Japan Trip '08 - Part 2

Day 4

Sorry dudes! No sunrise. We missed it. Everyone slept on when the alarm went off. Ho ho ho ho! Never mind, I think we were not in the right direction to begin with. Beauty sleep is more important. We had a long day to come too.

So, missing the sunrise, all of us woke up at a much later timing @ 8am. We arranged for the free shuttle back to the ferry terminal @ 9am. 1 hour for us to chop chop wash up and pack our stuff. We were moving to Okayama. The movement was a bit tiring. Shuttle ride -> ferry -> train -> Shinkansen.


We reached Okayama @ around 11+pm. This time our accommodation, Matsunoki まつのき, was much nearer to the train station - within 5 minute walk from train station even with big barang barang. Since the room was available when we arrived, we were allowed to do early check-in. Lucky! Whenever we checked in, we had a tendency to sit and lie around until we had to rush for our train or whatever mode of transport we were taking.

Although we were staying @ Okayama, we had no plan to visit any part of Okayama. Okayama was just a station point for us. We were planning to visit Tottori 鳥取, Himeji 姫路 and Hiroshima 広島. With Okayama in the middle, it was the perfect place to stay @ to make day trips to these places.

The rest of the day was for Tottori. Before catching the train, all of us went to grab food to be consumed while on the train. Bento for me! The train ride to Tottori took around 1hr+. A surcharge of 1670 yen had to be paid for each way. Train in japan is never cheap. And ya, the bento sucks btw! Pui!

Given the time we had before the last Express Train back to Okayama, we could only visit the Sand Dune. Oh! This is our first time taking bus in Japan! I mean a proper public bus which you have to pay. We knew nothing of the paying system for the bus. Of course we assumed it would be like in Singapore where you board and pay for the fare first. *Buzzer went off* Wrong! You pay only when you are alighting the bus.

This is how the bus system works. First, boarding of the bus is from the BACK door. When you board the bus, take note of the stage you are at by looking at the LED panel located right at the front of the bus. When alighting, pay the fare displayed at your stage on the LED panel. This is a system that's really based on trust. The driver won't be able to take note when did you board the bus, so it's really up to you to keep track of your own fare. =) Nice Japan!


Anyway, we alighted a few stops earlier. Oops! My fault. Shhhhhhhhh! Went in the shop nearby for a quick toilet break. There supposed to be a ropeway which we could take to reach the sand dune from there. Ah! It's closed. Alright, on our foot again. Walk walk walk walk walk walk. Tada~ Desert! Er.. I mean sand dune! Man! It really looked like a desert to me. I've never been to desert before, so this was like one to me. It was really a vast piece of land which was filled with sand.


The sea was beyond the slope, so we had to climb up the slope to reach the top and down the slope to get to the sea. Along the way, we roleplayed (or rather just me and Zw) a bit, and me acting a short clip of advertisement. Okay, you gotta see the video then you will understand this part. =D

We met a group of Hawaiian chinese at the top of the slope. Took a photo group with them, chatted a bit, really just a tiny bit, before they started running down the slope. The slope was pretty steep. Salute! We too made our way down the slope, running a bit when the slope wasn't that steep towards the bottom. The sand was really soft. A heavy step will land you knee deep in the sand. THE SEA!!!!!! YEAH!!!

Brrrrrrrrr~ The sea was cold. The waves were pretty strong too. And I didn't bring any extra clothing to change!!! Never mind. Play first, think later. We didn't also play until too much in the first place. Just a few "sprinkling" of water, kicking of the water, that's all. No pushing one another into the sea. We were a group of peace-lovers. World peace! Okay! Time for another jump photo! Group jumping photo. It wasn't easy. I think we had to jump for 10+ times to produce a slightly decent one.


Sound fun, doesn't it? It wasn't by the way. The climbing back up the slope almost took my life away! Kill me! Seriously, I was super unfit among the whole group. I was the stone that was dragging everyone down. =~( Struggling my way back up the slope and walked all the way outta the sand dune. Alright, I survived. I had grown stronger!

