Tour information in Phuket

Dear Readers,

After lots of requests, I found the 3 business cards I picked up last time in Phuket during my AMAZING THAILAND!!! trip of 2008. Here are all the details:

Tour Company in Phuket : Phuket Seaworld & Tina Tour

Address: 34/3 M.5 Thepkhasattri Road.
T. Thepkhassattri Thalang, Phuket 83110 Thailand

Ms. Janjira Krutprapal (Tina)
Managing Director
Mobile: +66 87 3903710, +66 87 2686867
Tel: +66 76-206694, Fax: +66 76-206559 Email: tinatour24@hotmail.com

Review:

I think this is a very reliable company, I have used it 3 times. You can coordinate with Tina via email, she will arrange for pick up at the airport, and then from the airport you will be driven to her office to settle all payments and collect the daily tour tickets. Very friendly service and reliable

Freelance Tour Guide: Mr. Chakrit Somkaew (Chai)
Mr. Chai was my HAPPPY!!! Tourguide, speaks excellent english, very nice man, but a little TOO Friendly with women, so be warned.. (not in a pervy way, more like, innocent love crush?)

Mobile: + 66 81-272 3022
Address: 78/280 M.3 Chao-Far Road, Wichit, Muang Phuket 83000

Taking Taxis in Phuket
Unfortunately, in Phuket there is no systematic taxi system, meaning us tourist have to bargain and pay basically a ransom amount to travel around the city. So here is some advice:

If you think you want to see shops, night life, the whole works – get a hotel in Patong area, because that will save you on the transport.
If you want a secluded getaway, choose a nice beach like Surin Beach and just stay there your entire trip.

BUT if you need to take a taxi, I got a business card from a very nice young man who is a taxi driver there. He drives a simple sedan, speaks fluent English and his whole family grew up in Surin Beach. He was very nice to us 3 girls when we were travelling in Phuket, he told us places to avoid, and at first we only wanted a one way taxi ride, but he was ‘worried’ (hey I believed him) that we wouldnt be safe, so we set a time and place to meet again for him to take us back to the hotel.

If you are staying at the Marriot at Surin Beach, he usually is sitting right outside the hotel. If not, here is his contact info:

Mr. Settapan Changin, (but you can call him. Mr. Bu (pronounced as Boo.))
Mobile: +66 81 370-8718
His business card lists everything he does – transport to and from airport, take you to see Phuket Fantasea and Temples…but please please avoid things like

Cashew nut Factory, Thai Silk Store, Jewelry Factory, because those are HUGE tourist traps, they charge a fortune.

Alright, I hope that helps you all.

Enjoy your time in Phuket!
Stacy

A Lovely November – Day 3 – Family Reunions

Dear Readers,

Ooooooooh shoot, I’m so behind on my blog entries that I am forgetting what to write on my logs!

Day 3…November 5th, it was a thursday…and I think Mom and I went shopping. Had a business meeting.

Oh, I do remember laughing so much when watching KBS – Korean TV, with ENGLISH SUBTITLES!!! I’m so jealous that we don’t get that in Thailand.

Family Reunion

So, at first Uncle James arrived with Aunt Kathleen, and then all the relatives started coming into our room! It is so nice to come from a big family! They came in twos (haha like noah’s ark.) – Uncle James and Aunt Kathleen, Claudia and Aunt Cissy, Aunt Laura and Uncle Ben!

So there we were all 9 of us, in the room, chatting and laughing, and then…time for photos. It really is a math probability question. nCr – combinations. 9 people, 4 cameras, how many permutations and combinations? I think it took us a complete 15 minutes to complete the whole round.

Imagine….

Photo 1: Aunt Laura’s camera, Aunt Laura took the group photo.
Photo 2: Aunt Laura’s camera, Uncle Ben took the group photo.
Photo 3: Claudia’s camera, Aunt Cissy took the group photo.
Photo 4: Claudia’s camera, Claudia took the group photo. 

etc etc.
Not to mention the different combinations of seating arrangements too!

From left to right – Claudia, Dad, Aunt Laura, Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Ben, Uncle James, Mom and Aunt Cissy! phew!

