& I think I can never forget how lovely this trip was.
Day One
Wednesday 28th May 2008
I cannot put all the emotions I had on that day, into words. Mixed emoions, Very extremely happy and excited, anxious about how I am going to spend my coming week with the rest of the Japan team. Before we left Singapore, Samuel and I had dinner with my BFFL at City Hall :D Met my darling bestfriend and had a good time catching up. It's wonderful to know Hwans misses me as much as I missed her, oh that sweet girl.
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We left for the airport, met lovely Cat there, who came and sent us off! We went around Changi airport, terminal to terminal just shopping around, since we were there much earlier than we're expected to be. Lovely Catherine :D
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When it was time to assemble at T3, I could see all the other team members gathered, with their luggages and their parents, friends all here to send them off. I felt a little upset.. that my lovely family couldn't ome along and send me off, so I called my mom and cried. Feel like a kid, all over again, "Mummy will miss you, you just have fun and take good care. Mummy will always love you." Isnt my mom just, AWW, so sweet?
Now here's a confession, I am pretty afraid of flights, mainly cuz of my motion sickness, I get so scared during take-offs and touch-downs. But God granted me a gift, that is Jordon, who sat beside me during the flight to Japan. He was the one who calmed me down and made me feel so much better :D Well anyway, I slep throughout the whole flight other than breakfast at about 4am. was barely awake for an hour. Our flight was about 6hours, and I am so glad, I survived. Uh, Farid and I had this 'Bad Feeling' thing that we discussed before the flight, it is so silly because we're both thinking of what is going to happen if the plane crashes, I was saying I don't know how to swim in the deep sea cuz I havent had a chance to. LOL, and Farid says there will be whales and sharks. To make things worse, before that, the flight was delayed because there was turbulance, Farid and I exchanged this worried look. Now when I recall about it, it's seriously hilarious.
Day Two
Thursday 29th May 2008
Weather's very cold, alighted and went on the coach and proceed to Wakayama. We visited the Wakayama Marina City, visited the Fish market. Strong, fishy smell. Love but hate it! There was a variety of foodstuffs, mostly fish, but includes other seafood. Was so lovely :D Had lunch at the market itself, was Buffet! The icecream was really unforgettable, it looked like paint! And it tasted like bubblegum! It tastes rather, disgusting.. :O Farid was quite full, didnt ate much except for sushi and I ate quite a lot, TeeHeeHee.
After fish market, headed down to Wakayama Hidaka High School to have some cultural and educational interactions with the students there. The students’ hospitality was evident and they were all so friendly and happy :D We showcase our cultural performances, and they were really interested in the show! We even introduced our school and Singapore’s 4 races. Was really quite interesting, because we hardly get a chance to represent Singapore in a foreign country. It was honestly, a one-of-a-kind experience for the whole team. We then toured around their school, looking at their different activities. In fact, the students are all very disciplined and they have lessons from morning till about 2,3pm then they would have CCAs after school, almost everyday. The most memorable CCA was the Koto Club and the Choir.
They put up great shows for us, and the Koto is actually a kind of Japanese instrument that is made up of wood and several strings tied onto it. Something like the Guzheng, but still different. The music was melodious, and we all loved their performance. In Japan, they are very strict about their own behaviour and gestures towards guests. And the Koto Club is so professional, because they are allowed to perform to others if only they have at least 3 years of training, only the best students can be part of the performance. See how professional the Japanese are! :O The choir performance was uber cool too, with the uber cool teacher! Saw some guys playing Soccer, on sand!!! Because their field has no more grass growing, all that is left is the sand, hard rocks. We spent the whole day in the school, then proceed to Dinner at some restaurant.. Buffet again, Woohoo. :B
Hotel for the first night stay was Tokyu Inn Hotel, not exactly a very grand hotel since we’re at the outskirts of Japan, so it’s considered “Countryside”.. LOL. But still we had fun! My room-mate for that day was Hidaya and she sleeps early. So I party with the J2s at Pristine’s room, if I am not wrong.. OMGosh, it was those nights that made the nights entertaining, and livelier :D But I KO-ed before 1am.. Zzz.
