Number 1 - In Hongkong
Number 2 - In Otaru
Number 3 - Also in Otaru
The last time I left off saying we went to the Otaru Aquarium!!
I was super excited to go because they have dolphins and seals and cutesy animals! Plus, the weather was JUST PERFECT. :D
Cheesie took this for me and made my leg look so long and chio lol
Instead of the saying "The grass is greener on the other side" Singaporeans should say "The sky is bluer on the other side". Someone told me it is true that colder countries (during their fine weather) have skies more intense and vibrant. Perhaps it is the lack of clouds or smog?
Love this photo!! I love the fat starfish, they are so cute, like the stars in carebears. AND I look like I have a glorious tan. :D
WTF I don't know how the hell they managed to even know that seals are capable of doing this before they can even commence with the training. It's just like how did the first person know he is capable of a back flip before trying? Certainly the first 100 tries he would be unsuccessful, right? Why did he persist instead of giving up??
Dolphins jumping up to the platform super close to the audience. ♥
Honestly I was a little distracted watching the show, you know why?
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Freaking Japanese babies everywhere and they are CUTE BEYOND WORDS. Like are you even serious?!
You see? A little boy that is polite, quiet, super stylish, and is not sticky or sweaty!!
Ok I didn't touch him but he doesn't look sticky!
And their parents... All so young and stylish and good looking! HOW? Sometimes I really feel like it's so unfair, we (Chinese) are Asian, they are also Asian... Why are they so much better looking and advanced wtf.
Walking down the steep slope to see the penguin show. Cheesie almost died in her wedges (by hers I mean mine, explanation later) and had to hold on to me. *hero
Look at this happy seal. Just look at him. HE IS SMILING.
This is the life, lolling on a rock with sunshine bathed over you and fish thrown at you. Hell yeah.
Oh god the penguin show was freaking hilarious!!!!!!!!!!
There were about 30 penguins there and they refused to do 80% of the trainer's commands. I could see that the trainer was itching to give them a kick into the water HAHAHAHHA!!
Then something super OMFG happened:
SOMEONE RECOGNIZED CHEESIE AND I.
A JAPANESE PERSON!!!!!!!!
The gyaru mom above said she saw the episode of me (and Cheesie) on NHK's Kawaii TV and she actually remembered us from the show! And she wanted a picture!
I am made! I am famous in Japan!! This is crazy! When Cheesie said everyone in Japan watches NHK I thought she was just exaggerating but it turns out it is true.
Our awesome cab driver from Park Hotel Otaru then told us he was going to bring us to see SNOW.
I thought he was going to bring us to a mountain top but he just took us a barely 5 mins drive away to the bottom of a slope where lo and behold:
SNOW!
Much dirtier than I anticipated but snow nonetheless in 26 degree weather. He said Otaru is so cold in wintertime and gets so much snow that in summer, it doesn't really get melted away.
I didn't believe him and thought maybe it's salt but I touched it and it IS ice!! Crazy!
Next we drive to the famous Otaru Canal:
I think Cheesie took all these. Gorgeous but lacking something...
ME!! LOL
I'm not the only self centered one!
Love this pic!
Along the canal were these little pushcarts selling touristy trinkets. I stopped when I saw this:
Let's start with the dude. Man, he looks like he walked out of a manga. Like some martial arts shifu!! People all think manga characters look so ridiculous but I feel when you go to Japan they really do exist wtf.
When Cheesie and I walked past him we heard sounds like bullets and jumped out of our skin but it's just this guy firing rubber bands at an aluminum tray!
He actually invented the "guns" themselves and they can fire like up to 15 rubber bands consecutively!! I found it so funny I bought one for Mike to play with. :D
And we also got handmade necklaces. They were not expensive either! Not 1,000 yen, less than that, but I forgot how much.
Next we went to walk around Otaru's town center or something...
I think this is their melon mascot
Visited their Hello Kitty store. :D
After that we saw a shop we HAD to go into.........
It had people roasting live seafood!
He is cooking scallops with all sorts of magical Japanese sauces
and the smell was just wafting up our noses...
