Japan Trip Epic

30 Jan 2011 (Sun)
Not use to waking up at 4am on Sunday morning. To avoid missing our flight, we set 4 alarm clocks. We made it! After 2 alarms successfully set off.
Left home at 4.30am when it started to rain like cats & dogs. Reached aiport way too early. Nothing to do so ate BK for breakfast. When the plane took off at 8am it was still raining very heavily. Later found out that several places in Singapore was flooded.
Having BK breakfast was a perfect decision because food in United Airline is horrible. They served carrot cake or scrambled egg... Take your pick. After awhile they offered chicken sanwich and some orange juice. That's it. So disappointed. Fortunately the in-flight entertainment was not too bad to kill 6 hours. Watched Unstoppable and The Town then zzzz....

Touched down at 330pm local time (GMT +9). Cleared imigration, grabbed our bags and immediately rushed to JR counter and spend our first ¥ buying NEX (Narita Express) train tickets. This ¥5,500 promotional package allows return trip from Narita Airport to city center. It also comes with a Suica card worth ¥2,000, something like ezlink card.

The good thing about Suica card it can used on public transport and shopping.

It took 1 hour to reach Shinagawa, where we put up. It was very cold. 3-5°C. We dragged ourselves up the slope and almost dropped dead in front of the hotel. Without any procrastination, we checked in, dropped our luggage, put on full gear and venture out for dinner. We had absolutely no idea what or where to eat. Simply walked into a Nihon Ryori and ordered some tempura with rice. It was delicious.

After meal, we wandered around the train station, check out some convenient shops, stock up some ration and back to hotel. Nissin UFO yakisoba bowl is interesting design. You can drain the hot water by peeling off the foil at 1 corner. Looking forward to my 1st trip to Japan.

2011 New Year Eve

How did I celebrate Year New Eve?
EAT!
We had half-day off on Year New Eve.
Lunch at NUS PepperLunch Express. Hiking at Rifle Range Road. Dinner had Ghim Moh Master Crab and ML prata for supper.
On new year day, we ate again.
Ren Ren prawn noodle for breakfast, then Popeye Chicken for lunch. It was not enough so ate Ya Kun kaya toast during tea time. Dinner was Fish Pot at Jalan Sultan.

Tokyo Tour Itinerary

Day 1 - 30 Jan 2011 (Sun)
Afternoon
Yosoko! Tokyo!
Touch down at 330 pm local time. Take Narita Express to city center about 70 mins. Let's get the Suica & N'EX package for ¥5,500 (2-way). Suica card comes with ¥2,000 credit for any transport. We can use it in town. Daily transport will rely on the Tokunai pass 730 yen.
Check-in to Grand Prince New Takanawa Hotel near Shinagawa Station. S$200+ per night. It better be good!

Night
Stroll around where we stay and get some local food for dinner. Recee around and decide what to do next few days.

Day 2 - 31 Jan 2011 (Mon)
Morning
Visit Tsukiji Market (Fish Market). See details at http://www.tsukiji-market.or.jp/tukiji_e.htm

Market start business early morning. Auction starts at 5.30am (Tuna), 7am (vege) & 7.30am (flower). Tourist/ visitors might not be allowed at the auction floor. We can straight away go to the makan place for breakfast. This market closes at about 11am.

Afternoon
Self guided City tour. We can visit places like tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, free shrine, temple, palace, free parks, free garden, free museum. Go buy some cheap electronic stuff. Shouldn't be that hard to achieve. At most lost our way in the busy Tokyo city. No big deal hehe...

Placa to go: Akihabara, Ginza, Shinjuku, Harajuku, Akakusa, Shibuya

Day 3 - 1 Feb 2011 (Tue)
Day tour to somewhere else. No concrete idea where to go or what to do yet. Maybe Some places with hot spring :)
Choice of tours,
1. Mt Fuji Hakone 1-Day Return by Shinkansen
2. Japanese Snow Monkey 1-Day Tour impossible its in Nagano
3. Takaosan hiking

Day 4 - 2 Feb 2011 (Wed)
Continue with city tour or go Disneyland? Lots of things I wanna eat like Bubba gump, Denny's ...........

