Summer Holidays 2008 - Part I

So what have I been up to since end of July?? More than 35 days into my 2nd summer holiday, I must admit I wasn't very productive.. :P

• Went to Kansai for a week with my sister - visited Nara, Kyoto and Osaka.


• Went to Tokyo Disneyland with my sister.


• Went to Tokyo DisneySea with my sister.


• Went to four of the Fuji Five Lakes.


• Attended the First Genseiryu World Karate Competition. (shall blog about this next time)


• Read two books and in the midst of reading the third. Another 5 more to go.. :)


• Watched 16 movies and 5 documentaries (both Chinese and English) so far.


• Caught up to date with 4 different variety shows from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

To date, I have been really enjoying my holidays.. maybe to some of you, what I have been doing so far don't really match the idea of an "exciting" summer holiday, but at least I am doing things that I couldn't do while working.. like sleeping and waking up late :)

However with school just 3 weeks away, I need to, among others, start revising my Japanese.. Since I had signed up for JLPT level 2 this coming December, I wanna make sure I pass level 2 this time round.. and then proceed to take level 1 next July.. For the sake of future $$$$ (salary), I had better make sure my Japanese is of certain proficiency.. :x Then there are those tasks given by my professor that had to be done before school starts.. :(

With the end of the rainy days nowhere in sight, staying in my room and reading/watching (movies/documentaries) or not doing anything at all seemed to be the best way to enjoy my remaining holidays.. don't you agree?? ;)

DisneySea Japan

2nd day.. Off we go to DisneySea Japan!! :) We alighted at the same train station, Maihama Station (舞浜駅). Instead of going right, we turned left.. Seemed like we need to take the Disney Resort Line to get to DisneySea.. another 250yen for one way.. :x

Again, a summary of the rides we took..
1. Tower of Terror
Strapped on and free falling.. Not too bad..
2. Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of Crystal Skull
The usual ride with Indiana being the main lead..
3. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
A trip to the deep sea.. seeing creatures and monsters of the deep.. The effects are so-so.. Not impressive at all.. maybe for kids..
4. Journey to the Center of the Earth
Nothing fantastic about the ride.. Expected more from it.. Kinda disappointing..
5. Raging Spirits
Roller coaster-like.. Very mild compared to the real thing..

It rained very very very heavily during one of the shows on the main lagoon in the afternoon.. Almost everyone was soaked and wet.. The rain kinda drove away my mood for having fun.. Being sticky and wet weren't quite the state that I would like to be in.. with only one umbrella between the two of us, we knew that it won't provide much shelter against heavy rain.. so we just kinda waited for the rain to subside..
We just went to those indoor rides.. hoping to find one that is fun.. but unfortunately, we didn't... :( maybe we were too "seasoned" and had became numb to those mild rides.. :P So we went around looking to a place to have our dinner.. all the themed restaurants were very expensive.. finally we went to Cape Cod Cook-off which offered set burgers with drinks and fries..

Then we sorta waited for the last performance at the Lagoon.. We were quite tired at that point and didn't really harbor any expectation that the show would be anything special.. but boy were we, happily, wronged.. It was really a spectacular show of fire and water called BraviSEAmo!

Here are some of the photos of the show..

And here are 2 clips of the show that I took with my camera..



We left after getting 3 different flavors of pop-corn (strawberry, cappuccino and caramel) for my brother.. :P and I bought a little Tigger for myself.. :)


More photos from DisneySea...

Disneyland Japan

Went to Disneyland Japan and DisneySea in 2 consecutive days with my sister.. We bought the 2-day pass at 10,000yen each for entry into these 2 attractions, instead of paying 5,800yen for each separately...

We decided to go to Disneyland first and then DisneySea the next day.. It was the 25th Anniversary of Disneyland Japan and everywhere there are banners displaying the number 25..

