VN/BKK 24/6/13-3/7/13 (About VN)
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So, it’s been more than a month since I’ve come back from travelling places. Realise I’ve totally missed out to blog about the 2nd trip!
And yes, Vietnam was pretty cool I must say. Left excited with Vera, Heidi, Wendy and Aaron. Hmm, I must must must say, AARON IS TOTALLY INTOLERABLE ZOMG. But anyways, that aside, we had our own private tour whom received us at the airport and sent us to our pre-arranged hotel. So travelling was pretty much a breeze. Memorable things about HCM was that we experienced the crazy traffic- they don’t really adhere to their road markings which are pretty much non-existent too. So we had to really JUST WALK when we needed to cross the road. It’s really like what they say- you gotta just walk, with your eyes closed. MAN, that was darn scary I tell you! :P Met up with Vernon there, Heidi’s NTU friend. Went for dinner out and boyyyyy do they have interesting food… Not to my liking. HAHAHA. Pho has got to be the safest thing I reckon...
Lots of historic sites to look at and blah blah yadah yadah, but the thunder strike came on the 2nd night when the uber high fever started. Slept in after dinner hoping to get better the next day- and I did. So we started the morning visiting sites, and I remember it was the Cu Chi Tunnel. But no, my fever decided to come back, WORSE. Ended up detouring back to the hotel at 2pm to sleep in and missed out the rest of the day.. They then went out to meet Vernon again for dinner that evening and had seafood :( MEOW. I wanted that badly!! But knowing I was half-dead in the hotel, they so lovingly bought me crab tang hoon for dinner :’) Equally delicious man cos it was REALLY crab!! Awesome stuff I tell you~ Still sad I couldnt join though!
Flew off to Hanoi the next evening via the Vietnamese Airlines, glad I was feeling much better then! But also reached about 11pm so it was just sleeping in already. Highlights of the trip were meeting Heidi’s other friend Jonathan, and the Halong Bay cruise. Halong Bay cruise was amazing I tell you! We slept under the stars, we enjoyed the sea breeze, we kayaked, we swam, we had fun in the water, IT WAS HEAVEN I TELL YOU :’D Except for the part where stupid Aaron told me to lower my volume lest people think I’m from China. MEOW. But still, camwhore max the whole cruise :) It’s no wonder it’s one of the 7 Wonders of Nature. Besides that, while we were in Hanoi, we also went out for dinner with Jon and his visiting friends, and went to his place thereafter to chill :D What’s better than a chilly night under the stars with the best girlfriends and a cute guy, complete with cheap yet delicious beer? That was the best night in the whole trip I tell you! Reluctant to leave but we still had to, but glad we met a new friend, again! :D
Next up, fly off to the land of shopping and leave the stupid guy I hate! MEOW. :)
THAILAND BKK WOOPIE WOOP!
Saturday, 10 August 2013
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Japan Travels 9 June 2013 to 20 June 2013 (Tokyo Edition 2)
In the land of ramen..
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So the whole trip was pretty much R & R, considering we eventually spent most of the days separate from Luxi (since she was the one whom always wanted to wake up early- no offence but we were just to NUAAA to wake up at 8am!), and sadly from Luther too.
Headed up to Ueno Zoo on a chilly day and saw… Errrr. Animals! HAHAHA. But alot of storks, like seriously alot of storks! ALOT ALOT ALOT. Everywhere we went, there were many species of storks ;D AMAZING! And then there’s this amazingly disgusting huge bird that started grooming itself and sent its eeew feathers flying all over. MEH. LIKE OUT OF THE CAGE!! Was a pretty good morning spent there, then headed out to this 126 yen sushi place~ AMAZING I TELL YOU! There’s really all sorts of sushi and scallops, salmon, etc etc etc ZOMGGG. Odaiba City after in the evening and saw a Statue of Liberty. PLEASE TELL ME WHY IS THERE THAT IN JAPAN??? Nevertheless, saw the hugeass Gundam model and such, had a pretty enjoyable night stroll.
