ThE PrAwN KinG......HmmMm yum yum

Old to new???

2008-09-16T06:29:00.001+09:00

shifted my Tomica Blog to the new blogger template/layout... darn... i cant move this blog to the new format else it will be reposting many post....

anyone has any ideas???...

Sunday....

2008-09-14T21:14:00.003+09:00

lantern festival tonight... but darn its raining... the boy was so excited that he did not sleep in the afternoon after our trip to town... but now he is fast asleep, he could not wait much longer and his tired body got the better of him...told him to go and get his afternoon nap but he refused

In the morning , went down to town for lunch and also some shopping. Had lunch at Wisma Food Republic then headed to Taka and OG Orchard... after which we headed home....hehehe

Lego at Takashimaya was having some sales on certain Ferrari sets.. the huge 1:18 scale is $149 usual $250... and the Ferrari F1 set is $80... pricewise ok....

In the afternoon today, had some time to repack some of my tomica boxsets...on posting these pics.. Yeo from http://toycarsmy.blogspot.com/ found me.. and had me as a featured collector... i am so honoured.. hehehehehe....

ok abit of Tomica history of me, i started these collections 4 yrs back... when the price of tomicas in singapore was $2.50.. and over the years , the price has risen to $4.95. I also am into Matchboxes / Hotwheels / Ferrari...hehehehe... oh well, over the trips to japan , i have also bought quite a bit of stuff from Japan various stores and occasionally , my bro who is a pilot flies there too...

SOme ramdon pics of some boxsets i have.. the S-Series you see there were $5 each at OG/Seiyu 2 yrs back... i should have grabbed more, cause seems no one wanted them, it was sitting on the shelves for days...Tomica Townsets i have plenty.. i think about 10 sets total.. i have to dig them out for a pic.. but the one below are the recent releases in singapore which i gotten recently... the rest of my townsets are packed up... i will find some time later to take some pics...

My boy's classic Matchbox City playset... but i dun always let him play on this set as its already a vintage set... hehehe...

Got this SBS bus off someone at $15.. hahaha cheap.. the person selling it did not know the value of it.. its a Corgi model.. limited edition...

Yesss... the DM07 Tigger is here...

2008-09-13T22:44:00.007+09:00

for those who have been waiting and waiting to complete your Disney Motor Series.. its avaliable at Bugis BHG, quick go grab...

Morning was raining quite heavily, parents had a appointment to finalize their apartment sales. Also got my father-in-law to assist in some FengShui for my parents new home to decide where to place certain items...

In the afternoon, went to Bugis BHG to check if there were any new Tomicas that arrived. And yes... The new Tomica Limited 0098 Civic Type R was here.. its a hot item as many ppl luv the new Civics especially the Type R model. The following were new arrivals No 42 Hato Bus / No 11 Subaru / No 50 Yellow GTR. Also BHG had new restock of Tomicas.. especailly the Honda NSX No 81... hehehehe... bought 5 of them to keep...

I bought these...

6 Civics total...!! TL0098

Tonight did not go out anywhere as the kids woke up from their afternoon nap around 6pm... so i went to the plaza to get some food home for dinner.. and as the kids were home, they messed up the whole house again... i screamed my head off for 3 - 4 times at the both of them... darn....at least now they are sleeping...

a Pic after their shower...

weeee...

2008-09-13T08:01:00.004+09:00

blew nearly $400 on some items on yahoo... hehehehe... will post pics once the items arrive... darn... トミカブロス　ゾイドブレードミラージュL was released this yr... プレステーション２用ソフト　ZOIDS STRUGGLE.. well it was a free gift thats comes with every PS2 Zoid game bought... anyway i will look for this hi and lo.... hahahaha .. i have the blue and red version. Link... a guide... this is a rare item.

TRU Suntec is having some lego sales... but heard from friends not that a great sale...prices are normal $10 off etc only. Oh Well. I managed to get these off YAhoo Japan , lovely set.

Close up of my stuffs...

2008-09-12T22:07:00.000+09:00

pictures of items from last trip. i only posted one picture which are the items which we handcarry back..here. Will be dedicating this post to items from my japan trip... hahaha.. dunno why i missed posting these pictures.. will take all your breath away...

ok these were the items i sent by surface from Osaka 18 April and Tokyo 21 April individually and both arrive on 15 May 2008...took me about 30 - 40 mins to arrange items for this photo shoot.

the bigger porsche is a clear display plastic case.. the small porsches sits in it... these are the ones that made me drink canned coffee in the last week i was in Tokyo and Osaka....pic is missing another 2 smaller posrche which i have it kept elsewhere...too lazy to digg them out. Total Porsche in the set 7 cars as per broucher here

hiaz....

2008-09-09T09:21:00.002+09:00

Decided to use a japan auction assist site.. to bid for items on Yahoo JP... so far of all the Japan Auction sites that are avaliable...i find www.japanauctioncenter.com to be fair... its good as long as your items are above 5000JYP as their fees are ( 800JPY + 8% of auction price )..and shipping at cost by EMS to you..

hehehe.....

End of school holidays..

2008-09-07T22:57:00.006+09:00

the boy knows his school holiday has ended.. well anyway todays weather was perfect after last evening's thunder storm for a day out in town... whooo..

Rachel's runny nose also has stopped and she was up and hopping about... thank goodness. The daily intake of Vitamins / cod liver oil has somehow helped to build and speed up her recovery.

went to OG Orchard to shop after lunch and also to get the New OG cards for Sis-in-law and mother-in-law. And with the F1 fever in town , every toy department store has a little F1 corner where kids can have a go at the cars. Rachel was having a go at the F1 track at OG, and would not allow Marcus to play. The Girl... hahaha

Vodaphone F1 team was at Paragon displying their F1 replica car that will be used in the upcoming race... so snapped another pic.... F1 race Singapore will be held end of Sept, and it will be the first night race for F1

Managed to get some new Hotwheels at Takashimaya and a T-Hunt Plymouth.. and also found the VW drag bus at TRU paragon.

どようび

2008-09-06T23:28:00.006+09:00

Saturday and its raining now... very heavy... will be a cooling night to sleep ... luckily did not plan to go out as the girl was having flu. Brought her to the doctor in the morning to Thomson Medical Center. Met my "yi po" on the way to the clinic. Did not notice them on the bus till i turned back and see who was on the bus. The girl was so quiet on the way to the clinic. Anyway doc say its just a common cold, nothing serious need no antibotics.

After the doc's , took a cab back and by the time i got home it was already 1 pm.. the damm clinic was so packed. After the kids had lunch , i went down to town to collect my glasses... yearly pilgrimage to the optician to make sure i used up fully my medical vision claim... cause the girl spoilt my frameless glass a month ago..

so coincident, the kids both when they were young has spoilt some items
- Boy , Canon camera 2 MP set, poured milk on it , my glasses
- Girl , my glasses

only snap a photo of the kids... hehehe.. if you noticed, i have not kept the luggage that was used for the japan trip.. its still full of items... i dunno where to keep them...

Also had some time to tidy up and consolidate all my Tomica Limited cars... i think there are still some lurking around somewhere....oh well i found most of them anyway.. you can see that some of the cars i only has one as i could not find extras for those.. most of the single ones are bought from JApan the other time and recent trip.

i have also completed the whole seris of Ferrari from the local 7-11 stores. Kudos to those store which allowed me to buy the cars without spending the min $5 required... really silly... i dunno how many cars will the stores ,which do not allow to buy without spending any dollar, have left over stocks in the end. In singapore the collector community for diecast cars are very small.

どようび - do-youbi - saturday

トミカがいくつありますか ?

2008-09-02T04:16:00.001+09:00

トミカがいくつありますか?

いくつありますか - ikutsu desuka

Monday on leave

2008-09-01T22:33:00.005+09:00

Cleared 1 day child care leave today, still have one more day remaining....plan was to go and make a pair of glasses today after lunch. So we had our lunch at the 5th floor chicken rice store at Far East Plaza.

After that as it was still early , we took a walk to Marriot Hotel as the ING F1 car was on display there... The boy was so excited.. and we took some pics...

After the photo taking , we took 143 a double deck bus which will bring us to the Chinatown area , where my optician's shop was.

じれったい price label

2008-09-01T16:54:00.006+09:00

something i will rant... have been collecting トミカ for a while now... and always whenever i get home , the price label on the boxes has different degree of removal.

Takshimaya - easiest and cleanest removal of them all. The mother of price labels... no residual left behind and item surface is left intact. No damage on product at all!!!

Metro - easy to remove. With slight residual.

OG / BHG - similar degree of diffculty of removal. Very difficult to removal. Have to use the occasional Lighter Fluid to make removal easier. Surface of product get damage easily.

じれったい (jirettai) - irritating

にちようび

2008-08-31T21:41:00.006+09:00

にちようび went back to get my $$ back credit to card. Wasted sometime as we wanted to shop at Bugis area. In the end , took the train from Somerset back to Bugis. Kids love the trains..especially the boy. Shopped at Bugis BHG / OG Albert , also i completed my Ferrari set. the 7-11 at Bugis had the remaing Ferraris ( 17-24 ) but also in limited quantity.

The mid Autumn festival also has just started. As i luv mooncakes, decided to buy some to eat too... hahahaha

Some phases i learnt this week
今何時ですか - Ima Nan Ji desu ka? / What time is it?
何時でまですか - Nan-ji made desu ka? / Until What time?
何時にもどつてきますか - Nan-ji ni modotte ki masu ka / What time are you coming back?

weekend is here again..

2008-08-30T23:28:00.005+09:00

some rants... damm STTA issue.. that MP really cause a sore taste in all Singaporeans.. after her silly unprofessional remarks... insensitive to ppl's feeling.... oh well at least the issue is over.. its easy for her.. just say sorry...

