Hokkaido Day 10 (15 December 2008)

What can I say? It took us the WHOLE DAY just to get home! We checked out at 10.30am and took a 1/2 hour train ride to Sapporo's New Chitose Airport. The flight took 1h and 15 mins. Upon arriving at Haneda Airport, we had to rush to catch the coach for the 1 1/2 hour journey to Narita International Airport. The flight home to Singapore took 6 hours. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I watched The Incredibles 5 times and Alvin and the chipmunks once. Finally, at 12.15 am in Singapore time, we arrived at Changi airport. At the customs, we saw Nicole again. She had been on the same flight as us. Jinxgirl's aunts met us at the airport to return us the car. It had been a great holiday, but it sure felt good to be home.

Hokkaido Day 9 (14 December 2008)

Today was a really packed day as Aunty Sarah was determined to make the most out of it. First, we visited Hokkaido University grounds.


The park was a majestic garden of life. There was a huge pond there and it wasn't frozen! Cool!


The plants in the park made it seem more like a forest, only it was a very well groomed one. The maze of trees formed a truly breathtaking scenery.


This is the "Japanese Christmas Tree", compared to the normal ones overshadowed by it in the background.

Our next destination was the Sankaku Fish Market in Otaru. It was not crowded, being a less famous market. There were a lot of stalls in the market and we made our way around, occasionally stopping to examine the products. Surprisingly, the market did not have a fishy smell.

We saw a stall selling Hokkaido's signature dish: snow crab! We were curious to know how it tasted, so we decided to order a small crab to try.

It was the best and most delicious dish I had ever tasted! This is how it looked at the end of the "operation".

Jinxgirl sampled some salmon jerky. It was mouth-watering! We decided to buy a few packets to bring back to Singapore.

Another must-see location was the Otaru Canal. Huge tankers used to pass through Otaru via this canal hundreds of years ago.

The next destination was quite a long distance away from the canal. On the way, Aunty Sarah saw the famed Le Tao chocolate shop and went in to take a look. Jinxgirl's Godma followed her in. When they came out, they had bought a bag of petite chocolate strawberry ( sour strawberry coating with white chocolate on the inside). It was to die for!

Meanwhile, Jinxgirl had been next door, looking at name brooches. This brooch caught her eye immediately. She immediately snapped a photo of it. (Lupin is the surname of a Harry Potter character named Remus Lupin. Jinxgirl was amazed as they did not have common names like Joshua or Sarah but had the name of a character instead!)

We continued on our way and finally arrived at the famous Kitaichi Glass Factory. We watched a demonstration of a glass cow being made, enraptured. It was a long and tedious process but when it came out, it was really pretty!

The Otaru Music Box Factory promised to be an interesting visit. On the first floor, there were mountains of different music boxes of all colours, shapes, designs and sizes! They even sold the gadget by itself without the box for people who wanted to listen to the song without the box. Jinxgirl chose to buy one of the gadgets, selecting the famous Carpenters' song, Sing.

Oh, that reminds me. Here's a photo of everything we've bought so far, excluding the fridge magnet. The picture shows the gadget, Gavoidat Junior sitting on it, Gavoidat senior sitting on his cushion with his toy next to him, and the endamame which pops out with a crying face.

The second floor of the museum had the history of music boxes and ancient models of music boxes. It was interesting to chart the development of the magnificent music boxes we see today.

Back in Sapporo, we had dinner in a restaurant at Food Walk, JR Tower. This bell is very special. It is connected to the counter such that when we press it, the waiters and waitresses will be able to tell which table is calling for service and serve them. Pretty neat, isn't it?

After dinner, we headed to Odori park for the Sapporo White Illumination. This was the best photo taken that night. It was taken by Caleb. He's certainly turning out to be a fine photographer.

Hokkaido Day 8 (13 December 2008)

The Hokkaido Historical village was really cool! It had four main sections: The Town, The Farm Village, The Fishing Village and The Mountain Village.

Our first stop was an old Government Building. It was untouched and in very good condition, having been converted to a museum. However, it was rather boring so we quickly moved on.

Next, we visited the old newspaper press building. It looked much more dilapidated and was like the classic haunted house scene. Joshua got spooked and refused to come in. Laughing, Jinxgirl teased him, telling Joshua that she had met a friendly ghost named Casper in one of the printing rooms. She also said that Casper had died in a raid which had caused the room to get its ransacked look. The furniture was overturned, the ceiling was partially caved in, the glass was smashed and the printing equipment was destroyed.

