Tokyo CNY Trip

The tour has a total of 40 people including 2 tour guide. This includes a Taiwanese Family, 2 Malaysian (us loh), and the rest are very local local type of Shanghainese. There are many kids in the group, I guess because this group has a day to Disney Land, that's why. It let us witness how local spoilt their only one child. I have no comment on that.

First day, first stop, we went to a temple. The white ribbon like thing, is after you picked your 签, if it is a bad one, you just leave it with the temple and not bringing it home. Interesting..

I like the way they design the door with the big 草鞋:)

The street that is full of snacks. Yum Yum:)

This is called 人形烧, it's like the redbean bun that doremon love. It's very very very tasty i tell you. I regretted I only buy a few, I sapu all in the bus on the same hour. All habis. I felt like I am a doremon. haha...

I don't know why itenary includes a Toyota showroom tour. But it opens our eyes to Japanese car maker Toyota. Spectacular. By the way, a sports car is only selling at around 300K ringgit, Lexus. Damn nice.
I was shocked to see they have vending machine for car's catalogue/brochure! High tech. This is good so it controls wastage. I wonder when can our country (Malaysia lah of course), and our neighbor country (China) start doing this.

Night view of Rainbow Bridge. Quite nice. With the statue like the one in NewYork.

The hotel we stayed at is very good, I was so glad.

I have to tell you the toilet seats in Japan, even public toilet, are all having full function! This includes warming up the seats to warm up your cold butt in winter, and also can wash your butt and your xxx and can control water volume. Me and babe enjoy this more than the great hotel in Japan in the 5 days trip. haha...

Day 2:

This is a 火山口.

Hello Kitty is every way~~

We stayed in a tatami hotel that has the 温泉 facility that night. The local shanghainese all very excited and I think they went to the 温泉 more than 1 time. Me and babe are not that facinated. We just went once. By the way, everyone is naked in the 温泉...

Next day, we went to Mt Fuji. Tour guide told us we are very lucky because normally Mt Fuji is like a shy girl, out of 365 days in a year, maybe can only see her clear face few days only.

We also went snow boarding, because those kids want to play... it's not fantastic lah but it's a tour group so majority wins, we have to go. But, we did enjoy it eventually, although it's a very stupid game. haha.

See the Mount Fuji?

At night, we were brought to 新宿, it's very nice view at night, of the night life in Tokyo.

This street is called 歌舞伎町一番街, it's a street that is full of service for women (duck street?). Many japanese men who dyed their hair yellow color stand on the street to ask for "business". For prostitute, this post is called "mamee". I guess for this opposite service, this position can be called "daddy". Very interesting. The duck even have ranking of 1 or 2 or 3, and if I can read it correctly, it's only 100 ringgit for 2 hours (i think this is minimal charge). Hmm...

Every lightboard indicates 1 service center for this.. Got a lot of hotel along that street also. This kind of hotel, only can enter with 1 male and 1 female. If you are single, then sorry...
After visit this street guided by our tour guide (this is extra itenary for him. haha), some ladies in our group said, "can you bring us here again tomorrow while our kids are playing in disney land?" haha.. so funny:P The tour guide was speechless, so as the husband-们:)

Then we visit the 市政厅，very tall building, can see the whole tokyo city on top of it.

Then, we checked into the Sheraton hotel, very very near the disney land. I am at this age already, but don't know why I still very excited about tomorrow's itenary, disney land. Toyko also have Disney Sea besides Disney Land. I want to see Mickey Mouse, so, Disney Land is my choice. This is the Sheraton Hotel, the bed is 2 sets (the pic only captured 1), so the room is very huge. Who said hotel in Japan are very sempit leh? hehe..

Next day, DISNEY LAND!!! But... too bad it was raining:( But, I still enjoyed it very much. Practically played every theme park inside the disney land because the que is quite short:)

We took the disney subway (just 2 stops away from our hotel) to the entrance. Everything got the mickey mouse figure, I was so excited. I really love mickey mouse leh.
Will let pictures do the talking for the rest:)小人国:

This one is Pooh's:

Not every theme park can take pictures because some cars spin too fast, I cannot have time take pictures.

