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

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#

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!!!

Fabulous Japan – Day 5 – Saying Goodbye to Kyoto

Dear Readers,

Day 5 – Saying Goodbye to Kyoto

Total Distance Walked: 20 Km, Feet-Pain-O-Meter: 9

Theme of the Day: TBA

1. Orange Tori

Tori isn’t a snack,  Tori-s are gigantic arch like structures. Andrea read that it was a beautiful site, to go see 3,000 Tori lined up. And when she asked the Customer Service officer at the Hotel lobby, that woman was ‘so sweet’ to even highlighted the subway station we had to get off.  She told Andrea that it would take us a 45 minute ONE WAY JOURNEY, and it would cost 140 yen to get there. 140 yen ONLY???

I seriously didn’t see whats the big deal about giant orange arches, but I decided that, yes we are in Japan and we are going to do as much as possible! So told Andrea that I was willing to wake up at 6, to take a 45 minute train ride to see this place, tour it for 1 hour, take a 45 minute journey back so that we can still squeeze in Nijo Castle before lunch.

Again our day started with a chewy energy bar, and we were sitting chatting on the train.

REACHED OUR DESTINATION IN FIFTEEN MINUTES.

FIFTEEN MINUTES

This is pure testament to local Japanese people’s lack of understanding of time and space.

Anyhoo, exiting the subway station worried Andrea a bit, because I misplaced my subway ticket, but I figured I could get away with smiling at the booth kiosk guy and asking him directions, and he let me out without asking to see my ticket! Great!

Our subway station was very local, in the sense that we landed in a real village, with real homes – no high rises. So it was nice to experience that. Turns out that the Orange Tori place was…

Fushimi Inari Taisha (tunnels of torii)

We woke up really early for this..

A shinto jinja (shrine) located in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Japan. Fushimi Inari Taisha is also famous for appearing in the film Memoirs of a Geisha It is especially well known for the thousands of vermilion torii lining the paths on the hill on which the shrine is located. The torii gates are all donations from individuals, families or companies. The Inari spirit is considered to be the protector of grains, especially rice, and has thus historically been associated with wealth. Companies often make offerings to Inari shrines in the form of barrels of rice wine (sake) or torii gates.

Good. A shrine for businesses. I prayed there and just absorbed the whole setting. Don’t remember anything from the Memoirs of the Geisha though.

2. Nijo Castle – UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

 Finally! A tourist attraction that has english signs and AUDIO tapes! I quickly paid 500 yen to listen to the Audio guide, I suggest this to anyone. That or…before going to Nijo Castle or any tour sites in general – DO RESEARCH.

The castle itself was very plain but somewhat grand at the same time. The highlight of the castle was the nightingale hall. Which was designed many many years ago using ‘high’ technology. They constructed it so that any weight on the floor boards would cause a squeak – a nightingale chirp.

Nijo Castle

Hence, the whole hall sounded as if we were surrounded by birds. The bum part of it was that we couldn’t hear what chirp sound we made individually. BUT then, Andrea and I found ourselves in a position where there were no other tourist with us, and we were tiptoeing on the boards and NO SOUND! We could be Ninjas!! (We had really good stealth experience at York!! HAhaha the RAID OF TATHAM HALL! MUAHAHAHAAahahahah good times good times..)

Well we could be ninjas. That – or the technology isn’t very good.

Nijo Castle Gardens

Andrea and I walked through the palace gardens, which was apparently a very ‘in’ trend in the 1500s for castles to have gardens. The Nijo Castle actually has 2 castles, but the other one was burnt down.

Um, the park was extremely nice, and we enjoyed our walk around there, it was close to 12, so we wanted to go and try that 100 year old restaurant. We couldn’t see the exit sign, so Andrea asked a Japanese woman where the exit was, and she pointed to us LEFT.  In front of us, I kinda saw a sign indicating another garden (close to the exit) that said to turn to the RIGHT, but I figured maybe her way was the real exit.