Nothing really special after that, took train back to Okayama. Mac for dinner. Damn! I miss McPork. THEY HAD MCPORK IN JAPAN!!!!!

Day 5

Ah! Day 5 and 6 of Daji's photo set are missing. So not much photo to show for these 2 days. Day 5 is dedicated to the west and east neighbours of Okayama - Himeji and Hiroshima.

Began the day by taking Shinkansen to Himeji first. Castle is best viewed @ day. Actually, the real reason was I was afraid we drag here drag there, and end up castle closed when we arrived. =D


Quoted from Wikitravel again - "this striking white edifice is generally considered the most beautiful of Japan's castles". Indeed, the castle really looked very grand and beautiful from outside. Why did I use the word "outside"? Because inside it looked old. =\ Some things are better when viewed from far, like Mt Fuji.


This castle was packed with tourists when we visited it. Taiwanese, mainly. We paid the admission fee and started explore the main tower of the castle. Climbed up and up and up and up. Not bad. Nice view of the surrounding from the top of the castle. On the way down, was thinking whether to visit the other towers of the castle or not. Nah, they probably looked the same. So we gave it a miss.

Next stop, Hiroshima. Taking Shinkansen again. That's the good thing of having a JR pass (though it's darn expensive). You can take Shinkansen here and there as you like. Good for making day trips to surrounding prefectures.


We were expecting Hiroshima to have quite a number of stuff of us to see. However, when we reach the A-Bomb Dome, one of the buildings which was left behind and quite intact after the atomic bombing incident, we were quite disappointed. The building was there. We saw it. Many tourists around. But that's all. I don't know about the other group members, but I don't know how to appreciate the beauty outta this place. There was a Peace Memorial Museum which we could visit, but I think all of us were already afraid of museum. =\

Okay, we had nothing else to do in Hiroshima. It was raining too. As the stadium was nearby, so decided to go over and see if there was anything happening. Right on! There was a baseball match going. But er... couldn't see anything from outside, could only hear the cheering and screaming from outside. Okay! We felt your enthusiasm from outside, people of Hiroshima. Let's move on. Nothing else better to do, so it was time for shopping. Window shopping only for me.

In fact, there's nothing else special from this point on for this day. So I shall fast forward to next day.

Day 6

Osaka, here we come! Osaka, being the 2nd busiest city in Japan, ought to be more interesting at night right? For the first 5 days, we had been returning back to our room very early almost every night.

Our hotel @ Osaka was Hotel Kinki. Kinki, not Kinky. But it's alright. Right at the rear (or was that the front) entrance, with a couple of turns, you will end up in the kinky zone. AV shops! LSBs! Anyway, about the hotel, it was quite far from the station. But the good thing (don't know consider good or bad) was, most of the counter staffs at the hotel were chinese. No communication problem.

We even went in one of the AV shops. Wow! Wow! WOW! A wide variety of selections, from no-name actress to famous AV stars, different genres, young and old. Talk only, I never bought any back.


Then we came across a baseball batting arcade. Like those you see in drama. The machine will shoot a baseball out and you can bat it. Looks interesting. But seemed like that was a long queue, we couldn't afford the time for it.

With the recommendation of a restaurant by the counter staff, we topo and made our way to the restaurant eventually. Okonomiyaki restaurant! A self-cook one some more. I've been wanting to try it long time ago!!!! Some tried to be funny, Zy made a heart-shaped one, Daji made a rectangle one. Conclusion: Don't try to make odd shape. It's proven that it will be harder to flip, other than round shape. =)


After lunch, it was another random walking around the area. Snacking here and there. At the underground shopping street, the guys and girls split up to do their individual shopping. But it was crappy. The whole place was like cater to female consumers. Almost can't find any male shops, except food stalls. Yum yum~ Anyway, somehow we (the guys) managed to kill time by visiting some atas shops nearby. Gathered back at rendevous point and it was dinner time - Italian/French cuisine.