The last photos were using Uncle James cute camera, with a 15s self timer, so we are all sitting there like…ah….cheeese!! wow…this light is long!

haha

Dinner was great, lots of laughter, I think the cutest moment was when we asked Uncle Ben what he wanted to eat, and right away he said, “Goo Lo yuk! *sweet and sour pork!*” Wow I never remember him being so adorable and vocal! And I dont even know how old he is, but he is such an amazing tennis player, and he was talking about his rallying, how he beats his boys anytime, it was so sweet!

 

Dinner was alot of laughter and catch up? And I was sitting there thinking…wow, I really miss this. I would love to grow up and live in Vancouver with all of them, there is a strong sense of family. I also really missed Gucci.

 

 

 What lovely relatives and what a nice warm reunion, I hope it won’t be another 6 years til I see them again!
Stacy

A Lovely November – Day 2 – Morning freeze and Dinner with Rita and Billy!

Dear Readers,

Morning Freeze
I woke up FREEZING. Was it really ‘winter’ in HK so soon? I got dressed for breakfast, wore my jacket, and was freezing in the hotel restaurant during breakfast. 

Which….was quite alright, except for one thing that really boggled me. — They put the bacon in this steamer, no wait..hmm…it’s not an obvious steamer, but it is a tray, that is heated, and has this glass cover thingy and I suppose some steam too, to keep the food warm I guess?     ”It wasn’t the usual food tray covers” would be the best way to describe them. Anyhoo, so bacon, ham, sausages? All soggy! Bargh! In hindsight - it was good thing for me because I avoided eating them all week.

Because I was freezing in the restaurant, I refused to be a victim, and I couldn’t allow myself to catch a cold because I couldn’t get my parents sick, so I wore a longsleeve undershirt, my tank top, my green knit sweater, my jacket and my scarf …and headed outside for lunch. I even put my MSN status as “FREEZING IN HK!”

Once we stepped outside the hotel? I was hit by a gush of warm air. Man…I’m such a loser!

hahaha, this is another example of what happens when I live a sheltered life. (BUBBLE!!!!)  If I didn’t step out of the hotel, I would completely think that it is subdegree temperature outside! What is with hotel airconditioning?!?!?!? Everyone around me was wearing a cotton-tee, and there I was with my pink scarf!

Cantonese Immersion
Anyhoo, Shatin is a really nice part of HK, it is nice and quaint, and interesting. It also brought out my huge cantonese insecurity though. We were buying a SIM Card, and I was asking the lady if I could choose my phone number (because you know, I am so particular when it comes to numbers)  Basically, I have to press all these buttons and choose a number, DAMMNIT the lady did it for me, and I got a crappy number. But anyhoo, she was blasting off in Cantonese, like blahblah *TSK TSK* ho mafaan la la lalalalaa, and I was staring at her blankly, like what the heck did i do? And later Mommy said, “she told you she was frustrated with reading instructions, and you should ask her boss”

My jaw literally dropped like, Wow, how the bleep! did I miss that!

Portions are also ridiculously huge in HK. Random point.

Dancing while walking
Mommy gave me a HK map, and booked me on the shuttle to TST Regal Hotel. And with this trusty map, I found my way to the pier side, and had a nice 20 minute stroll to Ocean Terminal. You know what, I don’t usually use my MP3 player in Bangkok, but it is really fun and handy to have.

While waiting for Rita, I was listening to “Give it Up” by KC and the Sunshine Band – and alright, I was doing a mini-grapevine move in front of the shopping square. I always do this I suppose? How can someone listen to music and not move and dance along to it? 

I guess if I ever lived in HK, I would have to learn to live with just tapping my feet…because this dodgy African man (I’m not racist btw, I’m just describing how he looked like please!) walked up to me smiling like,

Dodgy man: Are you waiting for your friend?
Stacy: Yes, my husband actually! *switches to more sober depressing music*

Reunion with Rita and Billy
Shortly after creepo approached me, I saw Rita and ran into her arms. So that’s right, he was standing right there. Rita was my husband.

We had dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant that had a nice view of the harbour, and Billy joined us too! Dinner was great, but the highlight was catching up with the both of them. I like it the way it is now, seeing Rita once every 6 months, it comforts me And this time, I got the chance to talk to Billy more, and I am so happy for Rita, because Billy is a really nice guy.  Heather, Andrea and Rita! All three of you are attached to such wonderful men!

