Day 4 : Arrived in Kushiro

After 4 hours of train ride, we arrived in Kushiro at 1.15pm. I slept at the first 3 hours as I was so tired. Slept very late last night around 3am as we were so engrossed with our Nds game.

The weather was not so cold here and it was not snowing for quite some time. This was bad as the snow was melting and causing us walking in 'danger'. It was very slippery hence we tried to choose correct path in order not to skid and fall down. Although I mentioned it was not cold, the temperature was still around 0 deg.

After checking in, we went to the nearby Washo Fish market for lunch. Wow... we had a very good seafood lunch. The don set was with sashimi chosen by ourselves. They were so fresh. If we have time, hope to go there again. After the lunch, we bought ice-creams. Finally I had a chance to eat ice-cream. Past few days, we were too cold to eat them. Today, the fish market was warmed enough for me to enjoy them. We chose orange and melon sherbets. Yummy.

We did not have plan to go far so we just shopped near the hotel. In the end, we bought a Sanrio lucky bag at 3000yen each. Real value for money. Hee hee.

Tomorrow, we will be going to watch Japanese cranes. Will have more time to rest tonight. Bought some titbits and can enjoy them while playing our Nds tonight.

Photos:
- Washo Fish Market
- Our "picked as you like" sashimi bento. I starts to love Uni (Sea Urchin).
- Yummy Japanese fish cake.
- Delicious Melon and Orange ice-cream.
- My value for $$$ Sanrio lucky bag.

Day 3 : Asahikawa ~ Sapporo

This morning, we went to Asahiyama Zoo. Sounds funny to go to zoo during holidaying but this one was special as we wanted to watch the penguins parade.

We reached the zoo at around 10.35am and glad that there was no queue. Perhaps the weather was too cold and many people chose not to go at this period. When we arrived, the temperature was minus 10 deg. So cold....

Since the penguins parade started at 11am, we decided to join the crowd and watched the early session. Initially we thought of watching the afternoon session since there should be lessor crowd. However, it turned out good as many people followed the instruction to squat down for those standing at the first row. The penguins were so crumpsy and cute when they walked. They were trained to pose and walk in group. However, there was a mischievous one who kept moving towards the crowd.

We went round the zoo and kept trying to get indoor due to the cold. Many animals were sleeping and only some are really active. Stayed till around 14.30pm to watch the penguins parade again and this time round, I video clipped them so that I can show to my parents and sister. Returned to hotel early and we headed to Mcdonald for some snacks before taking a train back to Sapporo. The weather today was good as it was not snowing hence we could take more photos (although still no me). However, the temperature in the afternoon with big big sun still remain at minus 8 deg.

Back in Sapporo and realised most of the restaurants and shopping malls were closed. Bought cup noodles and party in the room. Tomorrow, we are moving to Kushiro. The train rides is long as it will take 4 hours.

Photos:
- Asahikawa JR station
- Cute snowman
- Asahiyama Zoo
- Nice weather today. Did it look like minus 8 deg?
- Penguin walk. They were so cute.
- Other animals in the zoo.
- Our shadow.
- Taking a "defrosting" break at McDonald.

Day 2 : Arrived in Asahikawa

This morning, we travelled from Sapporo to Asahikawa. The journey just took about 1 1/2 hrs. Perhaps due to insufficient sleep yesterday (I did not sleep during my flights and we slept at 2am this morning after settling down), I slept throughout the whole journey.

After checking in, we went out to have our lunch near the JR station. By error, we ordered the sets whereby there were both curry rice + udon and katsu don + soba. A bit shocked but we managed to finish all. They were all delicious.

Our intention was to take the 2pm bus to Higashigawa to view the Ice festival that took place today and tomorrow. Since we will miss the snow festivals that will take place all around Hokkaido main cities in early Feb, it was still nice for us to be able to catch this Ice festival at this town. As we were not too sure where was the bus stop to take the bus, we checked with the tourist information centre. They were too helpful and trying to ensure we get to the place correctly. All 3 staff there tried to find the information we need. So good. However, we missed the bus at 2pm and thought we could take the 2.10pm bus. But, we ultimately missed it by "seconds". We were already near the bus but the driver could not see us and drove off. Japanese punctuality is always No 1. No choice for us but to take the next bus at 3pm.

Today's weather was cold and we were shivering with cold when we reached the place. Not a very big place but the park was full of ice scruptures made by contestants. We took some picture but the temperature was really low that made us quickly took shelter at the nearby centre. Drank hot chocolate to keep us warm. We left the park at 4.30pm and thought we could take the 4.56pm bus back but in the end, we still miss the bus and had to take the next bus at 5.56pm.