Caleb added that Casper had been crushed when the cabinet fell on him and his body was still in the room. Just for fun, I commented that Casper's ghost had been living in the building for the past hundred years and that he would like to meet Joshua and invite him to tea. Adding the finishing touch, Uncle Patrick told him that Casper's friends were spread throughout the other buildings and there were ghosts in every single building.

Joshua yelled at the top of his lungs and ran away from the entrance of the building, thinking his parents would follow. However, they completely ignored him, even when he yelled for them. Sulking, he stayed outside and refused to come in.

Caleb found a room filled with laminated newspapers. He immediately got Jinxgirl to pose as someone reading the newspaper and snapped a pretty good photo of her using his camera.

The local wine brewery was an interesting place to visit. There was a whole room with equipment used to brew wine. There was even a giant ladle made of a wood plank and a bucket! Caleb immediately snapped a photo of Jinxgirl attempting to lift the ladle.

The old hospital was amazing! The equipment was just like what Da Chang Jin (大长今) used in the second half of the show when she became a medical attendant. For example, there was the herb bowl and pounder. There was also an operation room. Jinxgirl posed outside it while Caleb snapped a picture.

The sweet shop almost seemed real, with special smells wafting from it! Jinxgirl stood behind the counter, pretending to take orders and hand out goodies. I laughed my head off, while Caleb snapped a photo of this hilarity.

Soon, we left the Town for the Fishing Village. There was not much there besides a fisherman's hut and a large, frozen lake.

The Farm Village was not much better. However, there was a cafe there were we ate lunch. It was delicious! I gulped down my bowl of Udon, then watched as Jinxgirl was taken by surprise when Caleb took a photo of her eating.

The Mountain Village was more interesting. There was a traditionsl cultural activities room in the village. Joshua, Jinxgirl, Caleb and I learned how to make a "standing bean". First, we cut open the shell, then put a ball bearing in and glued it up . After that, we decorated it. All of us decided to do a Pikachu. It turned out pretty well, considering it was difficult.

There was also a sturdy, well-built suspension bridge which linked the Mountain Village to the Farm Village. It was built across a long, snaky stream that seperated the Mountain Village from the other villages and the Town.

That was pretty much about all there was, so we moved on to our next destination: Moiwa, a tall mountain with an observatory at the top for us to enjoy the night view.

We took the street car to the cable car station, then took the cable car to the summit. The snow bus, which has special wheels to prevent it from getting stuck in the snow, took us to the observatory.

The nightscene was simply breathtaking! Caleb attempted to photograph Jinxgirl. However, he had to use the nightscene mode and it came out slightly blurred. Nevertheless, it was great, considering this was his first time attempting such a feat.

After looking around for a while, we decided there was nothing much to do and returned to the foot of the mountain. We had dinner at a Sichuan restaurant. It was so-so.

Hokkaido Day 7 (12 December 2008)

Today, we checked out of Club Med Sahoro. We boarded the Club Med bus, which would take us, along with the others who were checking out, to the Sahoro train station. Although the bus ride only took 1/2 an hour, the train ride to Sapporo, on the other hand, took 1 1/2 hours!

After what seemed like a few years, we arrived at our new hotel in Sapporo: Aspen Hotel. This is Jinxgirl standing in front of it, across the street. The room was really nice too!




This is Jinxgirl in front of our room door. We were in Room 1002 on the tenth floor.














The rest of what we did that day was pretty much just looking around at the shops nearby. We had ramen for dinner. It really hit the spot.

Hokkaido Day 6 (11 December 2008)

We returned to the main hill today. This time we had Suzie, a considerably more fun instructor. We went all the way to the half-way mark of the hill that Clubber 2 students ski on! Cool, right? For obvious reasons, we only climbed up once.



We were slowly getting the hang of skiing in the forest. We could now speed up then stop, swerve away or slow down suddenly.



Here's another video of Jinxgirl. This time, she is much better. P.S. Jinxgirl is wearing black and is the one who whizzes right past the camera in one part of the video. Enjoy!

