Tokyo Trip - Kinugawa Onsen - Part 1

OK, OK, I know many of you have been asking me why no updates. There are quite a few reasons. Number 1, I've been really busy with work. Number 2, I've been travelling. Number 3, a lot of events and things have taken place, and happened. At this point of blogging, I'm in one of the worst of moods, very stressed and extremely tired. In short, BURNT OUT.

But since I'm waiting for my Nissin cup noodles to "cook", I'll put up some pics of one of my trips in February (during the CNY period). Yep, I know. it's now May. But anyway, now I'm blogging again...

Another biz trip to Tokyo with all the good food, great sights, and catching up with old friends again. This time, we travelled went to Kinugawa, 2 hours north of Tokyo. Kinugawa or 鬼怒川 literally means Angry Demon River, was actually a very popular place for hotsprings/onsen. But apparently in the 1990s, the economic recession forced the entire town to go bust.

Me in the A380 - upper deck

My seat had side cabinets to keep my barang

Happy Vincent's 1st time in the A380

And yes, after supper, 1 movie and it's time to catch up on the much needed sleep! Good night!

Anyway, after flying 6.5hours on the A380, we arrived in a very cold Narita airport on Wednesday morning. It was only abt 5 deg cel I think. We took the airport limousine to to Tokyo City Air Terminal in Hakozaki. Bus ride was abt 1 hour. From there, Charlie picked us up, and we headed to the office to drop off our bags, and then have breakfast.

Skyline of Tokyo @ 8am

We walked onto this bridge...

... and realised it was so nice. There were ducks swimming in it too!

I was quite tempted to walk in and ask how many million yen it would costs for a SL63AMG. Pity they weren't open yet...

Such pretty flowers outside the car showroom

See, pretty right?

Car's fall sick in Tokyo?

Breakfast was at Denny's Restaurant (yes, I know. An American restaurant in Tokyo, but we were just hungry and Denny's was easy. Mich took us there). And after a nice hot bowl of Ramen (and yes, they served Ramen in Denny's, but not nice!) we headed back to the office to work.

Time passed really fast over there. Stanley arrived later in the morning, and made his way to the office too. We were all happily chatting when he declared he was hungry, then we realised it was lunch time! But none of the rest of us were really hungry yet because we had our Ramen not too long ago, hahaha. So Stanley waited another hour or so before we all head out for Tonkatsu.

よしの (Yoshino) The place where we had our とんかつ(pork cutlet rice)

Still in preparation apparently, but they were ready to serve us.

A quaint little place...

The menu...

My pork cutlet rice. おいしいね。。。

Mich was paying for our lunch

Walking along the back alley to the office

Tiny shop in the corner of an alley...

The apartments are soooo tiny. You'd be lucky is it's any more than 30sqm each!

Wanna guess what these are? Nope not letter boxes... They're locker boxes for office keys. So that there's no need to make so many keys for each staff

Later that afternoon, Kevin arrived. Then followed by Wannong & Haiyan. At about 4pm, we packed up and made our way to Kinugawa. The 2 hour bus ride!

Ever seen me in speckys? Nope, I've perfect eye-sight. These fake speckys belong to Mich. Good for hiding my eye bags!

Haiyan was tickled pink to see me in speckys

Peach flavoured beer. Tasted quite good!

So strange to see the guys sitting like that in a row. Hehehe, I have funny thoughts!

Eiko & Yoko. 2 very sweet ladies who took very good care of me during the trip. I was quite sick that time. Flu, sore throat, cough etc etc... Like what a doctor might say, Full Package!

And irritating Charlie won't let ppl sleep in peace. He goes around taking pics of anyone who dozes off!

Finally, we stopped for a toilet break. Somewhere very very very cold!

This place has a supermarket and lots and lots and lots of vending machines!

That's Mich trying to buy something hot to keep himself awake

Are these ciggies expensive? I don't smoke, so I have no clue. But 320 yen is approx SGD 5.30 for a pack. Sounds cheap to me!

The Kinugawa Royal Hotel was actually pretty old. Looked quite forlorn in fact. But I have to say it was still considered very clean. Mich checked us all in, and there were a mixture of modern rooms with beds, and traditional ryokan rooms with tatami. I went for the ryokan rooms of course! Something different since I'm all the way in Japan...

Views of the exterior of the hotel

Views from my ryokan

Inside my ryokan

And every evening, there'll be a fresh set of sweets & hot green tea waiting for me in my room

We had very little time to freshen up before dinner, but I managed to take a quick shower, and then head downstairs for a very sumptious dinner. There were so much food to eat! Like one of those scenes you'd see from the TV program "Japan Hour"! Steamed crabs, grilled fish, seafood stew, a pot of rice cooking in the traditional "tetsugama" cast iron rice pot, sushi, sashimi (lots and lots of), and a lot of other little side dishes which were very interesting. I can't remember what they all were, but I think tofu, pickles, seaweed and such... Of course we had a lot of beer & sake. The rice was very very delicious. Very nice plump and fluffy grains, which were very fragrant too. I don't normally eat a lot of rice, but when I was there, I ate a lot! Which explains how fat I am now lah (-_-")

Look at all the food... There's more that can't fit on the tray!

