Neab in Sg AGAIN

Neab is in SG again! The last time he was here I had Covid so we couldn't hang but this time.

Saturday

We met at the Olivia Cheesecake place for some cheesecakes which was pretty good but expensive, then I bought them around to check out some nice buildings along Bencoolen, SOTA, Laselle, Fortune center, National design center and ended with dinner at Chin Chin eating house where Kat brought me the last time. A very local dinner and I'm very surprised there were so many locals eating there. 

Then wine at Bar Ura, and then we went to conversion Bar for more drinks. 

It was the first time we were there, we order a long island each and it was crazy strong. What the hell did they put in there... and then 2 more jugs, saw a few familiar faces, made friends with 3 other girls beside us and the music changed from K-pop to English coz we requested lol. And the next thing I knew I was puking in the cab. That's a story for another day. I haven't touched alcohol since.

Sunday

I woke up with a very very nasty hangover but we had to go to KAP for the Bukit Timah Railway station and we also went to the new Rifle Range Nature Reserve. It was quite an easy walk, relatively crowded coz it's quite new.

Then Korean BBQ for dinner and ice cream.

Monday

We went around Holland Village - I haven't checked out that place for ages. Had ice cream at Sunday Folks.

And then walked to Star Vista for Itacho Sushi. 

He's heading to Tokyo with his family in December and also with me in Februrary lol. Yea so I'll see him in 2 months time haha.

Out of order week

What a week.

1. I exploded at one of my colleague at work on Wednesday but after that I handled it. Now I can't seem to go back to normal.

2. I can't remember how I got super drunk at the bar with Neab and Ben and he had to help me home and I puked in the car ride back and at the toilet again and slept in the toilet for a while before showering.

I think my mind is out of order. 

11.11 sale

As usual, 11.11 sale my bank account dips.

1. A carton of 24 Strong Zero white grape

I already planned to get this since I'm running out of strong zero and white grape is a seasonal flavour, so why not get a carton? And with all the discounts it came up to only $4.70 per can. I couldn't even find this flavour when I went tokyo. Cheap!

2. Hush candle

I actually didn't want to get any candles because I already have loads of candles but it was 25% off and there was the pandan candle that I wanted to try... so $67 for 2 large and 1 small candle.

3. Taobao

As usual, I had always taobao during 11.11. I helped Jessie buy a CNY dress, I bought the costume for my company's DnD, a pair of pants, and the limited edition Evangelion set that was sold out in Japan. Now I'm ready to get my gaia notes paint in Feb.

4. Backpack

Guess who owns a Saint Laurent City Backpack now hahaha. On 12th November morning I was supposed to watch Black Panther with Eric but I saw carousell notification that this backpack dropped price to $600, and I checked the retail price was $1690. So I chat with the seller and went down to Punggol -_- and bam. Tranaction done. It was so worth it, he only used twice and the condition was completely new, I couldn't even tell it has been used before. 

No need to hunt for a backpack anymore. Now I need a new work messenger bag.

Tokyo 2022 Day 4, 5 and 6

It's Shinjuku day and I went around in search for lunch and found my comfort: Yoshinoya. Then I went gundam paint hunting but the gundam and evangelion models are so limited. The paints are ok, I just need to define my list of things to buy by Feb.

Then shopping in Shinjuku, I didn't expect to buy anything at Muji but with Emi-chan introducing all the good food I just... $$$. 

And I chanced upon this ReMuji project. So Muji collaborated with a Traditional Kimono Dyeing company and re-coloured their unsold stock, and it became this one of a kind, beautiful indigo-faded expenive looking shirt. And it was my size so BUY. 

Me and Kathy love these kind of unique shit.

More shopping at Beams, Takashimaya and chanced upon this Bleach x Coca Cola pop up and got a free limited edition bleach coke, and my legs were dying so I went for early dinner at Sushi Zanmai.

Look at those colours and marbling. I was holding so many stuff so I went back to the hotel to put down, and went supermarket shopping and bought more shit.

My luggage was definitely going to be overweight. I spent the night packing my luggage and went out to club at night. The regular club I went was completely empty I was so shocked so I went to the second one which was more crowded but I had to rush back for the last train at 12am lol.

