Before we left for Taiwan my sister’s hair was terribly fried from a bad perm by a horrid hairstylist. She had been really upset at how her hair turned out and I told her to endure a week or two before attempting to rectify it so that her hair would have more time to recover before being subjected to more chemicals. And I also promised her that when we got to Taiwan I’ll scout a nice hairstylist to do some work on her hair since I too intended to do a little snip and retouch.

I asked around and we ended up at Cutti Hair Salon at Xi Men Ding, just a stone throw away from Rainbow Hotel. The best thing was that the stylist was very accommodating and even opened past midnight to finish up my sister’s extensive hair treatment, rebonding, color and cut.

After settling my sister down nicely and explaining to her hairstylist the cut, effect and color that I was hoping to achieve with my sister’s damaged hair I left the salon. I was only intending to do a quick touch up and trim while my sister had a 5-6 hour process to get her desired effect which meant I had time to grab a quick bite and some foot reflex massage with my mum before returning to the salon for them to work on my hair.

I had some nice pasta at a shop nearby and met this fur boy who almost look like the mascot of this joint. Whenever I go to countries that accept dogs in most restaurants and boutiques freely like Taipei, I always wish that I could bring Louis and Emmie along as well. Some dogs aren’t leashed in Taiwan and are pretty much free to roam around while the owner is living or eating nearby. The foot reflex was not bad though I didn’t take any photos. It was raining that day so my hair was pretty wet but since I had a hair appointment soon, I didn’t really mind. The pink cardi I wore only cost SGD8 and I bought it from one of the street sellers there!

Returning back to the salon, my sister was still I long way more from getting done.

I was ready for my cut, treatment and a good hair wash after being in the rain.

I really liked the rustic fan they had installed in the salon and being a pink and white themed salon made the place look so girly! Even my hair clip and wristlet blended in.

This Coach wristlet was a birthday gift from Sushi dear and it served me well my whole Taiwan trip. Thanks babe! As for the pink ribbon, I bought it in Korea many many years ago and it was one of my favorite hair accessories for 6-7 years. Unfortunately, 2 days after I returned to Singapore I lost it. To make things worse, Sushi gave me a similar one and I was just showing her how similar they both were when I lost both of them on that very same day. I never knew what happened to them I got home and just couldn’t find them even though they were supposed to be in my bag. If there are any kind souls that visit Korea and come across my ribbon please help me buy one back!

I finished about an hour or two earlier then my sister so I was cam-whoring with the mirrors while waiting for her to be done.

Here’s my sister with her stylist after a whole evening of work! Her hair and cut might not look spectacular but it was a very impressive improvement from the time she first walked in. All her damaged ends were cut and the remaining salvaged and tamed beautifully. She also has no more frizzed dried hair with a lovely healthy color.

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Renzze is having a yard sale! Together with Sushi (the other half of WuChaCha), and Melva of nailvibe. Come grab some fantastic pre-loved clothes, new outfits, nail polishes, shoes and more!

All happening on the 8th of November! See ya there!

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Before I move on to part 2 of Wendy’s and Patrick’s dinner, here’s a short post on my hair and makeup for the evening portion of the wedding.

Well, after lunch, I went to meet Clara and Gio in town.

Clara’s magical hands transformed my simple and plain day look into a more glamorous one! As much as I love to dress up, I can never seem to do really nice makeup. Or maybe I lack the patience.

Few people know this but Clara does hair and makeup as a side service on top of her usual nail services. If you want to hire an affordable MUA for a dinner or for a special occasion, you can contact her at petitenailhouse@gmail.com or drop her a text at 96714115.

See how she did my eyes.

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This is gonna be my last post about my Tokyo trip with my girls. The whole trip was planned to give Sushi a unique Hen’s Night so we couldn’t leave Japan without having at least one real hens’ night outing with some challenges!

We met some lovely Japanese people and 2 very friendly and helpful lads that took us to a hip hop club so we could have some girly fun! One of them actually knows Sharon Au (they studied together in Japan) and he was a little surprise when he found out she wasn’t kidding with him when she told him that she was pretty famous in Singapore… lol.

