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

Sunrise from mount fuji summit

Mount fuji climb

Took 10:55am bus from shinjuku to kawaguchiko trail's 5th stage.. at 1:30pm hiked up to 8th stage.. reached at 5pm.. dinner at 6pm.. rest from 7pm to 2am.. i used "rest" coz i din sleep well.. juz like before at mount kinabalu.. very tired but awake.. terrible headache and took some panadol.. keke i actually woke my dear up to go wee wee at 11pm or 12am :P.. breakfast at 2:30am.. started hiking to summit at 3am.. well abit of human jam.. headache din really go away.. so i walked slowly with deep breathing.. my dear tot i'm dying..haha.. reached at 4:15am.. it was quite cold as wind was really strong.. some hikers were not very equipped.. but we were :).. sunrise at 5:15am.. 1 round around the crater.. descended at 7:15am.. the down slopes were really steep and lots of loose gravel.. thus our toes hurt badly.. i juz bear with it and run down the slopes most of time.. leaving my dear behind :P.. back to 5th stage at 10:45am.. took 11:30am bus to kawaguchiko station and then 1pm bus back to shinjuku..

Tokyo here i come

Yippie.. another 1 hr to flight departure.. so excited and happy..

Badly need a break.. and i miss my dear so badly.. din see him for 5 months liao..

Another thing i need to blog.. work has been bz and messy.. and hell lots of problems with car scrapping.. in short i will not ask ppl for help anymore..

Anyway.. gtg liao.. free internet access exit in 1 mins..

Dear dear and tokyo here i come =)))))))

Counting down...

1. to my first anniversary in the company [over and i'm swamped with more work even my colleague came back from reservist]

2. to a week in japan with dear.. climb mount fuji.. a nite in ryokan.. visit a shrine and imperial palace.. a bath at onsen.. etc etc *excited* [yeah =) 11 days to go.. preparing an eng and jap food list (so that we won't order wrong/weird things).. firming up on the itinerary and route (how to travel pt to pt).. things to do and places to go.. so excited]

3. to dear's return for biz trip.. yeah yeah yeah.. [yippie he will be here for 2.5 weeks]

4. to scrapping the car.. *sob sob* [just packed and cleared some stuffs.. zhen se bu de]

5. to my job transfer.. well same role but serve different depts.. not sure if it's a good change.. but at least it's much nearer to home.. keke.. nearer to the big bosses too.. oh ya.. hopefully this happens before car scraps.. else i will suffer motion sickness from the long bus ride everyday.. but i doubt so.. *pout* [latest news from colleagues is that i'll be back on 1st oct.. but my bosses are not telling me anything.. so not sure if this is confirmed]

6. to a long break in the states to visit my dear.. wish desperately for cheap airtix promo.. my folks are keen to follow.. so it might be my first trip so faraway with them.. gosh.. i cannot imagine man!!.. *pengz* [well had a discussion with my dear.. this trip will be postponed to early next year.. since he's back in sep and end nov]

7. to spend xmas with my dear.. our first xmas in luxor (egypt).. second xmas at disneyland (anaheim).. third xmas destination tba.. where shall we go?!?!.. korea.. maldives.. cambodia.. south africa.. [see my previous blog]

8. to my third marathon.. hai~~ need to start training again.. really very lazy nowadays.. [somehow i missed the promotion rate for early bird and past year runner.. keke.. not sure if i did it on purpose.. anyways i will run if company sponsors again.. *crossing my fingers HARD* =P]

9. to year end bonus.. *grin* [aiyo... 4-5 months to go.. so near yet so far]

probably you are wondering now why i’m counting down.. well have been feeling very bored and sian.. lazy too.. just wana see what i can look forward to until end of the year.. some perks to keep me going.. keke quite surprised to see such a list.. *hee hee*

Xmas 2006

Keke instead of discussing our japan trip, me and my dear were talking about where to for xmas.. silly right.. another 4 mths to go leh.. abit too early right.. anyways.. still deciding on whether we wana a hot or cold xmas.. keke.. yeah.. this is impt as it will determine the list of places we can go..

Some choices:
1. russia
2. uk and scotland - coz dear wana bring me around to his U and ex-home..
3. finland
4. greece
5. new zealand
6. tasmania
7. france/spain - depends on which 1 i opt for honeymoon *grin*
8. tahiti
9. hokkaido
10. south africa

How...??!!.. gosh.. really can't decide.. i had an exotic desert xmas before.. a cooling and fairytale xmas oso.. wat kind of xmas next.. an island and carefree xmas.. safari xmas.. grey and "misty" xmas.. snowy and freezing xmas.. hot and dry xmas.. romantic xmas.. ahhhh.. help me here..

Answer is...

I will have no regrets :)

I have someone who love me so much.. had our footprints in the states, canada, egypt and hong kong.. of coz i will love to conquer more places with him.. my folks who love and "hate" me =P.. my friends who cannot stand me =P.. things that i have tried.. diving, wakeboarding, marathoning, clubbing, playing pool, karaoking, rock climbing, trekking, camping, rollerblading, skiing, 100km walking, etc.. quite amazed to see such a list.. keke..

Well i still have alot of things to do before i can really bid farewell.. so like wat duchess said is right.. treasure your love ones.. live life to the fullest since we will not know when things will happen..

What if one day..

I had an incurable illness and lose the ability to walk, talk and eat.. will i have regrets when i die??.. i can't help thinking..

You probably wondering why i have such thoughts.. coz i'm watching a japanese drama based on a true story..

This story is about a girl who suffered from an incurable disease at 15, but lived life to the fullest until her death at 25. The original story is based on the diary she kept writing until she could no longer hold a pen. Her only wish was “to live".

Will post my thoughts later.. meanwhile think and let me know your thoughts =)

Superband : 迷路兵

Yeah yeah.. the band i support and admire most won.. 迷路兵 迷路兵 迷路兵

Hmm.. will i be the next superstar?!?!?!.. *daze*

I have an idea...

Should i go for superstar audition???!!!
Since i'm kinda sick of working.. bored and sian..
What have i not tried??.. hmm.. being a celebrity!!! yeah yeah..
Keke trying something so different might really make a BIG difference in my life..
Who knows i'll the next chen wei lian.. hahaha..
Must really think hard on this *grin*

Happy birthday to my most beloved dear

Happy birthday dear dear!!!!!.. muk muk muk =)))

Looking forward to our japan trip.. 27 days to go.. yippie..