New adventures; 家

12 October is - in the words of my kids - the birthday of our new home #2.

The huat crew

My adorable children

This marks a new journey of our lives where we build a new home for us. OMG so exciting!

Day 5: Bye bye Tokyo airbnb, hello Tokyo hotel

It is now mid-point through our holiday and we have been stuffing ourselves silly #alldayerrday. After our previous run, it's now time to move our bodies again. We were all kinda lazy but I am super glad that we did it. The weather was beautiful, the skies were overcast and it was amazing running in the crisp, fresh air. Love it!

Reservoir

Spot the Mickey train (Mickey-eared-windows)

Major ship (it's a ride at Disneysea)

The sister running very fast (that's why blur)

The final dash that made it 10km

We clocked a total of 10km and after 'carb-loading' the past few days, I definitely felt energetic and able to run. Along with the cool temperature, the run was thoroughly enjoyable. It started to drizzle then rain in the last 10 minutes of our run which wasn't that great, but at least we were near home when it happened.


It was nice running this route (perimeter of Disney) as the husband and I had done one similar on our last Japan trip, but it was night then and we did not see much. This time, I could see for sure and it was nice. Even though it was about 9am, it was relatively quiet. I guess the dreary weather makes it seem more peaceful. The sister mentioned in her blog something I had nearly forgotten about, which was how the adorbs father (bless him) was hovering around, expecting our return. With only one key for the apartment, we couldn't have been able to go in if no one opened it for us. We can always count on Papa for such stuff!


While we went for our run, the grandparents took the kids for a stroll in the neighbourhood. (The B was 'guarding the house' - his words, not mine).

Interesting sightings in the hood

We all huddled in our cosy home as the rain beat down and prepared to check out. The kids had a fun time jumping off the double-decker bed, stomping like giants across the thin Japanese floors, and the adults dutifully continued to fill the can-trash with beers, steadily increasing our beer count #goals


Right on plan, we left the apartment. In case you are ever interested to see how the Foo-Seah-Yeap family looks like let loose on the streets...

Along the pavements

Jaywalking with pride

We all made it safely, harming no one (even the sister was unharmed though she seemed to enjoy crashing into the bicycle lanes) and made it back to the original bus terminal. It was also the start of our using the special-3-day-train-pass that the duo helped purchase; except that we had to get another small ticket to travel a segment of the trains (we had to change). While waiting for the brains to sort out the train ticket situation....

We were all obviously having a good time

After getting the tickets, you'd think that we'd have made our way off. Well, we did; but not before needing to purchase another ticket (yup.just 1 minute after all the tickets were purchased) because the little girl was clumsy enough to drop her ticket, not just onto the floor but right between the holes of a tiny drain. What are the chances?


So, if you ever wonder how 8 adults, 2 children and a ton of luggage looks like commuting on public transport... 

Life memory #1

Life memory #2

Hope the pics did not disappoint and brought some giggles. I keep thinking back how simple it seems to move from one spot to another; yet how complex it can be because of the sheer amount of weight we are carrying (both ourselves and our stuff)... but seems like everyone seems to be real champs about our adventure.

All smiles!

It took us several flights of stairs and escalators, a few train changes and we finally made it to Daimon Station. It is the nearest station to our hotel accommodation for our last few days in Japan. The location was pretty convenient, there was a suitable number of convenience stores around the vicinity, and if we hadn't collapsed from horror at needing to lug our luggage up the flight of stairs at the station; it was all pretty good! The hotel was a basic one that provided all basic amenities, the rooms were smaller than that of Hokkaido's but then again, we were in Tokyo which is prime area. All in, pretty fine.


After checking in the hotel; we agreed to meet up and eat a very late lunch. After eating-on-the-go and forgetting what hunger feels like, I was not in a good state. I was just starving! We headed to this building (we were kinda in a business like area) which had restaurants at the basement and settled on this little shop (they were all kinda little) which served noodles. I'm not sure if it was my hunger, but the noodles were so good! Between the husband and kid and I, we had tempura soba, ramen and some rice bowl. YUM. I instantly felt happy after filling my tummy!
The sister then spotted a corner coffeeshop that sold Cremia (yup, the same milky ice-cream we discovered in Hokkaido!) and though we said we'd not eat it (because so full, and the shop was smoky from patrons who smoked); we made a U-turn to buy it afterall because, greedy. We then headed back to the hotel for a short rest, before meeting again at the agreed time.


