Statue of liberty @ odaiba

Rainbow bridge @ odaiba

Fuji TV building @ odaiba

The imperial palace

Ginza

Yummie sushi @ tsukiji market

Tsukiji market

Bye dear

We will meet again in 2 months time..
Missing you already :(((((

Japan trip expenses

We spent total S$ 2560 excluding air tickets..these includes accommodations, meals, bus and train expenses.. little on shopping since we din have time to browse.. probably spent on some gifts and my hard rock shot glasses from ueno and yokohama.. i used my sq miles and paid S$ 228 for airport taxes.. my dear's stopover was around S$120.. we set each meal budget at 1000 yen per pax.. of coz we splurged on some meals.. 1 on shabu shabu (S$ 88.54).. 1 on sushi at tsukiji (S$ 78.5).. forgot how much at sushi belt and tonkatsu.. definitely more than 1000 yen (S$ 13.6) each.. other details as follows.. well for 8.5 days the places we went and things we did and ate.. think it was well spent.. keke quite on budget oso *grin*.. still trying to blog the pictures on where we covered..

ueno - new izu hotel (7 nights)- S$ 766.38
hakone ryokan - ichinoyu honkan (1 night)- S$ 383.57
fuji - 8th stage hostel (1 night) - S$ 180
bus tickets to fuji 5th stage and hakone pass - S$ 225

Presentation

Waited super long for my turn to present to my mgrs and dept head.. supposed to be 11am.. end up i was called in at 2:30pm.. spent a lot of effort doing up my slides and it was all worth while.. thou i need to make changes and improve.. the comments were still great esp from dept head and i was really pleased.. but someone said to me that i have spoilt the mkt and set too high a standard for others to follow.. well sorry lor.. but too bad.. if i wana do.. i will only do my best *wink*..

Farewell and welcome

Bye daniel.. all the best in your new endeavour and thanks for all the help you rendered..

Welcome jaserine.. my replacement.. hope you can pass probation and survive well.. looking forward to my transfer back to country office.. had a discussion with my boss.. will be focusing on project management and business processes.. yeah!!.. counting down..

Mezza9

My dear brought me to mezza9 at grand hyatt for dinner.. expensive dinner (around S$180).. belated anniversary celebration..

We had ginseng chicken soup, yakitori, char-grilled lobster (my fav), seafood fried rice, black forest (my fav too) and strawberry cheese cakes.. really yummie and filling.. the "ang mo" couple beside saw our food and ordered the same yakitori, lobster and fried rice with other veggies.. the place and ambiance are really nice and glam.. lucky i din wear my slippers.. ppl with bermudas and sandals/slippers are not allowed to dine in..

Welcome baby Iain

Received a sms on 7 Sept when i was at hakone.. ah lian gave birth to a baby boy!!!.. so happy for her.. met her before i leave for my trip.. keke she was dying to "get" her baby out.. i can imagine how desperate she is.. being grounded for 9 mths.. 9 mths to her was really really long..

Visited her at the rite time.. feeding time *grin*.. baby so adorable with long hands and limbs.. daddy so fat *bleh*.. keke mom still doing well.. skinner than daddy.. not as bad as what i tot.. brought her 2 bottles of rice wine and 1 baby clothe.. got it from yokohama.. kimono-like.. really cute.. glad that ah lian loves it..

Counting down to full mth celebration.. kawaiiiiiii..

I'm spoilt..

Madness at work before i left for my trip and also after i'm back.. soooo sian leh..

Anyways.. had sashimi (most ex) and ramen at my fav restaurant last night.. but i din enjoy it so much.. not as tasty as before.. really missed the food in japan.. my dear said i'm spoilt.. but i must say the quality is really far from those in japan.. in case you wonder what i had in japan.. sushi @tsukiji mkt and from sushi belt.. shabu shabu.. tan tan mien.. ramen.. soba.. tonkatsu.. bento from supermkt.. cakes.. etc.. soooooo yummie..

Guess what.. my lips were swollen after dinner.. tummy felt weird.. so unwell.. think i'm 80% set on hokkaido for xmas.. looking forward..

Shabu shabu

This was found by the hotel recep when we asked her for help.. something good and cheap.. coz those we found were around 5000-6000 yen per pax.. this one was near our hotel.. we were lucky to have a chinese gal to translate the menu.. they offer 75mins of buffet style serving a few types of meat and veggies unlimited.. the 1 in the bamboo-like thingy was chicken meat and became chicken balls when cooked.. very juicy and yummie.. the beef was soft and melt in mouth.. i liked the spicy base more than soya bean milk.. in the end we had 18 serving of meat and 4 serving of veggies and mushrooms.. around 6000plus yen in total.. really worthwhile..

Private hotspring bath ryokan @ hakone

Ichinoyu.. highly recommended.. the cheapest ryokan with outdoor private hot spring bath and dinner/breakfast.. like those from japan hour.. well those outdoor bath rooms were fully booked.. so we took the indoor kind.. peaceful environment with river flowing sound all day night.. i had total of 3 bath.. 1 before dinner, 1 after dinner at the reserved family style and 1 next morning before breakfast.. super hot but shiok.. keke despite that i needed 10 mins to get myself into the hot "boiling" water *hee3*.. it was really relaxing and soothing to hear the river flow by..

View out from our room

View out from the private hot spring bath

Room and dinner

View of mount fuji from lake ashi @hakone

This was taken when we walked from hakone machi to moto hakone.. we din manage to see fuji from owakudani and in the sightseeing cruise due to the super cloudy day.. somehow it appeared in front of me when we were taking a rest.. so happy and excited..

Hakone

The "romance car" train that we paid more to upgrade for limited express to hakone

Gora Park

Tozan train to Gora

Tozan cablecar

View from owakudani station

Owakudani - sulfurous fumes, hot springs and rivers. Famous for selling eggs boiled in the naturally hot waters that can prolong one's life by 7 years.

Ropeway is under maintenance thus we took bus to togendai for sightseeing cruise in a pirate ship on lake ashi

Entrance to hakone shrine