first saturday in wellington

being my first weekend in wellington, i m feeling all hyped up to see the town.  after 5 workdays of waking up with the effects of jet lags, i m very super glad that i can finally enjoy my breakfast leisurely at my favorite side table with a good view of the passerby ...

mount victoria

after breakfast, i first set out for mount victoria hike (whom lookout is ranked as one of the "must do" in their tourism page).   started with a walk along the harbor that took me approx. 20 minutes to reach the oriental bay.  oriental bay is like a mini-beach where … during the walk i even spot an interesting "kitchen" that hosts cooking lesson (wonder wat they are cooking tonight, yum!).  after reaching the bay, i was starting to feel a bit lost.  somehow being a pampered singaporean, i was thinking that there will be ready signs or walkway up mount victoria.  well luckily i come prepared with my map and even before i start reading it, a kind kiwi has come along (energetic aunty who is probably having her jog) all ready to extend a helpful hand.  

after hearing all the available options from my kind "tour guide", i headed toward hay street and BUMP! dead end after climbing up a very very very steep walkway (sweat ah) … how nice (-.-!).  i even attempt to venture into the forest until i saw a danger sign warning of poisonous plants ahead phew… well at least the weather is cooling, so down the hill i strolled (so tempted to just roll hah)  shortly after making my way down lazily, i started going up again, this time towards oriental tce.  the walk is quiet and most of the time i felt like any minute i will be caught by one of the residents as a trespasser.  luckily my fear was unfounded and on my way up the stairs (many many of them *panting*), i even run into a lady smiling and wishing me good day :) like any other kiwi here in wellington.  

after climbing for dunno how many steps, ha finally a signage !!!  i felt assured that my walk up was not as fruitless as the earlier attempt.  i was up at the church that i can see from my hotel room … it never occurs to me that it can be that far and high by foot.  during then i thought i was near the lookout, but … only later i found out that i was only halfway up haha.  the solitary walk up is definitely one of my treasured memories not because of spectacular sceneries but because it is mixed with anxiety (how far more to the peak?), fear (huh, am i lost?), fatigue (breakfast fully digest le), thirst (dehydrated le), relief (yey there are people!), realization (am i taking frodo's walk) and finally awe (i did it!) as i conquer the peak by foot !!!  surprisingly there were quite a bit of people up the lookout compared to those i ran into when climbing up.  orhhh… they are the lucky ones coming up by cars, how nice hah.  the lookout is probably the highest altitude point in wellington, i can get a pretty good view of the town, where i "lived" … the sky can be brighter that day but in the end, what's really makes one happy is not the beautiful pictures taken, but simply the the fact that i have did it on my own and by foot !!! 

i would have stayed longer up the lookout if not for an appointment with the lead to visit zealandia … well anyway i m sure i have seen enough.  and so i start my way down, this time taking a slightly different route.  instead of the forest walk that frodo and sam have tramped, i decided to go with civilization this time taking the routes for cars haha.  top up with previous experiences, i have now learnt to walk guiltlessly down the stairways next to residences (shortest way down the hill).  so by 1pm or so, i m back at oriental bay :)

zealandia

after meeting up with our dear fren who probably just woke up and looking grouchy :p … we set out to find the i-site visitor centre.  the place is huge n very friendly to visitors i must say with the amount of information they can provide.  there are heaps of brochures about group tours, suggested hikes and walks, bus schedules.  we gather wat we need and check out on where to hop on the free bus.  the free ride to zealandia takes approximately 15mins, the bus is empty asides from us.   reckon its not a great idea to venture with the weather outlook :(  zealandia is like a natural sanctuary to … so unlike the zoo, we can't really spot the wildlife as easily since they are free to roam.  the best way to spot them is probably during feeding time when they will gather at a common place knowing there is free food.  unfortunately the feeding time is not in our favor :(

so most of time we are taking nature walks, enjoying the greens around us, abit of overdose for me after the mountain excursion this morning.  