A summary of the rides we took:
1. Pirates of the Caribbeans
Being a big fan of Johnny Depp, this was one ride that I had to take.. It was just simple fun but creepy as well as the figurines along the ride looked pretty real to me..
2. Big Thunder Mountain
One of the few more exciting ride within the park, kinda short though.. Should give it a try.. be prepared to queue.. Managed to be seated in the first carriage.. wow.. was it fun!! :)
3. Splash Mountain
One of the few more exciting ride within the park.. Should give it a try.. be prepared to queue..
4. Pinocchio's Daring Adventure
Nothing daring at all.. just a trip down the story of Pinocchio..
5. Haunted Mansion
Fun, rather than scary ride.. Boasted about having 999 different ghosts within the ride..
6. Space mountain
Get ready to be tossed around this exciting ride in "space".. Not for those with heart ailments..
7. Western River Railroad
A benign train ride that takes you to the old West of America, with Indian settlements and old mines..


There were several big scale performances/parades within the day.. Here are some of those that we caught..
1. Goofy's Cool Panic Parade

2. Cool the Heat
Everyone got drenched by the cannons of water, especially those standing right in front of the stage.. but the kids loved it.. :)
3. Jubilation Parade
Some clips on the parade..

4. Starlight Dream Parade
This was a night parade, and the floats were just magnificent..


All the Disney merchandises were all very very tempting.. They are not cheap, yet people doesn't seemed to notice at all.. be it towels, t-shirts, hand phone deco, soft toys, key chains, stationeries, earrings, biscuits, everything and anything.. The sight of everyone, young, old, men or women, just piling these merchandises onto their trolleys was really the wet dream of any product merchandisers.. in the end, I too bought a kids t-shirt and a hand towel for Rio.. :P

Again, we stayed till almost closing time.. :P Everyone left Disneyland with a smile on their face and a bagful of merchandise.. no wonder Disneyland Japan is the most profitable Disneyland in the world..

I must say that given a choice, I would prefer to go to USJ (Universal Studios Japan) in Osaka.. :P Disneyland and DisneySea are more for kids that aimed to realize the dream of the kid inside every one of us.. :) The rides are milder as they need to cater for young children.. And surprisingly, even though it was a Monday, the place was crowded.. unlike USJ, most of the visitors here are local Japanese..

More photos of Disneyland that I took..

Kansai Trip: Day Seven

Last day in Kansai.. :( As our coach back to Tokyo was leaving Umeda Station around 10:30pm, we had the whole day to go sight-seeing.. but the two of us were pretty tired thus we would just take things easy and just go to wherever we fancied..

We checked out of that nice apartment around 10:30am.. We dragged our bulging luggages to Umeda Station and put them in one of the lockers there.. and off we go to Kyoto, for one last time..

We decided to visit Shimogamo Jinja (下賀茂神社) or otherwise known as 下鴨神社.. Entrance fee was 600yen per person and it included a short guided tour in Japanese.. Here are some of the photos...

Here I bought more amulets, or rather my sister bought more for her friends.. Soon it was past noon.. We decided not to visit anymore temples or shrines and just go back to Kyoto town area.. We wanted to see all the interesting shops around Sanjo (三条) area..

Unexpectedly, we saw a couple of temples and shrines "hidden" among the shopping streets in downtown Kyoto.. here are some of them...

As we did not want to risk missing our coach, we decided to have dinner around 6pm and got back to Osaka before 8pm. Once we got back to Osaka, we went looking for the assemble point for our coach.. We almost got lost but luckily, we asked for directions from an fire department officer manning his station nearby.. Now that we knew where to meet up later, we went looking for cafes or McDonald's to kill time.. unfortunately, we couldn't see any McD around and we went to Doutour, a local coffee house that serves drinks and snacks..

