Hello all! Yes, I'm back from my Free-&-Easy trip to Japan. I went with my family and my 2 cousins as well as my uncle. Here's a summary of what we did there.

DAY 1: Let me see. Landed at the Narita International Airport. ( Oh ya. Mr Goy and Sean Teh took the same flight as mine :D ) Woots! Its cccoollld there! Temperature there on the first day was 14 degrees? And the temperature decreases as the days progresses. ( Zai Boh my ang moh? :D )
OK, moving on. We boarded a shuttle bus to our hotel. It took us about 1 and a half hours to reach the hotel in Shinjuku. Its called Asuka Hotel. The "su" of the neon sign was spoilt. Checked in, went to our rooms on the 13th floor, just below a bar or something. Oh and the rooms, I tell you, is very small. Well, its normal for the japanese though.
Next, we surveyed our new "neighbourhood". Its 9pm when we left our hotel. We decided to grab a bite first before walking on.
OK. So we were so hungry we just decided to eat at a small little Japanese version of fast food restaurant. Theres a little vending machine inside the shop. You order your meals there. Get the coupon and give it to the chef. And when I say fast, its really fast. Just after I passed the coupon to the chef and took a seat, my dinner was already in front of me. And it ain't cold, is hot from the wok. Mine was a Curry Beef (or Pork I can't remember) Rice. I loved it the moment i sank my teeth into the tasty meal. Their curry isn't as hot as ours, so it was perfect for me. After dinner, we walked towards the action there. I had to wear my jacket as I couldnt stand the cold. We walked through this little lane just nice for Dave and all the stalls there sell the same thing- Japanese BBQ. After walking towards a busy street, we walked back to our hotel. Two things I learned on the first day: Japanese love playing Pachinko. Japanese love vending machines to the extent that cigarettes can be bought there as well.
DAY 2: We woke up 9+ Tokyo time. We are 1 hour slower. OK, since it was free & easy, we had to take our own transport to other places. We took the train, the JR Line. We took the train to Odaima.
Ate breakfast at a mall there, then moved on to try some of the stuff they have in store for us there. We went to this place called "Muscle Park". Its basically a place where you can try out all sorts of sports stuff. I tried my hand at Baseball pitching first. The distance from the target ( its a board which covers the strike-zone) to the pitching mount is, well, same as the one at a baseball field. First throw. I missed. Second throw. I missed again. Third throw. I know once I miss this its all over. I missed again. Hey! I have no idea how to pitch a baseball OK?? Haha ok fine those were just excuses. I'm a noob at baseball can?!
Moving on, I tried soccer target practice. I had to shoot from the penalty spot of a normal soccer field. Target is of course the goal. But they placed numbers on the goal, and to do that, they had to put lots of bars on the goal post. I shoot and i got one number. I shoot the second ball. It hit the bar. I shot two more numbers down. The rest of the balls I shot hit the bars.
We walked out of the mall towards this place called the Statue Of Liberty outside the mall. Its a miniature version of the famous one you can find in New York. The view of Toyko Bay was stunning. I think thats it for day 2. Even if there are more, I'm too lazy to blog it all down. :)
DAY 3: Woke up the same time, 9+. Took a train to Harajuku. That place is where Japanese teens meet up, dressed like their favourite anime character or just very hardcore punk-goth dressing. Nothing much happened there. I was suppose to buy some clothing for myself there, sadly, it didn't happen.
After that we walked to a big park there. Apparently, its very old. Old in the sense that the hugh structures there was built way before World War 2. Had a very long walk there. It was good excercise though. Very soon, it was night again. We took a train to somewhere ( I forgot where). Anyway from the train staion, we walked to Sunshine City, a shopping mall. We bought ticket to this "theme park" inside the mall. There was this little place in the "theme park" which was supposed to look haunted. My cousin was spooked. Haha.
DAY 4: Took a train to Yokohama. The mall we went to there was very new. Huge, but empty. Empty in the sense that there aren't many people.
Then we went to this place like a warehouse, just one stop away from the shoppong mall. That place was a former warehouse, but has since been refurbished to a little shopping mall. There was a little ice skating rink just outside the mall. We ate ice cream at a famous ice cream shop in the mall. After that we ate dinner bla bla bla, usual stuff before we went back to our hotel.
DAY 5: Took a train to Asasuka. Ate our breakfast+lunch ( branch, is that what you call it? ) before we walked to a temple there. It was massive, and with the trees around it, it was beautiful. My cousins and I were too lazy to walk up the steps into the temple, so we just waited outside while my parents went in to check it out.
After that we took a train to Ueno. Its a market place where they sell all kinds of wierd seafood the Japanese eat. Disgusting, I know. I hate markets. What's worse, it was raining, which made the temperature colder than ever. The only thing that entertained me in our long walk through the market was to see mist coming out from my mouth everytime I exhale due to the unusually cold weather.
DAY 6 Last day: We didn't have much time for shopping, so we just went to a bookstore near out hotel. I wanted to buy a Kurt Cobain Autobiography to entertain myself on the flight, but they were all in Japanese. LOL. Went back to our hotel. Took a shuttle bus to the Narita Internatioanal Airport. The journey was 1 hour 30 minuted long. We were pretty early. So we decided to walk around the airport first. Nothing much there, very few shops. I suddenly felt that I had to attend to nature's call, so I went to the toilet. As I was relieving myself, the person using the cubicle next to mine had dirrahoea ( don't know how spell ) , so the sound was disturbing. Then, another guy who used the toilet sang loudly as he was peeing. Very interesting toilet experience for me.
A few minutes before we decided to check in, I saw someone. I thought he looked very familiar. I stared at him as he walked past me, wondering if I have seen the right person. Then someone behind him, his friend, whispered to me "Yea that's him, thats Mario." I was stunned. I mean, I'm not a RnB kind of guy, but any superstar I see is like God to me. I told my parents. "Mario! Mario! That's him! Thats Mario! Mario!" Then they said "Who? Whos Mario?" I ignored them and decided to take a picture with him while I still have the chance. I went up to him, feeling nervous. I asked him "Can I take a picture of you?" He replied "You and me, together." So my father took a picture of Mario and I. Before he walked away, he said to me " Thanks, you're cool." :P
Thats it for my Japan trip. There are many more details which I have yet to put in, cos I'm too lazy. :) Thanks for reading. PEACE OUT!