Thursday 23 December 2010

Japan 4 (191210)


We finally went on our long-awaited day trip to Otaru. We got up and got ready, and left the hotel around 11am to catch the train.

Otaru is a small town an hour away from Sapporo. It's home to a shopping street with music box (orgel) makers, bakeries and glass-blowers.

I got a little music box that plays the chorus of Kiseki by Greeeen, and I also got some little trinkets to decorate the box with. :D Here are some photos taken from the music box museum (unfortunately mine is not as pretty as these:


Spot the odd one out :D


Then we went into various bakeries and confectionery shops to try all the free samples :D


Once that was over, we split into two groups - the shopping group and the playing-with-snow/eating group. The former consisted of my mother, Sam, my aunty and myself (and then my grandmother after she got ditched by the other group while using the toilet lol).

We had a look in various shops, selling chopsticks and crafts made from traditional brocade (still don't remember what it's called fail). There was a pair of chopsticks going for 8400 yen (roughly NZD$135).

Since 2011 is the year of the rabbit, everything was rabbit-y


Sam and I looking at all the little glass ornaments 8D


Glass-blower at work


There were also a lot of little stalls selling snacks, like gyoza, rice crackers and 'bakudan-yaki'; a cross between tako-yaki and okonomi-yaki. So basically a gigantic tako-yaki containing okonomi-yaki ingredients.

Gyozaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa


Rice cracker stall


Crabs that were bigger than my face D:


Bakudan-yaki!


We spent pretty much the whole day there, even going without dinner (though we did have snacks from a combini) and got home after the sun had gone down. All in all a rather fun day.

Japan 3 (181210)

Today, we spent the afternoon at Sapporo Factory (while the shops were actually open).

Had lunch at a sushi train place - the sashimi was excellent. The snow crab was sweet and tender and omg I could eat it all day. Unfortunately, the rest of my family (as well as Uncle Simon and his family) are gastronomically challenged when it comes to seafood, so my aunty and I were really the only ones who seemed to enjoy ourselves.


There was an event being held at the Factory to celebrate the release of Pokemon Black & White - there was someone wandering around in a costume of the water-type starter, and he/she was getting tackled from all sides by heaps of little kids. It was a sad and amusing sight indeed.

We couldn't get a picture of the body due to the sea of kids.

They were also giving out these ridiculous hat things with the new Pokemon on them.

:D

We spent the majority of our time there looking at ski stuff. Even though everyone already had some. :/ I got a pair of boots to wear in the snow though - they're really ugly. I don't plan on wearing them after leaving Japan...

After dinner (I had cold soba and tempura :D), the kids got bored, so seeing as we weren't gonna leave for a long time, we headed out to the back of the shopping centre to play in the snow.

Japan 2 (171210)

Giant Christmas tree at Sapporo Factory

Claire, Sam and I got woken up by my uncle at 9.30am, but we didn't leave the hotel until 4pm. By then, it was dark and much colder and just miserable in general.

As per usual with my uncle, we ate first and he was pretty much ready to go home after that D:

Mum, Claire and I went to Loft, where I saw more calendars in one place than I'd seen before in my entire life. There was a calendar featuring art by Kaori Wakamatsu that I wanted to get, but it was quite expensive. It was stunning though...so I looked her up and found her blog. :3

Later we trekked through the snow to Sapporo Factory to find that it was closed minus the food area. Which was expected seeing as it was 8.30pm. 

We got candy and this ice cream stuff called Dippin' Dots...which were like little pellets of ice cream. Yummy. :3


Tuesday 21 December 2010

Japan - the land of omnipresent vending machines and heated toilet seats

The room shared by Claire, Sam and I on our first night in Sappporo

Once again, I got a shock when I sat down and found that the toilet seat was heated.


After checking in and changing our clothes we set out into the -4 degree weather to explore the city. We went to the park surrounding Sapporo Tower (which looks a lot like Tokyo Tower lol) and admired all the Christmas lights and stuff. 

Sapporo Tower

Later we ate at a basement yakitori restaurant. Once we got back we went into several combini to get breakfast for the next day. 

At the yakitori restaurant


Claire, Sam and I had a room to ourselves. We showered and did a bit of laundry. Claire and I treated ourselves to cheesecake souffles and Fuyu Pocky (Pocky with a double coat of chocolate and dusted with cocoa powder). 

We were going to watch Wall-E but we started to fall asleep...

Air travel adventures - Japan edition



Lost (?) at Shin-Chitose

Our flight to Japan was unguided this time around. We also had the addition of my grandmother, who happens to be the slowest person in our family.

The Changi-Narita leg was simple enough. We flew ANA, which had small seats and crappy food, although the attendants were prettier than SIA and Air NZ. xD

Once we got to Narita, we went through immigration with spectacular efficiency, though I can't say the same about my grandma - she stood around just staring at the poor immigration officer who was gesturing madly and trying to communicate with her. How embarrassing...

