Odaiba- Aqua Decks....

Odaiba is an artificial island at the Tokyo Bay. It was initially built for defense but it has quickly developed into a commercial and leisure area since then.

Just like Asakusa, Odaiba holds special memories for me and also there's just so many things that I want to visit here that I just had to come back again and I will again in the future as there's still many uncovered areas. Most importantly, the science museum which I didn't have to visit!!!!

I wonder if I can get some place cheap to stay over here so that I don't have to keep travelling back and forth. hmm...if not mistaken the monorail like Yurikamome line is more expensive as compared to the Rinkai line which is underground, due the magnificent view that you get.

Once you exit Tokyo Teleport station, you will see Venus Fort some 5mins walk in front. But we turned around and headed to Aqua Decks Beach which is about 10mins walk from the station. The view is just amazing and you can immediately spot the back of Fuji TV. Even now, I still think that it looks futuristic.

Spot the globe observation deck in the front? It costs 500yen to enter but you get to view a small exhibition area with all fuji tv's characters and you'll get to buy character goods.

In front of me were several huge department stores and I was trying to decide which to enter. In the end I entered Aqua City.

Here's the first view that I got when I entered from the top of Aqua City. For more info: http://www.aquacity.jp/en/top

There is so much you can explore here. There is Cinema Mediage on the 1st floor which is like one of the largest cinemas in Tokyo, Sony Explora Science on the 5th floor where you can explore the latest 3D tech or play with lights and sounds.

 Dad was hungry so I've gotta look for a place to eat. We went to this Ramen Kokugikan -Men Matsuri....sorta like a ramen museum located on the 5th floor, except no entrance fees and you get to try famous ramen from different stalls from different areas in Japan.

On the way in, you can already see the decos changing...to a more traditional style.

A small intro and the lucky few shops that were there......

Heads up!

hmm...doesn't the guy chef in the picture look familiar? Anyone watched Iron Chef?

He's Kenichi Chin, the renowned Iron Chef for chinese cuisine.

Dad's spicy ramen with egg

Extra condiments

I went to Ippudo and ordered their recommended special pork ramen.

Ta-da!!! Love this.....yummy~~

Too bad that I didn't get to try other stuffs such as gyoza there....maybe next time.

I initially wanted to try Tonkatsu Wako too, which serves katsudon. Read that the place is quite popular and is really good. Unfortunately I didn't have much time and have limited stomach space....

Walk out and you get a nice view of rainbow bridge and the mini statue of Liberty. Well....the bridge is technically white but at night it becomes colouful like a rainbow thanks to lightings.

It's almost sunset....

You've probably seen this view before if you are a fan of Japanese dramas....you can see a lot of couple dating here.

Whee...my new warm boots~! The kid at the side looks so funny....his hair is like super stylo in this pic.

hmm...what's aqua city without a little aquarium eh?

On the 4th floor you can find a Daiso (100 yen shop) and Tokyo Leisureland which is an amusement park.

On the 3rd floor, you can find a DISNEY STORE!!! Whee....I love DISNEY. Before going to Japan, I've been checking for Disney stores that I can visit!

And best of all......VIVITIX!!! Hollo Kitty anyone??? Vivitix is the more fashionable and trendy version of Hello Kitty Gift Gate geared towards adults. They sell a lot of limited edition products that cannot be easily found else where and *ahem* pricey items too.

I was so sad I tell you that I dd not bring enough money!!! Plus it was also near the end of my trip and I've spend most of my money on food before this! ahhh....I so wanted to get a Hello Kitty wallet and I saw a guy bought it~!! Dunno for his gf or wat....but yea~! I so wanted the one that he took!!!

They even sell really cute Christmas cards with amazing lighing features.

But erm yea......pricey!

I can sooo see the bear going, "whee......santa!!" and the reindeer singing a christmas carol.

Original hello kitty bags and luggages.

Spot the gold Hello Kitty wallet?? That's the one I wanted!!!!

Uuuu and Hello Kitty dolls!!! I love Kitty-chan in the Melody costume.

See.....Hello Kitty x leopard designs.
 

Hello Kitty Watches.....

Hellow Kitty electronic products.

....and Clothes!!! My favourite combination! Pink and Black + Hello Kitty!!! Ahhh.....I'm so coming back to buy for clothes next time!

Expensive trinkets....

Toasters, phone holder, telephones.....