IT WASN’T. Andrea and I basically walked the whole outergarden and were stuck in Nijo Castle grounds for 30 minutes! In those empiral days, if you were a Ninja – you’d really need to know where you are going.

3. Lunch with  a TV star.

The 100 year old restaurant turned out to be closed, that or we decided to save our money for our NINJA dinner in Tokyo..forgot which. Anyhoo, we went to a local fastfood but GOOD food restaurant. TEMPURA! We had udon noodles with tempura, everything laid out buffet style for us to choose. I found the lunch quite good.

We couldn’t find a booth to sit at, so we placed our trays down at a counter and sat like a couple. haha. I went to get us green tea and more sauces, when I returned, Andrea was chatting with this American 40-5o year old man sitting at the opposite side of the counter.

You have to visualise, 2 counters facing eachother, separated by a board covering the face area only. So I could see his hands and food, but not his face. His name was Mike and he was the most chatty thing in the world. Andrea and I supposed that it was because he rarely ever met native English speakers in Japan, thats why he was talking at 100 words per minute. (alot)

He told us that he acted on BAYWATCH!!! My eyes POPPED OUT!!! (yes, I admit, I used to watch it on Starplus. Didn’t you?) And I was about to bombard him with questions like, so who did you play? were you Yasmin Bleeth’s boss or something? (because I didn’t recognise him) But right away he said – I was the doctor on Episode XX  (some number i forgot which)

A comedian!

He really was a comedian, an entertainer, teacher, musician, and ordained minister?

The best joke we heard was, when he conducts a ceremony he says, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here today to witness the joining of….*sees all the stone faced Japanese people*….so what time is the funeral?”

haha, fabulous.

3. Train to Tokyo

Sometimes I find that I am really too smart for my own good. I noticed that a bottle of water in the train station cost 150 yen, but on the train I remembered seeing a sign 120 yen, so waited to buy a bottle of water there. It was 120 yen for a 330ml bottle of water, FABULOUS. I almost died of thirst.

A few things about the train ride.

1. Andrea and I slept shamelessly. At the opposing aisle from us were 2 working Japanese men, who weren’t good looking at all, but presentable and stylish.  (Seriously, the only good looking Japanese guy in Japan is Hiro, ladies, if you want his number, ask me.) They must had chuckled quietly at Andrea and I. I don’t know about Andrea, but I was so exhausted when we sat down, that I actually slept with my mouth open – which I hardly ever do. When I feel myself starting to open my mouth, I’d wake up and fix the way I look, but this time, I just slept all the way. Not to mention that I am a head-bobber, and my head was bobbing towards the aisle..so much so that I was…

2. almost decapitated 2wice by the food trolley girl.  What is with trolley manners in Japan? They just ZOOOM by. Its crazy!

3. We filmed my funny North West video.

4. We saw Mt. Fuji for the 2nd time and Andrea musta taken 20 photos. But it was foggy

5. We didn’t get to see that nice Vietnamese family! A darn shame, I was looking forward to hearing about their tour. But it gets better. A few stations before Tokyo station, Andrea looked at the people walking on the platform, and she said, Hey Stacy! Isn’t that your guy with his parents!? She was right! He was on the same train as us but different compartment. He was walking 10 paces ahead of his parents, POWERWALKING with his poor small parents trailing behind. SO RUDE!!! Omg, was so shocked about that. Tsk tsk. Never judge a book by its cover. Lesson learnt. 

Last thoughts on Kyoto

I was so impressed on how Andrea and I conquered Kyoto in 2 days, by the 3rd day we were navigating the routes. The life in Kyoto is slower pace, and somehow I came out preferring Tokyo much more.

Perhaps we didn’t go during the right time, Kyoto is the place to visit when the cherry blossoms are blossoming and/or during the fall.

And 13 degrees in Kyoto is FREEZING COLD. I almost died – my teeth were chattering.

Also, I wish we went to Osaka, which was just a 30 minute train ride away :(.