We then ventured the train system. The train tickets that the duo helped purchase was so helpful! It saved us figuring out tickets each time we took the train and gave us so much freedom to take the trains as and when we needed on the JR line. Woot!


We headed to a particular station (I forgot what) as it was near our dinner venue. When we got there, we had about 2 hours of free-and-easy time of which I spent hovering obsessively at Uniqlo, the husband got a tee from CDG, and the sister, her busband and I managed to sneak in more beer counts ravaging through the supermarket in the mall.



Dinner for this evening was a highlight - Ichiran! The husband and I first discovered Ichiran in Jun this year. What started as a random decision to join this ridiculously long queue along the canal in Osaka, turned out to be the best decision! The ramen we had then was tasty and amazing, and we were so thrilled to have this shared experience with this #happyfamilyinJapan crew. There was, however, no queue when we went. What was nice through our reservation though, was that we had a private space just for all of us.

Eager beavers

Place your stakes everybody!

Eyes on the prize

I finished it all; and then some (the kids' leftovers). It was so indulgent and I definitely overate but it was one of those things where it only tasted THAT good when you're there, so why not?! Everyone seemed to really enjoy their noodles too and it was such a positive dining experience. It was also a nice end to this leisurely day as we did not need to rush about too much and yet managed to accomplish things quite easily (i.e. not losing anything in our commute, mini-bouts of shopping and amazing Ichiran).


That night, we went back to our hotel and gathered in our room. I cannot remember any highlights of the night, just that we continued to feast on beers, talk and laugh a lot and Dad, who usually always never hangs out has started looking forward to hanging out at night too.


Good night world, said me-so-full-I-would-have-burped-ramen... haha!


PS: my legs were still sore from Disney yesterday, and the run this morning sustained my leg-aches! 

Day 4 : We take on Disneyland!

We dedicated a full day to Disneyland. It was such an exciting day that everyone looked forward to. I always enjoy Disney and I know the children were stoked too. We had a simple breakfast at home just to fill our tummies (note to self: Starbucks cup coffee sold at marts does not taste nice) and off we went!


It was a short bus ride (4 stops) away to the main bus station; and the Disney gang - the sister and her busband, the Mother, the children and me - set off. The bus came and in no time, we were on our way. The weather this morning was slightly wet (post rain), the sun was up and it felt nice and the temperature just right.


The husband and the Father opted out from Disney and they planned their small adventures on their own. It turned out to be a good break for them from us and I think it worked out very well for all of us. -thumbs up-


On the stroll off the bus to the entrance of Disney, it felt really festive. There were many people all dressed up in Disney-gear, large throngs of people of all ages and it just felt so happy. I was so excited! It was just past 9am (opening hour) and we were right on track of our day's plan. YAYYYY

Waiting in line to get through the gates

Listening intently to instructions - where do we go!

Again, the sister had a plan. She and her busband researched this beautiful concept called the fast pass and for the first time ever that I have been going to Disney in the past years with my children, I used the fast pass and got to take rides that are outside of toddler-land! WOOT! We grabbed the first pass for this super ride - Space Mountain. It was an hour before our turn, so we turned the corner and went on this ride Star Tours. It kinda looked like something Star-Wars-y and there was practically no line and I'm so thrilled to say that within an hour of us stepping into the theme park, we were on our first ride. Oh yeahhhh

#1 Star Tours

I sent the above pic to our family chat, and got the below response:

"We are also on our first ride"

That made me LOL. The duo were on their way on their foodie adventures, and it felt so good that everyone was having a good time. The first ride was a simulation-type and even though we did not understand Japanese, it was still a fun ride.


Our #2 was Space Mountain! We proudly used our fast pass and whizzed through the line. May I just say that this feeling feels absolutely victorious - happy dance-

oh yeah.

I have heard of this Space Mountain ride but had not much impression of ever taking it before (apparently I have, said Mom) but this time, with the boy with me; it felt a bit of a rush. It was pitch dark and it was kinda pretty with fairy lights, as if we were really in space (if that how it really is like) but I felt a bit disconcerted not knowing where we were going. It was so dark that I could not even see my fingers when I put them up in front of my face. The boy felt a bit shocked I think but we all made it unscathed.


No time to waste, so off we moved for our next ride - Monsters Inc!

Short-enough queue that moved pretty quickly

The ride was adorable - we had to use torches to spy for monsters in the cupboards and home. I kinda watched the movie (bits) before so I found it pretty cute. It wasn't scary nor fast; and we wasted little time moving on. After this ride, the boy spied the ride Buzz lightyear and wanted to take it, so we did. The downside was that the queue was really looooong and time passes really quickly when you're having fun because it was already late morning and we felt a bit peckish.