Then we went to toons town, and it is there I meet Mr. Mickey!!! So happy! I took a picture with him!:)

Toy's story punya Buzz Year

So fast, time to say sayonara to Disney Land and uncle Mickey... sob..
Last day in Tokyo: Tour guide drop us at 银座, it's like nanjing xi lu like that. Full of branded stuff. Local shanghainese bought a lot from there, Burberry especially. I look at the prices, not say cheaper than buy from Hong Kong also. Really don't understand why they so crazy over branded stuff in tokyo.

Me and Babe went into a toy specialist store in Japan. We bought crazily there because the toys there are so innovative. Bought some toys for Shi Liu and Shi Yong. Hope they like it. One of it is a robot bug that can move and turn based on heat sensor and sound sensor. Geng chao or not?

Accidentally let Jay see his best friend - Ultraman. He quickly get into a line, and asked me must take good shot at him. So funny. The Ultraman, Jay said, he a bit pai seh because he is almost shorter than Jay. So instead of doing the usual ultraman hand signal, he shook Jay's hand only. hahahaha... Jay was a bit disappointed. He wanted the ultraman do the ultraman hand signal one. hahaha..

And there's a shiseido flagship store - not selling Shiseido skin care products, but sell cake and chocolate. So weird hor?

Can you see there are people gathering in front of the bookstore next to the shiseido building? They are standing on the "road" where cars supposed to pass through. But they don't care. I thought got earthquake or what that people all came down. So I asked the security guard in Shiseido what's going on. He answered me in limited english "Star in Bookstore". haha.. no wonder. Got movie star lah.

And so, this concludes our Tokyo trip. I have a great time. This is the Toyko Bay photo, I snapped in on the bus on the way to airport~ Sayorana!

CNY Plan

Babe and I have spent numerous weekends afternoon facing the laptop, clicking here and there to decide where to go this CNY. Since this year is the first year my dad not with us, there's nothing to celebrate back home. Mom also planned a trip with sister to go out of country. I hope they have a great trip.

Our first option, Bali. Since mom just came back from there in Nov and she said it was nice to go there, so I click click and submitted all information. After that, I clicked to check the weather there. Damn it, of 12 months in a year, January has the heaviest raining season in Bali. What else I can do in Bali if it is raining? So I quickly called the tour company and cancel my trip. And, wasted my few afternoons efforts. Because I like to check through all hotels comment before commited to one, and this kind of research takes time. I was exhausted and giving up. Then Jay said let's just go Japan.

I am not a Japan fans, but I figured out we don't have a choice. I ain't gonna waste my precious holidays staying in Shanghai. So, I click click and submitted info. This time I don't have to do research on hotels because I don't have the opportunity to choose. It's all pre-set, because it's a group tour.

Of so many countries, Japan is one of the country that needed Malaysian to get a visa. So, we went to the Japan embassy in shanghai, submitted passport and money, and it was quite efficient, after exactly 7 days, they called us to pick it up.

Some how, the news that I am going to Japan has spread to the whole office, including our vendor also know about it (i really wonder why). They were very jealous, you know why? For chinese citizen to go Japan, if you are a single female, you need to prepare 250,000 RMB. 150,000 RMB is for deposit purpose (will return to you after your return from Japan), and you need to make sure you have at least 100,000 RMB in your bank account, at savings. If you are a married person, then you just need to prepare 200,000 RMB. Wow... no wonder they jealous. Because being a non-china citizen, we don't have to fulfill that. We just get visa paying RMB200.

So here am I, waiting to go Japan... not quite excited, because it's winter, but, at least something to look a bit forward to, right or not folks?

HK trip with babe~

I used to think HK is a very boring city, except for shopping. Apparently, if you go to any city on a vacation purpose, together with your love ones, it's an exciting trip:-)

So on a short circuited decision, we have decided to visit HK on Jan 2 - 4th, with some HKD, and a book about HK eating places, we boarded the plane to HK.