As a part of her hens night challenge, Sushi had to wear a singlet on which we wrote in Japanese – ” I’m going to be married soon. If you think I’m pretty, sign on my shirt!” or at least something along those lines.

And despite the language differences, it wasn’t too difficult a tasks cause the Japanese folks at the bar were really friendly and spontaneous! With most laughing away with us and happily congratulating Sushi. I’ll let the photos do the talking of our night out. You can click on the photo below if you want to see the larger version.

The night ended well with the singlet top filled with signatures! All from men of course except for the small little compliment on the front of the top that says ” You are really pretty” by one of the Japanese girls at the pub.

After all that partying, we slid on our trench coats and walked in the crisp morning air to the nearest Danny’s for some extremely early breakfast!

The boys came along with us. In Tokyo, the culture is that they party till dawn so they can catch the subway home.

Here are the food pictures!

The boys sent us home to our hotel after exchanging contacts. So sweet right?

We spent the rest of the next day shopping at Shibuya 109! We were too busy shopping that I didn’t have time to snap any photos! But you can be sure all of us were really happy with our purchases and wished we had more luggage space to bring back even more stuff!

I don’t normally blog about my buys but I’ll blog about a few items I absolutely regret not getting (or not buying more of ) at Peach John when I was at Shibuya 109.

Firstly is these 2 gorgeous apron. I felt it was a pretty frivolous buy since it is way too pretty (and expensive) to be dirtied in the kitchen but the moment I was on the plane I regret not getting it. Sigh. I really really like the blue one… and mildly considered the pink one cause it was on sale for 1/2 price.

Secondly, is these 2 pouches I bought for my girlfriends back home… I wanted to get another one for myself too but they only had 2 pieces in stock at the Shibuya 109 branch and I didn’t have time for them to transfer pieces over for pickup at another time.

Lastly is this Peach Johns Instant Make-Up Cream. Since Peach John is actually a lingerie store I didn’t trust their make-up products and only bought this tube on a whim cause I got attracted to the packaging and all it promises. But I find it to be really good! Fine and light textured and absolutely natural. It’s an all in one moisturizer, lifting primer, sunscreen SPF 25 PA++ and natural cover which is perfect for a lazy person like me. My make up routine consists of a 5 mins slap of this cream, eyeliner and falsies. Just 3 steps! And silly me only bought 1 miserable tube that will finish pretty soon! I should have tried it on in the store… then maybe I would have stocked up a few more.

So if any kind souls would like to help me buy these stuffs I left out on my trip please contact me at renzze@gmail.com if not I have to make another trip to either Japan or Hong Kong (they have one Peach John outlet) hoping they still stock these limited edition items.

Finally the time to leave Japan and return to Singapore has arrived.

We grabbed our last meal together in Japan at the airport and spent the rest of the time shopping around for boxes of goodies, spending whatever yen we have left.

Sweet Sushi gave each of us this sweet cookie ball at the airport to thank us for the memorable hens night she had and wonderful time she had in Japan. It’s so pretty I couldn’t bear to eat it till the day before the expiry!

And I got quite a number of queries from readers and friends about my cabin luggage. This is the only few close up pictures I have. I checked in my large baby pink Lojel luggage and still had this many things to hand carry up with me into the plane… lol… I absolutely bought too much!

Here’s a video of the Sushi’s Hens Night and the girls at the airport to sign off the last post of this Tokyo trip. Hope you guys enjoyed the photos.

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We had to pass small towns at the base of Mt Fuji.

Soon we were on the winding paths up Mt Fuji herself! We could see some small blooms of cherry blossoms… but were actually a week too early for the full cherry blossom bloom as they bloom much later than those in Tokyo city.

The forest at the base of the mountain is named Aokigahara. In Japanese folklore, Aokigarhara is a  forest inhabited by many demons, spirits and goblins. In the past, poor families will abandon their young children or old aged folks should they have no means to feed them. Till this day, Aokigahara is the number 2 top location in the world for sucides. ( The top spot goes to the Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco, US). The idea of a difficult and haunted forest has had some thrill seeking hikers try to hike the forest, hoping to catch a glimpse of the paranormal.

