First Day in Tokyo

Ok, back to the trip to Japan.:)

We arrived at Narita International Airport bright and early at around 7am (Singapore time). After checking out, Papa bought the bus tickets for the 8.35am (local time) bus. Japan is 1 hour ahead of Singapore and we boarded the bus at 8.35am. Everything was new to me and there were so many things to see. I only fell asleep after spending more than an hour in the bus but I soon woke up because we had arrived at Sunshine City Prince Hotel where we would stay for the next 3 days.

Unfortunately, an early check-in was not allowed and we had to wait from 10am to 1pm (Singapore time) before we could check in.

So we walked around the mall next to the hotel. My parents found this tempura shop recommended by Uncle Aaron and Aunty Catherine at the basement of the shopping mall. So this was what we had for our first meal in Tokyo. We were among the first few customers when the shop opened at 11am local time.

See the little white bowl in the middle of the tray? It contained a half-boiled egg. You may think it's no big deal. My parents had a surprise because it was cold. Not the room-temperature kind of cold but cold like it was chilled in the fridge before the waiting staff served it to us. Mama wonders how this chilled half-boiled egg was made. :)

Papa did not like the taste of the chilled half-boiled egg and so he did not eat it. After lunch, we hung around at the hotel lobby for a while. This is me checking out the different vending machines my Papa pointed out to me. Papa was the one who patiently looked after me and spent time with me because Mama was slumping on a lounge chair feeling miserable as she was tired, having slept very very little during the flight.

With the lack of sleep due to the night flight and yet having to wait another 2 hours to check into the hotel would have been miserable had we not found this place- an aquarium! And it's just next to our hotel. No prize for guessing its name- Sunshine City Aquarium :)

Touring an aquarium was something Papa thought we could perhaps do on our first day after we had rested enough in the hotel. In the end, we actually visited the aquarium before we checked into the hotel. This really kept us occupied until it was time to collect our keys and we could go to our room.

We stayed at the 23rd floor and if Mama remembered correctly, our room number was 2315. This is the view from our hotel window and below are the toiletries found in the attached bathroom.

The quality of the Pola toiletries is quite good and Mama eventually decided to use only the facial wash that she had brought along, keeping the shampoo and body wash for future trips.

After we checked in and had our showers, Papa and Mama fell asleep as they were really tired out while I was left to walk around the room on my own. My parents were too tired to bother about me. Thank God that I was kept safe and sound. When Mama opened her eyes again, she found me sleeping on the carpeted floor at the side of the bed where she was.

When we had rested enough, we went out for dinner at Sunshine City Complex next to the hotel and this time round, we had ramen. But before we could eat, Papa has to place his order by buying tickets from this vending machine.

After dinner, we continued to walk around the basement of Sunshine City Complex and we found a Mac Donald. Papa bought a packet of fries and got Mama an ice cream cone. But look who's enjoying it instead. ;p

Then, we went back to our hotel room where Mama washed me up and put me to bed. This is me in my sleepwear. As I am not in the habit of using a blanket, Mama decided to have me wear 2 layers of clothes to sleep so that I would not catch a cold, hopefully. This is especially because I am unable to articulate if I really do feel cold and so Mama thought it's better to dress me more warmly :)

(On our first night in the room, bed for me was actually a bathrobe spread open on the carpeted floor. But in the middle of the night, when Mama found me standing at the foot of her bed, she carried me onto her bed to sleep between her and Papa. )

Meanwhile, Papa went out on his own to explore the surroundings of our hotel. By the time he came back, I was already asleep....