Krispy and Kremey

I was a tad disappointed we werent able to visit the Krispy Kreme at Shinjuku before we left Shinjuku for Sheraton.

Alas we saw one in Shibuya and went in to "drink some coffee" even after our heavy lunch at Gonpachi.

Check out the throngs of happy people at the outlet.



So many memorabilia you can buy! cups, caps, shirts. I tried to buy one but they didnt have an XL. :(



Queued up to buy some donuts (duh!) and saw the production process. Snapped a picture of the most important process. Moving from unglazed to glazed. Can you see? Moving from right to left. Unglazed to glazed.



The wonderful thing was whilst you're waiting and deciding, the nice sweet japanese servers hand you a hot glazed doughnut so you end up eating one even before you pay up!@! This was just like when i was in Seoul!

Decided on a chocolate-topped and custard filled one.

WHEEE!

Didnt buy much things but started to stock up on equipment for skiing!

Bought an Oakley skimask as well as Burton ski gloves.



Heading to Beijing tomorrow to buy some chiong ski jackets and pants

Yay!

It's new year's eve here in Tokyo!

We are packing for our flight to Beijing tomorrow. 1030am flight and we need to leave at 6am cos it takes 2 hours to get to the airport. =(

On a brighter note, I decided to give myself a treat today cos it's new year's eve by wearing proper underwear instead of the disposable kind i have been wearing for the past 5 days.

Hotel

I havent mentioned which hotel im staying. This time, Im staying at the Hilton Shunjuku. Actually i stayed in this hotel before but that was back in 2007. Gosh that was a long time ago.



Because Someone is a Hilton Platinum member, we got access to the Executive Lounge and got free internet. Executive Lounge means free breakfast! More money saved! w00t!

Managed to get a small korner with my lappie to read the news, facebook and check mails.



Free breakfast means japanese rice, eggs, fish cake, fish for the Asian palate and scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon for Western. I added sausages to my rice. Hee hee.. Any angmo or japanese who saw me might be grossed out. Haha




The spread in the evenings isnt very good. Some savory stuff and free drinks. One night they had scallops served in small dishes. We took a total of 8! Wahahaha. Here's half of them.



We are moving to the Sheraton tomorrow cos the rooms here double or was it triple during the new year crossover. So i decided to use my points to redeem two nights.

Heading to Tsujiki market tomorrow for the fish.

Random Pictures

Took this when i was queuing for food.

Not very sure what it means..I think it means you should queue up for your own food.



Took this when i was bored at H&M.



Nothing funny about this sign but i just wanted to highlight to everyone that it doesnt mean that levels two and three are simply changing rooms for ladies, unlike what Someone thought.

Shopping!

Shopping has never been a big thing for me in Japan. Really because of all the places i have been to, i think shopping in Singapore is still the best! Haha.. i know that's a little weird but in Singapore, i know when the sales is, etc.

Nonetheless, we went to the big Takashimaya in Nihombashi. I was quite excited.



Alas, it was quite disappointing. Nothing interesting at all.

It was therefore with some trepidation that we approached Isetan the next day.



My worries were unfounded. It turned out that Isetan was huge! And they had a separate building just for men! 8 levels of stuff for men. I didnt really go crazy but it was just good looking around.

I hadnt mentioned that before Taka and Isetan, we went to the factory outlet outside Tokyo. Getting there meant waking up at 6am, reaching the bus terminal by 8am to by the tickets for 8:30am bus, finding the bus where we can take the bus, taking a 1.5 hour bus journey, reaching a bus stop and waiting 10 minutes for a free shuttle bus to bring us to the said outlets.

Going back was literally the reverse direction, shuttle bus then long bus journey back but the shitty thing was that we could only buy the return bus tickets only after all the ticketed people got up first and we scoop up any remaining. But that's cos we were silly and didnt buy the return tickets at 8am. Travelling is so stressful at times like these.

Flight to Tokyo

I'm bored on the way from the airport to my hotel so thought I'd spend some constructive time blogging.

Here's a shot of the usual things I take on my flight. Ipod, book and newspaper.



Some pre-flight drinks.



I was looking forward to the meals cos... Well I don't need a reason to look forward to food.

Starters - don't know half of what's served here. Tasted a bit odd.



Entree - some rice thing wrapped in paper and a small piece of fish and prawn at the side. Looks nicer than it tastes.



Dessert was two scoops of haagan daz. Boring.. Didn't warrant a picture.

We were hungry after a while with this paltry spread, so we each ordered an udon and an additional rice burger with bbq beef for me. I hate to sound like a groupie or squealing like a schoolgirl but the udon, even made on a plane, tastes nicer and chewier than some restaurants in Singapore. The rice burger was good too. I would have ordered another rice burger if I wasn't stopped.

So there you go.. More than 60 years ago, the japanese held us and many parts of asia captive with their military dominance. 60 years down, without having to spend much on defending their country, they concentrated on another form of dominance - cuisine and technology. And we are held captive all over again.

Japan

After much planning on flight and work availability, we finally managed to book our flight to Tokyo.

WHOPPEE! Going in the last week of December. If i didnt have a wedding lunch to attend on 3 Jan, I'd have stayed longer.

As a testament of how little friends I have, i only have one wedding to attend in 2010 and it'll be settled on 3 Jan. WOOHOO!

Inagiku again!

We had Inagiku for lunch yesterday. Whacked a Lobster/Wagyu Beef/Tempura set and a Chirashi set.

Check out the Chiarashi bowl..full of raw goodness.



Here’s the lobster maki with egg yolk sauce.



Forgot to take the wagyu beef and tempura cos I was too hungry and excited.

