Happy 2011 – is it time for new year’s resolutions again?

It is a new year which usually means everyone has made some form of New Year’s resolution. Magazines, Twitter and many blogs are full of New Year’s resolutions. and all of friends and colleagues talk about their New Year's resolution. I for one generally don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. What’s really the point of them? If something needs to be changed about your life like eating more vegetables, spending more time for the family, drinking more water, exercising, say hello to your neighbour or being a happier person, why wait until the new year to change it and then only stick to them for a few months before falling off the wagon which then leaves one even more unhappier. Not a good start to a new year, I reckon.

This year however I got a tiny bit sucked into the wave of New Year’s resolutions. The break over Christmas gave me time to stop, take a breath and reflect on the last year. I am happy with my life where it is at at the moment. But I believe a few things can be improved to make my life even more happier and healthier. 

So here are my goals for 2011 ( Would I classify them as New Year’s resolutions, probably not. And are goals for the future actually New Year’s resolutions?)

• So this year I want to work on being a more relaxed and calmer person. I don’t get worked up about little things and explode anymore. Think of my blood pressure and all that wasted energy which I could use on something more useful, more meaningful. I want to be able to take a step back and breathe before tackling the issue which irritates me. Maybe I should start with meditation and read self-help books?
• This brings me to my next goal: I would like to be more efficient with my time and manage it better, work wise and privately. I want to enjoy my free-time more and spend more quality time with my loved ones. I would like to be able to take the moments in and cherish them more. I want to appreciate the little and fine things which make my life more happier even more. Any tips on how to achieve it?
• I would like to be more bold by wearing more colourful and more unusual fashion, have more coverage to sport a bright lipstick and do something different my hair every now and then. Doesn't colour make you happy too?
• I will continue being healthy and fit and will look after myself a bit more. I cannot influence if I become ill with some disease or get hit by a car (I don't want to jinx it here!) but I can work on being the healhiest I can be. I will give myself a break from beating myself up about not achieving certain goals and stop comparing myself to other people. I will start to appreciate what I have achieved in my life and be grateful about it. I guess the two points above come into the game here. Being more relaxed, calmer and have more time for things which make me happy also leads to being healthy. Your body and mind have a very close connection. A body cannot be healthy without the mind being healthy. Sounds little bit too spirituous but it is true. I will also train for the Melbourne marathon this year. Running a marathon is one of the items of my “bucket list”. I think this year is a good year to do it as I am the fittest I have ever been which is a good foundation to build on.
• I would also like to get involved in some charity. I believe I do underestimate how blessed I am with my life and sometimes don’t value my life enough. So it is time to give something back. I read recently that doing some form of charity brings you more happiness in your life. If that isn’t reason enough? 

What else is on the agenda for 2011? Of course more travel: Broome in April and a trip to New Year, LA and Las Vegas in August/September. I am so excited and have started to save my spending money. I am also looking forward to celebrate our first wedding anniversary in January, celebrating the wedding of 2 closed friends in March and many 30^th birthdays in the first half of the year, having my little sister over for Christmas and spending 3 weeks with her and her family.

2011 already looks damn good to me packed with more adventures. 

Dear Blog, I owe you an apology

Yes, dear Glossy Daily Adventures, I am sorry for neglecting you over the last 2 months. If I tell you of the hectic weeks which included trips to Germany to spend some time with my family, followed up by days of packing up our belongings in Singapore, then flying to Shanghai for a quick break, back to Singapore for the last bit of packing and then flying finally home to Melbourne, not mentioning the endless hours of unpacking, cleaning up and shopping to stock up the pantry, you will probably be offended and won't listen to my stories anymore since travelling is no excuse for non-blogging. And yes, you are right, I should taken time to blog. Please forgive me, GDA.


So yes, I am back in beautiful Melbourne, back at home, and it feels like I have never left. 8 months without Melbourne was a long time and I truly appreciate the great life style you offer, Melbourne. 


It is great to sleep in our own bed again, drink great coffee on Smith St, cuddle our cute Cocker Spaniel Jesse and take him for long walks along the Yarra, going for runs outside and not break into a massive sweat within the first 2 minutes, buy fresh food on the Queen Victoria Market, catching up with friends in our local pub. 