Day 5 - 3 Feb 2011 (Thurs)
Sayonara Tokyo. Last minute shopping until 1 pm.
Leaving for Narita Airport after lunch. Flight depart at 5.50pm local time.

Have you been to Singapore Quarry? Where?

After having lunch at Bt Timah Food Center we went for an unplanned adventurous trail, Daily Farm Nature Reserve. Unfortunately we couldn't find the place. 2 fellow in their fancy trekking suits told us there is this "Singapore Quarry" nearby... We could have parked our car near the MOE adventure Center and walk the trail all the way to the so-called quarry. However we chose to park at the nearest spot and walked the shortest route. Parked at Jalan Asas behind The Rail Mall and just walked for about 0.7km.
There is basically a very huge piece of rock, a waterbody, a platform, a shelter & very hot weather.

I drove these before

Car is a mode of transport. It's considered luxury in the past but a necessity in where I grown up.
Malaysian usually get our driving license at the age of 17. In the past >10 years, I have driven these cars...

Mazda 323

Perodua Kancil

Perodua Kenari

Daihutsu Materia

Save the Wallet. Cook at Home #2

I love Italian food. So I invested a little bit in herbs & spices such as rosemary (迷迭香), oregano, parsley (荷兰芹) etc. These spices can make wonders. They are relatively expensive in Singapore. 25g bottle is about $4-$5. In the US, 1 tub (15g) cost < U$1. A small amount of spices can bring up the taste very subtly yet sufficient to satisfy your taste buds.
Let's learn how to recognise the spices.
1. Oregano

 2. Rosemary

3. Parsley

Linguini Bolognese...

Steps

1. Boil pasta (of your choice) in hot water with a pinch of salt.

2. While boiling pasta, heat up wok with olive oil.

3. Fry garlic, onion till golden brown.

4. Cook carrot with water. Simmer till softened. Add a little salt if desired.

5. Cook meat for 7-10 minutes then add tomato.

6. Stir in pasta sauce then spices such as grounded oregano & rosemary (optional).

7. Drain pasta and serve on plate together with a generous amount of meat sauce.

Ready to tuck in...

Save the Wallet. Cook at Home #1

It was recommended to eat 2 servings of vegetables & 2 servings of fruits daily.
Other than mixed vegetable economic rice (杂菜饭), we don't really get enough vegetables from other food. A plate of stir-fried vege is easily $6-$8. Extremely overcharged. FYI, 1 packet of vege, enough of 4 person consumption is only about $1-$1.50. So we should cook vege at home.

The simple way to cook vegetable besides stir-frying is to boil it in hot water.
Steps:
1. Boil 2 cups of water in a pot
2. Add a little oil. Salt is optional
3. When boiled, put in vege and cook for 30 sec to 1 min depends on the strength of fire
4. Observe the change of color & remove vege from water when cooked
5. Serve vege with some oyster sauce and minced garlic

Another overcharged dish in Singapore eateries is Bakuteh. Bakuteh is a popular & nutritious soup in Singapore. Usually a bowl is $8. Actually preparation is less complicated then many other hot dishes.
Steps:
1. Boil 6 bowls of water. When boiled put in groundnuts (optional) and coice of Bakuteh sachet
2. Separately boil another pot of clear water
3. Cook meat when clear water is boiled. When meat surface is cooked, transfer meat to Bakuteh soup pot. This is to lock in the freshness of the meat and to avoid the blood from contaminating our Bakuteh.
4. Boil Bakuteh for 15 min. Put in garlic (optional)
5. Turn fire to small and continue to slow boil for 30 min. Heat up before serving.

Note:
To keep overnight in fridge, remove meat from soup to prevent oversoaking. Meat texture will turn hard and coarse.