This weekend is the start of OG 46th Anniversary. Time to change your old card if you need to. just spend $75 and get your new card...

did not go out in the afternoon as i slept thruout... from 2 pm to 5 pm... was so tired... must be the early trip to office in the morning to settle some stuffs that tired me out.

So only in the evening when the kids had their afternoon nap then we decided to drop by town and my favourite place タカシマヤ. settled the kids meal first, Rachel it seems is not having a very good appetite these couple of days. She does not finish her meal fully, and we have to always coax her to finish it. Marcus on the other hand has no problems. But every meal he insist to have noodles, which of course me and mrs turn a deaf ear to his request.

For those ppl who read my blog and luved the disney Motor series ( Mickey and Minnie ) bike, its here in singapore!!!... Avaliable at タカシマヤ. Pls grab it before it runs out... some places like OG Orchard and BHG is already out of stocks... quick before stocks run out!!!

OG Orchard was not so crowded, mrs say time for me to replace some of my old business shirts i wear to work. I say ok ... so in the end bought 3 shirts.. and after paying my stuffs etc , Totalled was $210.. changed the new OG card and then headed for home. We decided to take the bus to Clark Quay then take the return bus back home so that we are assured of a seat. Buses at 10 pm is packed as ppl are all rushing to get home. In the end , we got home at 11pm and quickly put the girl to sleep.

After the girl slept , mrs unpacked the items we bought then she screamed... the receipt was wrong. We were charged a extra $46 for the business shirt i bought. It was suppose to be 2 for $46 , in the end , it was scanned as 1 for $46... hiaz.. i did not check this.. so looks like i have to go back tomorrow morning to get back the $$.

chop chop chop

2008-08-28T06:34:00.002+09:00

karate chop soon.... also i reinstalled my mininote..

installed a 160GB hdd in it , reinstalled OS to nihong version. now all my default pages comes in nihong..forces me to remeber all the katakana and hiragana... hahahaha

Ferrari Win again... Shell Petrol Promo

2008-08-27T23:02:00.000+09:00

Just received SMS, share with you guys. Vpower @ 98 pricing from 7-11pm, from 29-31st Aug2008.... quick go...

北海道??

2008-08-26T22:10:00.001+09:00

北海道... might be planning one soon. .. i will continue upating this .. till i decide when ( 2009 Mar?? or Feb??)... Will stay at one of the ski resort town Furano for 4-5 days to let the kids enjoy some snow activities.

Duration : 14 - 21 days
Will use internal Flights to get to Hokkiado... i might even give Osaka a miss..lets see how i plan... might even have to stay a day at Haneda for the kids to rest up before the trip to Chitose.
Plan 1
Narita -> Haneda -> New Chitose Airport -> Osaka?? -> Narita
Plan 2
Narita -> Nagoya -> New Chitose Airport -> Haneda -> Narita

Guides
* SKi Japan Guide

Hotels
* New Furano Hotel - looks like a nice hotel.. 5 mins from Furano ski fields

まだあめがふっています

2008-08-24T20:32:00.006+09:00

まだあめがふっています...... スンテへいきますか.... cause of the Army Marathon , the bus terminated at Raffles Hotel Stop and we had to walk into Suntec. Anyway weather was lovely... the lighting for the Septh F1 race is nearly completed..

there was a travel fair at Suntec and Marcus tried out the mock snow slope...hahaha... he was so uneasy with the helmet..

Rainy day

2008-08-23T18:56:00.005+09:00

rain rain ... its raining the whole day today....i needed to get some containers from Sim Lim Tower to store my トミカ. The containers were going for $2.50 each and i have been using these containers since the day i started collecting the cars.

After settling family's lunch , i made my way to town to do some shopping... came across a shop at Sim Lim Tower moving out sale.. and manage to get the Brother MTape for the labeler at $2 each !!! ( usual was $13.50 )....

..

i also bought a new laptop mouse to replace the faulty one.. bought a A4Tech mouse Glaser Mouse 1000DPI mouse.. cost me $15...

Rachel's BD...

2008-08-22T22:52:00.007+09:00

Today's the girl's 2nd Birthday... nothing planned for her... my mom gave her a gold bangle... she loved it so much, but in the afternoon i had a serminar at Hyatt Orchard to attend which ended at 6 pm. It was a Yield Management Seminar by KT. Yearly Event which i have attended the past few ones. Always the Cocktail Lucky Draw is the one which ppl stays back for. Well something strange... as I was waiting to see if i had some luck , i tot about Rachel... and said to myself... its her birthday today.. and hope i get some luck... guess what .. the moment i finish thinking, my name was called... for the 11th prize..

... i was telling myself ,another thumb drive, every year i get a thumbr drive.. 128 MB .. then 1 GB.. now a 4GB one.... but i am happy... after the draw, i went home straight to collect the cake...

Got home , the Girl was so happy... and jumping....with joy... change her into some nicer looking clothes for some photo taking. Mrs wanted her to wear this cheongsum but in the end.. change her into another suit as it did not fit her...

slippers...

2008-08-20T22:48:00.002+09:00

Slippers... the kids luv to wear slippers at home ... i guess it must be due to the fact that my whole house flooring is in Marble... it tends to get cold during rainy weather .. for instance this week...

Sometimes me and mrs have to search the whole house to find the missing side of their slippers..as it tends to go missing occasionally..

oh yeah i feel so much better but still look pale... hiaz....

sick today...

2008-08-19T20:59:00.003+09:00

had a very bad throat.. and was out the whole day sleeping did not even take my BF and lunch ... ... only now then had some energy to surf the web and clear some mails.. ya also took some dinner.. hahaha...

came across this cute 山手線 song...かわいです

Sunday...

2008-08-17T19:58:00.005+09:00

this coming friday is the girls 2nd birthday. how time files. Last night was reading the papers and saw that Courts JP had a offer for the Western Digital 160GB 2.5" USB drive. Only 20 sets per day, so guess what, had to go early to ensure i got it.

Got there at 930am and at 1030am, kudos to the staff of courts , when they started giving out the coupons for the items. I got mine USB drive.. and guess what number was the coupon number. Number 20!!.. the last one.

Afterthat, mrs and kids joined me for lunch at JP.. and we saw one Mediacorp Artiste having his lunch there....can you guess who it is from his back view???

i am happy that i got it at least .. so once i got home, i stripped it open and swapped in my 320GB WD 2.5 inch bought 2 weeks back and took out the 160 GB drive to swap into my MinoNote, ( so that i can install the JP version of Vista ) ...

はじめまして

2008-08-15T23:50:00.002+09:00

はじめまして , メルヴィンリ- です.

Do you understand the above sentence??..

Ferrari cars from Hotwheels are here..

2008-08-14T23:22:00.000+09:00

a total of 24 of them..i am now missing No 6 , 17-24... the rest of it i have gotten.

Heard that this series was before the 60th Anniversary series released 6 months back...

Had some time today

2008-08-11T20:08:00.005+09:00

Today had some time to go out to do some shopping alone, else with family very tough to buy my stuffs. Also my amazon JP stuffs arrived this week. Disney Motor vehicles are in.

Already posted the Mickey and Donald Vehicle from my Japan trip.

Here are the Disney Motor sets... i luv the bikes so much....

WaterLoo Street

2008-08-10T20:24:00.003+09:00

Today decided to go down Bugis Junction / Waterloo street temple to do some praying.. hehehe...Weather was very very sunny da...Kuan Yin Temple at water loo street was crowded, must be some upcoming occasion.

Oh well we went in quickly with the kids, offered our prayings, asked for the kids to be well and healty and to be smart.

After that we headed down to OG Albert to shop around before heading for BHG ( former Seiyu ) at Bugis. Seiyu a Wal-Mart's subsidiary (as Wal-Mart has increased its stake in the Japanese retailer to 54 per cent with an additional 67.5 billion Japanese yen or US$565 million last December)--> I did not know that Seiyu was bought/aquired over by a American company. Well anyway Seiyu in Singapore was boguht over by Beijing Hualian Group, the sixth largest commercial chain retailer of China.
This actually signifies another Japanese retailer closing its doors in singapore, now the only one would be Takashimaya left.

Had Lunch at Bugis Junction then it started raining.... the picture below reminded me of the time when we were at Shinjuku and it rained too.

Long Weekend ahead....

2008-08-09T22:20:00.005+09:00

yeah.... strange... this morning .. my GM called and i missed his call.. called him back , he wished me a happy long weekend and to enjoy my weekend with family.... strange.. but he is a nice GM....still the call wishing me to enjoy weekend is strange....

Spent the day in town today at OG since they were having some 20% sale on, bought some tomicas and matchboxes. I received the Mini Note installations DVDs from the states delivered by DHL...

Bought a Brother Label Printer from Carrefour at Plaza Singapura. Since the boy going to start school soon, Mrs say its better to get a label printer. Ok.. since the printer was only $35.. pretty Cheap IMHO..

Some of the tomicas i bought

Rosetta Stone.. cool

2008-08-07T21:32:00.002+09:00

found this... a cool cool software to learn any langauge....and i have the japanese pack... cool software

Marcus is 5yrs old

2008-08-05T21:05:00.004+09:00

the boy is 5 today.. took time off from work to spend the day with the boy. Brought him to school and back. He was thrilled. Anyway he found the present on Sunday evening and he has been carrying it about the house, so excited about it. Even till he brought it to bed with him.

Today was the day. 5yrs back at 915am approx, the boy came into our world and has changed our life eversince. All the worries for him, the teaching, his first steps, his first phrase of words.

The boy was our "bao"...

I always remember the first time the boy was sick.

Japan was number 1 in patent applications for 40yrs!!!

2008-08-04T17:46:00.000+09:00

now we know why... did not know that they were no1 in patent applications...

