PART TWO of the Japan full recap.
**Some parts you have to manually highlight the words yourself. No matter how many times I tried to change the color of it, it doesn't work. ): Probably that's the problem of a too long post. x_x. Sorry~
Day Three (18th November 2009) Osaka ~ Kyoto ~ Bullet Train @ Toyohashi ~ Hamamatsu
6am morning call. The phone rings, and a computerized Japanese voice is on the line.
“Ohayo gozaimasu. Good morning. This is a wake up call.”
My phone alarm rang as well. "I can't breathe~" Breathe by G-Dragon.
My phone alarm rang as well. "I can't breathe~" Breathe by G-Dragon.
Got ready by 7am, dad knocked our door of our room. Got all of our luggage ready to move to the next destination, Kyoto.
Had buffet breakfast with the other “apple pies”
It's porridge, isn't it?
Breakfast areaa.
In the toilet. LOL.
..then boarded the tour bus towards our destination, Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto.
The streets outside the hotel.
The bus is just there lol.
Security guards interacting. (;
The new logo for IRIS ! LOL. Kidding.
au by KDDI, Japan's DiGi or Maxis. (;
Some "heads" we seen outside the window. LOL. Kidding, they're just wigs.
A guy on a bike.
I wish to enter this shop tho. ):
Drive and drive.. Kyoto streets.
Kyoto students ~
Reached by 10.30am.
Palace made out of REAL GOLD.
Wishing stone, supposed to throw a penny inside the bowl. You can see how many people failed.
Elmo wants some picture taken with the momiji (autumn leaves) too. (;
So there’s this high-school guys story.
3 high-school guys were behind my sister and I, who were walking slowly to the top of the hill (the stairs were only rocks, so we were quite afraid).
My sister and I were actually holding hands so that we won’t fall. But as we were doing that, we were actually walking slowly.
So the 3 guys, who were behind us, can’t tolerate the slowness and overtook us while looking behind, snickering. We were like ‘what the hell?' And after that, we bumped to each other for quite a number of times. They kept looking at us, still laughing.
Anyway, so at the end of the temple visit (towards the exit), there’s this guy who is selling some snacks.
*my dad and I were talking*
Guy: “Where are you from?”
Dad: “We’re from Malaysia.”
Guy: “Wow. Welcome to Japan! Come try this wasabi nuts.”
That's the guy. LOL.
He speaks quite fluent English. Better than the other Japanese people we've seen. :/
Then we saw a souvenir shop, and entered. We bought ice-cream! (Crazy again. ;D)
made by LOTTE.
Now don’t think sick. It’s a yukimi daifuku.(is a Japanese confection consisting of a small round glutinous rice cake stuffed with ice-cream)
We then board the bus to go for lunch..Reach the restaurant at 12pm.
toilet break.
chinese food for lunch
mmm. prawn.
elmo wants.
...but greedy elmo wants soup too. D:
The walk to the shrine is lined with souvenir shops. So we decided to drop by after visiting the shrine.
We had to wash our hands with the holy water and drink it with our hands before entering the shrine.
get it?
In the shrine.
this was my mum's idea. LOL.
Then after that, we went for souvenir shopping. I bought the custard filled dorayaki.
Maaaann, it was really delicious. Hot and served it straight to you out from the stove. They don’t use plastic to wrap, instead they just take a piece of small paper and fold it into half, and slot your dorayaki inside.
How environmental friendly Japanese are ;)
mmm (:
the small keychain my sister bought for me. (it's bendable! LOL)
Then boarded the bus, and off to the last temple of the day, Kiyomizu temple.
To get up the temple, you have to walk along the streets of the shops (many small shops selling souvenirs ranging from keychains to samurai swords, Japanese fan, hot snacks, packed snacks, and idol shops).
The street is called Sanenzaka.
It is uphill. We didn’t shop yet though. But my sister told me, on the way up, she saw that bunch of 3 high school boys who snickered at us just now. o_o;; Wow. Some coincidence again.
Sanenzaka (c) Jody on Flickr
Then you walk to the temple.
stalking another guy. LOL
the guy with the green bag looks like Taeyang (Big Bang) from behind. O:
the skyline view from Kiyomizu temple.
japan has nice clouds.
Then we walked down to shop. Hahaha.
The shop that caught my eye is the idol shop. (Of course, right?)
