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Sunday, March 27, 2011

RomanceCar to Mt. Fuji - Hakone



Day 3 (5 March 2011). Yup! Finally.... Mt. Fuji!


Where do I start... I can't rant enough about how magnificent Japan is, in all ways.

OK! Let's get my brain in order and tell you the story of my Day 3 in Japan.

We have to meet Andrea's cousin in Shinjuku in order to catch the Odakyu train to Hakone. Hold on! Let me brief a little bit about Hakone, basically most of the town is within the borders of the volcanically active Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, centered around Lake Ashi. YES! It is where you get to see Mt. Fuji at it's best view. Bottom line is - IT'S A MUST GO! MUST MUST MUST.

OK! First we walk over to Odakyu Counter to purchase the train ticket as well as the 2days Free Pass (you can enjoy all the 7 rides freely in Hakone). We decided to buy the RomanceCar tix to give it a try, the train kinda look like a Shinkansen (bullet train), but pretty sure it is not. It is more of an express train which cut short the journey by 30mins or more.

The train? Very well maintained and CLEAN... it even comes with food cart (I felt like riding in Air Asia for a moment!). One thing that fascinated me was that the chair can turn 180 degree. WHY right? Well, once it reaches the last station, the train has to face the opposite direction to head back to Shinjuku hence, it will turn/swivel so that it is facing forward direction. AMAZING!!! (Or perhaps it was me that is ignorant).

From the train station we took a bus (using our super duper free pass that gave us multiple free access to ALL THE RIDES in Hakone! Am boasting here!) to Lake Ashi to catch the pirate ship (You hear me right alright! Wait till you see the pics, you'll be green with envy).

While waiting for "OUR JOHNY DEPP PIRATE SHIP" to arrive (show off again, muahahahha), we managed to snap few pics at the pier. That's when I saw the big & famous red gate or Torri that can easily be found in Japan of which I told myself TO & MUST take a pic of it.

Ahoy! Our ship has arrived.

We when straight on; getting ourselves busy with loads of pics taking as we catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji/Torii/cruise boat - postcard PEEEERFECT pic. Let me tell you that the view is AWESOME, AWESOME & AWESOME. I have never seen anything so pictureque; I mean... Hakone is super clean, Lake Ashi water is crystal clean, the ship is spotless clean... I can't find fault (why even bother LILY!). It's like LOVE AT THE FIRST SIGHT! And if you can remember my Sweden blog entry, you know how much I LOVE ships!

As we reached the last "port", guess what is waiting for us? Jeng Jeng Jeng..... CABLE CAR!!! Or here they call it ROPEWAY. The view? BREATHTAKING... you practically can see Lake Ashi from the hills (or is it mountain?!) and the tiny town below and but of cause... Mt. Fuji.

At the end of this Ropeway, a VERNACULAR TRAM was waiting to take us down (they calls this CABLECAR - utterly confusing for us).

And what amazes me is that NO ONE sits on the priority seat (kid you not!), unless you are super old and duper frail, you should stand even those of 50+ of age. Very very cultured country.

Oh! I almost forgotten, we left our huge luggage in Tokyo hotel and what we brought was a hand-carry bag of WHICH, we have been lugging the past half a day. This is when we decide to check-in and dump the bag at the Onsen guest house (more story on this in next entry).

Next... Venetian Glass Forest. Impress with the name? Us TOO! It's 5 mins walk from our guest house, apparently our guest house is less then 15 mins to almost all sight seeing. Thank you Lee Hann for recommending. OK, I have to apologise in advance for this, I hyperlink most of my stuff but for this Venetian Glass Forest, it's in English but not the actual site at is in Japanese (sigh..).

You'll be wondering what is this right... it's actually a garden with European houses where you sip you afternoon coffee kinda place, then there's glass museum (LOVELY!!!) and this area is build in such a way that it compliments the landscape.

According to Andrea, it's a Rapunzel tower.... ahhahha... Well, there's much more to see but day light not to our advantage at winter tail. So, we have to call it a day and Arif (Andrea's cousin) needs to head back to Shinjuku, Tokyo.




Credit hyperlink : Venetian Glass Forest, Wikipedia, Odakyu

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Travel Thursday | SHY SHY SHY




Please don't peep

Please don't look
Please don't seek
Else you'll be hooked

If you insist
I shall permiss
With a long long list
Sealed With A Kiss

Where is this?
You may ask
Bali, Asia's East
Best at dusk

Puri Santrian Hotel
That's her name
Bali's finest jewel
For beauty and fame



Hyperlink credits : Santrian Resorts & Villas Bali

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Water Wednesday | Reflectoon




A reflection

Of a lantern
Where all the cartoons
Glide beneath the moon

Am I adorable?
Says Mashimoro
Am I sweet?
Says Hello Kitty

For in September...
we shall meet
In sleepless Singapore
Little cute galore



Stories on my Singapore trip here & in Facebook

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Tokyo DisneySEA



Day 2 (4 March 2011). DisneySEA... by the SEA.



Been quiet for awhile as I was traveling and busy with work when I got back.