Japan became the world’s No. 2 country in terms of patent application filing in 2006, giving up its first place to the United States for the first time in about 40 years, the World Intellectual Property Organization said in a report released Thursday. For the first time since 1963, the United States Patent and Trademark Office received the largest number of patent applications at 425,966, followed by the Japan Patent Office with 408,674, the U.N. agency said.

got my rams and hdd

2008-08-03T22:00:00.004+09:00

In the morning attended some praying ceremony ... burnt some incense for the 7th month thingy....

at least today (in the afternoon) i made the effort to go and get the ram and the hdd for the mininote...also at the same time , bought a gift for the boy's upcoming birthday on Tuesday... he does not know about it yet... but guess he will see it soon. I left it in my room, lets see how long it takes him to find it...

暑いです

2008-08-02T22:40:00.005+09:00

weather was so hot today... no mood to go out.. wanted to get extra rams and a HDD for the HP mininote... but too tired to go out.

Hiaz... Marcus attended his Chinese lesson today. Seems he has improved a bit in terms of his understanding.

there was a RC car race held at the Plaza today.. Marcus was so happy..

looks like economy is going down now.... jobless rates are up, no new orders, Headcount freeze in companies... hiaz...

anyway... night night
おやすみなさい

Weekend...

2008-07-27T20:11:00.006+09:00

hiaz... dunno whats wrong.. i am still coughing.. and went to see doctor again on sat. Given some flu and phlegm tablet, doc say need to see him in 5 days for a review. Total this round, i took 4 courses of antibotics.. abit too many i think.

After taking the med, fall asleep the whole of yesterday afternoon. Did not even go out at all. Even had our dinner downstairs only , and did some grocery shopping.
Had actually planned some task in the afternoon but all had to be put off.

Friday attended a off site training for company culture, dropped by town after the session and had some time to myself shopping at Takashimaya. Spent nearly $100 , bought some pants , toys for the kids ( Dora Treehouse for the girl and Lego for the boy )

Bought the new CITY coast guard set for the Marcus.

Today , went down to Funan Center to collect the Mininote. luckily , i did not waste my evening on Monday 21 July(1st day of collection), where all those who signed up for the promo went on that day to collect and the whole situation was in a mess.. see report in STOMP. Collection was a breeze, only took me 10 minutes to pick up the mininote from the collection counter.

After collecting it, we went down to have our lunch at the pasta restaurant on 1st floor. The kids enjoyed their lunch. Since the wet weather has started in Singapore , whereby its not so sunny. More clouds than sun, we took the long walk from Funan to Raffles shopping center... afterwhich , we made our way home...

The mininote charging at home.. hehehehe...

Rakuten ICHIBA

2008-07-26T21:35:00.004+09:00

yeah... at last Rakuten ICHIBA has international shipping... but damm.. looking at the list of credit cards accepted .. currently outside of japan it only takes AMEX , JCB and Diners... oh well better than nothing.. i can start shopping

link

tired of this sort of ppl!!!

2008-07-24T22:14:00.006+09:00

makes me so mad.. ppl who only want to gain credit for good things.. and leave the bad things for others... this sort of ppl should rot in hell!!!...

あいうえお

かきくけこ

さしすせそ

ん - a important one n
Some Words
きんこう -> bank
やま -> Mountain
まち -> city
とみか - Tomica but usually written in Katakana トミカ
あおい (aoi) - blue
あう (au) - to meet
あたたかい (atatakai) - warm
いい - (ii) good
いう - (iu) to tell
いいえ -(iie) no
うえ - (ue) top, above
うち　(uchi) - home, house
うる　(uru) - to sell
え - picture
えいご (eigo) - English language
えん (en) - yen (Japanese currency)
おおきい　(ookii) - big
おちゃ　(ocha) - tea
おんな (onna) - woman, female person
おんなのこ　(onnanoko) - girl

another yr older

2008-07-22T20:26:00.000+09:00

was mrs turn... hehehe.. came home at 6pm and bought a ケ－キ for her.. both the kids were so happy upon seeing the ケ－キ , the kids went wild...

weekend...

2008-07-20T20:10:00.011+09:00

Taka Toy Sale started this week.. the annual crazy toy sale... but sadly this yrs toy sale is so disappointing. Hardly any good stuffs which the previous yrs sales saw...

2007 Sale - Burago Model kits , Tomica
2006 Sale - Joal Diecast , Tomicas Limited sets. , Burago
2005 Sale - TOmicas , Hotwheels, etc.

Did not spend more than $100 in this yrs sales... just bought some Corgi's set which were clearing at $5 each.. the Fire Hero Series. Sat went down again with family for lunch .. mrs bought some stuffs for the kids.. and i found a Taiyo RC Bike for $10.. bought it for Marcus to bash. By then , time was already 1 pm , and we decided to head back home.

After cleaning the kids up , i went out again to get some stuffs from SimLim , needed a adaptor to replace my faulty adaptor for my charger. Was also shopping around sungei road area and Guess what i saw a 12inch wafer SMIF pod selling at Sungei Road!!!

Tomorrow going to collect my mininote after work.. hehehehe a new toy to play ...

This songs lyrics is very very sad.. 黃昏

过完整个夏天
忧伤并没有好一些
开车行驶在公路无际无边
有离开自己的感觉
唱不完一首歌
疲倦还剩下黑眼圈
感情的世界伤害在所难免
黄昏再美终要黑夜
依然记得从你口中说出再现坚决如铁
昏暗中有种烈日灼身的错觉
黄昏的地平线
划出一句离别
爱情进入永夜
依然记得从你眼中滑落的泪伤心欲绝
混乱中有种热泪烧伤的错觉
黄昏的地平线
割断幸福喜悦
相爱已经幻灭

あいうえお

2008-07-17T08:29:00.001+09:00

a i u e o , ka ki ku ke ko , sa si su se so.....

hahahahaha

Nihongo Lesson..

2008-07-15T08:45:00.002+09:00

hehehe.. last night mom asked me to register for a store place in the coming Flea Market sale at our estate. On signing up at the Community Center, noticed that there was a print out of the current/upcoming courses the Center is holding in the next couple of months.

And there was a Japanese Elementary lesson which started last Wed.. So comtemplated on signing up.. went home , discussed with mrs..and she said why not...

Ok , off i went down again...to sign up for the lesson. So now every wed i have Elementary Jap Lesson 1.

Sunday..

2008-07-13T21:41:00.005+09:00

today's weather was great.. brought the kids down to town.. for lunch and some shopping.. Mrs Birthday is coming... what should i get?? Seems when you get older, i tend to run out of ideas. hahahaha..

The building opposite Centerpoint is nealry completed... very fast construction speed. Yesterday bought 2 tins of ICI Paint, i was supposed to touch up the house, but the laziness in me got the better. hehehe I will do it next week. At least today i fixed my USB casing which the power adaptor shorted when we came back from our japan trip. I also installed the Seagate 500GB drive which i got RMAed a while back.

I have still not fully recovered.. still has some otchy throat.. mrs is also not well. Hiaz...

Pram repaired...

2008-07-12T23:30:00.009+09:00

one of the springs on the rear wheel of the pram gave way last week...
i did not have time to source for a replacement extension springs. So used Nylon tie to temporary hold it in place... but who knows , midweek , the nylon tie also gave way. Was telling mrs that lucky the pram did not give way when we were in Japan. I wondered what i would have done then??. I suspect the pram springs gave way due to the extra weight of Marcus

Therefore , today went out to get new springs. Found a shop at Sungei Road selling all sorts of springs ( sorry no pics as did not bring camera out ) Found what i wanted for 50 cents per piece... Great!!.. got home around 6 pm, bought a couple of new Tomica Town Series too from OG ... damage $147

The broken spring..

The replacement springs.. bought extras as spares..

Fitted in..

After fitting it in , it worked perfectly... actually comtemplating if cannot find the springs.. then we have to throw this pram away. At Least i managed to save it .. maybe for number 3??...This pram is very useful as the basket below is huge, machiam like our boot space is so big. Mrs normally dump the kids jacket in there and all the rest of the Barang Barang we bring when we go out with the kids...

Went down to the plaza for dinner and then groceries shopping at the supermarket. For this coming National Day , looks like the PA decorated the trees with white and red lights... last week i tot i took the wrong bus for Orchard when i should be going home.... the National Day decor is machiam like Orchard's Christmas decor....

Random Japan News
- Color contact lenses to be strictly controlled

Went to the doc..

2008-07-09T22:52:00.004+09:00

mrs is also down.. so am i... try to keep away from the kids as much as possible..Package from Amazon JP is here... woo hooo... my new トミカ are here...

at least today came home around 7 pm... glad that i could reach home early. Dunno why the wholebody feels totally not sync.. slight headache.. and also a slight blocked nose.

So far these couple of weeks i am listening to this "Drive Time Japanese ( Random House ) Audio mp3 Course "

Dammm... my cough is still not yet ok..

2008-07-08T22:36:00.002+09:00

still throat is sore.. and i have completed my dose of antibotics...hiaz... still a bit sore.. trying hide to keep away from the kids....

Rachel went for her jab yesterday .. and thankfully no fever... hehehehe...

sunday

2008-07-06T22:19:00.000+09:00

weekend.. at least this weekend was home , did not go to office to handle the big issue... i was so tired of the current issue in office...too burnt out.. hiaz...

brought the kids to sis-in-laws place for a swim.. kids enjoyed it .. at least they have their fun... oh man.. have not been to town for a while...

looks like the 24hr shops in japan are going to be restricted to operating hours of 7 - 11 due to carbon emmision laws implemented... hahaha.. literally 7-11 will be 7 am to 11 pm...

first shipment from Amazon Japan will be arriving this friday...

at least my home's aircon is replaced.. and now its cool...

Aircon replaced...

2008-07-05T13:48:00.003+09:00

now the ppl from gaincity are here now doing up my place airconditioning...

No Wonder i got a letter from the HDB on my aircon... its so badly corroded

Medical Leave....

2008-07-01T18:06:00.002+09:00

nearly a month since i fell sick the previous time. ( 4th June )... remembered cleary that it was just before my birthday...now i am sick again.. darn.. must be those late nights the past 10 days...

