Monday, July 30, 2007

A visit from Rumiko & Erik

I was supposed to put up this post way before I made the trip to Japan. But either I was too lazy, or just got caught up with the endless work.

Anyway, 2 weeks before I left for Tokyo, Rumiko & Erik made a trip to Singapore. Guess she couldn't wait to see me! Hehehehe..... She was on a biz trip here as well. And needless to say, when she was here, we went partying!

Rumiko, me & Erik

We kind of went MOS, but somehow, it was not happening enough. Eirk was like really bored (or tired he said) and dumped us. So Rumiko, Tweetie & me moved on the NEW ASIA BAR.

The music there was better, and so was the crowd. Between the 3 of us, we had 2 bottles of wine (and of course before that quite a lot already at dinner and more at MOS)! We were talking and drinking and cam-whoring a lot up there. And under the influence of alcohol, some pics turned out erm.... needing some censorship!!! Hahahaha...

Tweetie, Rumiko & me

OK, now with this post done, I have to try and put up more pics of my Tokyo trip too... Stay tuned!!!

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Tokyo Trip (Part2)

More pics coming up from my Tokyo trip. Mich & Rumiko had arranged to take us on a visit to Tsukiji market. Apparently, Tsukiji market is one of the world's biggest market. And it was really massive to me. Check out some of the pics below :


SW, Khim & EJ

Part of Tsukiji market

Mich brought us to the Tuna auction floor. And boy was it impressive. There was this huge hall and a lot of people as even more tuna. All over the floor! Huge ones, like probably 50kg ~ 100kgs. All the tuna had pieces of paper with names of the company that owns them and weight and other details pasted on.

Huge Tuna sitting on the floor waiting to get auctioned off

Buyers discussing amongst themselves just before the auction starts

I bet this tuna weighs more than me!

It took 3 men to cut up this tuna!!!

Using a wooden board to move part of the tuna

Check out the knife (or sword!) used to cut the tuna!

Then after that, we moved on to see frozen tuna auction. Again, the same sight of a huge hall, but this time, with a lot of frozen tuna lying all over the place.

Dead cold tuna...

A guy making notes of his tuna

Buyers inspecting the tuna before the auction starts

This guy is cute. He shouts very loud a whole string of numbers and prices at high speed and in a sing-song manner.

Of course, other than tuna, there were also a lot of other seafood in the market.

Giant cockles & clams

Sea urchin (scary looking...)

Red Fish

Whale meat (That's what Mich said)

Different types of frozen prawns

Yellow-tail king fish


A skilled butcher filleting a live eel

Fried Octopus in brine (Don't ask me why it's so red)

Erm... I have no idea what that is... Mich, what's that???

And there are loads more pics I have . And I need to confess here, some pics were shamelessly "stolen" from Tweetie's camera. Hahahahaha... But she's aware. I told her! Stay tuned people. Will post more once I have time...

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Tokyo Trip (Part 1)

It's been so long since I last blogged!!! I've been so darn busy, it's just not funny at all! But well, amidst all my buzzing, I had an opportunity to visit Tokyo!!! It was for work, and YES I DID WORK WHEN I WAS THERE!

Ok, so I did work, but of course there was some spare time too. OK, OK, I did the Singaporean thing. I went shopping and eating! Yes, shopping. I know, it's expensive there. BUT, clever us (my colleagues included) found cheap branded stuff! Food was really good. Every tasted so different. Even the Tako-Yaki was so much better!

I have here some pictures that we took when we were in Tokyo...

Welcome to Japan!


We stayed at the Dai Ichi Tokyo Seafort Hotel near this Tennozu Isle station.

We tried travelling on the infamous Tokyo subway system. And boy was it complicating! They had so many lines going in all directions. Almost every 3 or 4 stations was like an interchange. We did quite well travelling to a couple of destinations. It was quite fun. But we had to keep reminding ourselves not to use our mobile phones whilst in the subway.

On the way back, we kind of got lost in one of the stations. We were sitting and chatting away and waiting for the train to come, and we saw a few trains come and go, but not in the direction we wanted. Then the few of us decided to ask around and finally realised that we were on the wrong platform! Adventure man!

Anyway, we went shopping and eating at Odaiba, Tokyo Bay area. There were so much to see, and so much to eat. We chanced upon a little noodle shop in one of the complexes and I ordered my favourite... Cold soba noodles. And the taste is..... so different! It's very very nice! おいしい!
That same night, Mich & Susumu came by to take us out for dinner. We went to the Tsukiji area.

A random street scene with rows of Monja Yaki shops.

Me & Mei Chin @ the Monja Yaki restaurant we went to.

Tweetie attempting to look professional at frying mushrooms.

Asparagus rolled with bacon. Mich cooked this and he wasn't sure how long to cook it for! Haha...

Susumu attempting to cook the Okonomiyaki.

Me & Mich trying our hand at the Monja Yaki.

A very "professional" Mich.

See, only half cooked and already looks delicious...

Me, trying to look sweeter than the very sweet tomatoes!

Tweetie & Mich... Geez... I must've blinded Mich with my flash!

Tweetie, Mich, Me & Mei Chin

Pachinko Machine! And it's PINK!!!


A whole row of Pachinko machines... They play it with small little metal balls... Very noisy.

Mich & Me with his precious 4litre Ford Explorer in the background.
OK, need to catch some sleep now. Will put up some more pics of Tokyo soon... I think I also owe some pics of Tasmania that I've yet to put up. Hehehehe... Terrible me...