This Totoro kit is recently acquired when traveling to Japan, growing the seeds provided in the kit.
2008 Visiting Fukuoka, Japan
My wife and I have returned from our 5 days summer trip to Fukouka, Japan. The weather was extremely hot there. It’s average of 35°C since early morning and sunset after 7pm, so it was really really hot out there in the street.
We’ve spent plenty of time as well as money in traveling and we needed to take a long break during the day for ice-cream from time to time. Our itinerary isn’t too packed this time to get easy with our feet. The key visiting locaitons are: Fukuoka, Huis Ten Bosch, and Nagasaki.
Photos are available at the bottom of this post and here’s our trip’s itinerary:
- Day 1 – Arriving Hakata, Fukuoka
- Day 2 – Huis Ten Bosch here we come
- Day 3 – Sightseeing in Nagasaki
- Day 4 – Sightseeing in Fukuoka
- Day 5 – Browse around Hakata JR station and leaving Fukuoka
Day 1 – Arriving Hakata, Fukuoka
Took a early flight with Dragon Air. The plane is small indeed!! I’ve never ride on such plane before. It was ok though but not as comfortable as larger air crafts. Arrived at Fukouka at about 1:30pm. Since the airport is rather small and not too busy. We got out of the airport within 15 minutes or so!! Not ever at the Hong Kong International Airport which is always busy at any hour!
Due to the unexpected hot weather from our experience, we had to stay in hotel to take a shower before we go out again to Tenjin Underground Shopping Area.
The best of the day? It’s the peach cake we bought. It’s a whole skinned and de-seeded peach with creamy stuffing inside. it’s so refreshing. Yen 500 something.
Day 2 – Huis Ten Bosch here we come
Day 2 of our trip is to go to Huis Ten Bosch and stay there for 1 night at Hotel Dan Haag. The hotel has retro looking rooms. We ride on Huis Ten Bosch Express with our 3 day JR pass (Yen 7000) and took about 1.5 hour to get there. Very fine weather. Everywhere is like a postcard.
Watched a special effect performance and an interactive movie. The movie features the audiences’ faces by capturing their faces before actually watching the movie. It’s very interesting experience.
Huis Ten Bosch is huge. It took us all day to wander to every corners. We bought some very tasty cheese cakes from a shop there.
At the evening, we had dinner at a pizza restaurant. The spaghetti and pizza is superb! Then we took a break back in our hotel room until 8pm before we went out to see the fireworks and performance by the sea side. It was very nice.
Day 3 – Sightseeing in Nagasaki
We had a little unhappy incident during breakfast at the hotel in Huis Ten Bosch. We were as usual greeted with the guy at the entrace to the breakfast buffet and we gave him our breakfast vouchers. After we were out there to get our breakfast and went back to our table, that guy from the entrance asked us “Do you have tickets?”. I said “we’ve given to you.” However, the guy didn’t seem to get my saying. Doh! This ruin our mood. I can’t believe the personel at such European style hotel can’t communicate in English. !@%!#$
Anyway we left Huis Ten Bosch to Nagasaki with another 1.5 hour ride on Seaside Liner. Nagasaki is a very different place. We visited Peace Park, Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park, Atomic Bomb Museum, shopping street. We have a very delicious lunch in a famous Japanese restaurant.
Day 4 – Sightseeing in Fukuoka
More sightseeing in Fukuoka. We visited Ohori Park, and The ruins of Fukuoka Castle in the morning. Ohori Park is huge and beautiful.
Then we hide ourselves in shopping malls and coffee shop in the afternoon.
Day 5 – Browse around Hakata JR station and leaving Fukuoka
Last day of our trip. There wasn’t much time avaiable to get around so we only went to Hakata JR station to browse around there.
Japan is getting iPhone 2.0 as well
SoftBank Mobile has announced that they will bring iPhone to Japan!! Since they are the only game in the country with strong 3G network, it’s expected to beat DoCoMo which is running CDMA network.
Kung Hei Fat Choi
Just got back from Japan. Already uploaded a bunch of photos along with my 5-day Tokyo trip’s schedule which requires a lot of walking.
Weather in Tokyo was fine. Even it’s only 6-8°C, it wasn’t that cold. It’s good to get away from the extreme hot weather in Hong Kong during this time of year (which is supposed to be cold).
2007 Visiting Tokyo, Japan
We traveled to Tokyo, Japan for 5 days. Our schedule is very tight so we haven’t had too much time staying in each places.
Here’s outline of our 5 days Tokyo trip. See below for details.