But of course, we’re in Japan, so I can’t expect to see a lot of Big Bang. The idols there were mostly Arashi, KAT-TUN, Hey!Say!7, Yamapi, NewS, UVERWORLD, Bump of Chicken (ROFL at their name), and a considerably a lot of Tohoshinki (TVXQ in Japanese).
They sold every idol paraphernalia you can think of.
So yeah, disappointment for me, who is a Big Bang fan. ):
Went back to the bus 4pm. Hop on the bus and left Kyoto, to the Bullet train at Toyohashi. It took at least an hour to get there. By the time we arrived, it was already at least 5.30pm.
The sky got really dark by 5pm. Like, totally black.
this black. (some random rollercoaster we passed by in the bus)
their highways have the guiding line.
subway.
when we went down the bus.
the station.
Akira from Exile poster.
bought this coz we were hungry. ):
My mum said she saw someone who looks like G.D (G-Dragon from Big Bang). And she even tried to take his picture. But he kept blocking his face. LOL. Saw him from the side, but nah, to my eyes, he doesn't look like him. (Picture's not with me here, sorry :C )
in the bullet train.
the "obasans" (aunts)
Nothing much though, because outside is night time. So you can’t really feel like you’re going fast. But when another bullet train passes you, you can feel the Bernoulli motion (physics ;D) , like getting sucked in.
reach at the other station.
drinks from the vending machine
the tracks.
an incoming train
15 minutes, and we went out of the bullet train. So now we were at Hamamatsu, the musical city of Japan. Yamaha and Kawai musical instruments companies are also located here. They even have a musical instruments museum.
Then we went up the escalator of the station to our dinner area.
the first thing we saw when we reach Hamamatsu.
A piano, just like their image is supposed to be. "A musical city."
the staff. (sorry, the shot is a bit obscene. LOL)
dinner for the night!
8pm and it's already closed ):
I spy a KOREAN restaurant! heh.
the shop that has this song that go "Bi-ku-bi-ku-bi-ku-BIK KA-ME-RA!"
How cute.
walk and walk.
..and walk.
..and turn behind to take pics.
a play called Piano I guess. :/
guess what is this? a bicycle parking! (my cam blurred the pic. -_-)
so many bikes here parking overnight. fuuuh.
you won't see much motorbikes there anyways.
There. Okura Act City Hotel. The hotel is shaped of a harmonica (tallest building in Hamamatsu) and the interior design are all shaped like musical instruments. (Like I said, Hamamatsu is a musical city.)
the interior pillar is modeled after a trumpet!
yes it's me in the lift.
the walls are covered with music notes.
night-view!
Japan TV!
coke from their minibar in the hotel room.
(you drink, you pay)
ate pancakes for supper. I can't get my milk ..
..because TOPpy drank it ):
Oh, and I just noticed. The thing that fell down at the station earlier, was my Junsu & Jae Joong (from TVXQ) button. -_-;; Now I’m just left with this white thing. Oh well, goodbye Junsu & Jae Joong ):
it's gone ):
Well, at least Tohoshinki is known in Japan.
--
Day Four (19th November 2009) Hamamatsu ~ Mount. Fuji
Sometimes I feel unsecure here without my phone. Because some people just eye you so suspiciously, and I still have instincts that tingle. (Thanks to the security of my home country) Sad thing my phone doesn't have 3G. ):
byung-hun as the wallpaper. teehee.
"No network coverage"
Anyway, morning call same time, 6am.
haah, it's morning.
Got ready, and checked out the hotel and had breakfast again.
don't they look pathetic?
Stomach doesn't feel so well, so I ate quite little.
At the lobby, checking out..
the hotel floors. even it has a piano key prints on it.
Left Hamamatsu to Mt. Fuji. Drive there takes at least 1 hour. Had toilet break in between. It was raining.
Then went for toilet break halfway .
this is their flush button. big enough? O:
the shivering, bus-driver out of the bus.
Then on the bus, Wendy and the main guide were having a little "in-bus shopping". They bought 6 things and gave a product listing to everyone. Bit by bit, they were giving out free samples for everyone to try.
she keeps on coming! LOL.
The most disgusting thing is when the main guide introduced the "adult" part of the list. Which includes, breast candy, sexy towel (if water hits it, a picture will be revealed), and sexy cup (same concept as the towel).
these are the "breast candy" (eww much. LOL)
But only "Breast Candy" is available to give out samples with. (within the "adult" part of the list).
the list ! well.. part of it..
