Own Sweet Home !

We started breakfast very early... at 6am!!! The coach departed for the airport at 7.30am.. While shoppin ard the airport, we finally found "Bai Se Lian Ren"!!! So happy!!! Especially, Bobby! Haha! We (Darlin, me, Kelvin, Eunice, & Joe) then sat down for coffee, and not long after, it was Home Sweet Home for us! =P

Osaka Castle !!!

I finally made up my mind to buy a Blue Label wallet! Darlin & me walked into the store and looked at the designs.. Darlin doesn't find the designs appealin and asked if i wanna get a Black Label wallet instead.. We went up to the Black Label store... But no designs which i like.. So went back to the Blue Label store.. We screened through the designs thoroughly b4 decidin on a wallet which cost abt SGD 350! This is by far the 1st time i bought a branded! SO exciting! Haha! As we proceeded to the 7th Level to claim our tax refund, i asked Darlin if we still have enough budget to get a Blue Label card holder which i REALLI like!!! Darlin said "okie"!!!! Hee!! I was so ectastic to hear it!!! *happie* We went back to the store again and bought the card holder for abt SGD 200! Heehee

Darlin & i went for breakfast @Shinsaibashisuji area.. After dat we went to shop ard.. I bought a pair of boots for abt SGD 60! Though not considered very cheap, but coz i realli wanna a pair of boots (i borrowed boots from Eileen as my boots was spoilt durin HK trip in Feb'08)..

We then headed to Osaka Castle! It was a LONG, LONG walk even though Darlin said it's onli abt 15mins walk.. Haha! On our way there, we bumped into Joe, Ednes Voon, Kartono, and his mom.. We had wanna go to Osaka Castle together but they realli took their OWN SWEET TIME takin pics every other min.. Darlin & I then went to Osaka Castle on our own.. The tix is 600 yen/pax. Standin from the 8th level of Osaka Castle, we took in the beautiful scenery ard us... The view was simply nice! However, we were unable to take more pics as the digital cam's batt died on us... =(

Darlin & I then went to Minami Semba area to continue our shoppin spree! We saw this realli huge guitar shop which of coz attracted Darlin in there! Haha! It was 2 storeys tall! And inside was realli HUGE too! Darlin bought guitar picks from there to give as souvenirs to John!

We then proceeded to Minami Horie.. We realized that it was rather deserted... We then went back to Shinsaibashisuji again, and i bought a winter jacket from there too!!! Btw, my winter jacket belongs to Eileen too as my own one is unable to withstand the temperature in Japan... Hee.. I LOVE the new white winter jacket!!!!

By the time we finished shoppin, Darlin & I were famished! We had dinner @Lotteria Burger which i've been eyein for quite sometime... The burgers though small, but were DELICIOUS!!!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to pack up our stuff for checkin out tmm.. It was ard 10+pm by the time we walked back to hotel, & we gotta wake up VERY early tmm.....

To Kyoto !!!

We set off to Kyoto @8.30am! So early! It was so early that breakfast had to be specially catered to us, JCO, in one of the events room of Swissotel Nankai! Haha! But i had to say.... breakfast doesn't taste good.... =(

At Kyoto, we first went to this temple which i've forgotten the name as it was realli NOT interestin at all... Darlin & me din go into the temple as we gotta take off our shoes (and for me, takin off the boots is especially tedious & "ma fan"!).. We then walked ard the outside of the temple & saw Sandra and gang smokin! Haha! We chatted for a while b4 we set off for the next destination which is lunch!

The Japanese tour guide told us that the lunch was actualli an imperial banquet fit for the king! The lunch turned out to be quite a feast! However, it was so much of Japanese culture (full of raw stuffs! Yuckz!) dat Darlin & me din realli enjoyed it... After lunch, we took pics outside the lunchin area! The area was of fanstastic scenery & we LOVED it!!!