Shibuya shopping, not really our type of stuff~ Expensive Bugis-street-alike, so ended up not buying anything. Also headed to Harajuku to walk abit after, and ofcos, am headed for Crepes!! :D Too bad Marion Crepes was closed by the time we reached, cos we also detoured to Daiso and spent 3 hours shopping there. Ended up buying Angels Heart Crepe, which was also quite the not bad!! I TELL YOU, THE DAISO IS AWESOMEEE. It’s 100 yen for almost everything, and that converts to SGD $1.20!!
Grabbed specifically alot of candies, great for bringing back to SG :) And sidenote: Dreyers actually said that my best takehome from Japan was the Asahi Melon Cider sweet that I bought from Daiso LOL!!
Anyways, returned the next day and found my dear Craftholic shop!! Bought medium ah bear and big ah BEAR! :D SO HAPPYYY. Bought both at a fraction of the price that SG sells. Gladly oblige and grab haaaa. Shopping never ends zomg :)
Went up to Hakone from 17/6-18/6, great place! Chilly weather but not too cold, and not too hot sun either! Had a pretty fun time travelling on their train (FREAKING LONG JOURNEY!), cable cars, PIRATE SHIPS! Visited Sulphur Valley where we had the Kurotamago (Black egg), which supposedly increases your life by 7 years after consuming one xD But… Tasted just like any normal egg lo. Meh. Got pretty hot when we walked up near the top of the mountain, but it was well worth the effort cos of the great scenary which greeted us. Breathtaking indeed. Spent a night at a Ryokan where we also enjoyed the hot spring in our Ryokan premises. Shiok much :)
Last stopover, DisneySea! Wound up waking up late and headed down only with Vera and Heidi. Had an awesome breakfast, and there we go again!! :D
The moment we walked in to the main gates, we were greeted by a spectacular show by Mickey and friends, on the ship! HEIDI AND I BURST INTO TEARS HAHAHHAHAH. Okay, childhood dream come true, don’t judge.
Had a pretty amazing day trying out most of the exciting rides, watching some shows, and I’m really did enjoy myself. Even their Sinbad boat ride which initially sounded lame, ended up darn good cos the displays were soooooooo life-like! Stayed through till the evening but sadly did not manage to take many pictures with those Disney walk-around characters cos there was always a mega long queue and there were times when it just rained and rained.
Ending the day with a show indoors where there was particularly a SUPER TALENTED MICKEY MOUSE!! He could sing, dance well, and he could even play the drumset!! <3 OMG. Dream come true… I LOVE MICKEY MOUSE!
So, there was this finale in the evening where they had this show on the waters and the boats came out with alllll the characters on it. It was raining HEAVILY! But everyone was still watching the show and videoing and AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.. Too bad the fireworks were cancelled though, cos of the wet weather. MEOW.
Went to Japan with one small luggage and came back with one small + one large luggage! Bought one at Korean mart which was like our frequent hangout, at only ~$100+! SO CHEAP ZOMG. And it’s mad chio too. Luggage full of snacks hehehehe :)
Back in SG for 2 days before I flew off to Vietnam/ BKK again! Great time and fun thumbs!! :D
Next post- VN/BKK! :)))
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So the whole trip was pretty much R & R, considering we eventually spent most of the days separate from Luxi (since she was the one whom always wanted to wake up early- no offence but we were just to NUAAA to wake up at 8am!), and sadly from Luther too.
Headed up to Ueno Zoo on a chilly day and saw… Errrr. Animals! HAHAHA. But alot of storks, like seriously alot of storks! ALOT ALOT ALOT. Everywhere we went, there were many species of storks ;D AMAZING! And then there’s this amazingly disgusting huge bird that started grooming itself and sent its eeew feathers flying all over. MEH. LIKE OUT OF THE CAGE!! Was a pretty good morning spent there, then headed out to this 126 yen sushi place~ AMAZING I TELL YOU! There’s really all sorts of sushi and scallops, salmon, etc etc etc ZOMGGG. Odaiba City after in the evening and saw a Statue of Liberty. PLEASE TELL ME WHY IS THERE THAT IN JAPAN??? Nevertheless, saw the hugeass Gundam model and such, had a pretty enjoyable night stroll.
