Tokyo 2009

Decided to blog about my trips so that can benefit those people who intend to go these countries in future. To start off, i shall do Tokyo which i went on 4th May this year.


Day 1

Took a late night SQ flight there which cost me $620. It was after my work and i had events that day till 9 plus. I haven't even packed my luggage that day. It was so rush that i forgot to bring backpack for the Mt Fuji Trip. Sian..


Day 2

Reached Tokyo early in the morning and checked into Shinjuku Sunlite. The hotel staff was very kind and offered to let us check in at 1pm. Thus we surfed net for a while and went out for a meal before we went back to check in. We tried the ramen recommended by Hwee Hoon's guidebook. You can order the noodle from this machine. Choose the soup base, noodle and ingredients. Put money into this vending machine and they will serve you when ready. The ramen was so called to be one of the more famous one but i think it was not the best that i have eaten. Normal only.

Anyway, the shinjuku sunlite room cost us 11550 yen per night. After checking in, we went to Shinjuku area to shop at Franc Franc (i love the household products here), Tokyo Hand (you can find almost everything here), Muji (a bit cheaper than Singapore), Uniqlo, Kinokuniya (very rundown store in tokyo) etc. We also went to Takashimaya 9th Floor Disney Store to purchase Disney tickets. If you purchase ticket here, you dun need to queue with everyone at Disneyland, which was a better option for us. After these shopping trips, we went to purchase our advance ticket to Mt Fuji Kawakuchi Station. This was really very ulu. See the photo (2nd level, building opposite camera shops).

For dinner, we went to this fast food restaurant - first kitchen. The sauce was free flow. There were mayo, BBQ sauce, Ming Tai sauce, cheese sauce etc. So interesting. The burger and spaggetti were not bad too.

Day 3

Tried MacDonald breakfast today. The sausage macmuffin set cost me 380 yen. After that, went to take the long bus ride to kawakuchi station. K House was very nice coz their staff came to pick us 10mins after we called them. K House was clean, lovely and they offered free internet access. A lot of backpackers stayed there and we even saw a singaporean family with elderly and kids.

It was raining that day and the weather was freezing cold. Around 8 degrees when we were walking at the area. Wanted to climb the mountain but it was too dark to see mt fuji so we went kawakuchi lake instead. My shoes were super wet and my feet were soaked in water since yesterday. But i left my luggage in tokyo so couldn't change my shoes.

For lunch, we went to a traditional jap restaurant which was indicated inside the K House area map. I think the map was not drawn to scale so we walked very very far before reaching the restaurant. We almost wanted to leave immediately when we reached coz the restaurant looked too posh for our budget. But we realised really got a lot of japanese drove all the way there to eat so we have convinced ourself to pamper us a bit. My boar hotto noodle cost 2000 yen and Hon Choo's tempura set is cheaper but i cant rem the price.

Oh ya.. Coz it was raining so heavily, we decided to buy dinner from nearby supermarket. On ur way back, Hon Choo almost knocked down by a car. I think the street was too dark so the driver didn't realised it was red light. So scary.. It brushed over her hand lor. So shocked...


Day 4

Wanted to wake up early to climb the mountain but it was still raining so we gave up on the Mt Fuji view and went back to sleep. After that, we took the free transport from K House to kawakuchi station. I bought a postcard (105 yen) at the station gift shop and sent to my Singapore address. The stamp there was pretty with 4 seasons designs which cost 80 yen each.

From the station, we took a bus to Gotemba station. The bus fare was the same as the express bus rate that we took to kawaguchi but this round, the bus just stopped at almost every bus stops. Dun understand why the bus fare was still around the same price. When we reached Gotemba station, we boarded the free shuttle bus (will have direction signage at train station) that brought us to Gotemba Premium Outlet. The bus timing was quite regular. Almost every 20 mins will have one. I bought my adidas boots for 3360 yen to replace my super wet shoes. Such a good buy!