The bus stopped near our hotel and just few steps, we were back. Glad to know that there was complimentary dinner and we ate a big place of curry rice each. So full that we thought of going to nearby shopping mall for a walk but realised all were closed at 7.30pm (it's already 8pm after our dinner). Eventually, we bought some titbits and plan to eat them in our room. Today we are back early so we shall play our NDS later.

That's all for now. Tomorrow we are going to the famous Asahikawa Zoo to watch the penquin parade. Hope tomorrow will have good weather. No snowing so that we can take more pictures. Till now, my camera only has 1 photo I took at the Asahikawa park. It was too cold that we did not even want to pose for photo takings. Ha ha...

Photos :
- Hotel complimentary breakfast.
- Street covered with snow.
- Our "heavy" lunch.
- Nice weather today.
- Way to Ice festival was so beautiful.
- I liked the snow sculpture featuring animation "UP" and the 7 dwarfs.
- Getting dark and street lighted up with candles.
- Hotel complimentary curry rice for dinner.

Day 1 : Arrived in Sapporo

We arrived Narita airport at 7am and took domestic flight to Sapporo. Touched down at 12noon and wow... snow covered the airport ground. First time I saw this sight and felt so excited.

Proceeded to the JR ticketing office to change for our Hokkaido pass and took train to Sapporo. Did not feel any coldness until we reached Sapporo. The weather was rather clear but it was so cold. We took some time to find our hotel (although we stayed at this hotel 4 years ago but could not remember it's exact place). The floor was slippery as the snow was melting so we had to walk slowly in order not to fall down.

After settling our check in, we went out for lunch at aroud 4pm. This was usual for us to take lunch or dinner at odd hours. The sky got completely dark at 5pm and while walking towards Odori Park, I could not stand the coldness as I did not wear my thermal pant. My legs were getting frost bites hence have to get into those convenience store to get some warmth. Thought that the temperature was around minus 3 to 4 deg but actual is minus 7.5 deg. No wonder we could not stand the cold with no proper clothing (thought just nearby only). We shopped at the underground mall due to the cold and went back to the shopping mall near our hotel to "ta bao" some food for late dinner.

Did not take a lot of photos today and all were just food. Ha ha... Tomorrow we are heading to Asahikawa. Bye for now.

Photos :
- Flight meal. Very nice porridge.
- Odori Park. Completely dark at 5.32pm.
- Looks so nice but the weather was so cold.
- Shop selling seafoods.
- My footprints.
- Our dinner ~ Bento set
- Our dinner ~ Tori Kaarage
- Our dessert ~ My favourte Mister Donut
- My bed.

At Changi Airport Terminal 1

Yippy! I am at the airport now. Just cleared immigration and now waiting for boarding at 10.50pm. Terminal 1 is upgrading now and nothing much to do or take photos. Shall walk walk and then proceed to board plane to Tokyo. Will transit at Narita airport for domestic flight to Sapporo. Just checked weather at Sapporo. It is minus 4 deg and tomorrow indication is "snowing".

Shall update more tomorrow night at Toyoko Inn free internet access.

Bye for now.

Holiday mood

Today I am in holiday mood liao. Tomorrow will be flying to Japan and is the start of my holiday. So happy and hence no complain as to need to rush all my work and do handover of my duties to my colleagues. I know I will need to look through my work during my leave period but at least fun is over and will feel more relax to be back to work.

Do some packing and so shocked that my luggage is almost full. This luggage is bigger than what I intended to use initially and it's so full. No choice as I have to bring some daily necessities there and it takes up so much space.

I just realised that my credit card bill will be due this Friday and therefore, I need to make a trip to Whitesands Shopping mall to pay the bill via AXS machine. Thought I can stay at home whole day before going to the airport at night. Anyway ok lah. Shall go out for lunch with my mum.

Shall take my medicine now and rest.

Worked extra hard

2 more days to go.... Countdown for my trip.

As I will be on leave from Thursday onwards, I need to clear all my monthend closing stuffs. Chasing my colleagues and contractors to finish their parts so that I can do the final close. Otherwise, if they cannot complete on time, I will have to leave it to them to do the close for me. Therefore, to make everyone's life easy, they are trying to finish it by tomorrow morning so that I can complete on time.

Monitoring Hokkaido's weather and most of the day time are below zero degree. Wondering if my clothing will be sufficient. Anyway, will go there and see how. Hopefully it is enough. Hee hee... First time going during snowing time.

