Desert to cool down in summer... ?

Home cooked Ban Mian

RED Banana

red banana

I bought this banana at Gubei Carefour. This was my first time I saw red bananas! But it taste just like a normal kind :) Nothing special... just different color.

Tokyo the Metropolitant

I was totally exhausted by the time i reached tokyo, it's already 9pm... It has been really tiring and i took absolutely AGES to find my hostel. its a bit rush because i had to check in before 10pm... again, the mrt route in tokyo make me headache !! its freezing at night, all in all a very looooooong day! i had a good night sleep~

This was the first time i got my own room, a very tiny private room... 2m x 2m... haha, i could not hardly believe it. everything is small in japan. but i love it here so far...everyone is so polite and friendly, streets are very clean, convenient stores are surprisingly fun and food is decent. people take time out to have lunch together.... everything is so kawaii (cute), vending machines everywhere, its new and exciting !!

i went shopping the next day--let me tell you, the shopping here is unreal. it's unending... neighbourhood by neighbourhood. you could literally spend several days shopping in SHIBUYA alone..... and GINZA, SHINJUKU as well......it's OVERWHELMING. oh my god~~ and the electric city IN AKIHABARA, i spend almost half a day to look at the cameras and mobile phones ... it's very cheap if you buy in duty free shop.

Foods are cheap compare to osaka and kyoto. i found 180 yen ramen !?!!? udons at 280 yen... mrt fares are cheaper too...

i shop like crazy on my last day in tokyo, and i got only half a day to do my shopping. but unluckily, shopping centers in tokyo are only open at 10am and close at 8.30pm......my flight back to shanghai is at 4.55pm (6 May)...... it takes more than an hour to reach Narita Airport from my hostel...

Kyoto The Ancient City

Kyoto is beautiful...., without doubt, the most romantic city in japan. a roughly 30 mins from osaka. because of its rich cultural heritage, kyoto was not targeted in the air raids of world war II, and as a result, it is still home to numerous priceless structures, temples and shrines. at the same time, kyoto is a bustling modern city.

i had my ramen at a small shop when i reach kyoto. its the most delicious ramen i've ever had. the soup is warm and the noodles r hot !! food and mrt are very expensive in kyoto. the most cheapest meal i had is 500 jpn yen for just a bowl of tempura udon ~

the most unexpected thing is, there's a lot of staircase !! haha, although i think the stairs are what attributed to me losing basically 1 pound per day during my 3 days visit in kyoto. i'd visited some temples which took 2 hours to climb to the top of the mountain... i'm glad i trained a bit back in shanghai cause i have been walking a lot of miles (or kilometers) since i got here.......

the backpackers hostel that i am staying in kyoto is very very clean. i met a few australians and british here. in the evening of 3rd May, l leave kyoto to tokyo. it tooks around 2 hours by shinkansen (bullet train)..... it's really FAST !!! normal train tooks 10++ hours to reach tokyo... can you imagine that !??!?!?!

Osaka - a city of stunning diversity and culture

I touched down at Kansai International Air terminal on friday noon, (29 april).... the word Kansai International Air Terminal is very very familiar to me. i did research on it for a project in school and it's designed by a very famous architect-Renzo Piano. and now.... i can't believe that i was stepping on this man-made island !!

well, japan... another very different place. I guess my experience really started at the airport...going thru customs, had my backpack searched.... but it was all good, they were friendly and i guess they were just doing their job.

i took airport limousine to osaka city center. osaka is a water metroplis. not only because of its proximity to the sea, but also because of the numerous rivers and canals that crisscross it. it was over the water that most commerce flowed to, through and from osaka. on the way to the city, i saw lots of sailing yatchs, industrial area, beaches....and flamingo ~~

my next big encounter was the mrt. what can i say.... its messy!! they have lots of routes, you got to spend some time to really look at the map. if you intend to travel to japan, make sure you get a 7 day or 14 day rail pass. travel without it is grosly overpriced. and much more if you want to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) anywhere else.

a few other strange things about japan. its not a very friendly place to visit if you are looking for friendly, hospitible locals. not many people speaks english here, and they always round of some japanese that i have no hope of understand. a japanese phrasebook would come in real handy. japanese are very kind and will try to help u as much as they can if u ask them. however, you will always seem to get strange looks from the locals, i guess i m 'gaijin' (foreigner)..... :)

so far everything has gone extremely well. the weather have been magnificent...sunny and warm during the day with a bit cooler evenings.