Day Three
Friday 30th May 2008
Breakfast at the hotel was great, ranging from Jap rice, Sushi, to Western foodstuffs like hotdogs and eggs. Orange juice YAY :D We headed to Kyoto! Visited the Nishijin Textile Centre where they had the Kimono Show. The models are all so gorgeous with the colourful Kimonos! I am envious of the Japanese because they have their very own traditional Japanese costume where they can wear it with so much pride and look so gorgeous :D We had a small shopping trip at the souvenirs shop in the centre itself. Then had wonderful, wonderful Tempura Lunch :D Jordon sat beside me and both of us kept eating rice. Fan-tastic :B
After a heavy lunch, we had a long journey to the Heian Palace. It really used to be part of a big palace, but now it became a replica of it and it is called the Strine, where people come and pray :D Like those in movies and shows, they write their prayers either on wood planks or white paper and hang it up on the trees. Many said “I pray for good results.” Or “I pray for Happiness and for my family to stay healthy”. It was so nice to be able to see it, real in front of you, and not just on the shows when the female or male leads have their prayers hung up on a tree :D
Then it was shopping at Kiyomizu Street. It looks like a typical shopping street, where you see it in shows! Saw some Geisha on the street, uber Coolio :D Following that was a 3.5 hour ride to Ferrie Wheel. It wasn’t part of the plan neither was It on our schedule. It was a surprise gift from our lovely tour guides, Denise and Eli-san :D
During the bus ride down, we had a toilet break in the middle of the journey, and Sean, my bus partner and I decided not to go toilet..and asked everyone not to wake us up during the tilet break. But we changed our mind at the very last minute, so we had to dash to the toilet and dash back within 2 mins. OMG, Sean and I had to really run, cuz if we were late, it may delay the ride! D: It was super hilarious, Sean was actually panting by the time we were back on the bus. :B
Ferris Wheel was not as interesting as I thought it would be, and it was freakinggg high up. Oh my zzzz. Min Er, Yu Zhen and Jordon was in the same carriage as me. And since Jordon was so gigantic, each time he stands up, the whole cabin shakes tremendously and feels like it was gonna drop! D: Dinner by the sea restaurant.. AWESOMENESS. The plate was huge, like a tray and I lied to Yuzhen that it was a tray.. she got so embarrassed and immediately tried to get rid of the food on her plate which she believed me that it was a tray. HAHAHA, omg.
Hotel was called the Gamagori Quality Inn Spa Hotel and my room-mate was RunLing. OH my ZZZ, tell you guys, we went for Onsen, which was the Hot Spring! And and and it is part of the Japanese culture that you have to be naked, to be in the hot spring.. the part of taking off your clothes with all your friends around is super funny. We ended up in screams and laughter, but this was one of the most memorable part. When you’re away in another country, and you know nobody is gonna care how you look like naked, all you get is the enjoyment of the hot spring and the friends together in it :D But it was still.. hilarious. HAHAHAHA.
Day Four
Saturday 31st May 2008
As usual, breakfast at the hotel, then check-out. Headed to the Toyota Factory where cars are exhibited. Super high-tech, I swear! We were super high and in a camwhore mood, gazillion of photos! There was a super cool robot that could sing and play the trumpet! Don’t know why we were so amazed by it. Haha! Lunch was fried lemon chicken with rice. Woohoo, wonderful wonderful.
The Lake hamanago was the next venue we visited. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. IT WAS SO PRETTY, YOU THINK YOU’RE IN SOME FAIRYTALE STORYBOOK! It was a garden by the lake, and it was gorgeous. The flowers are so bright, and they were blooming. I also heard the trees in the garden were mostly sakura trees, can you imagine how gorgeous it will be when it’s spring and the street will be filled with sakura flowers, as pretty as snow, oh wow. Romantic :D the children playing by the playground were so adorable, just feel like kidnapping any one of the young boys :D
then another 2 hour ride down to peace park, where we went crazy and everyone “break it down” and danced. Haha, so much lovely memories. Took pictures with the statues of tigers, given as a gift by different countries, as a symbol of peace with Japan! And there was this big big bell, also known as the peace bell, another symbol of peace in the country :D
Headed to the convenience stall when all you see is crazy buying of snacks, sweet drinks, chips and things to keep us occupied in the night. The only reason why we needed snacks so badly because we’re gonna go up the mountain and wont be down till the next day. Ahhhh, it was a ride up towards our Mount Fuiji Goko area. The temperature was about 10degrees celcius! Crazy mannnn.
The hotel was purely Japanese style, and it was the traditional tatami kinda room :D room mate was Wei Wen! And that day was the last time we could go for Outdoor Onsen, ohmygoddd super coolio. There weren’t so much screamings this time round, hahaha. Took pictures with our pretty kimonos :D everyone went to Karaoke after Onsen, and sang Chasing cars, Collide etc etc. ohmygodd my idol Farid sand Collide with his oh so manly voice. ZZZZ :B Wanted to have a secret party by the balcony which links all the rooms, but we were all so drained and slept really early that night. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sze Wee, Samuel and I had a mini pillow fight before the MEMORABLE meeting with the teachers. HAHAHA.