Shibuya shopping, not really our type of stuff~ Expensive Bugis-street-alike, so ended up not buying anything. Also headed to Harajuku to walk abit after, and ofcos, am headed for Crepes!! :D Too bad Marion Crepes was closed by the time we reached, cos we also detoured to Daiso and spent 3 hours shopping there. Ended up buying Angels Heart Crepe, which was also quite the not bad!! I TELL YOU, THE DAISO IS AWESOMEEE. It’s 100 yen for almost everything, and that converts to SGD $1.20!!
Grabbed specifically alot of candies, great for bringing back to SG :) And sidenote: Dreyers actually said that my best takehome from Japan was the Asahi Melon Cider sweet that I bought from Daiso LOL!!
Anyways, returned the next day and found my dear Craftholic shop!! Bought medium ah bear and big ah BEAR! :D SO HAPPYYY. Bought both at a fraction of the price that SG sells. Gladly oblige and grab haaaa. Shopping never ends zomg :)
Went up to Hakone from 17/6-18/6, great place! Chilly weather but not too cold, and not too hot sun either! Had a pretty fun time travelling on their train (FREAKING LONG JOURNEY!), cable cars, PIRATE SHIPS! Visited Sulphur Valley where we had the Kurotamago (Black egg), which supposedly increases your life by 7 years after consuming one xD But… Tasted just like any normal egg lo. Meh. Got pretty hot when we walked up near the top of the mountain, but it was well worth the effort cos of the great scenary which greeted us. Breathtaking indeed. Spent a night at a Ryokan where we also enjoyed the hot spring in our Ryokan premises. Shiok much :)
Last stopover, DisneySea! Wound up waking up late and headed down only with Vera and Heidi. Had an awesome breakfast, and there we go again!! :D
The moment we walked in to the main gates, we were greeted by a spectacular show by Mickey and friends, on the ship! HEIDI AND I BURST INTO TEARS HAHAHHAHAH. Okay, childhood dream come true, don’t judge.
Had a pretty amazing day trying out most of the exciting rides, watching some shows, and I’m really did enjoy myself. Even their Sinbad boat ride which initially sounded lame, ended up darn good cos the displays were soooooooo life-like! Stayed through till the evening but sadly did not manage to take many pictures with those Disney walk-around characters cos there was always a mega long queue and there were times when it just rained and rained.
Ending the day with a show indoors where there was particularly a SUPER TALENTED MICKEY MOUSE!! He could sing, dance well, and he could even play the drumset!! <3 OMG. Dream come true… I LOVE MICKEY MOUSE!
So, there was this finale in the evening where they had this show on the waters and the boats came out with alllll the characters on it. It was raining HEAVILY! But everyone was still watching the show and videoing and AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.. Too bad the fireworks were cancelled though, cos of the wet weather. MEOW.
Went to Japan with one small luggage and came back with one small + one large luggage! Bought one at Korean mart which was like our frequent hangout, at only ~$100+! SO CHEAP ZOMG. And it’s mad chio too. Luggage full of snacks hehehehe :)
Back in SG for 2 days before I flew off to Vietnam/ BKK again! Great time and fun thumbs!! :D
Next post- VN/BKK! :)))
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Japan Travels 9 June 2013 to 20 June 2013 (Tokyo Edition 1)
In the land of ramen..
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Japan with friends has been a generally great trip. Glad that we all had sufficient fun, were almost quite well-rested, with minimal disagreements throughout the trip. Right from the day we set off, we had our itinerary planned well, and were totally expecting to make changes whenever needed- to omit certain attractions if in any case due to time constraints or other factors, there were to be changes made..