finally dinner 

finally time for dinner, we visited matterhorn … i have decided to start with sashimi, followed by waygu beef as my main together with red wine recommended by their staff.  they also serve very nice hot bread yum !  after the main, i was full to the throat … despite the sweet temptation of their dessert, i will have to forgo it.  sigh  … 

that ends my first saturday in wellington :) a workout day … i was dead beat when i reached the hotel, i sure hope my legs are up to it for tomorrow 

fishie day out

after 2 days of hard work, i am so glad that i can finally take an early break off work ... hurray \(^_^)/ ....  this morning i did a quick online search of places to visit near my hotel and found the coex aquarium.  the review on the internet looks pretty positive and i am fixed on visiting it before it closes at 8pm later.  so at about 6pm, i started to pack up and invited another fellow business traveller along (from india).  谁知半路杀出个程咬金 , my plans were halted by a sales engineer enquiring further information on android development.  after much attempt to understand and answer his query, we quickly set off to the aquarium, the time is 645pm and the last admission is at 7pm :-(

yey, we made it there at 655pm, the last 2 visitors of the day.  it is good to find lockers just outside the aquarium where we can leave our heavy belongings (laptops) … and to save 500 won, my indian colleague insisted that we share a locker, hmmm i cant say no can i?  anyway after stuffing the locker, our amazing journey starts ...


the coex aquarium is the only theme-oriented aquarium in korea with 90 exhibition water tanks and 140 tanks for breeding.  it carries a wide species of fishes (approx 600) and 40,000 oceanic fish (*o*).  the aquarium offers a wide variety of exhibits:

1. korea's land, korea's fishes - as the name suggests, native fishes, plants and even animals. (left: look out for the cute native rabbit)

 



2. fish's wonderland - fishes are infiltrated into a variety of device from water tank to washing machine.  they even have a fish spa exhibits where we can put in our hands ha !


3. amazonia world - with rare creatures like piranhas, electric eels (they are really big *scary*)

4. mangrove and beach - where my favourite fish (or dish) pomfret stays (right: looking at them somehow made me hungry *guilty*)


5. the seven seas - brillant coloured fishes (many many dory) and sea dragon, they are beautiful


6. ocean kingdom - main water tank, extremely big holding 2,000 tonnes of sea water with very gigantic fishes ... you have to see it ... somehow make you feel like you are in the ocean


7. marine mammal zone - leopard seal !!!


8. underwater tunnel - somehow reminds me very much of our underwater world, with more sharks and stingrays, and awesome music too

9. deep blue square - spectacular !!! (left: have never seen so much sardines in my life)



10. deep blue sea - beautiful jelly fishies


11. penguins playround


aside from fishes, they also have bats, pirarie dogs, porcupines, beard dragon, squirrel monkeys, starting to sound like a zoo doesn't it.  all in all, it is an awesome aquarium, one of the best I have been, worthy investment of 17500 won + 500 won on locker.  the only pity this trip is just too SHORT, 1 hour is simply not enough.  we have to rush through the last few exhibits as the aquarium is closing.  a worrisome female attendant is tailing us closely  reminding us they are closing or so i assume (wat do you think, of course she is speaking in korean).   

conclusion: I WILL BE BACK !!!  i have enjoyed myself today, looking at the fishes swimming leisurely across the tank.  for those moments, all the jitters on my codes integration are erased from my mind *grin* 

"first" business trip

today 4th sep 2011 is an important day, it marks the start of my business travelling ... hmm so why "first" trip? afterall this is not the first time i was posted abroad.  BUT never before have I been ever posted to complete and deliver work in a week time!  in fact this is the first time, i feel like a business traveller leaving on sunday and coming back home on sat morning … the only part missing, i dun get to fly on business class haha erh that might be a bit too much to ask for isnt it? (at least for now ha!)

prior the trip - anxiety (-.-!)

being new to android development, i can't help feeling very anxious abt this upcoming project and how it will turn out.  days prior leaving singapore, i was feeling kinda stressed and was thus not even in a mood to checkout places I can visit ... i knew i will be swamped by work.  the only good thing is this is a development piece of work and not infrastructure design (that will have killed me)

flight experience

morning flights don't suit me, blurness consumed my brain:

1. almost decided to leave the house at 430am ... my flight is scheduled at 925am but somehow my brain keep registering 725am, dun ask me why ... i guess it's the results of blurness + stress 

2. queue at krisflyer elite gold (@_@) luckily i realised it long before i reach the counter, so maaaaluuuuuuuu 

putting the morning blurness aside, i am happy to be up early and enjoying breakfast.  i can barely recall the last time i was up for breakfast on a sunday.