We arrived HK airport around noon, stored the luggage in HK airport for only 55 HKD for more than 3 hours storage service, and took S1 bus from HK to DungChung, to visit the Buddha. It was a fun ride (yes we both bought the octopus card). within 15 min and reach already, it's a double decker:)
Winston was late for an hour! He said overslept.. But anyway, the cable car ride was quite fun, with the luxury of viewing the HK airport, and crossing many small mountains. It was quite cold up there.


I like this picture a lot... give a very peaceful thought looking at it.. with the sun setting behind the Buddha.

There are a lot of people on that day, and it took us half an hour queeing up to get on the cable car to go up, and another half an hour to come down, and each ride is also a half an hour. Oh, heard that cable car got accident before - dropped to the sea during the test ride, wah lao eh... scared scared. But anyway, by the time we get down to the base again, it was 7.30pm. We quickly take the bus back to airport, claim our luggage, and took another airport shuttle bus to hotel (we got a good deal on shuttle bus, only 160 HKD for 2 person, coz we booked the airticket with ctrip. This kind of shuttle bus brings us to hotel directly, not the one just stop at subway).

By the time we got to hotel, it was past 8pm, we were hungry, tired, and have to meet winston at causeway bay at 8.30pm, so we were very rushed. Upon checking in Park Hotel (at Tsim Sa Zui), we were so surprised the officer upgraded us to a suite!! It has a living room, 2 TV, 2 bathroom, and a bedroom. I was jumping up and down in the room, feeling so happy with the space and the treatment. Woo... this is a bonus:)
The dinner that Calvin treated us was so tasty, until I forgot to snap some photos :( yah, too hungry and too busy eating. haha.. and I can't remember the place name again. ee... it's something under the bridge. The lala and prawn are so tasty! After dinner, we shop shop, walk walk, and it is so hard to believe the street is still full of people even at 11.30pm. Wow...


The first night, I got my loccitane lotion, 1 pair of converse, and Jay got his facial stuff, from sasa, haha, i can't believe he is so concern about his facial products.

Jay almost dropped dead when we reached hotel. So we slept and only woke up "naturally" (自然醒） the next day.

More shopping the next day, we went Mongkok for Jay's shoes, and then meet winston at 金钟 for lunch, where we bump into a friend we know in Shanghai, what a small world:


Babe has his favorite wonton mee, twice some more.
The day ended with shopping shopping and shopping, we have to go back to hotel for 2 times to put down the stuff because we can't walk with heavy bags. Luckily the hotel is in town and thank God HK has efficient subway system. Supposed to meet Lee Ken Kok my high-school schoolmate for dinner, but Jay was so tired he barely can open his eyes. So Ken only came to our hotel to chit chat with us. Feel so pai seh. Babe closed his eyes half way of the conversation, Ken and I were puzzled for 2 seconds. hehehe...

The next day, it's the check out day. We left our luggage with the hotel, because our flight was in the late evening. Both of us are tired of shopping, and so we decided to take a good look at HK. We visited the 半山扶梯 at 中环. It was a Sunday, we are not sure does the Philipino maid get off day on every Sunday or not, because the WHOLE 中环 is full of them, sitting on the floor, chit-chatting, laughing, and buying stuff.

This is one of the entrance to the escalotor link alley:



We also went Lan Kwai Fong, just for the fun of mimicking those HK stars walking down the staircase in drunkard steps:P

Saw this cute little poster, about the mut-dou in the subway hall, so cute lah:) And the subway station in zhonghuan is so empty, look:



So after that, we went back to Tsim Sa Zui, and walk to the 星光大道 where lots of HK stars palm-print onto the floor. I am surprised to see many BIG palm, and also surprised some people have small fat palm, like 郑志伟，hehehe... Below one is my favortie HK star, 刘青云
This is Jay's most respected HK star, Bruce Lee!