Ahh....It's a girls's heaven here.....

Twilight

I've finally finished reading all 4 books of the Twilight series. The book is addictive enough to keep me hanging on to the end and I must say that Breaking dawn is my favourite book of all.

The first book was so-so. I was waiting for the climax which didn't quite happen and in the second book too. The Vulturi seemed interesting to me but the whole James, Victoria and the new borns which were created in the third book didn't quite do it for me. Oh...and predictable~The last book however was jam-packed and I felt like all the characters suddenly developed a kind of similar humour. I think I shouted the words "What!!!?" outloud quite a number of times when reading the series.

Couldn't really remember the first book that well now, which was mostly on Bella and Edward wanting each other. (Ya...uh-huh~)Then in the second Edward leaves her and ended up asking the Vulturi to kill him after he thought that Bella had died. (This is bad.....no girl should do the sillt things that Bella did or should any boy die like Edward!!! The gal could pick uo a hobby and love herself more. But I can understand, the feel of an adrenaline rush and the after feel is great!)

By the end of the second book, I had this funny image of a gal pressing her body flat onto a marble wall, trying to feel the coolness of the marble with her senses. I laughed myself silly with the image I had conjured up. I think that part was about Bella and Edward touching and kissing.......cold and smooth like marble, hard like granite......... From then on, I laughed at all the romance scenes. My wall very soon became a marble pillar and by the end of the third book, the pillar had developed some designs which resembled six packs. LOL~......and I wondered how can it be nice to kiss something cold, hard and dry.

The author spent so much time building towards a "climax" where Bella wants nothing more that just to enjoy the intense feeling of passion of making love to Edward that she is willing to trade the no.1 thing on her list for it, which is to become a vampire. Then that climate just died in the last book. I didn't even know it happened! Super glossed over.....and she spent so many chapters talking about it. I only remembered myself shouting "What!!" at the "I bit a few pillows!" / "I broke the bed" part. And then she's pregnant~! Didn't even know how that happen...I didn't know vampires have sperms! I thought that they only had venom.

Also, the book suddenly changed from Bella to Jacob's POV. Though refreshing, I felt that it might've been better to continue with the way it started. Well but those parts were mostly about the werewolves and I guess using syles like this, it makes reading easy to understand.

Every time when I feel like the story is building up to something, it sort of becomes a let down because I was expecting and waiting.......ugh~ and it never came! It happened soooooo many times!!!! But I guess a story like this has got to have a "fairy-tale" ending where everything ends well.

This is truly a fantasy novel for the girls with a heroin and her prince charming.....all things seems to go in favour of the heroin no matter how big the trouble is.

Like how newborns are supposed to behave and stuffs....definitely did not happen to Bella. She thinks that it might be because she was well informed beforehand and so is able to resist and have self-control. But even when she's human, she didn't have much self control, especially when it comes to Edward. Everything just came to her too easily. Well....I'm not the author, so yea.

Regarding the talent part....I've thought about it and I think that if I could choose I would want Zafrina's which is to create visual illutions. I want to create something beautiful for everyone to see. Though Aro considers Edward's mind-reading as useful, it seems to me more like a curse. I wouldn't want to be in everybody's mind. Only a strong individual will be able to handle it. As for seeing the future, it might be handy or just destroy me, depending on the situation and how it's used.

I know I've caught the Edward bug halfway throught the third book when I saw a HP trailer and thought "Wow, Cedric is actually very good looking!" I've always felt that someone more handsome could have played Cedric because he is after all supposedly the most good looking guy in the series. After reading Twilight, I thought that he's just perfect!

I guess I am similar to Edward in some ways. We're both old fashioned. If I had all the time in my had, I would use it to read language books, science books and play the piano better. I like a guy who is musically inclined and no girl can resist a guy who will be there for her all the time. Plus he's protective, caring and understanding. I'm only not liking the stalker-ish and self-blaming part.

I wish that more could be included about the other Cullens so that the readers could feel them more.

I think I might watch Breaking dawn if I can find a company. I want to see how it turns out as a movie and.... I want to see Charlisle. Lol....I really like his character. So mature, smart, calm, compassioned...well, he's the creator of this great family so he must be amazing! Plus I'm interested if Alice is as what is described in the books. Last but not least Kriten Stewart, she's so goth and pretty. Oh, not forgetting the handsome British...Robert Pattinson (not sure how he looks as a vampire).