Lovely running Rita!

The nice waitress lady...everytime she took the photo we saw her hand shake...hahah this was the best shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to dig up some old York photos and compare how we looked before as to now. I feel we are women now Rita! It’s hard to describe really. It’s like we look the same, but not at the same time?

November 4th was a fabulous day for me!
Stacy

Bangkok to Hong Kong

Dear Readers,

And with all my frustration, I left Bangkok and moved to HK….

I wish.

Whatever the case, I am here in Hong Kong, and had quite an interesting journey over here! The Bangkok Airport now has really crazy stringent regulations when it comes to security checks. We have to take out EVERYTHING, if you have a laptop in your computer case – take it out, if you have a make up kit – take it out,  I was asked to take off my coat, my watch, my scarf and my shoes too! I felt like I was giving a strip tease! Really ridiculous! And to make it worse, I just had SOOOO many bags, that it was very very overwhelming and I was rushing to the Emirates gate….

I simply love Emirates. Yes, Vick works there so I am biased. But I got to watch GREY’S ANATOMY on board. It must be 3-4 seasons ahead of the ones I’m watching in Bangkok! And there I was, snuggled in my window seat, tearing and dabbing my eyes like crazy for 2 hours! That stuff really gets to you!

And when I got out of the gates, I saw lots of Immigration Officers, and they were only stopping Africans and Middle Eastern people! It was quite embarassing and disgraceful to see such blatant racist discrimmination! I complained about it just now, and my Auntie told me it is because there are so many illegal workers in HK, but still I felt quite crappy about it.

Anyways, I’m glad that I am with my parents now,  and looking forward to an interesting week!
Goodnight!
Stacy

Amazing Thailand – Phuket – Day Four – Friendships are priceless

Dear Readers,

 

I can’t believe how time flies by in Phuket. It was sad that it would be our last time together in quite a while (at least 2 years?)

 

We went to this safari, we paid 1,500 baht for a 7 in 1 package. CRAZINESS!!!!

We went on an water buffalo ride, (2 minutes), went to see how rice is cultivated, took a photo of sitting on an ox (buffalo?) learnt how to cook som tam (Thai papaya salad), learnt about rubber tapping, learnt some muay Thai, saw an elephant show, saw a monkey show, went on a 20 minute elephant trek and then went canoeing!

 

CRAZINESS!!! And my arms were already itchy and burning from that point, so I had to wear my sarong like a cap to hide my arms from the sun. Didn’t work because now I have ugly hyper pigmentation going on and my arms look like Michael Jackson’s arms… L boo.

 

For the elephant trekking, we bought 3 bags of bananas, and Rita and I shared the elephant while Andrea had her own elephant. At that point of time, I wanted Andrea to experience and enjoy the elephant ride on her own, but I didn’t realize that maybe she’d rather ride with us, Mom said that maybe I excluded her, Andrea, I never meant to!! Sorry if I made you feel that way!

 

Andrea’s Mahoot (the word for elephant trainer) would not let Andrea feed her elephant bananas! SO SAD!! He was a banana nazi!  When Andrea wanted to give her elephant bananas, he’d say NO BA NA NA! NO BA NA NA! Whereas, our nice Mahoot, was laughing with us, and our sweetie elephant stopped every 10 metres lifted her trunk towards us to ask for food. So we gave her all 3 bags of bananas!

 

Our elephant sneezed and the goo went in Rita’s eye, and she kept on screaming AHHHHHHHHH!!! ITS IN MY EYE!!! MY CONTACTS!! EEE!! IN MY EYE!! TISSUE TISSUE!!!

I was the most non-helpful person, I was bowling over with laughter, trying to fidget opening her bag and zipper, and took longer than I should had giving her the tissue. Hahaha hilarious. I wish I filmed it.

 

After we got back, we had a speedy lunch and said our goodbyes at the airport.

Parting brings such sorrow, I was lucky that I was on my way to meet Rita in HK 2 weeks after this trip. And in HK Rita and I decided that we should see each other at least once a year, if not twice a year.

