Walking Like A Lonely Planet-er!

I bet the word "planet-er" is not even a word but i am using it anyways. The reason is before my trip, i had went to MPH and bought myself a book written by writers of the well known tv program called "Lonely Planet".

So the second day of my trip solely lied amongst me, my mood, my energy level and the help of Lonely Planet Tokyo in my hands. It was the very first time in my life that i will be traveling an unknown city by myself. This idea had been lingering in my mind for a long time but i was too afraid to do so and hence i would always be accompanied by someone whenever i travel.

But hey this is Japan. It has a reputation of being one of the safest city in the world. With the book and map in my hand and making sure that my handphone is fully charged, and of course with some yens in my pocket plus a credit card to back me up, where is there for me to loose right?!

So my first stop was Shinjuku where the chic meets high streets. Right after i had breakfast with KC and after seeing him off to work, i set on my adventure. Shinjuku looks rather calm and quiet on a Monday morning. The thing is i am not very good with directions even with a map in my hand. So i was just wandering and walking aimlessly in Shinjuku while trying to catch interesting spots.

And we have the concrete forests...

Land of the kitty...

A Kitty saying Hello...

By the time i finished with Shinjuku, it was already noon and my legs were aching. Well i didnt really finished Shinkuju per say but since i had limited time, i had no choice but to move on to my next destination, Ginza. Ginza is famous for its high end shopping. The moment i step out of the subway, i was bombarded by zillions of high end brands. You name it they have it. Tiffany, Gucci, Mikimoto, LV, Prada..... and the amazing part it Ginza is crowded. Tai-tais will be walking around with they latest branded bags and shopping as if these brands cost them nothing. All malls were crowded as it there was a sales going on.

As for me, i wandered a little before deciding to burn some holes in my pocket. Be awed everyone!

32g Ipad for 58,500 yen!

That comes with a 2 year free wifi subscription in Japan!

Burberry Blue Label! Only available in Japan and selling for 32,000 yen!

Isn't it fun to shop in Japan? You can just get the latest thing you want! Well i should be a happy and broke woman by now, shouldn't me? Well sadly the answer is no. Ipad is not for me. It is a birthday gift for my old man. Burberry is not for me too, was just helping my friend to buy them. But, one thing good is i got to experience shopping and had fun without paying! So it was fun still.

After all these "kah-cing" sound coming from my wallet, i decided it is time to just go back to the hotel, rest myself a bit before heading to Shibuya later at night. Of course i could not stop the temptation of buying some sweets for tea since i have been seeing the stall from all the walking from the subway station leading to the hotel i was staying.

After a little rest, i decided to join the working crowd in the subway again by daringly taking the subway at 5.30pm. Boy it was packed but so much fun just to watch them. And finally i was at Shibuya, a place where teenagers will hang out at night for dating, pubing and according to Lonely Planet, Shibuya is also a place where the gangsters hang around. Interesting!

Jap girls dress cute and in latest trend. Look at her, isnt she cute?

And i even saw bands performing in street..

Kakooii-desu neh!!! I bet this is a upcoming band promoting for their latest album because i saw cds being sold too..

After a bit of walking, i then indulged myself by going over to the largest crossroad in Shinjuku. The crossroad is shaped in a 8-gua (look at the zebra crossings in the pic) and for a period of 1 min, you get to cross the roads in any way you like. Being the silly me, i attempted a zig-zag path. It was awesome!!!

After that, it was time for dinner so i just walked where my leg brought me to and just took a seat at this restaurant for a bowl of ramen. Now this is a really embarrassing experience.

The machine commutes in Kanji and i have little to no idea how to use it. I tried to figure it out for 2 times but failed and there were people waiting behind me. So what i did was to step away, let them use and watch and learn. Embarrassing! 

600 yen for such a huge bowl or delicious ramen. Worth it!! And true enough any restaurant you walk into, the ramen is definitely nicer than those offer in KL. 

With a satisfying dinner and a huge tummy, i decided to call it a night. Besides my legs were just killing me! That's all for now folks. Next stop, going back to the history of Tokyo!

