Japan Trip - Day 1 (Sin to Tokyo)

The start of our Japan Trip. S'pore to Narita via Delta 280 at 0540am. It's our first experience with Delta and overall it's still quite satisfying. It has bigger leg space (maybe it's catered for the caucasian) so is definitely more comfortable for me. But the Air Stewardess is a bit old, haha. & the food sucks. Oh btw, we took Delta as it's so much cheaper as compared to SQ. SQ is around $3600 for the 4 of us while Delta is only $2600.

Some pic before departure.

CMI Bf

Touch screen inflight entertainment system

Welcome to Japan. Reached Narita Airport at around 1+. Proceed to clear the custom, collect our luggages and went to the JR office to exchange for our 7days JR pass. We will have unlimited JR train rides including shinkasen (bullet train) for the next 7 days but it burns a big hole in my pockets. Cost of each ticket: Adult ticket 28300yen ($400+) , Child 14150yen (300+). The tickets are only for tourists and must be purchased in Sg beforehand. Anyway,a one way shinkasen ticket to Osaka is already this price so it's worth the money buying the 7days pass.

Jr pass office to exchange our JR pass.

Our JR passes

The tickets for Narita Express (NEX) (from Narita Airport to Downtown Tokyo) which is also included in the JR tickets. If not, it will cost around $45 per ticket.

Inside NEX

Food and Drinks are available in NEX

View from NEX

Reached Shinjuku station and transfer to Ikebukuro station. Shinjuku station is like a maze but there are signboard to direct us to the JR station. It's super cold. Woo....shiok. i was trying to be hero as I was not wearing my jacket.

Our favourite drink at Ikebukuro station

Our lunch at Yoshinoya. It's so delicious.

Checked in at Tokyo Ikebukuro Kita-guchi No.1. It's just 1 min walk from Tokyo Ikebukuro Kita-guchi No.2, the hotel that we stayed during our last trip. They are having 30% discount for members on the 10th of every mth so it's only around $80 for the room today. The room look like a typical Toyoko Inn's room. Small but clean and cosy.

Went shopping at Ikebukuro area and our favourite supermarket. Bought some sashimi and cup noodles for our supper.

Dinner at Yakitory Alley near Yurakucho station. From Yurakucho station, walk towards Hibiya exit. Turn left and let your nose bring you to the the nice Yakitori restaurants. There are quite a no. of Yakitori Restaurants there and they are all under the railway line. We settled for the same restaurant that we patronised last year. Actually we didnt know that we were at the same restaurant until we feel some similarity between the 2 restaurants.

Our Supper in our hotel room. Sashimi and cup noodle. The cup noodle tasted so nice. Guess what. It's from Ippudo, the famous Ramen restaurant at Mandarin Gallery.

We will be leaving for Japan tmr. Our much anticipated holiday after a year. Didnt really plan much for the itinerary as we actually wanted to cancel the trip as Granny was sick then. The airline (Delta Airline) was very good as they allowed us to cancel the trip even to the very last day before our flight due to compassionate reason (Critically ill or death of NOK).

Yen for our spending.

Woke up earlier this morning to go for morning run at ECP. It has been ages since we ran together. Didnt get to run as the exits to ECP were closed as there's some cycling event going on. Sian 1/2. Ended having bf at Ah Hwa BKT. Price has increased again. So ex. $7 for a bowl of BKT. In no time, it will be $10 for a bowl. Went back home, kids do their hw, Kennie packing the luggages for our trip while I'm updating the long overdue blog.

Our dinner at Teban Garden. Nice fish head bee hoon.

Went jogging at Jurong Sports Complex. Must build up our stamina before our Japan Trip. But it's a bit too late already as we will be leaving this coming Thurs.

Farewell to Karin

Send off Karin at Changi Airport as she will be returning back to Hangzhou. Dont know when it will be the next time she will be back. Maybe we will visit her in Hangzhou next year but the thought of staying there for a week with nothing much to do actually let me decide against going. Cant imagine doing nothing or visiting the Xi Hu (West Lake) for a week. Anyway, it's still too early to decide. Oh Btw, Justin wll be going with Karin for 2 week.

Our dinner at Marche at Somerset 313. This meal is free as Kennie redeemed $80 from her UOB reward points.

Return of Granny's Soul

Granny's soul will be returning to her house from 11pm to 1am tonight. This may sound eerie or absurb to some but we choose to believe that her soul will return tonight. Prepared her favourite food and left it in the living room while all of us pretended to sleep in the bedrooms. Not a single sound and movement during this timing as it will scare her soul away. I was too tired so ended sleeping and snoring loudly. oops.. so paiseh. snoring in front of so many people. Karin and Alison heard some sound in the living room. Actually I did heard some tapping sound but as I was in a drowsy state so couldn't be sure if I'm dreaming or not.