Olympus Stylus Tough-8000

Tough-8000 is a brand new model from Olympus this year with a shockproof, waterproof, freezeproof, crushproof, and shakeproof body. I was quite impressed by the review, and got one in Akihabara, the electronic world in Tokyo. It's always convenient to have a digital camera with a smaller body. I like the fact that I can drop it, take it 10 meters under the water, or even accidentally step on it. Having a toddler who's always curious what I do with my camera, I'm not afraid to let her play with this one. I doubt she'll break Tough-8000. Best of all, it takes stunning pictures.


I'm very happy with the shutter speed of its action mode when you half-press the shutter button before the shot. With the fast shutter speed, you can capture really special moments. I took this one at Tokyo Sea Life Park when Nick was throwing Evania up in the air. They were having such a happy moment. It was so beautiful with the blue sky in the background. I just couldn't resist snapping away.

By the Stained Glass Door

I took this photo of my little girl at Ishiya Chocolate Factory in Sapporo. She was drawn to this beautiful stained glass door situated near the entrance, and stood there for quite a long time. Perfect photo opportunity for me. I took a couple of them with flash. Flash kills the natural light coming through the glass. It was difficult to take photos without flash under the low light setting, but because she didn't move much, I was able to snap a few without flash. This one turned out to be one of the best.

Ramen Noodle Bar in Sapporo

Becoming a favourite place for us to get a bite on the run during this trip, the numerous Ramen noodle places dotting the Sapporo city center offer not only convenience but more importantly a variety of mouth watering selection of the local noodle dishes that have become world famous.


Anyone traveling with a toddler knows the best place to eat on the go is somewhere that’s spacious, noisy, and informal. While this Ramen noodle joint we came upon when strolling around in Sapporo lack the former two qualities, it more than made up for it with its authenticity, charm and a fabulous noodle selection. Tucked in nicely off the main road in the hub of the city, this typical Japanese noodle house appeared to cater to a mixture of the working crowd and the travelers. The tables were set close to one another, providing an intimate if not so private setting. The noodle bar was situated right at the center of the restaurant, and much like a Sushi bar, all the food preparation was performed in view of the customers.


The noodle dishes seem to have a strong seafood theme, with almost every dish containing some type of seafood ingredient. Menu with pictures adorned the wall, showing dishes ranging from giant scallop and tofu to cooked pork and egg with miso base. The price was reasonable, with the most expensive being the giant scallop noodle, priced at about 1500 Yen.


We selected a fried Ramen noodle dish with squid, shrimp, and vegetable, and the house special scallop dish. The fried noodle dish (seen in the photo above) was wonderfully flavoured with just the right amount of salt, and the squid tasted quite tender. In case you're wondering what the black objects are in the noodle, they are black fungus, a type of edible jelly fungus, widely used in Asian cooking. Yeah, I know it sounds yucky, but it tastes yummy. The main attraction still belonged to the house special scallop noodle. Those jumbo scallops at first appeared to be some sort of large oyster mushroom, but one bite was enough to mark this dish a must-have for future visits. In addition to the exotic flavour of scallop in such size, it was cooked slowly in the soup base so the soup embodied so much of its texture and flair. I regret not having photographed it. As you could imagine that it was a huge challenge minding my little one in such a setting.

However, we were much rewarded for our little find, leaving us another regret that we could not pack up this little piece of delight and bring it back home with us.

First Day in Japan

First day in Japan was a bit rough. JAL lost one of our suitcases with all of Nick's and my clothes in it. Jet lagged, we were up about, hoping to find a department store to buy a few essential things. We came upon this big intersection in downtown core without a single soul on the street. Hum...where are all the people? Oh...we were away too early. Two hours later, this same intersection was full of traffic and pedestrians coming and going all directions.




We were told ESTA was a big department store right by JR station, where we could find things we need. We waited around for its business hours. Ten o'clock came, and it finally opened. To our surprise, the first 3 floors were all electronics including cameras, cell phones, ipods, laptops, and LCD TVs. Each floor was comparable to a single Future Shop here. What caught my eye was the price of PS3 seen in the photo below.


With the currency exchange rate, it's only around $100 CAD, a lot lower than the going price in North America. There has to be a catch here, written in plain Japanese except that we don't understand a word of it. Someone please tell me what's on the price tag.

Booking Hotels for Japan

When Nick and I decided that Japan would be our next travel destination, I was excited about all the planning ahead of me. Little did I know what the real challenge would be. I had a difficult time finding the right hotels for my family.

There are very few good English online reservation engines for Japanese hotels out there. The one I would recommend to most people is Rakuten. It's easy to use, and the search results are comprehensive. Not only can you sort the results by price (most people do), but you can sort them by user rankings. However, I didn't find a good package suit for my family.

The other one I came across is Jalan.net. It provided more packages within the same hotel than Rakuten. The only downside is that it's all in Japanese. I did find an English how-to guide on Jalan.net. It was helpful, but not sufficient. It is a basic guide on how to fill out the online search form; however, the search result is of course in Japanese. The only information I could make out was the total cost. I wasn't willing to jeopardize my family's vacation stay simply based on the dollar amount. I eventually had my Japanese friend help me with booking a hotel in Sapporo. I noticed something quite interesting from booking with Jalan.net. You actually do not pay in advance. Once you make your reservation, you'll receive an email from Jalan to confirm your stay, and that's it. You won't even have to provide your credit card information. The site is operated based on trust. I know it's a bit foreign to North Americans. Believe it or not, that's how things work in Japan.

If you are willing to take a bit of risks, you can try Priceline.com, where not only can you bid on hotels, you can also bid on flights and car rentals. The risk is that you don't know which hotel you'll end up with in advance. If you are traveling with families especially with children, this is probably not the best option for you. Hence, I opted out this option.

I also compared a couple of popular ones that most people use here in Canada like Expedia.ca and Hotels.ca. For the similar packages from the same hotel, the prices are a little higher on these sites. If you are price sensitive, these are not your best bets.

Of course, it doesn't matter which online reservation engine you use, the best way to find out about a particular hotel is to read reviews by real travelers. Before I make a reservation, I always go to TripAdvisor to find out what others say about the hotel.

Things to keep in mind when making a reservation:

• Most prices are quoted per person per night.


• Hotel taxes and charges are included in the price.


• Every hotel has its own cancellation policy. You should always check with the hotel.

I'll do another post on the hotels we stay for our trip, and let you know how they turn out.

My Little Precious

Here's what's kept me busy in the last little while.



Evania, 16 months, enjoys summer and loves the water park. There she was in her pink bikini, soaking up the sun.

What's new?

I have not written anything for a while, but instead have focused on caring for my little girl. I am, however, excited to be back blogging on my other two passions in life, travel and photography. I have been taking photos mostly of my daughter, as you can imagine. I will share some ideas and experiences on that subject in some upcoming posts.

I am going on a trip to Japan with my family, through the region of Sapporo and Tokyo area. This poses both as an enormous opportunity and challenge from an amateur photographer's viewpoint. Opportunity owing to the raw exotic beauty of rural and coastal landscape of Japan, presenting a intriguing canvas for capturing some unique shots. Challenge because there will certainly be a bevy of subjects worthy of pursuing yet finite amount of time at disposal.