 

We had such a fabulous fun time in Phuket! Being with both Rita and Andrea, it just goes to show that distance and time don’t affect great friendships like ours. Instead of complaining about school work, crazy housemates, and smelly boys, we had graduated to talk about our careers, families and life in general. It is for certain that we’d still be in contact when we are getting married, having our babies, and sending our babies to school, it’s a really nice feeling.

 

Cheers to everlasting friendships!
Stacy

For photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/skmkh2002/AmazingThailandRelaxingPhuketGetaway

Amazing Thailand – Phuket – Day Three – Island Hopping!

Dear Readers,

Day 3 in Phuket was our island hopping day! We bought the express speed boat package that took us to Maya bay, um, Phiphi lay, phiphi don, and some really nice excluded island – all for 1,200 baht.

 

Our exciting day started when we got off our van, and were approached by this small elastic smiling man named Chai. He said, today…you are on a HAPPY TOUR!! HAPPPPPY!!!!!!!! *exaggerating his smile*

Say...HAAAAAppppy

That was the theme of the day, HAAAaaaaaaapppPPPPPPY, and whenever he said Thank you, he said it like this “Thhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaankkkkkk YOooooooooooooou”

Haha hilarious.

 

Before we got on the boat, he said for insurance purposes, they needed to snap a photo of each group of friends. 1…2…3….say…..HAPPPppppppY!!!!!!!!

 

I immediately made, “friends” with Chai, and he told us that we were the first group and that he’d get us the best seat on the boat. Andrea and I were happy, we’d get to sit out on the deck! But turns out, the seats were right next to where he was standing “….”

 

Andrea was a bit bummed about that, because a brash group of Aussie girls just pushed forward and took the deck before we got the chance to.

 

 

My snorkelers!

 

 

 

 

Each beach was really beautiful, and we went snorkeling too, which I didn’t want to because I promised my parents that I wouldn’t go into the water because there was this dangerous evil jelly fish that killed 3 tourist already. So I didn’t enjoy it that much, but Andrea and Rita had the time of their lives!

 

 

 

 

 

HapppY!!

 

K.Chai kept on talking to me, and warning signs started flashing when he was asking about where my office was, and if he could come visit me, and spoke about his ex girlfriend, and that how he’d like to date a foreign girl…Andrea and I immediately exchanged a subtle glance, eyebrow lift and cringe!

 

He wrote on my hand a smiley face, matching his, so that every time he wanted all of us to be happy and smile, he’d say, “We are all…..*points to his hand*…HAaaapppY”

 

 

The highlight of the trip, was at our last beach. It was nice and secluded, and you could snorkel there. But I wasn’t in the mood, so I just sat down on the lounge beach chairs. Every 2 minutes, you had a haggler(?? I can’t think of the word for now) asking “Maaaaaammm would you like some ICECREAMMMMM”

I wonder because  I was the hugest Mama on the beach that they thought I’d eat 10. I kept on declining, but they just kept on coming.

 

Rita came to join me and we were hanging out laughing and chatting, watching Andrea enjoying herself with the fish. Then out of the water comes Andrea, super excited and smiling walking towards us.

 

Andrea: Stacy, I made friends with a Chinese Australian guy for yoU!! He is soo nice! And he wants us to join him and his friends for drinks tonight!

Stacy: Wow Andrea, you love me!!! Haha thank you! *fixing my hair a bit*

Andrea: Oh look there he comes now, Bret (to be honest, I can’t remember his name, but it was a relatively hot name, not cringe worthy)

 

Out of the water, I see a silhouette of a 5’8 hunky bulky Chinese uncle, with tattoos on his arm, dark from the sun, small eyes, spikey black hair and a gold chain on his neck. Rita and I look at eachother, and I say.. “omg…he looks like hack seah wui! (黑社會)

 

Andrea has the WORST taste in Chinese men! She should really….

Lol

 

I almost died from a stomach ulcer of laughter when he left, fine, maybe I hurt her feelings a bit, but seriously! He looked like an uncle! Maybe 33? No wait, I’d date a 33 year old man no problem, but not this one.

 

Priceless, I went into the water later, when he and his friends walked over to say hello AGAIN, and I just waved from the water. Andrea said his friends were better looking so we left that ‘meet up’ as an open option. But I wasn’t really interested.