The next day which was my last shopping/whole day in Tokyo, I went to stock up snack at Tokyo station, buying more Pikachu Tokyo Banana and Banana Brulee (which was really good) and walking around to see the autumn leaves.

Back to the hotel to put down my stuff, then to Shimokitazawa with Angus and Keisuke where we had coffee, went to see the neighbourhood starbucks and dinner at Izakaya that Kei recommended. We were so glad to have a local friend. Sashimi, gyoza, oden and highballs. It was a really good final dinner. 

Angus and I went to Shinjuku after that and then we said our goodbyes. I had to go back to pack and prepare for my flight.

The next morning at the airport, I was taking Japan Airlines so these 2 chinese ladies came to help me. When I weighed my luggage it was 27kg, which was 7kg more than my allowance so they asked me to take out my stuff to hand carry. So I took out and it was 22kg so I thought I could buy the 2kg excess. But she said it's not worth it so I had to take more out until it was 20.4kg.

In the end I had to carry 1 fully backpack, sling 1 full long champ bag and carry 2 full plastic bags into the plane. Luckily the flight crew didn't bother about my 4 carry ons. 

I had the best meal in my whole economy class life. JAL really surpassed my expectations. They had warm towels before every meal, their entertainment system was super updated, they had JAL exclusive drinks and they served miso soup with their meals!! It was a 8 course meal and the rice and hamburger steak was so good. 

I'm going to book Japan airlines to Japan next time. 

This trip was so fun although I didn't achieve some objective like getting my gundams and paints, and my favourite Oyako don shop closed but I found another good tonkatsu shop in Tokyo station. I did a hell lot of shopping and stocked up my facial stuff and alcohol. Met with Angus and Emi and Keisuke, really appreciate them bringing me around and introducing nice things haha. 

I really love holidaying in Japan. See you in February.

Tokyo 2022 Day 2 and 3

My second day is always the highlight because it's the Ginza-Akihabara schedule.

 

That means lunch is the best chicken ramen in the world. No need for explanation, this is my must-eat everytime.

Then, shopping in Ginza, dover street market and blue bottle coffee.

Oh and I managed to hunt down my earl grey tea gin!

Half the day was spent in Ginza, then went back to the hotel to retrieve my luggage. It came in the evening so I put down my shopping stuff for more shopping at Akihabara.

One of my main objectives of this trip is to get my gundam paints and evangelion but the shops seemed very limited and they are not urgent so I could get them in the Feb trip instead. 

I went to see my regular Tonkatsu shop at 7.30pm but they stopped the queue already!!! 😭

Went round the corner and saw this beef bowl shop.

Another amazing food find. After shopping at Matsumoto for my facial stuff it was too heavy so I went back to the hotel. Most of the chinese staff were gone and only left skeleton crew there in the shop. I have to find another Matsumoto to go to already. Bought a few drinks from Family Mart, drank in my room and slept at 1am.

The next day was meeting Emi-chan! We met at the new Shibuya scramble square and she said we are eating udon. I was very skeptical because I don't really like udon but the restaurant had a queue so I was like ok, let's try. We queued for 1 hour and it was totally worth it.

I suddenly realised I never had good udon before, until I had this. This is so good and already in my must-eat-in-Toyko list. She and Mika was so funny and nice, they treated me but I treated them back with desserts. She also gave me some Muji snack, so awesome.

I wanted to shop at Shinjuku but she told me to go tomorrow when she was working so I just walked around Shibuya until dinner time. Nitori, Donki, bought many snacks and then Angus came for dinner and we queued 1 hour again for the udon hahaha. Twice in a day! I wanted to try other soup base.

The cold udon was really good too 😭 it's crazy why do I like udon now lol. 

After that was full Don Don Donki shipping, I bought 2 big bags and reminder to bring backpack next time coz they don't provide plastic bags now. 

Tokyo 2022 Day 1

On 22 September when the Japanese PM announced that Japan will be fully open in October, I immediately booked my 2 trips - in November and next year for the snow. I have been waiting for this a long time.

1am I arrived in Sg from Manila, 8pm I'm at the airport again. I was taking Msia airlines this time (cheapest and best timing) with 1hr transit and I had the whole row to myself! Woohoo sleeping time. 

