Osaka Marathon 2017- Travelling to Osaka and REPC (24th & 25th November)

Here I go again!

I'm so glad that Osaka Marathon moved to the last week of November this year instead of the usual October weekend. My hols had just started (this is really just day 0 as we only finished our last meeting earlier today), so I can make it for the marathon!

Ironically, last year I got myself a slot to Osaka marathon through balloting, but I gave it up to go for Hakusan Shirakawa-go Ultra instead. This year I tried balloting for Osaka again but I didnt get a slot. It used to. be really easy for foreigners to get a slot in the past, but this marathon is getting really popular even though this year it's just the 7th edition. Its one of the biggest marathon in the world, boosting 30k people participation I was glad that someone on forum mentioned Crest Travel offering guaranteed slots, so I put myself on the waiting list. I was lucky enough to have some slots opened up in the end and I managed to sign up through the travel agency. The damage of the race registration and 3 nights hotel stay is about $800. It's not too bad for a deal as the hotel is supposed to be a 4 star hotel.

The very nice Terminal 4

Things are automated in this new terminal

This is my second overseas marathon this year. I went for a second round of Nagoya Women's marathon in march this year, took lots of photo, bought photos from the organiser but got too lazy to blog about it lolz... Anyway, finances are quite tied this year so I travelled to Nagoya on a cheaper flight than SQ. I am taking the same Vietnam airlines again this time and transiting at Ho Chih Min city. In fact, as I'm typing this, I'm sitting at a cafe in front of the boarding gate waiting for my flight to Osaka. Earlier on, I've scanned through all the airlines and this is the cheapest other than MAS and the budget airlines. Anyway, doing this the second time makes the environment familiar enough for me, its just a bit confusing for me right now as Vietnam is one hour behind Singapore and Japan is one hour ahead of Singapore. So hubby P was asking me what time i'll reach Japan and I got a little confused there.

A very essential item for all my Japan trips

Mandatory photo after P sent me (look at those eyebags!)

After Nagoya marathon in March, I got busy with moving to my new home and preparing for the wedding, therefore there was a long hiatus of 4-5 months before I starting running again in late August. In the midst of it, my FR220 also decided to retire so I did not have the motivation to start exercising again until I bought a new Garmin watch, my precious FR935. Although I just wanted to take things easy and enjoy the race, I really hope I can make it to the end point by the cut off time of 7 hour after such a long break and insufficient training. I did several runs more than 10km and one half marathon the past few mths, but the mileage was definitely not as much as my Nagoya Marathon preparation earlier this year. I was also a bit dejected as my Nagoya Marathon race timing was even worse than last year after all that preparation, so I decided to take things easy. Unfortunately, I developed the whole package of flu symptoms this week and was down with sore throat, cough, flu and blocked nose, phlegm etc. After a few days of self medication, things did not improve so I visited the doc yesterday even though I did not need the MC, hopefully I'll recover in time to do a good run this Sunday.

It was a pleasant surprise when I realised that I'm flying out of SG from the new Terminal 4 that just opened recently. It was really spacious, less crowded and a different experience from the other 3 terminals as we can clear immigration using the automatic gates and immediately after that they had the hand carry checks like the other airports (other terminals normally just do it at the gate). There was no queues at all the counters so it was a breeze getting to the boarding gate. On my way there, I saw Paris Baguette so I grab something for dinner before proceeding.

(Have to contine my blog in Osaka later as my laptop is getting low batt :( )

Halloween Horrors Night 2017

This is our 3rd edition of Halloween Horrors Night. I blogged about our first experience in 2014 where we experienced super long queues on Halloween night itself and only tried 2-3 haunted houses. Last year, P's friends came and we met up for a night at USS during HNN6, I must say it was pretty fun to do it in a small group and huddle and scream together. We even experienced downpour halfway through queueing and everyone was forced to buy the expensive USS ponchos, but the plus point was the crowd thinned out and we managed to try most of the haunted houses last year. We had great fun then and P and I were thinking we'll make it our yearly Halloween date. Seeing how others breeze through the queues with express passes last year, we promised to splurge on express passes when we go again this year.

Couple goals?