Looking forward for the trip. I want to take lots of nice photos. Hope the weather will be good so that I can take more. Imagining clear blue sky with buildings, structures, trees covered with snow. Wow...

My throat is still very dry today. I am trying to drink more water but seems no improvement. Will go and see doctor tomorrow morning as I need to bring some medicine along with me in case my nose is block or have running nose due to the coldness. I hate being sick during holidays abroad. Cross my fingers and toes that I will be recovered fully by tomorrow.

Will now explore my nds games. Bringing it to Japan so that I can play during long train journey or night time. :)

Husky voice

This morning, I woke up and found that I have husky voice. Must be the chili crabs I ate yesterday. My mum cooked some and I ate a few pieces. Very spicy but real shiok. Could not resist and took the risk of losing voice by eating them. Bingo! Now no voice liao.

Drank a lot of water to clear my dry throat. However, no matter how much I drink, my throat is still dry. Hope it can recover soon. Am so worry that my throat will become more dry and may lead to complete lost of voice if I take my flights to Hokkaido. The inflight air is very dry. Therefore, these few days really have to drink a lot of water to prevent dehydration + clear my dry throat.

Worked late again tonight. I am trying to clear as much work as possible so that I will be able to go for my holiday without any worry. Was so naggy today as I kept telling my colleagues to remember to complete their entries into our monthly spreadsheets by tomorrow so that I can complete Dec closing before I take leave.

Hope everything goes smoothly. :)

It's Sunday again

I slept late last night as I was "busy" exploring my new phone. Slept at 3pm but surprisingly, I woke up rather early at around 9.30am. Since it was still early, I laid on my bed for 30mins before really waking up.

My niece came around noon time. She played with her ipod games and asked me to help her while she was playing Photo Hunt. Quite interesting and ended up I installed similar game in my iphone (anyway, it's free). I did install some other free programs like language translation, Bloomberg, Straits Time news, Today news, Channel News Asia news, SG Transport, SG Mall and many others. These are all free ones. I do not mind paying for those program or games that are interesting and worth paying. Shall explore more before paying for them. Those free games are trial version only.

So far I yet to really use the phone so I may be slow in responding to sms or dialing out. We went to White Sands Shopping mall this afternoon. The funny part was we were looking for my brother-in-law. My sister asked me to call him. By the time I managed to figure out how to look for his number and dial out, my niece already found him. LOL.

Started to do some initial packing after my niece went home. Originally intended to use my Hushpuppy luggage but in the end, I decided to borrow my sister's bigger luggage. I found that if I used my own luggage, it will be full when I fly to Hokkaido. There will be little space for me to put things that I will be buying. Those winter pullover and sweater took up a lot of space. Will bring airtight storage bags over to minimise space taking up by those thick clothing and this will help to save some space for my goodies. I may not be buying a lot this time round but who knows I may ended up buying more than I expect. Hee hee...

Just took medicine and perhaps will start to "float" towards my bed soon. So fast that weekend is over. Now looking forward to coming Thursday for our trip to Japan. :)

Miracle pills

Wow... woke up at 10.30am today as usual. I had a long long sleep. Due to my "weak body", I slept early last night after taking medicine. "Float" towards my bed and had deep sleep. The medicine took effect quite fast.

The pills I took last night were "miracle pills". I felt so much better this morning. My nose cleared and hence did not cough so much. No more block and I can breathe normal now.

Cleared some of my office work this morning and went out with my parents and sister at about 3.30pm. We were so hungry because we did not eat proper breakfast and lunch. For me, I just ate 马蹄酥 in the morning because my medicine needs to take after food. My father came home early so we went to East Coast Sushi Tei for breakfast cum lunch cum dinner.

We ordered the sashimi set which is currently promoted as Hokkaido Winter dishes. There were hairy crab and salmon/squid/sweet prawn/abalone sashimi. Yummy... Luckily I felt better today and can eat them.

After the meal, we went to Parkway Parade. Guess what??? I bought an iphone 3Gs!!! I bought Sony Ericsson Satio phone just 2 months ago. However, I really find it difficult to use it to read my exchange emails. Reading is ok but forwarding/replying mails are troublesome and takes me a long time to type one mail. Therefore, I used my sister's line to re-contract and buy this phone. Trade-in my Sony Ericsoon X1 phone for $250 and used up my handset voucher of $120. Balance $348 to pay cash. After I settle down with this new iphone, I will sell away my Satio to cover the cash paid out. By doing this, I will back to zero cash used up for the 2 phones.

