Day 6. 31st Oct 04

Wah. Today cannot wake up. but at the end of the day, we still managed to get out of the dorm and meet the girls.
We guys were late. Waited at the wrong station sommore. Super late. we then moved on to Tsuyami(whatever) station to meet the girls.
Met at the Beck's cafe. Saw a bunch of girls, schoolgirls. SUNDAY?! gosh, these girls are really obsessed with school. =)
heck, after looking at the girls, i heard a familiar call. yikes. the girls were just beside them and i have given them a miss. haha.
hey, guys will be guys.

hai. we went to chinatown after that. (ichigawa station???) no idea. Just follow and enjoy.
there were lots of dogs today. all kinds. F was happy i guess.
the guys were still playing with their handphones. haha
chinatown was quiet. it wasn't even open yet i guess. it was 11am+ i think. check the pictures.
then we realised, walked the wrong way. heh.
After backtracking, we finally got to the real chinatown. Okay lah. looks quite okay, but not exactly too chinatown-ish.
though there were lots of chinese food to get. Lee Kim Kee, Haw flakes,.. i got myself a Guiling Gao. took too many pictures there.
battery went flat. Fiona-san tried many hats today. SN was photo taking today. Lost all his phone battery. had to stick to us after that.
Jasmine-san led the way. i was cursing myself for wearing the leather shoe today.
the other guys wore Brooks, courtesy of the army.
pi-dan (century egg) was at 315 for 5.
We went to a nice restaurant for lunch. Not exactly cheap. 700yen cheapest bowl of noodle. S$11++. That's like the average price of my meals
these few days. terrible. and we were complaining about singapore getting more ex. well, there was generous ingredients, but i won't say
its enough. now i know why mandarin can charge $11 for char kuay teow and no japanese complains.
Eh. restaurant have a wireless call system. press something on a box and the waiter will come.
fried rice was pathetic.
went to get "gao luk" to eat. chestnut. Everyone shared. they ate up everything!! i was enjoying it slowly. i learn now.
went to pray at a temple as well.
a motobike was CHAINED to a pole. i thought we do that for bicycles.


went to a garden to eat Bao. all were hungry and tired from all the walking.
lots of bao in china town. i saw porks leg too!!!
there were bao to take home and cook yourselves in packs of 3 or something.
215yen bao. 6 of us shared 2. nice. I shared with jas and fiona.
got stuffed with the remaining bao. but that didn't keep me full till dinner. by 5pm, the sky was dark. i was thinking about dinner already.
really hungry. so after a while, went to tsurumi(eh i got it right) station to shop at Seiyu.
on the way there, we took 2 wrong trains. stupid train system. there were different trains on the same track and platform.
we rushed up the wrong ones. i think we missed an interchange.
not only that, we went the wrong way.
once there we shop and shop till 7pm for dinner. REALLY HUNGRY.
went to yoshinoya. Cheap meal!! 380yen for a nice hot bowl of beef and some jap noodles and a bowl of rice. Plus a cup of jap tea.
Finally something mroe affordable and edible.
found internet at 100yen per 10min. So Damien went to check mail. i was thinking of going home. haha.
After that, we went home already. but not without taking the wrong train again.
ended up 5 stops away after taking the express train.
finally back in the bunk. dorm. time for my "day 5" diary. forgot to write yesterday. heh. ja!

