Today I share with you the second vlog from our stopover in Singapore. On this particular day hubby had work meetings and so I headed into Singapore's CBD (central business district) with him. I thought it might be interesting to show you some of the architecture of the CBD area. In and amongst all of the high rise office blocks there are streets of traditional shop houses which have now been converted into office spaces, cafes and and restaurants. There are also places of worship for the different religions within the CBD area including a mosque and the oldest temple in Singapore, the Thian Hock Keng Temple which is dedicated to Ma Zu, the goddess of the sea and protector of seamen.
Thian Hock Keng Temple
One of the things that struck me the very first time I walked through Singapore's CBD area, back in 2011, were the palm tree lined streets and green spaces. There are lots of small parks and gardens for people to enjoy and have their lunch. When we lived in Singapore hubby always used to say that it was a real joy to step outside at lunchtime, after being cooped up indoors with the air conditioning, look up and see bright blue skies and palm trees, and just feel that initial heat rush. Aside from the shop houses and green spaces, there are also numerous water features, some with koi carp, and art installations around the CBD area.
Water and art feature
Shop houses in the CBD
From the CBD, I jumped on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) which is Singapore's subway system and headed to Orchard Road - the famous mall lined street for a spot of shopping. Singapore's subway system is very easy to use as it is in English. Hubby
and I still had our EZ-Link cards which we just topped up with cash upon our arrival back to Singapore.
With the EZ-Link card you simply tap on the entrance and exit gates at the MRT stations. It is a cashless travel card which can be used on the buses
too, and is available for tourists to purchase. Apparently the Oyster card system that we now have on the London
Underground is based upon the Singapore EZ-Link card. You can see more in the vlog below :o).
Once at Orchard I went to one of my favourite malls, ION. This mall is full of lots of familiar brands like Zara, H&M, Victoria's Secret, Mango, Uniqlo, Muji,and the mothership aka Sephora aka makeup heaven ;o). It also houses a lot of the designer/higher end brands too. The basement levels of most malls in Singapore are full of food courts and lots of different restaurants and cafes. I stopped off at IndoBox for a spot of lunch and to rest my joints.
Malay food for lunch at IndoBox
Orchard Road is home to numerous department stores such as Tangs, Isetan and Takashimaya, as well as all the malls. The road is tree lined and is particularly beautiful at Christmas with all the decorations and lights. If you're not a fan of crowds then the best time to visit Orchard Road is definitely during the day in the working week as it gets very busy in the evenings, and ridiculously busy on weekends. There is always something going on at Orchard Road, be it pop up exhibitions, promotions, events or temporary art installations. On this particular day there was a display of Gundams. The Gundam Series is a Japanese science-fiction anime series featuring giant robots and these were absolutely huge!
The shopping malls in Singapore offer a good mix of western and Asian brands, and every year there is annual two month sales event, known as The Great Singapore Sale, which just happened to be on when we were there :o). After lunch I made my way down Orchard Road to Plaza Singapura which is another mall that I use to go to when we lived in Singapore, and this mall had a huge dinosaur display at its centre! I didn't vlog the rest of my day as we were meeting some friends that night for dinner and I didn't think it would be that interesting for you.
I hope this blog post and the accompanying vlog gave you a bit more of an insight into what Singapore is like. Have you ever visited Singapore? Did you enjoy it? I'll be back with the third and final part soon.
When hubby and I left Japan, we did a stopover in Singapore where we had lived prior to Japan, before returning home to the UK. It was an absolute joy to be back in Singapore. It felt so familiar and comfortable, and best of all communication was easy :o). Singapore has four official languages of which English is one. Although living in Japan was an unforgettable experience, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy being back in a country where I knew my way around, could order things of a menu without having to resort to a translation app first, and use public transport with such ease that it was as natural as breathing. Oh Singapore, how I missed thee!
The Gateway Building
The Gateway looks two dimensional from certain angles
I vlogged bits of our time in Singapore so that I could share some of the sights and architecture with you. Singapore is a great place for modern, contemporary architecture and is home to some iconic structures. I love The Gateway building which you can see in the photos above. These two structures actually look two dimensional from some angles, almost as though they were made from a thin sheet of paper due to the particularly sharp angles. You can see the first of the three Singapore vlogs below.