We started looking for the tickets even before the whole event started, we missed the early bird period but P eventually found reliable sources on Carousell. I did change my mind about going for the event as we incurred quite a bit of debts after we moved to our new crib and the wedding. But I did not want to be a wet blanket and P also surprised me by giving me a treat to the event.

Physical tickets we bought from Carousell

For this year's HHN, there were many reported cases when people get scammed from untrusty sellers on Carousell. But I trust P to get the tickets from there as he's forever on Carousell, buying and selling stuff. Anyway, we managed to utilise the tickets last night and had no issues with those. P spent $120 on each express pass on top of the $68 admission fee. So that's like more than $360+ for the two of us.

The entrance

After work yesterday, we went home to nap for about an hour before we set off for Sentosa. It was quite easy for us to get there as our new home is sitting on top of the Circle line. Even though we had to sit on the train for 13 stops, it took only 30++ minutes. We went to Bread Talk to grab a pork floss bun for dinner and took the monorail to USS. We managed to conceal our food stuff during bag check and successfully entered the theme park. I must admit being the 3rd time here, the surprise and anticipation factor was unlike before so I was not as excited or hyped unlike my first experience. Hmm.. I could feel that I'm there more to compare the previous editions with this year's experience and to see if there's any new element to excite or impress me.

Still at the entrance

Many people bought the red and green demon horns headbands and I must say its pretty cheap at 3 for $10 but we didnt get it as it'll become junks taking space at home once the night is over. We walked straight to the central stage where there'll be cosplayers/ghouls on a elaborated stage for people to take photographs with. The display did not really catch my eye this year, so we went straight to the first haunted house just next to it.

The Death Mall

This is the only haunted house that I knew about due to the extensive publicity before the whole event. It even got into the news as some people felt that their publicity stunt was insensitive to the general public. Anyway, I experienced the power of the express pass as there was the snaking queue just next to the monorail station but we went right up to the entrance and only waited for 5-10min while the rest queued for more than an hour. It is truly shiok and the VIP feeling was so so cool. Anyway, we got inside quickly and saw the interiors decorated like a shopping mall, with the cinema and supermarket areas etc. Like all haunted houses, the actors hid before curtains, corners and doors and jumped out at us with their ghostly makeup. The group of people in front us kind of 'protected' us from them but they moved forward really slowly as they were pushing one another to go first, so this dampened the experience a little for me. One of the tall 'ang moh' guy in the group even stepped back in fright at one point and his heavy leather shoe landed on my foot. Ouch! Overall, I felt that this haunted house is quite underwhelming despite the extensive publicity. There were the local touch but we preferred the coffeeshop experience in HNN6 previous year. None of the display area inside left a deep impression in my mind after the whole night.

Inside My Mind

Speaking about the express pass, after I finished the first haunted house in 5-10min, I crazily missed the long time we had to queue for each zone the past years. Okay, I really dont miss the time spent and frustration we had while queueing but I felt like something was missing.

Anyway, the next haunted house was named Inside My Mind and the queue for us got even shorter than before. This haunted house made use of laser lights and stuff to disorientate us and it really got me at one point, but I felt that it was more impressive in the 3D dementia in HHN4 edition when the idea was still new. I guess we were supposed to experience the different parts of the brain so there were some gory and bloody areas but all those were kind of familiar so none of it really left an impression in my mind.

The express pass allow us to visit each of the 5 haunted house only once using the express queue. Other than scanning the pass, they will also manually cancel off the haunted house we visited, so we need to join the queue if we want a repeated tour. After the first two haunted houses, we passed transformers and seeing that it was only a 15min short queue, we went in for a ride. It was the third time I took the ride and shortest time I queued for it. I was glad that next few haunted houses got better.

Us at transformers

At the scare zones where actors have elaborate makeup and jumped at us

Make the Cut 

I was delighted that the next haunted house seemed to be something different and refreshing. Having watched many South Korean movies and dramas lately, I'm a little into Kpop culture lolx. I even made a short video while we walked through the express lane. Many horror movies also came from South Korea, like Ju-On and so on, so it got a little creepy when the interior of the 'shophouses' we went into looked like a set from late 80s or something. I guess it was supposed to be a KTV or dance place but turned into gory plastic surgery set. There were actors dressed as dancers/performers at the front part while a guy was sitting cooly there like a boss (I thought he looked too normal to be one of the actors), then as we walked inside there were plastic surgery areas with blood and body parts everywhere. Gory indeed. It's a pity I'm not observant enough to notice all the details as I'm sure it'll be a amazing treat if I can pay attention to everything inside.