When I moved from Germany to Australia 5 years ago, I already learnt that you start to appreciate the little things which make you happy at home. Yes, those little things I have missed in Singapore, and I am so happy that I have all those little things back again as there is no better place than home.  

My first coffee in Melbourne - on Smith St

Cake, cake and more cake

There are two things I love about German food: the breakfast and the afternoon tea. So the next few posts will be about breakfasts and cakes. My mum's cheese cake was on the top of the list of foods I look forward to eat while I am back in Germany and I didn't need to ask twice for it. 

A fresh and fluffy cheese cake was already waiting for me when I arrived Saturday morning. For a minute I thought about not eating breakfast and just a piece of cake. Clearly a very insane thought after I saw the yummy bread rolls, the different types of cheese and cold meats on the table. I saved the cheese cake for afternoon tea and it was fantastic. It almost melted in my mouth.

I just love the whole German afternoon tea culture. It is kind of a ceremony: sitting down with the family at 3.30 pm, with freshly brewed coffee, served in a coffee pot made out of porcelain and home baked cakes. 

We had a little family get to together yesterday afternoon. And of course there was more cake, or better  cakes: left over cheese cake, my sister's chocolate cake, my grandma's plum cake with crumbles and apple cinnamon cake. I didn't try all of these cakes as much as I wanted. I only had more cheese cake and small piece of plum cake which is really good too. I compensated for eating so much cake by working out for an hour in the morning, fish for lunch (no potatoes) and salad for dinner (no bread).

There is still another and, sadly, last piece of Cheese cake waiting for me in the fridge....

Morning runs and yummy breakfast

I have been avoiding running outside for the last 6 months. Mainly because it is way too hot in Singapore to run outside and we live also in the CBD. So I did my running on the treadmill in the gym in our apartment building. Oh man, I got so bored with it. Not only made it me feel like a hamster, I also noticed that it does not get my heart rate up high enough to burn any calories and fat. What's the point of running on the treadmill then? 
I switched to interval training instead. For example, 5 minutes warm up, then 2 moderate speed, then 1 to 2 minutes sprinting, then pull back to moderate, then increase incline and so. I do this for about 30 - 45 minutes. Depending how I fit I feel and how motivated I am because I still feel like a hamster when I run treadmill. 


Besides my other gym workouts,the hubby and I enjoy doing something active on the weekends. Usually we would explore one of the many reservoirs in Singapore. (Did you know that Singapore is actually very green and it is more like a city surrounded by rain forest?) Our favourite reservoir is Macrichtie which has many different trials, from 3 km to 14 km. Usually we are also to see some monkeys along the way. A few Saturday mornings ago, I suggested to the hubby that we should run instead of power walk the track - just to challenge ourselves. Suddenly there we were, running the cross country track for about an hour. Boy, that was hard work but it also gave me this awesome "running high" which I did not get from the treadmill training. The "running high" makes the hard work worth it. The realisation that I can run outside in Singapore (yes, it is bloody hot and you sweat like a pig - not a nice picture, I know) motivated me and also anger me to do it more often. 


It became our little routine that we would go for a run instead of walks on our Saturdays. And now I have started to run by myself during the week too. I run along the river here, from Marina Bay where our apartment is, passed Boat Quay, Clarke Quay and Robertson Quay. It is a nice and peaceful 45 minute run because it is not packed with the tourists yet and hardly any of the cafes/ restaurants are open yet. 


So this morning I bounced out of the bed when the alarm went off, despite being super tired, had my cold green tea and a banana to get some energy and I hit the pavement. Man, this morning it was so hard to run my usual track. My legs are so sore heavy and slow from kick boxing yesterday and the little man in my head was screaming at me to stop. But I made it. I ignored the little man and the feeling I made it felt even better than normally.


The best part after a morning run: a yummy breakfast. This morning I had porridge with natural yoghurt (for protein), cinnamon (good fat burner) and strawberries and some great Oolong tea. 

Is eating healthy while travelling impossible?

My passport will be the proud owner of many stamps of, at least, 8 different countries by the end of this year. Not bad effort, don't you think? That I am struggling with the fact to hand over that passport when I will change my name officially is still a small issue though. I like those stamps and I like travelling a lot.

