Sunday, July 19, 2015
Crafting bug!
So these days, I've gotten quite a crafty vibe, whenever I am able to overcome my laziness that is. I'm currently dabbling with Crochet, beading and Silver Clay crafting.
Naturally when you do a craft... you need materials don't you? Well, for beading it's easy. Just go to Chinatown and you get lots of beads stores. Silver Clay is not so easy. For PMC, there is only one supplier in Singapore and that is Naoko who runs N'Craft Room (co-located within Beads etc in Orchard Central)
Crochet.. you need yarn and the options for boutique / handmade yarn in Singapore isn't that large. The favourite yarn in Singapore is pretty much acrylic.. so if you want something different, it's really not too easy. Fortunately in this day and age, it's easy to buy stuff online and my favourite online yarn supplier is Eat Sleep Knit. Buying yarn from them is so fun! Yes, I admit that it is so fun that I tend to buy more then I really should but the yarn that they have is so pretty! The prices are comparable (if not better) to other websites, and they have a fun yarn lotto where you get a scratch card that gives you a chance to win prizes of store credit. My favourite part of buying yarn with them is the yarnathon... basically it tracks the amount of yarn you buy in a year and gives you rewards for spending. Now isn't that a good reason to spend more money??
Do pop over to Eat Sleep Knit to take a look at the yarn on offer. There may be some yarn that is not suited for Singaporean weather.. but there are plenty of beautiful options available for everything else you could want to make! And I certainly do hope that the crafting bug hits Singapore in a big way!
6 Adorations
Naturally when you do a craft... you need materials don't you? Well, for beading it's easy. Just go to Chinatown and you get lots of beads stores. Silver Clay is not so easy. For PMC, there is only one supplier in Singapore and that is Naoko who runs N'Craft Room (co-located within Beads etc in Orchard Central)
Crochet.. you need yarn and the options for boutique / handmade yarn in Singapore isn't that large. The favourite yarn in Singapore is pretty much acrylic.. so if you want something different, it's really not too easy. Fortunately in this day and age, it's easy to buy stuff online and my favourite online yarn supplier is Eat Sleep Knit. Buying yarn from them is so fun! Yes, I admit that it is so fun that I tend to buy more then I really should but the yarn that they have is so pretty! The prices are comparable (if not better) to other websites, and they have a fun yarn lotto where you get a scratch card that gives you a chance to win prizes of store credit. My favourite part of buying yarn with them is the yarnathon... basically it tracks the amount of yarn you buy in a year and gives you rewards for spending. Now isn't that a good reason to spend more money??
Do pop over to Eat Sleep Knit to take a look at the yarn on offer. There may be some yarn that is not suited for Singaporean weather.. but there are plenty of beautiful options available for everything else you could want to make! And I certainly do hope that the crafting bug hits Singapore in a big way!
Saturday, July 04, 2015
Hokkaido & Tokyo July 2015 (Day 1)
After much procrastionation during planning... it's finally the day for me to start on this trip with my friends!!
First an overview of my trip.
Airfare: $966.30. Singapore to Tokyo, Tokyo to Sapporo. Via ANA.
Accomodation: Approximately $560 for 8 nights. Single Room. Toyoko Inn.
No rail passes as we don't move around enough for that.
Target areas: Sapporo, Cape Kamui, Furano.
And so we met up in Changi Airport on the night of 3Rd as our flight was due for departure at 0035 on 4th July. Our flight departure was delayed for around 20 mins. We were not sure why but they stated 'preparations'. The flight was quite bumpy and we seemed to have made a slight detour between Singapore and Manila, sol thinkwas quite bumpy and we seemed to have made a slight detour between Singapore and Manila, so l think that the delay may have been due to the pilot filing changes to the flight plan?
Anyway, l was initially chill as the ETA was 0843. However, that time kept getting pushed back.... and I was getting worried about being able to catch our connecting flight. This worry was mainly due to the fact that I did not book the flights on the same ticket and so we were not checked in through to Chitose. I felt that we wouldn't be able to clear customs, pickup luggage and check in before the cutoff time.
There were quite a few people on our flight making the same connection, but I was sure they were checked in. Eventually, our flight reached Narita airport at about 45 mins after scheduled arrival time. My connection time was originally 90 mins.
Fortunately, there were ground staff outside the plane when we arrived, which I took as an 'attendance taker' to figure out how many people they had to expect. After informing the ground staff of our existence, we proceeded to clear customs, pickup luggage, Check in for the domestic flight , clear security and reached the gate in about 20 to 25 mins. That must be some personal record that I have no interest to break.
We made it to Sapporo without any further adventures.
The first thing I did was to try and book reservations for Café Eorzea at Lawson, but dinner on 10th and 11th were sold out! Managed to get reservations for 1630 on the 10th, hope we can make it!