This is another of our favourite ride, but queue was 40min so we skipped.

Many small stalls selling expensive food and drink, we did not get any this year

Hex was the next haunted house we visited. The area before we went in was outdoor and the floor got a bit wet as it rained early. It smelt a lot like twine and manila hemp we used for camping as this haunted house was about black magic and voodoo etc. The area inside was quite stuffy as they used a lot of natural canvas to cover the place. Honestly, the normal queue is stuffy and took 1.5 hour but I dont remember much of it except for the repetitive dead bodies lying at corners and ghostly actors jumping out at us. Most haunted houses are pretty similar, they use sound effects and a curtain and drape that fall in front of us is a scary experience as we'll wonder what's behind those. That's all to it.

The free scare zone where festivals became twisted

Took a picture with the actors

At one of the free scare zone, we walked through a maze with brains and broken limbs stuck in the hedge, what was interesting was there were speakers playing scary music and sound effects like electric sparks all around us (common in the haunted house too). One guy in front of me got scared by the sound effects and actually jumped!

The last was also the best

As I've been to Xi An and seen the actual terracotta army, I was pleasantly surprised when I came to this last haunted house. And I must say its the best and most impressive of this edition. As we were walking towards the entrance, we could see that the area was big as we were walking next to the huge dark maze where they set up the props and stuff. We could hear knocking and people screaming inside. This area is impressive as they really had those terracotta replica at the entrance and those looked like the exact size and of the terracotta army, although the facial expression and details might be missing. The haunted house brought us back to the Qing dynasty as the interior looked like the forbidden city palace. There were people dressed in those period costumes, eunuchs, ghostly concubines and stuff and the oriental rooms with details to go with it. There was also this wall with tiles popping out. We were not allowed to take any pictures inside the haunted houses as the flash will blind the actors or disturb others, I guess the makeup and stuff are also copyrighted,  so I only managed to take a picture at the entrance.

Can see the terracotta replica in this picture 

With the express pass, we managed to finish all five haunted houses in 2 hours and it was barely 10pm. It would be nice we can walk through USS slowly and go for those rides without long queues, or some of the free halloween shows. However, P had to rush home to do PO for his toy statues so we left USS quite early unexpectedly. I think the express pass is a really a good investment so we will surely be back with those again next year. 

Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 6 (6/6/17)

My past trip reports rarely exceed 5 parts and I hardly manage to report about any trip from beginning till end so this trip is really something special, its at such a relaxing pace that I can get finish my blog daily update by the next day. Anyway, Mum is enjoying herself so much that I plan to bring her back to Japan again, for more mother-daughter bonding!

Today is the day we leave Noboribetsu for Lake Toya. When we went to Lake Toya the previous winter, I decided to give ourselves a treat and I splurged on a 5 stars hotel (Windsor Toya Hotel) but after a long train ride from Niseko, we reached the place at 4pm or 5pm and it was already nightfall. Windsor is also so far away from all the action that we did not get to see the place that much, as we left for Hakodate early the following morning. I regretted spending all that money on such an atas place and it turned out so boring, even though we did have fun playing with all the snow. Therefore, this time round I decided that we should stay in Toyako Onsen town.

Free shuttle bus service by Hanaya ryokan

We decided to leave the ryokan earlier and take their shuttle service to Noboribetsu JR station. The other option is to wait for the public bus just opposite the hotel but again, but we felt that it is cumbersome carrying our luggages up the bus (especially the case for my 29 inch big luggage). When I booked the reserved seat ticket at Sapporo, I had opted for a 11am+ train ride since we cant check in that early at Lake Toya. However, there is no shuttle service from the ryokan that was near this timing, so we decided to forgo our reserved seats and just hop on the next train after reaching the JR station. During the summer, the sun rises at 4am, there was no blackout curtains in the room so I was awake by 7am despite sleeping late the previous night. Mum had already been to the onsen by the time I was awake and there was plenty of time so I also had a good soak at the onsen before leaving.

