Couple days after our landing in KL, the ipad had been having issue charging. Charging incredibly slow; at 1-2% per hour. and the battery actually goes down when getting used while charging.
So no more posts till we get home, which is only 26 hours away. Can't wait to see Bear and be home.
We both are feeling a little homesick. Missing family, Bear and our messy home.
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
D25 Shibuya, Yoyogi park and Harajuku
We stopped at Tokyo international forum as went past Tokyo station, as a flea market was held there. They had a good variety of goods for sale; from imitation guns to second fur coats. We bought a few small items and continued on with our journey.
At Shibuya we met Hachiko. Poor Hachiko had been for political promotion for the upcoming national election.
We saw a few youngster in interesting outfits in around Shibuya and also in Harajuku. Did more fruitless shopping.
Yoyogi park was busiest on Sunday afternoon. There were lots of fascinating animals and people around.
Saw power rangers, a little raccoon like thing taking a walk on a leash, and even a doggie skateboarding. Pity we never found any Japanese spitz.
At Shibuya we met Hachiko. Poor Hachiko had been for political promotion for the upcoming national election.
We saw a few youngster in interesting outfits in around Shibuya and also in Harajuku. Did more fruitless shopping.
Yoyogi park was busiest on Sunday afternoon. There were lots of fascinating animals and people around.
Saw power rangers, a little raccoon like thing taking a walk on a leash, and even a doggie skateboarding. Pity we never found any Japanese spitz.
D24 Tokyo: Ginza, Shiodome
Ginza was a famous posh shopping district in Tokyo. Nothing in our budget obviously. Our goal was the Sony building there. Though only spanning 4 floors on a smallish building, we spent half a day there. Played with many new model of tablets, cameras, laptops, camcorders, psp, the new ps on 3D mode and even binocular camcorders.
There was this little hydrid notebook tablet, with full keyboards and touch screen, sleek design for under 800AUD. Almost wanted to buy it! Pity the oversea model had much higher spec and much more expensive.
We visited Caretta shopping complex in Shiodome after our lunch. It was quite a small shopping centre. Had a couple of drinks on the 44th floor and at happy hour:) nice drink, extremely polite staff who even put our jacket on for us, and a bar with a million dollar view.
The illumination at Caretta was pretty amazing as well. As it was their 10 year anniversary, they had a special event on.
Again, after some fruitless shopping, we ended up in Akihabara ... ... ...
There was this little hydrid notebook tablet, with full keyboards and touch screen, sleek design for under 800AUD. Almost wanted to buy it! Pity the oversea model had much higher spec and much more expensive.
We visited Caretta shopping complex in Shiodome after our lunch. It was quite a small shopping centre. Had a couple of drinks on the 44th floor and at happy hour:) nice drink, extremely polite staff who even put our jacket on for us, and a bar with a million dollar view.
The illumination at Caretta was pretty amazing as well. As it was their 10 year anniversary, they had a special event on.
Again, after some fruitless shopping, we ended up in Akihabara ... ... ...
D23 Sky Tree, kurakeon, Tokyo Dome / La Qua
After a restful day, we had energy to venture out again.
First stop was at the newly built Tokyo Sky Tree. It was a pretty amazing structure. Looked extraordinarily tall in a neighborhood without skyscrapers.
We did not go onto the tower as there was still a long queue to get tickets despite the it's been opened for about 6 months now.
We moved to our new hotel for the next few days. Had lunch in the neighbourhood. The set lunch was only 600 yen!! Best value
We then went onto Tokyo Dome area.
Koshikawa kurakuen was only a foot away on the map, so we decided to see how the autumn colour has been in Tokyo.
It's quite a big garden with nice landscape. But maybe because of the many other gardens I have seen or the small amount of crowd around, it was still not comparable to the garden in Nikko.
La Qua seemed uninteresting initially. After the illumination starts and people started to gather, it was much more attractive. The most interesting structure; the thunder bird roller coaster had been on long term maintenance.
We had an afternoon tea with moonin. I kept ruining it's moonkin haha. No idea what it was.
At dusk, we went up the bunkyo civic center observatory. Though it's only 20 ish floor high, it had good view of the city and it's completely free. We even saw the silhouette of mount Fuji.