Shinsaibashi

Oh silly me, Totally left out the post on Shinsaibashi on my 4th evening in Osaka before arriving at the hotel.

Welcome to shinsaibashi! which is one of the main shopping areas in Osaka.

I love the area though it is immensely crowded! I love people watching!!

On the way in, you can already notice the very bold display and designs of the shops there. Just look at the displays and you'll know what the shop sells.

Not only that....you might realise that the language here is different too and people speak more openly.

I really enjoyed 'people watching' here. So many different characters and styles. Young people here are really fashionable too.

I somehow felt that guys here are taller than in Tokyo. Most of these tall 'ikemen' (handsome guy) who dresses really well are those responsible for drawing in customers. I think I must've been watching too much 'Ouran host club' because whenever I see a ikemen dressed in a suit and attracting customers.....I was thinking...host??

Oooo....fugu....and one daring enough to try it?

Whee....Shinsaibashi, Let the shopping begin. There are a lot of branded shops here. Besides that, there also many interesting shops selling local food, fashion clothings and drug stores.

Oh this kani shop...is yummylicious. 500yen for just 2 small pieces of bbq-ed crab leg. Yum~

Maybe next time, I'll just enter a shop like this and savour one big crab myself!

This........is apparently a bowling alley if I'm not mistaken. Such bold designs~!!

Then I spotted this.....hehehe...... the adult's convenient shop!! Interesting, I wanted to enter just to see what do they sell but we were in a rush. :(

hmm spot the little signage? Shop of the adult by the adult for the adult.

Remember my post on GU? http://melissa1311.blogspot.com/2010/12/gu.html. GU can be found here too....

First ever Shinkansen ride

woohoo...took a train from Osaka station to Shin-Osaka station and rushed for the Tokaido shinkansen with all my luggages. I was soo exctied for my first shinkansen ride that I entered the wrong car and sat comfortable in it for 10 minutes before I realised it.

Lol...I was on the right platform and right train, it's just that I entered the wrong car which is for the reserved tickets. I had to walk from one end of the train to the other end of the train and by the time I read the other end to the non-reserved seats.....the train left and I had to wait for another one.

The RM500 ticket!~

Me with my new boots and the bullet train. This is the second train.....a N700 series shinkansen....the fastest and it can travel at a max speed of 300km/h. 

We were in luck. Despite having just missed a nozomi train. The 9.47am and the one after is also a nozomi train. If you wanna save time, take the nozomi train as it is the fastest train, stopping at only major stations. From Shin-Osaka to Tokyo, it stops only at Kyoto, Nagoya, Tokyo and Shinagawa and the entire journey takes only 2 hour and 25mins.

It would be slower if you take hikari trains which stops at more stations and even worse kodama trains which stops at all stations and takes about 4 hours.

We were on platform 23, waiting for nozomi train no 222 headed to Tokyo at 9.47 am and this train has 16 cars and below are the names of the stations it will stop at.

 Each car is labelled with a car number, a signage which tells you is it's a smoking or non-smoking car, another signage which tells you if it's for reserved seats/ non-reserved seats/ do not enter as the trains are to be moved back for storage. Is that the right word?

 Yes...yes.....I can't wait to be back in Tokyo!

Once at Shinagawa, we went to the hotel, left our luggages at the counter and off we go again back to the train station.

We took the yamanote line from Shinagawa Station to Ōsaki Station in hopes of getting onto the Rinkai line to Odaiba. However it seems that there was some trouble as we waited for a long time and the train never departed before I realised that there's a signage which says trouble.

So I had to take a detour from Ōsaki Station  to Ōimachi Station and then take the Rinaki line to Tokyo Teleport. ahh~all the precious time wasted.

Like for the shinkansen, check the platform number, the lines which the platform cater to, where is the train that is arriving headed to, the time, the number of cars and it will tell you whenever the train is near.

When in Tokyo, I kept having to used the fare-adjustment machine because I'm so used to the malaysian system where we buy one ticket to one place and then have to buy another ticket to another station.

But in Japan it's different, you can just buy one ticket to your desired location and then keep changing trains without having to exit the train station at all........but then the silly kampung girl in me kept buying tickets to the 1st train station where I would have to change lines. So everytime I exit, I have to adjust my ticket to the right fare. But I really like the machine! It's so convenient for foreigners like me~