Japan Trip '08 - Part 5

Day 14

Ah... This should be a simple day to write on. Because we spent the whole morning travelling. First approx. 2 hours from Takayama to Nagoya 名古屋 on a limited express train, another approx. 2 hours to Mishima 三島 on Shinkansen, and another approx. 2 hours to Kawaguchi-ko. 6 solid hours on travelling, not including those transit time.

Luckily, Kawaguchi Station Inn was very near to the station. Walked a bit and we found our accommodation place. Checked in and went back to the bus terminal. We were going to Gotemba 御殿場 and catch the free shuttle bus to Gotemba Premium Outlet. That's another approx. 2 hours gone. Quite a waste of time right?


Basically the rest of the day was devoted to the Premium Outlet. Our first stop over there was the Gap store. WOW!!! Imagine jeans going for 30-40 SGD, a polo tee going for 20 odd SGD, berms going for 20 odd SGD too! Daji grabbed 1 polo tee and a pair of berms, and I bought one polo tee myself too.

The rest of the Premium Outlet was mainly more of just window shopping. Bought a Lego keychain for Seng at Lego shop. Another shop worth mentioning was FCUK. Daji once again grabbed a pair of jeans and a pair of flip flops overe there. Overall Daji only spent 100 odd SGD on these 2 stores. Can't remember what the rest got for themselves, but this shopping trip was quite fruitful for us guys.


Took the shuttle bus back to Gotemba and had our dinner there. We split up for dinner again. The girls went for pasta/steaks dinner, while we guys went for ramen dinner. After dinner, went over to Mac to grab my favourite McPork again! McPork!!!!!

After reaching back @ Kawaguchi Station Inn, Zy discovered that the washing machines here were used by some brainless and inconsiderate buggers to wash their flirty shoes. So we couldn't use it to wash our clothes. The washing machines were dirty!!! So we informed the counter staff, and asking if there were laundromat nearby that we could visit. The time wasn't early and there was curfew @ 11pm over here. The counter staff offered us the spare key to the main door so we could visit the laundromat and come back anytime after the curfew. That's so nice of him!


Okay, packed our dirty laundry and went to the laundromat to wash our clothes. The washing and drying time was damn long. My virgin experience @ laundromat. Zy went back earlier to settle some issue, and Daji followed along to help. The rest of us waited. When we were using the dryer, Zm said hoot the high temperature. Can dry faster. Okay lor. So it was @ high temperature for 40+ min.

Time's up. Crap. Had we grown fat, or some of the items seemed to have shrunk. My socks went from 7 inches down to 4 inches. And Daji's pre-shrunk Giordano polo tee seemed smaller too! *Glaring @ Zm*

Never mind... Let's get back. It was almost 12mn. And so we headed back.

Special Episode - Zhenwei's Birthday @ Kawaguchi Station Inn

Well.. The birthday cake surprise didn't really work very well. We came back into the room in staggered timing. So couldn't have a grand pincer attack of "Happy Birthday, Zw!". So we did a "scene 1 take 2" after everyone was ready.

Here's the operation that was going on since we reached back @ Gotemba in the evening.

The cake was bought when Zy and Cui went to the pasta/steak cafe for dinner. We spotted that they sell cake, and after some eyes and hands signalling, the girls went there and the guys went ramen restaurant.

When we arrived back @ Kawaguchi-ko, I asked pulled the guys along to visit the convenience shops, while the girls went back first and request the cake to be put into fridge.

Next was @ the laundromat. Zy and Daji went back earlier on the account that Zy's having some female issue and Daji was needed to be translator in case. In actual fact, she needed to get back early to retrieve the cake from the counter staff before they go sleep. And set up everything nice nice until we came back.

Don't know if Zw was surprised by our effort or not. If he's not, at least he's doing fine by acting he was. =) Did the normal singing of birthday song and blowing of candles. Now came the cutting of cake. Crap. No knife. So we did it in an innovative way. Instead of cutting the cake and serving it out, the birthday boy scooped a spoonful out and fed the everyone! Then everyone gotta eat directly from the cake. First time doing such barbaric way of eating a big cake.