Frankly speaking, Satio is a very good phone. If I need not use phone to read exchange emails, I will definitely stick to this phone. The camera function is super good. Too bad that I cannot keep her with me for long.

Next, we went to VivoCity. I left some VivoCity vouchers which will expire this month. Therefore, decided to use them to buy 2 new house phones. Since there was balance, I used it to buy anti-glare screensheet and protector cover for my new phone.

As we took dinner so early, we went to Food Republic for some light food before heading home. My parents enjoyed the food we ordered (Rojak, Chicken wings, Kueh Pati and Roti Prata).

Will start to explore my new phone now. Hee hee...

Really sick

This morning, I woke up with same blocked nose and sore throat. Seemed it did not get better and I decided to die die also must see doctor today to get some medicine. Real worried that do not know how long it takes to recover.

Once I reached HarbourFront Centre at 9.15am, I zoomed in to Raffles Medical Clinic. Chose this clinic instead of the usual clinic I go to because the queue will be shorter. True enough, I just took 20mins to see doctor and got my medicine. At least I could reach office before 9.45am.

Doctor said I have to refrain from taking spicy, fried and sour food. Not giving me antibiotics as I did not have fever. Reached office and my colleagues said I looked bad. My boss stepped back jokingly when heard I was not well. I told him I will finish my work and leave after lunch. Do not want to pass germs to others.

Strange that whenever I went to the doctor, I felt weak after that. I was ok when I had lunch with my colleagues but once I left and heading back home, my whole body system felt collapsed. I really did feel unwell and when I reached home, I quickly cleared some emails and took a short nap. Felt so tired and strengthless.

A bit better now but I have to rest early today. Hope with more rest, I can recover faster.

Germs, virus... please go away from me!!!

Block Nose ~ Haa Chew!!!

Bad Bad Bad.

My nose is blocked since morning. I cannot breathe properly and some times have to use mouth to breathe. Originally planned to see doctor in the morning but ended up missed going to the clinic. Had last minute customer lunch hence when I was back in office, it was already 3.30pm. Started to be busy and therefore no chance to see the doctor.

Took a flu medicine when I reached home at 11.15pm. Not too sure if it works to relieve my running/block nose. Hope it will... Shall try to go to the clinic tomorrow although I think it may be difficult because I have a meeting at 11am. Do not think I can spare time to go in the morning liao. Well shall try afternoon then.

Seeing a doctor is so difficult for me uh. Bad time management???

Ramen ~ Ippudo 一風堂

This afternoon, we went to Meritius Mandarin Gallery to try the newest popular ramen store. This is a branch from Japan and always have long queue during peak hours.

The soup base is Tonkotsu which I love. The first taste of the soup was salty but seem like my tongue got used to it after a while. Overall is good except that I still find the egg is nicer at Marutama restaurant. The one I ate today was too cooked. I like the half cooked type. Perhaps I shall look out for this restaurant chain in Japan and try it there.

Very special about this restaurant is that it opens at 11am and closes at 5pm. Not only in Singapore, majority of their restaurants opening hours are from 11 am to 3 or 4pm. Some only opens from 11am to 1pm. That shows how popular this restaurants are that no need to open for long hours. :)

There is one branch at Sapporo 狸小路. Perhaps can try there during my trip next week. Wow, left one week and I will be in Hokkaido!!!

Did not meet plan

So fast it is Tuesday already. Count down for another 3 days and it will be Friday again. My favourite day of the week (evening time onwards).

Today, I do not know what happened to me. Keep sneezing in office and back home, same thing happen. Feel like my nose is a bit block. Ai yoh... Don't like dat lah. I am going for my trip next week and I cannot afford to have block/running nose now. My ears are a bit blocked too and am worried that my sinus comes back again. Need to cross my fingers and toes.

Supposed to go back early today and my target is 7.30pm. However, did not meet my plan. Just when I was trying to tidy up my desk and prepared to msn 小珠 that she can get ready to go home if she completed her work. However, was asked to go for meeting after my boss came out of teleconference. My other colleagues were waiting for him and I thought I will not be involved since he did not inform me to wait for his teleconference to be over. Too bad lor... So pai sei to let 小珠 wait for me for so long. We only managed to leave office at around 8.45pm. 小珠さん　ごめんなさい.

