so what exactly happened on Day 7????

Hello this is Nicholine and i'm going to tell everyone what exactly happened on Day 7.

Yes, I lost my phone and I only knew about this when we were on the train back to the hotel! I was totally shocked and many thoughts just run through my head.
1. Oh gosh, my parents are going to scold me.
2. Everyone looks so happy on the train and I don't want to break the news to them about my lost phone.

I didn't want to spoil the mood of the team and decided to keep the news to myself and ended up chewing vigorously on my chewing gum to vent my frustration. Yes, vigorously.
Then, I looked back on where I may have left it behind. And I remembered seeing my phone for the last time at the Nara Park's restaurant!

So when we transiting to the next train at the Nara Station, I've decided to tell everyone that my phone is lost :X
Instead of blaming me, everyone supported to go take a look at Nara Park even though it was rather late. I'm really grateful to everyone for being so supportive of finding the phone!!

When we reached the Nara Park @ night, it was a different feeling. It was cold, quiet, with some deers crossing the roads peacefully. Yet, our mind was to find my phone at the restaurants. Unfortunately, the restaurant we went was already closed and no one can be found on the streets. I was like "Oh No, my phone can't be found by today ):"

However, our saviour came!! A guy appeared from one of the shops nearby. We immediately run towards him, hoping that he know the shop owner of the restaurant we went! The guy, who was about to close his shop knew that we were anxious about my phone and immediately went to the  restaurant. We were surprised that there is a doorbell and the restaurant is the house of the shop owner! This is actually how the Japanese lives :O Sadly, no one replied to the doorbell. The shop owner told us that usually all lost & found items can be found at the police station nearby. He immediately gave us the police number of the area and asked us to make a call. We then made a phone call to the police. We also left a note at the restaurant to call us when they found the phone!

After this incident, we are grateful that the shop owner was there to support us and ensure that we get sufficient help to find my phone despite the wee hours and it was time for them to sleep. THANK YOU :)

The police was also kind to tell us that he will send us the phone back to SG if they could not find it the next day. Samuel was awesome in helping to provide my personal details to them to ensure that they can contact us in the next few days.

After that looong night, we rushed back to hotel, taking the last train home. It was indeed a scary night. Though I was worried about my phone, but I knew that the team supported me in many ways and we prayed hard that my phone could be found.

*THE NEXT DAY*

IT WAS A GREAT DAY! The ramen shop auntie called to say that they had the phone and apologise for not contacting us earlier. I felt happy and could not believe that a miracle would happen in Japan. Thinking that their society is safe and has trust, the Japanese auntie has proven that the people here are really nice!! Then, we immediately rush down to collect our phone and thanked her so much. The auntie mentioned that they intend to bring our phone to the police until they saw our note to her :) They are really efficient and 真的以人为本！！！


This whole incident brought about problems such as re-scheduling of plans and losing of sleep by the team. But I'm glad that I was able to find my phone and we could get into contact with the Japanese people and know who they exactly are!!

So, after reading this post, I would like to thank everyone in this team and the Japanese people who helped to find my phone! :)

Day 7 - NARA!

I spy....

I sniff...

Hmmm...I wonder what is that....

IT'S NARA DEER PARK!

We had our first bus ride in Japan from JR Nara Station to the park and visited the deers :)

We made our first few observations here! The route that the bus takes is actually quite convenient on foot as well! As such, few people actually take the bus and most of them are actually the elderly. The bus also stops for longer intervals at bus stops to ensure that all that wants to come aboard will have a chance, and we did not see anyone running towards the bus, afraid that it will leave without them -- A common sight in Singapore. Perhaps this is one of the ways Japan takes care of its ageing population :D

Having arrived at the Nara Deer Park, we were deceived by the deers...
Though these deers may look cute...

They're persistent and scary when you have food >:(

Apart from just observing Japanese behaviour, we also observed the behaviour of the deers!

Male deers have their horns cut off to ensure the safety of the people in the park. However, we spotted this "alpha-male" deer attempting to sharpen his already cut off horns, perhaps he's trying to look more attractive to the female deers haha :D

We also spotted a number of pregnant deers!

Deers also make good pokemon, below are the 4 attacks you can choose from when you have a deer as a pokemon.

Haha just joking! The deers in the Nara Park are intrinsically wild animals and they do attack people when aggravated :x However, they are also very shy animals and gets afraid easily when humans get close to them.

Here is Wei Lin feeding the deer a fallen leaf after many attempts :)

This beautiful deer is so accustomed to humans that she doesn't mind that we're so close to her, a rare sight indeed. :)

We visited the Todaiji Temple inside Nara Park as well, and the temple looks like it has acquired deer horns too! *Spot the 2 horns growing out from its rooftop*

The temple is home to the largest Buddha statue in Japan!

As compared to the temples back at home that are solely for worshipping, this temple was much too touristy for our liking :x It was more of an exhibition of the history of the temple and a place to sell religious/ superstitious merchandises instead. There was a pillar with a narrow square at the bottom in this section of the temple that is said to bring good luck to whomever who climbs through it. Though it may look foolish to attempt to crawl through this small little hole, many people were seen attempting to get through it so as to get some good luck. Naturally, we decided to take up this challenge to bless ourselves with some luck for the upcoming A Levels next year as well. I guess people are all the same despite nationalities, willing to go through 'hardship' to get good results.

