Renee's B'day Gift

Renee's gift

 

Emeryn's creation

 

calling herself Princess Emeryn

Our daily routine resumed the following week after coming back from Japan. Emeryn started her full day care at Edu Excel and mummy reported back to work. Mummy took leave on Fri for her medical check and mummy's friend dropped Emeryn to daycare on that day itself. Before going to daycare, they went for breakfast at Mc Donalds. On Fri evening, Ah Ma picked Emeryn from daycare and she spent her nite at Pekaka. It was also the same day Kakak Suti is leaving Penang for good. She is going back to Semarang after serving us for a good 6years. Thank you Kakak Suti and we will definitely miss you from far. Emeryn sent her to the airport along with Ah Ma. The same week, we had durian feast twice. Yummy!!! Mummy also bought an online voucher for a photoshoot between mummy and Emeryn at De Santia. Mummy planned to develop the new photo into the 12R poster and display it in our new home. Yes, new home but way to go, perhaps another 2.5years.

The next morning, mummy picked Emeryn from Pekaka and headed to Art Class. We bought lunch home and spent the rest of the afternoon at home, watching mummy's new Taiwanese series. We didn't join Theng Ee, Por Por and Ah Kong for their steamboat dinner as it was raining heavily at our place.

We headed out to Queensbay Mall on Sun afternoon and we went hunting for Renee's birthday present. It was supposed to be a quick drop-by but we ended up spending an hour or so only at Toys R Us. Emeryn was very indecisive on what gift suits Renee best. We ended up deciding on a set of beads for necklace, earring and bracelet. Emeryn requested for a set of tiara, ring, earring and necklace for herself to wear during Renee's birthday which was themed as the Royal Birthday Party. Toys R Us are having a promotion where we will be given RM20 voucher with a minimum purchase of RM150. So mummy ended up throwing Emeryn a surprise by getting her the same set as well.

After grabbing the pressie, we headed over to Por Por's place for our usual Sun visit and had out dinner there before going home. At home, Emeryn insisted to unwrap her new toy and we had fun making necklace together. It was a good boding session indeed.

Tokyo Day 6

 

 

@ Tsukiji Market

 

 @ Imperial Palace

@ Akihabara

 

@ Asakusa

 

 

@ Ueno

  

@ Hachiko Statue

Day 6 – 15^th Nov (Wed)

• Tsukiji Fish Market – Or a 10 minute walk by using the Tsukiji Subway station (H10) on the Hibiya line, use exit 1. The largest fish market in the world. You need wake up like 4.00 am early in the morning to get enough time to reach Tsukiji Seafood Wholesale Market to watch the biggest tuna fish auction scene in the world which start around 5.00-5.30 am. Take your very fresh sasashi and sushi as your breakfast.
• Ginza – Shopping district & biggest financial district in Tokyo Japan. Walk from Tsukiji Fish Market. The key highlights of Ginza are all the buildings and shops along the two main intersecting streets, Chuo-dori and Harumi-dori. To walk the main parts of these streets would require around 60 to 90 minutes on foot. Go to Harumi Dori (Street).
• Imperial Palace & its East Gardens
• Akihabara - There are two key aspects to Akihabara; high technology shopping and maid cafe (also called maido cafe), electronic shops.
• Asakusa – experience the heritage of culture side of Japan, pray in the most famous Sensoji Temple  and do shopping in buying Japan local souvenirs like biscuits, cakes, handy crafts, porcelains goods, decors, cloths, swords, many stuff can get here. Exit A4 Asakusa Station, turn right. Turn left at the first corner and walk one block. You will see a large red wooden gate (Kaminari-mon gate) on the other side of the street. Cross the street and go through the gate. You will get to a market street with souvenir shops on both sides – this is called Nakamise-dori. Walk straight down the market street and through another wooden gate and you will reach Sensoji temple, the most famous location in Asakusa. 
• Ueno Park – Ueno Ameyoko street, here is the most complete souvenirs street in Tokyo with very reasonable pricing, you can almost everything that is famous for souvenir around Japan here.  
• Shibuya – look up for Shibuya crossing. The Hachikō Exit (ハチ公口 Hachikō-guchi) on the west side, named for the nearby statue of the dog Hachikō and adjacent to Shibuya's famous scramble crossing, is a particularly popular meeting spot. 

Day 6 was the last day we spent at Tokyo before leaving at 11.45pm. We started with Tsukiji market where we witnessed many fresh seafood on sale. We were given some sampling too and Emeryn hearts the anchovies a lot. After a quick walk at Tsukiji, we headed to Ginza where we surrounded with huge and tall financial building. We had a pit stop at one of the famous tempura served outlet. Next was Imprerial Palace and its East Gardens. We did not managed to cover all the area as it was a real huge garden. We dropped by and snapped some photo before leaving. Yes, been there!!!