We had lunch at the airport and took the airport express to Sapporo (1050 JPY) and reached the hotel just in time for check in. We were so lazy to leave the rooms but we had to or else we would not get dinner!
Dinner was at Jinbei Restaurant which is located at B1F of PASEO West near JR Sapporo. I kept reminding my friend that she needs to eat the Jinbei set as that set includes all the seafood specialties of Hokkaido for 3000 JPY. Quite a deal imho. She was even considering eating other stuff on the menu! she eventually settled for the Jinbei set and enjoyed it tremendously!
I on the other hand, had a simple salmon & Salmon roe don.
After dinner, we took the subway to Susukino station (200 JPY), and transferred to the Sapporo streetcar (170 JPY) to lriguchi Ropeway. From there, we hopped onto a free shuttle to Mount Moiwa Ropeway Station.
The roundtrip ticket for the Ropeway costs 1700JPY but I think discount vouchers are easily available. Unfortunately, the view from the observatory was misty but we still decided to go up anyway. The city lights were visible while on the Ropeway and it was quite pretty! If only we could have a better view from the observatory... The last time these friends and l were at Victoria peak 10 years ago, it was also misty.... hmmm.
We ended up literally chilling on the roof of the observatory and left with Hokkaido Omiyage.
Took the streetcar (170 JPY) back to Susukino and we strolled back to our hotel, where warm showers and comfy beds awaited!
Nights! Sleeping after 36 hrs!
1 Adorations
First an overview of my trip.
Airfare: $966.30. Singapore to Tokyo, Tokyo to Sapporo. Via ANA.
Accomodation: Approximately $560 for 8 nights. Single Room. Toyoko Inn.
No rail passes as we don't move around enough for that.
Target areas: Sapporo, Cape Kamui, Furano.
And so we met up in Changi Airport on the night of 3Rd as our flight was due for departure at 0035 on 4th July. Our flight departure was delayed for around 20 mins. We were not sure why but they stated 'preparations'. The flight was quite bumpy and we seemed to have made a slight detour between Singapore and Manila, sol thinkwas quite bumpy and we seemed to have made a slight detour between Singapore and Manila, so l think that the delay may have been due to the pilot filing changes to the flight plan?
Anyway, l was initially chill as the ETA was 0843. However, that time kept getting pushed back.... and I was getting worried about being able to catch our connecting flight. This worry was mainly due to the fact that I did not book the flights on the same ticket and so we were not checked in through to Chitose. I felt that we wouldn't be able to clear customs, pickup luggage and check in before the cutoff time.
There were quite a few people on our flight making the same connection, but I was sure they were checked in. Eventually, our flight reached Narita airport at about 45 mins after scheduled arrival time. My connection time was originally 90 mins.
Fortunately, there were ground staff outside the plane when we arrived, which I took as an 'attendance taker' to figure out how many people they had to expect. After informing the ground staff of our existence, we proceeded to clear customs, pickup luggage, Check in for the domestic flight , clear security and reached the gate in about 20 to 25 mins. That must be some personal record that I have no interest to break.
We made it to Sapporo without any further adventures.
The first thing I did was to try and book reservations for Café Eorzea at Lawson, but dinner on 10th and 11th were sold out! Managed to get reservations for 1630 on the 10th, hope we can make it!
We had lunch at the airport and took the airport express to Sapporo (1050 JPY) and reached the hotel just in time for check in. We were so lazy to leave the rooms but we had to or else we would not get dinner!
Dinner was at Jinbei Restaurant which is located at B1F of PASEO West near JR Sapporo. I kept reminding my friend that she needs to eat the Jinbei set as that set includes all the seafood specialties of Hokkaido for 3000 JPY. Quite a deal imho. She was even considering eating other stuff on the menu! she eventually settled for the Jinbei set and enjoyed it tremendously!
After dinner, we took the subway to Susukino station (200 JPY), and transferred to the Sapporo streetcar (170 JPY) to lriguchi Ropeway. From there, we hopped onto a free shuttle to Mount Moiwa Ropeway Station.
The roundtrip ticket for the Ropeway costs 1700JPY but I think discount vouchers are easily available. Unfortunately, the view from the observatory was misty but we still decided to go up anyway. The city lights were visible while on the Ropeway and it was quite pretty! If only we could have a better view from the observatory... The last time these friends and l were at Victoria peak 10 years ago, it was also misty.... hmmm.
We ended up literally chilling on the roof of the observatory and left with Hokkaido Omiyage.
Took the streetcar (170 JPY) back to Susukino and we strolled back to our hotel, where warm showers and comfy beds awaited!
Nights! Sleeping after 36 hrs!