We walked past a Golden Temple where it was realli shinin under the blarin sun! LOL

Next destination was to a BORIN big temple where we could NOT enter to see at all as the tour guide said that the temple is only open on selected dayz! So all we could do was to stand outside the temple to take pics! BORING!!!! We stayed there for ard 5mins b4 we returned to the coach...

The last place which we went to was where we enjoyed ourselves durin this Kyoto trip! I've forgotten the name but it looked like the "Jiu Fen Pu" in Yilan, Taipei! First we visited this temple where there was 2 rocks on 2 ends. It was believed that if ya're able to walk to the other end of the rock with the person of ur dreamz in mind & W/O anyone guidin ya to the end of the other rock, then it means that ya and the other person of ur dream is meant for each other! How COOL! Some of our colleagues took the chance to force Jialin to test it out, and of coz, it's Leonard whom Jialin was thinkin of... Hahahahahah!!! There was also this 3 streams of water symbolizin Health, Wealth, & Wisdom! Darlin chose Wisdom while i chose Health!! Hee

We then proceeded to walk down the temple where there's this stretch of shoppin streets! We ate a lot of goodies there! The most memorable one was the Black Sesame Ice-cream which the tour guide highly recommended! It was indeed so YUMMIE!!!! We also bought 2 packets of Black Sesame Cookies back but it turned out to be of quite different taste compared to when we ate it in Kyoto... =(

The coach reached Swissotel Nankai at ard 7.30pm. Darlin hurried to buy his Black Label tie which cost nearly SGD200! But i encouraged him to buy it as i can see that he liked it a lot! Hee! Upon seein Darlin's smile on his face, i felt happy too! Hee

We then went to Shinsaibashisuji again to shop ard! Some shops were still opened! We (Darlin, Me, Kelvin, Bobby, Joe, Shumei, & Jasmine) went inside this realli nicely decorated underground restaurant!ole of our Japan Trip, especially the fried dumplin!!! The skin was so delicate and crispy!!! The food there was the BEST and most memorable durin the wh We shopped ard for a while b4 goin to Mcdonalds for supper again! Haha! We then stayed there till ard 11+pm where we then went back to the hotel!

Osaka !!!

It's time for us to make our way to Osaka!!! We checked out of Hotel Ohedo at 9.30am to meet Joe and May at 10am so dat we can meet together to go Osaka!

We then went over to Tokyo station to have sushi while waitin for the bullet train which will arrive at 12:30pm. I must say, the sushi in Japan is realli for suited for Darlin and my taste. Even though we do not eat sashimi, but back in S'pore, we still have got quite a wide variety of sushi for us to choose from. However, in Japan, it's realli almost ALL abt SASHIMI!! *faint*

The journey from Tokyo to Osaka took 2.5hrs. There were 16 cabins in the bullet train, and of all, we chose a SMOKIN CABIN! *faint*

We finally reached Swissotel Nankai at Namba Station at 4pm! The hotel room was spacey & cosy!! Indeed it lives up to the standard of Swissotel! Haha! The washroom was big too!! Heehee! After settlin down for a while, we ( Darlin, me, Kelvin, Bobby, & Joe) went to Takashimaya to grab some small bites as we were all famished by then. I must say the bread in Japan though expensive, they're indeed very delicious!! We walked ard a while, and went to see Blue & Black Label - the much-talked abt brand!

We then proceeded to the A&H Appreciation dinner at 6pm. The dinner ended at abt 9pm where we then went to Shinsaibashisuji, hopin dat at least some shops are still open for us... Bobby & I have been searchin for the Octopus Balls when we reached Japan.. So when we both saw a stall sellin Octopus Balls, we made a dash for it! Much to our disappointment, the Octopus Balls from this stall izn't up to our expectation... =(

As we (Darlin, me, Kelvin, Bobby, Joe, and Shumei) walked on further, we realized that most of the shops are closed already.. Still we continued to explore ard in which we then went into a Mcdonalds for supper! Supper was joined by Melissa, and Agnes Tan. Finally, Darlin had a chance to try the YUMMIE Cinammon Meltz!! Darlin liked it too after eatin it... However, he found it a bit sweet lahz.. Haha! We stayed at McDonalds till abt 1:30am then we went back to the hotel.

