Self-entertainment

Mich~
Sometimes, it can be quite fun just discussing about your life with people in a similar situation as you. Today, I was in a discussion with 2 colleagues on work-related matters. At the end of our discussion, our conversation drifted to areas on our personal lives. Haha...mind you, before you start criticising, we work hard and try hard to relax too! :) This is called 在工作中找娱乐！
We ended up talking about our marriage lives, managing the relationship, life after marriage, preparations, etc. In the end, the common conclusion we had was that it wasnt an easy feat managing things well at all! To think about it, just a chore such as cleaning the bathroom, and you can have so many different versions of doing it.....haha..really interesting sharing tips on maintaining one's house. One of my colleague actually commented that she would clean the windows every week....huh (",) every week....Is she a clean freak or what? OMG! If she steps into my house, would she find it unbearable??

Enough about household chores......

I actually learn to 炒米粉 over the weekend! For a first timer, I must say that the results were very encouraging. The taste and texture of the 米粉 was just alright for our taste buds. Thanks to my mother's kind guidance before my attempt, I managed to whip up the dish quite smoothly. Actually, I find that it wasn't as difficult as I imagined. But of course, my portion of cooking was meant for two persons, so that could make the whole process simpler.

Keke...so next time, I am game for new dishes....taking baby steps at a time.....

Btw, ah guo supposed to give me the recipe for the mee siam leh...when is she going to do it? You can write in chinese for me lah.....

Last stop.....

Tokyo is a city bustling with light and activities!! The moment I reached there, I could feel myself dazzled by this city…the bright lights, the well-dressed working class and students, the colourful signboards….etc. Yesterday, we only had the night time to take a tour of the Tokyo city, as we spent most of our time in Disneyland. Today is the last day of our trip, so we had to make full us of our time!! Phew!!
Our first stop is the Asakusa Kannon Temple, constructed as early as 1300 years ago. We were told that by using the incense air to “spread” to a certain part of our bodies, we would be blessed in that particular area. For instance, if you spread the air to your head, you could be smarter. Haha! Such an interesting way that people in Japan pray. Guess what? In the end, as typical Singaporeans, we ended up putting the air in our pockets…why? You guessed it right? We wanted to get richer and richer…..!

Outside the temple....

After spending time at the temple, we headed to the Odaiba Park, a shopping and entertainment district offering attractions like the Palatte Town, Toyota Mega Web and Venus Fort Shopping Mall. The Toyota mega showroom was particularly enticing, as it displayed the latest models of their cars. There were also simulators for one to try out car racing! For me, I enjoyed the thrill of sitting inside those posh cars…heehee…J Just for fun!! There was also this shopping district, offering high-end products. The interesting about this shopping town was that the whole area was closed up, and the “sky” of this shopping area would change its colour once in a while. Our tour leader told us that the design of the “sky” of this shopping town emulated that of the Las Vegas casino…wow!
The last stop of this trip was the EON shopping centre, very near to the Narita Airport, where we would be scheduled for our flight home. Time flies, right? We had about 2 hours to do some last minute shopping. Try checking out their Daiso, as they offered a wider variety of products compared to that in SG, and at lower prices. I also like the Meiji products in the supermarkets!!

Even the supermarket looks more enticing than those back home...haha..

Finally, we had to head towards Narita Airport, as it was home sweet home for us. Though we were reluctant, it was finally time to bid farewell to Japan. The time spent in Japan has enabled me to get a sense of the Japanese culture, their lives, and the cleanliness and discipline of this country. The people have touched my heart with their politeness, gentleness and cleanliness. I am sure everyone in the tour group feels the same way as I do. In the near future, we would be back…………

Disneyland!

The next morning, it was rise and shine at about 6am for the whole group of us. We needed to get up early, as we were heading to DISNEYLAND!! Yes, to me, it seemed like a childhood dream being realized after 20 odd years. I was bursting with excitement!
Before we left Mt Fuji, we had some time to catch the sunrise from our hotel. The few of us walked out to the chilling air outside, hoping to see the majestic Mt Fuji. Alas, she disappeared…..
After breakfast, we boarded our coach, traveling about 2 hours to Disneyland in Tokyo. Hey hey…yeah! On the bus, Mt Fuji appeared and we quickly took our cameras to snap pictures. No regrets afterall……

See that? Mt Fuji seemed so near us.....yet so far.....

