Nara 12/7/15

Introducing Bronte and Bryan! Met Bronte at the roof of the hostel while we were chilling (will update on he Kyoto post!) and her boyfriend shortly after. Schedule coincided to come Nara on this day so here we are together! 

Nice ponds 

Nice shrines

Nice lunch 

Even a nice puddy field inside the park 

Nice yards, pavilions, and towers 

Nice temple 

Nice Daibutsu, mainly the reason why we're here 

Nice (weird) people trying to crawl under a hole in the pillar... And a queue for it 

But these were the highlight of the day 

Not exactly the friendliest lot 

And they are everywhere, appearing from anywhere 

This was the other highlight though, cos it's WAYYYYY too hot. Think Cambodia and Thailand 

Melon ice cream! The one in Singapore's Medi-ya was nicer though 

And lastly, rocking the bright colours on a sunny day 

Not a tennis fan but...

"I've learned a lot. That I'm able to do anything. Anyone is able to do anything they really set their mind to" -- Serena Williams 

Osaka 11/7/15

Breakfast with Ms Blur and then off I go for my solo trip! And yup, it's a double date HAHA

Excluding the coffee, it's only 160, cheaper than convenient stores. Pretty darn worth it 

The legendary Shinkansen 

Super spacious leg rooms and inclination. Fell asleep about one third of the journey, which was rare for me considering how alert I usually am when I travel alone 

Reached Kyoto but decided to change and head for Osaka first since check in for hostel isn't ready till 3pm and I was there at 2. Good thing about the rail pass: flexibility! 

Very interesting system we see here. The shapes here on the ground corresponds to queues for different train types, and on the board they have instructions for which to queue for for the next train. Also, unlike in Tokyo, people stand on the right side of the escalator here. Weird place 

On the way to the Osaka Castle, found these cute (but probably I'll treated) owls

And so here we are! Saw online that this place requires entrance fee even for the park, but there was some event going on on the day I went, so it was free!!! Also, many kids were around and I got the chance to see what life is like for school kids on a weekend: catching bugs, jogging, playing softball, and fishing by the castle moat. Very enriching stuff; I would imagine the other half to be cooped up at home playing games and watching anime though. 

Also found some stones with random/ancient shape symbols and some explanations to go along. Quite interesting, quite. 

And a nice final shot before I leave Osaka. Spent a total of 2.5 hours including the transfer from Kyoto. Not much things to do here, even on TripAdviser

Nikko (2) 10/7/15

Final event with the class was a field trip back to where I've been before but did very different things when I was there this time round 

And it's sunny! 

First stop: Soba making 

Groups of 3, and you see the joker Asian girls gang at the back trying to photobomb. Some other group of international students joined us too. 

The process; pretty tedious...

Halfway in the making...

And here's the final result after cooking it. Oiishiiiiiii 

Tempura was super nice too. And actually, just the spring onions and wasabi was enough 

Presenting to you, the master chef gang!~ 

Then we headed back to the Toshogu shrine where Ms Blur and I decided to skip over when we were at the entrance (cos of the rain, the packed itinerary, and most importantly, the price haha!) 

First, let me introduce you to our Japanese guide who spoke fluent English. This old man here is amazing! 80 years old and climbing up and down the stairs around the shrine every single day! And the fact that he's still working says a lot as well. Take a closer look at his tag and you'll see a very young handsome man (we joked about how he went to the purikura machines to get this picture). Shared with us a lot about his family (like his 50 year old son is still I married; family's greatest concern, according to him), but all these were shared mostly accidentally when his conversation with others were transmitted through the mic. Lol. Very nice meeting him 

Main gate was under renovation in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, here's the front gate 

Found the legitimate origin of the emoji for "Hear no evil, Speak no evil, See no evil" 

Got to know what all these things people were hanging was about 

Saw the random sleeping cat by a supposedly very skilled crafter. Small thing that attracted a large crowd

Stairs I was talking bout, and look, I snapped a nice photo for this pretty girl from the other international group. Haha. No on purpose I swear XD

And that's pretty much it, spent a short nice trip out...

Bonus photo: sunset over a river channel...

--

Headed back to Tokyo then met Ms Blur for dinner and shopping! Spent almost 10000 again... Guess it's my last shopping trip~ haha 

Tokyo (3) 5/7/15 - 9/7/15

Koenji

Came back from Shizuoka and rushed to this place for food! A pretty nice town but was kinda dead probably cos of the drizzle and the fact that it was pretty late 

Had this nice ramen, first tamago in my ramen hahaha. Loved it. We were saying it's a "hidden gem," then again, every ramen shop seems to be a "hidden" gem 

Suidobashi

Parted ways and decided to save money and walk home from Suidobashi instead of changing to another line and walked past the Dome City again. Look at the crowd!!! I almost couldn't make it out of the subway station... No kidding. Probably has some shopping option plus the Japan Summer sales, cos the crowd consisted of mainly girls/ladies/females. Haha! 

Yanaka (again!)

Back to my favourite district with the classmates. This time round at a different cafe, more classy and atas, different feel, but equally lovely! 

Really cute menu 

Inside the menu also very cute haha 

Second floor was tatami style 

And served very westernized food! 

Nice cozy environment on the first floor

Nice ceiling glass too! Haha 

Left the classmates after chilling out for awhile and went down to meet Zhihan, who's on his grad trip, and his friend (also my VJ senior) 

Ginza

2000 Yen and 30 minutes wait later, this shit is the bomb! This is at Midori, apparently very famous but since I don't really go for such "high end" stuff, it was my first time hearing it 

And the very disgusting and unappealing salad on the right, that's another bomb. Really good with fresh crab meat in it! Zhihan said I'll definitely go back for second; maybe. But he sure did! And only for the salad! 

