HEART OF ROCK @ NIPPON BUDOHKAN

Ahhhh D-DAY. And the very reason I’m in Japan to begin with. Since we were planning on nothing else but to haunt Budohkan the entire day ( concert starts at 5p.m. ) I decided that we can have the slack to sleep a bit more to recover from the crazy tiredness since the day we started traveling.

Waking up around 10a.m. ( for once! I don’t feel half as groggy waking up ) we took the usual simple bread and hot drink breakfast at Smile Khaosan Hostel before setting out. Almost forgetting the mounting board banner that we stowed under the bed, we set out with nervous strides crossing the all too familiar Sumida River heading towards the train station. Feeling a little light headed all I can think of was “We’re REALLY going to see Siam Shade! LIVE!”

Something funny happened when we were waiting at the traffic light heading towards the train station though 8D An old Japanese man smiled at us are asked what were we holding while we were all waiting for the green light because the wind flipped the board every now and then revealing bits of the wittings INSIDE the folded board. He asked whether were we doing calligraphy and very much embarrassed ( because the simple message inside that stated “マレーシアから!” [from Malaysia!] was penned by yours truly *coughs* ) The old man was surprised and smiled and said to us “Ganbatte ne~” just as the lights turned green and we headed our separate way XD;

We reached Kitamura Park station at 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Still nervous, my heart did several flips as soon as we alighted and saw people carrying cardboard/signs asking if anyone has extra tickets for sale! My heart goes out for those fans who came goodness knew what time and stood there holding the signs. I’m really really lucky that Sam and I got the tickets during the pre-sale. Thanks to the ever wonderful Akiko ( and her Mum! ) again! ♥

View before Budohkan’s entrance. A lot of senior citizens were painting by the river here.

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DISNEYLAND @ MAIHAMA

Sam, looking a little puzzled XD;;

I refused to start a travel-log entry that starts with “We were late once more because I have problem waking up in the morning >_>” *coughs* ANYWAY, it was a fine fine morning we woke up to! Initially I didn’t plan to go to Disneyland on a weekend after the various comments of horror by several friends who had experience going to Disneyland prior. Disneyland = crowded. Disneyland during weekend = HORROR! But due to the fact Sam’s Japanese friend - Mitsuo knew that we wanted to include Disneyland as one of our crash stop… he asked whether we would like to join up with him and his friend walking around the place. We are of course, more than welcome that 8D

There were some communication the night prior so we were worried whether he did get our confirmation about going to Disneyland afterall ^^; Taking the subway to Maihama, we encountered a family that was having some sort of argument about which train and line to take. In English. Maybe the husband-wife pair spotted Sam and me talking in English among ourselves, she asked us for direction towards Disneyland. They’re tourist from Singapore so it feels like “HEEEYYY NEIGHBOURS!” for the moment though I’m still amused at how reluctant the husband want to ask for directions XD

Eventually after a long train ride, we reached Maihama. It as obvious where we were supposed to head to. Everyone were headed the same way anyway XD The crowds was HUGEEEEEE. I can’t describe how so many people can be packed in one place like that. But the crowd was superbly HUGEEEEEE. I’m terrified. I don’t look forward to queing up the entire day for probably just two rides at this rate. (more…)

TSUKIJI FISH MARKET > TOKYO TOWER > AKIHABARA > ODAIBA

Once more I failed to wake up properly before 4a.m. ( which I’m supposed to ) for the early morning rush at Tsukiji Fish Market. I’m terribly sorry that Sam have to deal with a grumpy and narcoleptic me every morning before it hits lunchtime ( my solar alignment tends to settle down somewhat then ).

Anyway, once more we hit Asakusa Station for Tsukiji Fish Market. I probably will not manage anywhere on my own without Sam because she was the one that made notes prior of which station goes where and what lines goes where next XD; The so-called planning on my side are purely selfish because all I can think of before starting this trip was “I wanna go there! I wanna see that! I MUST get my ass to this place!” without actually studying the routes to do so XD;

TSUKIJI FISH MARKET [ 築地市場 ]

To tell the truth, all the books and guides I ran through just told me that Tsukiji market is extremely near the station’s exit. But we REALLY didn’t have the slightest idea of WHERE exactly it is XD We made our way through an ACTUAL wet market ( filled with vegetables and what not ) weaving in and out following other gaijin tourists we see ( especially the ones with cameras in their hands! They HAD to be tourists, no? Yay us for being totally clueless XDD ) We thought reaching the marketplace as late as 7a.m. then will have the entire marketplace dissapeared ( like the Floating Market in London Underground a.k.a. Neverwhere? XD ) but thankfully we were not ones to be detered so easily. We’d already got a whiff of the smelly fishy smell as soon as we hit the station .. so following our nose, we managed to make our way to the ACTUAL fish market! 8D

Once again; a hell lot of pictures under the cut 8D And a bunch of too long text-diarrhea too considering this was the day we visited the most places out of the few days we were in Tokyo. (more…)

ASAKUSA > AKIHABARA > OCHANOMIZU > SHINJUKU

The morning started with the usual routine of “I-don’t-wanna-get-up”. I can’t believe myself. I’m in Japan and YET it takes forever to kick me out of bed >_> ( Sorry Sam! ) I was really too tired ( from the long hours on the plane ) and broken ( from lugging the luggage around SO much. Hello NON-ELEVATOR exit of Asakusa station, I shall remember you with much hatred )

We I finally got up around 8-ish and got ready for the first stop ever in Japan! Kaminari-mon! The area I’m staying in is a famous tourist spot in Asakusa [ 浅草 ] for it’s giant red lantern and temples so it’s definitely a good place for us to start exploring Tokyo!

