the travels blog

2 weeks of food wedding sightseeing and more food

Part 1 - Singapore

Part 2 - Singapore

Part 3 - Jakarta

Part 4 - Wedding (part 1of3)

Part 5 - Wedding (part 2of3)

Part 6 - Wedding (part 3of3)

Part 7 - Bali

Part 8 - Bali

Part 6

reception (wedding part 3 of 3)

reception set up

Part 5

mini photoshoot + tea ceremony (wedding part 2 of 3)

mini photoshoot before the tea ceremony - our family

Part 4

the ceremony (wedding part 1 of 3)

getting ready for the ceremony

Part 2

Singapore!

Part 1

Singapore!

yay $350 QF to singapore!

Day 3! time to head out to and explore the 170 acres as well as Hahndorf before catching our flight back

disclaimer - most of these photos are JG's

our "backyard"

we stayed in a 170acre farm, and it was time to check out Barossa for some wine tasting!

the bird that kept on wanting to come in the house

Time for some long weekend (thanks Labour day!) getaway to Adelaide, South Australia!

our virginblue plane to ADL (didnt even know they still have virginblue planes, thought it was all virgin australia)

Thredbo 2013 - we gambled on the early season deal... and lost.

Early season Perisher

11 days of epic snow and food. japan seems to never disappoint

we called ourselves.. the Niseko Rugrats. yeah.

Day 0 - Sydney & Tokyo

Day 1 - Tokyo, Sapporo & Niseko

Day 2 - Niseko

Day 3 - Niseko

...more...

Day 4 - Niseko

Day 5 - Niseko

Day 6 - Niseko

Day 7 - Niseko

Day 8 - Niseko & Sapporo

Day 9 - Sapporo & Tokyo

Day 10 - Tokyo

early morning start for Tsukiji fish markets for the best sushi in the world!

tsukiji fish markets and the crazy mobile cargo transporter thingys

this is what you do while you wait 3.5 hours for sushi... the legendary line for sushi

a mini cooper just hanging, inline for sushi

sushi dai!

we got the omakaseeeee

our sushi chef. same one we got one year ago (almost exactly!)

getting ready for an awesome sushi omakase experience (again!)

Ootoro (fattest tuna belly) - so fatty and so awesome! just melts in your mouth!

sea bass

maguro (tuna)

thick and fluffy tamago

uni (sea urchin)

hamachi (yellowtai) - one of my favourite sushi pieces!

baby shrimp - really sweet :)

tai (red snapper)

tuna maki

aji (horse mackarel)

anago - saltwater eel

hokkigai (surf clam) - it moved!

abalone :)

liver of fish

sperm sac of cod fish

all three going for sperm sac

HAHAHA AL DID NOT LIKE IT

after an awesome sushi omakase at sushi dai, we went to ginza for a stroll... and ended at at Laduree! yay! if you dont know what Laduree is, i recommend google!

ladureeee

laduree macarons!

what we got :) fancy fancy! it is our last day of travelling :)

rose and framboise macarons

fancyyyyy

the cafe itself is posh

us at Laduree

ginzaaaaaa

eh my first experience into an A&F store. it was.... wtf.

LARGE strawberries!

after Ginza, it was onwards towards Narita for our flight home!

at Narita Airport! we can back, and hopefully we'll come back again! thanks Japan, you have been awesome!

our flight home was FULL of japanese school kids, we assume for an excursion to Australia. sigh. 

spend the morning looking for new snowboard boots in Kanda

and no, i didnt buy these.. i wanted to though!

NT and JS trying the sperm sac of cod

haha the reactions while eating it

grilled engawaaaaaa

harajuku! during the day this time!

PH in tokyo <3

<3 ispahan love. once i tried this in the paris bonaparte shop of PH, i have declared this to be the best cake/sweet/dessert in the whole world. and i get to try it again. <3

MINEEEE

after PH - it was back to shibuya and this time we tried L'Occitane Cafe! yes yes its a cosmetic brand but they have a cafe!

AL's drink

for dinner, we tried soba, and the better soba place is right next door. we just settled lol, and for the inferior, possibly. damn roppongi and its confusing nature

bright lights of Roppongi, Tokyo

time to leave Sapporo onto the capital

ola Sapporo, the view from our room

bye sapporo!

some weird rockmelon bears..

that decided to take a bite of JS!

on our monorail to hammamatsucho

hmmm looks auspiciously like someone..

ah yes. NT.

the ever efficient japanese shinkansens

on our way to shibuyaaaa!

the stupendous amount of people at Shibuya on a Saturday night

the awesome standing sushi bar that MZ, SK and JG and I went last time we were in Shibuya, and that AL missed! he finally made it! on his second trip!

ootoro, hamachi and aji

AL and the old but awesome chef that served MZ and SK last time

more ootoro, engawa and aburi salmon mayo

the spotting.. haha

the small but famous hachiko statue. a meeting point for everyone, this dog statue at shibuya

after meeting SN - we decided to try this themed restaurant where according to JS, hamish and andy went. it was called alcatraz ER. this was the entrance.. hmm..

we were seated.. in a jail cell. yeap thats right.

the menu.. yeah..

someone... is scared. they created this scary scene where all the lights turned off and they went around scaring people in their jail cells..

the ER component... their poured out drinks from supposedly IV drip style things

HAHAHA NT ORDERED A STRAWBERRY YOGHURT FROM A BABY BOTTLE AND THEY FORCE FED HER LOL

the outside of the weird themed restaurant

it was time to leave Niseko, via a 3 hour bus to downtown Sapporo..

but hello Sapporo!

SAPPORO!

walking down to Odori Park where the ice and snow sculptures are at

the ice sculptures!

more photos of the ice sculpture

some of them were made solely for marketing their restaurants

the KFC man burger is in Japan!

time for AL and I to reminisce and have some dessert at this place in Sapporo

the desserts we can choose from!

my dessert! it was some yummy gelatine thing!

making mochi right in front of us!

geez guys, a bit of a smile while buying mochi would be appreciated!

downtown Sapporo

anyone for... sperm sac of cod? and lots of it..

pokemon center in sapporo!

and it was down to Odori Park to check out the snow sculptures at night... first was a snowboard jumping and tricks exhibition

wow thats pretty high!

then we went and saw some snow sculptures:

a lot of good snow sculptures!

dinner!

yayyyy embracing my inner child

day 6 of boarding - our last day :(

HAHA JS! he tried to lead us down this path with trees, turns out it ended in a cliff and he fell face forward and his skis came off. it was like a 1.5m drop into powder lol. thanks for sparing me from the fall dude. time to reverse.. beep beep beep

i found a twin on my last day! turns out he's from NZ!

last lunch in Niseko - 308g steak from Hanazono 308

so... i realised something was wrong while going down blueberry fields.. turns out my wiring system on my boots broke. my BOA broke :( 

so... at lunch i got a couple of rubber bands and used it to hold the tongue of my boots and boarded half a day on rubber bands!

last run of the trip - spot AL there

last run down hirafu!

day 5 of boarding

on the bus to Annupuri since they closed the Niseko Gondola

someone chose a random route through the trees, look where he ended up lol

waiting for everyone at the bottom of annupuri

walking towards a soba place that was... closed. hi NT!

ordering from a computer at annupuri for lunch instead

the choices of food 

someone had some alcohol with lunch =P

off piste skiing down gate 7 at annupuri

we ready down off piste? yeap

you guys ready too right? :)

buffet at the hotel! yay chocolate fountain