Boys' Toys!

Right after the tiring and grumbling trip down the Meiji shrine, we walked our way to the heart of Harajuku where you can see the hippiest and trendiest fashion in Tokyo. Anyway it was just across the street!

The front gate of the famous Harajuku street was already packed with people giving out tissue papers with their advertisements as well as a group of crew from some tv station doing some interview. Ever wonder how come everyone on TV, especially the anchors look so tall during a live interview outside? Well the answer is --- tada! Even a Caucasian will have to stand on a block of wood or book and i have proof!

Together with the tissue in one of my hands to wipe away the sweat, i had in my the other hand a fan full of advertisements to fan me as well. Too bad i was so awed by my surrounding that i didnt snap a picture of it and eventually it went missing somewhere in Tokyo.  The street was so packed with teenagers and so much excitements that my eyes were wandering non-stop. It is also in Harajuku that i managed to buy Miss Coffee Chen a set of new pyjamas. Well not so much of a pyjamas but at least she now has another dog by the name of Snoopy to hug her to sleep every night. How lucky!

Didnt manage to get anything for myself though. After that KC was giving me a bored look so we decided to go to the magical land where all boys will jump with joy upon hearing it - Akirabara! Akiraba is a heaven for gadgets, and i mean any gadgets you can think of. Right after mentioning this magic word, i saw sparkles in his eyes! Haha. 

There are hundreds of shops in Akirabara selling all kind of gadgets from fany earrings looking headphones for girls, to ipad, to cute japanese made phones which we could not use in Malaysia (what a pity), to lots of games, game consoles, figurines, comics that are dirt cheap (oh why oh why i didnt learnt how to read japanese???) to whatever you could think of. It was like our Low Yat expanded into a whole district of the size of say the KL Golden Triangle area. It is just huge!

By the time we sat down for a drink after his shopping spree, we were death tired. Besides that, we smelt  burnt holes coming from his wallet all because he had went mad and went into the "buy buy buy" mode.

Kc new headphone which cost him a whopping RM400!

Well his shopping spree that includes the headphone, a 1.5T hard disk, 3 latest FF figurines, booster for Itouch and mobile phone and some others.

As for me, i was just dying for a drink. Thank god!

And then we had to take the subway back to the hotel again. Somehow the trip back seemed a lot longer and very tiring, although the walking distance to the subway was equally short. I guess we were not shopping addicts. And then it was time for the most anticipated event - Dinner!!! Yummy! And not just any ordinary dinner, we went to a really fancy and well-known restaurant that is famous for its sukiyaki!

Let's drool everyone!

The name sort of reminded me of someone's name. Wink! Yes it is you! I snapped this for you!

I was told that in Japan, there are a few must eat food - tempura, sushi, ramen and sukiyaki. Since we managed to press my dad to spend us a good dinner, it was the perfect time to order! hahaha *evil laughs*

Even the utensils used for salt and wasabe are so cute! I love Japan!

And then it was time for the main course - Sukiyaki. First a piece of pure pork fat was put into the pan to heat as oil. Whao.......

And then all the ingredients. Beef was the most important element here.

Then dipped the beef into fresh eggs. Oishi!!!!

It was just magnificent! At the end of the meal, i was all pigged out and ready to sleep there and then. Not bad for a restaurant that has been in operations for 60 years eh?

Tats for now folks! Next stop, walking like the lonely planet-er!

Summer Love in Japan

KC had the luxury of an off day on the first day we were in Tokyo because it was a Sunday.

Initially we wanted to visit the Disneyland and Disney Sea in Tokyo because which nation would make a better host than the Japanese? With their patience and their endless greetings, it will make Disneyland a great visit! Well since it was the end of the summer and it was a weekend, we were advise against it because the park will be crowded with families trying to catch the last heat of summer. So in the end, we opted to go venture Tokyo a little bit.