Overall – I appreciated the very glam hotel we stayed at, and the lower cost of living in Kyoto than in Tokyo, and I found Kyoto folk to be much friendlier.

My rating? A thumb and a half.

That’s right I am a hard woman to please,
Stacy

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

Fabulous Japan – Day 4 – Kyoto Makes Her Comeback.

Dear Readers,

Day Four – Kyoto Makes Her Comeback

Total Distance Walked: 20 Km, Feet-Pain-O-Meter: 10

Theme of the Day: Shiny  Happy People

Yesterday I forgot to mention that on Day 3, Andrea and I had a reunion with our friend Deidre from Tatham Hall (The residence at York U) we met at an Irish Pub along the river. It was the shittiest Irish pub I’ve ever been to my whole life, and I ordered Lamb Stew, and what I got instead, was clear chicken stock, 4 pieces of diced carrot and 2 pieces of lamb. Andrea’s lamb tasted like rubber.

Dee teaches English in the small town of….hmm its a small town and right now I can’t recall its name. She moved to Japan around 6 months ago, so it was good to see her again. We both hadn’t seen her for over 6 years. At first I was a bit worried about the reunion, what if it’s awkward?? But that didn’t happen, we clicked like before.

So our day 4 started off with a chewy energy bar. Mocha chocolate flavour, super condensed but it was apparently suppose to fuel our day. We agreed to meet Dee at Kyoto station to hop on a bus to see the Golden Palace. SOOO many people were lining up for the same bus!! It was incredible. Luck was in our favour, and we met the most lovely and warm Japanese couple of the trip. Mr. & Mrs. Ando. — Andosan(s?)

Sweetest Couple of the Trip. – Making Friends on the Bus.

Andrea and I saw this sweet couple (around 60 years old) and offered them a seat, they both refused, but this started a very nice friendship…

They offered us an orange and insisted that we eat it on the spot, and we three communicated with them using my limited but quite impressive written chinese (you’d all be so proud of me.), Andrea’s amazing Mr.Dress up drawing skills, and Dee’s intermediate Japanese.  We spoke to them about everything, they loved Andrea’s hair and Andrea was a sweet heart, always thinking of new things to talk to them about.

Do you have any pets? *magically draws a cat and dog*

I flew over from Canada, and my friend Stacy flew over from Thailand *magically draws the world map, airplanes, and arrows*

Here is one I secretly caught on video:

Video 1: Andrea asks if they like to eat Kobe Steak (because they were from Kobe)

After 15 minutes, they finally allowed Andrea and I to give our seats to them. Shortly afterwards, they hurried off the bus, and we didn’t know why. We looked through our bus window, and saw Mrs. Ando sick. Andrea was sad and immediately wanted to rush off the bus to help her, but I told her that we’d see them again and that they would lose face if she did that. 

The Golden Palace

We reached the Golden Palace and saw swarms of people. Lo and Behold, we bump into the Vietnamese family (the guy + his parents) and we exchanged greetings and spoke a bit then went on our separate ways, we found out that all of us were scheduled to leave on Monday, so we figured that we’d chat to them on the train.

The Golden Palace is…a house decorated with Gold paper. Granted I know that there must be great his

The Golden palace, Kyoto

torical significance to it, and if I remember vaguely, it was on Emperor’s/Shogun’s  palace, and as history goes someone (a monk?) burnt it down, and they rebuilt it with gold paper. But honestly, there was no tourist information for us to really truly appreciate the Golden Palace. All plaques were in Japanese. This irritated the hell out of me, because my experience in China was so different, there were English signs all over so that tourist can really absorb and appreciate culture. At the Golden Palace, the only english sign I saw was – GREEN TEA 500 YEN.

 

And as I predicted, we did met the Ando couple at the Golden Palace! it was fabulous! I just knew that we would see them again! we took photos and walked around together. Then because the Golden Palace was flooded with tourist souvenir kiosk (can you tell from my tone that I did not like that place at all) we were able to buy 2 small gifts for them. Well-wishes charms: Get Well Soon and Happiness in their homes. 