While I stood in line, Mom entertained the kids by leaving the queue and bringing them to get snacks, I brought them to take pics, the sister and her busband took the chance to get our next fast pass ride... and we all regrouped at Buzz Lightyear (it was a long queueeeee) to take the ride.

Aliens - all of them :P

This ride seated 3-people in one vehicle and we split up - kids with the B and the ladies altogether. One person sits in the middle and steers the vehicle, the other 2 sit on the side and shoot aliens. Mom was the steerer (who didn't steer!) and the sister and I were shooters (who tried our best to shoot properly). While we all tried our best, let's just say our vehicle did not score the highest (yes, the kids beat me with their scores).


After this ride, we made a decision to move away from this land (yes, all morning was spent in this zone) and headed to another land...

We couldn't drive the car so still had to walk on foot haha

We also got distracted by shops

Mickey and Minnie

At this point, the husband sent us a pictorial update:

Duo also waiting in line... for their food

It was truly time to fill our tummies, and so we did a stopover.

Overpriced hotdogs and chips and fizzy drinks

Our lunch view was the beautiful castle and we definitely had to do a memorial shot right there.

Best bunch of people in the world

With my munchkins

Post lunch, the sister had to fulfil her churros craving (it only took her 10 years to come back here).

Churros crew

We kept walking and moved on with more rides... but not before continuing to stuff our faces.

Ice-cream pitstop



Choo Choo

All aboard!

The boy truly velcroed himself to the B cos they tight like that #teamsweaty


In between the snacks, we boarded the pirate's ship (of the Caribbean) then the choo-choo train that provided us with a birds' eye view of the whole park as it looped around the perimeter. It was relaxing and while it doesn't sound like we did much, we had been our feet all morning -groans-


We then joined the short-ish queues for Snow White (short and swift around the evil Witch's haven), and the sister fulfilled her love affair to reunite with Dumbo.

Enroute to Dumbo

Spot the big kid

The B and I opted out from Dumbo and we hung around chit-chatting and waiting for them. There was a haunted house across Dumbo and he was teasing me to go in but I declined politely. Horror is not my thing. At this point, it was about 4 or 5pm and it was time for the parade. I LOVE the parade as it is such a happy affair but no one seemed to share my enthusiasm. Instead, they opted to join the queue for horror house and after some tug-of-war between yes or no, the boy said he still wanted to go to the horror house so I joined in the line too. While in the queue, the music for the parade started up and the boy changed his mind. Happily, I brought him to watch the parade.

Love how he still waves at the characters :)

My baby boy and I

The horror crew managed to catch the tail end of the parade as they stepped out from the ride, which was supposedly not too horrific.


It was late afternoon by now and we were all tired. At this point, we had accomplished 9 rides, had junk food, and walked miles and miles. We still had our fast pass for Splash Mountain to use, and at this point we decided to join the line for Winnie the Pooh.

It took us forever to get to the inside of the house - wails-

Happiness to finally be at the front

This line was probably the most painful. It was long, and slow and it was also many hours since we started our day (8 hours!). While this ride wasn't scary, it was still very pretty and nice as we whizzed about on teacups within the book pages of Winnie and his friends.

Next and final ride of the day: Splash Mountain.

Mersmerised

This, like Space Mountain, was a very popular ride and it was an amazing decision to have secured the fast pass for this. It was also a really good ride - probably my favourite! - as it had the right balance of scenic story views (of the rabbit and his adventures) and thrill (the splash and vehicular turns were yay!). It truly was a nice finale to our day.


By this point, it was darkfall and we were famished. We had not had proper food all day and we were ready to eat something properly. We headed to the main street where there were restaurants and it felt so comfortable to sit down and be served warm food.

Mickey jelly, anyone?

How about Mickey waffles?

We were suitably energized after filling our tummies, and we stayed on in the park for the fireworks (8.30pm) and light show (9+pm). We only left the park right at the end and it was truly an amazinggggggg day! Fireworks were something we have caught before and it's a classic that never gets old; but it's the first time we're catching the lights show and it is so pretty. As tired as I was, my spirits were super high.