Mount Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan at 3,776 m and is surrounded by 5 lakes. It is an active volcano.

The summit of Fuji Mountain is regarded as scared and was forbidden to women till the Meji Era. Nowadays climbing Mount Fuji is a very popular sport. The local saying goes “ You would be a fool not to climb Mt. Fuji once—but a fool to do so twice.” The climbing season is in July and August.

In no time, we reached the 5th station. The highest point the coach can take you and the starting point for which climbers will start their accent up the mountain summit.

Sushi and I were first to get ourselves on the slopes of the mountain, bounding up steps and rocks like mad women. While Koji and Clara took their time taking photos at the base of the 5th station.

We all wanted to have our pictures taken on the snow capped Mount Fuji! It was a little tricky to navigate the slippery volcanic ash and melted snow slopes. Luckily I had on the rain boots I bought the other day.

Poor Clara wore flats and probably had the hardest time climbing.

Sushi was going all gaga from the mountain air… lol… but I have to say she dressed most appropriately for the trip!

If you’re wondering why crazy Renzze is wearing a dress to climb, well, I’m actually really tolerant to cold and I wore frilly shorts beneath my skirt so I won’t zao geng (run light). Of course the shorts made my middle a little bulkier than normal under the thin cotton dress… but when you’re having so much fun… who cares!

Sushi slipped and fell a couple of times, pretty gleefully though… lol. And we had a mini snow fight. Tried to take video of the snow fight but it was a lot easier to snow fight without having to hold the camera or focus on not damaging the camera in the process! Hehehe.

Even frozen Koji had a adrenaline rush! She took out her gloves so she can better take photos!

Here I am with my new companion! He looks perfectly happy against the white snow. I would so love to bring Louis and Emmie but since that isn’t possible, a representative has gotta do.

See how Sushi and I are carrying bags from the same cruise collection? Geez! The 2 of us have such similar tastes! I have the exact same bag as her and almost brought it on the trip with me but I figured the speedy version would be more compact for my suitcase.

Clara had lots of small stones in her flats! I ended up being her tongkat (walking stick) for the descent. I guess being short meant that I had a lower center of gravity and thus have no problems with balance.

One last look at the pretty landscape and the peak before heading into the coach! We were really lucky cause the sky was so clear that we were able to see the peak. That moment passed quickly and soon the peak was enveloped in clouds.

We were taken down Fuji Mountain and towards Hakone for lunch in a hotel resort up in the mountain.

We certainly looked forward to lunch after expanding all that energy on Mount Fuji. The hotel restaurant was surrounded with glass that allowed us to appreciate the greenery and the beauty of the nature around us.

That is the view from my table. So calming right?

There was a choice of western (catered) or japanese (self-order) cuisine. We took the japanese one. However, on hindsight, while the western one may be more expensive, it would have been much more filling and thus more value.

I would have love to have more time to explore the hotel surroundings cause we passed a beautiful garden coming in. But since we were on a 1 day tour, we had to be on schedule.

Our adventures are far from over but I need my beauty sleep so I’ll leave you all with a video from the Mount Fuji visit and continue in my next post.

PS – I’ve already watched Transformers 2 and it’s fantastic! Don’t wanna spoil the show for you guys so go watch it soon! I even changed my banner with a transformers theme… =)  Do be patient and give it some time to load. Let me know if you like it!

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Here we all are… heading to Harajuku 原宿 . Street fashion capital in Tokyo. We were all geared up for a day of shopping and so not much pictures were taken at Harajuku itself! Most of the pictures were taken while we were on the train bound for Harajuku 原宿 station. I guess it’s also because Clara wanted to test out her new Lumix camera.

If you head to Harajuku 原宿 on a Sunday, you’ll see a lot of cosplayers in the area. My sister absolutely adores this place. We headed straight for Takeshita Street 竹下通り once we arrived.  Takeshita Street 竹下通り is located right in front of the JR Harajuku Station 原宿駅 and is impossible to miss!