Mum chilling with a cup of free coffee at the lobby

When it was time to leave, three of the staff (I guess one of them is the lady boss) quickly ran out and knelt at the door, giving us a deep bow. We felt really shy when we saw this sincere gesture as we're really not used to such hospitality. The shuttle bus driver who took us to the station was also the one who gave us the lift the previous day, a really kind old man.

Waiting for the 9.52am train

We reached the station in less than 15min and we were able to catch the train at 9.52am. Unfortunately, we waited for more than half an hour on the platform before the train arrived. Train delays are very very rare in Japan but I think it also happened the last time we were at Lake Toya or Noboribetsu. Anyway, even though we've booked reserved seats for 11am+, we were okay with hopping onto the free seating compartments since it's just a 40min ride.

(Didnt manage to finish this blog post, but still decided to post it 2 years later when I re-read my post in 2019)

Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 5 (5/6/2017)

In the morning, I went to the onsen again. It was 8am+ but just a few ladies were there, most people were already out and about in their day clothes when I went down in my bathing pyjamas. After two days in Asahikawa, we are going to leave this place for Noboribetsu, this is also our longest train ride for the whole of the Hokkaido trip. It turned out not too bad as the ride was broken down into two parts, one from Asahikawa back to Sapporo, then we changed to another train heading to Noboribetsu. I continued watching another episode of Goblin during the trip and also munched on some snacks while drinking my fruity beer. We did not have much to eat for breakfast, just shared a packet of noodles and sandwiches between us. But all the snacking during the trip kept me full.

A drastic change of weather coming days

Mum asked to take some pics while we waited for the train

Our reserved seats

After three hours, we arrived at a neat little station at Noboribetsu. The part that I disliked most about this station is the lack of lifts and elevators, so we had to carry our luggages up get across the tracks and then down again to exit the station. P helped me with my big luggage when we came previously but now I could only do it on my own slowly, huffing and puffing. We were the only ones who took a cab to our ryokan, while the rest of the tourists waited at the bus stop next to the station. I did not want to save this 1700Y and carry my big luggage up the bus, so we just hopped onto the cab.

Bears at the station welcomed us

We stayed at Oyado Kiyomizuya ryokan the previous time I was here, it was my first half board ryokan experience when we had dinner and breakfast served in the room and slept on futons. It was a good experience but I thought of trying out another ryokan as the onsen at Oyado (清水屋) felt a little old and creepy when I went alone at 11pm or near midnight that winter. Luckily, the male onsen was just separated by a wall and I was shouting across the wall to talk to P while we bathed and soaked. Anyway, when I was doing the booking on Agoda this time round, I saw Kashoutei Hanaya ryokan at a affordable rate ($180 sgd with no meals) and I decided to try it out. I was super tempted to book a room here the previous time but the price was too steep then, if I'm not wrong more than twice of what I'm paying this time. Probably the rate that I've gotten now is a promotional rate since it is off peak season. I did not opt for meals this time due to my previous ryokan experience at Oyado. P and I enjoyed the kiseki dinner then and we took lots of pictures, but we did not enjoy waking up early for them to come and set up the breakfast in the morning, we even drag out the futons to continue sleeping after they finally came back to clear all the stuff. I had intended to add on the dinner after reaching the ryokan as I saw many good reviews, but the price was rather steep (6400Y per pax) and Mum was not willing to pay the price. Once again, we were an hour early for check in when we reached Hanaya so we decided to go out and walk around before we make a decision about dinner.

Entrance to the Hell Valley Jigokudani

The two demons and mascots of Jigokudani

It was a very different feeling coming here again in the summer, although the weather was still quite chilly and cool for summer. The previous time we were here, snow was drifting down and super cold. We enjoyed it a lot as it fell really magical to be around these valleys and the onsen when it was snowing. There were fewer visitors this time round as it is off peak but I found the pavement and walking trails easier to navigate, I remember the slippery path and people slipped and fell the previous time we came. Despite the sun appearing today, we did not really feel the heat and the temperature was still below 15 degrees when we were out. At least the weather was still quite pleasant and not rainy like the previous day. The smell of sulfur got stronger in the small town area and near Jigokudani, I'm sure its not pleasant for some people but to me it is a smell of good onsen so I'm fine.

Nice toilet next to the visitors' centre, cute demon signs!