 

Andrea, Dee and I with the Andos!

Andrea and Dee asked me to go choose, since the charms were in Chinese, so I chose those ones, thought them appropriate. I asked Andrea and Dee to keep Mr. & Mrs. Ando occupied while I sneaked off to buy them, and I broke a sweat when Mrs. Ando put her arm over my shoulder asking what I was buying. THANKS ANDREA!! so much for me being stealth!

They were so appreciative of the gift that they insisted on taking us to lunch, and we did not want to impose that on them, so gracefully bowed and tried to get out of the situation. And Mrs. Ando almost tore my arm off!!! haha so cute.

Enroute to Tenryuji

Andrea knew that I really wanted to go see Nijo Castle (because Mom INSISTED for me to go) and from the look of the Kyoto map, it made so much more sense to go to Tenryuji, then go to Nijo Castle (because it was just 1 stop away from our hotel.)

Enroute to Tenryuji we had to change buses, and at the interchanging bus station, a bus conductor walked up to us, asked us where we were going, and suggested us a different route to avoid traffic. SO NICE OF HIM!!! And then a young japanese couple overheard, also followed his advice and made sure we got off the bus when it was time.

From that bus stop, it was a TWENTY minute walk, crossing train tracks, walking through neighbourhoods, to Tenryuji. Which is… actually a whole area in itself. You could never say, I want go see Tenryuji. You’d have to be specific and say, I want to go see the Tenryuji Gardens, or the Tenryuji Temples, or the Tenryuji Bamboo Grooves, or the Tenryuji Monorail…(get my drift?)

Tenryuji –  Temple of the Dragon God

When we reached Tenryuji area, we walked around 15 minutes to this Tenryuji Garden area. Which has this massive entrance, meaning you have to walk roughly 1.5km until you reach a group of entrances.  Garden, Temple or the Interior House in the Garden.

Andrea really wanted to see the Bambo groves ( I kept on pronouncing groves = grooves). Famous Bamboo groves that line the entrance of something.(haha)  So when we got to the Tenryuji Garden area, she asked a staff – how to get to the Bamboo groves. And this Japanese woman told her it would take a 45 minutes walk!! Faints. FAINTS!! Not to mention that it was close to 3pm, and the sun sets at 430pm, so there is a huge rush to take very good photos. (because of the sunlight). We were a bit dismayed, but we decided to go see the Bamboo groves, Andrea asked a French couple if they knew where the Bamboo Groves were, they were so nice, gave her their extra map, and said it was only at 10 minute walk away.

TEN MINUTES compared to FORTY FIVE minutes.

I have to admit, I wasn’t in my chirpiest mood, the whole damn floor was all cobble stone, I was tiptoeing everywhere, and Andrea just kept on APOLOGISING that we were going to miss Nijo Castle. She said something funny, she spoke to Dee, Stacy is probably thinking,  what the hell its just Bamboo.

Wow she read my mind, because when we went there, it was really just bamboo. I mean…I guess it was somewhat spectacular, a part of me felt like I was in The House of the Flying Daggers (fabulous movie you must check out.)

I think what bugged me the most was she kept on apologising. It’s her nature to apologise, she is just way too nice all the time. I on the other hand, believe in this philosophy of If you eat salty fish, then you better bear the thirst. Meaning, I openly accepted and agreed to go to Tenryuji, so I got myself into that situation and there is nothing to be sorry about! That was probably the only riff we had the entire trip, her constant apologising, she is just TOO nice!! I was so close to hitting her.

Tenryuji Gardens

The Tenryuji garden was super nice and zen like. I also got to sit down and take off my shoes. (LOVEEEEEEEEELY!!!) and had time to soak up some zen.

Video 2: Review of Tenryuji

We headed back to Kyoto. Turns out we travelled SO FAR, it was a 30 minute ride on the train back to Kyoto station. We said our goodbyes to Dee, she needed to go home, and then we went back to our hotel to REST.