Plane ride there was really smooth, great takeoff landing and WINDOW SEAT!! However, totally not fitful rest throughout the 7 hrs flight as it was an afternoon flight… HOW TO SLEEP!? Nevertheless, reached Haneda slightly earlier than expected, and OMG, no hotel booked. Had to nua at the airport till the next morning.. On the bright side, the convenience store at the airport was AMAZING! Had such a wide range of delicacies, unlike Singapore’s convenience stores ley :/
Well, ends up we still had fun with Monopoly Deal and Daidee too, compliments of MUAHHHHHH. Fortunately I remembered to bring cards along!! :D
Next morning, headed off to take the Idk-what-line to our hotel located at Shin-Okubo station. Surprisingly, for a low price we paid for the hotel, our hotel’s distance from the train station was really near, like a 3-5 minutes walk only! Only thing was, our room was pretty small. Oh well! Nevertheless, because we could only check in at 3pm, we had the whole morning to burn. Being too lethargic, we ended up trudging along the paths to an unknown place, where we had REALLY AWESOME RAMEN!! It turns out, that place is indeed one of the better-tasting ramen places :) PS. Spoiler-alert, we also had our last meal in Japan there :P
By 1pm, yours truly got too annoyed with not being able to bathe the past 24 hours o.O And I demanded to check in early and paid a small top up fee. THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT! Had a cooling bath and some rest before we headed out again in the evening :) Evening was spent chilling around Shinjuku area as the shops closed pretty early, so no point travelling too far out :) Shinjuku is the Japan version of Singapore’s City Hall, only 10 times more bustling with activities! We somehow managed to find our way to Shinjuku directly and walked there from our hotel, since it was just one stop away from Shin-Okubo station. In addition, because the area we stayed in was like ‘Korea town’ in Japan, we also took the opportunity to explore the shops/ restaurants/ convenience stores in the vicinity. Surprisingly, we still got pretty much accomplished on that day- we purchased our Disneysea tickets, our Hakone passes, and had a quick browse of the different malls at Shinjuku itself (Lumine 1, 2, East, Flags etc) and then headed out to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to start our tour! Went up to the top level of the Government Building and wowwww, the view was awesome! We went to both buildings’ observatory deck at Level 45. Shiokkk cos most buildings in Tokyo are so.. SHORT! :P But.. Was too lethargic to identify which buildings I could view from the deck :( Dinner after was Tempura ramen @ Piss Alley/ Omoide Yokocho, which again, was some pretty delicious stuff! Realised then that their culture of dining out really differs from SG’s alot. They have very small compounds, so meals are often consumed fast- once they sit down, they order, pay up, eat and then go. Within 10-15 minutes, someone else sits down already. D: Pretty cool aye? Post-dinner exploration of Shinjuku’s clubbing district, bars, pubs, clubs, also realised that the well-known Casablanca is also there, while on the way back to the hotel. Night ended well but tired!