Mum posing at one of the observatory

Another observatory

Panoramic view before we go down to the platform nearest to the middle geyser 

Those anti-slip thingy on the bridge were god sent in winter

Mum modeling for me as I dont really like taking pictures

Instagram picture with filter

We managed to walk around quite a bit before turning back to the shopping street Gokuraku Dori, I think we managed to cover more trails this time as it was harder to walk around the slope areas in winter and nightfall also came earlier then. We only went into a few shops along the shopping street and decided to head back to check into our room to get some rest as it was already almost 3pm.

Walked past the post office on our way and we sent some post cards to US

We were glad the staff at Hanaya arranged a shuttle bus to drop us off at the shopping street earlier. It was easy to walk back although the ryokan was some distance away from the end of the shopping street (maybe 300m-400m) as it was downhill all the way back, but it could be hard for us if we had to walk up earlier. When we got back to the ryokan, the staff had already brought our luggages up and a kind lady showed us to our room on the 4th floor. As this is a new place I'm staying in, I guess it deserves a separate blog review on its own. I realised I stopped blogging about my winter trip after Niseko the previous time, so I might do a comparison of Oyado and Hanaya in the review posts and also post up some of my winter trip photos of Noboribetsu. Somehow I love comparing photos of places I've been to at different times and see what had changed.

The geyser at a mini park before the entrance of Hell Valley

We have a twin sharing room this time round, but its western style so instead of having futons, they have two beds for us with the Japanese nice fluffy blankets. It was really comfortable so I took a nap after settling down in the room. We went out again at 5pm+ to get dinner, once again the shuttle bus happened to be waiting outside and the driver allowed us to board and dropped us off at the junction between hell valley and shopping street. We decided to have dinner out as we walked past a shop selling fresh seafood earlier and we decided to have our uni and ikura don revenge there.

My stylo mama at the main entrance

The entrance again from across the street

Noisy Korean aunties came in a tour bus

We did not walk into the Jigokudani walking trails as it was getting late, only took some pictures and then went for our dinner. The shop we saw earlier (Onsen Ichiba 溫泉市場) was quite near to one end of the shopping street, right after we went across hell valley. The shop was empty when we went and we got a bit skeptical as there were no other patrons. But since there were not many other choices here, we just went inside. Mum was convinced their seafood would be fresh or at least better than the one we tasted at Otaru as they had rows of tanks with the sea urchin, crabs and other seafood at one side. After we ordered our food, a few groups of tourists came in and the shop got filled up with people.

We had these tatami seats where footwear were not allowed

Mum with our food orders

Look at the colour of the uni and ikura, much better this time!

Staff helped us take some photos

The Instagram version with filter

The texture of the uni and ikura were right this time and tasted so good with the rice. All the food taste quite good and we did save some money on dinner here although the price of the seafood was not too cheap. We paid 7200Y for our dinner instead of the 12800Y we would have paid for the kiseki dinner. It's a pity we did not enjoy the sumptuous dinner at the ryokan, but Mum was also right for making this decision as we're both not big eaters and probably would not be able to finish all the food at the ryokan.

Before (normally looking Enmado something like our 閻羅王）

After (demon looking with blazing eyes)

We left the restaurant at 8pm and encountered lots of tourists at the Enmado shrine next door with their handphones ready so we also stopped to watch what was happening. There was some mechanical trick show going on at 8pm and other designated timings so people were waiting for it to start. It's quite interesting how the crowd quickly dispersed after that and the street once again became very quiet with very few people while we were walking back. Many people were also dressed in their yukata with the little haori jacket when walking down the streets after dinner. It's quite an interesting sight as the loudspeakers on the street were also playing a soft traditional Japanese music, giving the place a very peaceful vibes. The walk back to our ryokan seemed further when it was night time and I'm sure I'll not feel comfortable walking along that path in the dark if I'm alone, so that's something to consider if I'm traveling back alone and staying at Hanaya.

Mum looking awesome in her yukata

When we got back, Mum decided that it'll be less awkward if we go to the onsen separately, so we put on our yukata to take some photos before she went down to the onsen first. This is her first Japanese onsen experience as our ryokan does not have shower in the rooms. It is also a good chance for her to soak in the sulfur water found around this area, real and authentic hot spring experience.