Day 11: Arima Onsen Town, Shinkansen, Narita, Singapore (NOOOOOOOOOO...)

the next morning, alvin got up early just to onsen one more time. the rest of us were sleeping like pigs though.

it's super foggy in the morn:













the room's bathroom that nobody used (you can see the Ba-Yu shampoo and treatment over there):



hurhur. abit messy, sorry:



THE JAPANESE BUFFET BREAKFAST WAS SO DAMN GOOD. i had about 3 rounds of it. in case you don't eat japanese food, there were normal eggs, toast and salad. i even spotted udon...

but when i tried it i realized it was squid. -______-

i had loads of agedashi tofu, cold tofu, and spinach in peanut sauce. OISHI, SRSLY.

chuu and i decided to go take a bath at the onsen baths before leaving hyoe... mmm... therapy. by this time, the spa that was male yesterday had been swopped over to female now... it was really pretty, full of Roman columns and steps that lead into the pool. :D

we took our time bathing, then went back upstairs to pack our last few items - OH CRAP IT'S ALREADY 10AM??!?! we're supposed to have checked out by now, and not still sitting in the hotel room OH NOES!!!

we went mad, and chuuling brought her luggage down first because she wanted to make some last minute purchases. we managed to enlist the help of a cleaner lady who very handily had a luggage trolley thing, so she loaded everything unto it (she looks small and old but she's STRONG) and we rolled everything towards the entrance.

along the way we kept seeing staff cleaning the rooms, but as we walked past, no matter whether they're busy or just chatting with their colleagues they will STOP, turn and say hello.

SO CHEERY!!! :D

OHAIYO TO YOU TOO!!! :D:D:D

okok we really need to rush. we somehow managed to tell the lady that we needed to get to kobe station by 11am so we can hop unto the shinkansen at 1130am, and she whipped into action. by some insane luck, both the english and mandarin translator were both at the reception counter that morning and quickly arranged for us to be sent to arima onsen station IN A VAN.

such a pity we only stayed one day. *sniff*

byebye everybody!! (middle: chinese translator, right: english translator, background, back facing the camera: super helpful but purely japanese speaking
luggage heaving cleaner)



we made it to arima station and THANK GOD, we caught the train just as it was about to leave. as we all slumped unto our chairs, we knew if not for the people at hyoe we never would have made it. T_T

we reached kobe station, and then kobe shinkansen station just in time...

to see that our shinkansen has been delayed. it's ok - gives us time to take pictures of the other bullet trains.

incoming!









you know, i saw this picture and i went 'WOW WHO'S THAT HOT CHICK ALVIN CAPTURED IN THIS SHOT?? i didn't notice any hot chicks leh. odd... i was around there when alvin took the shot right?... hmm.'

then i saw the boots.

EH THAT'S ME LA! HAHAHAHA!!



our train (i think), we took the hikari line:





chuu had so much problems with her tiny green bag - 'VIV HELP ME PLEASE!!! I CANNOT CLOSE!! T_T'



and off we go:



looking sadly out of the window, with the scenery whooshing past - kobe, osaka, nara, kyoto...







if i'm not wrong, i think this is kyoto right now, which is a lot more rural than the other cities:















i turned to chuuling before i napped to ask her to wake me up if mt fuji was in view. so i ate my omu rice onigiri and promptly fell asleep once we went into a tunnel.

...

*SMACK*SMACK* 'VIVU!! MT FUJI!!!'

'WHAAAA..??!??!

OH WOW!!!!!!!!!'





it was SO HARD to get a good shot because it was so foggy. i got this just before the buildings came into view to block it:



that was so breathtaking.

after we rounded mt fuji, i fell back asleep satisfied. authentic ramen, sashimi, sushi, mt fuji, bullet trains, kimonos, yukatas and anime... my trip is complete. :)

we reached tokyo station and got off the shinkansen. after a mix up regarding our N'Ex train ride, we took the next train and we got to narita airport just in time to check in our luggage.

not overweight! whee!!

dinner:

mine (it was really good) -



alvin's:



hanbin's:



chuu's:



we went into the terminal once we were done with our food, but thanks to my boots, chuu and hanbin had to wait for me while alvin went ahead to search for some white chocolate biscuits for his cousins.

IT'S VERY EXPENSIVE. *blanches*

then we hopped on the plane and came home. there were kids, it was noisy, i watched inkheart which sucked, the food was ok, THE AIR STEWARDESSES WERE ALL SINGAPOREAN AND DAMN NOISY AND ONE OF THEM COMPARED COACH BAGS WITH A PASSENGER AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE (ugh)...

i was very, very sad to come back home. :(

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here're my spoils, hehe.





food stuffs:



OTHER STUFFS:



among the stuff there is a clip on mini-hat,jade's present, 3 burberry's bags, 2 agnes b bags, my otter, minnie mouse bag, nel's mickey mouse stuff, my mickey mouse shades, haruhi, bodysuit, umbrella, strawberry curlers, alice in wonderland cup, marie water-bottle bag and straw, ruffle-skirt, lucky star figurines and bags full of accessories and presents for my little girls.

*tired*

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total damage: $3250