JaPaN Day 1 & 2 - 11/4/08 & 12/4/08

exactly 2 wks~ 2 weeks ago de now, we were in osaka... hmmm.. took over 700pics for 7days! wooohaaa... gonna blog day by day. now starting with day1 & 2. enjoy!*
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nite flight at 11+ pm.. and the nite flt + meal on board is equivalent to our day 1 in the itinery~ how duh rite... so effectively, the whole trip was only for 6 days lorr. the 7 of us - me, pa, ma, ma's younger sister ie my auntie, my uncle, cousin michelle and cousin esmond - at the airport waiting to depart! so exciting! the last time we went on a trip together was when me and mich were still in sec sch.. if i remembered clearly, this is the 3rd time we went on a trip tog. prev 2x was to genting, when we were all still kids..some other aunties and uncles went as well. this jap trip was the 3rd time. too bad no scanner, else can scan the pics we took years back when we went m'sia. haha..

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the leg space not much diff from jetstar. in fact, maybe jetstar more comfy! but got many games to play lar... 6hrs flt.. din really catch any slp. spent the time watching movie and playing games.

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finally reached the osaka kansai airport. :) japan's one hr ahead of time. by 5pm+, the sky starts to turn dark le...

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now is consider day2 liao..st away to our 1st destination.. to see para para sakuras!

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the guide said these r the "latecomers"... as in by rite by this time, sakuras would have all gone le. these r those tt blossomed later...we were lucky tt by this time, we can still see the sakuras. hmmm..nothing v special la.. juz pink flowers and many many of them will form a vvvv pink picture.
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next stop.. to the todaiji temple and the deer park ..
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the joss sticks r super short... maybe 1/3 of ours..
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though the temp was quite low... the sun was big... regretted not bringing a cap to block myself from the sun.. had to resort to holding umbrella. hhaha.. look at my cute pinkie umbrella :) .. the weather wasnt as cold as expected. in fact, pa and ma brought too many clothings. many werent worn at all.. tt explained y we needed 2 more luggages as well. we tot it'll be super cold.. but it wasnt.. cold.. but not that cold..

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then to the deer park.. the guide said can buy food there and feed the deers. then u can give a jap command and the deers will bow to you. after tt u have to feed the deers. and when u have no more food, u have to raise both hands and wave, if not the deers will follow u. we did not buy any food to feed the deers, but i did see the deers bowing to others who had food. quite interesting.

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and when the deer walked off juz when the camera snapped, leaving me with a stunned look. haha.. v candid huh~

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pa and ma feeding the deers with bread. actually not supposed to feed the deers with food other than those officially sold there...but a man was feeding bread to them then we happened to walk past and the man gave us the bread so we can feed the deers as well...

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so many deers roaming around freely... the guide warned us not to pull the ears, tails or nose of the deers else they'll kick.. understandable lar.. if u go disturb them, it's only rite they retaliate..

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next destination.. universal studios!

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the itinery really too packed le. see? so many places all in 1 day! in the end, we were only given 2 hrs in the studio.. we did not try any of the rides... juz took pics and had lunch.. wad a waste huh.. but wad can we do in 2 hrs, anyway? universal studios.. something like disneyland... maybe the rides more exciting ba.. but din have the time to try any.. haii~~~~

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my fav... to take pics with the characters!

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many other characters as well.. like elmo and cookie monster.. but those too popular liao.. v hard to go near and take pics.. i wonder from where do the pple look thru to look at pple.. lucky the weather is cold.. in summer, i really pity them.. the costumes r soooo bulky.. must be super stuffy and hot in summer.. but interesting job lar..if i have the chance to part-time, i will gladly do so :)

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our lunch in the studio.. tt costs like sgd100+! can u believe tt? the pple cannot understand english, so basically we also anyohow order... also don know y so ex... those in the packets r hotdog buns..

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waiting outside the studio becuz the guide was late in coming to fetch us.... best rite.. letting the clients wait for him.. and in the 1st place, he was the one who said we MUST come out by this timing becuz the restuarant was booked at 5pm+ and if we missed tt time, we can only have dinner at 9pm+... but in the end, he was the one late..

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1st dinner in japan..had dinner at 5pm+ which is only 4pm+ in singapore! stunned.. shabu shabu.. something like steamboat, but the soup is only plain water. basically u boil the food and dip and eat with the sauce. then only veg and one kind of meat.. supposed to have unlimited supply, but we only ate like 2 or 3 plates and the supply of meat and veggie stopped le..

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after dinner was to shinsaibashi.. think is the heart of osaka.. the busy shopping area.. it's super super crowded... many many many pple.. and the japs... they really know how to doll up. even the guys! i wonder how long they took to have their hair styled b4 they come out.. and the girls.. woowahh... one look and u'll know who r the japs and who r not..

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machines where u buy the tickets for food. at those eateries, u don order food from the vendors. u will first have to order wad u want thru these machines. then a ticket will come out and u pass the ticket to the vendors.. amazing huh. all jap words on the machine. we relied solely on the small pictures on the machines to decide wad we want.. see? encountered problems even when buying food. how sad.
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no spoons provided.. u drink the soup straight from the bowl ~

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the nite scenes of osaka..

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super bright with super big signboards. i wonder how much electricity is consumed..

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tt more or less summed up day1 & day 2. soo many places sqz in 1 day.. really super rushed.. i would prefer the itinery to have fewer places but we get to stay longer at each place. rather then visit so many places but each place we only stay for a while.

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finally back to hotel for our 1st nite. every nite also diff hotels.. but the hotels more or less the same.

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dont know issit for all japan hotels, but all the hotels we stayed in come with bath tubs, pyjamas, shampoo, shower foam etc. and the shampoo and foam is not those small little bottles de.. it's those big bottles de.. all placed nicely for u to use.. we were sooo dumb to bring our own pyjamas and cleansing pdt.. and the toilets.. all can help to wash ur butt de. lol~

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ok, tt's all for day 1 + 2. will blog abt day 3 next wk ~