Japan! and the start of school

Highlight of my winter hols'08: Japan!! *my first overseas trip with carol!! (excl. cruise la)

The planned itinerary: Tokyo > Kobe > Osaka
The actual itinerary: Tokyo > Kobe, Kyoto, Osaka, Itami, wherever else I forgot the name of

Moral of the trip (at least, the one I learnt: the Japanese can really walk. I mean, imagine walking hundreds of metres for every transfer in the train station. I'm pretty used to our local MRT - you know, simple and relatively little walking, with escalators and lifts abound plus travelators at Dhoby Ghaut - so the lack of such life savers (lifts were renamed 'magic boxes' while we were there) was physically gruelling for poor, weak, me. Not to mention that we had luggages and what-not to carry around on upon reaching Tokyo (picture me carrying my luggage up a never-ending flight of stairs).

That aside, we really did lots of walking but went as many places as we could in Tokyo. And with the help of Carol's Japanese friends (now mine too), we visited lots of places (and ate lots too=p) around the Kobe & Osaka area. And how can I forget the trip to Arima Onsenn - a popular hot spring in Kobe! Especially after two gruelling days of snowboarding (okay, I was slacking on the second day, but still=p), the relaxing atmosphere was absolutely wonderful. There were the usual hot pools, as well as saunas, a bedrock (the ones you see in korean dramas), and an outdoor hotspring too! =) The amazing thing was, we actually bathed for 6 full hours!! Honestly, they can really bathe too. Lol.

Of course, I celebrated my 20th birthday there as well!! Carol and Eri celebrated with me at Eri's house, with a really pretty and yummy cake specially made for me by Eri! Again, I'm waiting for a very special present from my darling best friend, which I'm sure I'll get on the 30th Jan. Right? =D

All in all, it was a great trip and some of the things that happened were pretty funny now that I think about it. Cheers to another Carol & CP production!=)

For pictures of our trip, visit my facebook photo albums:
Japan 08 - 1
Japan 08 - 2
Japan 08 - 3

And of course, school's started! A lot of things have suddenly come up, which I gotta think through, but it looks like a lot will be happening this sem!

Till the next post~=)