Yup! That's how we celebrated Zw's birthday in Japan. And Cui even specially prepared for it by bringing along the "Happy Birthday" candles from singapore. Well done!

Filler Episode - 耀仔正传

Day 15


Kawaguchi Station Inn stay came with a breakfast set. So 7am we went down for breakfast. And yuppie! Mt Fuji was out there greeting us! Eating breakfast while viewing Mt Fuji was quite an experience.


Our first stop was to go up Mt Fuji fifth station. 2000 yen for a 2-way ticket. Expensive shit. When we reached the fifth station, there were lot of pple sitting around. It was around the time that those climbers returned back to the fifth station
from the submit. There's a food cart here selling grilled stuff. Quite nice food they selling.

Walked around a bit, and always waiting for the clouds to clear up a bit to reveal the shy Mt Fuji for us to snap. Went to the shrine at the back. Bought some charms there for my family members. Back to Kawaguchi.


Time to pay Lake Kawaguchi a visit. Had sukiyaki for lunch. A birthday treat from our beloved Zw. =) Wanted to take the ropeway, but it looked lame, so we not taking. Zy had always wanted to take the Swan Boat. After discussing a bit, Zy, Cui and Zm going for it. While me, Daji and Zw anyhow walk walk around.


There's lot of ducks wondering around the lake, esp near the swan boats area. When we met up again, we saw the three of them feeding ducks. Quack quack quack~ How about roast duck for dinner?

Ended the day early. Oh ya. We felt a tremble at night. Feeling better than thrill rides, as said by Zw. Okay, onwards to Tokyo tomorrow. Finally.

Day 16

Although we were going to Tokyo, but Day 16 was actually a visit to Kyoto 京都. So first half of the day spent on travelling again. Took train from Kawaguchi-ko to Otsuki 大月, took JR train to Shinjuku 新宿, and finally transit over to Yamanote 山ノ手 Line to Ikebukuro 池袋.


Our accommodation here was Kimi Ryokan. When we arrived, one of the rooms was ready for us to move in. So barang barang all into that room and off to Kyoto. But before that, the girls packed their Yukata and brought along to Kyoto. The sun was hot, no way to ask them to wear that all the way to Kyoto. I think they would die before reaching Kyoto in yukata.


When we reached Kyoto, the girls changed into their yukata. Let's skip the part on how they managed to put it on perfectly. Long story. We only had time to visit one place, and i suggested Kiyomizu Dera 清水寺. During my previous visit here, I liked Kiyomizu Dera a lot. So felt like visiting it again too. Our girls were pretty popular. Quite a number of people requested to take photo with them.


After that, here came our highlight of this Kyoto visit. During this period, it was Gion Matsuri 祇園祭り. A float parade and performance, something like our Chingay, on the 17th of July. However, as what I've found out online, the night stalls would only be set up from 14-16 July. We were more interested in the night stalls than the "Chingay" parade. That's why we came here on the 16th instead.


As we approached the main street of the festival, we started to see crowds moving in a general direction. With that, we knew we were in the right direction. Following the crowd, walking for quite some distance, we finally spotted one of the floats. The floats will be stationed all over the streets until the parade day. Shortly after that, we saw the night stalls! FOOD!!!! MORE FOOD!!! AND SOME MORE FOOD!!!! Takoyaki, yakisoba, meat skewers, okonomiyaki, choco banana, shaved ice, grilled squid, candied apple, etc. We bought a lot to eat. Yum yum~ *burp*


We ate too much and walked too long. We almost missed our train back to Tokyo. =Þ If we didn't decide to take the subway or spend more timing eating and looking around, we will miss that train. But we made it. Back to Kimi Ryokan. Everyone was too tired. So we decided to postpone the fish market trip to Friday instead of the next day. Alright, sleep.

To be continued...