DESTINATION JAPAN: DAY 1 TO DAY 2

My five day holiday to Japan. Be prepared for a long winding post. Technorati tags: 2008, Blog, Hangmen, Holiday, Japan, Superior Internet Content, Tokyo, Travel, Weblog. Sorry for not updating this blog for more than two weeks. For no known reasons at all, I was experiencing poor connection in my area when I got home from Hong Kong and Japan. Currently, the connection in my area has been 'stable', but disconnections still occur frequently in the morning till' late afternoon. If you're wondering what kind of crappy service did I sign up to (like millions of my fellow countrymen), I'll say this to you frankly: WELCOME TO MALAYSIA! I was in Japan from 8th of February 2008 until 12th of February 2008. My journey then moves on to Hong Kong from 13th of February 2008 until 15th of February 2008. DAY 1 Not much to report yet: flight from Kota Kinabalu International Airport to Hong Kong International Airport is approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes (very much like taking a flight from KK to Kuala Lumpur). From here, a transfer flight from Hong Kong to Tokyo is taken. From HKIA to Narita International Airport took approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes. Upon arrival, checked in at Narita Excel Tokyu for a temporary one night stay. While we have yet to see any epic robot battles or underage magical girls with perpetual pantyshots, the hotel does gave a somewhat irrelevant, yet partially significant glimpse of how it feels like to live in Japan. Small hotel room is small, unlike the spacious hotels we have back home. That hueg, heavy, vertically standing monument on wheels is my luggage. Never failed me despite being more than 14 years old by the time of writing. Sturdy, secure and doubles as an improvised chair. Perhaps it could even be used as a battering ram. Small bathroom is also small, but the high tech features of Japanese toilet takes the cake (should I say urinal cake?). Japan, being the leading developer of toilet technology, gave me one of the best pooping experience I ever had so far. Heck, Japanese toilets are so awesome that the Virgin Mary herself would be proud to go in there and take a dump. Look at teh buttans and imagine yourself as a Captain assigned to a massive state-of-the-art battlecruiser, twisting and pressing random button thingamajig, executing merciless orbital bombardment onto hostile rebel strongholds in Planet Aqua. Forgive my tendency to stray afar. Ah yes, the ubiquitous vending machines. Called jidoohanbaiki in Japanese (jihanki for short), vending machines are found in just about anywhere in Japan from narrow street alleys to Shinto temples. Japan has the highest number of vending machines per capita, with about one machine for every 23 people. Most of the drinks sold are priced around 130 yen to 300 yen depending on the type of drink and serving portion. The first, most compulsory thing to do when you first arrive in Japan is sampling the local beverages. Calpis, despite the funny name, got me addicted to its taste. What's even more, Japanese vending machines also serve hot beverages (i.e: coffee and tea), a necessity to beat the freezing -3°C to 1°C temperatures in Japan. Cold drinks and hot drinks are color coded as blue and red respectively. You should also check this one out: one of the most sincerest message I've ever found on a hotel room fridge. DAY 2 This is why we can't have nice things. Just look at how clean the rivers are in Tokyo! The second day takes us to Hakone, about 2 hours of driving distance from Narita Excel Tokyu. Our first stop is Lake Ashi, a tourist spot popular with both local and foreign visitors. Boarded a NICE Pirate BOAT (a goofy, out-of-place pirate galleon) to go sightseeing around Lake Ashi. As I have mentioned earlier, it's freezing cold at the time in Japan. Even a slight breeze of wind is enough to send pretty nasty chills down your spine. Coming from a tropical country, you'll need to adjust yourself with the rather 'alien' climate. Luckily, my travel experiences in China of going through temperatures as low as -11°C proved invaluable. My lunch in Hakone. Battered fish, miso soup, raw vegetables and white rice. Simple but nice. Pictures taken around Hakone's Shinto shrine. Do you know that Sadako was thrown into a well in Hakone? Too bad I wasn't able to find any creepy-looking well, or an old, unlabeled videotape. A further 1 hour 30 minutes of driving deeper into the mountains takes us to Owakudani Valley, a volcanic valley famous for its active sulphur vents and hot springs. Due to the sulfur steaming out into the air, the place smells kinda like fart, albeit more pleasant compared to some jerk cutting the cheese in public. The hot springs are also used to boil Kuro-Tamago ("egg of longevity" according to the tour agent). See this picture. Consuming it supposedly increases your life. Yeah right, it tasted just like farted boiled eggs painted black. Started to snow heavily around 1500 hours. It actually feels less colder when it snows, for some sorta reason. In fact, it feels quite nice. Because there is no such thing as snow back in Malaysia, holding snow in my own hands and then throwing em' is quite an experience. I feel like a kid again. (T__T) LOL "Hard-Off". Plenty of Engrish around Japan. Spent one night Kawaguchi Koryu, located close to Lake Kawaguchi. Forgot how many hours of driving distance from the last location cuz' I wasn't paying attention. It's an old style inn/hot spring with a long history behind it (forgot to check how old it is LOL). As you can see in the picture, the floors are traditional tatami while futons were used instead of common Western beds. Yes, we were made to sleep on the floor like animals. That night, there was also a fireworks display on the opposite side of Lake Kawaguchi, but didn't snap any shots. Stay tuned for Part 2, where Akihabara will be covered.