New トミカ avaliable at Metro Paragon and Takashimaya...
トミカ No.001 三菱ふそうエアロクイーン(箱)
トミカ No.100 Honda フィット(箱)
トミカリミテッド 0095 光岡オロチ

つかれている!!!

2008-06-29T10:19:00.006+09:00

last night chatted with someone from Japan.. Yokohama.. hehehe.. hopefully i can work something out with her to help me get some of my fav toys from Japan...

this weekend has been going back to office... hiaz....

found a very cool blog for learning Hiragana... http://nihongo-dekimasu.blogspot.com

he has many download links for PDF files and audio files for Learning Nihong.... i signed up a rapidShare account just to download all... so looks like next couple of weeks i will be busy downloading.. hahahaha

Nihongo Dekimasu Episode 1 ... Erin des...

the kids...

2008-06-28T20:49:00.006+09:00

at least both the kids are ok now.... evening brought them down to the supermarket to do some shopping..

Also saw 7-11 was selling this set of mini Coke Theme cars.. i am missing the red truck..total of them and cost only 90 cents each!!

Disney Motor sets from トミカ.. at least i ordered these from Amazon Japan... when i was there in Tokyo , only DM01 and DM02 was avaliable at the Disney shops... i really luv the Mickey and Minnie scooter set. I ordered 6 sets of them.. hahahah

see the scooters... so kawai.. taken at disney shop

so tired...

2008-06-22T22:55:00.005+09:00

too tired this weekend to bring the kids out .. heard the solar industry is the next in thing ..hahaha... nothing much happened this weekend.. just that sat mrs brought the kids to the pade cause the kids still had some slight cough and did not eat well.

Noticed that this week onwards , the boy started speaking in complete and perfect sentences... strange..

also ordered more stuff from TOMYTEC.. they released a couple of new buildings

情景小物007　バス停A
情景小物008バス停B
建物コレクション　駅A
建物コレクション　駅B

東京おもちゃショー2008

2008-06-19T23:08:00.003+09:00

dammm.. wish i could be there.. its held at 東京ビッグサイト... hiaz.. hiaz..

2008年6月19日[木]～6月22日[日]
【商談見本市】 6月19日[木] 9:30 ～ 18:00
6月20日[金] 9:30 ～ 18:00
【一般公開】 6月21日[土] 9:00 ～ 17:00
6月22日[日] 9:00 ～ 16:00

Show Information

Starhub Mininote HP promotion

2008-06-17T22:40:00.003+09:00

signed up for the MaxOnline Express over the weekend thru the phone. Since my contract has ended, and this was too good a offer to miss out, i signed up for it. Its a HP 2133 mini-note with the follwing specs below free with a 24 month contract..

1.2 Ghz, 128KB L2 Cache, 800 MHz Front Side bus VIA C7-M ULV Processor
VIA Chrome 9 Graphics with up to 128 MB of shared system memory for Windows with 1 GB of system memory
1 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 RAM
120 GB 5400 rpm SATA Hard Drive
Broadcom 802.11 a/b/g wireless internet
Windows Vista Home Basic
3 Cell (55WHr) Lithium-Ion battery
10/100/1000 Ethernet NIC
8.9-inch WXGA LCD Screen
2 USB 2.0 Ports
VGA web cam
Stereo speakers
1 SD card slot
1 Express Card/54
1 External VGA monitor out
Mic and headphone jacks
ADI1984HD High Definition CODEC; 24-bit DAC; Integrated stereo speakers; Stereo headphone/line out; Stereo microphone in
Weight: 2.8lb (1.27 kg)
Dimensions (WxHxD): 10.04 x 6.5 x 1.05 in (255 x 165 x 27 mm)

anyway tried to acess the promo website at starhub.com and seems the promo has been taken down. Waiting for the letter of redemption to be delivered to me on this Friday.

going to order more N Gauge stuffs..

2008-06-16T22:15:00.002+09:00

hiaz.. i missed the Vol 3 collection from TOMYTEC ザ・トラックコレクション【第3弾】.. it came out in Mar 08 and when i was in japan , did not see it at all too... hiaz... but on second tots.. i think i have ordered it before... cause the fire engine looks familiar.. as i have it in my city

anyway i manged to get the following set THE トラックコレクション第4弾 hehehe... hiaz...

めるびん

2008-06-15T20:55:00.000+09:00

this is my name in Hiragana : めるびん .. Katakana : メルビン

hahahah.. too lazy to go to PC SHOW to check out the show items in the morning ... but in the end went there just now in the afternoon.. nothing much to buy.. actually wanted to get a wireless keyboard.. but in the end decided not too..

Inflation and recession is coming and ppl were still spending like no tomorrow.

I am also slightly sick.. throat still a bit irrtating, still not back to my normal self. That quake that hit northen japan was a major one.. these days seems the fault line in the various zones are not normal.. just this year.. i think there were about 5 - 6 quakes reported in ASIA alone.. the worst one was the china one.

I wonder is there a BIG one coming.....

kids are still sick...

2008-06-14T20:56:00.004+09:00

hiaz... both the kids are still not well... Marcus has a very bad throat.. and Rachel.. has flu..everysince got back from Nihong, the kids have not been fine for more than 2 weeks.

was home surfing youtube and found some nice Videos of JR and Tokyo Metro.. and downloaded all using the youtube downloader tool.. am using the software from DVDVideoSOFT.com

Quake..Quake hits Northern Japan 地震の死者が５人に

A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit Japan's northern prefectures on Saturday morning. The National Police Agency says three people reportedly died, 10 are missing, and more than 100 others are injured.

Petrol Prices...

2008-06-13T23:30:00.005+09:00

everything is going up... up .. up.. except our salary... everything is going up soon... for instance.. even the recent NWA promo price for air ticket .. is now about 2.6K if i were to buy the same tickets i bought for my April trip ( 2 Adults , 1 Child , 1 Infant )...

With the price of oil going up.. things that are imported will go up... soon... hiaz...

how can i move my family from singapore....

some nice CM from Tokyo Metro.. and JR

New Metro Line to Open this 12th June 副都心縦断

2008-06-12T22:58:00.003+09:00

its called the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line 副都心縦断. New 8.9-km route offers second link to Shibuya, Ikebukuro stations via Shinjuku. The Japan Times Link

The Fukutoshin Line is the 13th Tokyo-area subway line. Construction of the Shibuya-Ikebukuro section, which began in 2001, cost ¥250 billion.

Express trains will go between Shibuya and Ikebukuro in 11 minutes, while local trains will make the journey in about 16 minutes.

The entire Fukutoshin Line runs 20.2 km between Shibuya and Wakoshi in Saitama Prefecture. The section between Ikebukuro and Wakoshi is already operating as part of the Yurakucho subway line.

Starting in 2012, the Fukutoshin Line will be directly connected to Tokyu’s Toyoko Line, which runs between Shibuya and Yokohama.

The line will thus not only expand metro underground transportation but also make it easier to connect Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures.

Tokyo Metro expects the Fukutoshin Line to reduce commuter traffic during rush hours, especially on the lines that parallel it, including East Japan Railway Co.’s Yamanote and Saikyo lines.

Tokyo Metro’s Web site indicates 17 trains will run hourly, or about one every 3 1/2 minutes, during the morning rush hour.

JPY is dropping!!!

2008-06-11T22:08:00.004+09:00

its currently at 1.28 at some of the money changeres in town... was looking at the 5 yr JPY exchange rate.. and lowest it has gone was 1.25 and that was during 9/11...

Have been following up on the Aikba case.. apparently , the 25 yr old guy was under the idea that he has been fired from work when he could not find his overalls when he turned up for work at his workplace... and thinking that , he started planning the killings.. hiaz.. sad...

His parents were devasted...

Couple of other random headlines from japan
- New Tokyo Tower to be called 'Tokyo Sky Tree'
- Pimp arrested after sending 16-year-old girl to clients for prostitution
-
at last got back into the daily routine at work..

秋葉原で通り魔事件７人死亡

2008-06-08T23:48:00.005+09:00

From NHK JP..its really sad... on a busy Sunday whereby the streets of Akiba are full of tourist, family...hiaz.. the guy should be put to death!!!

８日昼すぎ、買い物客でにぎわう東京・秋葉原で、男が通行人をトラックではねたあと、次々にサバイバルナイフで刺して男女７人が死亡、１０人がけがをしました。静岡県の２５歳の男が、現場近くで殺人未遂の疑いで逮捕され「世の中が嫌になり、人を殺すために秋葉原に来た。誰でもよかった」と供述しているということで、警視庁は通り魔事件として動機などを詳しく調べています。

In Tokyo, 7 people died and 10 others were wounded after a man rammed his truck into a crowd and stabbed several passers-by with a knife.

The incident occurred around 12:30 PM on Sunday in the Akihabara shopping district in central Tokyo.

According to witnesses, the man ran away from his vehicle after hitting several pedestrians and started screaming and stabbing people at random.

A 25-year-old man from Shizuoka Prefecture has been taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder. In his deposition, the man says he was tired of life and came to Akihabara to kill people indiscriminately.

As of 18:33 today, NHK news has officially reported the deaths of seven people, of which, they include: Men aged 19, 20, 29, 33, 47 and 74 . The other was a 21-year-old female.
>SOme Japan Links for more pics..

Lets Imagine...

2008-06-08T23:13:00.005+09:00

Barney show at Suntec... brought the kids to the barney show ( yess.. that horrid looking out of shape obbesse purple dino!! with short arms..) .. we were seated at the third row... center seats... hehehehe... the kids enjoyed the show.. especially Marcus who grew up with many of the dino's song...

Is this dino another Australian product??? i suspect so... marcus luv Hi5 too!!

oh yeah .. i also discovered one of the songs or tunes which MArcus has been singing all this while especially when we were in japan was this...Mr sun Song!!

oh well.....New Aircon for mine Apartment

2008-06-07T22:18:00.001+09:00

Last night , mrs bought a small cake to celebrate my birthday.. a really small cake ... hahaha nothing grand... Marcus and Rachel was so excited when they saw the cake.. MArcus said Happy birthday to me.. hehehe..

Rachel has a new Fisher Price Little People Push Car which i bought from yesterday's Galleria Toys R Us reopening celebration.. was a steal at $28...Also poor Rachel fell down the previous day when mrs brought the boy for his enrichment Chinese classes at noon. See the raw laceration on her left knee

decided after comtemplating the whole night.. the aircon has to change irregardless...so today in the morning , went down to GAIN city branch at CCK to get a new unit. Total cost me $1829 include GST for a System3 Non Inverter Version. I opted for the 12 month 0% installment payment thru UOB credit Card. hahaha fist time pay a item using instalment since the last round i used installment was for the Melbourne Air tickets 8 yrs ago for the Diners Credit Card Promo.

Weather today was cloudy and just as we stepped out of our home , it started raining, was telling mrs this rain was heavier than the ones we experienced in Japan. Have not been to LOT1 for a while and found out that the whole place was going thru a facelift. The Food Junction on the basement has also shifted to the fourth floor expansion section. Had our lunch there, then proceeded to GAIN City to buy our Aircon unit... hiaz...

Salesman at the Store explain that we had to rerun all the airconditional trunking so that to ensure 100% efficiency, Also the Stainless Steel Bracket outside the apartment to hold the compressor has to be changed as part of their company's policy. well had to buy a new one.. got 36 lucky dip coupons.. plus 50 pcs of JetAsia Lucky Dip draw .. hope i get something out of the lucky draw.

I am still not used to the way ppl behave in singapore.. no social graces i would say....
Some examples:
- Ppl do not clear their foodtrays at fast food restaurant after their meals.
- Escalator , ppl still cant differentiate between left or right.. ppl in singapore are dumb???
- Mobile phones, ppl talk loudly on their phone , such that people around them hear about their entire life story

1 yr older....

2008-06-06T12:13:00.002+09:00

hit 35 this yr old liao... seems also today many ppl in office knows about my birthday.. am i a celeb or what???? strange world... oh well...on leave today at home to settle some things also .. aircon outdoor unit is rusty and got complained by HDB, had to call in a aircon service man to review the casing. i think i might need to get a new aircon unit if thats the case. Also have to fix up the kitchen's cabitnet frame.. somehow or rather , it came loose. So i scrapped off all the silicon seal and ready to reapply a new coat of silicon to hold it in place.

Past yr.. what oh what have i done.
- Went for my long awaited Japan trip with the family.
- 2 kids away 7000 km from home for 25 days...
- promoted this yr.. hehehehe..
- did up my home's washroom.
- stopped buying computer stuff for a while.
- Increase my collection of toys.
- stopped downloading anime for awhile.. hahaha.. stupid odex

I am so tired...

2008-06-03T22:03:00.002+09:00

too much issues at work.. and am so tired....so tired... how i wish that sometimes i could fly far away to get away from this hectic life...mrs is so worried about Marcus and Rachel's future.. that now we have started sending Marcus to enrichment classes... its not that we are sceptical of how Marcus will be like... we are more worried of him having to keep pace with the high pace life once he starts Primary 1... sometimes i wondered is it better for me to stay in singapore or venture abroad...so that the kids will have a easier and slower pace life.

Was talking to mrs the other day, and told her that i realised the importance of understanding how some of the engineering formulars are dervied from basic during my Uni days in Ozz, then when i was in polytechnic ( where the concept was memory work )... During my Uni days in Ozz, i did not really have to memories any formulars.. all from derivation and understanding the basics.

Hiaz...

Insurance Claims..

2008-06-02T08:21:00.002+09:00

well never believe what you read on forums on travel insurance claims.. many ppl have some sort of rather complain that Insurance claim from NTUC is slow... where it did not happen to me... for the 25 day trip , bought a full travel insurance coverage for the family.

The claims i file are
- Medical Bill of Rachel in Osaka -> 6700 JPY .. paid in full back to me
- Luggage damage -> $150 .. got back 90% of the total price of luggage
- Medical claim for Rachel in singapore -> this one still pending their reply.

oh well looks like it will be NTUC travel insurance for me again when i make my next tripp..

1 Month in Singapore since Japan Trip

2008-06-01T23:06:00.006+09:00

hahaha...its 1 month since i got back.. bro just came back from Narita with some stuffs i asked him to buy.. my fav drink 焼酎 and a にほん keyboard... hehehe..

Last night went down to MArina Square to have a walk around.. nothing much to do in the day as it was rainy.. shopped around JL and Carrefour .. found some of my fav hotwheels ..

Today.. went to Taka and Isetan.. looks like the craze for PIXAR cars has died down..and i managed to find some of the harder to find items..hehehe.. still got 20% off.. there was a sake fair at Isetan .. and being inthe midst of the japanese manning the booth there triggered fond memories... found my 焼酎 selling there too.. but the price was $39.. compared to the 1090 JPY i paid in Tokyo...

Dropped by Taka to see if there was anything new at the fair.. and found the Lego City Cargo Plane 7734 at a discounted price.. bought it for the boy...

レスキューフォースグッズ -- Tomica Rescue Force

2008-05-31T23:51:00.001+09:00

hahaha .. i doubt this will be even be released in singapore anytime... when i was in tokyo , Takara just released these... i bought them without knowing what they were.. and later found out it was a new TV series which was going to be shown on TV Tokyo... anyway .. its avaliable on TV-Nihon.. current its at Ep 07

Saturday..

2008-05-31T07:10:00.002+09:00

school holidays for the boy has started last week.. and since he is home the whole day.. he has been creating a mess of the place... oh man.. mrs decided to enrol him into enrichment classes.. ok lor since the boy;s brain will be resting this man.. hahahaha

some how or rather.. more and more ppl from my company has come to know about this blog... should i change my blog address to something different??.. but seriously.. its only my personel stuff...

oh well.. missing Nihon so much.. still stuck in Lesson 1 of Hiragana... "a" "uu" "ii".. hahaha

bro is coming back and has gotten me the a bottle of 焼酎.. is so much cheaper from nihon.. also told him to get me a japanese keyboard.. have converted one of my system to all japanese input... hehehehe... want to learn japanese have to be serious...

I am also seriously looking at property investment in japan ... .. but only thing is earthquake... hiaz..

have been reading recently the blog of emily on ameblo.jp.... am very surprised that she can speak very very fluent japanese .. shes 20 and a american now residing in japan for a short period.. ( how short i dun know ) cause if you are in japan and decided to extend your visa.. there is a Alien Visa thingy which japan imigration practise ..

Q >When do I have to apply for alien registration?
A >You need to apply within 90 days from the date of your landing in Japan. In case a baby was born in Japan, within 60 days from the date of birth, however, it should be noted that with regard to a visa it is necessary to proceed with acquisition of status of residence (visa) within 30 days from the date of birth.

she has several youtube vlogs which i have even downloaded to my phone for playback...her account is applemilk1988

i like these 2 vid the best..

oh well.. i have to start hard on hiragana...

small storm brewing..

2008-05-29T07:05:00.000+09:00

Vuestar.. wtf is this company you might say.. well over the days... this little know company has been causing a rackle among the webs and forums..

- a local forum got billed $5300 .. when i read this.. it just reminds me of ODEX.. that stupid little company that now has gone quiet..
- New paper also reported on this... oh man.. when i read the report and the owner of the company quoted this from the report

He said: 'We have tried to be good citizens in a country where we thought there was a lot of support for innovation and peoples' rights.

'Instead, the message seems to be, 'We are going to drive you out of this city.'

it this stupid or what... fiak fiak...
- HWZ has a serious discussion on this...

damm.. this is putting singapore in the wrong limelight... firstly the ODEX case.. mas salamat case.. now vuestar case... hiaz.. this is really silly.. sillipore...

2008-05-25T23:33:00.004+09:00

damm week... a issue occured and made me busy.. even when i was on leave on friday.. damm so many phone calls... friday evening i even had to go back to office at 5pm to complete up a report for boss.. by the time i came home , it was already 11 pm...

mrs was a bit unhappy.. but no choice.. seems the rest of the senior guys my boss dun trust... hiaz..

marcus and rachel was not feeling too good this week.. Rachel has a throat infection , and marcus has a irratating throat.. anyway both are well today...

Friday , we went to taka to check out the toy sale.. bought a couple of legos. Caught the Kungfu Panda show..

bought a mounting board from Art Friend .. and had those road plates printed out and pasted on it..Marcus and Rachel luv it....

クーリーハイハーモニー (Cooley HighWay Harmony)

2008-05-22T06:51:00.004+09:00

みなさん found the video i wanted... we caught this grp クーリーハイハーモニー performing at 大阪 when we were there last month in Japan . Nice song : Travelling for You

hiaz.. mrs is not well

2008-05-19T13:57:00.004+09:00

mrs caught the stomach flu .. yesterday and today did not go out at all as mrs was totally out.. she was so tired after taking the medicine from the doctor. Made some Playroad maps for the kids play on. Print it out on a direct A4 sheets and decide how you want to join them up ... Marcus luv it so much...

Plate 1

Plate 2

Plate 3

Plate 4

A Sample Car Park

Start of long weekend..

2008-05-17T22:56:00.007+09:00

yeah... nearly had my weekend burnt by some issues at work, but managed to resolved it at the eleventh hour. Had some things to do this weekend.

- Clean up my Japan City and prepare to lay down the Yamanote lines.
- Get a spanner to screw tight the crank of my bicycle tightly.
- Get a power supply unit to replace the blown out unit when we returned back to Singapore. The power supply got shorted due to the surge.