The sashimi platter

Yours truly here with Eiko

Haiyan & me

That evening after dinner, I went to the onsen. It was in the hotel, and had both indoors and outdoors. And NO, it was NOT mixed bath. Males had their own onsen and females had our own. SEPERATED, in case some of u sickos are thinking otherwise. And it was really relaxing to just soak in the hot water. Relaxed all the muscles, took away the tension, strain and anxiety from all the pre-travel prep-work, the travelling time itself, and revitalised my tired and dehydrated skin quite a bit. I also found that I slept better that night. Did I mention that I was sick just days before I left for Japan? Caught a nasty throat infection, and didn't have time to see the doc. So when I was there, I was literally croaking and coughing away.

OK, I should pause here for now, and post somemore pics in part 2 of my Tokyo trip!

Off to Japan

Firstly...

恭
喜
发
财
!!

Since it's still the Chinese New Year period, let me wish everyone of you:

祝你在牛年里：
事业如日中天，
心情阳光灿烂，
工资地覆天翻，
未来风光无限，
爱情浪漫依然，
快乐游戏人间。
牛年吉祥！

I'll be off to Japan tonight. Gonna meet up with lots of friends again. And gonna eat my fav Japanese food again. Sushi & sashimi @ Tsukiji mkt is a must. And let's see if Charlie will take me to what he always says, "the best tonkatsu" in the world. Actually, I'm also looking forward to meet Rumiko & Meiling 姐姐 if time permits.

Well, unfortunately the forex rates are so unfavourable this time. Plus, I'm super broke. So I guess, there'll be absolutely no shopping at all allowed for me. So sad. Also, I just checked the weather forecast for this week, and it says between 3 - 12 degrees celcius from now till Sunday, and mostly cloudy. Guess I'll be shivering quite a bit!

Alright, I'm a bit pressed for time today, so I'm back to my ultra dynamic work now. I'm a bit short-handed today so I gotta keep my fingers and toes crossed. Hopefully everything runs like clock-work.

Let's see how my schedules have been planned once I'm there. I try to burst my camera memory card with loads of beautiful pics of Japan in Spring :) But the challenge would be to find time to post them! Hahaha... I'll try.

OK, 日本、私は来る！私は東京に行くのよ。。。

Biz trip to Qingdao, China last November

OK, this is another one loooooong overdue post that should have been written & posted waaaaay before Christmas. I know, my fault. I was either busy or lazy. Legitimate excuses though! Hahahaha. But here you are, I finally completed writing this, pics & all, so don't complain ;P

Last November, I went on a biz trip to Qingdao, in China. I've never been there before. That was my first time. It was quite a pleasant trip. I took an overnight flight to Seoul, and transited in Incheon for a couple of hours, then caught another 1 hr flight to Qingdao. Both flights weren't full, but I didn't like the domestic plane to China. Too bumpy, and I'd say, dirty.

Upon arrival in Qingdao, I was welcomed by a cool 12 deg celcius weather. Actually, it was cold, especially when the wind blew. I found my way to the taxi-stand (which was quite a long walk from the arrival terminal) and headed straight to the hotel.

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. No idea how many stars it was, but I was given "VIP" treatment, hehehe. My room was on the 18th floor, but it wasn't ready. So I was ushered to the lounge and offered a nice brew of Chinese tea. The front office lady offered to prepare my check-ins while I sipped my tea, and promised to have my room ready in under 20 mins. Very good service I must say.

View of the lobby from upstairs

Me & Jeslyn @ the lobby

Shortly after I was done with my hot tea, I proceeded to collect my room key and headed to my room for a hot shower.

View from my room - Sea view, in fact!

I walked around a bit in the afternoon, exploring the streets and shopping around my hotel. I didn't buy anything and neither did I eat anything. I wasn't too sure how the hygiene standards were like at that point, and was also worried after the series of food scares from China already. So after roaming around for about 2 hours, I headed back to the hotel, ordered room service and logged on the check my emails.

Me on the streets of Qingdao

Dumpling shop with a cute name 小倩倩馄饨

I managed to log on to Blogger and was writing this blog post halfway when a whole series of phone calls got me very distracted. And after that, I was too lazy to write anything. But, I must say again, that I could access Blogger/Blogspot from China with no problems.

Like the last trip to China, there was always a lot of fantastic food to eat. Some were very nice. Others were very exotic. Most of the time, it seemed very much like luxury. Someone once commented how disgusting we were, to be wining and dinning like that. 1 dinner might have cost some poor guy a whole year's salary! I can't deny that, but in comparison to the price we paid there vs what we'd pay if we ate the same equivalent in Singapore, food in China was cheap. See what we ate on the first night at the 良友名都 restaurant (I hope I got the name correct!)...