Well, hope I can pick up the momentum to blog... especially after what happen to Japan, I kinda feel sad, it is such a LOVELY country, full of culture and POLITE people. I can't brag enough about Japan.

Anyway, since we might not be able to travel to Japan so soon in near future, I should blog about all my experience of this wonderful country.

I touched down around 9ish at night on March 3 (Thursday), nothing much can happen at that hour since we headed straight to our hotel, well.... kinda.... We got lost as we came up from the underground train station. Foreign land/foreign language symptom which normally clears on the 2nd or by the 3rd day. Well.... kinda - for us at least.

First DESTINATION on day 2 - DisneySEA. OK! Here's the thing, there are about FOUR (4) Disneys in the world Paris Disneyland, Anaheim Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland & Tokyo Disneyland. And ONE (1) DisneyWORLD in Orlando and ONE (1) DisneySEA in Tokyo. Sooo.... yeah right! I choose DisneySEA of cause (been to all except Tokyo Disneyland & Anaheim's).

I have done my "research" (as usual) and asked around (as usual). I kinda know what to expect or at least I thought I know what to expect (yeah LILY! Haven't you learnt anything!?).

The concept was Mediterranean with a touch of American beach front, what you can expect to see...

The Spanish Gaudi

The Venice canals

Moroccan architecture

And the Cape Cod breeze.

What I first learnt (and mind you, IT'S EVERYWHERE [not just Disneys] even PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AREA)... is that the...

...superb toilet. Yup! YOU HEARD ME ALRIGHT! The T.O.I.L.E.T!

1. There's bidet for "SMALL BUSINESS"
2. There's spray for "BIG BUSINESS"
3. There's water pressure to control the bidet or spray
4. There's FLUSHING SOUND to MUFFLE the toilet sound (ie loud poo drops)
5. There's DEODORANT to... well you know...

And it's SUPERBLY CLEAN, no water marks nor stain. To a point you would WIPE it after use (fearing you might upset the person after you).... REALLY! Kid you not!

Then, there's child seat for todds while mummy doing her potties. Chawana sure would LOVE this.

There are more to come, but for now...

I MISS DISNEYSEA!



More pics in my facebook here.




Hyperlink credits : Tokyo Disneyland Resort

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Japan Tsunami - Close Escape

Quick updates :

1. I am still base in Malaysia, I went to Japan for a short holidays for a week since last week.

2. I left Tokyo for Hong Kong on Wednesday.

3. Tsunami hits Japan on Friday (close "escape").

4. No, did not feel the tremor in Hong Kong

5. News all over Hong Kong as Hong Hong have one of the highest tourist visiting Japan.

6. Thank you to whose who SMS-ed and check on me in Facebook, highly appreciate it. Felt the LOVE.

7. Pray for my safe journey home this Sunday back home in Malaysia.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Travel Thursday | Missing me, the other half


I know how you feel
You missing me
Your other half
... and other wheel

Please look harder
I am sure you will find
In junkyard or hoarders
Before I lose my mind

I can't lose you
You can't lose me too
For we are ONE
My dear hun'



More pics on Beijing, China here.

VISA Approved and JAPAN I GO!!!

Yeah I know! I have not been a good girl to my darling blog. Sigh... I have absolutely valid reasons (excuses) here.

1. I got "promoted" to a regional role - now I manage Asia Pacific & Japan country (YIPPEE!)
2. They haven't gotten the new hire to take over my role - hence am doing double role
3. Another Business Unit (BU) manager move to sales role - guess what!?!! I agreed to stand in (YUP! 3 role NOW! SUCKERRRR!)

Can anyone be more stupid and silly then me? But strangely.... the busier I am, the more efficient I be. Is this even normal?

I think it's that thing in our brain that pump that natural drug in our body.... I can't remember what's it is called. Endorphine or something... if this is; then GOD is prettttty SMART! Hehheheh....

Guess what????? I received MVP award (Most Valuable Person), the prize is a FREEEEE trip (Yes! You heard me right!) to Hong Kong. Staying in Disney Resort, free Disney passes AND I can bring a friends FREE of charge. Of which got me thinking....

Hemmm.... I heard a HongKee friend of mine said that Japan package is cheaper from Hong Kong then Malaysia by HALF!!! (SIOU!!). You can guess it by now right... I google (what else mah) and got myself an RM2,000 return flight + 6 nights hotel stay departing from Hong Kong. WOW! That's darn CHEAP!

Due to my stupid busy schedule (by choice), we applied the the Japan visa kinda late, and it got rejected last week... PANIC giler... but eventually it went thru and we got back our passport on Monday. PHEW!!! (A bit worrying as we have booked our flight and hotel!).

Anyways... all when well. Am flying off on Wednesday morning and arriving in Japan in the evening. This will be the FIRST and MOST unprepared trip I ever experienced as I DID NOT do any research whatsoever.


Pray me good luck!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Watery & Outdoor Wednesday | Temple of the Dawn




Majestically stood

Withstanding the test of time
Since 1809 till now
Silently but not mime

Wat Arun to the locals
Temple of the Dawn to some
Undisturbed by colonials
Land of Freedom
... and Lovesome



Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia