Japan Day 2 - 4 Feb 2016

I arrived at Haneda Airport at 0615 hours, greeted by the inky blue skies and the brisk cold air.  Upon the efficient immigration and baggage claims, it was straight to the ticket station to top up my Suica, the subway card that will allow me to transverse the Tokyo metro.  Good thing I had earlier purchased this card during my last trip to Japan!

Taking the Keiko line, it was all the way down to Shinagawa station where a change of train along the Yamanote line was made towards Shinjuku station.  It was still very early at around 7am when I arrived at Shinagawa station, but the working crowd had already started to gather in fury. This is something I'm familiar on almost a daily basis when I go to work.  Somehow, it was therapeutic looking at the crowd when I was on holiday.  The mood was just different!  Haha.

Finally arrived at Shinjuku station.  This is one of the busiest stations in Tokyo, with multiple lines connected, and thousands of passengers walking through each day!  With big luggage bags and thick winter coat plus the huge crowd, it took a while before locating the Odakyu ticket counter.  It was super early with no queue, good time to purchase the Hakone 3 days free pass.  Well, the pass isn't really fee but it allowed one to take the return journey to Hakone, and enjoy some attractions in Hakone, with others at a discount.  The Romance Train is an addition to the free pass, and would take around an hour instead of the usual 2 hours to reach Hakone.  

However the train departure time saw a wait time of an hour at Shinjuku.  Hence a hot cup of mocha latte at Cafe Lu-Le at the West exit, plus a short window shopping around the station.  

Another short wait later and the Romance Train started to move out of the station.  The ride was smooth, with the Tokyo city scene changing into the suburbs and outer city views.  On board, a bento was purchased, but it was cold and not very tasty.  A transfer was made at Odawara station for JR time towards Yugawara Station.  It was then a short 15 min bus ride to arrive at Ootaki Onsen hotel.  As the check in time was still 4 hours away, the bags were deposited at the reception while exploration of nearby sights began. .

assigned seats onboard the Romance Car

nice to look, but not good to eat bento

very welcoming signboard at hotel entrance!!

独步汤 foot hot spring has 9 different pools filled with different rocks and pebbles.  Each has its own healing properties such as reducing cholesterol levels and minimizing heart attacks.  My very first onsen of the trip and it was very open and the cold winter breeze and lots of steam around.  Nice.

footspring park

After the soak, it was off for a simple lunch at a local ramen store before heading for the local mini mart for some essentials and a very interesting and simply delicious cream cheese ice cream!  

gyozas

ramen lunch

me and my cream cheese ice cream

Then it's was a nice walk up the hills back to check into Ootaki Hotel.  The room was spacious with a living area and a window side sitting area (with great views of the greenery!)  Very Japanese feel with tatami flooring.  The first thing after checking out the room was heading for the in house onsen.  The onsen consisted of 2 pools: indoor and outdoor.  The washing area was located by the indoor pool.  After a thorough cleansing, it was straight into the indoor pool.  Oh how I'd missed the soak!  It was a nice temperature and very relaxing.  The outdoor pool was supposed to be hotter, but felt cooler due to the cold weather.  The scenery of the nearby forest made the soak more enjoyable and relaxing!  

again very personalized room entrance

main living and sleeping area

view from my room

entrance to onsen

indoor onsen with showering area

outdoor onsen with a view

personal storage rack

rooftop onsen

After the invigorating soak, it was back to the room where the in room dinner was already set up and ready to be consumed!  The 10 course dinner was exactly like what I'd seen on TV (Japan Hour) and it was just overwhelming to dine in my Yakuta and on tatami floor with the cool winter winds slightly felt by the warm heater!  

my BIG Japanese dinner in room!!

The dinner consisted of a plate of sashimi with 7 varieties of fishes, a hot pot for 3 slices of beef, fish paste vegetables tempura, salmon rice porridge, chicken and radish stew, grilled yam and pumpkin topped with miso jam, fatty tuna cooked with sour plum jam, chawamushi, seasonal sushi and a refreshing sour plum jelly as dessert!  I was already looking forward to breakfast the next day with this awesome spread!

very Japanese sleeping

After dinner, the staff cleaned up the area and converted it into typical Japanese sleeping mattresses.  I was so tired from the flight and I slept for almost 10 hours!! Very nice and restful indeed!