Went out in the afternoon when the kids were asleep to settle these items. Went to Sungei Road , managed to get the box spanner for $6 , nearly bought this in japan for $14. Bought also some M14 size spring washer to ensure the nut does not come loose again.

Dropped by OG Albert and saw that a lego set was on clearance offer 50% off. Its a Racer Technics Set. Usual $101.95.

My items which we shipped from Osaka and Tokyo arrived on Wed. Marcus was so happy that his truck was here. Begged me to open when i got home in the evening on that day.

day was so sunny at noon when we went to the plaze for lunch and some grocery buying..

Evening , went for a dinner with my bro and parents at Roberston Walk... place was nice.. Bro treated cause he promoted to First Officer.. ya he is a pilot. Nice job , i really envy him.

WII steering..

2008-05-16T07:14:00.002+09:00

when i was in Japan last month , Nintendo released a add on called a WII steering.. cool looking device.. the whole of Yamanote line LCD screens was playing this cute little advert.. and even at the station also has these posters..

Photos Uploaded...

2008-05-13T23:32:00.006+09:00

still in progress.. uploaded till day 08 only and has reached 499 photos..

this is the link of my Public Gallery for my Japan Trip photos

Mom is back also from japan.. and she has gotten my stuffs...

i was doing some research on sapporo and discovered that the temperature there never exceeds 15C thruout the year.. and when winter ends then the temp is above 0 C.. i was like .. waaa.. so cold....how to bring the kids there if we go....

came across some webby for houses in japan and seems that it can be cheap if the unit is more than 5 yrs old as japanese never like to h=own a house for too long..

was looking at some of the old photos of when me and mrs in japan in 2002 vs pics taken now..

Taken in Oct 2002 Asakusa Temple

Now in April 2008 Asakusa Temple

Oct 2002 Daibutsu,Kamakura

April 2008 Daibutsu,Kamakura

Tokyo Web Cam

2008-05-12T06:41:00.002+09:00

l like this link, its a live fed from some cams station at Asakusa Area, Ginza , Narita Airport.. now i know why its called Land of the rising sun. The morning breaks very early.. when i was there.. at 430am local japan time , the sky was turning bright and at 5 am .. its already bright.

Tokyo Street Channel

Hiaz still waiting for my japan packages to arrive.. one from Osaka and the other from Tokyo.

Rachel wants to feed herself..

2008-05-11T20:49:00.003+09:00

noticed since sat , that the girl wanted to feed herself. She would refuse us to feed her. Even today in town for lunch also , she refuses us to feed her. Looks like the girl will be independent soon... now she does not want to sit in the pram at all when we go out.. most of the time since we came back from japan , we have not brought the pram out.

Today collected a 2GB CF card from a seller and glad that the price is only $15

Anyway i took a pic of the damage to the camera when i dropped it. Can you see the small dent on the camera body at the corner near the flash.

1 Week in Singapore since Japan Trip

2008-05-10T21:21:00.004+09:00

till today my knee still hurts slightly but is better.. i still have slight difficulty getting up and down.

Today sis-in-law held her baby's one month celebration. So we planned it to be at her home early. But in the end, we arrived there around 11am .. haha all for planning early.

The kids had fun the whole day and boy am i tired.. brought them for a swim too.

shochu - iichiko

2008-05-09T06:50:00.003+09:00

wats shochu? you might ask..iichiko brand i like.

From Wiki

Shōchū (焼酎, Shōchū?) is an alcoholic beverage of Japan, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake.

Shōchū is produced everywhere in Japan, yet the home of shochu is Kyūshū island

i enjoy drinking this and when i was in Japan , i finished 2 bottles. Will be asking my brother to buy this when he flies there this month end.

Japan price is abou 1100JPY for a 720ml bottle.. in singapore its $14 for a 200ml bottle.. imagine the price diff.

damm.. i should have brought back one more bottle when i came back.

Early warning system fails again as M6.7 quake hits Tokyo, Ibaraki, Saitama and Chiba

2008-05-08T22:26:00.001+09:00

Read the news from japantoday.com .. lucky no massive damage

TOKYO —
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 hit extensive areas centering on the Kanto region including Tokyo in the early hours of Thursday injuring six people, with an early warning failing to be issued in time again. The six people in Tokyo, Ibaraki, Saitama and Chiba prefectures sustained minor injuries due to the 1:45 a.m. quake, according to the government’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

The quake measured lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, and Motegi, Tochigi Prefecture, the Japan Mete, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunamis were reported.

The meteorological agency’s early warning system for major quakes made an announcement 58 seconds after preliminary tremors were detected.

When an earthquake jolted Miyako Island, Okinawa Prefecture, and its vicinity on April 28, the agency announced a quake intensity warning for the first time since its introduction last October but the warning was not issued before the arrival of the quake’s principal motion.

Takashi Yokota, the head of the agency’s Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Division, said the agency will study the feasibility of improving the methods for calculating magnitude because its initial underestimation of the 1:45 a.m. quake was behind the delay in Thursday’s issuance of an early warning.

The early warning system is designed to predict how strong the intensity of a quake may grow—as soon as possible before the quake actually shakes a region—and it is supposed to be activated when intensity is expected to be at a level of lower 5 or above.

Weaker temblors were felt in extensive areas including Tokyo, where the quake registered 3 on the Japanese scale.

The focus of the quake was around 51 kilometers below the surface of the sea in the Pacific off the coast of Ibaraki Prefecture.

The meteorological agency initially estimated the quake’s magnitude at 6.7 and the depth of the focus at 40 kilometers but later revised those figures.

Knee painful..

2008-05-07T12:54:00.002+09:00

hiaz.. right knee is painful, looks like i cant strain my knee too much. Before the japan trip, Past 4 weeks in japan my knee was ok. But before that in singapore, knee started to show signs of strain when i jogged. Looks like i have to stop jogging for a while. Last night still went for a 5KM run... hiaz pushing myself too much.

Shichida method .. ??

2008-05-06T11:45:00.002+09:00

hiaz.. need to start looking at all these ECA for my boy.. dun want him to be behind in this competitive world. Funny thing happen , this weekend at the Plaza, Marcus kept on saying he wanted to go to the library to borrow books. So we went in the evening and he picked some books, he liked. Then at home he pestered me to read to him, which of course i did. And surprise surprise.. some long words like underground , platform , lowrider he knows how to pronouce and read.

Again this morning he told me to read a book to him before i left for work. Looks like after the japan trip he has a eagerness to learn.

Found a interesting website

www.brillbaby.com

Lucky...

2008-05-05T07:29:00.004+09:00

Knew that Golden week was in the beginning of May l;ucky us we returned on Tuesday last week.

Airports, train stations crammed with Golden Week travelers
Saturday 03rd May, 05:51 PM JST

TOKYO —
Major Japanese railroad stations, airports and highways were crammed with travelers heading for resorts and hometowns Saturday as congestion peaked at the start of the second half of the extended Golden Week holiday period in Japan. Shinkansen bullet trains leaving Tokyo were packed, with Tokaido, Tohoku and Joetsu Shinkansen lines seeing seat-occupancy rates top 100%.

Seat-occupancy rates for the Nozomi No. 3 bullet train bound for Hakata, western Japan, marked 200% at Nagoya station, in central Japan. Meanwhile, long traffic jams formed on outbound highway lanes from the capital.

At Tokyo’s Haneda airport, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways flights were all fully booked in the morning. An estimated 43,600 people were due to leave Japan for overseas destinations via Narita airport near Tokyo on Saturday, according to the Narita International Airport Corp. But the number was smaller than usual as this year’s Golden Week holidays are scattered over an eight-day period, airport officials said, adding that most travelers will return to Japan on Tuesday.

Also read on JapanToday that the Osaka's symbol Kuidaore doll on sale, due to the restaurant upcoming closure.

One of the symbols of Osaka is a mechanical doll in Dotonbori, Osaka. Not many people know it is a mascot character of a restaurant behind where stands but those who visit Osaka never forget to take photos with him. The doll has an official name: Kuidaore Taro. Kuidaore means “to ruin oneself by extravagance in food.” He has been there since 1950. But he is on sale now because the restaurant will be closed .... Read Link for more

1st weekend in Singapore

2008-05-04T15:12:00.007+09:00

hahaha ... 1st weekend back in singapore .. did some house cleaning, also since the weather was so hot , i changed the cushion cover set. Washed the fans, clean the window grills and blinds. Dusted off all dust from my rooms and kids room..

After a couple of days in Singapore, i noticed the price increase of some items.
- Chicken thighs from market , Normal its 1.60 each now 1.80
- Chu Zhang Fen , Normal 1.30 now 1.40
- Rice Umbrella brand , normal 10Kg pack 13.80 now 26.80
- McDonalds Happy meal Breakfast set , normal 4.00 now 4.10

Whats going on ... hiaz ..

Last night attended my father-in-laws birthday celebration party. His friends organised for him, was held at KTV at Jurong Entertainment Center.

Also just now bought a official license from kaspersky for my PCs anti-virus. Got sick and tired of using cracked and bootlegged versions. Cost me $60USD for 2 yrs.

This pic was taken at John Little Orchard on Thursday, scouring around for a baby gift for my sis-in-law's one month celebration. In the end bought a umbrella styled pram. Bought the Orange colored one which Marcus is sitting in.

1st day at work

2008-05-02T23:16:00.005+09:00

After my 25 days holiday in Japan, today 1st day 開始の仕事 . Boss also told me he going for leave next week.. i was like.. hahaha ..he must have been stress lots...

HR also made a announcement.. a fellow colleague died of a heart attack during his sleep.. sad sad just a 35ish yrs old man... gone.. life is short, you might not know what will happen next

Anyway just now after work went to collect my IXUS 500 from Canon HarbourFront. I did not mentioned that on day 2 while at Tokyo Station , I dropped my Ixus500 Cam and the dial to switch mode cannot work. It was stuck at Auto Mode. Luckily i brought my spare Canon IxusIZoom along.. just the the Ixus500 cannot switch mode.. taking normal pictures still ok.