Also, the Swatch shop service was really good there. They asked Hon Choo whether she wanted to redeem her GST but my Coach shop didn't even ask me when my spending was triple of Hon Choo's amount. So "loogee".. Oh ya, we bought a cute teaspoon at Franc Franc for Sheena. So pretty and only cost 240 yen. We were so excited when it came to shopping so we shopped till we forgot about lunch so lunch was around 4pm. I ate curry cutlet rice for 890 yen. Tasted normal. Almost like the curry sauce we ate in Macdonald.

Went Disney Store (super cheap stuff there) while waiting for the bus back to Shinjuku. The info desk was very helpful when we asked about the bus info. The bus ride cost us 1600 yen. Btw, the jap there really shopaholics. When we boarded the bus, everyone was carrying huge paper bags.

Coz we travelled almost for the whole day, we were so tired that we settled our super late dinner at the family mart near our hotel. The omelette noodle was salty and it cost me 480 yen. Bought my favourite bowl noodle for 284 yen. super nice! The noodle texture tasted like the ramen which i ate in restaurant.


Day 5

Today we took keiyo line to go DisneySea. Couldn't afford more days to go both DisneyLand and DisneySea so chosen DisneySea coz it is the only one in the world.

The staff there were super "professional". Kept waving and smiling when nobody was really looking at them. Imagine a monorail driver kept smiling and waving to all the people who walked pass the monorail. Then they also just kept repeating info to a small group of people with their smiling face even though people queuing behind could hear everything they said and the need for repeat info was actually zero. Moreover, when we dropped a tiny paper on the floor, the cleaner immediately swept it. When the baby in front of me dropped crackers, the cleaner also came to sweep immediately. Think they standby everywhere. Scary. Coz it was raining, the staff just kept wiping our seats. Since it was still raining, i really don't see the point why they should kept wiping.

But the food there were really expensive and awful. A lot of people were queuing up for gyoza hotdog bun that cost 420 yen but i really dun fancy this. Luckily we managed to find a cheap hotdog stall that sell 380 yen hotdog. Super nice! Oh ya, that day i lost one side of the minnie clip which i bought there. So sad. That one got minnie wordings behind. But not only me lost stuff. I found a black jap handphone when i took one of the rides there. Hopefully the person would check with the info counter there.

Also, we saw rainbow that day. Very pretty. The fireworks show at 7.30pm was amazing too though it could not fight with the fireworks at our National Day.

That night i tried a different brand of bowl noodle at family mart. Still very nice and only cost me 218 yen but the noodle texture tasted like maggi type. The fried meat in family mart didn't tasted as nice though but it was cheap, only 160 yen.


Day 6

Bought Hakone ticket from Odayu Sightseeing centre which is located inside the train station. The girl there sounded like international student coz her english accent was strong. Anyway they asked us to do a survey for her so we got a free romance car postcard with frame. The Hakone Free Pass cost us 5000 yen but we could take all kinds of transport there for free (except for romance car which we topped up money for it).

For breakfast, we found a jap small restaurant near Yoshinoya and "Pin Min Lane", where we bought the tickets. The udon was nice and cheap. The friendly auntie kept teaching Hon Choo how to eat Soba correctly.

After we alighted from romance car, we crossed the road to take a bus toHakone Ropeway. Oh ya. There were some souvenir shops near the romance car station. Bought a Stitch handphone chain for 420 yen and a wooden jap doll handphone chain for 367 yen.

We took Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani and saw Mt Fuji almost everywhere.
On the ropeway, carpark, mountain side, hilltop. We were lucky.. A lot of people did not get to see Mt Fuji but we saw a clear view of it. We also tried the black egg which was said to be longevity egg. It cost us 500 yen for 5 eggs. Hon Choo tried to sell the remaining 4 to other tourists but was not successful. Looks like everyone keen to eat a lot of eggs. Heehee.. In the end, we had to eat 2 eggs each for dinner that day. For lunch, I had the black noodle at Ji Le Cha Wu which cost me 800 yen. Tasted a bit strange but the soup base was nice.

