Holidays always seems so short, especially when you want to enjoy more.
Have been back to work on Monday. We reached home by cab at 1.30am on sunday. we slept till 10.30am and decided to do a feast on Prata brunch. the kids and us finished up some 4 egg and 4 cheese pratas and some indian rojak, milo dinasaurs and Teh Halia. Yumzzz.
still sorting out the pictures and I found that my ex-Nikon (now Nathan's camera) takes quality pictures compared to my look pretty Sony.
Japan has been facinating and fun but ohhh so tiring. Most of the time, hubs is the one who was get people on the right track to the right place, like a semi tour leader. By the 6th day, hubs seemed to be saturated by the planning and the directing so my nephew and me had to try to decipher the messy train routes and by doing it independently, it had certainly taught us Japan places well!
the good bits:
We totally enjoyed our days at Universal Studio, Disneysea, Disneyland, the stay at Sheraton at Disney resort. We spent some little time at a nice park with that great weather, did some shopping and window shopping at Ginza. Eat and walk the fish market. We caught up a friend who had worked in Japan for some time.
There were lots and lots of opportunities for train rides. At least for a long time, we won't lament not having to be able to travel by train before. Furthermore, the trains were efficient and comfortable.
I was pleasantly surprised that the people there are much more civilised than homeground.
Oh, and bonus was that my Nike mary jane served me superbly well!
The favourite thing I gain out of this trip was that I got to know my children alot more. really quality time spent together...
Nathan at 10 prefers to be with his cousin friends so most of the time, he'll look for their company. He spends his money rather wisely when it comes to buying souvenirs and such. He gives cool poses and tells me not to worry about him taking rides on his own. yeah, right. There was this ride (snoopy land splash) he wanted to take with Si Hong. It seats two persons each ride. I was alone as Natasha decided not to take the ride. When we reach the top, all of the sudden, he wanted to back out and sit with me. Si Hong was pretty stunned that he would be on his own. this son of mine finally decided to be loyal and stuck with his friend and took the same boat with him. Thank God though, as it turn out, the ride was not so scary afterall. He certainly learnt a lesson not be over confident on his bravery.
Natasha is so sweet and shows so much affection that it melts my heart throughout these time time. She would sing herself to sleep when we pack our stuffs. She does her own bath now (yes, i am still the freak mum who'll worry that she did not get the shampoo out of her hair), she'll try to make sure that her things are nicely packed. She'll kiss our hands when she happy. She'll give us bear hugs when she feels so loved and wants to love back. She takes all the rides with us, as long as she feels protected by us. Her poses are now so cute. She says the darnest things to make us break into laughters. And she is persistent when she chase after boys she like - yeah, she is into Mr Bean and Si Hui captured her heart by talking and dramas like one. haha. She points to Si Hao's groin area (who is 14 this year) and ask him what he calls it. She gives him 3 choices - kuku bird, bird bird or private part. My nephew says Penis and she does not understand. Hub interrupted and told them it's groin. arh, so farny!
And they don't turn like helicopters when they sleep anymore.
*sigh* These are great memories that will hardly be erased from our memory.
the not so good bits:
there was little time to shop, can't really do it with a peace of mind with 6 children and 5 other adults with you. Just as well since the things there are so steep.
The other few regrets were that we didn't had the chance to spend more time at Hakone (the Mt Fuji resort), Mt Fuji was evasive - did not see it at all and we did not fulfill the Kyoto part of the itinary. We also spend alot of frustrated time doing what others want to do and time wasting to us. Our hotels at Tokyo city and Osaka city was not comfortable. Tokyo city's so packed with people perpertually on your face all the time!
Other insights:
People in Osaka tends to be more helpful. They are twice more civilised than people in Tokyo. The food is nicer and less expensive. The shops at some places can cost three times more expensive. We spend about 2 hours at Narita and found that it's a quaint little town which we would have like to spend more time in, much more than Tokyo. There are many restaurants but since we are on our own, we have no idea which gives the best value. We had fair share of good and bad ones.
The bread there are very nice, even those you buy from their convenient stores.
Hubs and I will do a separate trip from the kids the next time. Pics in next post.
Next on our wish list:
1) Hokkaido
2) Israel (With church)
3) New Zealand then Hawaii route
4) Europe - quite far fetch though