Hokkaido Day 5 (10 December 2008)

Today was our first day in Clubber 1. We went to the main hill in the forest with our instructor, Sandi. This time, there was no magic carpet. There WAS a chair lift, but it was not open yet. Hence, we had, to take off our skis and drag them up the slope each time we came down. Also, stopping in the forest was more difficult as there were rocks, snowboarders, ice and vegetation all over.

Once, Caleb snowballed into me. I could not stop and crashed right into Jinxgirl. We lay on the ground in a confused heap. Then, another girl crashed into us. Sandi sighed and shook her head. As she was helping us up, a boy crashed into her from behind. XD

At dinner, Jinxgirl heard someone say," Yo, Jinxgirl!" She looked up and saw it was her classmate, Nicole, who was also on holiday here. It certainly is a small world!

Hokkaido Day 4 (9 December 2008)

HOORAY!!! Finally! Today, Jinxgirl, Caleb and I got promoted to Clubber 1!!! During the medal ceremony, we were as pleased as punch when we received our medals.

Unfortunately for Joshua, he failed a third of the test. Jinxgirl peeked at the man's clipboard and saw that he had passed turning and keeping his balance but had failed stopping. Oh well.

The Asia Culture Show that night was a wondrous display of skills. It consisted of performances representing various countries. It was simply amazing!

We showed Roxanne our medals when we got back to the room.

Roxanne:

Wow! I wish I could learn skiing, it sounds really fun. Then again, it would
probably distract me from my gym competitions.

And with that, she continued practicing. She certainly is devoted to her passion.

Hokkaido Day 3 (8 December 2008)

Today, Jinxgirl was better at skiing. She was promoted to Clubber and a Half, which means she can stop but cannot turn without tripping over her own skis. Sometime in the afterenoon, Caleb and I were also promoted. Unfortunately, Joshua had to remain in Clubber to practise stopping. He could turn, but was unable to stop.

After ski class, Jinxgirl, Caleb and I played Cheat in the bar with the other Junior Club (11-13) members. (Cheat is our favourite game on Neopets!)

The show that night was set in outer space. It was a series of short performances. It was rather corny but we were all laughing our heads off. In fact, Caleb laughed so hard that he fell off his chair!

Hokkaido Day 2 (7 December 2008)

We started skiing today. We as in the 4 of us, I mean. The adults decided they wanted to wait for a few days before making a fool of themselves. :P Caleb and I had special skis and boots for our four hooves.

We were sorted into Clubber, which means we have never gone skiing before. We were taught the basics, namely: Starting, stopping and turning. We used a travellator dubbed the magic carpet to go up the hill. Caleb found it difficult to stop, so when he was about to crash into the teacher, he dug his horn into the snow and stopped. The teacher stared at him, speechless.

Jinxgirl didn't do too well either. However, she did make a spectacular stop when she found Uncle Patrick was standing at the very spot she was turning into at the foot of the hill, videoing her. Here it is! I found it hilarious and thought you might too. Uh oh, I'd better go before Jinxgirl sees me.

Hokkaido Day 1 (6 December 2008)

After landing in Tokyo's Narita Airport, we took a 1 1/2 hour shuttle bus to Haneda Airport, Tokyo's Domestic Airport. Subsequently, we took the connecting flight to Sahoro, Hokkaido. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I were ravenous but we had no choice to wait until the 1 1/2 hour bus ride to Club Med Sahoro was over. By the time we arrived, it was 2.30pm in Japan, or 1.30pm in Singapore.

After scarfing down our food, we returned to the room to suit up so we could play outside. Jinxgirl, Caleb and I had a great time playing 3-on 1 snowball fight with Joshua.














We also played in the mini playground. It was really fun as the snow and ice on the slides made them really slippery. Soon, we were busy trying to see who could slide further.



Of course, no snowy fun is complete without snow angels! We lay in a row, trying to make snow angels. Caleb's snow angel looked more like a stag angel than a Uni angel! Mine, on the other hand, looked like a cloud!!!

Dinner was out of the ordinary with Club Med personnel dressed up for a costume party carnival, that night's nightly entertainment for the kids. It promised to be a great night of fun and laughter. We decided to go down and take a look after we had finished our chow down.

The costume carnival was a delectable potpourri of colours, music, laughter and fun! The highlight of the carnival was Limbo Rock. Pairs of 2 people would line up and try to pass under the bar at the same time.

Caleb and I almost made it, but my horn got caught on the bar's support and pulled it down. Oops! Jixngirl and Joshua did better. For once, Jinxgirl was grateful that Joshua was so small. At about 9.30, they were out and we retired to the room.