We hung out a bit then decided to go a 100 year restaurant, but by the time we went there, it was full. So we went to a Japanese chain, where I ordered Korean Stone rice! I love that! And Andrea ordered French fries!

What a day what a day.

The theme of Day 4 was Shiny Happy People because despite of the endless walking and wandering, we met really nice fellow travellers and they helped us along the way.

Kyoto totally made a comeback. Day 4 was a good day.

Catching up on my blog entries! Just 6 more days to write!
Stacy

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

Fabulous Japan – Day 3 – Getting lost in Kyoto

Dear Readers,

Day Three – Getting lost in Kyoto – 

Total Distance Walked : 30  Km,  Feet-Pain-O-Meter : 1 1 

Theme of the Day: Stacy Made Andrea Walk. 

Andrea and I jumped out of bed and were off on our great Kyoto adventure.

It was quite a breeze to reach Tokyo station, we gave each other high fives! But…then from the JTR line, we walked to the Shinkansen (bullet train) area, I almost fainted. So much confusion!

Nothing better tells stories then videos, so I’m uploading a few here.

Video 1. Bento Boxes have calories counts!

The train ride to Kyoto

With only 4 hours of sleep under my belt over the course of 2 days, my idea of the train ride would be.

Sleep sleep.  Mt. Fuji. Smile Photo. Sleep sleep.

But I couldn’t sleep!  There was a thai looking guy sitting across the aisle from us, he looked at me and smiled and said Hi, and I said Hi back, but quickly put on my diva shades and fake slept. I don’t know, wasn’t in a stranger-chatty mood.

Video 2. Our view of Mount Fuji from our window.

Video 3. What we thought of our view of Mount Fuji from our window.

A few minutes before reaching Kyoto, we finally started to talk to that Thai guy, who turned out to be Vietnamese, and he was with his parents!! He works in Japan and that weekend he invited his parents for a tour. So sweet! And we were bound to see them again so we separated.

We also made friends with a lovely friendly Japanese auntie, who saw Andrea and I looking at our hotel map and came to help us with directions. They even walked us to the exit! So nice of them!

It turned out to be the wrong exit. <–hah.

Anyhoo, our hotel was fabulous, and we set our luggages down and were set to explore the 3 year street, Sannenzaka.

Exploring Kyoto

We really explored it, up down and all around, through side streets, through mini walkways, and hills. The sun sets so early in Japan – 4:30pm. Days pass by so fast.

Ohh! My feet were SO SORE (because I was sporting brand new shoes) and before we left our hotel, I thought of the ingenius idea of wearing 2 socks to lessen the pain. Seriously, that is the dumbest thing to do, because in actuality it just made everything more compressed and so I was limping and tip toeing throughout the town!

And in retrospect, what REALLY hurt were the cobblestone streets. Andrea would say something along the lines of, “Wow this is the real old Kyoto, look at the cobblestones!”  

Whereas I would say, “PAIIIIIIIINNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

There is not much to say about that first day in Kyoto, accept that it was painful, but super fun, we were laughing constantly.

Video 4. Stacy made Andrea walk. 

One noteable mention, the majority of the tourist there were domestic tourist (Japanese tourist) who had no clue where how to get to where they were going. They all used their GPS cellphones to get around. Old-skool folks used maps but the Kyoto map is WAAAY out of proportion, and they were rotating their maps constantly. haha, it was a cute site.

Out of proportion in what way?

For example, if the distance between Site A and Site B was on the map… <—-> this much, that would signify 5km. At the same time, the distance between Site B and Site C on the map was <—————————————> this much, and Site C would actually just be a glance away.  

….

But throughout the whole day, I kept on saying, we weren’t lost because we didn’t have any plans or inkling as to where we were going.

No destination, thus we weren’t lost, we were drifters..wanderers…

You are never lost when you don’t have a destination to get to.