Zw suggested visiting Umeda Sky Building. There was this open-air observatory roof at the top of this building. Admission was 700 yen. Okay price. But wrong timing. 6th July was the night before 7/7, another day which is just like valentine day (think it's 乞巧节). Basically, the whole roof was filled with couples. And couples. And more couples. Sucks. Wrong atmosphere for the group of us. Or rather, we were spoiling the atmosphere by talking loudly and doing stupid stunts. =D


After that, went back hotel and rest.

I want to play UFO catcher!

Day 7



Day 7 was Universal Studio Japan (USJ) day. USJ opened @ 10am. We tried to reach there slightly earlier so we could be the first few groups and save time on the queueing. Ugh! The train to USJ was already pretty packed. When we reached the gates of USJ, a big crowd was already waiting there for it to be opened. =\ Must be all Singaporeans. So kiasu!

The first ride we chiong-ed was the roller coaster ride, Hollywood Dream. Despite being early, we had to queue for approx. 20min or so for our turn. =\ =/ Never mind, it was worth it. The ride was really good! Nice surge, spiralling... Oh, you can choose a song outta the list to listen to while enjoying the ride. Loudspeakers were located at the top of ur seat, blasting the music. Legs were left to dangle around on the ride, so gotta take care if wearing loose footwear. The staff gave Cui 2 solid rubber bands for her to secure her footwear to her feet. =)

No time to lose, next stop! We had to conquer as many rides as possible before the closing time. This park closed @ 7pm. That's very early! I think I recommended the Spiderman ride as the next. I've been to USJ during my previous visit to Japan, and this Spiderman ride was one of the best theme rides I've taken in my life. Theme rides and thrill rides are not to be confused with. Theme rides are rides which has story before, while thrill rides are just rides to thrill your life.


I can't remember when did we left the park for our lunch, but that isn't of importance there, so I'll just skip the lunch part. USJ has limited thrill rides, most of the rides are theme-based. Don't expect too much if you are seeking for thrill in USJ. Let me try to list out all the rides we took during this day.

Hollywood Dreams - Roller coaster
Spiderman - 4D theme ride
Terminator - 3D show + real people appearing on stage
Back to the Future - Simulator theme ride
Sesame Street - 4D show
ET - Normal theme ride
Jaws - Boat theme ride
Jurassic Park - Splashing thrill ride
Peppermint Patty Stunt Slide - Rubber boat in a water slide tube for kids
Snoopy Race - Kiddy roller coaster

Oh! All the theme rides right, they were in japanese language. =) Add more suspense to what going to happen next eh?


The queue for Jaws was pretty long. In the end, we did lots of stupid stuff while queueing up. Taking stupid facial expression photos and nonsensical video clip. After all those stupid acts, it was finally our turn for the ride. Hey! The Jaws ride was much better than I expected! It was pretty awesome! Maybe due to the great acting of the driver. =D

Our visit to USJ ended in the Snoopy area. Spent our last few moments in USJ there. Our Mr Zw seemed pretty bored @ this area. Don't know if he's trying to supress his love for Snoopy by acting bored, or he was really bored by it. But the Snoopy place was really cute. Good for girls and kids.


After USJ, we went to the Takoyaki Museum inside the Universal City which was just outside the theme park. Takoyaki Museum though was named as a museum, it wasn't much of one. It was just a place where many Takoyaki stalls were clustered together. Each of us went off to choose a stall we like and buy the smallest set the stall sell. Then we gathered and shared our loot. Not all takoyakis were nice. Sad. Zw had the best among us. Winner: Zw!

I think Day 7 was takoyaki day too, beside being USJ day. According to Zw's plan, we were to go to Namba and find the Takoyaki King. But we were ill-fated, we couldn't locate it. I think we were already near it, but we turned the wrong direction at the last point. We turned into the LSBs zone. =\ Who was leading the way!?! @ssh0le. Eh... I think I was the one leading. Shhhhhhhhhh!


Never mind. Abandon plan! Headed back to our hotel. Everyone was tired. Zy starting to feel sick. My left knee was starting to give my a slight problem for now. Along the way back to our hotel, we guys had our late dinner @ Yoshinoya. NICE!!! So much better than Singapore's one. Tabao-ed back beef bowl for Cui.

End of Day 7. The Lord of Destruction's coming!

To be continued...