(i'm going to break this trip into 7 entries! watch out!)

Day 1:

Woweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!



The day i'd been waiting for!!!

I couldn't sleep. played my DS Lite all the way till morning when Daddy came and fetched us!

all the way i was laughing and smiling, so excited! i couldn't wait to smell Japan's air again! there's just something different about the air there. crisp? i don't know. it smells nice.

Anyway, beloved brother came along with us too to send us off!!! not forgetting, dearie also spent a night with me before the day of the Tokyo trip. hehe! i feel so loved!

anyways, we went to Terminal 2....and there was an uneasy feeling because it was like a ghost airport! hahahaha! nobody was there! so we thought maybe it should be Terminal 1!! so we went to the skytrain, where it reported train coming in 3 mins...we waited for more than 3 minutes and we saw the screen showing 1 more minute... but it stuck there for the longest time!!!! so crazy!

later on, we saw another sign that said train service starts at 5am. and it was only freaking 4am i think!!! wahhhh!! and the cleaners nearby were probably laughing at us. coz they all looked at us with ridiculous expressions but nobody bothered to inform us that the service started at 5!!!

another ang moh was tricked too by that lame tv screen showing 1 more minute. this is crazy man!

so we went to wait for the shuttle bus.

and the shuttle bus driver was extremely crazy!!!! he was an angry man right in the start of the morning, cursing and swearing in his own driver's seat. when the two ang mohs in front of us climbed up the bus and asked if this bus was going to Terminal 1 (as the bus's exterior was printed Terminal 3 whatever), the bus driver rolled his eyes and grunted and continued mumbling to himself about whoknowswhat! crazy crazy.

and he was really very angry. he stopped at the budget terminal, where a woman and her mother and young son wanted to board. and he shouted at them and asked couldn't they see there was another bus in front?!?!?!

the woman patiently explained that there was no driver inside and she was running late, and doesn't this bus go to terminal 1? the bus driver continued mumbling whoknowswhat. the woman asked, "what?" thinking that he was answering her. then he suddenly spoke audibly in a rude manner and said, "NOTHING! I'M ONLY TALKING TO MYSELF!"

mad driver. he's so mad that i burst out laughing. hahahaha! i'm mad too. what a stupid man. anyways, he sped all the way dangerously swerving and whatever. madness totally. my brother and i were exchanging looks. only my mother thanked him with a smile when everyone got down the bus. crazy lor my mother. this kind of driver also thank! hahahaah! is she trying to make him feel bad about his crazy service? hahahaha!

my brother and i immediately agreed that he was crazy when we got down the bus. only my mother said, "no ar..ok what...he's nice." whatever. roll eyes. sometimes i don't understand my mother. but i'm glad my brother held the same views as me, if not, i think i must be hallucinating about the whole event, man! my mother really appeared as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened, which really amazed me to the core. this ignorance of hers also proved to be the root of my agony in the later days by the way.

anyway, after 7 hours of smooth flight ( i watched The Devil wears Prada on the plane!! really knocked down by all the lovely clothes and fashion and couldn't wait to start dressing up too!!!), i changed into my contacts and off we went on the JR N'EX train!!!!



i recommend people who are travelling to Japan for the first time, if you are going to stay in Tokyo area, to buy the Suica + N'EX promotion set! Suica is like Singapore's ezlink card. it brings you everywhere on the bus, subways, trains, whatever. and it can also be used to purchase things in certain stores and vending machines! very convenient indeed! And the Narita Express train is great! you will have reserved seats and great room to store your luggages and it's fast too! it's only 3500yen for this set! the N'EX ticket is at a great discount if you buy it like that! but this discount is only for one-time. for your return trip, you have to buy it at its original price. :D


don't worry! ticket counters are at the airport's first floor and basement. easy to find! :D


wahhh!! BIG and comfy! :D


haha...letting my mother have a taste of my camwhore habit.

so anyway, we were at a loss when we reached San-Honchome station for our Ryokan. the map provided at its website was absolutely useless. we asked for help. and this really nice Japanese lady...she brought us ALL THE WAY there!!! ohmygosh!! it's really super far you know! like walking from my home to West Mall. about 10minutes walk. that's really quite far! 

anyway, i was super surprised at myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this lady (Nakamura san) chatted with me in Japanese. and i just chatted back. as in...IT WAS FLUENT!!! MY SPOKEN JAPANESE!!! the words came out of my mouth effortlessly. i no longer need to think about the structure whatever shit!!! WHAT HAPPENED!!! i spoke like a native japanese. THAT WAS SO NOT ME!!! while chatting with her, i was thinking who the hell was this girl going on and on in fluent Japanese??? this girl was definitely not me! i don't know what possessed me at that time, seriously. 

anyway, it was such a happy incident meeting Nakamura san. when we reached our Ryokan, we took a photo together and exchanged emails and phone numbers. hohoho! AND GUESS WHAT!!! SHE'S A PROFESSIONAL BOXER!! OH MY TIAN!!! and her stage name is THUNDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! coolness.


i know i look fat and ugly and stupid. SO??!?!?!?!

anyway, our Ryokan is Homeikan Ryokan. i'm so going to rave about it later on!!! 


our way to our room! :D


from our inside room's view of the door!


our futon. :D


our teatime table! they provide a bottle of hot water every day with different tea snacks each day and very good tea leaves and teapot for you to brew tea. everything is inside that red container on the table. :D


the mirror looks scary there with the peeling walls. i really expected to see ghost!!! hahaha! but i saw none. hehe. if you think the room looks old, well it is 200 years old after all! i grew a fondness for our room in no time. it really felt very homely and lived in.

but the first time we stepped in and was brought around the Ryokan, i told myself no way am i going to use their public bath. no way am i also going to use their private bath! hahahaahah! the bath rooms were so eerie!!! big and dark with one big pool, with the tap water making "drip drip drip" sounds. i really expect hair or something to come out from that tap and the whole pool to be filled with blood and the dim lights going off and everything.

i'm mad.

but even my mother said, "wa...like haunted ryokan."

it was a bit unlike what i had imagined, to say the truth. 

HOWEVER!!! all that changed in the later days which i will talk about later.

after settling down, we went to take a walk! we walked to the nearby Tokyo Dome and had our dinner of assorted foods. ahhaha!


hahaha! mummy is fascinated with japan's breads and obentos!


mummy is awed by the roller coaster. and she is totally in love with the carousel. really beautiful in the night. :D


i ate Baskin Robbins for the first time! i had triple chocolate cheesecake flavoured ice cream if i nv remember wrongly.


hehe! mummy is in love with Japan's takoyaki! it's really so yummy! our sauce is wasabi mayonaise!!!


we tried their KFC!!! their chicken so much better than Singapore's small, black, suspicious-tasting chicks. and the fries are actually shaker fries. the seasoning is butter potato flavour. UMAI! :D



at that time, i really wanted to tell my mother how much i loved her. she was really happy like a child over there. i will show you the scenes, yeaps! :D

THOUGHTS OF THE NIGHT:

thank you mummy for tolerating my stubborness in walking instead of taking the train home on such a cold night. thank you for tolerating me even though your knee hurt. >"< thank you for thinking that i'm the cutest daughter when i was camwhoring and when i was eating in the most unglam way. thank you for thinking that i'm smart and clever even though i'm really not. thank you for being by my side. >"<