No no no, I get it.  Andrea wants me to socialize and mingle and meet people, so it was shove I needed but definitely not a shove I welcomed.

 

In the evening, we did go to patong area, the most sleazy gross place ever, and we realized that AUSSIE pub, the bar that were suppose to meet them in, was located down the prostitution night life street, so we said, nah nevermind and went shopping instead.(yay for shopping!) 

When we were shopping I lied and said I was half Thai, but visiting from Canada, that’s why my Thai was so lousy. And the lady gave me Thai PERSON price! 200 baht instead of 450 baht! So unscrupulous!

 I seriously I can’t believe I renounced my Chinese heritage for 250 baht, but it was slightly amusing and very very sneaky.

 Haha,

Stacy

 

 For photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/skmkh2002/AmazingThailandRelaxingPhuketGetaway#

 

 

Amazing Thailand – Phuket – Day Two – Surprises!

Dear Readers,

Unbeknowing that Rita was on her way, Andrea had her breakfast as usual, and we lay by the pool side to get a nice tan. Our schedule was to go to the beach at 3pm, then have Rita show up (surprise!) so i tried to delay things a bit, asked Andrea if we could go to our room and finish this horrible movie I rented. I could tell she was getting really antsy, and so would I, we were in beautiful phuket and we were sitting indoors watching a dvd???

I faked a stomache ache so that I could run to the bathroom and contact Rita to check if she was in the car to the hotel, then I went down with Andrea just in my sun dress. So that when we were on the beach, after 5 minutes, and alot of convincing on Andrea’s part, I ‘decided’ to go back to our hotel room to change. I told Andrea I might take a while because I wasn’t sure which swimsuit made me look slimmer and told her i’d be 15 minutes.

But Rita was late for 30 minutes! So could you imagine, Andrea was lying on the beach for a total of 45 minutes, with no watch and no way of calling me. HAhaha, I can’t imagine she didn’t come find me, and I was scheming that when she did meet up with me, i’d say, What are you talking about? I’ve only been gone for 20 minutes, time flies by super slowly when you are tanning…

haha! Anyways, the reunion at the beach was the happiest moment of the trip. Andrea was lying down, and she saw two chinese girls walk towards her, she said loudly, “Is that RITA!!!”  And like in the movies, there was a slow motion running embrace.

All 3 of us then went in the water and had our girly catch up, and you could see from Andrea’s face that she was so happy and surprised! She was a bit disappointed that she flew all the way to Asia and Rita couldn’t make it. And I made an excuse that Rita couldn’t get off work because the markets were crashing (quite a valid reason actually)

Afterwards, we went to have cocktails by the pool bar. 1 for 1 and HUGE! The only disgusting part was, they charged us full price because we ordered the bill at 7:07pm, or something like that. I kicked a fuss and they apologised..

 

 

 

This doll looks freakish

We went to PHUKET FANTASEA!

Thailand the Land of Smiles

I went there 8 years ago with my family and remember it being a nice place. I didn’t realise the show that we paid for would be such a freak show that would leave us so bewildered.

 

 

 

 

Andrea, Rita and I

It was so great to have all 3 girls together, really wish Heather was with us.

I’d recommend for anyone to forgo the Phuket Fantasea attraction,
Stacy

For photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/skmkh2002/AmazingThailandRelaxingPhuketGetaway#

Amazing Thailand – Phuket – Day One – Surin Beach

Dear Readers,

Andrea and I reached SUNNY phuket early Thursday morning. It was a breeze walking to the taxi corner, told them the hotel name, 400 baht sounded just about right, and we were on our way. We were driven in a Camry, in Phuket there are no public taxis.

I was a bit weary whether the driver knew where he was going, so I asked him, and he kept on nodding, then we pulled into a home office driveway, I suppose to ch

 

Yay for Phuket!

eck for directions?

Andrea was a bit antsy, like whats going on? And I didn’t think we were in harms way but have to admit, I was a little bit worried to. Then all of a sudden, a chubby orange hair tan skinned overdone make up transvestite jumps (or just magically appears) at Andrea’s door side and opens the door.

Hi! My name is Shonda, have you bought any of your tours yet, would you like to come in our office to check?