Your resident insomniac,

Stacy

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

Fabulous Japan – Day 2 – Halloween in Shibiya

Dear Readers,

Wow I have to go through these things faster, it has been more than a month and I’m only on Day 2!!!

Okay so Andrea and I had halloween in Shibiya. It was her first non-celebratory Halloween, and it was my first halloween ‘going-out’ in 2 years. Funny thing is, I’ve only celebrated halloween 4 times, and 3 of them have been with Andrea! I was Mulan, the next year I was a hobo, then in Singapore I was a doll, and this year I was a tourist who forgot her costume. haha. yay.

Damn, Shibiya (Shh BOO YAH!) is such a joke to get around. For people from HK, imagine Lan Kwai Fong x 5 and lanes going up and down, sideways and hills. It is completely mental, and everyone is lost! When Hiro was giving us a tour of Tokyo the previous night, he had no structured way of showing us the streets. We’d walk down a street, turn left, then turn another left, and then make a right, and so when he showed us this ultra happening club called WOMB I tried to make a mental bookmark of its location. But ultimately failed.

We did well to get to the intersection at Shibiya, where the famous Starbucks is located. (overrated to the max.) Went up some streets, and asked people for directions,

Andrea: Sumi Masen, Womb Doko desku?

Stacy: WOOOMB??? *hand moving in circle motion near my um…womb..*

haha, anyways, it is quite possible that many Japanese people hanging out in Shibiya don’t know that the club WOMB is named after…quite frankly, a womb.

So we walked up and down got lost for 45 minutes! Incredible! Totally killed our party mood. At one point, Andrea said, “Stacy, I think it is up this alley.” I look towards the right, and see a uphill alley lined with love hotels. WHAT?? Anyways, what the heck, we walk up, and I see this quite um..interesting looking woman, who speaks English! (hostess) and I do the song and dance, Sumimasen WOMB *hand motion* doko desku?

And she is replying to me, but not making much sense so I ask her again. Then Andrea tugs my sleeve, “Stacy let’s go..”

Turns out, Andrea says that while I was asking her “WOMB???” she replied…

High-Hostess lady: “What? why do you want to go to womb..when you can come upstairs and have some cocaine…”

WHAT!! I didn’t hear that at all! But Andrea swears by it. hahah, aie my encounter with a druggie. First and hopefully last.

We decided to ask a bunch of friendly looking girls, in colourful costumes for directions. And they said they were lost too but we could join them if they want. I’m not sure if they were being courteous, or whether they really meant it, but they were GOD SENT so maybe I was suppose to say, “Oh thanks so much, but we can manage” but I right away said, “Yes please!!!”

We walked another 15 minutes with them and they said that they knew someone who knew how to get to womb, so we walked BACK to the subway station to meet their bunch of friends. Got lost again. But it was fun all the same, talking to new them, they were all teachers.

Our new found friends in Shibiya.

 

One of their friends (Raj) was dressed up in a blue ultra man costume ( i later found out he was suppose to be the Blue Power Ranger) and along the streets we passed by another Ultraman kinda guy, and that Ultraman guy pointed at him, and they started to joke around and fight! hahah it was so funny! I wish i filmed it.

 

We went to a club called Pure and it was quite the skanky joint. I walked in and thought…omg…I’m clubbing in ATTICA TWO!!! (for Singaporeans who know Attica, you can repeat with me…>EW!!!) It was hot and sweaty and there were so many angmo/gaijin/foreigners there, and there was a strip pole on the stage where some amazingly athletic japanese girl showed off her moves and men are standing right in front of her gawking.

Look at the crowd..

Andrea and I at first got a drink (took ages) then we went to hide in a well ventilated sit down area. And we got to sit on stools, then this american black guy called Mike came up to us and said,

Mike: Hey, can I ask for your help, I have a friend who has a problem…

Stacy: No way, Neil Strauss’ The GAME?? you can’t be serious, you don’t need to –

Mike: So my friend has a girlfriend, and he just found out she kissed another guy what do you think..