As we arrived on the weekend, hubby and I spent some time catching up with my cousin and a couple of our friends. In this particular vlog, we headed out for dinner to the Arab Street area of Singapore where there are lots of colourful shop houses. We had some delicious Turkish food, including this vermicelli dessert that was topped with crushed pistachios and sat in a pool of ever so slightly sweetened cream - yummy! After dinner, we headed to one of Singapore's oldest tea places so that hubby could have his favourite teh tarik - a milky sweet tea made with evaporated/condensed milk that is served in a plastic bag with a straw! The elderly man at this stall has been serving teh tarik for decades and his little stall is always busy.
Vermicelli Dessert
Now no trip to Singapore is complete without a night time visit to the Marina Bay area. This part of Singapore is home to some of it's most iconic buildings and the whole place looks incredible when it is all lit up. I've always felt that Singapore looks particularly beautiful at night, and it's so much easier to enjoy when the temperature and humidity has dropped a little, although I was still a sweaty betty ;o).
Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel), Helix Bridge, ArtScience Museum (white lotus flower shape) & Marina Bay Sands Hotel
Whilst walking off the calories from dessert, we saw that there were numerous Ferrari cars parked outside the iconic Fullerton Hotel (which is a stunning building and used to be the old general post office), and naturally the boys wanted to go take a closer look.
Ferrari on Tour
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our stop off in Singapore and I hope to have the next post up soon :o).
This blog post is a continuation from the previous one (you can read that here) of our last week in Japan. By the time it came to our final week, hubby and I were absolutely exhausted, both physically and mentally. Moving homes is no easy feat and when you add a change of country into the mix then you're definitely taking it up a level. Our bodies and minds craved complete bed rest, but we found that we couldn't just take it easy and chill out at our hotel. We felt the need to be out and about, making the most of the limited time we had left in this amazing country, because otherwise we may regret doing nothing during our last few days. We had to make the most of the time we had left.
Hanazono Shrine
Hanazono Shrine
On this particular day though, I did leave hubby to rest up in the hotel, as I wandered out. We were staying in a part of Shinjuku that was quite different to where we normally visit and so I took my vlogging camera and went exploring. I came across the Hanazono Shrine which I'd walked past the previous day but didn't have time to walk around then. The shrine is situated on a main road and used to form part of the Imperial Gardens. The buildings at the shrine have been redeveloped over the years to what's currently on the site today as some of them were damaged during World War II. You can see more in the vlog below, as well as the rest of our final week in Japan.
By the time I'd finished wandering around the shrine, hubby had joined me and we spent the rest of the day in the main shopping district of Shinjuku before heading back to Yokohama the next morning.
Cruise ship at Osanbashi Pier in Yokohama
Back in Yokohama, we had to finish packing up our shipping boxes as they were being collected soon. We did, however, take a break from the packing and head down to the bay one last time. It was such a glorious day that we couldn't spend all of it indoors, especially as it was forecasted to rain on our last day in Yokohama, so you know... we had to make the most of it ;o). We headed to Rinko Park, our local park, and walked along the waterfront where we spotted a huge cruise ship at Osanbashi Pier. Naturally, we had to go take a closer look. We then went to Nihon Odori back to the Turkish restaurant that we'd been to numerous times to say goodbye to the family that run it and grab a bite to eat.
Minato Mirai 21, Yokohama
MM21 all lit up at night
We ended the day with heavy hearts as we walked back from Nihon Odori, taking in the sights that we'd become so accustomed to, one last time. That night we'd be moving our suitcases into our final hotel near Yokohama station, and we knew that we would not be coming back to Minato Mirai 21, the place that had been our home for the past nine months, again. So we lingered around just a bit longer, taking in the sunset and watching MM21 light up at night, for the last time (and wiping a few tears as we did).
Cosmo World amusement park, Yokohama
Whilst leaving Japan was very sad, hubby and I were immensely grateful for having had the opportunity to live in one of the most unique countries we'd ever visited. It also made me glad that I'd taken the somewhat bold step (bold for me anyway) of vlogging as now we had captured memories that we could relive via my videos :o).
