Friday, April 07, 2006
Travel Diary: Nippon
As promised, here is my travel diary for Japan. Dun think I can condense everything into a few postings, but shall just highlight some nice and oso not-so-nice stuffs that happened to me during the trip.
The flight there and back were quite good. Ppl complain that SIA crew look down their noses at fellow S'poreans while worshipping foreigners, but I certainly had a good impression of them during the flight. Haven't been on SIA for ages and were pleasantly surprised this time round at their service. Watched "The Producers" and "Everlasting Regret" as well as tried my hand at learning a foreign language on the onboard TV. Scored 10/10 for Korean haha. When coming back, the crew cheerfully welcomed us home. Like those smile and cheery voices :)
The weather there was freezing at times! Was dismayed to find out that it was -1 degree upon arriving at Tokyo's Narita Airport, instead of the 10-18 degrees that the travel agent told us. But thank God we brought enough clothes. The coldest was atop Mount Aso, where the wind was so strong I nearly gave up and wanted to hide cos my history of having asthma made it kinda difficult to walk with the wind up ur nose. But I prayed and soldiered on and God miraculously stilled the wind at some points.
We arrived just in time to see the sakuras! I saw a few trees in China before but the sight of the somei yoshino sakura trees all around Japan was a truly different experience! Somehow could understand why the Japanese referred to dying on the battlefield as being just like sakuras wilting. It was also the season for tulips and we saw a lot in Nagasaki, esp in the Huis Ten Bosch Dutch themepark, which was a really pretty themepark.
Tried the onsen, too, in the way it's supposed to be done ;) Twice! After a while, you just put aside your inhibitions and it's nothing to it, really. Tried some wine coloured and smelling baths, electric bath. To the point of feeling giddy and having to rest. But I am still not gonna try the mix onsen. Hiaks.
Drank quite a bit more than usual during the trip. Bought a can of Asahi Dry and finished it all by myself in the coach, with the predictable result of needing the bathroom while being stuck in a traffic jam...of all days!!! Was praying and God miraculously helped me tide it over till we reached our destination hahaha. Tsk tsk. Anyway this nice uncle who was always drinking saw me drinking and kept offering me afterwards. Gave me Kirin Lager on our cruise and I managed to only drink a bit before feeling giddy, most probably becos of biological reasons, and had to retire to bed. Then he bought me another can of Asahi Dry and oso offered me a bit from time to time as my Mom watched in amazement. She has since started offering me as well :p
Gotta go now. Will blog more later on.
The flight there and back were quite good. Ppl complain that SIA crew look down their noses at fellow S'poreans while worshipping foreigners, but I certainly had a good impression of them during the flight. Haven't been on SIA for ages and were pleasantly surprised this time round at their service. Watched "The Producers" and "Everlasting Regret" as well as tried my hand at learning a foreign language on the onboard TV. Scored 10/10 for Korean haha. When coming back, the crew cheerfully welcomed us home. Like those smile and cheery voices :)
The weather there was freezing at times! Was dismayed to find out that it was -1 degree upon arriving at Tokyo's Narita Airport, instead of the 10-18 degrees that the travel agent told us. But thank God we brought enough clothes. The coldest was atop Mount Aso, where the wind was so strong I nearly gave up and wanted to hide cos my history of having asthma made it kinda difficult to walk with the wind up ur nose. But I prayed and soldiered on and God miraculously stilled the wind at some points.
We arrived just in time to see the sakuras! I saw a few trees in China before but the sight of the somei yoshino sakura trees all around Japan was a truly different experience! Somehow could understand why the Japanese referred to dying on the battlefield as being just like sakuras wilting. It was also the season for tulips and we saw a lot in Nagasaki, esp in the Huis Ten Bosch Dutch themepark, which was a really pretty themepark.
Tried the onsen, too, in the way it's supposed to be done ;) Twice! After a while, you just put aside your inhibitions and it's nothing to it, really. Tried some wine coloured and smelling baths, electric bath. To the point of feeling giddy and having to rest. But I am still not gonna try the mix onsen. Hiaks.
Drank quite a bit more than usual during the trip. Bought a can of Asahi Dry and finished it all by myself in the coach, with the predictable result of needing the bathroom while being stuck in a traffic jam...of all days!!! Was praying and God miraculously helped me tide it over till we reached our destination hahaha. Tsk tsk. Anyway this nice uncle who was always drinking saw me drinking and kept offering me afterwards. Gave me Kirin Lager on our cruise and I managed to only drink a bit before feeling giddy, most probably becos of biological reasons, and had to retire to bed. Then he bought me another can of Asahi Dry and oso offered me a bit from time to time as my Mom watched in amazement. She has since started offering me as well :p
Gotta go now. Will blog more later on.
// posted by Jenn @ 2:35 PM 
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