There is only one thing about travelling which I seriously loathe: it is nearly impossible to eat healthy while travelling. Working out while travelling is more easy, just your pack your runners and gym gear and hit the hotel gym before breakfast or go for a run outside.

I started to watch my diet more closely and became a little health nut lately. My husband would probably describe my eating habits as “eating for the thighs and butt instead of the stomach”.  (Baby, that’s not a bad thing since you are the one who has to put up with my thighs in the long run.) So I discovered eating healthy while travelling is possible, maybe not as healthy as at home, but still.  It just takes some planning, preparation and discipline. This is what I do: 

• I eat before I fly. Not just snacking at the airport or so, eat a proper meal.  
• For longer flights (more than 2 hours), I request a “low fat” meal when booking my flight. Just go to special request and tick the box.  Just like as if you would request a vegetarian meal  or a kids meal. The best part is you get your meal served before everyone else.  While everyone else eats, you can use the toilet and you don’t need to queue up and you get to go to sleep much earlier (if it is a night flight). (Oh, did you know a normal inflight meal contains 500 - 1000 calories - this is without counting the drinks? Just google it, you will be surprised to see the results.)
• For short flights, I eat before the fly and say no to the snacks/sandwichs what are served on the plane. 
• For any flight, I pack healthy snacks like apples, nuts, vegetable sticks, you name it. That also helps me to have a snack while driving to the hotel or before a meal at the destination. Often I arrive at weird times and due to the time difference, I may be hungry when I land. 
• I also take an empty plastic bottle with me and fill it up with water or I buy a bottle of water once I passed the security check. As everyone would know, the dry plane air dehydrates you plus I never know when I will be able to drink some water after I arrived.

These few pointes have really helped me to stay on track with my healthy eating habits. The only and biggest problem I faced so far is when flying back home or during a stop over, there is only McDonalds, KFC or Starbucks at the airport. I still cannot believe that there are so many people out there who are happy to queue up at McDonalds. 

Why being stared at made me almost cry

Ever since we relocated to Singapore, I face the issue that people stare at me on almost a daily basis. Knowing that staring at other people is not consider as rude in Asia and the fact I do look different to the Asian ladies with my blond, long hair and blue eyes, I did not mind it so much at the start. I basically ignore it and big sun glasses always helped too. Over time, I sometimes felt a little bit more brave and even stared back and imitated their way of staring at me by scanning them from head to top. Something must have changed lately because I cannot ignore it as easy anymore as I used to. It makes me feel more and more uncomfortable.

Last weekend in Malaysia, I felt so uncomfortable that I was on the verge of crying and hiding in our hotel room after being continuously stared at for 3 days. Don't get me wrong here and, yes, I know I should take it as a compliment. Seriously, it is not a nice feeling when everyone just looks at you. It even went so far that some people would start to talk to their friends or family and then everyone looks again. It made me feel very insecure about myself, vulnerable even. In particular when I lay in a bikini by the pool and had one of those "fat days".

I guess the fact that Malaysia has a large Muslim population contributed to the fact that I was stared at when lying in a bikini by pool. For me it is so normal to go swimming in a bikini whereas for other cultures it is strictly forbidden to reveal so much skin. It was actually forbidden to go swimming fully clothed and/or with a scarf according to the hotel rules. So I did not do anything wrong by wearing a black bikini, it wasn't a tiny skimpy piece either.

Still a bit battered and down by this experience , I googled a few expat and travel forums today to see (and get assurance) if anyone feels in a similar way I feel. Maybe I am just a little weak princess who should toughen up more. And yes, there are heaps of Western people who feel in the same way and no I am not weak little princess. Every Western person seems to have an issue with being stared at and it is not the issue of rudeness. It is about being uncomfortable, the feeling of being judged by all these stranger. I am not sure if these strangers really judged me when staring at me. They probably still wonder about me looking different to them. Not a bad way.

But I can't help it, it makes me feel so uncomfortable. So please no more stares, please. How do you feel being stared at? Do you love it or loathe it? 

Shopping Success

This blog gets suddenly a lot of attention after being left unwritten for almost 2 weeks. I guess I have make up to it and give it some extra attention. Not only is this the third post in 2 days, no, it also got a little make over. I like to mix up my daily make up so why shouldn't get "Glossy Daily Adventures" a little make up change. What do you think? 