Arrived at 7am in the morning, customs were very smooth - because I already did the mysos app, then I saw a crew carrying my name on the board at the luggage belt. My luggage had been delayed by at least a day. 

Pro: Somehow I had prepared for this and packed a set of clothes in my backpack. I can claim at least $800 from insurance hehehe.

Con: I have no hair and facial products and most of my belongings are in the luggage.

Breathing the Tokyo air for the first time in 2 years is the most amazing feeling in the world. Arriving at Tokyo station I spent like $50 in a blink of an eye. I just forgot how to control my wallet when there are so many things to buy. I was having sore throat and coughing quite a bit but it wasn't Covid because I just had Covid. But anyway I bought some meds along the way.

After checking in my backpack at the hotel, I went to Harajuku Meiji Jinggu first, lunched at gyoza and wen to repair my watch - my main purpose of the trip. The limited edition autumn watch that I wanted to get was sold out -_- but it's fine. I can wait for next year's. Anyway I got a new strap, walked around Omotesando and I'm really amazed by the design of those stores which I have never noticed before. Some changes of shops here and there, had coffee then met Angus. 

We had coffee and caught up with each other at the new Miyashita Park at Shibuya, walked to Parco Shibuya for some shopping - pokemon center and Le labo, and then Sushi no Midori for dinner. He was praising the sushi so much lol and we really had to savour the sushi one by one. It was so good.

Look at that colour. Just gorgeous. I just love Japan. I was really tired from the flight, soaked in the bathtub for a while and luckily Japanese hotels provides pyjamas haha!

It was a very wonderful first day except for my coughing.

Manila

My first biz trip and first personal trip to Manila! I was quite unprepared but I just know that there's a big mall beside my hotel with all the big brands.

I only had to work for 2 hours and listen to my colleague conduct training for another 2 hours but the preparation work before the trip took 2 weeks -_- now I just why people don't like to travel for work. So work on Friday and Manila exploring on Sat and Sun.

So we flew SQ on a thurday afternoon and guess what. My long lost friend Standley was working as crew on the flight! LOL it was the first time I saw him in a long while and first time my friend serving me on board. Everything about the flight was very average, they need to improve their standards.

But I got a lot of freebies from him and a love letter from the crew heh.

Luckily my company booked a car from the hotel and everything was great. The service level was amazing I felt like a VIP all the way.

I always wanted to use this brand of toiletries and finally this hotel provided free flow heh. Anyway Toshi and I had a great Spanish dinner with wine.

The next day was working day, we walked to the office and work... until 4pm end of my working time.

The typhoon came and it was raining so heavily and there was no grab to the hotel, so I waited till the rain slowed a little and walked back to the hotel to finish my work. Now I understand why people love to wear bathrobe in hotels. I was doing that while working on my laptop and it was so comfy urgh I didn't want to leave. 

It was raining so heavily so I had a nice local dinner nearby, I didn't know what I ordered but it was not bad, bought some beer back to the hotel to drink.

The breakfast in the hotel was like lunch or dinner buffet, they even had rice, main courses, sushi and noodle station etc. I was always so full after breakfast but I still went to the gym coz typhoon.

And then J came and we had lunch, he drove me to buy my souvenirs from Kultura and then I went back to the hotel to put down stuff, dinner, then done. It was halloween night but I guess some parties were cancelled because of the typhoon. 

I read that flights were cancelled because of the typhoon and I was so worried because I must get on my flight the next day, if not I would miss my flight to Japan, and luckily Sunday was super sunny and the weather was so good. I was thinking of what to do but I took a grab to BGC and did a 90min massage which was so good, then went back to pack, and the driver sent me off to the airport.

Manila airport sucks. You need to queue for security before you get into the airport, queue for check in counter, queue for another security check and queue for customers. My flight was delayed 3 hours and I only got home at 1am. The lady sitting beside me was coughing all the way and in the end I was also coughing by the time I reached sg. But I'm so grateful my flight wasn't cancelled.

The locals in Manila are really really nice and I was treated like a VIP all the way. Those working in sg gave them a bad name. 

I enjoyed the trip, if there wasn't typhoon it would have been better. Till next time! And off to my second home!