First working day in 2010

Well, today considered a rather "peaceful" day for me after 3 weeks of hectic days. Finally a full force for our team. Everyone is back from leaves. This enable me to do my own work. However, was delayed for 2 hours due to last minute meeting. Otherwise, I should have more time to clear and could leave office even earlier than 8pm. I shall try to leave office earlier. Best is between 7 to 7.30pm. Hope I can make it. :P

This afternoon we went out for lunch real late. The meeting ends at around 1.50pm and we went out for lunch at 2pm. My colleagues who were waiting for me were so hungry. Luckily did not faint. My boss sometimes forgot about the timing and carried on until late hours. If it was not that he was meeting someone, he would have continue and continue until very late.

My intention was to go to Daiso during lunch hour today but due to late lunch, I postponed it to tomorrow. Pray hard that no more last minute meeting again.

So fast it is Sunday...

Holidays are always short. This is the truth. It is end of the long weekend and will have to go back to work tomorrow. A new start of the year and hope this year will be a better year for me. My wishes are to stay healthy, cut down some weight, don't work too late, don't be too stress up and enjoy + do whatever I like etc.

My sister and me went to collect our new spectacles this afternoon. Rather satisfied with my pick of this frame. First time taking this type of frame. I remembered I tested almost 20 frames and finally decided on this one.

Tonight I ate a lot. Especially crabs. Actually it was not those usual type. Maybe I should call it "Flower crabs" because the spots on the crabs were "flowerly". This type of crabs usually good for cooking soup but today's ones, they were very big size and my father steamed them. They were so meaty and I loved it. As my sister don't like this type of crabs, my father and I ate most of them. Sinful uh!

Just read Takeru's blog and found the photo he posted on his blog was rather cute. He may be too busy recently that he did not post regularly on his blog. The first episode of 『龍馬伝』was aired tonight. This will be the usual long series drama for year 2010. The other drama will be airing soon is "Bloody Monday 2" which Takeru and Haruma will be main casts. Yamapi's "Code Blue 2" coming up too. J-drama marathon starts again after a week's break. :P

Takeru's photo posted on his blog today:

Outing ~ Batam

This morning we left house at 8.25am so that we could meet my sister's friend and her family members at HarbourFront Centre for breakfast before taking ferry to Batam. We had to ensure our stomach were not empty before we board the ferry in case it will be too choppy. Luckily the whole journey was quite smooth.

When we reached Batam ferry terminal, we could see the mega mall just opposite the ferry terminal. We went over and our first stop was to have some drinks. Since it was already lunch hour, we decided to have our lunch at the same time.

We settled down at a cafe and was surprised that the food was very cheap but drinks were expensive. I ordered mee rebus and guess how much this plate cost. Not a big plate but this one cost less than S$1!!!

Mee Rebus that cost abt S$0.90.


We walked and shopped at the same time at the mega mall. Bought a T-shirt for my brother and so upset with their service that made us no mood to continue buying things. My dad wanted to buy a casual slip in shoe. However, the sales staff was so no initiative that when there was no new pair of that size we wanted, just took back the display shoe (one sided only) and said no more new pair. She should take the other side of the shoe to let my dad try and if the shoe was in good condition, we would have just buy it. A few of the other shops we went were also so "失败" that they always said "no size"!!! Easy job for the sales staff right?

We took the 5.30pm (indo time) ferry back to Singapore. Back in Singapore at around 8.30pm and we went to Crystal Jade restaurant at VivoCity for our dinner. We ordered the set dinner as it was so troublesome to order ala carte. Glad that this set was good except they had replaced the suckling pig with roasted pork/duck/chicken as they had sold out.

After taking the heavy dinner, we left HarbourFront Centre and headed home. The shopping was not that fantastic but it was good as a day outing. At least we will not be idling at home doing nothing. :P

Set dinner at Crystal Jade

1st day of the New Year 2010

1st day of the year. What did I do?

Woke up at 10.30am and my sister asked if I wanted to go to Whampoa for brunch. I said yes and quickly washed up to get prepared. We left around 11.30am and reached there at 12 noon. Wow... very hot weather today but luckily the hawker centre there was rather empty. We chose a good seat and started to order food. I was craving for the prawn noodles and decided to order it. My parents did same as me. No regret. I made the right choice.

After that we went to City Square shopping mall. My sister said since we were near there, no harm going there for a walk. We shopped for a while and had to go back because my brother had to go for work. The shopping mall has quite a lot of shops and most of them are opened. Therefore, quite a lot of people there and perhaps we can go there again to walk around the mall.

Had tom yam soup today for dinner. Yummy... Need to sleep early tonight as tomorrow we have to each HarbourFront Centre at 9am. We are going for a day trip to Batam. Will be just shopping at the shopping mall near Batam ferry terminal. First time there and looking forward to it.

That is how I spent the day. At least I am doing something and not sleeping. Ha ha...