So I am back from my little trip to Orchard Rd. Funny enough, I was so excited about going shopping and then as soon as I entered my favorite shopping centre ION, I almost felt like going home again. As if someone planted a thought in my head telling me shopping isn't such a good idea today and that I should rather go back home. Hubby, was that you? Were you worried about our credit card bill? 


Let me tell you, of course I didn't go home. I pull out my little shopping list and made my way to the shops. First stop, TopShop. Can someone please explain me what is so great about TopShop? It seems like a bad version of Sportsgirl to me. Next stop, Zara: Unexpected, I found some cute shoes, brogues, there. Brogues were on my little shopping list and I was surprised to find them in Zara. I saw some in Steve Madden and Topshop, they looked too chunky. So, one thing off the list. 


More browsing through Bobby Brown, MAC, Warehouse, Witchery, Mango and Sephora to the next stop: Levi's. I wrote this morning that I wanted to check out the new Curve ID jeans (also on my little shopping list). The Curve ID jeans are Levi's latest jeans. They are advertised with the slogan "It is about shape not size". Basically, Levi's offers different shaped jeans for different body shapes. Sounds like a good idea to me because not everyone has 0% body fat and is a AUS size 6. Before I was able to try on any jeans, the retail assistant measured my waist and hips and wrapped another string around me to determine which shape I am. Proudly, she announced I am a "Bold ID" and went off and got me a number of different cuts like skinny, straight etc of the Bold ID jeans. But here is the catch, there are still sizes. So you won't get around the size issue. And let me tell, it is not much fun trying on jeans when you are surrounded by super skinny Asian ladies who can easily squeeze into a size 24.  


So I went quickly back into my change room, took a few deep breathes, looked in the mirror and told myself that I look awesome. Hey, that really worked - I snapped out of it and walked out with two new pair of skinny jeans plus another $40 voucher. Nice, I think I will buy the hubby a new pair of jeans next week. 


Quick stop for lunch, next stop Aldo: my favorite shoe shop, and I ended up buying two more pair of shoes there. After that I figured that was enough shopping for one day. I don't want to give my hubby a heart attack when he sees our bank balance. 


And here are my new shoes... The brogues and boots will be very handy for Germany. 

Shopping day

Now that my uni assignment is filed, I have a whole free day ahead of me today. Yes, I have been looking so much forward to today. And what does a girl do on a free day? Yes shopping! I am going to put my most comfy pair of shoes on (after I wrote this post) and then I will hit the shops. My destination: Orchard Rd. I mentioned yesterday that I will be flying to Germany in a few weeks, so I need some autumn clothes but I also will check out the new Curve ID jeans from Levi and jackets, pants and shoes for work. You heard correctly, I said work? Yep, going back to work in November. Between that and flying to Germany, I think I have enough reasons to shop, don't you think so? I will report back.  

The secret to happiness?

Last Sunday, I was in my favorite book store here in Singapore while the hubby was next door studying golf clubs. I was browsing through the latest books, not that I actually need any new books, I have about 20 books here which are waiting for me. Suddenly my eyes were drawn to this book. There he was, a Jesse doggy. I had to buy this book straight away. I didn't even look what the book is about. I just couldn't take my eyes over the cover. Silly by me, but you have to credit the marketing strategy. Put a cute dog on the cover. 


I haven't started the book yet, but God, I miss my little doggy Jesse. Yes, and I will see him in about 7 weeks again. 7 weeks and then we will be back in Australia, just in time for the Aussie summer. I am so excited that we are going back home. That is my secret of happiness - knowing that we are going home and giving Jesse a cuddle soon. 


But before it is time to pack our few things in Singapore, we have some interesting trips coming up. We will fly to Penang in Malaysia for 3 days next Friday. The hubby was born and lived for 2 years there. It will be interesting to see where he spent the first 2 years of his life, not that he actually can remember it. I will also fly to Germany for about 2 weeks at the end of September. I am looking forward to spending some time with my family and see a few old friends that I haven't seen in years. Keep your fingers crossed that the German autumn will show some mercy and won't be too cold and wet. After months of sun and 30 degrees every day, that would be very tough for me. Hang on, that means I have to stock up my wardrobe with autumn clothes, doesn't it? Perfect, because the autumn fashion is now out in Singapore. I think I might check out Orchard Rd tomorrow. 