boarding this flight was one of the most cumbersome experience i had to-date ... security are super tight, airport staff are examining every item luggage, opening every pouch and pocket regardless of how private they may seem.  i was so relieved that i have packed my stuff neatly ... then again to have the luggage opened in public and "ransacked" is definitely not a pleasant experience.  worst still, i even got touched from head to toe by an indian female airport staff (X_X) !!!  such an experience can only be associated with flights heading to united states in september and isn't my flight to seoul !!!  alamak it's a combined flight, the carrier also carries passengers heading to san francisco with stopover at seoul ... duhhhh

so when i finally get to board the flight, i was eager to get to my window seat, to get my tiny tweeny private space.  however as i approached my seat, i felt a couple "separated" by the aisle "eyeing" at me ... hmm i think  they are gonna ask for a swap and indeed they did .... hmmmm can i say no, better no i do not want to sit nex to a grouchy woman for a six hours flight, do i?

well in life, it always pays to be kind ... or at least i hope.  and for my small act, i got my first SQ goodie pack hehehe. i was shocked when the steward handed the goodie pack to me and for once i felt the quality of SQ service (^_^)

touched down seoul (last since nov 2010)

touching down bought memories of last korea trip, back then i was feeling so happy and free on a holiday ... sigh if only i can relive the same feelings.  back then i only need to locate the tour guide and the rest of my trip are planned and well taken care of, today i have to find my way to my hotel ... each offers different experience (^_^)

got my bus ticket and blurness continued, i got onto the wrong queue TWICE !!!  i m very lucky to meet kind souls who highlighted to me my mistake.  heng ah ... after 6 hours flight and 1.5 hour bus, i checked in my hotel ... hotel sweet hotel.  please let this be a good week !

last day - drama mama

today is our last day in japan and i mus say it is a damn hectic morning. our return flight is at 1040 narita airport. we first woke up at 6am, then started to get ready and checked the room. by the time we left and checked out, it was around 7plus. Thinking that we have ample time to get to the airport by 0840, we then slowly dragged our fruitful = heavy baggage to ikebukuro JR station.

wat awaits us at the station was a series of nitemare:

1. wat !!! no direct train to narita airport !!! gotta change at nippori ... (-_-!)

2. wat !!! no escalator or elevator !!! we were shaking with our luggage up the stairs

3. arghhhhhhh !!! morning peak hour, everyone in the train was looking at us with disgust ... probably thinking "wat are these 2 country bumpkins doing with such luggage in the train at this hours, must be crazy"

4. so we r finally at nippori, but how to do we get tickets for skyliner to narita ... and why were we directed to platform 2 ??!!

5. so i got my tickets somehow from the vending machine ... but train will only arrive at 0843. the expected time arriving at narita (station -> terminal 2 -> terminal 1) is earliest at 0936 ... (*0*)

6. LET ME THRU !!! we reached narita terminal 1 at around 945 plus ... our adrenaline were pumping and hearts were racing, we wanna dashed to the ana check-in counter right away !!! but we got stuck !!! somehow our tickets seemed to be only meant for our seat reservations and we need to top-up our suica card ...

7. help me .... i m dying ... departure hall is at 4th floor and we are at basement 1. when we finally arrived at 4th floor, we were at the north wing. and of cos, ana check-in counter is at the SOUTH wing. still recalled back then dragging my faulty & noisy luggage, i was thinking "oh no ... pls shuddupp luggage ... when can i see the light !"

luckily for us, we did manage to check in at close to 1000 when our flight was due to fly at 1040. the attendees were frantically calling the gates to check if we could still make it for our luggage check-in ... we had at least 4-5 attendees serving us and yes reckon we somehow push their panic button. wonder if we were marked as their blacklist "destructive passenger who created chaos by wanting to change flight on arrival and checking in super-late on departure". well all's well ends well, we made it ...

u thght tats the end? NO WAY !!! with boarding time at 1015, we were still busy doing last min shopping fr crackers and sourvenirs for colleagues and frens back home at 1010 at the akibahara airport store. it was a frantic attempt with wild purchase, but we did it !!! we made it to the boarding gate at 1017 with a bunch of rice cracker.