Day 5. 30th Oct 04

Lets see what i did today. ah..journey to Akihabara.
didn't like it. you will know why in a while.
went to get my handphone today. Met a chinese at the Vodaphone booth wearing those showgirl uniform.
she's not slim.
lots of stuff to think about. who to share with, what plan, what phone. there was either TV and radio or 2.2mpixel cam phone.
i chose 2.2mp camera. the Tv one is more "girlly"...i love the look of the 2.2mp one.
most people chose white. rainy day. used my 100yen umbrella. cool. cheap.
once registered, we were asked to wait 30min, which turned to 1.5 hours. in between i went alone to the other shops to
enquire about my pda battery. No luck in ANY SHOP. stupid electric town. too many sharp and sony. got HP pda, but no accessories.
stupid. so spent the whole bluddy day looking for a small battery..."Kono PDA baterry wa, alimaska?". got shot back lots of jap.
bad move. i just say thank you and went away. went to at least 20 over shops. up 4 levels all the time. where the PDA section is.
up down up down. legs were giving way. lost my way once, and luckily, i found calvin and winston by accident.
got back to the phone shop and were told to wait again. went off to ask more shops.
collected the phone finally and started playing with it immediately. Hated the msging part. very hard to type anything decent.
very slow and there were SKY mail and Super mail. what the heck. i just want to know which one is cheap. well. now i know sky mail is.
i have 4 other "family members" who i can call for 50% off. cool. then i added another 5 numbers for the other people i need to contact.
we seperated ways again and went for dinner ourselves at this shop. Straight from the station. then turn left.
tempura at 600yen+++++. quite nice. got free miso soup and tea. then went back to kawasaki station for kopi.
sat there for 1 hour+. playing with the phones. Jas and SN played alot.
after that. went home. Missed the bus by 1 minute. 1049pm last bus. i think.
then went to take a train home. luckily train stop at 1am or 12am.

Day 3. 28th Oct 04

Day 3. 28th Oct 04

Ohaiyo! Today we went to make our alien card.
Started with a stupid alarm clock that rings at 5am in the morning.
then 6am...then 7am...cool clock. but bad tempered ivan is resurrected.
Hai. Went to get breakfast at the main market area. Went to get a Pao.
Preserved veg and some meat i think...just OISHII!!!
the weather then was damn cold! Today was a freak cold morning...4 degrees...probably at early dawn...
so a nice bun is damn shiok lor!

we went to collect the seal. muahaha...mine's CHEAP!
Hai, so then we met and went to make our Alien reg. Eh..my neighbour is back. 11.33...such is the life of an engineer?
i still can't stop coughing. DAMMIT.
back to the story...went to make alien card. photos and all that.
quite fast. got the chop on the passport as well.

after that, went for lunch at a chinese restaurant.
Haiz, i dont' really want to eat chinese food LEH!
but we went in...cuz i believe, it is the cheapest there.
840 yen was the set A. Oily chicken and jap rice + nice soup+ dessert.
VERY OILY AH! Boonlong was using the serviet to soak the chicken oil.
we went dutch. oh, kawauchi-san showed me the H.I.S. thingy.
going to singapore and staying at hilton for 4 day trip = 32800yen!
cheap.
but i want one without the hotel ley.

after that, we went to the company for "training". basically orientation.
They spoke really slowly. All of us wanted to doze off.
They have coffee machine, milk machine, food machine. all on different floors!
stupid. maybe to be fair.

got my own computer. think they bought a new one for us. how nice!
everything is set up nicely. so if we are assigned to different section, we just move the whole CPU over.
got a locker as well. DIRTY. took a vacuum to clean it.
They also showed us the right way to go home and to work. apparently,
the shortcut has been dangerous. so we were told the correct way to work.
japanese still forget to bring their jacket out when they go out to the cold.

Hai. after that, went shopping with the rest. wanted to get a gift for The 2 nice gentlemen who took care of us.
however, Tsu Tsen decided to offer the 2 boxes of bah guah to them.
problem solved.
then we went our seperate ways to shop. went with BW, YH, J, F, TTT, SN.
had dinner. SALTY dinner. expensive too...700yen...but already one of the cheapest!
maybe we chose a dept. store. bad move.

Yodobashi camera. lots of stuff to shop for. but really quite ex. not as cheap as we thought.
however, camera was quite cheap. around lucky plaza price.
wanted to get hotwater boiler cum storage. 2.2 litre. 3000yen at girls dorm 4-5000yen here. ouch
finally got my lozenges. doroppu in jap.
better get my PDA fixed soon.

after that, went to buy shampoo, recommended by Fiona-san. eh. dunno how power is power. but nice lah.
ah. so went for hot tub soak again. today i tried higher temp. SWEAT AH!
really like sauna. but ok lah. lots of bubbles form on your body when the temp goes high.
now shoik and relaxed...brain drained. loved it.

better sleep liaoz. coughing and disturbing my neighbours.

till tomorrow, Jaa mata ashita.

music: *Hooberstank: The Reason"
love this song. it strikes something in me at least.
but i never saw her before i go. Haiz.