We also took the pirate boat ride and saw Mt Fuji here again. After that, we went to try the onsens. So interesting.. Sake, Green Tea, Tea, Coffee, Red Wine, all kinds of special onsens..



Day 7

We went Harajuku and Shibuya this day. It was very easy to walk from Harajuku to Shibuya. Just walk straight from UT Store and u will reach eventually.

We deliberately went Harajuku on Sunday so that we could see the cosplay japanese. The shopping street at Harajuku sell cheap and interesting stuff. Bought a hat there for 1260 yen. After that, we went Meiji Shrine where i saw a Japanese wedding ceremony.

That day, we ate crepe for breakfast. It was everywhere and my Chocolate cream cheese crepe was ok except that the cream cheese was really a lot and too cheesy for me. Ate a tempura set at Shibuya but the service was super lousy so i decided not to feature that photo.

The yoyogi park fleamarket was having Jamaico Festival that day. Everyone dressed according to theme even though the location was carpark and roadside. Girls wearing short skirts just sat on the floor to eat and chat with their friends. We tried 8 takopochi for 500 yen. So expensive and it was not as nice as Singapore ones.

When we were at the park, a lot of people were having picnic. They just sat around on the grass and play games such as badminton, skipping rope etc..

This night coz Hon Choo not feeling well, we ate our dinner near our hotel. The famous chicken wings cost us 400 yen for 5 midwings. The fried noodle cost 520 yen but tasted like normal fried mee. Another discovery that night, we realised there is a First Kitchen branch at the basement of a shopping centre somewhere along the route to our hotel from Shinjuku station.


Day 8

Discovered a shortcut to MRT from our hotel.. Then we met a friendly auntie there who was trying very hard to explain to me what i saw wasn't a police post coz i made a comment to Hon Choo saying that the office near the station might be a police post.

Today the itinerary was to go Ginza to buy incense for Eng Khim. The building was 3 buildings after Xinyue. When reached a police post, we had to walked along the front side of the police post to the end of the building. The shop only open from 11.30am to 5.30pm so we had to wait quite a while for it to open. So difficult to find lor. High class incense..

I went to the 10-storey high Fancl after that, to buy my cleansers. 2 bottles cost me 3360 yen. Oh ya.. Decided to pamper ouselves so I ate a yummy high class cheese katsu for 1950 yen. The restaurant was a very ulu one. I had difficulties finding it. Located at 3rd level of a small building. The plain katsu might taste even better. But i tried the cheese one instead.  It was made of many layers of quality pork.  Super yummy.  Best that i ever tasted.  The set came with a whole tub of rice and a huge plate of raw cabbage. Wonder how the japanese can finish it..
Went Asakusa after this. The fried Tong Luo Shao there was delicious.. Hot, crispy & sweet.. Tried the green tea flavour one. After that, we went to pray at the temple. I managed to draw a better lot. Dunno why Jap call shang shang qian as better lot. Heehee.. A jap uncle kept laughing at our blurness coz we were trying to follow the steps indicated in the guidebook. He told us he got a bad lot. So sad for him so i advised him to tie his lot outside to chase away the bad luck.

Wanted to buy magnets for Serene after my temple trip. 3 for 650 yen at the shopping street but i forgot all about it and went to one of the side lane to buy handkerchief which only cost me 399 yen for 3 pieces.

After that, we went to Ueno. The supermarket sells cheap tibits. 8 maple leaf shape tong luo shao cost only 240 yen. The round one only cost 320 yen for 10. But my parents didn't like the round one coz the filling very small. Hon Choo said the 2litres mineral water only cost 100 yen and we bought it at family mart for 178 yen.. Thus she bought one for her daily consumption. The big nutty meiji "pocky" look alike also only cost me 250 yen. The limited edition banana pocky was the cheapest. Only 105 yen. Kiwi pocky (tasted like chewing gum flavour) was 133 yen. Cheesecake chocolate was 145 yen. Apricot flavour high class pocky was 148 yen. Singapore only sell those chocolate and strawberry ones so this supermarket trip was quite exciting for me. Oh ya, I bought a skirt with belt at 1900 yen in Ueno too.