Day Five
Sunday 1st June 2008
Breakfast again, at the hotel. But I think I loved this the most, cuz it had my favourite Shishamo! And before we know, there were screamings outside the hotel lobby because we got to see the perfect view of Mount Fuji, right in front of us! Ohmygoshhhhh. Wonderful, awesome, awesome gayness!! :D Checked out and had a super bumpy ride to meet over ever so handsome bus driver. :B
Had this wonderful trip down to the Owakudanai Valley, which is part of a volcano! There was spring water at the valley and they are all steaming! The water is about 98 degrees Celsius ad it was really, amazing. I was amazed by the wonders of nature and how the valley looked as though it was boiling! We actually ate eggs boiled in the water at the valley! :D we took gazillion of photos there!
Then was Swan Lake, pretty. Water was so clear, you could see the huge fish swimming under the water. Ahhh, unlike our Singapore river, water super polluted :O Had udon for lunch YAYYY. The silly thing we did was to add chilli powder in Jarred’s drink and he didn’t even realise! LAUGH LAUGH LAUGH OUR HEADS OFF.
Chinatown was the next venue, and it was just shopping. Super funny how the Japanese think China=Panda and everywhere was selling Panda stuffs. HAHAH! Beer factory visit at the Kirin Yokohama Beer factory, learn how beer was brewed :D next up was the bullet train ride woohooooooo!
The bullet train experience wasn’t as great as I expected but do you know, the bullet train can actually reduce the journey from 45 minutes to just 6 minutes! Was quite comfortable in there :D didn’t feel as though it was speeding, hahaha!
Then we officially reached TOKYO!!!!
Dinner was at some fantastic Chinese restaurant.. that was when most of us realised how much we miss Chinese Food :D :D :D Then it was shopping, but not much because the shops were mostly closed by 8.30pm.. super early lahhhh! Ta-ta here we are at TOKYO and our uber gorgeous hotel was Tokyo Sunshine Prince Hotel..Room mate for the next two nights was Valerie, Made-In-Japan! After debrief was a long night at Pristine’s room with the lovely bunch of J2s again.. When Sean and I had a small fight cuz we kept throwing things around.. HAHAHA.
Day Six
Monday 2nd June 2008
Valerie woke me up uber early so we went shopping at the Family Mart early in the morning.. Breakfast at hotel , fruits with yogurt! Then was Waseda University, walked around and acted like real tourists, HAHA. Had a talk with the University Professors who were under the department of English!
Lunch was awesome, awesome awesome. Beef in raw egg OHMYGOSHHHHH. Sadly we had to rush so as to make sure we’re on time for our appointment at the Ghibli Museum! Awesome time at Ghibli museum, which was all about animation, omg freakinggg cool. We watch a short clip from the movie, Spirited Away. Then it was mainly touring around, looking at the pretty animation models, ahh too bad we weren’t allowed to take photos, so sad yeahh. Then we visited the 45 storeys high Tokyo Metropolitan Government Observatory. Just took gazillion pictures of the whole view of Japan from the top.
Dinner that night was fantastic, some steamboat restaurant, something like Seoul Garden. Jordon and mr wong had this “ Who is more handsome” Contest, and I was the only one on Jordon’s side. Like honestly. HAHAHA :D :D :D Shopping at Tokyo, awesomness, but didn’t really buy anything cuz things were extremelyyyy expensive. GAHHH. That night we had a long debrief about the entire trip and many of us were in tears.. D: last night in Japan, ahhhhhhhh. Pigged out a while then KO!
LAST DAYYYY.
Tuesday 3rd June 2008
Everyone was quite sleepy that day but we visited the do-tokyo museum and had a tour around, learning more about the history of Tokyo! Coolioooo. If only I was a bit more awake, it would have been more fruitful! Visited the Odaiba Palette Town and only played arcade with the grabbing machines with the rest of our coins left. HAHAHA. Shopped a bit then had to leave for the airport. Ah sighhhhhh, had to leave Japan after a good week of fun and joy :D Bid farewell and took our all time favourite SIA flight back to Singapore. Arrived at about 2am.? Kind Sze Wee sent me home in his dad’s car. HAHA.
Okay, I really miss Japan, food and weather and the friends! Ohmygoshhh I cannot ask for more, God has given me awesome friends in the team :D This school trip to Japan was really, awesome :D And as cliquish as it may sound, I will never forget the times that I have spent with this cool bunch of lovely people, and definitely, because of my special one.
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Distance, makes the heart grow fonder.