Yes, there is one more overseas trip before flying back home. We are going to Shanghai for 4 days. The hubby is brave and took on the challenge to play Aussie footy for Japan in the AFL Asia cup. Our lovely friends from Tokyo will fly over too. So while the boys play their footy, we ladies will have to check out the shops. Any suggestions?


Lots of travelling this year. By the end of this year, I will have seen 9 countries. 9 is such an uneven number. 10 sounds way better. How do I get to the 10th country? Anyhow, I have to go, my vegetable lasagna is finished and smells delicious. 

Spotted: A cafe for great Western breakfast - Finally

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I love to have a late and long breakfast in a nice and comfy cafe - that's the perfect start of a new day (after a quick morning run). We have tried a number of cafes here in Singapore, but so far none were able to meet "our standards" which aren't really high, I think. Either we got served brioche with a savoury dish such as poached eggs (sweet and savoury - I don't like it) or it had re-heated frozen spinach from the supermarket or you can't actually get an eggs dish unless you like eggs benedict.


The search is over - we finally found a cafe which serves a good Western breakfast, exactly how we like it. Poached eggs with spinach (no frozen, re-heated spinach), mushrooms and roasted tomatoes plus the best coffee I had in a while, since I moved to Singapore, to be exact. 


The cafe is called "Boomarang" (no there is no typo in that word) and, surprise, its an Aussie cafe, where even most of the waiters are Aussies. It is located at Robertson Quay which is about a 30 minute walk from our apartment, or $7 cab fare. Most of the tables are outside but undercover. They also have an impressive wine fridge but not that we had wine for brekkie. 
We walked to and from the restaurant yesterday which was a nice walk along the river and a good way to get the steps up. 


I definitely want to go back there again. Maybe even this weekend, try the pancakes or the omelette and have another of those great coffees.

Hi Seoul - The Soul of Asia

Here is my a little late report about Seoul - being homesick also resulted in having a little "writer's block" and when I didn't have a "writer's block", I wrote on my assignment for the uni. I am feeling better now so let's start with my tales about Seoul.


On the flight to Tokyo, I read in the inflight magazine that according to the Forbes' magazine, Seoul is now in the top ten of "Must See place in the world" and also is the 2010 World Design Capital. These 2 facts made me more curious about the South Korean Capital with its about 12 million inhabitants. 
Of course I didn't expect Seoul to be a small city. It must be a global city after hosting the 1988 Olympics, the 2002 World Cup (you know, when Germany was in the final against Brazil) and will also host the G20 submit later on in the year.


After a comfortable 6 hours flight and 1.5 hr drive from the airport later, we are finally at our hotel in the district Gangnam, the traditional club and bar area but also in the heart of the CBD. Seoul is divided into two parts by the Han River, the older and more historic Gangbuk ("river north") and the newer and more affluent Gangnam ("river south").


One of the biggest challenges in Seoul is being able to communicate and read a menu in a restaurant as hardly anything is written in English. After walking around for 30 minutes or so, we ended up in an "All you can eat" tuna sashimi restaurant - they only served tuna sashimi with a few side dishes but nothing else. Luckily one of the waiter spoke English really well. He explained us which type of tuna was served, which part of the tuna it is and how to eat it. Not only I decided that I don't like to eat the belly button of a tuna, I also found my new favorite drink "bokbunja ju" - Black Raspberry wine. The waiter explained to us that it provides a lot of power and can be translated into "toilet breaker". No need to add anything here, don't you think?

Yummy tuna sashimi

On the next day, I explored the streets of the famous shopping district Myeongdong. It is a little district with small lanes and lots of cool shops. I spent a small fortune at H&M (unfortunately there is still no H&M in Singapore and Melbourne). Also never mind that I almost only bought autumn clothes which I can't wear in Singapore, but you never know. Loaded with my shopping bags, I walked through the Namdaemun Market (which seems to be "just another market in Asia") and finished my tour at the Deoksugung Palace which is next to the City Hall. I was lucky enough to changing ceremony of guards. 

I call this "successful shopping"

We were invited to Korean barbeque in the evening. I had it once in Singapore and didn't like it much. But it was soooo good in Seoul. Oh, and I am not a fan of soju. It is a spirit like vodka, but tasted far worse. After my discovery of "bokbunja ju" the night before, I was happy that I could drink that instead of soju.