Andrea: I think..lalalalala gives her opinion

I nudged Andrea and I’m like, ANDREA HES SO USING THE LINES FROM THE GAME!!!

Mike: I think so too, but it depends you know, there are many different levels of kissing…

Stacy: *faints*

I mean yes it was an entertaining book, but I can’t believe I actually met someone who followed what Neil Strauss wrote to the T!! Exactly! like opening line, then move on to the different degrees of kissing… I wonder if a lot of americans use these new pick up lines/dialogue.

And when Mike left us, Andrea and I were sitting on the stools, and this HUGE CREEPY looking guy – white guy, around…5’10…fat…messy dirty hair…bright orange plain T-shirt…he sat BEHIND us (because it was a round table kinda thing) and kept on staring at us in hopes to make conversation, and when we ignored him, he started to KICK MY CHAIR. omg, so ghetto! what was he thinking? SCARY!

Andrea and I found back our group of new found friends and danced a bit. I have to admit, the music was really good! But the men were quite aggressive, maybe I’m too used to the very pathetic Bangkok crowd – where at the end of the night they ask their friend to pass you a paper with their number *yawn*

Look at his SWEAT! Eee!!

Anyhoo, the cover charge was 2,500 Yen for entrance plus a cup that you could constantly refill. Which, in retrospect is a very good deal, but the QUEUE to actually get drinks is CRAZY! hot, sticky and the bartender was so generous and gave me 1 teaspoon of Vodka in my cranberry vodka. Lovely!

So, our bartender was the grossest thing ever. He was wearing some black panties, I mean, black-tighties or a speedo or a leather triangle thing. I didn’t stare so I don’t know the details, but he was SWEATING, and all the bottle nozzles were lined at the counter, and when he took orders, he would LEAN over, and you could see his tummy touch the nozzles. *gag*

 

When we were getting our drinks, another gross guy was screaming in Andrea’s ear. that man-magnet. 😛

I noticed that there was less of a crowd (it was late) so I went outside to see if we could put my HUGE PURSE in a locker, but couldn’t so we just sat on the stairs and chatted. And next to us was a guy dressed as a garbage can. Hah. correction, he was actually a keg, but he really looked like a bin.

Then two guys started to talk to us, and one guy’s name was Andre, and as Andrea’s name is..Andrea.. he was like, WOAH MY NAME IS ANDRE!!! haha, wow, fabulous. Anyways, I got to chat to the nicer guy – his friend Jason -for a while, and poor Andrea had to speak to her name-twin Andre. Lucky me!

Jason asked me to guess his profession, and I guessed everything but military, i don’t know, it didn’t hit me. Then..

Jason: I’m an officer

Stacy: Ah..

Jason: Do you know what that means/is? (forgot the exact wording)

Stacy: Yup….

DON’T I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS. sigh..

Probably the weirdest thing that happened during my conversation with Jason, is that when I told him we went to Tsukiji Fish market, he immediately picked up my hand and SMELT IT. WEEEIRD! by the time he put my hand down I was just standing there with my mouth open like “what just happened?” argh, thank goodness I just finished using my hand sanitizer, at least I hope my hand didn’t smell bad. But anyways, it was incredibly weird, men have taken my hand to kiss it, but to whiff it? That has to be noted in the books. Duly noted.

Andrea and I left the club and headed home, but instead of taking a cab, we WALKED BACK TO THE HOTEL. SO GHETTO! I have no idea what I was thinking! I remember my ‘brother’ in Singapore, Manoj, he told me of the time when he was in Paris ….he and his friend slept in a telephone booth. Maybe I was going for a crazy adventure like that. It was crazy, it took us 45 minutes to walk back to the hotel.

I can see it now, Andrea telling her kids, “Do you know your Aunt Stacy made me walk back to our hotel in Tokyo at 4 am in the morning??”

Miss you Andrea!,
Stacy

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