So we reached.
First, we went to the dormant (dead, not erupting) volcano, at Owakudani, Hakone. Their main attraction here is their craters with hot water (something like a hot spring). It was raining when we reached there, so it's slippery.
up and up.
real cold and misty.
the top !
Owakudani is famous for it's black eggs (eggs cooked in the 80°C hot water), so we tried them. With their expensive money, an egg costs RM4, which is a simple 100Yen to Japanese citizens. My dad bought 5, one is given to the main guide (as a token of appreciation.).
before.
after. the egg looks just like an ordinary egg.
the legend says; each egg you eat, you'll expand your lifespan by 7 years.
hahaha.
Then had lunch at the Hakone Kojiri Terminal.
chawanmushi; japanese steamed egg. this is LOVE I tell you!
hakone kojiri terminal.
Went souvenir shopping again around there.
pro English ;D
peace.
all covered by the clouds ):
The weather is bad, can't really see the peak. My mum was really upset ):
On the way down from the mountain to the main road (actually, it was also present as well on the way up, but I was sleeping, so I didn't notice), we passed this "melody road" that plays music when your vehicle drives over it. In our case, is the tour bus, which the whole bus can hear tunes playing. Short one, but really unique!
" What's a melody road? - [x] or [x] "
After that, our main guide said we could go shopping at a real shopping center for an hour. Wow, that's what I call home. LOL.
Bell Mart, a small shopping centre. We only have an hour to spend there. 4pm ~ 5pm.
this is taken on 4pm. (take note!)
Dad went to buy fruits in the supermarket (Hahaha, we need our dose of daily fibre)
pokemon and anime buns! so cute~
our main guide. met him coincidentally.
After that, I insisted to go to the 3rd floor (Magazine & Books section) of the building. My dad agreed, and we all went up.
My mum bought my sister and I each a bag (3,000Yen + / RM120+ each). Love it. So prettyyy~
Hmm, J-POP sure a lot. K-POP, mostly actors only. Say what? Actors?
I scanned through all the K-POP mags, and I saw that every book must at least have A PAGE of Lee Byung Hun in it. What can I do? Buy all? Nahh.
Then I looked down (from the rack), and slapped myself in the face. How can I miss this?
they chose a not-so-nice picture as the front cover.
but what can I say? this book has HALF of it full with Byung Hun. Heh.
After buying it, we left the mall. 1 hour, as I said. And see what's this?
it's only 5pm !
Then we went to our hotel, which is at the foothill of Mt. Fuji; after that. (At least 15 minutes).
We have to sleep on the tatami! (on the floor, but with flat beds).
everything's so lowww.
...and we need to wear a Yukata. D:
pink for girls. blue for guys.
eeep ~
Then we head down to buffet dinner dressed like this. (Not our intention, the guide asked us to). Almost everyone eating wears a Yukata as well.
lousy buffet dinner. :C
the Hokkaido crabs everyone's crazy about. (it's popular).
but to me it just taste like cold water with texture. :/
.. and then, saw this cute guy in a Yukata. (Which later found out from my mum, he belongs to a Thai tour group)
yes, he's busy talking. (he's holding a leg of a crab) -_-;
he knows that i'm stalking him. lulz.
beginning to be more self-conscious, I can see.
Worse thing, when I entered the souvenir shop (in the hotel), he was in there as well. I stood beside him, and he actually looked up to see me. I just walked away (you can say that I was blushing. blame it on my hormones). To make matters even worse, when I wanted to go back to my hotel room, I used the lift. He got on the lift on that same time as well.
Then when we reached our level, we left. Then my dad told me this weirdest thing.
Dad : Eh, that guy in the lift just now was also at that place yesterday. Just now, we were looking at each other for awhile, then we were shocked to see each other again. Not bad, he's quite good looking.
Me : WHAT. You mean you know him!?
Dad : He was at the previous hotel as well. There, the Thai group..
Whoa. It means that their Thai tour group has almost the same itinerary as ours.
Anyway, dinner was horrible. So dad cooked some instant noodles and cut some pears for us. (We bought these in Bell Mart earlier) Thanks Dad!
gobble gobble.
Mum took pics of us with our Yukata.
Me and Eun
Then we went to sleep!