After a bit of fruitless shopping, somehow we ended at Akihabara again......
First stop was at the newly built Tokyo Sky Tree. It was a pretty amazing structure. Looked extraordinarily tall in a neighborhood without skyscrapers.
We did not go onto the tower as there was still a long queue to get tickets despite the it's been opened for about 6 months now.
We moved to our new hotel for the next few days. Had lunch in the neighbourhood. The set lunch was only 600 yen!! Best value
We then went onto Tokyo Dome area.
Koshikawa kurakuen was only a foot away on the map, so we decided to see how the autumn colour has been in Tokyo.
It's quite a big garden with nice landscape. But maybe because of the many other gardens I have seen or the small amount of crowd around, it was still not comparable to the garden in Nikko.
La Qua seemed uninteresting initially. After the illumination starts and people started to gather, it was much more attractive. The most interesting structure; the thunder bird roller coaster had been on long term maintenance.
We had an afternoon tea with moonin. I kept ruining it's moonkin haha. No idea what it was.
At dusk, we went up the bunkyo civic center observatory. Though it's only 20 ish floor high, it had good view of the city and it's completely free. We even saw the silhouette of mount Fuji.
After a bit of fruitless shopping, somehow we ended at Akihabara again......
Monday, December 17, 2012
D22 back to Tokyo
Originally we were meant to stay in Nagasaki for 2 nights. Due to mishaps when booking the sleeping train back to Tokyo, we cut 1 day short of this stay.
We tried some famous castella cake from Nagasaki. It was quite average to me. But it was amazing how the staff took the effort to package two 105 yen piece of cake. Even put a waterproof casing over the cardboard bag.
After taking 2 trains to Okayama, we were pretty excited about this night train. We witnessed the magic moment of 2 train uniting. "and that's how baby trains are made" - said Jon.
Not knowing the horror coming up, we happily boarded our train.
We had 2 upper deck of nobi nobi seats. Our luggages just fit below our feet, one of the bonuses of being short.
My neighbour had a rolled up mattresses and pillows. So after settling down, I went around to hunt for pillows and there was NONE! There was paying showers for passenger in private compartment. Fortunately we were not too smelly in winter.
On our "bed" aka heated carpeted floor is a small pillow slip like sheet and a extremely thin blanket.
Jon used his jumper as a pillow and I used our inflatable neck pillow.
The thin blanket did not work very well as mattress. I had to turn every 30 mins or so, as my sides got achy from the hard floor.
Jon's neighbour had a kitten with him that meowed most of the night.
So by the time we reached Tokyo at 7am, we felt like we had never slept. Our hotel check-in time was at 3pm. It was a long long 8 hours. All we did was hanging around Akihabara till we could check in and rest.
It was one of those unique experiences in Japan, but I would never do it again.
We tried some famous castella cake from Nagasaki. It was quite average to me. But it was amazing how the staff took the effort to package two 105 yen piece of cake. Even put a waterproof casing over the cardboard bag.
After taking 2 trains to Okayama, we were pretty excited about this night train. We witnessed the magic moment of 2 train uniting. "and that's how baby trains are made" - said Jon.
Not knowing the horror coming up, we happily boarded our train.
We had 2 upper deck of nobi nobi seats. Our luggages just fit below our feet, one of the bonuses of being short.
My neighbour had a rolled up mattresses and pillows. So after settling down, I went around to hunt for pillows and there was NONE! There was paying showers for passenger in private compartment. Fortunately we were not too smelly in winter.
On our "bed" aka heated carpeted floor is a small pillow slip like sheet and a extremely thin blanket.
Jon used his jumper as a pillow and I used our inflatable neck pillow.
The thin blanket did not work very well as mattress. I had to turn every 30 mins or so, as my sides got achy from the hard floor.
Jon's neighbour had a kitten with him that meowed most of the night.
So by the time we reached Tokyo at 7am, we felt like we had never slept. Our hotel check-in time was at 3pm. It was a long long 8 hours. All we did was hanging around Akihabara till we could check in and rest.
It was one of those unique experiences in Japan, but I would never do it again.
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