Monday, June 23, 2008

Working in Tokyo..

It's my first time travelling alone. Luckily, so far so good. =) Flight was comfortable and I was in Tokyo after a short nap & Haagen Dazs ice-cream.

It's extremely easy to navigate in Tokyo because they're so systematic and there's lots of signages & colour-coding. Enjoying the cool weather while waiting for the Limo bus to transfer to the hotel. Impossible to take a cab as it'll cost SGD $350... ooh!

Here's my office building, Roppongi First Building.

Hotel is about 5 minutes away from office. Nearest train station is Tameiko-sanno Metro Station (Exit 13). About 5 stations away from Shibuya via Metro. Nice and cosy so I enjoyed the stay. =)

There's an open area is just beside my hotel. Always enjoy passing by this area on my way to work. Weather is sooo nice. Sunrise is very early at about 4.30am and sunset is similar to S'pore s the day feels very long.
Stalls are setup every Wednesday morning at the open area, selling fruits & veggie. Good place to buy fruits. Fruits can be sooo expensive here. Saw grapes & cherries that cost SGD $100++! Even bananas sold at 7-11 cost me $1.50 each.
Went to Shibuya for shopping & dinner right after check-in to hotel. As usual, the crossing was so full of buzz. Yoshinoya is very unpopular here in Tokyo. Heard from my colleague that no one will eat there and the shop looks very cheapo too.

After work on weekdays is usually dinner or shopping followed by dinner. Went to Shunjuku 2 consecutive nights and Roppongi on Friday.

Was looking forward to the weekend... no need to work. =) Woke up early than the weekdays so to head to Tsukiji for sashimi breakfast. Some of the shops had sooo long queue.. about 30-40 people waiting in the line.Very delicious and it's so fresh! Premium chirashi @ SGD $45. It comes with 2 slices of Torro (Tuna belly) which is soo expensive in S'pore.
Very interesting to walk around Tsukiji. The different grades of Tuna & Salmon.
The debone the fishes so it makes grilled fish so easy.
This is the transport used by the locals working in the Tsukiji market.
This is edamame.

My favourite, Wasabi! They grind this and mix with water to form the green wasabi paste.

Sea Urchin


Didn't know that Bonito (the flakely thing that is served with fried tofu) is actually fish flakes. The locals buy them in big paper bags.


The different variety of Tamago.

Their desserts looks sooo pretty. Can't resist to buy them. Unfortunately they've to be eaten fresh so can't huy them back.

This is taken in a shrine near to Tsukiji market.

We walked from Tsukiji to Ginza. Lotsa shopping. =)

Met up with Renhao who's studying music here in Tokyo. He bought us to Asakusa after Ueno. My second visit to this shrine and I still like this place. Highly recommended for first timers to Tokyo.

They're making the rice crackers on the spot.. using CHARCOAL.


My colleague and I had Kobe beef sukiyi & grilled beef on Sat night @ Roppongi. It started raining on Sat so it was comforting to have something soupy. My most expensive meal in Tokyo so far... Cost us SGD $180 / person. It's worth every cent though we gotta start eating bread next week liao...



Sun was rainy the whole day so we went shopping. Didn't take any pictures because hands were already very full. =)

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Sporty events..


Safra Runway Cycling - 25 May 2008

15Km cycling on the Paya Lebar airport runway on a nice cooling sunday morning.. very nice! Particularly nice because Gerald accompanied me and he actually enjoyed himself as well. =)



Sundown Marathon - 31 May 2008

Obviously I didn't do the ultra-marathon (84KM). It's way beyond my league and I truely admire their courage. Since it's the first night marathon in Singapore, I round up 3 colleague to sign-up under the team category. So inspiring to see the ultra-marathoners in action...

Passion Run - 8 June 2008

The cheapest & most worthwhile running event so far. I only paid $18 for 15Km. It's quite well organised, there's distance signage every 1km and water point every 2km with lots of 100 plus. Best timing so far @ 98mins.