2nd day, woke up pretty early to head out to Asakusa. I really expected it to be a place where you really feel overwhelmed by the cultural habits/ displays, and boy was I correct :) Was already amazed by the very majestic Kaminarimon/ Kaminari Gate, at the start of the street. Lots of photo opportunities there cos the gate itself was just too awesome to miss! Followed by the Nakamise Shopping Street, where I started my shopping of Japan produces ie. Paper wallets/ magnets etc, and tried some snacks like their traditional pancakes which were made on the spot! Took a pretty long time for us to finally make it to the Sensoji Temple at the end of the street! :D The temple itself was even more magnificent. Known as Sensoji Temple, this an ancient Buddhist temple is also Tokyo’s oldest temple, and one of its most significant! Took quite a couple of pictures, offered my prayers, and drew a lot, before proceeding to shop at Shin-Nakamise Street, an adjacent lane which was recently added in.. Never enough of shopping eh?! Lunchtime was pretty awesome and cheap at 松屋, had my first Yakiniku Don! :D
Headed on to Asahi Beer Tower… Till date we still cant figure out the purpose of that place, cos we couldn’t even find an entrance after walking ALL the way there :/ Ended up continuing our journey to the Tokyo Sky Tree, where we encountered this awesome shopping mall! Wide selection of food at the supermarket!!!! (Rox Departmental Store if I’m not mistaken?) Ends up, we didn’t head up the Sky Tree itself too- why pay for one more same upstairs-observation-deck thing when we already viewed a similar free one at the Government Building? :P
Trained down to Shibuya after! SHOPPING HEAVEN NAAAA! I had been looking forward to that so much! But ends up, we were pretty lethargic by then and just decided to take it slow, and return to continue our shopping at Shibuya the next day :P Bought our first salmon sashimi at a reasonably low price from the supermarket but it was SUPER FRESH!! Then went to catch the live scene of the Shibuya Crossing that’s been shown before in movies like The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Resident Evil: Afterlife.. Really amazing scene where traffic is stopped in all directions and people cross opposite, literally in all directions opposite! So ofcos, WE JOINED IN TOO HAHAHAH. Headed to Macs for dinner after and tried the Ebi burger. Awesome stuff man! I don’t like the fact they didnt have chilli sauce for me though :( MEH. Was walking around abit more after that when I saw Pablo Cheesetart! Heard of it having long queues but probably due to the ongoing rain, there was just a pretty short queue! So ofcos, me being me, excitedly shrieked “OMG PABLO CHEESETART! I WANNE BUY COME I QIA YOU ALL OKAY WAIT FOR ME” and ran to queue up. Guess what, my jackass friends actually said “Wa, never let us choose one sia”. AHHAHAHHA. Mean people lar! Qia them eat also complain :P I know they mean no harm la, but nevertheless, we did enjoy the cheesetart later that night, with Luther and Luxi too :)
Continue on at Part 2..~
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Japan with friends has been a generally great trip. Glad that we all had sufficient fun, were almost quite well-rested, with minimal disagreements throughout the trip. Right from the day we set off, we had our itinerary planned well, and were totally expecting to make changes whenever needed- to omit certain attractions if in any case due to time constraints or other factors, there were to be changes made..
Plane ride there was really smooth, great takeoff landing and WINDOW SEAT!! However, totally not fitful rest throughout the 7 hrs flight as it was an afternoon flight… HOW TO SLEEP!? Nevertheless, reached Haneda slightly earlier than expected, and OMG, no hotel booked. Had to nua at the airport till the next morning.. On the bright side, the convenience store at the airport was AMAZING! Had such a wide range of delicacies, unlike Singapore’s convenience stores ley :/
Well, ends up we still had fun with Monopoly Deal and Daidee too, compliments of MUAHHHHHH. Fortunately I remembered to bring cards along!! :D
Next morning, headed off to take the Idk-what-line to our hotel located at Shin-Okubo station. Surprisingly, for a low price we paid for the hotel, our hotel’s distance from the train station was really near, like a 3-5 minutes walk only! Only thing was, our room was pretty small. Oh well! Nevertheless, because we could only check in at 3pm, we had the whole morning to burn. Being too lethargic, we ended up trudging along the paths to an unknown place, where we had REALLY AWESOME RAMEN!! It turns out, that place is indeed one of the better-tasting ramen places :) PS. Spoiler-alert, we also had our last meal in Japan there :P
By 1pm, yours truly got too annoyed with not being able to bathe the past 24 hours o.O And I demanded to check in early and paid a small top up fee. THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT! Had a cooling bath and some rest before we headed out again in the evening :) Evening was spent chilling around Shinjuku area as the shops closed pretty early, so no point travelling too far out :) Shinjuku is the Japan version of Singapore’s City Hall, only 10 times more bustling with activities! We somehow managed to find our way to Shinjuku directly and walked there from our hotel, since it was just one stop away from Shin-Okubo station. In addition, because the area we stayed in was like ‘Korea town’ in Japan, we also took the opportunity to explore the shops/ restaurants/ convenience stores in the vicinity. Surprisingly, we still got pretty much accomplished on that day- we purchased our Disneysea tickets, our Hakone passes, and had a quick browse of the different malls at Shinjuku itself (Lumine 1, 2, East, Flags etc) and then headed out to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building to start our tour! Went up to the top level of the Government Building and wowwww, the view was awesome! We went to both buildings’ observatory deck at Level 45. Shiokkk cos most buildings in Tokyo are so.. SHORT! :P But.. Was too lethargic to identify which buildings I could view from the deck :( Dinner after was Tempura ramen @ Piss Alley/ Omoide Yokocho, which again, was some pretty delicious stuff! Realised then that their culture of dining out really differs from SG’s alot. They have very small compounds, so meals are often consumed fast- once they sit down, they order, pay up, eat and then go. Within 10-15 minutes, someone else sits down already. D: Pretty cool aye? Post-dinner exploration of Shinjuku’s clubbing district, bars, pubs, clubs, also realised that the well-known Casablanca is also there, while on the way back to the hotel. Night ended well but tired!