Hahahah the look on Andrea’s face was PRICELESS!! Anyhoo we went in, and I had to maneuver, with my limited thai to tell him about Rita’s surprise visit, and somehow, right under Andrea’s nose I bought all our tour packages in THREE, and the receipt even wrote 3 PAX. I was so surprised she didn’t ask anything about it!

haha, hilarious!

Our hotel was super fabulous, and as soon as we set our bags down, we headed out to the beach where we had lunch and consequently lay on the beach til sundown.

You know, after our fast paced Japan adventure. Doing nothing, lounging in the sun was the exact thing we needed. Or at least what I needed.

At the beach we made friends with Dogs. No not really WE, these dogs came to play with us (maybe they saw me burying myself in the sand). And they were a bit crazy, just sat with us. Really bothered Andrea, but I could tell right away that they had good temperment. Was an ulimate betrayal to Perdy, for making friends with them though … Sorry Perdy!! you know I love you the most!

I named them Sandra Dee and Mr. Sand. Here they are:

The big dog is Mr.Sand, and the little lady is Sandra Dee.

We camped out at Surin beach from 2pm til sunset..around 630pm. I would never had imagined sharing this moment with Andrea for a million years, but there we were, and it is a really nice memory to keep.

Phuket is really Amazing (in the good sense),
Stacy

Fabulous Japan – Day 6 – Sayonara!

Dear Readers,

Day Six – Sayonara!

Total Distance Walked: 12km, Feet Pain-O-Meter: 6

Theme of Today: Singing Enchanted songs is very dangerous.

Day 6 started off in a panic, I put on my watch and the friendship ring Andrea bought for me. And my ring wouldn’t fit! I couldn’t believe it, finally after 6 days, the excess salt and MSG used in Japan got to me. I had extreme water retention! All of a sudden I broke in a panic because I couldn’t take off my ring and my finger was turning purple.

*gulp*

I managed to get it off after using soap, but it was really eye-opening and testament to the crazy amounts of MSG in Japanese food.

Sens0-ji Market – Revisited

 

A girl trapped in a caged bubble. Andrea wouldn't let me buy it.

We went back to the tourist strip to buy souvenirs. I angrily glared at the redbean pancake shop, SUCH LOUSY DESSERTS!! The happiest thing there was spotting Ninja and other japanese costumed Monchichis!!!! They are awesome! I bought one for each of us siblings.

 

 

 

 

 Ueno – Ameyoko-cho Arcade (famous black market district after WW2)

Our sweet Hideyoshi from the previous evening (aka oishi yakitori anime guy) actually emailed us, saying that we should check out Ueno. SO NICE OF HIM!! The email was date stamped 12+!!!

The Arcade was alright, a street market! A clean JJ market! (Bangkok reference)

Andrea  and I were hungry, so wanted to walk in to any restaurant, we walked into this one restaurant, it was quite empty. Imagine a vast room, with a circular counter in the center. The chefs waved and welcomed us, and directed us to the machine to order lunch.

NO PICTURES. Japanese words only!

Andrea loves markets.

In dismay we left that restaurant and found ourselves having lunch at a diner!

My first time in a diner!!! It was smokey and they forgot my meal, so they gave me a free glass of coke. (I didn’t drink it though, I’m a pepsi girl and still on my no-softdrink resolution)

Enroute to the Airport

We had such a good chat and chill time on the train to Narita Airport. Laughing talking about life, and at some point of time I kept on raving about Enchanted. I really like that movie!!!  I was busy singing, “True Love’s kiss,” when they announced that we would be alighting at Narita Airport soon. Andrea was really anxious and went up front to get her luggage.  I la la la happily got off the train, but was rummaging for my ticket. When I got off the train, I looked at Andrea, and

Stacy: I am so sorry Andrea, you have to bear with me, I lost the ticket in my – - -

Andrea: STACY!!! WHERE IS YOUR LUGGAGE???

Stacy: *Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhht??* noooooooooooo!!!

I turned around and banged the express train with my hands as it started to move again, kept on banging it to stop, but it didn’t

And just like that my small silver case was gone to another terminal.