We visited Akihabara and even tempted to try out the maid cafe. To our disappointment, it was more like a cyber cafe where people hang out for common drinks and perhaps some board games. Maids are seen lingering on the street but very limited of them in their outlets. We left even without ordering a drink. We shopped for last minutes souvenirs at Asakusa and the day was getting dark at only 4.30pm. We then visited Ueno where we had a stroll at Ueno Ameyoko Street. Mummy bought nothing but some Hello Kitty merchandize. The fashion now is all about winter, thus its not something for Asean like us.

We were happy for being able to cover almost all places in our itinerary. After our dinner at Ueno, we rushed to Shibuya just to snapped a photo at the Hachiko statue after telling Emeryn the story behind Hachiko. We then head over to the airport. Mummy was having some problem with the hand luggage which they claimed is out of hand carry size. Mummy has no choice but to checked in the luggage after failed to convince them. The flight took off on time and Emeryn dozed off almost immediately after boarding until we touched down at 6am. 

We spent about 2 hours or so at LCCT before transiting back to Penang. Daddy picked us from airport.

Tokyo Day 5

 

 

 

 

Day 5 – 14^th Nov (Tues)  

 Disneysea

This was the highlight of the trip for the kids, yes it's Disneysea. The journey was much more shorter than we expected. We reached the entrance at about 10am and it took us nearly 30mins to get the ticket. The crowd were absolutely crazy, it was fully filled with the locals. We snapped some photo upon entering the entrance and proceed with our fun filled day. Most attraction's waiting time were at least 30mins, up to 80mins. We have to forgo many of them. The kids spent most of their time at the Mermaid Lagoon. We waited up to almost 8pm before leaving as to witnessed the last fireworks. 

We had our dinner at Takadanobaba before walking back to the guesthouse. Emeryn finally get her craving satisfied after ordering her favorite chawanmushi.

Tokyo Day 4

 

 

 

 

@ Enoshima

 

@ Hase-dera

  

@ Kotokuin Temple

     Day 4 – 13^th Nov (Wed)

      Enoshima

Kamakura

• Kotokuin Temple - is renowned for the Great Buddha (大仏, daibutsu), a monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amida Buddha which is one of the most famous icons of Japan. The statue stands at 13.35 meters high and weighs approximately 93 tons.
• Kaikozan Hase-dera - Hase Kannon Temple. Head back towards Hase Station, half way along the path to on the right hand side is the path and entrance to Kaikozan Hase-dera (also known as the Hase Kannon Temple). It is one of the great Buddhist temples in the city of Kamakura, famous for housing a massive wooden statue of Kannon (Goddess of Mercy). The temple is the fourth of the 33 stations of the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage circuit dedicated to the goddess Benzaiten.   

 Odaiba

• Take ferry to Odaiba, shop around special theme shopping complexes, Fuji Television Center, and have your first Japanese hot spring experience in a very traditional setup with newly renovated hot spring center call Ooedoonsen. From Shimbashi Station take the Yurikamome, an elevated train across the Rainbow Bridge onto a man made island in Tokyo Bay (Odaiba Kaihinkoen Station), 310yen. There, visit the shopping and entertainment attractions and view the futuristic architecture and landscape design around Odaiba and Tokyo Big Sight.   

It was another full day tour and we hopped to Shinjuku Station to purchase the Day Pass for Enoshima & Kamakura amounting to 1430yen . Enoshima is a small island that protrudes into Sagami Bay. Home to a goddess of legend that is worshipped by many, including celebrities.  Enoshima is a pleasantly touristy island just off coast but connected by bridge with the mainland. Several shrine buildings, collectively known as Enoshima Shrine, are found around the island and are dedicated to Benten, a popular goddess of good fortune, wealth, music and knowledge. Benten is believed to have created Enoshima before subduing a five headed dragon that had been terrorizing the area.

After half day spent at Enoshima, we headed out for our lunch before continuing our tour to Kamakura. Our first stop was Hasedera Temple, most famous for its statue of Kannon, the goddess of mercy. Hasedera is built along the slope of a wooded hill. A pretty garden with ponds is found at the base of the slope just after entering. The temple's main buildings are built further up the slope, reached via stairs. Next to the temple garden at the base of the slope stands the Benten-do, a small hall that contains a figure of Benten (also known as Benzaiten), a goddess of feminine beauty and wealth. Sculptures of Benten and other minor gods can be found in a small cave (Benten-kutsu) next to the Benten-do. 

After our walk at Hasedera, we proceeded to the Great Buddha. The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Kamakura Daibutsu) is a bronze statue of Amida Buddha, which stands on the grounds of Kotokuin Temple. With a height of 13.35 meters, it is the second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan. We missed out the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu since the skies are getting darker. We headed back to Shinjuku before an ad-hoc decision to visit Odaiba Island.

We boarded the Yurikamome in the evening and only be able to witnessed limited attractions at Odaiba. Nevertheless we took the elevated train to travel the whole Odaiba Island without stopping. We alighted at the Shimbashi Station and walked out for our late dinner along the street. We went back to our guesthouse after the meal.