Ebisu

Came to this apparently pretty hipster area for the afternoon

Came all the way for this coffee shop (shop name can't be read here though). Legend has it that during peak hour the queue extends to a dragon, and the wait for one cup of coffee can take 20 minutes. I went during the off peak, and it was full house! Wanted to leave (took this photo cos I thought I won't go in), but saw some take-away cups outside so went back in to get a take-away 

Sure didn't regret! Cos I found a seat haha 

A window one somemore. Like. 

Another very cozy setting. Barista was really friendly too! Send every customer out to the door (probably only possible during off peak) and struck a conversation with me 

Having a nice atmosphere was a plus; they are really solely famous for their home roasted coffee beans! 

And somehow they have this small cart thingy outside, probably to serve the take-aways (where I saw the cups), pretty interesting...

Hongo

Headed back to school and realize Todai has quite a bit of western influence in their architecture 

Next morning, saw the legendary Spider-Man of Japan haha 

Tsukiji (2) 

So as promised, I came back 

By the time they open it up to tourist at 9am, it's kinda died down...

Filled with mostly tourist, of course

Trays were mostly empty 

Tuna sold out and left with the head hahaha 

Still, there were some interesting stuff like this! 

Used to think I like these thingy until I actually tasted it again here in Japan. Looks exotic, taste exotic 

Had enough of fish smelling and left the market after about an hour 

Ginza

Walked down to the shopping district and found myself towered by very interesting building 

And very interesting clock haha 

And antique cameras whose brand is supposedly the best in the world. Never heard of 

Thought they were dorayaki but was pleasantly surprised to find that they were actually maple pancake!!! Very nice for the price 

Then headed to this fancy place. Guess where? 

More obvious clue! Haha it's a 12 storey uniqlo! Only had 20minute and forgot my passport so I'll be back again... 

Marunouchi 

Much-raved-about Chazuke, except this is Oashi-Chazuke where soup is poured in instead of Cha/茶

And spotted this very interesting building haha 

Hongo

Headed back to hotel then left early to do as students do:

Like how they made the effort to write in English 

Also. Finally snapped a photo of the shrine in front of my hotel; something to do with health I guess 

And *tada* Hotel Kizankan 

And dinner for the night from the convenient stall. Everything was kinda expensive so I got Aglio Olio since I don't wanna spend too much on lousy Japanese food here...

Shibuya 

Front row seat at Shibuya Starbucks to look at the crossing, not the peak though 

Harajuku

Did another Shibuya-Harajuku trip, this time with the classmates, and went this place for lunch 

A really nice hippy place; very popular apparently 

From this 

In the process...

Into this!!! Very proud of ourselves haha. Taste really good too! Probably damn fat 

They also had this really cool art gallery with very interesting stuff 

And I spent 10000 at this Bugis-alike place. Love the stuff I bought so no regrets! Haha 

Also, got this Tonkatsu burger as early dinner before our final presentation 

Odaiba

Trees were decorated with more rainbow with the Rainbow Bridge! Rushed to this place after class with Ms Blur. And as reviewed, rainbow colours moved too fast and all that's left is white haha 

Raining like hell so we braved the rain for this photo! Quite pretty :D 

And finally got my much needed dinner~ super nice cos I was super hungry, overeat and ended up being super full haha tummy is becoming rounder again!!! 

Ryogoku

Next morning was this 

Lots of small people, many life size replica of artifacts, hands on exhibits, plus lots of tourists. Haha. Learnt a lot about Tokyo history, about how life is like, and how WWII and other natural disaster impacted the economy. Nothing about their part/deeds in the war but that's understandable 

Also, recognize this brand? Haha really old car! Lots of photos but I think I've spammed enough for this post 

Next was Chanko Nabe

Now guess who eats that... Haha. Sumo food! 

Hongo

Headed back and they were cleaning my room so headed out for coffee at this coffee chain and it was so good! This caramel cream thingy really surprised me. It's called 上岛咖啡厅, do try this chain if you're here in Tokyo! 

Then it's Farewell/Welcome party time. Met another were batch of students and made friends with quite a few of them (spoke to all of them I think! Red wine makes everyone sociable) but it was too much socialization in one night, even by my standard...

Ueno

Headed out for some partying with the classmates plus a new friend from Somalia (friends getting more and more exotic!) 

Never knew Ueno was this happening at night, now I know why Ms Blur keeps coming back here 

Did the most random thingy...

Everyone was happy but the angmohs were pretty surprise with this Asian style karaoke where everyone's coop in the room instead of a bar concept thingy 

And then this, let's not talk about it haha 

Wanted to try out Packinko, but here you can see the level of irritant the noise caused my classmate over here, plus we didn't understand how it really works, so we left 

And chilled at a pretty nice Spanish restaurant, where Sangria tasted like Glogg/mulled wine, and Mojito didn't have lime juice in them. Oyster in mushroom sauce was great! But charging table fee and giving scamming cheese that were chargeable was not cool...

This is pretty cool though, you'll never guess what you're seeing... Haha! It's the toilet behind the "cellar"! Cool or what. And four-wall mirror inside. Haha 

Got abit tipsy but got to rush all these before I run out of camera space. So that's all folks! A week of event before Nikko trip tomorrow!