I was literally shaking, and Andrea really saw the panic on my face and gave me a hug and told me everything would be okay. We went to the conductor, took out a piece of paper, Andrea started to draw a brief case, and I was anxiously doing charade movements of a travelling case.

Andrea had to board her plane, (we took separate flights) so she had to leave me and gave me one last big hug and hoped to see me at the agreed place in Bangkok Airport.

ARgh!!! I was so edgy and my hands were shaking! I had to stand there for 15 minutes, regain composure and hop on the next train heading to terminal 1. The conductor told me that once I get off the platform I would see my suitcase.

That wasn’t the case. I was directed to the lost and found, which was closed. Went back down to the platform to ask the Terminal 2 conductor’s help. At the end of the day, I got my luggage and was able to breathe again.

As I was boarding the plane, I glanced at the Plasma TV airing CNN – BOMB BLASTS IN BANGKOK. 48 INJURED (or something to that extent) Lovely, isn’t it great to live in Bangkok?

****
This is my last entry of my Fabulous Japan series. I have to say that the trip for me was more of experiencing Japan with Andrea than experiencing Japan itself. The entire week I was not stressed at all, (except for the suitcase train incident) it was filled with fun and laughter, and so many random stories.

Japan was fabulous, but what made it truly fabulous was being there with Andrea. We had such a great reunion trip and after travelling to Japan together, I feel like we can conquer the world! (except for India, I need Neha’s help on that one.)

I love you Andrea!!

Andrea, I LOVE YOU TO PIECES!!! Thank you for such fabulous memories!

Sayonara,

Stacy

For photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/skmkh2002/FabulousJapan2008

 

 

Fabulous Japan – Day 5 – Ninja-ing Tokyo

Dear Readers,

Day Five – Ninja-ing Tokyo

Total Distance Walked: 12 km, Feet Pain-O-Meter: 7

Theme of this evening: 1…2…3…NINJA!

The 2nd part of Day 5 begins at Tokyo station. Andrea and I quite expertly manage to find our subway station, we switched lines, I was carrying my small travelling case, Andrea was carrying her HUGE travelling case. In Japan, it is rare to find escalators, so I found it sadistically amusing seeing Andrea lug this huge mama but extremely durable case around.

The map to our hotel was insanely ridiculous. There were some main street names, and a big star in the middle.  After 20 minutes of walking around the square area, we went down this narrow street, and asked a waiter (who was standing outside the restaurant giving out flyers) where our hotel was.

He is probably one of the only Japanese people we’ve met this entire trip who knew where he was going. In his Japanese wooden clogs he tattle tattled 20metres down the street, and pointed to our hotel, that was hidden. SO NICE OF HIM!!

Ninja Restaurant

What can I say, I think that Andrea and I have a fascination (at least I do) about stealthness and ninja techniques. I love being stealth! correction. I love trying to be stealth! I haven’t mastered it at all yet. So naturally, when we read:

“Ninja” is a theme restaurant located in Akasaka, Tokyo. The restaurant is designed as a ninja house, and there are some tricks in the building. Food are served by “ninja” who also performs magics for guests. The food are based on Japanese cuisine but are creative. The presentation of the food is beautiful and interesting. There are about 100 dishes to choose from. It’s recommended to reserve a room.

We were interested.

Our ninja training? – Was being escorted to our table, we walk  through a dark passage, and we listened to the water fall, walk walk walk, watch our step, walk walk walk, look at the pond below…see a school of fish right below us underneath the transparents glass…1…2…3…say NINJA!!

NINJA!

A moat comes down and we enter the restaurant.

I have to admit, that was quite nifty and got 2 thumbs up from me.

Our waitress was super nice, we ordered drinks (that were SO SMALL and basically virgin drinks), we ordered a ninja caesar salad, crab something, and sea bass on a golden cloud, lamb…all were presented to us using Ninja tricks.

The food was really god-awful. The crab had a fishy smell…and the sea bass was overcooked..and the golden cloud turned out to be whisked egg whites which just made both of us gasy.

We sat right behind Steven Spielberg’s signature, so that was somewhat fascinating. And Andrea kept on saying that this must be a tourist trap, but around us we saw alot of Japanese locals.  I think it’d be a really nice place to go on a date, amusing and something to laugh about later on. I haven’t been to dinner theatre before,  but I think i’d like it.

