Tokyo Day 4-6!
So my presentation is over and the burden is gone.... Day 4 became the day when i really get the chance to travel around a little!! hehe. The original plan was to go for the conference inthe morning and then follow the tour to edo tokyo museum and sumo wrestling competition... however as i met up with my new friends at the conference place, we decided to skip the session and go for our own little tour before joining the group for the sumo wrestling.... New destination? Asakusa!! We're visiting the Sensoji Temple!!
I guess it's becoz that I haven't really got the chance to travelo around... i really behaved like a crazed guy tat day... haha .. kept snapping shots away with my camera. As wat Serena, my new friend said... it's as if I owed myself a whole lot of photos... and yes, i was! Just touring around that place could took up 2 hours!!... and it was really tiring considering i was wearing my shirt and pants with leather shoes... haha. Some pics of my trip are available at
www.photos.yahoo.com/jianyong83 so there's really nth that i gotta descript. Some interesting stuff esp the snacks that they sell there... i guess if i were to buy, Il just put there for display....coz it looks just so nice..
After the temple, we went for the sumo wrestling... interesting at 1st but it gets repetitive as time goes by..so in the end we decided to go out and visitthe nearby Yasuda Garden. Unfortunately the place was closed.... so we walked around the neighbourhood before going to the Conference Banquet...... the food was nothing special though.... a little disappointing coz i was expecting some really good food.
Day 5 was another travelling day..... We went to Yokohama.... by the sea.. and the wind sure was forceful!!! When we stepped out of the station, the force of the wind caught us by surprise.....I stopped in my tracks while the gals we blown away( ok.. it was just 2 steps) but it was great ... strong wind with a sunny weather.... Toured around abit there before heading to Chinatown..... but... i would suggest that don't ever go there if u are in Japan... coz it's hugely disappointing. ... there's no Chinese feel to that place at al!! We were really disappointed.
SO after that disappointment, we decided to go back to Tokyo and headed to Harajuku instead! Yeah.. the place where all the youngsters hang out and where we can see them dressing in various "trendy" clothes. An hell it sure was an "eye opener"! hahaha Kawaii school girls in cute uniforms, various themes of dressing.... yup! really can see the difference in their lifestyle.... everyone plays mix n match so it seems like a norm there.. I guess if u were to do tat in spore or malaysia... u'll be seen as a freak.. haha.. if you have a chance to be in Japan, do take a walk around the Takeshita Dori street!
After that we went to Shinjuku for dinner and a short walk.... went to the Takashimaya there.. and that place is much bigger than the one in spore of coz! Shijuku really have an active nite life and the station is definitely the busiest in japan! For those who don;t know, Shinjuku is also known for it's adult entertainment.. haha..... and yes... it really was an interesting experience :)
So after that, it was back to the hotel and pack up..... last nite in Tokyo.... really wished I could stay there longer!!! Argh!! Was really tempted to follow Serena to Kyoto!! Kinda envious of her ....staying on for 5 more days!! wow... really tour Japan.... anyway... life is like tat... I'll probably be back in Japan in the future! coz there's still so many things i wanna explore... the rainbow bridge in tokyo, kyoto, mount fuji, etc etc..... one thing for sure.... I wont forget Tokyo!! I guess this experience has given me a real boost in my pursuit of my dreams.... To travel as much as i can and to see as much as i can!! I've taken the first step... been to my first stop.... and there'll be many more to come!! (hopefully). I guess when ppl say travelling can broaden one's horizon, it's really true. Really grateful for this experience and glad to have met so many interesting ppl for their stories have never failed to amaze me...... I guess that's more or less the end of my Tokyo adventure.....I'll be looking forward to my next trip......
Tokyo Day 3!
The big day has arrived!! The 2nd day of the conference... and the day for my to do my presentation! Woke up as planned and allowed myself enough time to have a proper bath and a nice clean shave. Went for the conference about 8am and for apparent reasons, the time seemed to be moving ever so slowly... Somehow lunch time came and i ate quickly.. hoping to rehearse a bit but it was not to be.. ended up chatting again... haha.
So finally the time struck 2.40pm... and it was my turn to present. Was kinda nervous and had to clear my throat before starting my presentation. However, i did rather well much to my surprise as i sppoke confidently and i guess i managed to calm my nerves n kept my composure for that 20 minutes. I dunno wat got into me but i answered all questions asked and ended the presentation smoothly. Thank god!!
An interesting incident happened when i was ordering food for dinner. the shop had a system where we buy a food coupon from a machine (ie we decide which food we want, insert money into the machine and obtain a coupon which is then handed to the shop owner) However it seemed as though we missed interpret the menu and ordered for takeaway instead (ie bento)
and we realised it only when the shop owner handed us the food.... tat was a surprise.. haha. BUt it was not a major problem. We just had to bring it back to the hotel room to eat... anyway.,... it was interesting to use the machine... eheheh
Now that the presentation is over, i'm very relaxed and am looking forward to the 2 remaining days which i expect to be more enjoyable as we'll be visiting the Edo Tokyo Museum and also watch live sumo wrestling. Planning to do some shopping on wednesday too...
