring to cook the eggs. But you can see tiny specks of people climbing up in the distance to get their eggs cooked. I just duwan my hair and clothes to smell of sulphur..

Continuing 2nd part of the cable car ride. Dark clouds looming ahead.

Lake Ashi was formed in the caldera of Mt Hakone after the volcano's last eruption some 3000 years ago.

The lake is so big that a boat cruise from one end to the other takes roughly 30 minutes.

Waiting for the ride to their factory outlets. The coaches arrive exactly on time or earlier as stated in the timetable at the pickup point.

The clouds look so near to us..

At the Gotemba premium outlets. I think due to the strong yen currencies, I find that their mechandise are not cheap at all..

Had my favourite curry rice. Can't really see any rice cos it's flooded in the gravy and stuff. I scooped out loads of pickles too, went really well with almost everything!