Happy Halloween! Bert says Hi!

Yay! We have received the money from our insurance for hubby's medical claims! =)

Japan Short Notes #10

Day 11- 26/09/09

Today was a lazy day. Went to K's place for KFC lunch, salad, pretty maple bread and K made rice with seasoning ( I can't remember what it is called).

Lazed and watched Transformer 2 ( the p edition). The quality was really bad, subtitles all wrong and it "jumped" at certain scenes. *gasp* Anyway, from what I have managed to watch, I thought the story was rather comical, it doesn't seems as nice as the first part but I will watch it again when it's out on L DVD.

Had a lovely stroll to Toys R Us and I saw this which was rather cute for Lu.

Later, we found this, a reminisce of our childhood when bubble gum was Legal.

And later  at Lawson, this very cute rice ball packaging.

Japan Short Notes #9

I had written about our cousin T's birthday celebration here (Day 8 -23/09/09).

Just thought of something to illustrate the post and because it's so cute! hehehee.

Japan Short Notes #8

Day 10 - 25/09/09

After days of shopping and jostling with the crowds, we decided to go to a park for the day for some fresh air. We went to Sankeien Garden and had our bento lunch next to the river and spent the rest of the afternoon nuaing before hubby visits the Dr.

from left: Lovely painting by an old man in the park, our bento lunch and green tea, pretty lalang looking plant swaying in the breeze.

Yup, you've heard right. Hubby wasn't feeling well, cough could have either started from (i) climate change, (ii) too much BBQ food from the birthday party or (iii) bacteria infection from anyone in the various crowded shopping areas we've been. Anyway, I was worried that the cough may develop into something serious and since he informed me in the morning that he has green phlegm, alarm bells rang in my head we request cousin T to accompany him to see a Dr.

In Japan, they don't call clinics where they see a GP a clinic. Instead, they are all called hospitals, either a small hospital (where only 2 or 3 Drs- GP are) or a big hospital ( major hospital like SGH etc). Hubby bill adds up to 6100¥ SGD 91.50!!!!!

Small amount to pay from good health. Could be worse if his cough progresses. BUT! It would be awesome if insurance would pay- it's pending claims. (actually my heart hurts when I made the conversion from yen to SGD just now... *ouch)

Sankeien Garden

A Japanese style garden spreading over 175,000 square meters in Yokohama which was build by Sankei Hara, a silk trading business man. Boasts special features including historic buildings collected from Kyoto and the Kamakura areas. Various range of seasonal flowers arranged creates every seasonal landscape in this garden including cherry blossoms. Beautiful enough to invite people from every region of the country. The cherry blossoms are lit up in the evening (Mar/25-Apr/10.2005) .

• Location :58-1 Hommoku Sannotani, Naka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken
• Number of the trees :approx.600
• Time:The outer garden:9:00am-16:30, the inner garden Gasho zukuri houses: 9:00am-4:00pm
• Charge :The outer and innter garden:JPY300, Gasho zukuri houses:JPY100
• Access :From JR Negishi line, Negishi station, at Bus Stop No. 1,take any one of the municipal buses labeled Route No. 58, 99, 101, 108 or 126. Get off at Honmoku (10 minutes'ride),and then walk to the Garden(7 minutes).
  Form the East exit of Yokohama station, at Bus stop No.2, take either municipal bus labeled Route No.8. Get off at Honmoku Sankeien Mae(35 min. ride) and then walk to the garden(5 min. walk).
• | More detail (Note: English version is in a PDF file) |
• photo:Sankeien

Japan Short Notes #7

I'm back! Came back safely last Wed, avoiding the typhoon storming inland Japan but had a really bumpy ride out as the plane 

flew through the turbulence at Japan and Taiwan. There was a short period where the stewardess had to be buckled up.

I feel rather sluggish the last few days after we came back, the weather was so hot and humid, I didn't want to move very much,

just the act of unpacking make me sweat like a pig! I really think the weather plays an important part of our mentl alertness.. in 

Japan, I woke up at around 6am daily ( that's 5am sg time!) but will try to sleep again and wake up at 9am and I don't feel tired 

during the day. But back home, I can't get up till 10+ and I'm STILL tired all the time!

Hubby suggested that it could be due to my recent menses.. I think that plus the horrible horrible SG weather! And of course, the 

fact that the sun rises later here (Japan sun rises around 5.30am) and the rays doesn't burn my butt in bed here =D

I think I will take awhile to finish my Japan short notes so please bear with me =P

+++++++

Day 9 - 24/09/09

We had a great buffet lunch at Yokohama Bay Quarters.

The selection was rather good even though we were surprise

at how delicate looking the plates are. 

We were "forced" to be refined and not heap food on our plates. Haha.

We shopped around I saw the tea shop Lucipia and it had limited edition tea 

leaves concocted specially for Yokohama 150th anniversary.

I bought their sakura spring tea last year in Hokkaido and I want to buy the 

special autumn blend with chestnuts this time. But I didn't buy it then and I 

thought I could get it when we return after our tour. Unfortunately I didn't pass 

the shop again and I didn't buy it in the end! *Boohoo*

The tea was nice! The shop gave us samples to drink.. so sad.

Just found out that Lucipia has shops in Australia!

The webpage is the translated version so some of the sentences does not make much sense.

This is the actual webpage but it's in Japanese.

Lucipia