Btw, i realised Japanese were all very friendly. On our way to meet Zhanpeng, we met an uncle at the MRT lift and he kept asking us whether Japan was nice and how many days we were staying.

That night, Zhenpeng off work at 6pm so he met us at Isetan around 6.45pm. We were 15mins late but i realised Isetan basement was very happening. A lot of pretty food there. Wanted to try Pierre Herme Paris but no time. Anyway, we went for a curry rice at a fast food restaurant. Tasted normal so might not eat it again.

After that, Zhanpeng brought us to see Shinjuku view but both towers were closed. No chance to enjoy the free view so he brought us to Tokyo Tower instead. To save money, we didn’t go up to the tower. After that, Zhanpeng suggested that we walked to Roponggi. Zhanpeng showed me to Hard Rock Café along the way there. Coz I insisted to view the 18 sculptures located at Roppongi, Zhanpeng brought us to a few that he knew. We saw the huge spider, rose, bird cage, music notes etc.. It had a super pretty view of Tokyo Tower from the rose and bird cage location. Oh ya.. Today we had to top up our suica card. Only allow 1000 yen min top up but we can take back 500 deposit if we cannot finish using it.


Day 9

Today we found another nice chinese restaurant and they sell ramen too. It was near the place where we had our cheap udon. Near MRT exit.. My tasty ramen only cost 510 yen. When i took the shop pic, i realised that the cinema above the shop screened those RA shows.

After that, we went Odaiba which was at Tokyo Teleport Station. We lost our way coz the train signage indicated the line that we wanted to take but it just kept going to Ikeburoko and not the station that we wanted to go. After an hour of back and fro in the train, we gave up trying and Hon Choo approached a jap girl who didn't understand English. Luckily, a guy walked up to help us. He was super friendly and went all the way up to the office to help us ask for direction. Then he asked us whether we were Singaporeans coz he stayed in United States for a few years so we guessed he probably had Singaporean friends. Anyway, we found out that the train got to be taken from Platform 2. When we reached Odaiba, we went to Fuji TV. So interesting.. They let us see the filming sites. And also, there was a media conference for a Richard Gere movie that day so I managed to get a free movie poster.

After that, we went to see the statue of liberty and rainbow bridge. Rainbow bridge might be prettier at night coz it will have different lightings. But the shopping centre there was boring.

Ok, our trip almost came to an end. Taking Narita Express back was difficult. We got to buy tickets at ticket office early but we refunded our Suica there too. So at least kill 2 birds with 1 stone. We were late (coz spent some time at family mart buying rice rolls for Hwee Hoon which cost me 215 yen for 2. The expiry date was 2pm on the next date so i had to rush to work on the next day) and in the end we got to take cab to the station coz from our hotel, it was really far to walk. Especially with our heavy luggages.. The cab considered quite cheap. The meter didnt jump at all. All the way only 710 yen flagging fee. When we reached the station, it was still super long walk to platform 5 & 6. We thought we would miss the train. But we reached just on the dot at 4.10pm! The train left immediately after we stepped in. So lucky!

When we reached the airport, we went to shop at departure hall airport mall & found this kimono that Zhanpeng told me. Selling at Uniqlo and only cost 2990 yen. But i didn't have time to try so i shall buy it when i go Japan next time. I think i must buy when i touch down so that i can wear in Japan. heehee..

Oh ya.. I bought foodstuff there. Should have buy everything after i checked in coz the stuff was cheaper inside than the mall outside. The famous banana cake sold at 1000 yen outside and only 953 yen inside. But i bought my cute bookmarks at 300 yen at the other end of the departure gates coz our boarding time was delayed for an hour so we went to shop around. I couldn’t remember how much I paid at Asakusa though. During the waiting time, I also bought the red bean and green tea kit kat for 130 yen. Hon Choo said the green tea one was too sweet but I like the red bean one. Really tasted like red bean. Very happy to see Bai Sei Lian Ren too. 18 pieces selling at 1058 yen. But they didn't sell the black chocolate one. Sad.. Bought expensive Mauchi and Ramen to give away but i think i should buy more happening stuff next time. Oh ya, i bought 18 Royce bars for my students at 1100 yen too.