The next day I stayed in bed for almost the whole day. I felt quite sick with a sore throat when I woke up. So that wasn't too bad because it rained the whole day. And no, it didn't stop - it continued raining for another 2 days. That evening we went to THE famous shopping area Dongdaemun. It is an area with many shopping complexes that houses hundreds of individual stalls. Doota is the one which is much more upmarket and the fashion is very trendy. I felt like I was in heaven.

The next day was probably the most exciting day of our Seoul trip. We went to the  Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South Korea and North Korea. Seoul is only about 75 km away from North Korea. I am still not sure what I expected when we got there - I was so shocked and impressed by it. There were soldiers everywhere, we had to present our passports and were only allowed to stay for 2.5 hrs in the DMZ. There are areas full with land mines.
We also weren't allowed to take any photos, or only photos in restricted areas, in case we would be spying for North Korea. Part of the tour was to a tunnel which was dug N Korea to invade S Korea after the war. The most interesting part of the tour was to learn that the South Korean people are so hopeful for a reunion. They don't hate the North Korean, they actually feel sorry for them. South Korea has already built a train station and train track close to border so there would be infrastructure in the event of a reunion. This is also sign of hope. 


This tour really opened my eyes, in particular since I was born in East Germany but I was too small remember the wall. It made me also aware again that it is so important that North Korea will be stopped before they do anything with the nuclear weapons. I could write so much more about this but I won't bore you too much. 


This is a view of North Korea. Unfortunately the weather was really bad but you get an impression what we saw. 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in Itaweon. Itaweon is very close to the US army base (there are about 20,000 GIs in Seoul) and therefore largely influenced by the American. I read that you can get really good fake designer handbags in Itaweon. Apparently someone would approach me and whisper "Handbag?" and then I would have to go into someone's house or so because the good fakes wouldn't be sold on the street. Well no one approached me which was a little bit disappointing. But this also means I need to get a real one instead. Any suggestions?


Our last day we spent a few hours at the Gyeongbokgung place which is the main palace of the city. Luckily the rain has stopped so we could enjoy the walk and the beautiful view. 
Seoul is definitely under-rated and if you have a chance, it is worth seeing. It is a very modern city and the people are really nice. Seoul's slogan is "Hi Seoul - The Soul of Asia" and couldn't agree more with it.   


Oh, and who thought that Singapore Changi Airport is the best airport in the world, you are still right, but depending on the source, Seoul Incheon Airport has also been voted as the best airport in the world. I agree with both - Seoul Airport has some great shopping (I love my Bobby Brown Eye and Lip Palette) and it is not as busy as Singapore Airport.

Oh, go away - you bloody homesickness

Today is one of those days where I just want to go back to bed, eat chocolate, pull the blanket over my head and wait for the next day to begin. Being a such mood also brings back the bloody feeling of being home sick. So instead going to bed and feeling sorry for myself, I better write about the things which I miss and then I will go the gym (a work out will make me feel better too). 
Here are the things which I miss:

• Jesse, our cute American Coker Spaniel (I miss everything about him, playing with him, cuddling with him, his smile, even him being cheeky)
• our house in Collingwood
• my great friends and family
• my beautiful little sister and my nephew
• Doing our weekly shopping at the Queen Victoria Market with the hubby on a Saturday morning  
• sleeping in my own king size bed (this Asian queen size bed is terrible)
• catching up with my girl friends for a coffee and shopping in the little lanes in Melbourne and Chadstone
• Running outside, along the Yarra River
• Pub nights on a Thursday night
• Breakfast on Smith St
• a great meal cooked by my parents-in-law
• Great Red Wine
• Driving
• Hearing the Aussie Accent
• the 4 different season (I would like to wear boots and scarf again)

Tales from my trip to Tokyo

I am back from 2 of my 3 trips in Awesome July. Let's start with Tokyo...


First, a few facts about Tokyo... The capital of Japan was named the world's most expensive city for expatriate employees in 2009. Rent of an average apartment costs roughly a 6 figure yearly salary. (And you thought, Melbourne's rental prices are expensive...). In 2010 Tokyo was also named the fourth Most Liveable City by the life style magazine Monocle (by the way number 1 was Munich, Melbourne number 9 and Berlin number 11).