We took a bus back and when we got back, the kids were happily and loudly and enthusiastically sharing their day with their father and grandpa. It was so nice. It did not take them long to crash.. it was indeed an eventful day.
The adults stayed up to chat abit, the sister discovered that we had taken about 13,000 steps that day (explains my achey legs) and we also savoured the yummilicious cookie snack that the duo queued and got for us to enjoy. Besides this lovely treat of a special cookie, the manly duo also went to secure the 3-day train passes! It turned out to be one of the best things ever as it brought so much convenience to us all. Woot.

Yum.

We worked hard for our beers tonight

I didn't remember that Disneyland doesn't serve beers, which would have been a nice pick-me-up mid-day. But we did make it through and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, so this proves that we are not alcoholics #justsaying


That night, I truly felt like I could not walk anymore... it felt so victorious to have conquered #11 rides in all in 1 day at Disneyland - it is truly a record for us! #WIN. I cannot say it enough that it was a truly, nice and happy day at the happiest place in the world!


Read the sister's account of Disney here.

Day 3: Sapporo to Tokyo

It's the day we are to fly out from Sapporo, so we decided to try out the hotel buffet breakfast. It was also convenient and minimized travelling and other logistical challenges. The family met at the restaurant (I was last because I let everyone wash up before me. And I couldn't get out of bed - yawns) and it was a simple but sufficiently filling spread of Western (tomatoes, egg-cooking station, sausages) and Japanese (miso, pickles, Jap-egg tamago) options... I was feeling pretty stuffed after the jolly feasting the past few days... not as if that deterred me from eating to the point of full. Hahaha.

K takes a wefie - you can make out the husband's tiny head

Anecdote: the restaurant is located at the basement and because I was the last to go for breakfast, it was the husband who brought the children down. In the lift, he asked the kids, "what does B stand for" and our 5yo boy chimed loudly "BREAKFAST!" -LOL- gotta loveeee the things kids say!

B for breakfast.

After breakfast, we split up to grab our luggage to the lobby to check out. The husband and I encountered some room issues this morning -
(1) our safe door was a bit stuck wonky. Thankfully, it was resolved by calling concierge.

Note: when I told them our safe door was stuck, the Japanese did not process the words "safe door" properly. They came to my room with a door stopper/set of master keys. These tools were not helpful at all. Thankfully, they saw the real problem and managed to open the safe door for us. Yay.
(2) the husband we misplaced the vehicle valet card and when you need to step out of the hotel room with 3 giant luggages, and 2 children and 5 hand carry pieces (only day 3 and we have grown extra bags...), it was a bit troublesome to be searching through pockets and bag pockets to try to locate a tiny piece of paper. But hooray, we found it!
Check out was smooth, and it was a rewind of day one, as we retraced our steps from the hotel, back to the car rental mart, bus-ed back to the airport terminal and can I say that it was such a relief to check in our baggages.
At the airport, we had time for lunch; so we settled down at the food court. There were many stalls selling different types of food and we did our beers BYO style (the sister went to buy it from a supermart) and heartily added to our beer and calorie count.

View from the food court

One for the road - goodbye Sapporo (backdrop prop is not by accident)

The flight from Sapporo to Tokyo was short, and the children requested to sit together again. However, I felt that they needed to keep their brains active and the husband and I took one child each to talk to/be with. I spent the hour+ doing some math problems with J.
We arrived in Haneda airport in the afternoon, and the plan (credit: the sister and her busband!) was for us to commute to our accommodation by bus. We had two things to accomplish:
1) Get the bus tickets for everyone
2) Get the 3-day train pass for everyone
3) Catch the bus and make it to our home
We started off with (1). We stood in line (remember, we have 6 adults, 2 children and a ton of luggage to wheel and to carry!) to get our bus tickets. Just as we were joining this queue, the BIL said that this was the line to join and I jokingly said "it's great that you know Jap and can direct us". We then discussed briefly that the bus we were going to take was coming at 5.10pm.
Just then, a friendly lady in uniform approached us and asked if we needed help. I said, yes, we are wanting to get tickets... she pointed to a vending machine about 5metres away with no queue and said she will help us. The human line was pretty long, so we decided to go with the shorter queue option at the machine. She also referred to a timetable she held in her hand and said, "the bus is coming in 5 minutes" - my brain went into overdrive mode!
I left the sister and her busband to purchase the tickets, I went to gather the parents, the husband and the children (they were already scattered browsing in some random shop!) and we started charging our way to the bus-stop because the bus is arriving in 5 minutes! It was just at the point before we began charging, that the lady clarified and said that the bus is only coming in 20minutes... at 5.10pm... that I realised I was holding my breath. -insert appropriate face-
Nothing has really changed, we just made our way to the bus stop in a more elegant manner. Ha! And this is also where the running joke started - that indeed, the BIL was very accurate in the info he dished out about the bus station/timings so the BIL must know Japanese, indeed!
While waiting for the bus, at the bus-stop with our bus tickets in hand (item 1 ticked off the list), the sister and her busband ventured to tackle task (2). They left to get/enquire about the tickets and in this time that they were away from the rest of us (6 adults, 2 children and a ton of luggage), I went to pee and the father was one anxious parent as he walked up and down, sticking his neck out to look for the sister and her busband. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief when we were reunited. Turns out that the train pass was only available at the main airport terminal; so task (2) remain unchecked.