Day 10

SQ air stewardess were quite helpful. They offered to help me carry my bags when they saw me carrying it with difficulties. When I told one air steward that I was hungry, he gave me chips, tong luo shao, banana and mushroom bun. So sweet of him. But the air stewardess who served food at our aisle was not as friendly. Hon Choo said she looked piss off when I requested newspaper from her and her tone of helping me with my luggage was in a sarcastic manner.

Btw, our seats were good. Not many people so I can made use of the empty seats in front of me to go toilet without disturbing Hon Choo’s sleep.

When i reached Singapore airport, I bought JC sparkling rose wine for mum at $9 each (max 5). Mum likes it. Then I bought the limited edition of black label for $40.40. But I think I super long didn’t buy tiger beer. Now cost me $5.90 for 3 when I thought was $5..


Conclusion, i hope to go Tokyo again coz i haven't go to other traditional onsens, TV stations, climb Mt Fuji, watch fireworks, wear kimono to temple etc.. Heehee..

Turkey

Turkey is the next country for me to blog..

I went Turkey last year on 25 Oct. It was a birthday present for my mum. It cost $2378 per pax due to NATAS discount.

Day 1

There was a lot of people at the airport. I didn't know that Istanbul was such a popular country

to visit. That day, I took Turkish airline for the first time. My lovely special luggage was damaged by the airline so in the end, they compensated me with a new one which i dun really fancy. Sad..

Day 2

Turkey was around 5 hours behind us so we reached there very early in the morning. It was raining and the weather was cold. We tried the Turkish coffee, bread and soup for breakfast. I didn't really like the vege soup. But that was the most common soup there and i was being served that soup in almost every meals. As i don't drink coffee, Mummy tried the Turkish coffee instead - a very small cup with almost half the cup filled with coffee residue.

We went Blue Mosque after breakfast. The hall was super crowded. I think almost all the tourists in Turkey were there. The queue to go in was super long. Coz it was freezing cold, the tourists beside me kept discussing about the cold and wet weather with me. Before stepping into the mosque, we had to take off our shoes and it was worth the wait, the mosque was pretty and grand.

After Blue Mosque, we visited Topkapi Palace. It was a palace for Ottoman Empire previously. The palace was huge with library, kitchen, museum etc.. Again, tourists were queuing almost everywhere.

At night, we travelled to Bursa by ferry. It was amazing. Our bus went directly into the ferry and parked inside. We alighted from the bus and went to have snacks at the ferry's cafe. Nothing much there. Only coffee, tea and light snacks.

Day 3

We visited Green Mosque this morning. I dun understand why Turkey got to name their mosque in colour. Anyway my tour guide told me it was due to the tiles used to decorate the mosque. This mosque was smaller compared to Blue Mosque. There was a small stall outside the mosque selling cheap accessories and I bought some pretty evil eye bracelets for my friends.

After that, we reached the Grand Mosque. This time round, the staff there wanted me to wear scarf to cover my hair. I heard that women are not allowed to be revealing. So troublesome. Luckily the weather was cold so i was all wrapped up except for my hair.

Next, we went to Koza Han aka Silk Market. Stuff were expensive so i didn't buy anything from there. Though i really got the urge to buy a fur shawl.

Coz Turkey was such a huge country, i was always on the bus. In every 2 hours, the bus will stopped at some places for us to have our toilet break. All the stops will have shops selling those souvenirs and also the famous Turkish coffee and tea (mum said apple tea was too sweet for her).

Actually one of the most enjoyable part of the trip was having meals there. I love their olive rice and kebab. Turkish love to eat olive rice with kebab and that was the food being served daily when i was in Turkey. I even bought the olive oil for mum coz olive is their main crop so i assumed that should be the best local product to buy. But Mummy was very upset over the meals coz she didn't like to eat same stuff everyday. She was so poor thing. We should have brought cup noodle from Singapore. Tried to buy from the supermarket there but i realised they didn't sell instant noodle at all.