Japan Day 1 - 3 Feb 2016

I need to really think about how to avoid a mad rush after work to the airport.  Finishing my work at 6pm and rushing for a 10.30pm flight was no joke!

I'm returning to the Land of the Rising Sun, only this time it was my first leisure trip!  9 nights of full exposure to all things eccentric and cultural about Japan!  And how better to start than taking Japan's most awarded airline, ANA Nippon Airways!  The interior was a very zen feel and seats were narrow with very intuitive touchscreen on every seats.  The plane departed on time but no dinner was served!  A snack pack of chips and pie was served instead, which was a huge disappointment.  Perhaps I was too pampered by SIA.  Perhaps it was a good thing as I went ahead with my very brief and uncomfortable sleep.  Seat was not as comfortable as I'd imagined.  I managed only light sleep for a couple of hours.  Breakfast was uninspiring as well with rather bland porridge and edible soba.  If this was the standard of a Top 10 airline 2015, I'm worried about my flight to Amsterdam later this month via KLM which is not even in Top 20!!

brand new seats with latest inflight systems on ANA, but still felt cold and unwelcoming

breakfast with cold noodles

Bangkok Day 5 - 19 Jan 2016

This was an equally tiring day as I had to arrive at 9am at Bangpoo for the final broker interview.  Checking out early in the morning and with all my luggages at the reception, I rushed out for my long journey (again) to the industrial site.

Along the way, I was feeling a bit sleepy.  I thought it might have been the drink I had the night before.  Well, only a few meetings today, so it was alright.  

lunch with super spicy tom yum at Philips Factory

I was supposed to complete all meetings by 12pm and head back to hotel.  However a last minute meet up was arranged and this delayed my departure to 2pm.  After arriving at the hotel at around 3.30pm, I rushed out to a nearby massage parlor for a 1 hour oil massage.  Either I was really tired or too stressed, the short session soothed me really well!   

After massage, I jogged back to Holiday Inn to grab my luggages and a taxi to the airport.  It was a journey filled with intense anxiety as I was seriously pushing the time boundaries.  The initial traffic gridlock did not help calm my nervous nerves.  I arrived at the airport in the nick of time, just before the close for check in baggage!!!!   My check in luggage increased from then 11kg to now 21kg!! All the rushing made me so hungry (then again I was surprisingly hungry most of the time during this trip!) I bought myself a mango sticky rice box.  Alas, I failed to consider the boarding time, and ended having to bring it on board to eat!  

It was a short leisure cum work trip with lots of late nights and early mornings, and I reckon I will need a few days to get back those lost sleep!

Bangkok Day 4 - 18 Jan 2016

A very early wake up today for work of course.  I was up and ready to be picked up at 7.45am!!!!  The journey to the factory at Bangpoo Industrial was surprisingly smooth and I had a good conversation with my 2 colleagues.  After an hour's journey, I finally arrived at Bangpoo Industrial.  Philips Lights has been occupying this plot for many years and now it's time to appoint a broker to help dispose this site.

Lunch was a very simple affair at the factory's canteen.  

Due to the schedule of my stakeholder, what was supposed to be a 3/4 days' work became a full day stay at the industrial site.  I ended up returning to my hotel at around 6.30 pm instead.  After a very brief rest and a change of clothes, I brisk-walked over to nearby Emporium.  The newly constructed and refurbished mall is huge and spreader over two sides of the Phrom Phong BTS station.  I headed directly to the restaurant section in EMQuartier and was confronted by a spiral of restaurants over 3 floors!  This was an interesting walk to shop for your choice of dining.

I eventually settled at White Story and ordered a Honey Lemon soda drink which was immediately refreshing.  The pumpkin soup was decent but the side bread took all the shine away as it was warm and toasty, enhanced by the light creamy butter!  The main course definitely was a show off, the size of the ribs was ginormous!  I was surprised I almost finished it off!

After a very filling dinner, it was a nice stroll back to the hotel.  Stopping by at Boots to grab some items before heading to the hotel's pool side cafe, Zeta Cafe, where I claimed my complimentary drink.  It was my first Chivas Regal, and the atmosphere was nice with the soft glows of the lights reflected over the calm pool and towering buildings surrounding around.  And yes, I was so ready for bed after the drink. 

Bangkok Day 3 - 17 Jan 2016

After a late night out the day before, it was a lazy wake up again, this time without the aid of an alarm clock.  Today was a solo exploration of the city without my friend. 