By the time we reached Disneyland, it was close to 10.30am. Luckily, this was the low season for Japanese to visit Disneyland, thus the entrance wasn’t very packed. The tour guide told us that during peak periods, one could take up to 1-2 hours, just to enter Disneyland. The Japanese are also very “passionate” about Disneyland, and they would try to visit Disneyland at least once a month, never getting tired of the place.
We were given our own time to have fun inside Disneyland, but the tour guide gave us tips on which are the rides that we should not miss.
Disneyland is made of several “lands”, including Westernland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, tomorrowland and toontown. Each of these attractions would have their own theme and rides. It really depends on your own preference to selectively choose which places you want to visit.
Once we step in, the World Bazaar welcomes you, with Disney stalls lined along the walkway, enticing u to bring home loads of toys and little cute items.
Fantasyland was our first stop, with our favourite cartoon characters waiting to make our dreams come true. We quickly queued up for the Pooh’s Hunny Hunt ride. We took a ride and followed Pooh through the hundred acre wood as he hunts for his favourite food. There were lots of animation and sounds to make the whole ride fun, interesting and entertaining.
There were also other interesting rides at Adventureland, such as “Western River Railroad” and the jungle cruise. We did not have enough time to try all the rides, as we wanted to head to Tomorrowland to experience the action and adventure of the space age world of tomorrow. Personally, I liked the Microadventure at Tomorrowland, as we appeared to be shrunk to the max at the exciting misadventure at the Imagination Institute.
I cannot finish describing all the rides to you, but would imagine that you would love the place as much as we do. It was like going back to being a child, feeling excited over our cartoon heroes and heroines, cruising along tropical jungle rivers, riding out on Wild Wild West, etc. I guess for me, I did not have the luxury of the fun during childhood, so it was like fulfilling a much awaited dream.

During the parade....

Sea of toys....

Takayama - Mt Fuji

The next morning, we woke up early, taking a leisurely stroll along the streets of the morning market. The villagers would set up small stalls along the streets and sell their own produce such as vegetables or seasoned items. We passed by some old private houses, and could not help snapping pictures because they were very "Japan-like", resembling those typical houses which we see in the Japanese serials. Moreover, with the snow falling on our heads and shoulders, the place were especially charming.

Old private houses...it was still early, thus the place was quiet and peaceful...

Next, we moved on to the Ramen house in Takayama, a small factory manufacturing ramen. Each of us managed to sample a small bowl of ramen, appetitising our taste buds in an attempt to make us bring the ramen home to SG.

SMILE!.....@ Ramen House

The next stop was a season bonus attraction!!! We travelled for about 30 mins, reaching the snow land on top of a snowy hill. This place allows tourists to ride on a snow mobile and cruise along the mountain to enjoy the fun of being immersed in the snow season. For us, being wary of driving the snow mobile, we opted to just have fun playing with the snow. Our friends from the same tour group also rented some slides, so we took turns to feel the thrill of sliding down the snowy slopes...It was no easy feat, as you need to carry the slide, walk up the slope, position yourself, before you slide down. The "sliding down" takes less than 10 secs, but walking up the slope was quite taxing, esp with your thick clothing. Personally, I liked the fun of playing among our group mates, splattering snow balls on one other, feeling the excitement of immersing our bodies in the snow (literally lying down!) and taking pictures of each other.

SNOW everywhere!! Here i come!

Soon, it was time for us to bade farewell to snow land...With our minds still swirling from the excitement and our pants wet from stepping on the snow, we headed to our next destination....Mt Fuji!! Wow!! Would we be lucky to catch a glimpse of this highly regarded mountain? Mt Fuji, at 3776 meters tall, is Japan's highest mountain. It is not surprising that the nearly perfectly shaped dormant volcano has been worshipped as a sacred mountain and experienced big popularity among all.
By the time we reached Mt Fuji, night had fallen....hopefully, at dawn tomorrow, we would be able to sight the mountain......