After that, we went to a leather factory and watch a mini fashion show. But the price of clothings there started from thousand dollars onwards so i couldn't afford anything there.

Day 4

We were at Kusadasi. The sea view outside our hotel (Pine Bay Marina Hotel) was beautiful.
That day, we visited one of the most beautiful attraction in Turkey - Ephesus.

Before we went Ephesus, we visited the House of Virgin Mary. I heard that Virgin Mary escaped there when she was old and she stayed there till she passed away. There was a wishing wall outside her house where you could write wishes and hang there. There was also a few taps for you to get holy water. But i dun really understand why it was so called holy water. Maybe Catholic will know better. Next time i should ask Celine about this...

Ephesus was an olden city that buried under the ground for many many years. I think earthquake or something like that unearthed it. The place was beautiful. Very roman.. I heard this was due to the roman influence which invaded in the early years. Those years, the roman soldiers will stopped at the harbour nearby and walked to this area to stay. The area consisted of houses, parliament hall, town hall, law courts, temple, fountain, gym, theatre (can hold 25000 people and the acoustic was excellent), library, brothels (the guys would bluff their wives that they were at library but in fact they sneaked to the brothels opposite the library), toilet (in those days, people would help to sit on it to warm it up), market, sacrifice (dun really know why in olden days, people like to kill people for sacrificing purpose) etc..

Maybe it was due to Autumn season so the day ended very early in Turkey when we were there. For example, this day, we reached Ancient City of Hierapolis around 4 plus but it turned dark around 5pm so i couldn't take many nice photos. Cotton Castle was located here. It was a beautiful area made up of limestone and hot spring water. As it was too dark for my camera to take nice pictures, i was so tempted to buy the postcards there as souvenir.

Wanted to try Turkish bath that night at the hotel (Lycus River, Pamukkale) coz i heard that it will rub so hard that u feel your skin peeling off... But we couldn't come to a compromise on the pricing so in the end, we didn't try it. So sad..

Day 5

Early in the morning, we took photos in Pamukkale, somewhere near the bottom of the Cotton Castle. The scene was pretty.

Oh ya, when we passed by those houses in the villages, we were told that those houses with huge bucket / container on the roof showed that they have daughters (how many container = how many daughter) in the house. If you threw something to spoil their bucket, it meant that the person is interested to marry their daughter. I think this tradition is so interesting..

When we were travelling on the highway, the fruits looked interesting so we asked the bus driver to stop a while to let us purchase some fruits and almonds. But i dunno why the fruits in Turkey were very dry. Though they were sweet but i dun like the dryness.

Next, we visited Sultanhani Caravanserai aka hotel for ancient traders.. Nothing much there so you can skip it if it is not that convenient to reach.

Day 6

This day, we went to one of my favourite attractions in Turkey - Cappadocia..

First, we visited the Underground City of Kaymakli. There were bedroom, kitchen, church, stable etc inside the tunnel. I heard in olden days, the Christians fled here to avoid Islamic enemies. They cannot even cooked and only did it once daily around wee hours so that the smoke would not attract the enemies' attention. Dun understand why different religions will give people a reason to kill each other. So scary.. Anyway, the tunnel was small and we had to bend down constantly. We were panting all the way out so I wonder how the Christians can survived there for such a long period.

After the visit to Kaymakli, we reached Cappadocia. It was really very pretty. An area created by earthquake, wind, sun, rain and snow..

Before lunch, we went to the carpet factory. It sold all the expensive carpets there. Of course, once again, i did not have that kind of money to buy those carpets. But i like the part on carpet making demonstration. It really take years to make a carpet so i think it is worth the money if you can afford it.

In the afternoon, we had lunch at this super posh looking restaurant.