In this extremely crowded streets you can find many independent stores selling everything from socks,lingerie,  accessories, street fashion, cosplay costumes and all the cutest stuff. School kids flock to this area after school ends to do their shopping as well. The shops in this area sometimes operate as a bellwether for up and coming street fashion with some of the stores selling prototype goods and outfits. It sends a buzz of excitement to be right in the middle of a area of trend-starters.

In the candid photos above you can see sushi’s glamourous bun with the lovely structured bow as well as a close up of Koji’s gorgeous braids. All of which are Ms Clara’s handiwork.

We had our lunch in one of the underground pasta cafes along the street. Lots of youth make up the general crowd. In fact we had a Jack Sparrow look-a-like just 2 tables away!

Looks good? Well it was pretty yummy! Definitely nicer than pasta mania.

As usual, I don’t blog about my shopping buys. But here is one exception… my new rain boots with glitter inlays ( so that it looks less fish monger style) which served me well when I head up to Fuji Mountain. One of my most practical buys and it wasn’t even very costly… less then ¥3000 if I remember right.

Enjoy the video that was taken with the new pink video cam I bought from Akihabara. Definitely not as good a quality as my professional sony one but it’s perfect for the small purse.

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I know quite a number of my readers had asked me before about where I did my nails and how much those extensions and art work costed me. Well, I usually do my nails at Petite Nails with Nail Guru, Clara at Club St. And I’m gonna have my next appointment really soon!!!! Cause there’s a promo! I love sales and promos.

I’m gonna share this promo with you so you get a cut on the good deal too.

Here are the terms and conditions…

Promotion is only eligible for first-timers, or if your nails are clean of acrylic.

(so do tell all your friends who have yet to try!)

Current clients with acrylic on your nails don’t fret! You do not enjoy this current promotion, BUT, you do get to enjoy a free soak off with every new set of acrylic done! (u.p $30)

This is an internet promotion. The discount will only be applied if you text the code word when you make your appointment.

Promotion is not applicable to package holders.

Promotion for the half-price acrylic extensions only applies if you do a full set of nail art with a minimum value of $50.

Promotion is applicable for Inlay designs. Gel top coat ($10) is not included.

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Gosh! I’m leaving in a few hours yet again. And I haven’t even finish blogging about my London trip… I’m such a slow poke. This nomadic lifestyle though wonderful is starting to take a toil on me. I need to plan to stay in Singapore for a least 2 to 3 weeks straight! Maybe after CNY…

London’s iconic red telephone booth! Locals must think I’m mad when I started to take pictures at these booth but I liked the first photo so much I used it for my E-Christmas-Card. So I guess some of you have already seen that picture!

London is one of the place with gorgeous world-class museums. I could spend days just going from one to another. Yes I know… I’m kinda nerdy that way. There are over 240 museums just in London alone and a lot of them are clustered together in this area called the museum mile. So I’m sure everyone will be able to find one that will tickle their fancy.

I would try to cover in the post at least 1 out of the 3 largest ones I went. The first one I went to is the Natural History Museum. The museum is home to life and earth science specimens comprising some 70 million items within five main collections. You even have specimens collected by the Father of Evolution, Charles Darwin, himself.

As you can tell from the pictures, The Natural History Museum is famous for it’s collection of dinosaur skeletons as well as the fabulous architecture of the building itself. I personally am in love with the ornate design of the place.

Other then just dinosaurs… there is an area that have stuffings of a million birds. A lot of them collected in the victorian era when collecting birds for display was a very cruel but common hobby by the rich. This is what the extinct dodo bird looks like.

All the prehistoric animals and plants are quite amazing. Earth was so different then… and some parts of the earth and sea which have been untouched by man are still littered with these giants. You can even see “Archie” the giant 8m long squid which was captured in 2004 in the museum’s tank room. The remains of the whale that swam and got lost in the River Thames in 2006 is also in this museum.

