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Who are we?
He: The one who gets dragged around with a hungry stomach by his dear who wants to check out all the eateries nearby b4 deciding where to have their meals.
She: The one who everything also wanna try but don't wanna "fu zhe ren"...
She says:
14th May 2007!! The long awaited Japan trip! I have always wanted to visit the land of the rising sun! Maybe it was due to those childhood cartoons, popular Japanese drama serials or even the “too-pretty-to-be-eaten” candies, chocolates, mochi… Japan is the country which I have always dreamt about visiting, but somehow it was deemed too far-fetched to be realized as we all thought the standard of living was too expensive for students like us. But lucky us, we’ve got free air tixs on United Airlines! Thanx to dear’s bro who has accumulated more than enough mileage and UA was having this promo to redeem for return air tix for 20, 000 points instead of the usual 40, 000!! How can we miss this chance! Hence, we decided to forgo our initial Australia trip and grab the chance to step onto Japan!! Hurray!! Just the action of
booking the tickets was sufficient to give me the thrill!
Since our Europe trip less than a year ago, we have learnt to seek help from numerous travel guide books, e.g. Lonely Planet, Frommers, Frodor, you name it and we have seen it all! Haha… After deciding the areas to visit, it was down to booking the accommodations. I have always wanted to stay in a Ryokan, like those you see in Japan Hour, to have a taste of how the Japanese live. But they do have different standards of Ryokans to cater to people with different budgets and we had the chance to try 3 different types!!
We were flying off about 2weeks from the end of my exams. It was a relatively hectic 2 weeks for dear and myself. I was busy with my FYP presentation, final thesis, interviews and catching up with friends before we all jet off for our graduation trips! And poor dear had to clear his work before we leave for Japan and he has kinda exhausted his annual leave for this trip. But now that we are back, I can gladly say all the efforts was worth it!! Right, dear?? Really!!
Less than a week from departure from Narita and I am already longing to return… I miss you, Japan!!
Flight was at an early hour of 715am. Didn’t have a good rest the night before, maybe I was too excited about the trip. Haha… Never did we expect to see familiar faces at the airport at such early hours. Dear’s FYP prof and Jin Jing were right in front of us at the check-in queue and we were on the same flight!! The only difference, they were heading for DC Washington for a conference while we were excited chirpy birds bound for Tokyo!! Another pleasant surprise awaits when we board the plane! The UA personnel was kind enough to upgrade us to Economy Plus class which means we have more leg space for a 7hr flight! Hurray!! Though we were hoping they would upgrade us to business class, we were contented… They probably decided to be nice to us, thinking we redeemed the tixs using mileage and we must be some loyal UA or Star Alliance passengers… haha…
Flight meals were average, but dear and I tried lotsa different drinks and liqueur. UA gets their supply of coffee
from Starbucks, but don’t expect to get Mocha ice blended or my fav Green Tea Frappucino… Starbucks coffee liqueur was too overwhelming for my liking. Still prefer Bailey’s Irish Cream which QX introduced to me when I visited her home in Leeds last year. UA flights would be much more enjoyable if their entertainment was on-demand. I dozed off while waiting for the movie to start and this caused me to miss the beginning of the movie!!
Our flight arrived at Narita earlier than scheduled! Touched down and I’m already so so so excited! Hurray!! We are in Japan!! First encounter with Japanese - custom officers. This young lady who served me looked so stern when she is serious but very sweet when she smiled! Super polite and helpful Japanese I would say.
In order to save $$, we took the Limited Express to Nippori and changed train to Ikebukuro which cost us 1160 yen pax. This route isn’t much longer than the most expensive limousine bus service or the Skyliner. So we rather spend the money in food or shopping!! Haha… We are really glad we have chosen Ikebukuro to be our base camp in Tokyo. Firstly,
it is one of the biggest and happening areas in Tokyo and it is along the JR Yamanote which links us to Shinjuku, Harajuku and Shibuya in less than 20mins!
Accommodation for the night: Tokyo’s Kimi Ryokan was a well-established ryokan that was very popular among tourists. For a reasonable 6500 yen a night, you get a clean, pleasant but relatively small room with common bathroom. But for this ryokan, you can only reserve the room by calling.
Within less than 15mins from when we reached the ryokan, we were off to explore the neighbourhood and hunt for our 1st dinner in Japan!! Boo Ramen which was recommended by Lonely Planet was closed, though not sure if it was closed for the day or permanently closed down. After much searching, we settled for our second choice: Ebisu Ramen. It is a very small ramen place where they are only seats along the counter and the place is managed by a chef and a young lady. We were lost when we first entered this eatery. We are clearly aware that we have to decide what to eat and buy the coupon from the machine situated at the entrance. But
the description were all in Hiragana which we cant make out what they mean!! Gotta seek help from the young lady whose English was still understandable. Being curious Singaporean, we decided to go with our gut feelings. Dear ordered Cha-su Ramen while I went for the all-in-one ramen, so that I get to try all the different ingredients!! Whahaha… Mine had Cha-su, corn, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts and a medium-boiled egg. The egg was superb! Nothing like what we have in Singapore. I was tricked by the exterior which camouflages itself as a hard boiled egg! But when I cut it into half, the watery egg yolk oozed out! Quick Quick! Save the orangey egg yolk! The yolk is of a darker orange colour, unlike Singapore’s yellow egg yolk. And Japanese eggs taste different, better I would say. Back to the ramen, I found the soup a bit salty but dear thought it was okie. Another lesson learnt, the rolled warm towel served at the table is meant for cleaning your hands before the meal, not like in Singapore’s context where we use the wet towels only after the meal.
He says:
After dinner, which took us 1.5 hours to finally find and decide on the place, it was time to spend time looking for dear’s desert! And Seibu was the choice, located at the train station, dear was simply spoilt for choice! And we did a couple of rounds walking over the stalls, over and over and over and over (you get the point right…), until we (or rather dear) decided that the very first stall which seems to be well frequented would serve delicious desert! After some elimination, we decided on the white chocolate cake (see picture) which tasted excellent except that the texture can be better! Taste aside, the service was impeccable! The young lady serving us greeted us wholeheartedly, smiles and all, and carefully package the cake like it was some gem, with a cold pack to keep it cool, and the box and package was so pretty that we were immediately impressed! Well done!
First impression of Japan: Japan isn’t that expensive and un-navigable as some people would like us to believe! Trust us, it was affordable, although slightly more expensive than Singapore, it was less expensive than eating, traveling, sleeping in Europe! Although there was the language barrier, the locals were extremely friendly, and tried their best to help you, kudos!
The Japanese also dress smartly and fashionably. The guys were mostly in suits, and the gals with their short skirts are a constant distraction!
Convenient stores openly retails adult magazine and comics depicting sex, with people (males) standing at the magazine rack to have their filled! And the irony of it is the low crime rate of Japan! Nice….
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