for once, i was so glad to be seated after we board the plane ... and yes, WE DID IT \(^_^)/

free & easy - day one in yokohama

time flies ... in a blink of time, we are now on our own in Yokohama Sakuragicho Washington hotel. things went smoothly this morning, we managed to board the limousine bus from Haneda airport and checked in our hotel close to 2pm. for a while, it felt kinda lonely after having travelled with our tour guide, driver and group for the last 6 days. then again, we are finally free now and can roam around as we wish with no time constraint ... only stamina constraint ha

shortly after we checked-in (we got drawn to the tv for a while, catching the news for trial of Manabu Oshio), we set out for our first stop - the Ramen museum ... i must say the actual place is rather different from what we reckoned it to be. it is made a replica of Tokyo in the year Showa 33 (1958), even the attendees are dressed up like obasan n ojisan. there were altogether 9 ramen stores to choose from, but we cant find any small-sized ramen !!! after enquiring with one of the attendees, we decided on Number 3 = Harukiya shoyu char-siew ramen. it was good with garlic and spring onion garnishes, but i still miss the one we had at hokkaido *slurp*

after filling our stomach, we then head back to minato-mirai for the nite view. Yokohama is a beautiful port, we started out at the theme park - cosmo world and decided to take the ferris wheel ride - 700 yen (considerably cheap, compared to goin up landmark tower). the view was fantastic and definitely worth the price ... though it was kinda 'high' for me, i dunno why i seem to have developed height phobia but only at certain circumstances. the ferris wheel ride took approximately 15 mins and the view around Yokohama Cosmo World is awesome. up above, we get to have a clear view of the port, theme park rides, queen square, landmark tower. the only pity is not being able to capture the moment :P the glass reflections are simply too hard to avoid for a goon photographer = me.　




(left) the best shot i can get for the ferris wheel, the neon light changes every now and then ... erh i did not get the best color though. it was at most 17 degrees out there, who wanna wait for the right color to snap! ha!




(right) after a long day, we were too tired to eat and decided to head back for an early nite rest. we managed to catch a warm drink on our way back and look at wat i found. hee hee can u spot something uniquely japan?

jigokudani aka hell valley simply awesome

after a good nite rest, my day started at 7am this morning. i first went for a hot bath and guess who i spotted heh heh ... by the time, we went to the breakfast hall everyone else had started feasting ! wow a bunch of early birds (-_-!) as we settled in our allocated seat, we realised that one of the breakfast set had already been eaten! we were then later told that someone from another group actually ate it .... i wondered why no one stopped him/her, probably busy eating ha ha ??? our breakfast was again sumptuous with fish, potato salad, porridge, pickles, egg, radish (abit too much for me in the morning).

after a full breakfast, it's great to head out for a stroll and we definitely had a good one at jigokudani aka hell valley. strolling thru the suphurous valley, we enjoyed the awesome view of the changing colors of autumn. the sun, the leaves, the wind, i wanna remember every bit of this stroll.














after tat, we proceed to the outdoor ainu museum - porotokotan. the ainu is the indigenous people of hokkaido with their own culture and language. the ainu settlement was moved and restored at the shores of Lake Poroto in 1965 forming this museum that preserve and exhibit the ainu's cultural assets. at the visitor entrance, we were greeted with an enormous statue of chief (right). till now, we still cant decide if he is carrying an umbrella or mop on his left hand hiakz hiakz ...

we also managed to catch the traditional ainu folk dance including the following:

1) mukkuri: ainu musical instrument mouth harp. the obasan performing this look abit cocky, but she is good ! the kind of sound that comes with such a simple instrument is amazing.