We arrived at Haneda domestic airport an hour later by bus. The place was a lot more foreigner-friendly compared to last time. People could actually understand English. D:

The security was tighter than Narita too. They had to scan the contents of our water bottles and everything. 

At Shin-Chitose airport in Sapporo, my uncle and his family were waiting for us. We had lunch at an airport restaurant (oysters, crab and sashimi omg) before buying some Hokkaido specialty sweets and stuff. Once all that was done we caught the bus to the ANA hotel in the middle of the city.

D:

Crabzilla on the side of a building near ANA hotel

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Singapore 6


Today, Peaches went under the knife (or scissors) to get surgery to remove her mouth. The decision was made by Claire, who thought that Potato looked cute because he has no mouth, therefore Peaches would also look cute if she removed her mouth.

Tonight, we're heading off to Japan. For the first week or so there will be no internet. Hopefully the second week will be better. 

Singapore 5

We went for another shopping adventure, this time with the whole family - my grandmother, aunty and uncle included. It was a mess, lol. 

We had dinner at the Crystal Jade La Mian & Xiao Long Bao restaurant in Takashimaya. The Xiao long bao was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good. 

A picture of us, but not really the food...


After dinner we sent the tired people (Maxwell who hates shopping, and my grandmother who walks slow) with my aunty, who was heading home first. The rest of us went for dessert at the food court in Wisma Atria - mum and I had chendol, Sam had ice kachang and my uncle had tau suan. Claire just shared with everyone. :D

Claire and I have a go at Sam's ice kachang


I managed to nab myself a copy of the Togainu no Chi: True Blood manga too. :3

Singapore 4

Claire's dance academy held a concert to raise funds for a hospital in Cambodia. On the same day, my uncle arrived back from Phnom Penh and asked my mother to drive his car to pick him up from Changi airport. x_x With the help of Sam, Max and the GPS, she managed to do it though.

It was both cute and funny to watch all the little kids (and the older kids too) doing ballet and tap dance, as well as a SNSD dance. Claire's costume was really pretty, but we weren't allowed to take photos. :(

Here are some less-than-stunning photos taken before and after the performance:

Potato attended the show too, and even had his own seat (reserved by Claire). Also, my uncle with his trademark scowl.


The five of us after the performance, with Claire looking quite scary in her makeup.

Singapore 3

We went shopping with Maxwell at Bukit Timah Plaza. Usually, he's quite resistant to the idea of shopping, but somehow he was fine when going with just my brother, my mum and I. 

We spent a fair amount of time at Popular bookstore, where Max got a Pokemon manga and I got RustBlaster by Toboso Yana. :3

There wasn't much there, to be honest. However, we spent ages at the pet shop window looking at all the rodents, who were mostly asleep. Anything is cute when it's asleep.

Widdle mice squished up against the glass. They were the sixe of my thumb...so cute!!!!!!! XD


Once again, there was a toy expo thing on the event floor, though obviously not as big as the one at Takashimaya. One particular stand was selling Sangokuden (Three Kingdoms) Gundam model kits for $5 instead of the usual $13.50. Then, after I had a chat with the boy at the counter, I got a further discount and only had to pay $9 for two Gundams. :3

Then we went grocery shopping. Normally I'm not too fond of it, but I'll make an exception if it's in Asia. Found various oddities from Pokemon cup noodles to square watermelons to this thing...

The description said it was a sweet potato, but I think it better resembles poop...


After we were done with our grocery shopping, we had popcorn chicken and cheese fries from KFC. Cheese fries are my food of choice when it comes to KFC. If only NZ would make them...

$3.50 worth of cheesy goodness.


Not long afterwards we headed home. Max caused us no trouble at all - quite a change from the way he is when the rest of his family is around. :3

Singapore 2

Christmas in Singapore beats Christmas in New Zealand, hands down. For one, they actually make an effort to decorate the malls and streets. Every year. Ever since we started coming here in 1995.

Christmas lights at ION Orchard


Christmas trees made from Potato-ish teddy bears at Takashimaya :D


On our first shopping trip, as with most of our shopping trips, I spent most of my money on food. By chance, I found Canele, a patisserie/chocolaterie, for which I'd seen some nice reviews. Bought six macarons from there - raspberry, caramel, chocolate, passionfruit milk chocolate, coffee, and pistachio. I'd have to say that I liked the caramel and pistachio ones best. They came packed in the cutest little box with a really pretty bag too.

After that, we went to a bakery and bought various baked goods, including curry bread. :3 the curry was really sweet though so it wasn't that nice... Later on, we had teriyaki chicken skewers from ToriQ and then Sam managed to find a Burger King amongst all the Asian food, so he ate something from there. We also managed to buy some popiah and wheel cakes.

At Takashimaya/Ngee Ann City, there was a massive toy expo on the event floor, where the winning models of a Gundam model-making competition were being displayed. Unfortunately, the photo I have here kinda sucks.