It was one of the nicest meals that i had in Turkey. The soup, spaghetti, grilled fish (got lots of bones though) were yummy! There was also musician playing an instrument that looked like shorter guzheng. Another guy even danced to the music. They also sold wine there which i think was quite nice but mum didn't want me to waste money on wine. Same as the other places in Cappadocia, the restaurant was built inside a hill.

Cappadocia aka Cannot See was where the Christians hide from the Muslims. From far, these places looked like normal mountains or hills, but when you look closely nearby, u will see holes and these were the places that they stayed. The museum area that we visited had 29 churches (pretty drawings on bible stories were on the walls and ceilings) and many houses with steep staircase all the way up to the top. The view was amazing. Too pretty for me to describe. The Turkish there were friendly too. An uncle kept insisting to take picture (coz he knew which spot was the nicest to take pic) for me and kept asking me about my trip in Turkey.

Oh ya.. When i went to buy water, a Turkish guy suddenly asked for my number and wanted to date me out. He kept insisting to give me a brooch and insisted that i must email him. Somemore, he requested to take photo with me. While taking photo, he suddenly kissed me! My mum almost fainted. Then some aunties dragged me away after seeing this. I think we Chinese really not used to seeing this. Heehee.. In the end, i got to ask my tour guide to help me buy water from his stall.

Oh yes, mum tried the Turkish ice cream there. The performance on the sticky, non-dropped ice cream was funny.

While walking to Uchisar Castle, we passed by some camels, horses and donkeys. Flies were all around them. I wonder how these animals 'tahan'. The top view there was nice too..

Day 7

Visited Salt Lake.. I thought it was just the sands on beach but it was actually all big grains of salt. My mum said we can use it to cook salted chicken. Heehee.. Some of the ladies went to use tissue wrapper to bring some salt back. This lake was huge and we couldn't see the other side of the lake at all.

Next, we visited the Ataturk Mausoleum in Ankara (capital of Turkey - where most of the government agencies located). It was the resting place of the father of modern Turkey. They had marching ceremony and playing of anthem daily, and the museum showcased those stuff that he used previously and also the gifts that other countries gave him.

Btw, i realised that Turkey love to grow roses everywhere, I even saw them at the roadside. A lot of school kids were having excursion there. Turkish teenagers and children love to take picture. Whenever they saw me with camera, they would stand in front of me and insisted that i take photos of them. Then a girl kept asking me for my name and age then suddenly gave me a kiss while walking! I think Turkish really like to kiss stranger.. Heehee.. Oh ya, the guys who worked there also kept talking to me and commented how pretty i am. Scary.. Luckily their English was too slang for my mum to understand.

After this, we went to the restaurant in the railway station. The setting was pretty and country-like. The food there was nice too.

We proceeded to Bolu after our lunch. Bolu is famous for hunters and chefs so i enjoyed the dinner buffet at Koru Hotel. Btw, i must mention about my tour guide. I think he has been overly friendly throughout the trip. Keep telling me i am very sexy. I can faint whenever i see him. I think Turkish like Chinese girls. Heehee..



Day 8

From Bolu, we went back to Istanbul. This day, we went to Mt Sophia Museum. On our way there, we saw pretty parks, beautiful street lamps and horse carriage. I really enjoyed the walk.

St Sophia Museum is a strange building. The external outlook is very church style but when we went in, it had a Islamic interior design. I heard this was due to Muslims taking over the church many years ago.

In the museum, we saw an enormous vase that was used to contain oil previously. People will get the oil to refill their lamp. There was also this wishing hole which many tourists queued up to try their luck. If you can put your hand inside and turn 360 degrees while you make the wish, your wish will come true. I tried and i know the trick to do it so it was quite easy for me but the rest of the people beside me didn't have that luck.

We also went to the 2nd level of this grand museum. One thing i dun really understand was the staircases were super long with flights and flights of staircases, but it was 2nd level only.

When I was at Istanbul, i realised their traffic jam was scary. I think can easily fight with Bangkok etc. We were stuck on the bus for hours. When I was on bus, i thought maybe i should take the tram beside the bus. It would be so much faster.

