Monday, May 07, 2007
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It's finally finished (partially)~
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This post is long overdue :p been back for almost 1 mth plus le but still hvn’t did a post at the trip overseas. Let’s start out wif the day we flew off on our S Pilgrimage.
The SG & his Followers’ Adventures on the S Pilrimage
Chp 1 The Terminals
We left for the airport ard 12.Met the SG, SG’s bro (Ah Xing) n the other apostle to check in. My gem came to send us off too. Went in for chicken rice for lunch b4 boarding the plane. It was a boring 4 hrs + flight to Taiwan where we were stopping over for a nite’s stay b4 continuing our journey to Japan the nx dae. The hotel was not bad for S$38 a nite. Went to a close-by BBQ place for supper b4 walking ard the neighborhood to pass the time. When we got back to the hotel, we borrowed a couple of LAN cables in order to use the internet to get online. After tt we jus watched TV till we slpt.
Chp 2 Advent
Finally arrived in Tokyo at ard 2 pm. While collecting our luggage, we noticed tt someone actually checked in an umbrella!!! We were wondering why someone would actually check in an umbrella (Mystery 1). After collecting our luggage, we proceeded to purchase the tickets for the 1445 Narita Express.
The 2 Apostles waiting for train
Arrived at Ikebokuro at 4+. Got a bit lost b4 arriving at House Ikebokuro. Put down our barang barang b4 proceeding to scout the area for food n such. Ended up hving our dinner at a nearby Ramen shop. The system used in Japan is diff than in Singapore. U insert ur money into the vending machine in exchange for a ticket representing ur order. U then pass the ticket to the owner for ur order to b made.
Went walking ard Ike. Visited a Maid Café wif a magic sch kinda theme. The name of the café is Afilia (www.afilia.jp). Spent onli 1 hr there as the prices r outta this world x.X
Chp 3 Let’s Go Animate
Oh ya, forgot to describe our rm. It’s quite a cosy rm which comes wif 3 chairs, a table, a fridge, microwave oven, toaster n the basic bathing toiletries. We were oso given 8 slices of bread everyday, regardless of whether the previous day’s bread was eaten or not. We had our usual breakfast of toasted bread b4 heading to the other side of Ike to do a bit of shopping n lunch.
We can b kinda untidy :P
Lunch was enjoyed at a nice little restaurant in Sunshine 80. The soba was quite gd but when I thot I finished the food n was full, I found tt there were 2 LAYERS of soba. I covered the dish back n pretended I din noe XD.
Proceeded to walk ard the mall in search of stuff to buy for ppl back home. Since The Ike branch of Animate was across the street we went to take a look at the anime goods which we normally pay a lot mote for in SG. It was an entire building of 8 floors of magazines,manga,goods n merchandise of various anime series n oso CDs n DVDs. We spent almost 2 hrs in there b4 heading back to the hostel to put down our barang barang.
We had a dinner at a sushi place directly below the hostel n boy was the sushi fresh n good. We oso had clam nigiri,steam prawns n my personal favourite,the steamed tamago(egg).
Chp 4 Sakura~ Sakura~
After obtaining a train map in the morning, we made our way to Ueno park to c the sakuras. Since we were a bit late for the blooming of the sakuras, most were kinda dead when we got there but there were still a few trees wif the beautiful pink flowers. Within the park was the onli zoo we visited during our entire overseas trip n I can sae it was quite worthwhile seeing the pandas n various other animals.
I m always slpy in the morning :x
The SG n me in front of a Shrine (i think) in Ueno Park
Studying the map of the park
Their pigeons r kinda fat :p
A ticket from the zoo
Got a pic wif a "panda" :X
Jiong Yi's followers from Japan XD
After the famous park, we continued walking down to Akiharaba (Akiba) by following the train tracks. Akiba is known as the Electronics Street of Tokyo (note to ppl hu smoke: Akiba is strictly a no smoking area…it even says so on the map :p). Visited a weapons shop which sells mani interesting antique guns n swords. The other Apostle wanted to obtain a metal fan as it lked impressive, but once he saw where it was made he decided not to get it. (Hint: it’s from the country which is the nx destination for our S pilgrimage). Visited a trading card shop nx n by speaking as fluently as I could I obtained a couple of promos I couldn’t get in SG.
Walked down to take a lk at a couple of game n electronic shops where I finally found a box I nv thot I wld find. “The IdolMaster” limited edition box for the Xbox 360. There is a hidden story behind this game which made even me dulan(coughcough”smallspring”coughcough). If u wanna noe the details abt this “awesome” shop jus ask me when u c me :p. They dared to tell me they lked all over Japan n couldn’t even get 1 set while I jus happily strolled along n nabbed one. I mus b hv the luck of a God sia XD (although I m one of the SG’s apostles :p) Anywayz, we then went to another maid café for lunch. This time it’s a famous one known as Café WithCat, located within Tora no Ana itself. Their catch phrase is “Would u like WithCat or WitchCat???” This is becoz on the logo, the C is a veri big C which cuts thru both words so it can b perceived as either one. When it came to the dessert, Apostle K learned tt he nds to brush up on his pronunciation. For his dessert, the “maid” is supposed to write a msg the “master” wishes for on the plate. He meant to sae “Wakarenai” (I don’t understand”, but somehow she perceived it as “Okane nai” (I hv no money). We were wondering y she was smiling so much while writing out the msg in sauce XD. Not wanting to acknowledge tt claim, Apostle K treated us to that meal n went to pay in person.
