Tokyo trip

Like a durian.. in essence... prickly on the outside, but a great experience overall....

We left on the 4th Oct via Singapore Airlines, and thank goodness we took the day flight. Although that really wastes a day in travelling... but with a kid...


First thing? I lost my BRAND NEW IPHONE. Could just kill myself already. The flight was eternally long, sucked out my energy trying to entertain an 18 month old toddler, then had to spend another hour and half trying to get to the accomodation in Azabu East. Left it probably in the taxi just when I was trying to pack everything else up to get out of the cab. Realised it minutes later but it was too late. And all we could remember of the taxi was that it was BLACK! Black!!! At bloody 8 pm. No dinner yet. Hungry child. Cold dark evening. No phone. Thank goodness the serviced apartment ( Ascott ) was right next to a heaven sent supermarket, where we bought take out to microwave in the room.

So.... after phone calls to 10 taxi companies later, I was resigned to the loss. Had to move on. No cot organised for the first night so we improvised and Madison slept on a combination of cot mattress/duvet and pillows on the floor. She lasted till 5Am. not bad.

First official day we went to DisneySea. Took us almost an hour to get there by train. Then it started drizzling just as we got to the front gates! But we stayed on and it was otherwise pretty great. M simply loves The Little Mermaid and Aladdin so those were the first 2 stops. Tried the mildest of the rides, the teacups but after 10 seconds she started shrieking and wanted out. Thank goodness the ride lasted an entire ??30s to few minutes?? Not sure. So no more rides. There were shows too, but they were all in Japanese apart from the songs. M didn't mind though. We were just thankful for the seats and shelter from the rain!! ( kidding )

You would think that in DisneySea they would have had proper child seats that could safely seat a toddler, but their idea of child seats were more like elevated smaller adult seats! As in, no safety harnesses or front bars that would hold a kid down! Not much toddler friendly food but she had some of ours and stuff that I prepared earlier to bring along.

At DisneySea they had cool popcorn buckets that you buy for Y1400 and get top ups at Y500. Everyone had them and I think they brought them back for refills at subsequent trips. There were popcorn carts throughout the park and each one had a different flavour. The park itself was huge, and amazingly clean. There were several sections with different themes that centred around water. At midday there was an amazing watershow that had jetskis, large water float with Mickey mouse and Minnie mouse, kites and even fireworks.


Day 2 and 3 were rainy rainy and cold.... failed trips to Ueno Park /zoo, Akihabara to look for replacement Iphone.. but we had fun back at the apartment pool and then Shiba Park, which was 5 minutes walk from the apartment. Dinner we bought back from the department stores to reheat. Restaurants in Tokyo didn't seem to have take out. We asked and it was "no...only eat in".


Tokyo Tower, right next to our apartment...



Half the time Chris was attending the conference in Shinjuku, so that meant I was by myself with Madison. OMG. The stuff I had to lug around plus her. Wouldn't be quite that bad if she didn't have to constantly squirm and take her shoes and socks off! But in all fairness, it was pretty fun to hang out with her SOME of the time. Best part was probably just lounging around the apartment, splashing in the pool ( which she fell ASLEEP in ! That was how tired she was !) having picnic breakfast/lunch/snacks on the carpet floor. ( no child seat either in the apartment!) We also went to the nearby park so she could run around, go down the slides.


We did have a great dinner out at Roppongi Hills one of the nights. It was a grill/ bar type of place that seemed pretty chic, but were surprisingly accomodating of M. Despite dropping the small jar of soy sauce on the table and couch within seconds of being seated!!! Thank goodness we eat early. They had some amazing grilled chicken, bacon wrapped asparagus, noodles and a veg dish that had the thinnest sliced cuts of various root vegetables that were fried. We also had a piece of codfish that was grilled to perfection.



Had to lug her cutlery around Tokyo too, most places didn't have child friendly cutlery either. Japanese kids must be able to use chopsticks really early!


The best shopping mall in town in my opinion ( with a kid) was Takashimaya at Shinjuku. They have a pretty decent child section, with a gorgeous GAP store. Great diaper changing facilities too. I burnt some cash at the Gap store. There were the cutest kids gloves, scarves and beanies too, but a pity we live in a tropical climate.

I did muster the courage to go to the Ueno Zoo again. It was that or the Tokyo Sea life park at Kansai Rinkai. ( which was another wasted trip on typhoon day--wednesday, when the train to the park was stopped due to the weather. That was after we'd spent over half an hour getting to that stop!! And the taxi queue stretched like a snake. No buses. Sigh)


Ueno park is a gorgeous park. I didn't have time or energy to wander through the park, but I did go to the zoo. The animals were all behind bars, but the enclosures seemed pretty decent. Some pretty interesting animals there, like a wolf, poisonous snakes and orange pink flamingoes. Again, no child seats at lunch. Plenty of park benches to have your meal, but if you are like Madison and simply cannot sit still then most likely you would end up falling OFF the bench like she did. I think the tears were probably more of embarrassment???!!



There was a section where kids could touch the animals, like lamb, sheep and whatever sane birds would allow the kids to touch them. If you asked me they looked a little sedated but that's my opinion! They're probably just really used to the kids??!!


The grand finale was the 7 hour flight back. OMG. First there was a delay in taking off. NO problem for adults. Just go to sleep. Try keeping a toddler fastened down safely while waiting for the plane to take off! The rest of the flight was a tag between Chris and me to keep her from wailing too MUCH. I was really exhausted and at one point just simply fell asleep. I don't know how people can travel alone with a toddler!

Narita Airport, Tokyo


The best part was at the luggage carousel. When M saw her grandfather at the arrival hall she just TOOK OFF and headed straight out the glass doors without even turning back! Guess she was sick and tired of her parents too! When we got back last night we had the LUXURY of depositing her at my parents' place while we went home, had a great shower and DINNER out. And replaced my Iphone. At M's expense( ie her college fund!!)!