Once we'd boarded our flight to Singapore the next morning, the excitement of arriving to
our previous home was starting to take over from the sadness of
leaving our current one. I did do some vlogging whilst in Singapore and I hope to share that with you in the coming weeks.
Although this is my last Japan vlog, it is by no means the end of
my Japan blog posts (or videos about Japan) for I have many things that I
still want to share with you, including all the things that we bought before
leaving Japan. However, all that may take a little time as we wait for
our shipping boxes to arrive and try to progress with our house
renovations, but I will get there :o).
I've been rather inactive on my blog lately due to struggles with my arthritis ridden body. Living with chronic pain, and the subsequent insomnia this causes, means that I don't have the physical energy to do much at all. Even eating leaves me feeling utterly exhausted at times. However, on days like today when I'm feeling a bit more able, I try to do what I can :o).
An iconic steel sculpture in Yokohama
Yokohama sights, incl. the Nippon Maru ship museum and Cosmo Clock 21 ferris wheel
In today's post I wanted to share a vlog with you showing you what a typical Sunday afternoon in Yokohama was like for us, sharing some of the local sights. Yokohama is Japan's second largest city and just a 30min train ride away from Tokyo, making it a good day trip spot. It is an old port city and it's proximity to the water gives it a more relaxed vibe compared to Tokyo. Many sights/activities/places of interest are all within easy reach of one another. It's the kind of city that you can easily explore on foot or bike. There are self rental bike stations (Bay Bike) at most tourist sights.
On this particular day we wandered through a less touristy part of Yokohama where there was a street festival taking place. After quickly realising that we'd seen many of the acts at a previous street festival we decided to catch the subway to one of my favourite parts of Yokohama, Motomatchi, the last stop on the MinatoMirai subway line. Motomatchi and the neighbouring hills of Yamate/Bluff area are where many of the foreign traders settled when Yokohama opened itself up as a port town, after the Edo period where Japan's rulers prohibited interaction with foreign countries.
A (very faint) snow capped Mount Fuji behind the trees in the centre
In this area there are many western style buildings, some of which have been turned into museums and coffee shops, as well as a foreigners cemetery. On a clear day you can see Mount Fuji in the distance near the cemetery's main entrance. There is a walking route which takes you along the edges of the cemetery down to the back of Motomatchi shopping street. Along the way you get a great view looking out towards the iconic Yokohama Landmark Tower and during spring there are some beautiful cherry blossom trees to admire.
Yokohama Landmark Tower and Motomachi
We wandered through the residential streets at the bottom of the cemetery so that I could show you what a typical residential area looks like along with the style of Japanese houses. With space at a premium, houses are small and don't have much in the way of gardens/outdoor space, unless in a rural location (such as what we saw in Kawaguchiko/Mount Fuji area). Even the smallest of house will have a gap between itself and the neighbouring house. You don't see terraced houses in Japan. I'm guessing this is to allow wiggle room in the event of an earthquake. To me, Japanese houses all look very different to one another. You don't see the kind of uniformity that we get in England with streets and streets of houses that all look the same. Even though most houses don't have a front garden, (or if they do it is a very small), there will always be some sort of potted plants/flowers outside the house, which I think is rather nice touch.
In the midst of the residential houses there is a large fish pond which is home to some beautiful koi carp. I remember the first time we came across this purpose built pond, it felt quite random, just tucked away amongst the houses, but then Japan is definitely home to randomness and that's what we love about it. Can you just imagine a pond like this in the back streets of England?!
From the fish pond we headed for a bite to eat, before wandering through Motomachi shopping street. This street is the closest thing I ever came across in Japan that resembled a traditional high street that we get in England. As the name suggests it is a street lined with shops (including many familiar brands like Zara and Gap) and cafes and restaurants. It is especially beautiful during Christmas time when it is decorated with festive lights. It is definitely worth exploring the side streets that come off the main shopping street as there are lots of independent shops selling anything from crockery and lace to food and witches... yep that's right witches! There is a whole shop dedicated to witches, as you'll see in the vlog above.