200 yen (SGD$3.33, USD $2.60) for a scallop is not expensive either! You can have your choice of all kinds of seafood, including live sea urchins cracked open before your eyes!
It's kind of gross coz they simply dig out the orange bits and you eat it... It's like eating innards raw.
But it's so delicious and creamy. Love it! Ok this bowl of sea urchin is from another dinner of ours but just to illustrate my point.
Lady cooking our corn!
YUMYUMYUM
Even though Cheesie and I were so full we couldn't resist, bought melon too. SO SWEET.
The shop had other customers too and among them were a group of teenage Japanese schoolboys.
I couldn't understand what they were saying but they kept going OISHI OISHI OISHI at everything and making very appreciative noises at their food lol
And guess what?
They asked if they could snap a picture with Cheesie and I!!
I cannot begin to explain how much it is of an ego boost that a bunch of teenage boys found 27 year old me attractive (enough for a photo) lolol. :D :D :D
WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY COULD HAVE JUST LIKED CHEESIE I DON'T CARE I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THEY ALSO FOUND ME BEAUTIFUL OK
Any way our happiness was very short-lived because shortly after the boys took the picture with us we continued eating and another group of men came into the shop.
This time round they were Taiwanese or China tourists and were a bunch of disgusting older guys all holidaying together.
They mistook Cheesie and I for Japanese locals and asked for pictures, which we truly didn't mind but they fucking put their hands on our shoulders and HUGGED US WTF!!!
We could hear the photographer saying in Chinese "Closer! Put your hand on her waist" and more degrading shit like that. They thought we couldn't understand them. It was so fucking disgusting, like getting molested, but I guess at that moment I just thought I'd tolerate through one picture and that's it - but they kept switching people to take photos with us one by one.
I didn't want to make a scene and Cheesie wasn't objecting (aloud) so by the time I wanted to yell at someone they were done and left and both Cheesie and I felt so violated.
The bunch of teenage boys were staring at the Chinese tourists the entire time looking really incredulous at how rude, rowdy, and classless they were. In contrast the Japanese boys took ONE picture with us, nobody touched us, and they were thanking us profusely afterward. The Chinese men just made sexual remarks, laughed and left. It really puts my race to such shame. :(
After that Cheesie and I had time so we went to talk around in the mall just beside our hotel!!
And they had neoprint machines so of course we had to take some. :D
No these are not neoprints but the lighting inside was so good and there was nobody waiting in line so we camwhored a little!
The machines are crazy!! They automatically make your eyes super ginormous. LOL
LOOK AT CHEESIE'S SHOES!!
This woman is ridiculous I tell you. She brings a grand total of ONE pair of $20+ wedges to a 7 day holiday.
And nothing against budget shoes but anyone who had wedges like these before know that the above ALWAYS happens to wedges like these!!! And you don't want to be caught on holiday with broken shoes lol.
Anyway I kept asking her to buy a new pair but she didn't see anything she liked so she just kept either wearing my shoes or continue wearing hers.
If you look carefully at the bottom shoe she already stuck scorch tape around the entire wedge to stick the sole to the wedge.
I asked her why the hell she had tape in her luggage and she said she was scared this will happen. But why did she still bring this pair of shoes? LOL!! Alas, the mysterious mentality of girls. I think it's because she thought it matches all her clothing.
Fhl, the next day proved too much and the other sole also broke free from the wedge.
But obstinately enough Cheesie continued wearing them, until finally one of the straps also broke so she had no choice but to buy another pair at the mall. HAHAHA!!
My purchases of the day. I regret to say I didn't take pictures of the other purchases. The bunny Hello Kitty is limited edition from Hokkaido!
Cheesie said "I can't believe you bought Hada Labo in Japan just coz of the Minnie mouse." After a while she said "Actually I would do that too. *LOL*"
We ended our first day in Otaru by lounging in the posh hotel room in our bathrobe eating this:
A melon we bought in the day!
FREAKING DELICIOUS!!
YES WE FINISHED HALF A MELON EACH.
p/s: Cheesie's post on the Otaru Aquarium!
p/p/s: And of course special thanks to Park Hotel Group for their kind sponsorship of our fantastic accomodation! :D
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