Teh repair was FOC , some minor adjustment needed to be done as the alignment was out due to the drop.

Trip Summary

2008-05-01T00:13:00.000+09:00

Total brough 700K JPY to japan (9300 SGD) left with nearly 200K JPY(2500JPY). Credit Card signed about 1.5K. Total including airfare 2.1K + 700(Jr Pass) + 6800 + 1500 = 11K for the whole trip.. but i spent a total of about 2.5 to 3K on toys.. in fact without the toys, i would have spent about 9K for the whole trip.

Meals daily are about 6000JPY daily (all 3 meals).

Overall what we did

- took nearly 3200 pics digitally
- dragged single handled 2 luggages( 30inches ) from Airport to hotel and vice versa
- Brought 5 tins of milk powder to Japan
- brought a 20 month old girl on a 25day trip.
- went to Kobe this round.
- went to a japanese pade
- bought nearly 3K of toys..
- shipped a total of 20kilos by surface still waiting for items to arrive.
- love the way the ladies are dress there.. prine and proper.. unlike singapore flipflops, shorts , singlets etc when going out... over there out of 100 female.. only 1 or 2 might not have makeup on.
- irrashaimase!! i love the traditional welcome greeting from any shops when you entered it in japan. And especially when the Major Stores like Isetan just opened and you are the 1st one to dash in (i was looking for a toilet) and everyone will be standing at their counters welcomming you in. **blush** i was looking for a washroom..hehehe
- Also in japan seldom see plump ladies.. told mrs about it also .. hehehe
- Rachel luv the Bic Camera Jingle...hahahaha

Another Clearer one

Strange strange Ikebukuro.
SEIBU is east (of Ikebukuro station) and
TOBU is west (of Ikebukuro station).
SUNSHINE stands high.
Bic Bic Bic BIC CAMERA!
------------
"Ikebukuro" is a famous place in Tokyo.
The head store of BIC CAMERA is in Ikebukuro.

"SEIBU" and "TOBU" are the names of department stores in Ikebukuro.
"西 nishi" means "west" and "東 higashi" means "east" in Japanese.

"SUNSHINE" is the name of a high building in Ikebukuro.

30th April .. weather in Singapore is hot

2008-04-30T13:30:00.004+09:00

Hot hot hot... damm cant believe it.. we are having a heat wave here at the equatorial. 32 degress based on Singapore Metrologcial Services. Tokyo weather was nice when i was there cool, cloudy , slight rain temp around 17 - 20C. Now its a sweatering 32C.. gosh..

When we were at Nippori , came across some apartments that were being sold. It was a new block near JR 日暮里.. can foreigners buy??? so tempted to buy a apartment in japan for a away trip from singapore.. i need to start attending some jap lessons

Travel Link

2008-04-30T08:40:00.001+09:00

Ok since caught the travel bug.. decided to have a quick link page for meself to check occasionally..will continue adding this page when i see fit

Airline

Northwest Airlines

United Airlines

Cathay Pacific

ANA - All Nippon Airways

JAL - Japan Airlines

Insurance

NTUC INCOME

Day after Japan Trip Brought Rachel to the Pade

2008-04-29T14:54:00.003+09:00

got up at 830am this morning day after Japan Trip, went to do some marketing with Marcus as he also got up the same time as me, at least the boy had a good sleep on board the flight as it was not a full flight, the kids had 2 seats each on left side wing portion. They could stretch their legs fully to sleep while i was handling Rachel, Cause of her runny nose , she had difficulty sleeping.. woke up every 30 mins...

After getting back from Market , Marcus kept on saying he wanted to open the Mack Truck set which we bought from the Disney Store at Taka Shinjuku. I relented and opened for him.

Day 24 - 28 April Going Home to Singapore

2008-04-29T04:00:00.005+09:00

day 24.. hiaz.. 24 days passed so fast.. seems like it was yesterday when we arrived. Left for Tokyo on April 5th and now today is April 28th, time really flies when you are on holidays. Got up at 8am this morning and prepared to checked out of the hotel so that we can have ample time to the airport. We decided to go direct to the airport as we had too many items to lug home!!! I suspect the luggauge will be heavier when we left for Tokyo even tot the kids milk powder was consumed. Brought 3 tins of 900g , left 1 tin. 4 tins of 400g left 1 tin.

Diapers also used up left only about 10 pcs on top of the 1 pack we bought from TRU Ikeburuko. Weather today is beginning to warm up. Also today when we woke up , Rachel was having the flu systomps.. lucky lucky us. The walk from our hotel to Nippori Station took us nearly 30 mins.. haha i had to make mutiple rest lugging the 2 huge luggagues. I even wanted to pack 1 box to ship back to singapore. Decided not to, as we had already sent back 2 boxes. 1 box in Osaka , another box this last monday from Tokyo. Now am blogging from the airport offline and will post this once i get internet connection. Surprised that the airport has no free internet access unlike our Changi Airport back home. Anwyway i love the free access from my hotel thruout the whole trip both in Osaka and Tokyo.

Arrived the airport around 1115am using the Keisei Limited Express train from Nippori. Had our lunch at one of the cafe and a funny thing happened. After ordering our food at the counter, i returned back to our table where mrs and the kids were sitting, and mrs asked me ".. you ordered this green colored drink??".

I looked at her confused and saw the drink on the table. "No" I said.

Then we wondered if the drink has been paid, i told her since we are sitting outside in the open area, and the item served it should had been paid , as i had to pay our order first then they will serve us... then some spaggetti with seafood toppings came, and i saw it was not what i ordered .. we told the man who served us its not ours in Eigo. Ahe he replied "dozo dozo".. hahaha..i told mrs forget it.. just eat since its paid. After 5 mins , our order came, luckily i ordered one set only. Time was 1 pm after we finished our lunch, and mrs said lets try to check in.. i told here cannot be able to check in as the flight has not even arrived yet. But we tried anyway, amd we managed to check in. In the end , found out our total baggage weight was 80kg , and the staff told us no charge.. hehehe lucky us. but we still have heaps of hand carry bags... lol.. 8 bags total... hahaha... you ppl must be wondering how i managed to carry all those.. even the Northwest staff did not say anything. Well since we had 4 hrs to burn , went to the children's playroom located near Gate 27 for the kids to pass the time away.

Marcus was so proud of the vehicle he built.. and said he wanted a picture taken..

At 7pm, we got on the plane with no issues.. and now on the way home :( .. sad sad.. not enough.. i dun want to go home.. Marcus said to me "Papa say goodbye to Japan.. Next April we come again" .. i was like .. ohh the boy.. tears started forming..getting emotional here.. oh well.. its a holiday which the whole family enjoyed..

i still remembered that evening which i saw the offer and told mrs.. and she said dun want to go Rachel still young.. i told her lets go if we keep on worrying she is young and all the things we have to prepare , we will never go.. In the end, i booked the tickets without telling her and only telling her after i paid.

The trip overall was enjoyable, with no major complaints just the 2-3 days which rained while we were in Tokyo...

Day 23 - 27 April Shinjuku , Asakusa and Ibekuruko

2008-04-27T22:27:00.009+09:00

mrs wanted to drop by asakusa street again to do some shopping.. morning dropped by there again and had our lunch there at one of the chinese restaurant there...

Later in the afternoon, we went over to Shinjuku for a walk. Their streets are all close this weekend cause of the upcoming Golden Week(ゴールデンウィーク) starting on Tuesday..

Tomorrow evening returning back home to Singapore... hiaz.. seems so fast my 25 days holidays....

Anyway after the Asuka Sawamoto Incident at Akiba on 20th April (i missed it.. :( ) , The local police has banned all acts and has signs shown prominently..

Heres the video Link on news about the incident on 20th April

After Shinjuku , we rushed down to Ikeburuko Toys R Us as i promised Marcus i will get him the Police car which is similar to the Ambulance bought the first week when we were there. Actually the ambulance and police were unique, it had buttons to press which will play back a annoucement in japanese asking cars to give way.

Day 22 - 26 April Tokyo and Kinshichō

2008-04-26T21:02:00.003+09:00

Lunch ate at a Chinese Cafe at Akihba Square then went to Kinshichō town to shop around, today basically doing some last minute shopping before we return to singapore on Monday evening flight. How time flies, during the beginning of the trip its seems slow.. after back to Tokyo from Osaka, time seems to flies faster... went to the bigger Daiso store that was at Kinshichō, mrs wanted to shop there. Seriously Singapore Daiso at $2 is not cheap compared to Japan's Daiso of 100JPY (1.35SGD).

After Daiso , we went back to Tokyo Station to have our dinner and also shopped at Character street again. After which we made our way back to Nippori..

Some photos ....

Day 21 - 25 April Ueno / Akihabara surroundings

2008-04-25T21:30:00.008+09:00

Nothing planned today and this 2 days before we return to Singapore on Monday. So planned to Ueno and Akihabara area, as i also had to collect the Tomytec item which is now avaliable at the train shop.

Left hotel at 11am.. walked till just now 6pm got back.. legs and hands tired.

one thing always hear at the stations annoucement "Mamonaku, ichiban sen ni densha ga mairimasu. Abunai desu kara, kiiroi sen no uchigawa e, osagari kudasai."

Day 20 - 24 April Imperial Palace, EdiSu and Shibuya

2008-04-24T22:31:00.003+09:00

today's weather slightly rainy , by the time we left the hotel , the rain cleared up and was slightly sunny. So decided to go to the Imperial Palace grounds via Tokyo Station Marunouchi South Exit where you can see the whole brick structure of Tokyo Station. But unfortunately , the whole place was undergoing some restoration works.

After walking the Imperial Palace gorunds, time for lunch.. had lunch at a chinese Restaturant near JR Yurakucho Staion outside BIC camera. After lunch, we dropped by MrCraft near Ebisu station to check out some tomicas.

