Day 2 of 15, Yokohama Part 1

It takes 8 hours flight from Mel>Changi, and another 7 hours flight from Changi >Narita Airport, Tokyo.

So why did we fly SIA? Well… 2 reasons, it was one of the cheaper options to fly, and the arrival and departure time suited us. I could have flown from Mel>transit Sydney>Narita, which would only take about 11 hours flight, but I would have to use Qantas, and I didn’t want to fly Qantas, because of all the unreliability news of the aircraft. They seem to have alot of problems with their planes. I could also have flown MAS, cheaper than SIA, but the timing didn’t suit us. Could also have flown Cathay Pacific, but it’s very expensive. We didn’t mind the transit time in Changi, because, well… it’s Changi airport.

First photo, dinner/breakfast, or rather, midnight snack in flight, from Changi>Narita.

It’s suppose to be Japanese. Looks fusion to me. It’s salmon….Impressive! Fish is overcooked though. But nevertheless… it’s SALMON!

When we landed, I think we felt very dazed from all that flying, so I didn’t take any photos while we were queuing up to collect our JR (Japan Rail) pass.

This is how the JR pass look like. Pulled in and out from our pockets and bags until it look like “kiam chai” already. I shall talk more about the JR pass at the end of this “Japan series”

JR Pass

After we got our JR pass, got ourselves our first bottle of green tea.

From the expression of Mat’s face, this bottle of green tea is pretty horrible to drink. First of all, we don’t read Japanese. Secondly, this bottle of green tea is sugar free… no wonder it tasted horrible

One thing I realized about all the train and subway stations in Japan, it’s soooooo freakin’ clean! You can’t even find a single trash or graffiti anywhere. Now that I think about it, even the bus stations are graffiti clean.

Talking about clean, Mat got a bit frustrated in the second week, because rubbish bins are so hard to find in Japan. It’s almost as if they don’t want you to throw away your rubbish.

Picture taken from http://new2japan.com/garbage/

Sorry I didn’t take a picture of the rubbish bins. It looks like that, but with pictures. It’s separated into combustibles(paper), cans and bottles, plastic, and others. When we do find one, it is very stressful to throw away the rubbish in your hands. You have to find the right hole to throw your rubbish in.

We took the NEX (Narita Express) train from Narita airport to Yokohama. Journey takes about 1 and a half hour from Narita>Yokohama.

Mat injected with N’EX

Inside the N’EX train

This was when reality kicked in. We can’t believe we’re in Japan!!!!!

Mat injected with N’EX again in the neck

See Mat’s eyes. The whites turned a pinkish red. We were pretty tired actually.

In my planned itinerary, we were suppose to go to Asakusa and the Imperial Palace in Tokyo before we check into our hotel in Yokohama. But we were just so tired we decided to skip the plan. Reached Yokohama about 12.30 noon. Have to go look for some lunch. We walked and walked like zombies in Yokohama, and finally ended up in a cafe at the conference venue. The conference venue is about 20 minutes walk from our hotel.

Our first lunch in Yokohama. My chicken is with sesame seeds.

Mat’s chicken with salsa sauce.

After lunch, walked back to the hotel, took a shower, and I fell flat on the bed….ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz… a couple of hours later, Mat went back to the conference venue for the welcoming ceremony, while I continued catching up with my sleep Z_z

Picture taken from http://www.mei.titech.ac.jp/
Mat at the welcome reception, to his right is his supervisor and to his left is his co-supervisor’s PhD supervisor (ya, sounds confusing, but you don’t have to get it)

By the time Mat came back was way pass dinner time (and I just got up). He had dinner at the conference already, and he dropped by a convenience store and bought me dinner.

My first dinner in Yokohama. Some sort of cold noodles. Pretty good actually(or was I just too hungry).

Ingredients to mix with the noodles

Having my batteries recharged, I pulled an extremely tired Mathias out again for a walk.

This whole place is called Minato Mirai.

There are vending machines at every corner of Japan.

Picture below, is Mat’s conference venue, Pacifico Yokohama, one of the largest convention complexes in the world.

Mat sayang-ing Pacifico Yokohama

Under the Cosmo World ferris wheel

Do not come to Japan in September! Weather is exactly like Malaysia. If I had a choice, I would go to Japan late Autumn. I got a tan after this whole trip.

After our walk, felt kind of hungry. Went to visit the convenience store again, and got a “bowl” of hiyashi chuka, Japanese cold noodles. If you are travelling in Japan under a tight budget, the convenience stores (7 eleven, Lawson, Family Mart, etc) in Japan will be your best friend. Mat’s best friend is Lawson.

Unlike 7 eleven in Malaysia where you pay more for the convenience, the items in the convenience stores in Japan is pretty cheap, compare to eating at restaurants/cafes. And they are everywhere, like the vending machines.

Itadakimasu!

Delicious, even if it came from a convenience shop!

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