Oyasuminasai!

Day 4. 29th Oct 04

Finally went to the bank today. but when we went there, they told us that there were many people
due to the end of the month. hence, we won't be getting our bank account set up today.
However, we went to another branch to check it out. There, the same problem.
This time, we were ushered into a small room. It took a total of 3hrs 15min to get all the forms filled out.
People were fumbling with their chop or forms. Torturous. It didn't help that the air there was stale.
Japanese don't switch on anything during this period. As per other countries.

Before the second bank, went for lunch. 374yen. Kept me full for a total of 15min.
ramen. one 8cm diameter meat. bamboo shoots. noodles. Should have taken the set. 640yen.
there were 2 ladies beside us. one of them, not too bad. took a photo too.

Hai. After the bank, we went shopping. Found out that the shampoo cost 537yen at a shop.
Bought it at Yodobashi at 830yen. @#$@#. SS brand of shampoo. Supposed to be salon quality in singapore.
Went to check out the phones today too.
Bought a shaver. Stupidly left mine back in sunny singapore. 800yen i think.
the girls, stuck in the shop. Really on a buying spree...the amount of stuff they buy, it's as though they live next door.
Never helped them with the stuff. Help one, and the others will be complaining. haha.
They really shopped quite long. then we went for dinner. Dinner was settled at a Foodcourt.
went to try a burger set meal. 540yen. burger, fries, drink. worth it!
plus, there was this scratch and win thingy. Won a drink. muahaha...more worth it.
gave it to Jasmine-san though. I told her the burger was fish burger. when it was actually a potato burger.
Hai. POTATO. Carbo. Girl's enemy.
ah. she also mention i am not gentlemen enough.
Saw the people shaking some white stuff on the trianglar rice (weighted) wrapped in seaweed.
i hope it is not MSG. its as much as the salt they put on the fries in mac. SCARY. i want my hair.
Went to 100yen shop after that. Guys went to buy the floor cleaners. Each of them have a stick and so on.
Bread holder, jam, crab meat(me!), other stuff. Girls buy more stuff AGAIN.

Next we took a train to the girl's area. Went to another 100yen shop. There they buy and buy again.
Then we went to Seiyu. There WE buy again and again. I bought an Iron, shit, i forgot, it's still at the door!!!
Chotto Matte! I need cough medicine.
Hai. So where were we...ah. bought ATTACK washing powder, a Comforter, cover, 2 pillows and a pair of comfy slip-on.
slip on, charge me wrongly. with no japanese, i got back my change. cool.
it gets rather cold in the morning. If you think i bought the most, the other guys and girls are worst!
After that, we left the place. oh yes, an alarm clock i bought. =P (nice english)
After that, we went down the elevator. Shaonan got out, Boonlong thought it was 4th floor. SN came back, we stoned at the elevator.
No one pressed a button. Elevator also never move. i thought it was SO SMOOTH AH?? then realise we were at the 1st.
the stupid 4th floor sign indicates that the shop is at 4th. Lost in translation again.

The girls then return and so did we. Lots of stuff bought. everyone was carrying alot of stuff. No time to be gentlemen.
We squeezed on the bus at the back. with all the barang barang. Terrible singaporeans.

Hai. Thinking about the way we spend is quite scary. the comforter cost S$75. i didn't bat an eyelid. It was CHEAP.
food cost 6-700 cheapest. and don't expect to have a nice meal in the departmental stores.
haven't tried bento yet. hope it's better. So far, spending money is like watering plants. Long term. But PLENTY of watering.
Now i know why we were given S$4000. Transport also took up alot of money. each train ride(1 stop) cost 110-160yen. S$2.40.
Bus ride 200yen. $3 per trip. ouch man. so far, by current rough estimate, i have spent $600 just these 4 complete day.
OUCH.
Tomorrow target Akihabara, Tokyo. Hope we do go there.
Time for my hot bath...muahaha...