khian leng & soo yin...life after marriage

we both wanted to go somewhere cold for our honeymoon (cold = more hugs!), so we finally settled on japan. our 7-days tour took us from osaka all the way to tokyo, with some interesting sights in between. the weather and food was great...all in all, a perfect honeymoon! the only downside to the trip was that we didn't have much free time to explore the surrounding area, but hopefully, we'll be able to go back again sometime in the near future!

day 2: landed at kansai airport in the morning. breakfast was at a stopover en route to osaka....buffet breakfast with lots of tamago and seaweed! later, we were dropped off at universal studio for half a day of fun fun fun! khian leng convinced unsuspecting me to join him for the jurassic park ride...what i didn't expect was the big huge drop right at the end. it really isn't fun being wet in the cold weather!! (or cold in the wet weather...) in the evening, we visited osaka castle. the largest castle in the country at the time of its completion in 1586, the castle was besieged and destroyed by tokugawa shogunate in 1615. the lower floors of the main keep displays a collection of armor and memorabilia. we also rode the elevator up to the 8th floor to catch a glimpse of the city.

day 3: early morning visit to nara park. we visited the deer park (and fed some deers!) as well as todai-ji temple. completed in 752, it houses the world's largest bronze image of the Buddha. after an ice-cream (or two...), we went on to kyoto where we visited kiyomizu temple, famous for its wide wooden nail-less veranda jutting out over a small valley. for over 1,000 years, pilgrims have climbed the slope to pray to the temple's 11-headed kannon image and drink from its sacred spring (kiyomi-zu means pure water). on the way back to the bus, we were distracted by a shop selling japanese crepes...=)) later, we were treated to a kimono fashion show. before proceeding to our hotel in toyohashi, our tour guide made a short detour to a temple (can't remember the name) which apparently pays homage to the ermm....male genitalia...(see pics!!). sneaked out at night for a game of pachinko in the nearby arcade...

day 4: after breakfast, we rode the bullet train towards hamamatsu. we were supposed to drive up to mt. fuji, however, it started snowing and the tour guide decided to bring us to the national park. as it was fully covered with snow by then, i had the opportunity of throwing a couple of (poorly-aimed) snowballs at khian leng...=)) also visited a nearby skiing resort before proceeding to a traditional japanese hotel - complete with tatami mats - at lake kawaguchi (one of fuji's five lakes). we were treated to an authentic japanese dinner and also managed to take a peek at the bath house.

day 5: the morning daylight provided us with a glorious view of mt. fuji from the hotel lobby. and off we went...to tokyo!! first stop was the 333m tall tokyo tower, where we took a lift up to the highest observation deck. the city tour also took us to ginza, ameyoko market, senso-ji temple (and nakamise-dori, a treasure trove of traditional wares, including obi sashes, fans, kimonos..) and kyoto imperial palace. in the evening, we visited otaiba, a new departmental store at daiba, after checking into the keio plaza hotel, we went out for a stroll to east shinjuku, the nightlife entertainment centre and the red-light district of kabukicho.

day 6: off to tokyo disneyland! we spent the whole day there, going on rides, eating, taking photos and buying souvenirs. after dinner, our tour guide brought us back again in time to catch the evening parade.