View from Komagata Bridge.

It’s one of the three bridges ( and the one we used often ) that cuts through the Sumida River. The red bridge you can see in the second picture will be the Azuma Bridge, there’s Umaya Bridge further down but we never really bothered with that side of the town? O_o; Komagata Bridge is blue and in between of Azuma and Umaya, by the way. We used this often because it’s the shortest route from Asakusa Station to the hostel. Plus, since we’re kinda hopeless with directions, it’s really kinda good that there’s a little temple-like building at the side of the road here to indicate that we WERE INDEED on the correct bridge XD

And oh, being the stupid fangirl that I am …

Bandai building XDDD ( If you don’t understand the significance of this place, uhmm .. don’t ask. It’s better that way ^^; ) And like what Keroro would do, I pay my tribute to the building every morning as I crossed the bridge the whole time I’m in Japan XDD

By the way, tonnes of picture under the cut. Considered yourself warned? XD (more…)

MOSTLY AIRPORT TERMINALS AND LACK OF SLEEP

Woke up around 5:30 a.m. with the alarm blaring. I specifically chose a tone I hated most to wake me up on the go. Was in the usual grumpy morning mood. Thankfully my luggage was hitting only a little more than 15kg ( thanks Jive for his bathroom scale. I was worried sick the entire night that I might just exceed the 20kg limit with the crap I stuffed inside the bag )

It hit me in the car that I didn’t have the Khaosan Smile ( the el cheapo backpackers place we’re staying at! ) map! Detoured over to Jeff’s place before hitting McD for some breakfast on the go; even though KLIA has a perfectly functional McD — I can get pretty cheap about paying twice the price of a regular meal there XDD ) ANYWAY .. moving on…

Jeff was playing Siam Shade music all the way we were headed to the airport, making the usually long journey to the airport off the city an enjoyable one. I think I finally felt the first pang of excitement then, driving to KLIA with Siam Shade music out loud drowning out the usual hubdrum of the traffic.

Mum gave me a hilarious call halfway through. She specifically told me not to indulge too much in stalking cute Japanese guys XD In front of her yoga classmates. All of them.

… snap.

ALL I SAW OF HONG KONG

… is the airport ( or specifically, the terminals that we were supposed to head to ). We really didn’t have time at all to even look-see the area around. Had a toilet break once we touched down and joined the que of thousands of others to transit.

We called Khaosan Smile from a public phone charging it to my credit card because we don’t have any HKD. Celcom ( my local telco ) was bitching and bitching once I switched it on roaming in HK. I dread to see my bill end of this month T__T

FROM HONG KONG TO NARITA

 
AND FINALLY…
Hey! Proof that we reached Japan already that evening! Pocari Sweat Ion Water XDDD Because we were horribly thirsty from the travel ( It tastes absolutely disgusting tbh T__T )

FLIGHT TICKETS? CHECKED

CONCERT TICKET? CHECKED

HOTEL RESERVATION? CHECKED

LEAVE APPLICATION ? CHECKED

VISA? APPLIED AND GOT IT! BABY! <3

Guess who’s REALLY REALLY going to Tokyo now??? =DDDD Oh Siam Shade, watashi ni matteiru yo! Mou sugu aeru kara!

Yes! Yours truly decided on the spot the moment she heard the news of the one-night only reunion concert of Siam Shade from the lovely, lovely Sam! The fact that it’ll be in Tokyo, Japan doesn’t seem to faze my overly fangirlish brain ( Mind you, I did managed to reject the whole idea of going to L’Arc~en~Ciel summer concert this year =P ) Oh well, Siam Shade is much more important at the moment at any rate.

Yours truly did won the 2nd round of pre-sale tickets lottery thanks to the ever wonderful Akiko-san! To tell the truth, Sam and I actually booked our flight to Tokyo even before we secured any tickets *coughs* And now looking at the official site and ticketing sites, it is a total sold out! Congratulations Siam Shade! It WILL be a BLAST!

Now everything is pretty much covered. I’m just waiting to see WHICH seats did we actually get from Lawson early bird presale *clawssss* Apart from that; I should start memorising lyrics ( Especially for Dear…, Dreams and 1/3 Junjou na Kanjou XD ) and packing up for cold autumn in Tokyo :3

Now, my only woes is that due to all the Siam Shade planning and what not, I did not realised GLAY tour starts in November too *HEADDESK* and THEY WILL be near Tokyo area the week I’m there! Bu-but … tickets are all sold out for those venues T__________________________T

For those who’d already known the news some time back, this is just a recap post from the whirlwind of adventures and misadventures for the past month of so planning this in secret. And simply because I’m a little too estatic for my own good that my VISA got approved XD

AND; with those who’d known; guess what they said about me going to Tokyo? Hmm.. actually this is more like a shopping list from them for ME ;3;

- Ooooooh get me that cool umbrella you have? :3

- Just choose my birthday gift from BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT okay? (:

- Tokyo? Get me Tachikoma(s)!

- Can you help look for Kame-related stuff there ? ^_^

- Get the whole family those good luck charms from temples okay?

- Kidnap me Aiji on your way back!!! =DDDD

- Boleh bawak balik Okada for me? XDDDD

- I want cool t-shirts from Japan. You know, the Versace x Universal Studio ones.

The last request? It was made of PURE WIN ( cookies to those who gets the reference =P ) Oh my brother, whatever will I do without your silliness XDD