Prologue/More info about Jinxgirl

4 days after we returned from Cambodia, Aunty Sarah had finally finished unpacking and clearing the laundry, only to find that she had to start packing AGAIN! Yep, another trip, this time to Hokkaido. Caleb was really excited and began packing as soon as he had unpacked his VWAP travel bag. (For more details on the VWAP trip, please read the older posts.) Jinxgirl, on the other hand, refused to unpack her bag.

Jinxgirl:

What's the point? I'll just have to put exactly the same things back into my bag again!

Jinxgirl decided to bring Roxanne on this trip. Roxanne was delighted as she had never been on a plane before. She had only been on holiday with us once in Muar. She had also been very busy with gymnastic competitions lately and was looking forward to this opportunity to get away.

We left for Jinxgirl's paternal grandparents' house. Her whole paternal family was there as Aunt Priscilla for Vancouver was coming back for good and Aunt Patricia, her husband, 7 year old Kee Ann and 4 year old twins Min En and Wei En were back for a long visit.

The moment Jinxgirl entered the house, the twins squealed: "JIE JIE JAN JAN IS HERE!!! YAY!!!" Jinxgirl had gone out with the twins recently and had played with them for 2 hours in Explorer Kid. The twins had taken a strong liking to her. Uncle Patrick looked crushed. He had never met the twins before and they had just rushed past him as though he did not exist.

The two aunts wanted to borrow Jinxgirl's dad's car as well as see us off. Hence, Jinxgirl's 3 cousins and uncle went in their own car while we drove with her aunts to Terminal 1.

We had dinner together. Kee Ann was taking pictures while Jinxgirl, Caleb and I entertained the twins while Uncle Patrick tried to get the twins to like him. However, they completely ignored him after his attention lapsed, causing Min to have a minor accident on the trolley.

Finally, it was time to go in. We met Jinxgirl's godma, Uncle Chee Meng and Joshua, with whom we would be travelling. It was 11: 30 pm when we took off. Jinxgirl, Caleb and I watched Alvin and the Chipmunks. Caleb fell asleep half-way through.

VWAP Cambodia Day 10 (30 November 2008)

We got up really early this morning and finished packing our belongings. Soon, we were joined by the other VWAP members downstairs.

The flight home involved a transit and we only reached at 12.10pm in Singapore time.

Caleb:

I really enjoyed the trip! It was very meaningful. I realised how fortunate I am to have such a privileged life. If another opportunity to go on a trip like this crops up, I'm definitely going to seize it.

Jinxgirl:

I think trips like these are good eye-openers to the world beyond. Normally, we don't visit developing countries like Cambodia so I was amazed to see how the Cambodians make do with what they have despite the fact that they have close to nothing. I would really enjoy going on a trip like this again.

VWAP Cambodia Day 9 (29 November 2008)

We went to the Water Village today. Sounds ordinary? Well, for those of you who watched the Amazing Race Asia, you'd be interested to find out that the famous basketball court on the floating platform, to which the team members had to travel to shoot a few baskets, is in this very village!

We travelled to a jetty near the border of Cambodia. All of us boarded the speed boat and started off to the Village. There were clumps of water plants everywhere. There were also countless fishing boats belonging to the villagers.




We had not gone very far when we reached the Tourist Centre. We disembarked near a pool of fish. Our guide explained the fish were bred to feed the crocodiles. Caleb and I peered inquisitively at the crocodile pit. The first crocodile who saw us looked at us lazily, as though deciding whether it should eat us or the humans. In the end, it slunk back into the darkness to snooze.

We walked around and explored the Tourist Centre. There was a gift shop with lots of souvenirs but they were priced ridiculously so we did not buy anything.

After we boarded the boat again, we headed for the floating platform Catholic Church, just next to the basketball court.














After taking a quick look around the church, we went to the basketball court for a game! It was really fun!

















I used my horn to butt the ball into the hoop, putting us on par with the adults' team. It was Caleb, who kicked the ball right on target using his hooves, making it fall cleanly into the hoop! We won! Team Neotrio vs. Team Adults: 6:5!!! YAY!!!