At the geological wing, replica earthquakes can be felt and the whole plate tectonic and volcano formation is explained. Though I’ve learnt most of these in geography. Its a different feeling reading and leaning all over again especially when I just hiked up to a top of a volcano in my last Bali trip. (If you haven’t read about my Bali trip and would like to take a look-see, click here. ) Suddenly some of the rocks and formations I saw made better sense to me.

I could spend forever telling you the things I saw but then I’ll never make it to my flight… so I’ll pick a few photos for you. LIke this ostentatious 30 carat crystal among the many gems donated to the museum by wealthy precious stone collectors.

This is rather morbid tombstone clock but for some reason, I’m captivated by the words on it:

Nothing lives FOREVER.

Neither BODY

nor

SOILD ROCK.

R. I. P

restlessness in perpetuity.

I also found out Kryptonite from the Superman comics actually exists in real life. It is the only thing that weakens Superman according to the comics and it’s found here on earth! The writers of Superman Returns gave Kryptonite a fictional chemical formula of sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide with fluorine. But when scientist at the Natural History Museum analyzed a new mineral unearthed in Serbia they found that it contained the exact same formula! What a coincidence!

I also went to the V & A ( Victoria and Albert) museum followed by the Science Museum. Due to my current time constrains I’m gonna skip the most of the pictures of this 2 museums. But I have to say of the 3 museums.. V & A appeals to the younger crowd and has got the nicest decor inside. Especially the ceramic staircase. The insides of the V & A houses architectural designs of the victorian era with Elizabethan and Edwardian influences. The art works and the gorgeous chandelier in the entrance room are stunning!

In the Science Museum, you can see a collection of over 300,000 items including the oldest surviving steam locomotive, the first jet engine and an Apollo space capsule. The picture above shows the worlds’ first calculator… imagine something so big is now reduced to the size of our palm or even smaller. Technology is progressing at an astonishing rate.

I played a computer game acting at the Energy Minster of a country. Spot me in the screen? It’s a pretty tough job juggling energy needs, cost and environmental impact of the decisions.

Nissan has this super cute smart car that is intelligent enough to park and talk. And it’s eco-friendly too! I want one!

This chair is Toyota’s version of a smart car. It’s definitely more compact compared to the Nissan one and you could most likely drive it all the way from the office to your home’s dinning table just in time for dinner. But it’s too futuristic for me…I can’t imagine if you got into an accident along the way home!

The best part of the museums… I can always come back the next few days if I couldn’t finish it all in one day cause they are free! The whole idea is to allow free education and for those who would have benefited from this experience to donate freely to the museums.

The evening was spent leisurely at the local fun-fair and the local ice-skating ring.

 Would love to share more but I’ve gotta change and get to the airport now… and I may not get to blog as often as I’ve been doing but I will still reply to comments when I can =) Here’s the video.

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Went down all the way to Sunway just to get these J.Co donuts before heading up to Ipoh!

There were many beautiful greenery along the way and I would love to be able to take nicer and better shots but the fast driving and crowded highway that day kinda prevented that.

Lunch was Ipohs’ Sun Seng Fatt. The curry noodles is fantastic! I love love love the dry ones. I think I could have that 3 times a day! The Lam Noodles was not bad but not as good as the dry curry noodles. Looking at the pictures really makes me wanna go back there just to have those noodles. They are so popular that the store closes after lunchtime… around 2pm.

Finally, my outfit of the day pictures.

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I love my girlies… I do… but they are always tempting me with stuff! 

After I came back from BBK I told them I needed to stay away from shops and Sushi and Koji said I really shouldn’t miss the club 21 sales. So we all went…

And I ended up with 6 pairs of boots, 2 jackets, a dress, a scarf, a top and a cap! *faints*

My fave, the brown quilted Viktor and Rolf knee high boots. They are simply to die for! But I went home and realized they forgot to remove one electronic tag from my jacket and I’ve been flying around so much I didn’t get a chance to go down to the shop to get it removed… argh!!! Here’s the picture of the goodies…

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