I clocked in at the familiar (and very popular) Platinum Mall for some quick purchases.  The initial intention was to grab a cab, but then I realized it was only a 15 walk from Chitlom BTS (accompanied by the harsh rays of the sun though).  After shopping, I gave another shot of the local Thai chicken rice.  Only this time, I had made sure I tried the locally famous chicken rice.  I had gone for a taste last August, but apparently it was the wrong stall!  Kuang Heng was a traditional stall selling chicken rice since the 1930s.  The portion was small, and the rice was mushy.  This was much tastier than the rest I've tried in Bangkok and I can see why it's famous.  However, I still preferred the Singaporean version any day. 

I rushed back to hotel for a quite dip in the pool, which was filled with Caucasians and basking in the glow of midday sun.  It was refreshing since I was sweating tons on my way back!  I checked out of Courtyard (my leisure hotel) and headed to Siam Paragon for some mandatory activities like getting the rich Hokkaido milk, shopping at the Gourmet Market, and catching a 4D movie (The 5th Wave).  What I did not managed to do this round was to get some Montong.  Well, this wasn't exactly a leisure trip anyways! 

rich Hokkaido milk with Belgium Chocolate

After movie, I headed back to Courtyard to pick up my luggages and took a cab to Holiday Inn Sukhumvit (my work hotel). I was pretty disappointed that Holiday Inn doesn't allow complimentary early or late check in check out.  It used to be my favorite brand.  

Holiday Inn Room

After putting down my bags and a quick change of my top, I headed down to the bustling Silom for dinner at Silom Complex's Banana Leaf Thai restaurant.  Although I'm not a fan of Thai food, I do love their steamed river prawns and fragrant fried rice.  A sweet melon juice was also in order to complete the meal.

Green Curry fried rice

garlic steamed prawns

Some bargain shoppings along the street as well in Silom, which is famous not only for its 'red lights' but also night market.  Oh, not forgetting purchasing essentials at Boots.  I was such typical Singaporean with so much purchasing this trip!!

It was an early return to the room to prep myself for a super early start the next morning.  Oh how I hated waking up at 6.45am!!

Bangkok Day 2 - 16 Jan 2016

 I had arrived on Friday night so as to spend the full weekend in Bangkok.  It's a city you will not get tired off, although this was probably my first time traveling solo here.  Well, lucky I've got a local Thai friend, Tour, to accompany me today.

A lazy wake up morning in the cushy bed, I was up, showered and ready for my day's adventure, wherever Tour will be taking me to!

First up, it was a quick bite stop at MBK.  I had the usual shark soup to warm my tummy before taking my first ever public bus journey in Bangkok!

Hot claypot coup!

I arrived at Chinatown's Sampeng Market.  This was my first visit to the bustling market even though I've been to Chinatown numerous times before!  The crowd practically clogged the streets and you really need to slowly navigate in order to move ahead.  Even so, there was a sense of orderly around.  There was a variety of shops selling various stuff, but less touristy as Chatuchuk Market.  The prices here were also competitive as they slashed it to very low rates!  The only grim I had was the journey there, otherwise it would be the perfect bargain market to visit!

first public bus ride in Bangkok

After satisfying the shopping cravings, it was a taxi ride to Body Treat for a full scrub and oil massage.  I was here back in August 2015, and this time, the session was just as relaxing.  

Dinner is something I've not tried before at a local favorite joint P All.  This is located near to Ratchathewi BTS at exit 3, walk with the flow of the traffic, turn left at the first junction, at the end of the road ramp, cross the road and into the small road alley Soi 7.  You will notice a lot of shops selling Islamic stuff.  Turn left upon hitting The Brother Suite and walk for 3 minutes and you will arrive at the shop. The restaurant closed every Monday, and there was already a queue even though we were early!  

entrance of P-All

The star of the show definitely belonged to the lobster noodles.  The 5 treasure noodles contained, needless to say, there were 5 main ingredients: Lobster, salmon, mussels, stuffed crab, and stuffed squid.  I ordered the standard B 699 version, which was big enough for my tummy.  Actually, it was meant for 2 pax, just nice for Tour and me to share.  Although the star was the lobster, the tomyum broth was so yummy it made the glass noodles to tasty. 

5 Treasure Noodles

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After dinner, it was a stroll around Bangkok city before heading back to rest my head for the day.