Undaunted, our bus arrived as punctually as can be and up we went on this bus (6 adults, 2 children and a ton of luggage). Task (3) checked!
The bus was a regular bus ride, so most people dozed off; while some of us kept chatting about nothing much in particular. The plan was for us to get to Tokyo Disneyland's main bus station and it was with delight that we disembarked the bus! I had nearly forgotten about this, but the sister's blog mentioned it and I need to also say that when I was getting off the bus, I was -ahem- so strong in lifting a drawstring bag off the ledge above our seats in the bus, that the bag opened and out flew cups of instant noodles. Besides being mortified that my food is flying, it was made only slightly better that the noodles nearly, but did not hit this man who was innocently trying to make his way off the bus. I had to pick up the *%$^ cup noodles and accompanying wooden disposable chopsticks... *I seem to have some affinity with falling cup noodle
The bus station kinda looked like what I remembered it to be, though I was not certain of my bearings entirely. All I did was follow the BIL who was leading the circus comprising 8 adults, 2 children and a ton of luggage (not all luggage are created equal - inside joke). We had to loop around the station to get across a road, that led us to another bus terminal where we needed to take a bus to our hood. In the midst of crossing this road, part of us made it, part of us had to run to make it, part of us had to jay-walk to make it and one little girl did not make it across the road. Thankfully, she was too stunned calm enough to stay on her the side of the road and waited for the next green man before the sister went over to fetch her. I must be honest and say that I was in camp 'jaywalkers' (along with the husband and our luggages and the boy) so we totally missed out witnessing this story of the girl who got left behind.


After making it across one road safely, we then found the bus stop that will bring us to our home. Of course, it was at the other end of the terminal so off we went (8 adults, 2 children and a ton of luggage).
Anecdote from the past: It's an open secret that on our last family trip (back in 2013), among 3 adults, 2 children and a small ton of luggages, there were some harrowing street experiences. This was a common reference that the sister and I will dig up to joke about and our benchmark was "as long as we're not in as bad a state as then..."
So, in the queue, the sister and I kept wiggling our brows at each other and we were giggling as we referenced past-street-horror-story; and it seemed as if we may be in an ungreat state as we witnessed the long queue at the bus line.... but somehow, we made it. We made it on the bus, across 4 bus stops and made it off the bus. Everyone say, Hooray!
We had to take a short walk around a bend to our apartment and we were such a big cluster, it took us separate lift rides to get to our apartment; but... we made it! Applause.


The apartment was really nice! (Credit to the sister and her busband for sponsoring this stay!) It felt cosy and clean and it only took us 30 minutes to figure out where everyone wanted to reside. It was beginning to get dark and dinner beckoned, so we decided to take a stroll in our hood in search for food.
We settled on this place that reminded me of Yoshinoya, except we ordered food from a vending machine. How complex was this? Apparently, very.

How many does it take to figure out how to buy dinner?

After a relatively simple dinner, we strolled back (3minutes) to our home. But, not before we hit the friendly neighbourhood mart just at the base of the block.

Priorities

Corridor leading to our home

Home - we made it messy homely real quick!

The concern we had about our airbnb apartment was that it only had one toilet. Strangely, all the airbnb apartments we researched only provided one toilet. In our case, the toilet was huge. That made it better; but we all kinda started a courteous system where we'll let the kids go first, then the father or mother, then the sister or I, then the men didn't really seem to be in a rush to get clean at all; so it all worked out well! It felt really nice to have a home to cosy up in. It is different from us living in our own hotel rooms. Again, credit to the sister and her busband for this excellent choice of home stay
On this night, we huddled in the living room together and listened to music together and had some snacks together. Tomorrow, would be Disney day!


Read about coming to Japan day, our first full day 1, and 2 here.