First stop, the Meiji Shrine. It was built by the Meiji Emperor for praying purposes and he also built a beautiful garden just for his empress. So we took the subway to the ever famous Harajuku where it will be packed with teenagers in the latest trend and also a place where teenagers will dressed up in their favorite anime characters. And so we went.

An over-exposed photo of me in front of the gate.

The Meiji shrinee is situated about 15 minutes walk from the subway station. The path to the shrine was huge and it was like never ending! Since it was rather humid and hot, we began walking with an excited spirit to gradually grumbling about the never ending road. Luckily there were some interesting spots along the walk to keep us going.

Endless wine barrels contributed  for prayers throughout the years.

Each barrel carefully spelt out the name and company of the contributor.

These are wines by non-Japaneses

Finally we reached the gate and since we are in Tokyo, of course we have to act like the Japanese! So first thing we have to do it to cleanse ourselve before going into the shrinee. The directions were, pick up the scope, scope water, wash your left hand then right, and then pour a some water into your left palm and cleanse your mouth. Finally use the balanced water to clean the scope. Since KC has to be the one with the camera, i happily went along and did my cleansing. 

  

Thinking to myself "remember the steps..dont screw up!"

And we are in! Yay!

Now the interesting about this visit is we got to witness how a traditional Japanese wedding is! It appears that summer is a great time to get married and there will always be at least 1 wedding ceremony going on in the Meiji shire during any given weekends. Just like any other foreigners, we went around chasing the poor couple who was busy getting their wedding pictures done before the ceremony. 

I am sure they are the happy in-laws in pretty kimonos.

The bride in full traditional japanese kimono too. Look how professional the helpers dressed.

The handsome groom with a happy face.

And the wedding march...well no music though.. Look how everyone is in suits.

KC must be thinking, luckily it is not him in the suit during this time of the year.

And what else do you do in a shrine? You pray! Just like the locals, write down your prayers and together with the donations, put them in an envelope and drop them into the box piously. 

Only noticed i could write my wishes on a small board after i dropped in mine. Oh well!

Love this most. Nothing specific means everything in his/her life is going really well.

Wanted to blog more but the internet in my house sucks to the max. So will just stop here for now until i could grab my lappy and visit the nearest Starbucks again tomorrow. 

Next stop, the heart of Harajuku and the Crossplay girls!

Wee!! Back and Alive!

Am now sitting in Starbucks in Uptown and writing this blog.

Well to be honest, this is my first time doing so because thanks to KC, our house in always having the best internet connection and it is wireless. So i have never had the need to go to cafe just to enjoy internet connection. But this time around, KC is not in, our modem cum router is broken and both my brothers are not in a rush to get it fix. So without any other options to go to, here i am blogging in Starbucks while enjoying my cup of ice shaken lemonade.

I had the luxury of tagging along with KC and visited Tokyo for a few days last week. The last time i went to Tokyo was more than 10 years ago and i was still that odd looking young girl.

The trip was rather short but it was fun! And i figured some of the things that we must do when we are at Tokyo.

1) Ride the subway no matter where you go. There are more than 8 different subway lines that will bring you to anyway you like. Each station is situated strategically and thus making walking a breeze rather than a torture.

2) While in the subway, pretend to be really busy! You can opt to do one of the followings - sleeping, reading a book, reading a business report, gaming or pretending to have zillions of sms coming in and you have to reply them one by one. The main thing to do here is to avoid eye contact no matter under what circumstances!

3) Walk into any Ramen shop and enjoy your food. True enough no matter which ramen shop you walk into, the food is really nice!

4) Dont matter the weather, fashion is much more important! It was end of summer when i was there and the weather was hot and humid. While i was dressed in pants and singlet, the Tokyrians were already dressed in boots, long sleeves, scafs and all the necessary items to welcome autumn! They are crazy!

5) Be awed by the cutest things and food you could find. This is Japan! Everything just look really pretty and delicious!

6) And last but not least, feel really really poor by the time you step your foot into the departure gate of Japan Narita airport!

More to come folks! Let me check out my fb for now. Tat!