We were mesmerised by a magician, he was AWESOME, he put a coin in my watch, not in my watch, but between my watch and wrist. I was so shocked. I loved it! I love magic!

When we left the restaurant, we were escorted out, and I turned behind and was quite impressed how the waiter/manager was watching us walk away, and right when Andrea and I turned around to look back, he surprised us by stylishly opening a scroll *SHING!!* ” Please come back again!”

hahah PRICELESS!!

Electric Town – Akihabara Electric Town district (filled with electronics stores)– most fascinating at night with all of the bright lights

It took 30 minutes to get our check at Ninja, so that by the time we reached Akihabara, it was around close to 9?

We walked into a AM/PM store (equivalent to 7/11) and right away the clerk took out a map and pointed us the direction.

BRAVO!!!

We followed his directions, looked right, looked left, looking for bright lights, shameless electricity wastage…but everything was dark! We walked and walked, just couldn’t find any lights! We then asked a pedestrian where Akihabara was, he scratched his head and apologised that he didn’t know.

BRAVO!!!! An honest answer!!!

Turns out, we arrived too late! all the stores were closed, no lights. Fabulous! Too bad we didn’t get to see what everyone raves about. Oh well. We then set off to find…

Oishi Yakitori  Doko Desku?

I think it was on Anthony Bourdain (love him) where I saw him eat really fresh chicken under train tracks. Actually I am not a yakitori fan at all, – its simply chicken on sticks. Big whoop.

But, its something to do late at night, we didn’t have our itinery with us, but ANDREA remembered the subway stop! Really amazing!! She is a superstar.

Come to think of it, it is quite scary to walk down an alley below the train tracks asking complete strangers “Oishi yakitori doko desku?” I told Andrea that I would ask (which was a big change), I asked a young looking small guy…

Stacy: Sumimasen, Yakitori Oishi (hand gestures) doko desku?

Young looking guy: Oh, you want to eat yakitori?

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He spoke English! Talk about winning the jackpot.

His name is…Hideyoshi and he looks like Japanese anime. He was such a sweetheart, told us that most probably all the restaurants were closed, and walked us to the popular ones. We invited him to join us for supper and he was super happy about that. The diners were open but were on last order so they didn’t want to entertain us. Boo.

Anyways, he then walked us to the subway station, and we exchanged business cards, and when we said goodbye, Andrea gave him a hug! And his face looked as if he had been stunned. lol. I wish i captured it.  I also gave him a hug, and was surprised how he returned the hug. aww…

Roppongi – Gaijin Nightlife

We reached Roppongi. It was FREEZING. We went up to a place called Roppongi hills, which really reminded me of Singapore’s Marine parade area – Esplanade + Merlion place. At that moment, I pictured myself living in Japan, and I thought it possible.

Andrea and I decided to play a game, make eyecontact and smile at locals passing by us, and count how many return the smile. We weren’t obnoxious about it, very casual like, eyecontact …tiny smile and nodd…eyecontact …tiny smile and nodd…

Person 1, Person 2, Person 3….Person 10 – NO RESPONSE! really amazing. It says alot.

We exited the subway station, and tada! Roppongi! A strip where you can find TGIF fridays (is that the chain name?) and all other American restaurants and what nots. We were walking down the street, contemplating whether or not to try out some club, or maybe go to HardRock Cafe…

Backtracking a bit..right near the Ninja restaurant, we met 2 black couples touring in Tokyo, we smiled and said “Have a good evening” to them,and they replied “have a good evening too! *smiles*” Tourist are always friendly to eachother!  Yay!

So, when we were standing near HardRock cafe, we saw a group of black tourist (men), so Andrea and I smiled and nodded.

Then one of them, walks up to Andrea and says, “Hey Baby, (like…Baaybeh..) whatcha wanna do tonight? *sly greasy teeth twinkling grin*leaning wink*”

!!!!EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Andrea and I just turned right around and power walked out of that situation!!

Hilarious.

We ran out of that situation, and back to the hotel.  That pretty much sums up Day 5.

Alright…repeat after me, and I will do a vanishing trick…

1….

2….

3….

Ninja!!!