2) ifunke: lullaby

3) iyomante rimse: a ceremonial dance for sending bear's spirit back to heaven. at a certain part of the dance, they started singing "hon-sen, hon-sen, hon-sen" and i almost died of internal injury, preventing myself from laughing after jc started it. somehow it remind her of "blue-black" bruise (in hokkien).

after the performance, we toured around the museum briefly. it is too big a place to walk around completely with the given time. with tat, we were mainly at the resting place along the lake, the ainu dog and the bear cage.

nex come lunch *slurp* we went to a seafood market and ordered 2 scallop at 1000 yen each. the scallop sashimi is sooooooo big and yummy definitely worth the price (5 out of 5 stars). on top of this, we also had a seafood pot with crab, prawn, scallop and lotsa vege.

after the heavy lunch, we started our long journey to asahikawa. with ample time, we managed to visit otoyama sake brewing museum (jus before their closing time at 5pm) that contains many valuable items spanning 330 years of history and culture of sake brewing. after a long day, i can only recalled trying their award wining sake at 150 yen and rice crackers (tat were already sold-out).

our hotel stay was at hotel crescent asahikawa which is a walking distance from the asahikawa shopping street. dinner was my favourite - ramen !!! oishi, i love it !!! with scallop (nope i m not sick of it yet), char-siew, tamago, and even side dish - gyoza. after dinner was free & easy and of course being us, we got lost again walking in a completely opposite direction away from the shopping street heh heh we almost bump into our 'soy sauce' again after saying bye bye to her 5 mins ago in the ramen shop. asahikawa shopping street is packed with shopping malls, but unfortunately i did not recalled much about them other than taking off and putting on my coat. the malls are simply too stuffy and the streets are simply too cold. surprisingly not only does the days seem shorter in hokkaido, even their malls close earlier at around 8pm. we only found 2 exceptions:

1) a busker singer who was singing out in the cold - strong vocal

2) convenient store lawson

so with nothing much left open thereafter, hotel sweet hotel ...

ready, set, go hokkaido

after a night flight (reporting at 2120) from singapore to narita airport, me and jc have set foot again in japan after 2 years. there and then, we made our first memorable blooper ... we somehow decided that we have to check-in at the ANA domestic flight to Sapporo !!! the attendee at ANA counter looked kinda flustered, she was probably wondering why there were pple checking-in at that odd hours. she briefly looked thru our e-ticket and enquired if we wanna chg our flight. at that moment, we then realised "oh ya! we are supposed to take the domestic flight from Haneda hor!". the kind attendee did not give up on us, she then to tried to explain to us (in english and of cos in great attempt) where we can board the limousine bus to Haneda. well, we were pretty lucky. jc later managed to find our tour group - with the help of our SA luggage tag. considering the possible what-ifs, i cant imagine our tour guide - kazama's reaction if she already had 2 missing pple at the start of the journey ha !

1st meal - haneda airport: saba fish with rice and miso (3 out of 5 stars). it was then i realised my hidden talent with eating fish haha.


after lunch, we then checked-in for the domestic flight to sapporo and our plane is decorated with pokemon theme (left). kawai ne!






1st place of interest - showa-shinzan kuma bokujo: prior reaching the place, i was kinda tired after a nite flight and barely excited over a visit to the bear ranch. our 'soy sauce' was telling us on the ride abt the tricks and stuns that the bears will perform to get food = apples. so "eagerly", i bought some with 200 yen, but wat come later was definitely un-expected in a good way :) i completely forgotten abt my fatigue looking at their stuns. (right) even the racoon wanna steal the show !

next, we headed to an apple farm and in there, we can freely pluck and eat the prunes and apple from the trees. the apples are big and juicy, yum yum ... everyone was happily eating and plucking apples. when it come to getting food, we have very "competitive" tour mates and somehow me and jc always seem to finish last :p. it was abt 5pm after fruit picking, though the sky looked like abt 7pm in singapore. days are getting shorter in japan as winter approaches.

1st stay - hotel yumoto noboribetsu: on the way to our hotel, our 'soy sauce' did a very elaborate illustration on the steps for taking japan hot spring bath. this is far from wat i have learnt in our previous trip and with tat i somehow managed to overcome my mental barrier and decided to go for it! i din regret it at all, the open-air hot spring (sulphur mineral water) bath is especially relaxing after a long day. then again, it was kinda awkward seeing fellow tour mates naked ... and for once in my life, i m glad to be short-sighted :p heh heh.

the dinner that follows after the bath was sumptuous with crab, sashimi, ebi, chawanmushi, steamed rice, tempura (4 out of 5 stars). after dinner, we had a short stroll outside the hotel followed by the usual shopping at convenient store. had my 1st ice cream back at the hotel and before i knew it, i was dozing off zzzzzz