I hope you enjoyed this little insight into our time in Japan. If you're ever in Tokyo then I would highly recommend a day or two in Yokohama.
I am so very sorry that it's taken me so long to conclude our Mount Fuji trip. I have been struggling so much with my arthritis riddled body this past month that I literally feel like life has passed me by. My arthritis has spread to my jaw which has been causing severe head, ear and teeth ache, as well as making it difficult to chew food. I'm also having difficulty using my right hand as the joint damage and deformity is getting worse. This has been very frustrating given that I'm right handed for everything. I have an appointment to see a rheumatologist next month and recently I've taken a few steps to try and manage my pain levels better. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm living again (rather than merely existing) and so I'm looking forward to sharing more vlogs with you all :o).
Now back to our Mount Fuji trip. After spending a wonderful morning at the Shibazakura Festival (which you can see here), we headed back to Kawaguchiko where we bought a pass for the Kawaguchiko sight seeing bus. The pass cost ¥1,200 per person and is valid for two consecutive days. Even though we were going to be using the pass for just one afternoon, it was definitely worth it because by this point my arthritic joints were starting to hurt quite a lot and the hot humid weather was starting to get to me. The sight seeing buses cover two main routes; one around Lake Kawaguchiko and the other around Lake Saiko, another one of the Fuji Five Lakes. Both routes depart from Kawaguchiko station and when we purchased the tickets we were given a route map along with bus times. It is worth noting that these sight seeing buses only run from around 9-5/6pm and some of the stops along the routes are quite remote so its important to plan your return journey.
In the interest of giving our feet a rest we hopped onto the sigh seeing bus and decided to head quite far out past Lake Saiko so that we could enjoy the scenic views whilst keeping cool in the air conditioned bus. On the bus we met a group of young lads from Singapore who were on their way to the ice caves. Hubby and I thought that that sounded pretty cool and decided to do the same. Once off the bus we followed the signs that led us into a woodland. The woodland was absolutely beautiful with tall trees that had the most amazing root structures all over the ground. It was the kind of place that you'd expect to see in one of The Hobbit movies.
Loved the bamboo hand rail
After a short walk, we came across a ticket counter where we asked about
the ice caves. The elderly Japanese lady at the counter gestured that
it was a 25min walk away through the woodland and when we looked, we
realised that there was no defined path and the terrain was very uneven.
Hubby and I decided to leave it, as not only were we not wearing the
right kind of foot gear for that terrain, but we would also be cutting it
fine when it came to catching the last sight seeing bus back to
Kawaguchiko. Seeing our disappointed faces the elderly lady pointed to a
poster on the wall which was for a wind cave that was just a few minutes
walk away, so hubby and I bought tickets for that and headed further
into the woodland. You can see the vlog of our afternoon in the video below :o).
We climbed down a flight of steps to the entrance of the wind cave. Once
we came to the end of the first set of steps, we noticed that the
temperature dropped all of a sudden.
Entrance to the wind cave
As we
walked further into the cave we saw icicles hanging from the rocks. It
wasn't long before we were shivering from the cold, and the bamboo hand
rail that I was once so pleased to see was redundant because it was ice cold.
There was no way I could hold onto it for more than a second or two. Not ideal given how wet, icy and slippy the ground inside the cave was.
Icicles
At various points within the cave, the head height was so low that even I had to crouch. Further inside the cave we saw collections of ice blocks and structures. Aside from the ice, there wasn't much else to see inside the cave. There certainly wasn't anything to suggest that this was specifically a wind cave. As we reached the end of the cave, we saw the same group of lads from Singapore. It transpired that they also had the same concerns that we did about the terrain and catching the last bus back.
Inside the cave
Once we made our way back out into the warmth, hubby & I were both kind of glad that we made the decision not to go to the ice caves as we definitely weren't wearing the right clothing. Poor hubby's arms were freezing as he was in just a t-shirt. After catching the last sight seeing bus back to Kawaguchiko, we caught the first of four trains to make our way back home to Yokohama. Although we came to Kawaguchiko on the coach, there were no seats available on the return coach. It was a long 3.5hrs back home. Had the weather been dry for the next day then we would probably have stayed an extra night at Kawaguchiko, but sadly rain was forecasted. Plus we had shipping boxes waiting to be packed in preparation for departure from Japan.