Moving along our itinerary....we had a long train ride towards Asukamura, and everyone was evidently tired ><

Check out the countryside view from the train! Before long, we reached the outskirts of Japan, Asukamura! :D

We headed forth to the bicycle rental shop at around 3pm in the afternoon, only to find out that the full day rental for bicycles ends at 5pm...Regardless, we climbed onto rented bicycles and started our expedition in the village!

Look at how serious our first-man, aka navigator Wei Quan is!

The countryside air was refreshing and the view was beautiful. The atmosphere in Asukamura was definitely very different compared to the city in Tokyo and back at home, Singapore.

The people in the village farmed their own food and sold it within the village. We managed to spot a local small store and we realised that even though the store was close, the food was not kept or locked, reflecting the level of trust they must have within their small knit community in this village :D

We had a good snack in a pretty little cafe in the village.

We could also see that this cafe focused alot on ambiance and it was decorated very beautifully, the lighting and atmosphere of the cafe was relaxing and warm. However, there were very few people in the cafe. It was probably because the Japanese in the village are very family-oriented and since it was around dinner time, many of them were back home with their families instead of being outside :) 

After a small little break, it was time to go back for a well deserved rest....

BUT WAIT!

EMERGENCY!!

While we were travelling back on the train, one of us realised that she lost something and we had to go back to Nara Park and investigate!

*BLACKS OUT*

It was too bad we didn't manage to find what was lost...but the shopkeepers we approached at Nara Park were really helpful! Though the shopkeeper we first approached was already packing up his shop, he still followed us down to the restaurant of which we thought the lost item may have been dropped. Later on, he even roped in a fellow shopkeeper and both men stayed with us throughout the entire duration of making our police report. Finally, when we wanted to gift them with our lion mascots, they refused to accept it, emphasising on how they were simply helping others, without the need for rewards. The actions of the two men really warmed our hearts and made us feel trustful towards the Japanese society in times of need. This incident may actually be a blessing  in disguise as we managed to experience first hand the helpfulness of the Japanese!

Now we finally head forth for dinner at our trusty local favourite KFC!

We were the last few customers and apart from Mr Samuel Claus in the above picture, if you look closely at the back of this picture, by the time we were done, the staff at the counters were already gone >< But the amazing thing was that even though it was already past the closing time, none of the staff hurried us along and chased us out of the place, unlike back at home where there are news of some incidents of which shopkeepers chased their customers out because it was already past the closing time.

It was late by the time we reached the train station and we caught the last train back to the hotel, it was a scary experience as the station masters were about to lock us in and hurried us along :x We met 2 station masters on the way back. Though one was patient with us and activated the escalator for us to hurry out of the station, the other station master was really annoyed at us and we got to see the negative side of the Japanese culture when time awareness was concerned >< Different from the KFC staff, this station master made us run and followed us closely behind to make sure we were out of the station quick :x

For more pictures on our journey, do check us out on Facebook! :D

Day 6: KANI NABE!

Nonono... We're not scolding anyone here! Kani Nabe is actually a japanese dish! stay tuned to find out more!!!

Today we will be bringing you to many many places in the beautiful Osaka!! After our breakfast at a convenience store in Noda, we will head towards the first destination...

Osaka Castle!! :D

  

 Sunny and yellow Ginkgo trees

Wait! before we continue.. With such a nice scenery, of course we'll have the handsome guys and pretty girls

In the olden days, the Osaka Castle uses water boundaries to keep off their enemies! Today, the enemies and gone and there are ducks instead  :D

Outside the main entrance of the Osaka Castle!

Let's continue our trip! We can see the castle from far already! :D

Finally we reached the gates of the Osaka Castle! We are greeted by the brave Japanese Samurai!

How to get in the castle??? Everybody let's FLY high up!!

We have explored our first mission! The next mission is to visit the Shitennoji Temple! The first and oldest Buddhist temple in Japan!!

A historic pavilion of the Shitennoji Temple :) 

Group photo at the Shitennoji Temple! Notice the attractive autumn leaves at the back! :D

Wait a minute! what are all these old devices?? OH! There's a flea market sale and someone is selling antiques from the past!!

Is that a DSLR I see?! No they are actually the grandfathers of DSLRs! The very first few digital cameras! :D

Food! I smell food!!

What an unusual animal! guess what this is!

It is a ferret! They are common pets in Japan!

After all the exploring and expeditions, we are hungry and need to recharge our batteries!! Here we are at Dotonbori, the famous food paradise!

The gorgeous lights in the night!

Dotonbori is most well known for its crabs!!! Look at the barbequed crab meat!

DekimaSEN Wei lin enjoying the crab!

Takoyaki balls!!!

Enough of snacks, let's head over to the dinner! This gigantic crab can actually move!

Presenting to you... *Drumrolls* *clap clap dance dance*

KANI NABE (Crab Hotpot)!

 

  

  

Crab sushi!

Final photo of the day!

What an eventful day! Stay tuned as we bring you to more places in Japan!!! :D