Tokyo 2009 - Bus services in Shinjuku area

On our last day in Tokyo, we found that there was a city bus service that move around linking the east and west part of Shinjuku. Though the service is not free, it provided much convenience for us as there was a bus stop right in front of the hotel that we were staying. Else, we would have to walk 10 to 15 minutes from the Shinjuku Station back to the hotel again. It's very tiring to walk back with a heavy bag filled with purchase and my daughter's basic items.



If you are visiting Tokyo and happen to stay in the Shinjuku area, you may want to consider using the service. It charges 100 yen per person (ie S$1.5 to S$1.6). The bus was very comfortable and nice. It was also pretty warm inside :-) However, the bus driver on that trip was not so friendly. There are 10 stops in the whole journey and it gives visitors a good orientation / introduction of the Shinjuku area. Each bus stop stand also printed the estimated arrival time of the bus and the whole journey. Pretty informative.

If you are going to the main avaShinjuku train station, alight at bus stop 1;
If you are going to the red light district, alight at bus stop 2;
If you are going to the Times Square, alight at bus stop 4;
If you are staying in Shinjuku Washington hotel, alight at bus stop 6;
etc



For more information, you can access its website , available in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. It is strange that the hotel din share the services with us, ie for their customers ?

35 years old grandmother

I read a news article today that a lady became properly one of the youngest grandmother in Singapore at the age of 35 years old on my iPhone. Wow, that is definitely very young especially when we have so many 35 years old individuals who are still single.

She is a businesswoman. Married at 16 years old and became a mother at 17. Got another kid at age 23. Her daughter followed and being a mum at 18 years old. Is it due to gene or culture or encouragement or .... ? I only know that it was definitely not easy to bring up two kids at such a young age and she did it well.

I am happy for the youngest grandmother and the mother. Wish both all the best and a happy new year :-)

Watching movie

It has been pretty awhile since I last visited a cinema. Not so often after marriage and nearly zero after the birth of my daughter.

Finally went for a movie again and together with my daughter last night - Alvin & Chipmunks 2. :-) My first movie with her. However, it was not her a first visit to cinema. Her mum had brought her to watch her first movie a few months ago. I forgotten the title. Ha...ha...ha...

Besides feeling that the sound was a bit too loud, my daughter had enjoyed the show much and well behaved during the movie. For GV, I would need to buy a ticket for her since she is at least 90cm tall now. Was not so keen to buy her a ticket initially because the seat could be too low for her and she is likely to sit either on my or FP's lap. To my surprise, GV provided boaster for kids at the entrance. Hence, all of us had a proper seat and my daughter could also watch it comfortably. :-)

Would like to bring her to watch a few more movies. Of course, no horror movie but cartoons and those that she is likely to understand and recognize.

Btw, just realized that it is pretty expensive to catch a movie nowadays, S$10 per person and the cinema is still as dark as before with the usual type of seat. :-(

Maybe due to inflation ba. Ha...ha...ha...

iPhone

It can be pretty addictive to use iPhone. I use iPhone for:
- sms
- making calls at times
- play games
- take photos
- take videos
- search and install iPhone applications
- maps
- Catch news on omy.sg, ChannelnewsAsia, iToday, ST and Wall Street Journal
- Dictionary
- Manage emails

Also, just bought three movies through iPhone using the iGV application to watch Alvin & Chipmunk 2.

Only 30% of my usage is on sms and making calls. It does not seem to be a phone to me. I can easily get online with the iPhone. Affordable data plan helps but 10 or 12GB plan seems to be a bit too much a month especially when the iPhone's battery will drain off pretty fast if constantly in use.

Nowadays, my daughter will ask me for iPhone whenever she is in the car and the first thing she wakes up in the morning. iPhone has replaced her favourite milk in the morning. Amazing. It is her possession and accompany. "This is my phone, ok" She will say. Sometimes, I have to appear angrily in order to get it back from her. If the iPhone is water-proof, i am sure she will bath together with iPhone as well :-)

Maybe it is time to consider an iPodtouch for her as I realize that iPhone is a good learning device for her. My next desktop replacement for the home will also be a touchscreen model so that she can easily navigate on her own and be empowered to decide what she wants to do with it and how to do it.

Btw, 60% of my team in office is using iPhone and going to 70% soon :-)

Year 2010

It's a new beginning year - 2010
A good number, indeed, for a 4D :-)

Still on leave and flying off to Hong Kong for a short holiday. Has been there for quite a number of times and hence, not very keen and wun be visiting the usual attractions. This trip will focus on enjoying the nice food recommended and doing a bit of shopping for the Chinese New Year and as usual, books and magazines. Will move around to some new places to explore leisurely. It will be a no rush and causal week. Hong Kong seems to becoming my usual destination to relax, to eat, to shop and wandering around.

