Golden Week

we approached the week with no plans whatsoever... cos it was ridiculously expensive to be travelling or touring during this period... besides... the sea of people everywhere deterred us from planning a getaway...

but we still managed to spend the week nicely... rather spontaneous... rather fun..! =)

Ueno Zoo
on friday night... we sat around and thought what we should do during the golden week... then
we decided to visit the ueno zoo... cos it was convenient... no need to change train...

the zoo is huge... actually... i felt that it was more like a park... with lakes... bridges... lots of trees... and the animals were scarcely placed all around the zoo...

gals did not enjoy the zoo... largely due to the fact that the animals are in cages... that didnt make the gals very happy... unlike the singapore zoo... where animals roam freely in their large enclosures... the animals at the ueno zoo were kept in relatively small cages...

moreover... the zoo was filled with more people than animals... it was difficult jus to catch a glimpse of the animals...

but gals were still happy at the end of the day... cos there was a mini amusement park at the entrance of the zoo... hubby got them 3 rides each... and left them to decide and queue for which ever rides they so prefer... then hubby and i waited outside the park for them...

Saitama
then on sunday... we got invited to a friend's house for lunch... 上林さん is from the college that hubby is attending the course... he looks into the welfare of the foreign students... like our accommodation... and the family's needs... like getting the gals into the public school...

上林さん came to pick us up in his MPV... we were prepared for a 1.5hr ride to his place in saitama prefecture... however... on the way there... joanna felt queasy and threw up in the car..! she felt so bad and so did we... so we had to make a stop to wash her up... and clean the car...

continued on the journey... joanna sitting on her wet skirt... felt bad for her... but she was not complaining... but i knew that she was uncomfortable... so i requested for us to stop by any stores where i could get her a new skirt...

and so we did... and the rest of the journey was more comfortable for her...

there were traffic jams on the roads... all in all... we took about 3.5hr jus to get to his place...

lunch was great... sukiyaki... learnt how to make it their style and cant wait to try it out myself..! tried new foods... food that i would not buy when i am out alone at the supermart... but they were oishii..!

with the lunch... we had beer... followed by coffee liqueur... then some sake... and ending all off with a slice of strawberry sponge cake... and coffee... heavenly..!

the gals also had a whale of a time with his elder daughter... children are jus so borderless... with no common language... they played so well together... lots of laughter... and giggles...

their common language... pokemon... and NDS lite... thank God we brought along ours... =)

by the time we were done... it was about 7pm when we left his place... and by the time we reached home... it was about 9.30pm... then i made a quick dinner... dinner was served at 10pm...

it was a very tiring day... but it was meaningful... =)

Roppongi Hills
we had initially planned for us to go to Gotenba for some serious shopping... it is a place where duty free outlets congregated... placed is a famous spot for shopping... but hubby received an sms invitation for dinner...

his ex-japanese classmates had invited us for dinner... it was also to celebrate one of their friend's birthday... and so we postponed our Gotenba trip... anyways... we still had lots of time to do that one...

didnt do much on monday... hubby had an assignment due on thursday... immediately after the golden week... so he spent some time working on his assignment...

dinner was at Roppongi Hills... a very nice restaurants... it was a good time with friends... even the gals enjoyed the dinner... nice... =)

Yokohama
and so Gotenba was pushed to tuesday... but on monday night... we asked ourselves if we were planning to buy anything in particular there... both of us said nothing... and so we decided to postpone the trip there again... and do something that would involve the gals as well...

and so we spontaneously chose to visit Yokohama... jus like that... no planning whatsoever... jus go... =P

set off for Yokohama right after breakfast... it was jus a 40min train ride from where we are... reached the station... went straight to get ourselves a visitor's guide and map... and headed off on foot...

we fell in love with Yokohama... it was really nice... near the sea... cos there were ports and piers... we saw ships... tall buildings... even a big amusement park..!

the family went on quite a number of rides... it was fun... lots of screams and laughter... gals were very grateful to us for bringing them there...

but we were on foot most of the time... it was really tiring... think we walked over 3km... ending up in chinatown... which was very crowded... too crowded for us to settle dinner there... so we headed somewhere near home...

ended up back at Shibuya for dinner... went to a tonkatsu restaurant... and dinner was truly satisfying... nice... =)

yesterday was the final day of the golden week... we spent the entire day at home... hubby needed desperately to complete his assignment... which he did by 11pm... =P

phew..!
that's our week in a nutshell..! =)