After hours of mild motion sickness, i finally reached Grand Bazaar and Spice Market. I like Grand Bazaar coz you can find all kinds of traditional souvenirs there. Evil eye accessories, keychains, coasters, bowls, cups, lamps etc.. I bought traditional turkish painting bowls and mugs, turkish earrings and keychain, pretty shawls etc.. I also bought traditional turkish delights (super sweet candy) and apple tea. We had to bargain real hard there. The auntie and uncle who travelled with us bought a nice leather jacket for their air stewardess daughter. So envy coz it was around 300 dollars. Oh ya, i changed money here and the rate wasn't that good.

Spice Market was just a short distance away from Grand Bazaar. U could find all kinds of spices and turkish delights there. Mum bought a lot of nuts stuff.

For lunch, we ate at the Chinese restaurant nearby. Coz we finally get to eat Chinese food so maybe that's why we kept thinking that was a very delicious meal.

That night, we went to watch Belly Dance performance. I think the dinner served was nice. But all the Chinese there was complaining. Different taste bud i think. A lot of tourists from various countries were there and the singer was terriffic. He could sing songs from all the countries so the tourists were amazed by him. The various belly dance and folk dance performances were nice but i think guys would enjoy even more coz the performers have very good figure and they wear until super revealing. You can even pay to take photo with these performers. After everything ended, audiences were invited to the dance floor to dance but only the caucasians went down.


Day 9

This was cruise day, cruising along the sea that cut Europe and Asia. The cruise trip was expensive but the view was nice. We saw the most expensive pub in Turkey, the famous soccer club boy school, the most expensive hotel in Turkey, the most expensive house in Turkey, the private island (actually a huge platform in the sea), the luxury ship that was donated to Father of Modern Turkey, the bridge that link Europe and Asia, the palace, castle etc..

We alighted at a harbour where we tried this famous baked potato (giantic and sweet) at 8 liras. You can choose all kinds of toppings that you like. Something like Subway Sandwiches so being kiasu Singaporeans, we just chose everything. Almost everyone here carried a baked potato while walking on the street. U just have to choose the stall or restuarant that you like.
The aunties there also kept asking us to buy their wrap so we bought 1 to share. We could choose the ingredients and just ask for all the ingredients to be put in coz the price would still be the same (5 liras). All the stalls were selling the same stuff so u could only choose the auntie that you like.

At that harbour, there were also 2 bazaars selling accessories, bags, caps, etc.. Very interesting. If you walk further up, you can go to their market and buy those cheap giantic vege.

On the street, i even saw band performers trying to perform and give away flyers to attract people to their stall.

After that, we went to the so called biggest shopping centre in Europe. It even had Zara Home there. So interesting. I went to my favourite shops - Mango, Topshop and Zara.. Bought leather jackets, dresses etc.. There was sales going on so everything was cheap and nice (especially winter clothings). But sizes were limited. Maybe all grabbed up by Tirkish alr. I even saw Charles & Keith there and the price was expensive!

Coz it was almost last few days of our trip, we were quite poor. I had to go to the money changer again. Luckily, most of the shops there accepted my US dollars. When i tried to use my Topshop card, i attracted all the Topshop sales assistants to come and look at my card. But they were just curious coz they still didnt allow me to use my membership card there.

Due to our lack of liras, we had to choose something cheap to eat. In the end, we ate the chinese buffet at the food court. Actually it was not really buffet coz u could only take a plate. But i made sure my plate was filled with food. So it was really fulled.. I think people beside me must be thinking i must be too poor so trying to make my whole day meals into 1 meal. Heehee..

Oh ya, while we were waiting for bus after our shopping trip, we saw trucks and trucks of army troops.. Wonder where they were going to coz they were causing some traffic jam at this late hour..


Day 10

Flight back to Singapore. I exchanged email addresses with some of the travel mates but i didn't save properly so lost everything. Hopefully they won't think that i deliberatly don't email them. I should have given them my email address too. Sian..