New Year Resolution ? What is that ? for kids ?
Try to have a resolution. Emm..... to enjoy and explore life ba. :-)

Happy New Year to all.

Tokyo Trip 2009

Stayed in Tokyo for 6 nights. Visited 3 theme parks (Hello Kitty, Disney Tokyo and Disney Sea Tokyo), shopped at the Shibuya and Roppongi areas / Tsukiji Fish Market / Sensoji Temple and tried as many new food outlets as possible (especially the local dishes). Most of the places mentioned are my first visit except the Disney, Tsukiji Fish Market and Sensoji Temple.

As compare to 7 years ago, not much major changes in Disney Tokyo. Food served in the theme park is still very expensive and not that tasty. However, I think Disney Tokyo has added more parades and live performance in the programme. It's good for me as I enjoyed these parades and live performance very much because it is entertaining, colourful and creative. The theme seemed to serve more different flavour pop corn (black pepper, honey, strawberry, curry etc) now with nice colourful containers. Really know how to make money from the visitors. It costed S$22 to S$25 per container. S$8 to refill. The strawberry pop corn tastes and smells very nice :-)




Tsukiji Fish Market gives me more local context and content. No aircon, a lot of traffic and pretty messy as it is a wholesales fish market. We went for the sushi and fresh raw fish for breakfast. While the food is fine, what is most enjoyable is to appreciate the culture and ambience of eating in the outlet. Chef prepares your order right in front of u and good customer service. Long queue and needed to have some patience.




Sensoji Temple enjoys the same status as the local Kuan Yin Temple along the Waterloo Street but with more historical years. While both temples are comparable, the standard of the stalls along the road sides is like comparing one from a third world and one from a world class. The stalls that lead to teh Sensoji Temple are organized, presentable, clean and sells more interesting stuff /food. The only funny and restrictive thing is that you can only consume food within or nearby the stall itself. It's a cultural stuff ? Maybe.





I will go to these three places again when I visit Tokyo next time. It is an enjoyable experience to be in these three places. :-)

Started annual vocation

Have been on leave for a week since my last event on 13 Dec 09. This year, I have a full month annual leave so as to clear my last year leave. I dun have much time to cleat it earlier as there is pretty much to do in office in the past few months. I am planning to leave for good, with or without a new job. Anyway, many more upcoming and since I am on leave, I wun want to think about it until I am back to office later :-)

Writing this entry in the Shinjuku Washington Hotel now. Free broadband access in the room. Reached Tokyo today and the weather here is very cold. I am happy that my daughter din make much noise along the way, 6 hours of flight and 1.5 hours of bus ride. She did express her impatient but manage to engage her. The day is shorter than night now in Tokyo and it was pretty dark when the bus left for Tokyo city from the airport though it was only 5pm local time (ie 4pm in Singapore). I dun quite like it.



It is, indeed, very cold. My daughter is more excited over her new attire. Couldn't wait to put it on the moment we touched down. Ha...ha...ha... It's a tiring day and din explore much today. Will begin tmr :-)

Finally bought a replacement

After much research and reviews, I bought a replacement for the old portable DVD player. There are, indeed, a few options. Basically, which option is likely to give the best possible value.

I bought the Asus Eee 1005HA model netbook in the Sitex 2009 with 2GB RAM running on Atom N280 chip. 10.1" screen size with 160GB hard disk and at least 6 hours of effective battery hours. Pretty good review. Would like to go for the Windows 7 Starter edition but was told that it was only available on that Saturday onwards and I did not want to walk through a sea of people again. Hence, settle down with the Windows XP edition. S$660 in total.

The replacement means that I will have the access to internet in the hotel room when i travel (there are more and more free internet access available in hotel rooms). It is also mean the need to copy more of my daughter's DVD titles onto the hard disk as well as on the portable too so that she can enjoy it while in the plane and in the hotel room.

Was very keen to go for the touch screen model from Acer but the making was not that nice (around S$850). The available of Windows 7 also mean that more touch screen models would be made mainstream pretty soon. In fact, there are more notebook models using the SSD as the storage ie 128GB or 256GB in size, from Dell and Sony. I was very impressed with the Sony edition weighing only 650g with 11" screen. Very, very light and slim but it was just too pricey, around s$2,500

I shall have it one day pretty soon because as technology advances, prices will drop and it can drop pretty fast as well. Ha...ha...ha...