Time passed slowly and finally it was time to get on the bus.. The seats we had were quite bad.. they were narrower and very uncomfortable than the ones we took coming to Osaka.. so the price did matter (3,700yen versus 5,000yen per seat).. and the worst was that we couldn't lower our seats at all.. thus we spent almost 8 long horrible hours sitting upright, constantly shifting our weights around and changing positions so that our legs or butts won't get numbed.. :(

We reached Shinjuku around 6:30am on 01 Aug, thus ending my one-week Kansai Trip with my sister.....


More photo of Kyoto from Day Seven..
p/s: Same photos are available in my Facebook photo album.

Kansai Trip: Day Six

Today, we were off to Kyoto.. :)

First stop, Toji Temple (東寺).. Although I have been there before last year, this temple was one of the many that I think is worth revisiting..

And the fact that there are statues of the Yakushi Trinity (Yakushi-nyorai and his two attendants, Nikko and Gakko Bosatsu, 薬師如来, 日光菩薩 & 月光菩薩) in one of the Halls.. We paid 500yen each for the entrance fee..

My sis bought a couple of amulets for her friends and classmates.. I didn't really take that many photos here as I have already taken most of the sceneries last summer..


Next stop, Kiyomizu Tera (清水寺), also another must-see in Kyoto.. another reason for wanting to go there early was that last summer, we missed the Jishu Jinja (地主神社), a place to worship for love/relationship/marriage.. :)

Before we reached Jishu Jinja, there was a special exhibition at the main hall of Kiyomizu Tera. It was to travel through the womb of the Mother of Buddha (胎内めぐり).. We had to take off our shoes, then descend into a place that symbolizes the womb. We had to hold on to a rope with our left hand and walk through the "maze" in total darkness. This was to symbolize forsaking all human senses and rebirthing when we reached a stone with a Sanskrit symbol that represents the Mother of Buddha. We could then make a wish upon it.. It was really quite an experience as the "maze" was really really really very dark and I can't even see my own hand even if I were to put it right in front of my face...


In front of the Main hall, there is a office-like building that accepts requests for prayers..By paying amounts ranging from 5,000yen to 150,000yen, worshipers can have specific prayers performed by priests for one week to a year.. They even accept mail order requests!!


Then of course, how could one miss the two famous "love-fortune-telling" stones... These two stones are about 10 meters apart. People believes that if a person is able to walk safely from one stone to the other with closed eyes, his or her love will be realized. Else, he or she will need the help of friends and family..

My sister tried it but I didn't cos I don't see anything special in this since we know that most human tend to stray to one side while walking with closed eyes and also, if one walks fast, the chances of walking a straight line, thus able to reach the other stones, will be higher.. so.. :P

There are more than one worship locations within Jishu Jinja that caters to many different needs.. like good fortune, happiness, ward off misfortune, and many more, but of course, everyone goes to Jishu Jinja for just one thing - love and marriage.. The sale of amulets and charms was very brisk.. again, my sister bought a couple.. for herself and her friends.. Me? I didn't get any.. :P But I did get my fortune told by choosing a fortune slip (200yen).. and my fortune wasn't good.. I got a "Not-good" (凶) slip which I tied at the side of the temple.. :x :x while my sister got a "minor good" (小吉) slip.. :)

For those who are interested to read more about this Cupid of Japan, go here. Unfortunately, it is in Japanese only..

Last stop of the day, Nanzenji Temple (南禅寺).. Again, this was one of the temples that I had visited last summer, thus not much photos taken here..

Thus concluded the 6th day of my Kansai Trip.. one more day to go..



More photos of Kyoto from Day Six..
p/s: Same photos are in my Facebook photo album.