Jellyfish cold dish

Giant bean sprouts

Steamed Prawns

Salted goose eggs. Notice they all have double yolks??!! And they are bloody salty!!!

Some kind of mushroom dish

Sweet sour meat, either chicken or pork

Meat again... Ate too much to remember!

Fried leek

Deep fried shrimps

Bamboo shoots

Clams

My 佛跳墙... Buddha-Jumps-Over-The-Wall!!!

Check out the ABALONE!

My messy plate

Golden pomfret in sweet sauce

Sweet sour pork strips - tasted strange

Steamed dumplings - Staple food in China

Mitch & Joel shld never sit next to each other

Because this is what happens! Such a handful!!!

Happy Jeslyn & Vincent

And a very well-fed & satisfied Stanley

2nd day of the trip was of course meetings. Lots of presentations to do and look at. I think many of use were probably yawning away or almost nodding off during the rather intense meeting. But it was very informative and good to have. At least we knew what was happening in the other parts of the world, how everyone else was doing, how they were coping, and at least catch up a bit on gossips! Hahaha...

Later that evening, dinner was served at 东莱顺 Hot Pot restaurant. A lot of meat involved this time. Mutton & beef mainly. And I can't stand the smell of the mutton!

Traditional looking hot pot

Baby Joel trying to look cute

OK, OK, he's cute... (-_-")

And Mitch just has to do it... I was hoping the octopus sucks all 8 tentacles over his mouth! Hahahahaha... I is bad!

A plate of live clams...

... which ends up being tortured by Joel!

See, Joel spread chili to it. CRUEL!!!

I think this was dessert. Deep fried sesami ball, with Joel's finger on it. Grrr....

Me & Kevin (who's always trying to look cool

A bunch of happy people after dinner

After dinner that night, we went to the nite club on the 4th floor of the hotel. We pratically chased out all the other customers and literally booked the whole place to ourselves. Initially, there was a bit of confusion over the room & the hall. But after that, the whole place pratically belonged to us. Hehehe....

Me, Jeslyn, Haiyan

Fruit platters like this one were served no matter which corner we moved to!

Alcohol makes everyone happy!

Next day, we all woke up very early to have breakfast, and then proceeded to the exhibition hall. It was a nice and sunny day with cool breeze. I think it was abt 12 deg cel that day...

All of us in a mini bus that we booked, on our way to the exhibition hall

Forever cheeky Kevin with Joohee next to him

Stanley & me at the exhibition booth

Just before the show opened, we had fun snapping photos, arguing abt the placements of the tables, laughing at how our display had melted overnight and figuring out how our showgirls can lie so badly abt their height/weight/measurements & qualification without so much batting an eyelid when confronted. Mitch also repeatedly reminded me how the girls never shaved their underarms! I was not only horrified but mortified when they were dressed in halter bareback sleeveless dresses and raising their arms out to distribute leaflets, and everyone would be staring at that bush under their arms! One of them didn't even need to raise her arms and I can already see strands peeking out! Eeeeks!!! OK, I'm just not used to see armpit fur displayed in that manner in public.

Anyway, a few of us got quite bored at the booth and started to wonder off looking at other people's exhibits. Some were pathetic, others were impressive.

They call this Moonfish

No idea what the fish this was

Halibut & Kingcrab

Hungry crowd at our booth sampling sashimi for free. One lady grabbed 4 plates!

Some visitors playing with a live Boston Lobster. I was hoping the lobster snapped at someone :D

Various crustceans

And look who came? Brede the open-minded one. This was the old team. Notice there aren't any other females here!!

After the first day of the show ended. Our company hosted a dinner reception. We invited the Norwegian Minister for fisheries and Coastal Affairs and quite a few other Chinese Ministers as VIP for the night. All our customers & business partners who went to the show were also invited. It was a good catch up session we had with everyone, including old friends and colleagues from Hong Kong.

Very nice ballroom set up for the dinner reception

Sunny, me & Jeslyn

Stanley & me

We were all starving...

Me & the boss

On our 3rd day in Qingdao, we went to this huge seafood restaurant with a huge hall filled with huge tanks and huge amounts of live seafood swimming all over. As the last trip, we had fun picking what we wanted to eat there. The chefs would prepare it, and then serve it to us in the huge VIP room upstairs.

See this HUGE hall? It's actually the seafood restaurant's "live market"!

That's me amazed by the massive amount of live seafood that's going into my tummy later :D

Boss telling the waitress how we like our clams done

See the rows of tanks? Very classy "market" isn't it?!

See how huge this room is? It had a sofa set with coffee table and a full karaoke system complete with surround speakers & sub woofers in tow on the other side of the room!

OK, I think that was it. Pics and the trip. Now I've got to go sort out some more pics of other dinners and lunches and parties etc and then post them up here. OK, I'm slow, I know. lots of backlog, but I'm getting there. Have patience with me, OK? Come back soon!