So, I jumped on the plane on a Friday morning, almost straight after my last uni exam on Thursday (Did I mention I love the Singapore Airport and duty free make up shopping?).... and voila, 6 hours and 2 average chick flicks later, I was welcomed by a quite humid Tokyo. 
Thank God, I was warned, no actually instructed, to take the airport shuttle bus and not a cab to our friends place as a cab ride to the city costs around US 300 (!). Crazy! I guess I am spoiled with the Singapore Airport being only 20 minutes from our apartment and a cab ride costs AUD 20 maximum. 


Our friends live in Roppongi which is a popular expat area and famous for its nightlife. We went out for a nice dinner in Roppongi on Friday night. I was so shocked when everyone was shouting at us when we entered the restaurant. My first thought was that our friends are some famous locals now as the main waiter welcomed them like good old buddies, but no, it is very common in Japan that the crowd in the restaurant would greet and say good bye to anyone who enters or leaves a restaurant. Aha, one more thing learnt.                                                                           
The Saturday started with a quick tour through Roppongi and I was surprised by the beautiful local parks. After a stop at Starbucks for an iced latte (yes, my first coffee in 2 weeks and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would!), we made our way to the shrine Meiji Jingu through Omotesando. Omotesando is a broad, tree-lined avenue leading downhill in Harajuku which lots of western shops like H&M, Zara, Chanel, Omega etc.
At Meiji Jingu, we were lucky to see a Japanese wedding. The bride and the groom didn't look that happy to me... 



After that, we went to Takeshita-dori, a narrow street packed with young fashionable people, 

to see some Harajuku Fashion. Unfortunately we didn't see any of the famous Harajuku fashion girls (photo on the right is just from the net), we saw other crazy dressed girls. Like dressed up like a doll with huge fake eye lashes, white skin, pink lippie and a doll dress. We also found a shop which sells prams for dogs. And guess what, I have seen people with their tiny dogs in a pram. I don't think that I need to add anything to that, do I?

I was promised that Saturday night would be a big night and that it would be my karaoke debut (if you don't count my poor attempt at Sing Star at home). Of course, you can't do Karaoke sober and with an empty stomach. So we went for some Dutch coverage and an awesome meal to a small restaurant underneath a train station. Sounds weird, but it was fantastic. 

I can't say that I enjoy sake but the one we had was good and way better than the hot stuff I had once before. This is me after a few drinks and not quite sure whether I should look forward to the sake in front of me. 

After playing of a few of the typical drinking games, we were politely kicked out by the restaurant staff (we were the only one in the restaurant left) - so I guess it was time for Karaoke. And here, this is me and Steve rocking Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. 

A few more songs followed, of course, I had to sing a Robbie Williams song. After a great performance of "Down Under", as our last song, we were again the last to leave the place. Thank God for a McDonalds at 4 am in the morning, I think, it was my rescuer for a hangover free Sunday and no, I do not want to think of the calories I have consumed that morning. 

On Sunday we caught the train to the Shinjuku area which is a major shopping district and the home of the Kabukicho district, the entertainment and red light district. Oh, and I scored a great bargain at H&M, a lovely bright blue dress. We finished the day with yummy sushi and Germany's awesome 4:1 win against England in the World Cup. Perfect Weekend! 

This is the entrance of Kabukicho

On my last day in Tokyo, I explored the areas Ginza and Hibiya, including Tokyo's Imperial Palace - the home of the Emperor of Japan, the Japanese head of state. You don't get much to see of the Palace.

This is the Nijubashi Bridge at the Imperial Place which is supposedly  is the most photographed scene in Japan - here you go, I took a photo too.

So this was my short trip to Tokyo. Tokyo is very fascinating place and surprisingly quiet and not crowded, considering its population of 13 million or 35 - 39 million depending on the definition which area to count it. It is also very green for a major city. I love to go back and see more, like Mt Fuji and Disney Land.

Oh before I forget, going to the toilet in Tokyo for the first time can be quite an experience. Not only the lid closely automatically when you are close to the toilet bowl, there is also a little remote control on the side on it. Lucky the description of the buttons are also in English - my favorite button "Flush Sound". (Note to self: For our next house, we will buy a Japanese toilet, at least no more arguments about closing the lid).