After shopping at the shop, continued the trip to Shibuya for shopping around the area.. hehehe lucky mrs is not into clothes and makeup. Else she will want to keep on returning to Shibuya...

After dinner , rain started as per weather forecast.. in Japan , i have learned to trust the weather report here.. i use this daily to check the weather for the next 24hrs -> JMA.. The ppl crossing the Shibuya junction was a sight to behold.. many umbrellas

Day 19 - 23 April Kamakura and Ofuna

2008-04-23T21:11:00.007+09:00

Todays weather was great.. sunny and cloudy, made a day trip to Kamakura using the JR Yokosuka line bound for Zushi. Took us about an hour to reach Kamakura station from Tokyo Station (890JPY)

Hase Station.. nice looking old station

After Viewing the Daibutsu at Hase, we made our way back to Kamakura and Ofuna Station to see the Ofuna Kan'non.. the white statue of the Goddess of Mercy overlooking Ofuna Station.

Also here is the famous Shonan Monorail, the train which runs from a overhung rail.

The long steep climb up the slope

still has one lone cherry blossom tree in bloom at the top

Day 18 - 22 April DisneySea Resort

2008-04-22T23:47:00.010+09:00

Ok at least Marcus has recovered .. dun really know what happened to him .. occasionally he will get this throwing up thingy. Anyway after medication the previous day, he did not throw up since evening and thru the night.

This morning both the kids got up at 8am and ready for the trip to Disney. Marcus could even remember the spot he threw out at Tokyo Station. The boy!!!

Arrived at about 11am at TDR and went to find out how to get to Disney Sea. Found out that to save the 25 mins walk from the JR Station to the DisneySea's Park Entrance, we had to take the Disney Resort Line (250JPY Per adult per trip). Marcus was so excited that we were going to take the Disney Train, which he has been mentioning all the while eversince we went to the Land portion

Even tot it was a weekday (Tuesday in fact) , mrs commented how come the park still got so many ppl .. i told her maybe its because Golden week starts next week and ppl could have taken early leave... Spent the whole day there.. had lunch and dinner there.. Lunch and dinner were not really to our taste buds, and pricewise not cheap.. total for both meals alone spent nearly 7K JPY...also we rented a additional pram for Rachel as Marcus is always sitting in her pram for this trip.

Rides alone.. Marcus could not go to a few due to height restrictions..( at least 1.3m)
1)Mysterious Island
- Journey to the Center of the Earth
2)Lost River Delta
- Indiana Jones Adventure Temple of the Crystal Skull
- Raging Spirits

but he managed to ride the Tower of Terror at American Waterfront. After the ride , he said he wanted to go another round. He says he like fast. The boy!!!

Left the resort grounds about 9pm.. saw the fireworks and the Spring Carnival night parade...

Day 17 - 21 April .. hiaz

2008-04-21T23:44:00.001+09:00

now its Marcus turn .. dun know what happened .. plan was to go to DisneySea today.. but halfway on the way there .. at Tokyo Station, he threw up .. suspect could be due to the trip from Osaka back to Tokyo by Shinkansen.

Anyway we cancelled the trip for the day and spent the whole day at the hotel area and surroundings... hiaz...

Day 16 - 20 April Back to Tokyo

2008-04-20T22:09:00.004+09:00

Today , we left for Tokyo from Osaka, booked the seats for the 1213 train leaving Shin-Osaka to Tokyo. Checked out from hotel at 10am and left for the station. Reached Shin-Osaka at about 1030am.. and just as we got off the Midosuji Line train on the platform, I realised my backpack and laptop bag was left on the train!! Luckily did not panick, quickly approach the train staff on the platform and inform him about my bags. He brought me down to the station Master's office and he informed one of the staff there. The staff check a time schedule and mentioned that the train will return back to this same station. So in a matter of less than 10 mins, he came back with my backpack and laptop. Kudos to the staff of Shin-Osaka Station Midosuji line.

After this episodes, the time was already 1045 and as our reserved seats on the Shinkansen was 1213pm, we decided to change the time to 1113, to leave an hour earlier for Tokyo. Packed a set of Bento lunch from one of the restaurant at the station to have it on the trip back to Tokyo. Weather today is hot!!.. at least 25C. Plan today was to reach our Hotel at Nippori then unpack bags to wash some clothes.

Arrived hotel at 3pm.. and did some washing, kids were also hungry by then. Had already bought some finger food , so we whipped up some instant noodles.. hahaha...

Day 15 - 19 April Kobe

2008-04-19T23:57:00.009+09:00

since we missed the trip to Nagoya, today was supposingly a free day for shopping .. Mrs suggested we go to Kobe today .. did some checks on the web .. fastest way to get to kobe will be from Osaka Station. Not necessary taking the bullet train will be the fastest as you sill have to change to another train to get to town once you arrive at Shin-Kobe from Shin-Osaka.

There was a Rapid Train from Osaka to Kobe Station which takes about 20 mins.. fast enough for me.

Kids got up at 8am this morning as we put them to sleep last night around 830pm. Rachel has fully recovered and now is back to her normal monstery behaviour. Marcus is as playful as always.

Had breakfast at the hotel's longue and left for Osaka Umeda Station from Namba using the Midosuji Line(230JPY)

After arriving at Kobe Station, we headed for Kobe famous Harbourland .. something similar to our Marina Square area .. Kobe Port Tower is also situated here .. had lunch at a restaurant at Mosaic Square Kobe, the tables has a fascinating view of Kobe harbour. Was surprised that after our lunch when we walked towards the entrance of the restaurant, there was a queue formed waiting to have lunch, the rest of the other restaurant do not seem to have a queue. Had a short walk around the boardwalk area took some pics infront of the restaurant which had a old truck which Marcus love.

After Kobe , we headed back to Sannomiya Station to have a walk around the shopping area near there.. day was sunny and tired after 2 hours of walking.

This picture is taken by Marcus . heheh need to train the boy to start using the Camera.

Day 14 - 18 April Kyoto

2008-04-18T23:59:00.005+09:00

After settling the package to be sent back to homeland at the post office.. cost me 4500JPY to send a 8kg parcel back home....

Today decided to make the trip to Kyoto to visit the famous Kiyomizudera Temple("Pure Water Temple")..left osaka about 11am.. took the Shinkansen to Kyoto 20 mins.. arrived at Kyoto Station.. decided to have a early lunch as the trip to the Temple will not be able to stop for meals...

Had lunch at Kyoto Station... Cha Ha( fried Rice) and Kuna Don(Beef Rice with egg).. dunno is it spelt this way or not..lol...

then proceeded to the Tourist information booth to get to the temple... time was around 1pm liao... and damm it was still mao mao rain... so we waited and laze around Isetan JR Kyoto... and found some tomicas there.. hahaha. a JR Kyoto Special edition bus ( 1050 JPY ).. and also a NHK Jeep ( 950JPY )..

After half an hour..the rain stopped completely.. then we proceeded to take bus 206 to Gojo-Zaka .. the street leading to the Temple... a quick 15 mins ride.. strange.. every time the bus stop at the lights, the driver will turn off the engine.. is it a regulation???.. then once the lights turn green the driver will proceed to turn on the engine again to move the bus...

We spent nearly 2 hrs at the temple.. and by the timne we left for Kyoto Station, it was already 430pm.. and the buses back to Kyoto station were packed.. so we took a cab.. the cab fare from the temple to Kyoto is less than 1000 JPY...

on the long steep climb up the road to the Temple...

Day 13 - 17 April Osaka Castle

2008-04-18T00:46:00.005+09:00

woke up and found it was raining.. so went out once the rain stopped at 1130am... Rachel is so much better now... her meals are normal.. and milk drinking is also normal.. no stoppage in the 2 regimes.. plan today since did not go to Nagoya today as it was raining and the whole trip to Nagoya will take 3 hrs plus to get to the Toyota KaiKan Plant , we scrapped the plan.. planned Osaka Castle instead..

Left Hotel around noon time when rain stopped.. and had lunch at Tennoji Station..

**** damm something is wrong with blogger again to post pics... so all pics are posted from my photobucket account ****

After Lunch , we headed straight for Osaka Castle using the Jr Loop line.. sky look cloudy and might rain anytime.. so we had to be fast...luckily , the rain missed us.. it started to drizzle again after we finish with the photos at Osaka Castle

damm long flight of stairs.. had to go up this flight of stairs with the baby stroller... damm damm.. complain to mrs this flight of stairs was not here 5yrs back.. hahaha.. then it dawn on me that we came in the other direction.. we are entering thru the main gate of the castle while the previous time , we were entering thru the rear.. After reaching the top, kids wanted their milk... hiaz.. milk stop again...

After the trip to the castle , we stopped by hotel New Otani nearby for Rachel's Diaper change and a short rest for the kids indoors.. by the time we left for the train station , rain started.. lucky us , it was a drizzle.. so still managable... also due to the rain , suspect there was a accident at Osaka Station due to the vast amount of train staff at the station inspecting a section of the tracks.. the whole platform was crawling with Train staff ....anyway we were delayed like for 20mins ...

had our dinner at Osaka Station area.. then walked around the place a while.. but left around 8pm for the kids to have a early night sleep... tomorrow we plan to go to Kyoto.. hope the weather holds...

the box the kids are on are some of the stuffs we gotten in Osaka.. which tomorrow going to the post office to send back home to singapore by surface... luckily the post office is just 10 steps away from my hotel.. hahahaha...

Day 12 - 16 April Osaka Rainy..

2008-04-16T23:39:00.003+09:00

hiaz a rainy day also.. and Rachel is not well.. our dreaded secnario.. hahaha.. anyway managed to bring her to a local doctor here and given some medicine.. apparently her throat is infected .. sore throat.. hiaz.. given a dose of antibotics.. and since today is a rainy too , decided to scrap all plans of a outing even tot there is a big shopping area underground at Namba..