2nd day, woke up pretty early to head out to Asakusa. I really expected it to be a place where you really feel overwhelmed by the cultural habits/ displays, and boy was I correct :) Was already amazed by the very majestic Kaminarimon/ Kaminari Gate, at the start of the street. Lots of photo opportunities there cos the gate itself was just too awesome to miss! Followed by the Nakamise Shopping Street, where I started my shopping of Japan produces ie. Paper wallets/ magnets etc, and tried some snacks like their traditional pancakes which were made on the spot! Took a pretty long time for us to finally make it to the Sensoji Temple at the end of the street! :D The temple itself was even more magnificent. Known as Sensoji Temple, this an ancient Buddhist temple is also Tokyo’s oldest temple, and one of its most significant! Took quite a couple of pictures, offered my prayers, and drew a lot, before proceeding to shop at Shin-Nakamise Street, an adjacent lane which was recently added in.. Never enough of shopping eh?! Lunchtime was pretty awesome and cheap at 松屋, had my first Yakiniku Don! :D
Headed on to Asahi Beer Tower… Till date we still cant figure out the purpose of that place, cos we couldn’t even find an entrance after walking ALL the way there :/ Ended up continuing our journey to the Tokyo Sky Tree, where we encountered this awesome shopping mall! Wide selection of food at the supermarket!!!! (Rox Departmental Store if I’m not mistaken?) Ends up, we didn’t head up the Sky Tree itself too- why pay for one more same upstairs-observation-deck thing when we already viewed a similar free one at the Government Building? :P
Trained down to Shibuya after! SHOPPING HEAVEN NAAAA! I had been looking forward to that so much! But ends up, we were pretty lethargic by then and just decided to take it slow, and return to continue our shopping at Shibuya the next day :P Bought our first salmon sashimi at a reasonably low price from the supermarket but it was SUPER FRESH!! Then went to catch the live scene of the Shibuya Crossing that’s been shown before in movies like The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and Resident Evil: Afterlife.. Really amazing scene where traffic is stopped in all directions and people cross opposite, literally in all directions opposite! So ofcos, WE JOINED IN TOO HAHAHAH. Headed to Macs for dinner after and tried the Ebi burger. Awesome stuff man! I don’t like the fact they didnt have chilli sauce for me though :( MEH. Was walking around abit more after that when I saw Pablo Cheesetart! Heard of it having long queues but probably due to the ongoing rain, there was just a pretty short queue! So ofcos, me being me, excitedly shrieked “OMG PABLO CHEESETART! I WANNE BUY COME I QIA YOU ALL OKAY WAIT FOR ME” and ran to queue up. Guess what, my jackass friends actually said “Wa, never let us choose one sia”. AHHAHAHHA. Mean people lar! Qia them eat also complain :P I know they mean no harm la, but nevertheless, we did enjoy the cheesetart later that night, with Luther and Luxi too :)
Continue on at Part 2..~
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