Odaiba !!!

We kickstarted the day meetin Kelvin, Eunice, and Bobby for brunch at this place startin with 'Y' (forgotten the name). It is located near our hotel. Darlin had a meal which consisted of fried veggie with beef and rice, while i had pork cutlet with rice. Both are so YUMMIE and it's quite reasonably priced! It was ordered in quite a special way too! First, we ordered the meal which we wanna from a vendin machine. Then we passed the tix which came out from the vendin machine to the staffs there. Then we get seated while they served us cold water, followed by the food. The food was served quite fast too! One thingy which puzzled me was how come cold water is served in the eateries in Japan when the weather is already so cold? Shouldn't they be servin warm water instead? Moreover, it's said that it's better to drink warm water when ya're eatin... So, y cold water and not warm water??!! *scratches head*

Next, all of us headed to Odaiba via the Yurikamome line. Although the cost of transportation is quite ex, but i tink this line is even more ex than the other transportation line in Tokyo! Probably coz it's newly built one?? Haha! We alighted at Odaiba, and landed in Palatte Town! In Palatte Town, there's a big shoppin town called Venus Fort, a very big car mart, and one of the world largest ferris wheel!! We headed first for car mart. There was this very nice red Lexus Sports Car which wowed Darlin!! It has 3 exhauast pipes, and looked realli cool! Even for ppl like me who donot have a drivin license, i can also drive one of their cars for fun!! However, i need to queue up till evenin for this, so i did not get to enjoy the fun of being a driver... =(

Darlin & I then went separate way from Kelvin, Eunice, and Bobby. We agreed to meet up again at a specific time. Darlin and I immediately went to take a ride on the Ferris Wheel which costs us 600yen (SGD9.60) each. It was quite an experience! There were 2 types of cubicles to choose from: one is colored one which can sit up to 6 pax, and a transparent one which can sit up to 4 pax. We took the transparent one! Darlin couldn't seem to sit still when we were on the Ferris Wheel. There was juz Darlin and I on the Ferris Wheel! Haha! So exclusive! LOL!

After that, Darlin & I went to take a look at their games arcade. To our surprise, there were all sorts of games in there! Their game ranges from golf to soccer to horse racin and tennis, and it was SO REAL!!! So cool!!!

We then walked ard Venus Fort. Upon enterin, it's like we were in transported to another world!It has a very romantic settin; it's like we're in Venetian! Even the ceiling is very beautifully decorated! Not long after that, it's time to meet up with Kelvin, Eunice, and Bobby! The 5 of us then walked ard in search of a nice dinner! We ended up in a Chinese style restaurant havin a Lobster set dinner to each of us, and it onli costs 1980yen (ard SGD32/pax)! However, i muz say it's not extremely tasty.. Haha! The dessert - Almond Jelly was worth commentin though! It's........................ DELICIOUS! I had alwaz disliked almond as there's this medicine smell in it... However, the almond jelly served was so smooth to the touch, and completely free of the medicine smell!!! =p

Darlin, Kelvin, and Bobby then went for hot spring at Telecom Center Station, while Eunice and I stayed in Palatte Town. Eunice and I walked ard for a while longer, in which we then settled down in Mcdonalds coz Eunice haven't had her dinner (she had no appetite juz now).

In Mcdonalds, i finalli got to eat the Cinamon Meltz, and the Strawberry Cheesecake ice-cream! Both are so YUMMY especially the former!!!

Ard 9pm, Eunice and I proceeded to Telecom Center Station (juz one station away from Odaiba) to meet up with the guyz where we then headed back to the hotel after dat...