Kansai Trip: Day Five

After checking the weather report and found that Kyoto area was expecting some rain, we decided to head to the famous themed-park of Osaka, Universal Studios Japan instead.. Having done some "homework" earlier, my sister had singled out several of the more interesting/exciting rides that we were going to take and that really did pay off handsomely... :)

The entrance fee to Universal Studios Japan, or more commonly called USJ isn't cheap.. it is 5,800 yen per person, same as the entrance fee to Disneyland Japan.. but personally speaking, it was well-worth it.. I believed my sis felt the same way too.. :) :)

We reached USJ slightly after 9am and the crowd was already building up.. Once we bought our ticket and got in, we went straight to our first ride, Hollywood Dream - The Ride. But first we had to put our things in the lockers which luckily is refundable.. The queue was pretty long and the estimation given was around 70 minutes.. then it started drizzling which slowly became raining.. :( yet, everyone stayed in their queues... some went off to get raincoats or umbrellas, but everyone were determined to have their rides.. :) And boy, it was really worth it.. It has a single vertical 360 degree loop and 2 horizontal 360 degree loops.. My heart was still pounding 30 minutes after the ride.. :P

We took a few more rides which I would rate and rank as below...
Hollywood Dream - The Ride
Thrill Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Average queuing time: 70mins

Remarks: It is a roller coaster ride. Period. Would have love to do it again if the queue didn't keep growing..

Jurassic Park - The Ride
Thrill Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Average queuing time: 70mins

Remarks: The special effects was ok and nothing really fantastic, except for the final plunge (about 26m according to the brochure) off a waterfall that made my pants all wet..

Peppermint Patty's Stunt Slide
Thrill Rating: 4 out of 5

Average queuing time: 70mins

Remarks: On a two-person raft.. This was a fun and wet ride inside a twisty water tube slide.. Came out with my pants all wet (again)..

Watched one show, Terminator 2: 3-D, which was pretty good. The story line is simple and the effects were cool.. Don't miss this show.. :)

There are several big areas within USJ and some of them are really quite nicely done up.. and some of them which I just can't help myself but to proclaim, "So beautiful!".. We just kept taking photos of every structure, statue, building and just stuff.. Everything looked as if it came out of the movie set..

Some of the major areas are:
Hollywood


Land of Oz

Amity Village

Jurassic Park

San Francisco

Even the dinosaurs couldn't make me change my mind, as my favorite of them all is..
Snoopy Studios

Some night sceneries...

We were in USJ for almost 12 hours.. we had gotten wet from queuing for "Hollywood Dream - The Ride" in the rain, then dried walking under the hot sun, and then wet again after "Jurassic Park - The Ride", dried again and wet again after Pepper Patty's Stunt Slide.. This being summer, the parades all involved spraying or throwing water at the audiences.. Here is one of the clips...


My sis and I must be quite smelly by the end of the day, but so is everyone there.. :P We had turkey legs (cost 680yen each but not as tasty as I thought) for lunch, waffles for tea breaks and hot-dogs for dinner.. We stayed to watch the night show, Peter Pan's Neverland and only left USJ around 10pm.. If the place stayed open, I think a lot of people wouldn't want to go home either.. :P :) :P :)

Other than the time we spent queuing for rides, we went wondering around the huge themed-park.. Taking photographs and looking at all the tempting merchandises on sale.. In the end, I bought a Jurassic Park dog-tag which was on 30% sale and a Snoopy key-chain for my sis and me... Also, I spent a fortune, more than 4000yen on
souvenir medallions, like the ones shown here.. They have these souvenir medallions for all the major characters.. I just had to collect all of them... :x So I did spend a small fortune at USJ, but looking back, I still think it was well-worth it.. :) :) :)

Some advice if you plan to visit USJ:
- Prepare to spend ONE WHOLE DAY at USJ, believe me, you won't want to leave the place once you got in..
- Wear dark pants and don't wear skirts if you are planning to take the rides.
- Prepare to get wet in some of the rides, at least your lower body....
- Prepare to wait a long time for rides, as 60 to 80 minutes' wait is the norm, unless you want to pay at least 4000yen for an Express Booklet.
- Bring a change of clothes or a towel to wipe yourself and deodorants..
- Be ready to fork out high prices for meals and drinks, even a usual 150yen bottled drink will cost you 250yen inside!!!

More photos of USJ from Day Five..
p/s: Same photos are in my Facebook photo album.