Hippo!

Someone sent me flowers cos she thought i looked like the hippo. Got teased by my colleagues.. Haha..

OUCH!

Its the end of the year and I haven’t used any of my dental reimbursement benefits.

I went to the dentist at the nearby mall last week cos I was a little lazy to go to my usual dentist. This place was pricier than my usual but it was still within my allotment, so I asked to see the dentist now. She said they were booked out until next year! Wow! Seems like there are a lot more people like me around with last minute dental appointment.

So I went today to my usual dentist. So to my dismay that I have 2 decayed teeth on my wisdom teeth and a third wisdom tooth that was growing out and needed to be extracted! Argh.. the nice lady asked if I wanted to extract or fill them out. As I was not mentally prepared to do so, I just told them to fill it up. It then occurred to me that I have never had a tooth filling before.

Worse thing is that with the filling of two teeth, it has now exceeded my quota so I have to pay the surplus myself.

Sigh it was depressing. Plus at some point, I should go back and extract the third wisdom tooth.

Off to buy an electronic toothbrush with a smaller head to get to the hard to reach areas.

Action Packed

Just got home after a late night range.

Friday night got late night mahjong.

Saturday got golf in JB!

Sunday got badminton. So many things to do on the weekend man!

Inagiku

We went to Inagiku that day and whacked a massive set and a mini set..

Appetiser



Sushi



Sashimi



Fish with Soup



Beancurd skin with sea urchin



Another soup.. not very nice..



Beef



Oops.. didnt take the tempure cos i was too happy and started whacking..

It was a good meal. The lunch menu looked good and quite cheap. Will be going this weekend.

w00t!

Adult?

I know i dont go to the supermarket enough but Adult cereals??

Haha.. means the boring kind of cornflakes with lots of fibre..

Warmed

We all gathered over last weekend in Yokie's house over the weekend for her housewarming party. She prepared dinner which seemed like a surprise to everyone, which was odd for me cos she said she was preparing dinner. What was odd for me was that she didnt have rice at home. Haha. I love rice so much that its inconceivable that a house doesnt have rice.

Here's the spread.



The roll thingies were pretty good. I ate three!

Giggsy brought his four month old and shortbin brought her 26 month old, so a lot of the attention was centred around the kids and how they eat, how they shit, why they cry and how they cry and the differences. Of course there was an occasional and usual gossiping about our JC friends. Hee hee..

Seems like we are all transitioning to adulthood. Adulthood doesnt come with age, it comes with responsibility, voluntary or not. It's a little odd to see my peers being parents. The cajoling, the chasing around, the stern-ness, the feeding, the diaper changing, AND ALL THE ATTENTION SHOWERED TO ENSURE OUR SAFETY AND WELL-BEING.

Gosh.

That somewhat brought to mind about how my parents especially my mum would have fussed over me when i was younger. I was a sickly child back then and my mum spent so many sleepless nights getting me back to health, getting me through school, etc.

I watched this documentary by National Geographic on WWII - http://www.ngcasia.com/programmes/apocalypse-the-second-world-war. Absolutely wonderful yet at the same time, it was very pitiful for children to be born during the era.

Golf!

I have some leave to clear before the year ends and it has been two months since i went to JB for golf.

So i took leave to go for some golf tomorrow! w00t!

It's a little disturbing that i have so many combination of golf attire that i really had to take some time to think it through. Quite tough to match the top and bottom with white/yellow gloves and white/red shoes.

But yay! im excited.

Uproar

When i posted my entry about my personalised notepad, i didnt expect to create such an uproar.

But it did.

A number of people msned/smsed me to tell me how silly the post was.

But this one takes the cake: T|ny mmsed me a picture two days ago. It was a pic of her own personalised notepad from work. Tsk.. no wonder she has been at the same job since she graduated from uni.

Showoff!

Cheapo

When it comes down to it, im a cheap ass. I usually like to see the housekeeping trolley out in the corridor when im staying at the hotel, cos I can then ask the housekeeping for some extras.

Im not those who’d ask for more shampoos or soap cos those are all low quality stuff. I usually like to ask for laundry bags cos these are just so useful especially on those golf trips and badminton games for the sweaty cloths. In this trip, I got about 20 bags. W00t!

On the last evening, I was in a good mood cos I was going home. I saw the trolley cart again and asked the housekeeper for more of the chocolates that he leaves by my bedside every evening. Milk one the best.

When he did come by later, instead of the usual two pieces, he took a cup and filled it with lots of milk chocolates. That made the impending return home all the more sweeter.

Motivation

It has been a very hectic and bordering on terrible last few months. In fact sometimes i felt like throwing in the towel.

It didnt help that someone told me my ex-company was hiring a VP. I wrote to my ex-boss and he said he'd be "honored to have me back". Haha.. That certainly stuck in my mind for a couple of days as i grappled between being a quitter or being a 好马(who doesnt eat the 回头草).

I was somewhat in the middle of my deliberations when my current company gave me something that made me decide to stay. To me, that's a testament of how much they cherish me and how much of a valued member i am.

They gave me a personalised note pad. Yes, a note pad with the company logo at the top and my name at the bottom.

I have attached a picture of it here... cropping away the top and bottom.

Shittybank

I smelt pop corn in the air in my office lobby today. Then i saw a huge crowd of people mulling around some "stalls" like a pasar malam at my lobby.

Then i realised it was some Shittybank funfair or whatever and everyone, presumably staff, were enjoying themselves with the popcorn.

Gosh, how can they do this with the government bailout that they got, especially when they havent paid it back??

Tsk tsk.. shitty