We returned to the hotel after that. Jinxgirl's parents brought us to the market nearby to do more shopping. When we were finished, we ate at Blue Pumpkin, a bakery/lounge/restaurant/ cafe. Upstairs was really cool. There was a giant couch with breakfast trays for people to eat MEALS in bed! Cool, isn't it?





Once we had eaten and put our belongings down at the hotel, we went to visit the mall behind our hotel. It had a few shops but was like a ghost town. We decided to return to the hotel after we had finished looking at everything.

VWAP Cambodia Day 8 (28 November 2008)

Today, we visited Angkor Wat, one of the Seven Wonders of the World! Angkor Wat is part of the massive Angkor Complex, which is made up of over 200 temples for either Hinduism or Buddhism.

We decided to save the best for the last. Hence, the first place we visited was Angkor Thom. At the entrance, we could see the 4 Faces of Buddha, building blocks upon which the Buddhism faith is built.

Caleb, Jinxgirl and I climbed to the top of a tall hill overlooking the entrance. The view of the river was amazing. Caleb, who is practicing photography, snapped a photo of Jinxgirl.

After climbing down, we headed further in. We soon reached Bayon, situated in the centre of the city. It's a major ruin with 37 standing towers. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I immediately left to explore. We had fun climbing in and out of the towers while Aunty Sarah chased after us.

After leaving Bayon, we entered another part of Angkor Thom called the Jungle Temple. It was like a huge garden! There were giant tree roots hanging down on the walls, just like in the picture! In the centre of the garden, there was a massive stone structure. Ezzuan climbed all the way up. Jinxgirl was half-way to the top when Uncle Patrick realised it was steeper than he had thought and told her to come down. Sigh.

Ezzuan pretended to be an idol in an empty ledge in the wall. It was HILARIOUS! Caleb snapped a photo of him again.

The terrace of elephants was our next quick stop. It had nice scenery but was rather small and uninteresting. Caleb, Jinxgirl and I were slightly disappointed with it.

We ate lunch in the Angkor Complex at a small restaurant. The food was good, but Caleb, Jinxgirl and I didn't really take time to enjoy it as we were really excited about the main highlight of the day: Angkor Wat!!!

We went to Angkor Wat as soon as lunch was over. It is the major temple in the Angkor Complex and all the other temples surround it. We walked the stone walkway path. Joseph was playing with camera tricks and making gargantuan spiders crawl on the tip of Angkor Wat.





Aunty Sarah tried to make Jinxgirl look as though she was holding up Angkor Wat, but failed.



There were intricate carvings of mythology on the stone walls and we stopped from time to time to read them. At the end of the stone walkway, there was an even larger stone structure.







This was what we had been looking forward to. Unfortunately, there was a sign on the structure: Restoration work in progress. Do not enter. AARGH!!!













Finally, we headed back to the hotel. We ate dinner at a roadside stall before visiting the newer Noon Night Market nearby.

P.S. Today, Aunty Nathlyn got the call of doom. For those of you who read the Straits Times reports on the Mumbai attacks, you should know why. We did not see her again until late afternoon the next day. Our hearts go out to hre as the Singapore Hostage had been Aunty Nat's best friend for as long as she can remember. Oh dear. :(

VWAP Cambodia Day 7 (27 November 2008)

This is where the group split up. Some of the members flew home to Singapore, while the rest extended our stay to visit Siem Reap.

The drive to Siem Reap took FOREVER!!! I mean, honestly, a 6 HOUR JOURNEY WITH NOTHING TO DO EXCEPT ASK THE ADULTS EVERY 5 SECONDS WHETHER WE HAD ARRIVED YET??? Fortunately, after lunch, Uncle Patrick, Jinxgirl's dad, managed to get the Walkman out of the luggage so we could listen to it for the rest of the journey (or until it ran out of battery).

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally arrived at Molly Malone's Irish Pub and Guesthouse. We checked into the hotel rooms, then left as a group to visit Phsar Chas (Old Market).

Once again, we went shopping. However, this time there was less to see as the place was closing soon. We decided to go for dinner as most of us were ravenous.

We had a yummy meal at an Italian Pizzeria. Caleb and I ate 4 slices of pizza each. Jinxgirl, who has a small stomach, ate two slices.

We decided to explore the streets after dinner. The street was at its busiet and had fully sprung to life. There were people everywhere! We visited a bookshop with a wide range of interesting books. Aunty Sarah allowed us to buy one book each.

Finally, we returned to the hotel room for the night.