We also went to Kinokuniya. When I went in my hands were trembling - I was that excited. I found myself in the Japanese section, drowning in lots of Kuroshitsuji and Hakuouki and Togainu no Chi. I got myself a copy of the Kuroshitsuji character guide, but it was such a struggle to decide which books to buy (and which ones to save for next time...). There was a lot of Kaminomi as well - though I haven't even read the manga yet so I decided against buying.

Unfortunately, the Jrock magazines were much too expensive ($40 for one magazine compared to $20 for the character guide). They didn't even have the Gothic and Lolita Bible! :(

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur for me - those were pretty much the highlights. When we got to the taxi stand, it started raining buckets. Thank goodness we were already heading home.

Singapore


The house has twice as much stuff in it as last time lol.

So, over the last week, we've been lazing around at my uncle's place. We went shopping on the odd occasion, but since the kids don't have school (though they still do extracurricular tuition) we've had to stay home and entertain them. Mostly with Potato.

Here in Singapore, Potato was reunited with his family: Claire's Cupcake and Peaches, Max's Cotton, and my aunty's Vanilla.

Potato and Cotton at the front; Peaches behind Cotton; Cupcake is the medium-sized one and Vanilla is the giant. :D

My uncle's place has a pool in the back...or rather, they had wanted it to be a pool, but if they made it as big as they originally wanted to, they would bump into sewage pipes. So they kept the pool but made it narrow as heck. The final product is something like a moat, that only spans across one side of the house. And if you're not careful when the sliding door is open, you will trip and fall in. However, it's very nice to dip your feet in on a hot day.


I also got a hair cut - it's a bit more of a bob now. Claire is finally warming to the idea of me having short hair (after like 5 years haha).

Air travel adventures

At Wellington airport

My mother and I set off for Singapore on December 6th - only a couple of days after graduation. It was a mess - mum wanted to bring her heavy-ass Gucci handbag because she'd get told off by my uncle if she didn't use it (he bought it for her) but she complained that it was heavy. I told her who cares what he says - if you don't like carrying it because it's heavy, then don't carry it. She carried it, and complained the whole way. I told her so.

Our luggage was overweight by 8kg. We had to remove some frozen meat that mum (of course) wanted to bring. For such a practical person, she is so impractical at times.

Our flight to Auckland left around 9 or 10pm. There was a spare seat in our row, so Potato sat in it. :3

Taken during turbulence heheh...

Auckland airport was meh. Instead of waiting for the inter-terminal bus, mum decided it'd be faster to walk - it was indeed faster, but she had to carry her heavy handbag (which she'd filled with a large box of cherries, no less). When we got to the international terminal we had to wait about 2 hours for the flight. I helped her write a report for one of her student teachers that had to be sent before we flew out.

There wasn't much to do on the flight to Singapore. We sat between two rows of noisy Indians who kept kicking our chairs/reclining their seats. It made it very uncomfortable to do anything. Also, since the flight left at 1am, there wasn't much that I wanted to do beside sleep. Funny though, I went to the bathroom more than usual this time, and every time I went, there would be turbulence as soon as I locked the door. 

Turbulence + Airplane flush = Scary.

One good thing was that this flight had the nicest plane food I've ever had (aside from the soba, omuraisu and Loh Hei from the last trip). There was stir-fried duck with ginger plum sauce for dinner, and egg noodles with steamed fish and black bean sauce for breakfast. 


Again, there was a spare seat in between my mother and I, which was filled by Potato. He didn't wear a safety belt this time though - the little rebel.

We landed at Changi airport Terminal 3 and got lost for a bit while waiting for my aunty to pick us up. My brain didn't function well at 6.30am Singapore time...

Graduation


I'm not actually in this photo...kekeke...


So, it's been a while since I last updated. I'll deal with the backlog of overdue posts eventually... x_x;;


On December 4th, I graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy (yey!). My brother and grandmother had to fly to Singapore ahead of me, so they couldn't attend. Which was just as well because my grandmother would have fallen asleep as she tends to do. 

As usual, my dad drove us (my mother, myself, and my other grandmother) 10 hours south to good old' Otaghole. I slept most of the way (both there and back), since we drive up and down every year...


The day of the ceremony was rather hot. It was even more so for the graduands, having to wear our big ugly gowns all day. Unfortunately for me, I'd chosen to wear a black dress, which made it worse. We walked from the Hunter centre to the Town Hall for the procession - something that normally takes 15 minutes. However, they managed to drag it out for half an hour. Ah well - the girl in the monkey suit was adequate entertainment.

The ceremony itself was quite tedious and took the excitement out of graduation. :( Afterwards there were more photos and I got dragged home by my antisocial father and his antisocial mother (it runs in the family). 

All in all I was a little disappointed that my last day with my class was cut short by my family. But I should be used to it now, right?