Tokyo Day 2
I wake up to see that the time is already 7.55am. And i was supposed to meet Prof Fuss at 8am!! No choice... jump straight into the cold shower and had a quick bath... then quickly changed into my shirt and pants. But still, i was 10 minutes late... but it's okie i guess... not really in a rush. We're just hoping to set off early to give ourselves some time to figure out the the actual trains routes and also the interchange of Jiyugaoka. Luckily it was quite smoothing sailing coz it was a Sunday and the human traffic was minimal. It took us only about 15 mins to reach Ookayama station.
Finally reachedTokyo Institute of Technology. The place i've been looking forward for so long.... was lucky to meet a local member of the organising committee as we were looking at the campus map. He kindly brought us to the conference place and the first thing i saw at the conference place kinda brighten upo my mood. haha ... 2 kawaii japanese gals in kimono sitting at the reception table ^_^ I wanted to ask them to take a pic but i guess it's not the c orrect time coz i just arrived and the ppl are still busy setting up... anyway, my mood just improved greatly, forgetting about the frustrating experience the nite be4 .. hahaha
So after registration, we sat down at the sofas outside the LT. There we met 2 postgraduate who are also attending the conference. One of them is from China but studying in Japan while the other is from Cape Town, South Africa. They were very friendly and we were chatting happily within minutes. As it turn out, the guy from China happens to live in the same hotel as me so he quickly became my companion coz i figured my prof won;t be travelling much with me since he'll be busy attending to his duties in the conference.
The first day of the conference was a real eye opener..... the Japanese apparently like to do things in a low tone manner... the opening speech was done rather informally with no particular feeling of a major conference going on.... no big banner, no pots n plants on the stage, no background decoration.....everything is just plain simple. According to my prof, this is the most simplified ceremony in the history of the congress...haha. Another interesting to note was the dressing of the ppl attending the conference. There were ppl who wore very formally (ie tie and jacket), some who were decently presentable like me(long sleeves shirt without the tie) and some who looked as if they were there for a summer vacation(bermudas). Not surprisingly they dressings are very related to their respective countries. .. After that was a taste of the presentation.... getting myself mentally prepared formy own presentation the day after. Typically the presentation was done rather professionally though not all of them are done in fluent English. The scary part was actually the discussion aka QnA part where the audience began firing questions and comments to clear their doubts on the topic that is being presented. It's quite a nervous situation I imagine..... hope for a smooth presentation tmr.....
Tokyo!!! First nite...
10 September..... My first flight on an airplane!!! Finally, after 22 years...i have a chance to board an aeroplane!! sounds sua ku? Yeah.. i'm a sua ku guy who nvr sat on an airplane be4 and so wat? :P I guess i'm really lucky to be able to come to Tokyo... my first trip overseas(exclude Spore) and i'm already going for Tokyo... feel really blessed. I'll be the first in my family to travel so far...the furthest b4 this was my dad who went to China...My mom nvr even went for a tripp be4! I've wanted for them to have a chance to travel becoz i think they deserved it after so many years but now, i'm going for a trip be4 them.,.. oh well.. just have to compensate by 'subsidisng/sponsoring' their trip in the future.. hope i can :P
The flight was about 7 hours... departing from C hangi at 8.00am and arriving at Narita ard 4pm Japan time ie 3pm Singapore time. Was flying with Japan Airlines so i got to see Japanese air hostesses... haha but guys..dun start thinking stray. :P Just too bad the one serving my area was an auntie... the pretty wan was serving the other side!! argh!! wasted.. haha but then again..generally the air hostesses are very pretty(young ones i mean).... hehe
Uppon arrival in Narita airport, i went thru all the customs check etc... quite lost coz 1st time going thru an airport customs..not very sure how to fill in the embarkment/disembarkment card etc...(who know wat's "Alien registration certificate number"!!!) also... din know where to collect my lugagage until pointed out by my prof.. haha really felt like a sua ku guy.. :P After tat was a bus trip on the Airport Limousine from Narita to Shibuya...lasted for about 90 minutes and cost 3000 yen which is about 40+ sing dollar.....
After reaching shibuya.. the challenge begins... we had to find our way to the train stations... and it took almost 20+ minutes to find the place even though its just a few minutes away...and finding the correct train line entrance is another thing... this is where we were very lost... the station attendent apparently cant speak engl;ish and all he did was point n point .... in the end..had to make our own guesses.... but Shibuya is quite a busy place.. got to see lots of japanese in various dressings... haha...also got quite a few chio bu along the way la..kekek
So after some time, we found the rite station entrance... then comes the buying ticket part.. but surprisingly.. its not tat hard.. maybe its coz i'm smart? hahaha. After tat we boarded the train... only to find out after 3 stations.. that we've missed the station which we were supposed to alight and transfer to another train.... ow the hell am i suppose to know? the train map showed the stations are all in the same train line!! I nvr knew theres 2 type of trains, the express and the non-express!! Anyway, we finally managed to find our way and landed in the hotel....
But tat's not all... the 1st thing i do when i got ito my room was to set up my internet connection.... everything went fine.. iu got the connection, chatted with my family for sometime and then.. all of a sudden, everything went haywire..... the laptop hanged.. i switched it off and tried to restart it again....but!!!! the stupid darn laptop wont start! The power indicator lights were on..but the hard disk weren't operating..... i tried n tried... foir hours.... but to no avail... in the end, i gave up and went to have my early nite rest..(nth else toi doi...othing interesting on TV and was feeling abit tired...) so my first nite in tokyo was spent in sianness, frustration and fear(the laptop belongs to my fren!! how will i answer to her? ) ....
more to come for day 2 n on......