I hope you've enjoyed these blogs and vlogs of our trip to Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchiko. Aside, from the wind cave, I would definitely recommend the other three activities/sights that we did. Had we had more time then we would have liked to have gone to the Fuji-Q Highland amusement park, even though we're not thrill seekers.
I can imagine Mount Fuji and the surrounding mountain area being absolutely stunning during the autumn/fall as the maple leaves change colour. Spring would be another great time of year to visit with the cherry blossoms and that was when we originally intended on going, but unfortunately that 2-3 week period when the blossoms were in bloom, was very wet this year. Nonetheless we really enjoyed our time and would highly recommend a visit, if you're ever planning a holiday to Japan :o).
Welcome to the second day of our trip. If you missed day one then you can catch up here and here. I woke up on the second day after a not so great night's sleep. I don't think I've ever slept on such a lumpy mattress before... perhaps that explained why the rooms were so cheap lol!
Pink shibazakra with Mount Fuji in the background
As it was still early the cafes weren't open yet so we headed to a convenience store for a morning coffee. Japanese convenience stores are fantastic! They cater for so much more than just snacks and often have a small dine in section. They provide complimentary microwaves so you can buy a ready meal, heat it up and eat it there. You can also get hot drinks, toiletries, and sometimes even a shirt and tie set, just in case you've had an all nighter during the working week! How cool is that?!
Mount Fuji
We got very lucky with the weather for our second day with another blue sky morning. Mount Fuji was clearly visible although it
did have a marshmallowy white cloud around it's summit. Since we had some time to spare we wondered down a few side streets to look at Japanese houses and gardens, and to admire the different views of Mount Fuji. You can see that and the rest of our day in the video below :o).
We then went back to Kawaguchiko Station to join the queue to purchase tickets for the ShibazakuraFestival. Shibazakura, also know as pink moss or phlox moss are teeny tiny flowers that form a beautiful blanket/carpet of colour on the ground when in full bloom.
The festival venue was located just south of Lake Motosuko (the most western of the Fuji Five Lakes) and we purchased a ticket that included entrance to the festival as well as a return coach journey for ¥1,900 each. The coach journey took about 40mins each way and we went past both Lake Shojiko (the smallest of the Fuji Five Lakes) and Lake Motosuko (the image of which appears on the reverse side of the ¥1,000 bill) along the way. Both of these lakes looked very remote and isolated. The surrounding area wasn't particularly built up and there really wasn't much around. Now we understood why people online were recommending that Lake Kawaguchiko was the best for non-Japanese speaking tourists. Also, there isn't much in the way of bus services around the Fuji Five Lakes so you need to get about on the tour coaches or the tourist bus which runs from about 9am-5/6pm, if you don't have your own transport.
We arrived at the venue to a sea of tour coaches. Even though it was still relatively early in the morning tourists were out in force, most probably to get the best photos of the shibazakura before the festival got too busy. It looks like we all had the same idea ;o). We took a leisurely walk around the grounds admiring the shibazakura and keeping an eye for that famous spot where you have a carpet of bright pink shibazakura with Mount Fuji in the background.
The festival area was surrounded by beautiful green mountains of varying shades of green. I can imagine the mountains being
particularly stunning during autumn/fall as the leaves change colour. There were also lots of different flowers in bloom that provided a pleasant contrast to the shibazakura. There was a purpose built viewing platform on the grounds that we went up to get some photos, although to get the iconic photo of the bright pink shibazakura in the foreground with Mount Fuji in the background we needed to be lying on the ground, not going up lol. Hubby did a great job of capturing that shot for me, the one that you see at the top of this blog post :o).
As well as places where we could get a light bite to eat and purchase some shibazakura themed delights, there was a little collection of market stalls to mooch around where we could buy Japanese goods including Japanese Peach Tea. The short text on the tea box is typical of the polite Japanese etiquette that we've always enjoyed, although the man looks a bit too aggressive for my liking!
I hope you enjoyed the vlog and this blog post of the second day of our trip. The final part will be coming soon.