- Day 1
- Shinjuku (新宿)
- Ikebukuro (池袋)
- Day 2
- Tsukishima (築地)
- Odaiba (台場)
- Ueno (上野)
- Akihabara (秋葉原)
- Day 3
- Harajuku (原宿)
- Omotesando (表參道)
- Omotesando Hills (青山)
- Shibuya(澀谷)
- Jiyūgaoka (自由丘)
- Roppongi (六本木)
- Day 4
- Disneyland
- Day 5
- South Shinjuku
We enjoyed our trip very much!
Day 1
From Hong Kong International Airport to Narita Airport, Japan. And then took the N’EX train straight to Shinjuku (新宿). We arrived around 7pm.
We planned to go to Ikebukuro (池袋) after checking-in. Due to an hour flight delay, we decided to walk around nearby areas in East Shinjuku only.
Day 2
Bought the 1 day subway pass for 1,000 Yen since we planned to travel quite a lot for the day.
Took the Ōedo line (大江戶線) subway from Shinjuku to go to Tsukishima (築地). From our hotel, it’s a long long walk. Took about 20 minutes for us to locate the Metro station. We walked around the famous fish market and had a bowl of raw fish rice at one of the street stalls. Yummy! Worth every penny.
Then take Ōedo line (大江戶線) subway back to Shiodome (汐留) and get another 1 day pass for Yarikamome line to Odaiba (台場). There are a few places that we wanted to travel. However, it’s a bit disappointing since they are no different than any other malls.
Afterwards, we took the Yarikamome line and then the Ginza line (銀座線) subway to Ueno (上野) where you can find a lot of food, toys and goodies. A place you shouldn’t miss.
Next destination is Akihabara (秋葉原), the place to get any kind of electronic goods. We took the Ginza line again subway to Suehirochō (末廣町) and walked towards the JR Akihabara station. We took metro back to Shinjuku afterwards. Yes, another long walk back to our hotel for the long walking day.
Day 3
We took JR to Harajuku (原宿), then we walked along Omotesando (表參道) to Omotesando Hills (青山), and then to Shibuya (澀谷). Quite a lot to see along the way and it’s very comfortable.
Next we took the subway Hibiya line (日比谷線) subway to Jiyugaoka (自由丘).
Jiyūgaoka is the highlight of our trip. It’s a quiet small town. There is a place called “Sweet Forest” where you can find a lot of different kinds of dessert. Even looking at those cakes and ice-cream would make you feel happier.
We had dinner at Shutters, a western restaurant. Their pork ribs were sizzling hot when served and tasted like Chinese roasted pork (燒肉). Very tasty. Too bad we already had dessert in Sweet Forest before our dinner. We weren’t able to have their signature dish apple crumble with ice-cream 8~~(
Then we took metro again to Roppongi (六本木). The place is nicely built but the mall feels like disoriented. Bits and pieces here and there. I think Hong Kong’s IFC is a better mall. Anyhow the scenery is good up the hill as you can see the Tokyo Tower. But it was too windy and cold. Didn’t take a good shot of it.
Day 4
From JR Shinjuku station to Tokyo and then to Maihama (舞濱) and ran to the park!
Day 5
Walked in South Shinjuku and finally visited the famous Japanese department store in Takashimaya Times Square (高島屋時代廣場). We had lunch there and bought some extra food we enjoyed on our way to the airport.
Finally we took the N’EX to Narita Airport. When we bought the tickets, the lady in the JR station had us buying the “normal” tickets and we actually need the “express” tickets and we paid the extra fee when we arrived at the airport. This is poor communication.
The trip is overall great until the very last moment. On our flight back, the boy (4-5 years old) at my back kept kicking my back and his mother did nothing, absolutely nothing to stop the boy…… That is 1 little thing that money can’t buy even at the price of a LV handbag.
Hokkadio, Japan
My wife and I went to Hokkadio, Japan and we enjoyed a relax and refreshing honey moon trip. We took many photos for the 5 days in Japan. Check it out in my photos.
The food is delicious. The place is great. People are nice enough even though we don’t speak the same language.
2006 Visiting Hokkadio, Japan
My wife and I went to Hokkadio, Japan in April for our long waited honeymoon trip. It surely is a nice place to be. The buidling there is very distinct from the rest of Japan.
This is the first time we go there. We stayed at hot spring hotel around Noboribetsu Onsen for 1 night and the rest in Tokyu Inn Sapporo.
The food and weather was fine over there. However tourist attractions close way too earlier at 6pm and most shops close at 9pm.
We took JR and subway to other cities in Hokkadio such as Otaru and Nishi-ku to visite Chocolate Factory which reminds me “Chocolate Factory” the movie.
BTW, here’s one of the restaurant that my wife & I recommend – Japa in Sapporo
Our greatest discovery is their local candy shops 六花亭 and 花月堂. Their products are so remarkable and tasty.
Enjoy the photos.
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