Animate was nx n we picked up a couple of things which were out of stock at the Animate at Ike. We then went down to Shinjuku but we din get to walk much there. One thing was the giant paper bag I was carrying n the other Apostle seemed to hv lost his “Holy Book”. We were lucky tt my brother’s old Kinokuniya store manager was stationed back in Japan n he knows English XD. Took some time to find him n get advice on the situation. Although this scenario made up quite a noticeable part on my hp bill but it was urgent at the time so… :x With nth else to do but wait, we proceeded back to the hostel for some much needed rest.
Chp 5 We were Under Arrest (jus jking :p)
We spent the morning lking for the police station as he did lose sumthing impt in a foreign country. Although I do understand most of wad the Japanese were saying, I still found it hard toking to them so I really gotta brush up on my Japanese if I were gonna travel there again in the future. With our limited speech, the policeman on duty resolved to the use of Kanji (Chinese words) n charades to fully understand the situation. The Apostle had to proceed to the office alone so he had a bit of a problem explaining with his broken Japanese n the other officer’s broken English.
With tt aside, my memory’s a bit weak so I forgot the area we went to nx (there r no photos from this date so I had to recall everything from memory). We visited a shrine nx to wad appeared to b the castle of an old Lord during ancient times. We then went to Book-Off, a bk store which sells lots of 2nd hand books, games, CDs etc. Got a couple of bargains n got a bite from a famous Kebab store nearby. You can tell tt the guy tending to the store has been living in Japan for a long time. He’s Italian yet he speaks quite fluent Japanese (oso by the fact tt my bro said he saw him there oso when he went there 2 yrs ago :p).
Nx stop was Nakano Broadway, a shopping mall with lots of collectibles n costumes. Ah Xing finally got something for himself n I found a 1st press ver of a Remie x Kotona CD going at 1/3 the price. Walked ard a bit b4 returning to Ike for dinner at some curry soup restaurant tt wasn’t veri nice :x.
Chp 6 The Kiss, The Bee and The Kirby
Jus b4 retiring the previous nite, my brother informed me tt there was a Toy Convention happening the nx day the Tokyo Big Sight (The Expo of Tokyo). Since he wanted something from the Transformers: Kiss players series tt could onli b bought at the convention, we went over to see wad other bargains we could pick up. The SG was quite happy as he got some nice stuff which is now on display in his room. Ah Xing got some stuff too. Apostle K got a couple of toys to give to his cousins. I got a nice Ilya figure for my dear cheaper than expected. Oso got a TheBee zector cheap n the cutest pink fluffball I could find: Kirby~ (Incidentally, I think we saw a couple of Singaporeans setting up shop at the convention…the use of “lars”,”lohz” n “simi ma si wu” tipped me off XD)
Here's our half naked SG wif my Kirby XD
Had dinner at a Curry place which was quite nice. Nx dae’s Monday so we could finally visit the onli place owned by SG in Japan: The Singapore Embassy (it onli opens on wkdays :p)
Chp 7 Kiseki (Miracle)
Miracles do happen in this world. We visited the Singapore Embassy for details on the matter which arose due to carelessness. (Smart ppl by now shld noe wad was lost, if u dunno, I oso dunno how to help la XD). Thru some amazing luck us Apostles hv, we were notified tt his Holy Book was found rite after we stepped out of the place n settled down in a Chinese Restaurant nearby. The Apostle proceeded back for the info of the place where he could recover his Holy Book. We made haste n rushed down to recover his lost treasure (although it did kinda smell…did someone drop it in a drain or sumthing???) Revisited a couple of places with Ah Xing as last min shopping as the other 2 jus felt tired.
The front of the Singapore Embassy
Finally cfming tt we din hv to pay any further airport tax, we decided to spend wad we had left in Yen after setting aside money for the Shinkansen ticket back to Narita Airport. We had dinner at the Sushi place where the God n Apostle seemed to hv Gam Zeng wif the boss when they revisited the place 2 nites b4 by themselves. Dinner was awesome.
In the nite, I had a tough battle wif my luggage n was onli done ard midnite. Decided not to slp so as to b able to wake the others up so we wun miss out flight. Had the usual problems moving my luggage (I hate tt bag). Slpt most of the way on the train n had breakfast at the airport. Can’t say i enjoyed the flight but I will cover tt part in the Taiwan Part of our S Pilgrimage of 2007.
Tt’a all for now…will tok abt Taiwan in my (hopefully) nx blogpost. Till then, Sayonara~
キミが望む未来すでにIn Your Hands~
||f3nR1R|| blogged at [5/07/2007 11:36:00 PM]*