So you see, we did a lot of walking. By the time we finished that stretched, Jay is so hungry, he kept saying he wanted to eat dimsum. So I brought him to the dimsum place where our company always go during the toy fair, 鸿星酒家, yum yum. Can you see Jay's happy face?:)


By the time we finished dimsum, it's about time to go airport. So we went back hotel to collect our luggage, and took their free shuttle bus to kowloon airport express subway station. HK do everything so efficient, and if you buy ticket for 2, you even get discount. I only pay 140 for tickets of two for the express train, instead of 160. And, the ride is smooth and short.
I returned home, feeling happy with 3 pairs of shoes (the discount is even better than Shanghai buy 300 free 150), and 1 Le Sportac bag:) Almost bought a Gucci bag which is on 30% sales in airport, but Jay gave me that kind of look... so I say to the Gucci bag, "perhaps next time sweetie, I will keep you in mind"

It's a fun trip, most importantly, because it was with Jay:) (have been to HK many times for business trips, and I never really did walk around it like this time)

Bye Bye lousy 2008...

Tomorrow is December 31, 2008. So fast, 1 year just passed like this.

It's definitely the worst year in my life, and I hope (with finger crossed) 2009 is a GREAT year for me! (I just won 1000 yuan worth of carrefour voucher card from my company annual dinner, I think my luck is turning to great. I have never won such great prizes before.)

I only have 5 small wishes for 2009. I hope they will all come true.

Meanwhile, I have been reading Mitch Albom's books a lot these days. Some I bought from MPH at KL, some I bought at amazon.cn, and I also bought 1 from road-side pasar-malam type stall, only selling at RMB 10! (brand new) If you only have time to read just one book from him, try "Tuesday with Morrie", it's a great book written with soul and real emotion. I cried uncontrollably at the end of the chapters.

Looking forward to the new year trip with hubby, and also the CNY trip:) And, have just promised my sister, we shall go for a family trip on CNY 2010.

Cheers everyone. 明天会更更好！

Bakery Shop

No matter how busy I am lately, I still noticed there is this breadshop called 85度C opened up downstairs my office. CBN Weekly once have an article write up about this bakery cum coffee shop, as direct competitor of Starbucks. I think it is wrong. If starbucks have 1/10 of the crowd inside this 85度C, starbucks ceo will be laughing his way to bank everyday. haha..

Anyway, before this 85度C appeared, my office lot already have 2 breadshop, and they are really good taste and quality. They are:

1) Ichido

Very good quality bread, good cake, premium pricing. The only thing bad about it is, the paying Q is always super long!!! Really can pengsan waiting just to pay money. Sigh.

2) wowa

Very good quality bread also, great cake, no line up at Q. But, the only bad thing is, it is across the street from my office, so have to cross the busy street. And it's really dangerous to cross that road..

And now, we have:

3) 85度C

Someone bought it's cheesecake and belanja us makan yesterday. It tastes so good!!! And by the time I get off work, I wanted to go into this breadshop which is just downstairs the office, I saw super duper long Q, just to wait to pay money. Aiyo yo... can't they just opened few more counters?? Really beh tahan the service here sometimes..

I want to say, China has really good quality bakery/cheesecake/cake. I really falling love with them~:) Yay, one more choice for breakfast now =) And choi, 85度C ain't competitors of starbucks lah. They are totally different level~

So So So busy... why?!

Esok lah

More than 3000 China citizens were trapped in Bangkok airport during the 政治动乱 last couple of weeks. And within few days, China government sent more than 10 aircraft 包机 send back those worried visitors. They all came back last week already, after much hassle in applying permit landing at that airport for those chinese aircraft.

There are 5000+ British trapped in that airport too, until last night (unless the documentary show I watched is outdated, which I doubted so), the British government still did nothing.

Then I asked Jay, what if 3000 Malaysian were trapped in China, would our dearest government send some MAS to fetch us back?

Do you know how Jay asnwered? He said, the government sure reply "esok lah, jom makan sekarang." And "esok" will be the answers in the later days til when it is about election time, maybe they will send someone to fetch us back and try to con our vote during that 5 hours flight with nasi lemak and teh tarik.

Yew... the more I think about it, the more I can picture it could actually be happening.

I suddenly feel Chinese citizen is very 幸福...