Playing hard before Uni starts

We went to a place called Odaiba on Thursday. Since Uni is starting next Monday, we thought we should make the most out of our time here, hence planned a trip to the famous shopping heaven, (and a romantic place for couples at night).....Approximately 1 hour from our dormitory. My friend and I now have gained confidence in our direction after 10 days in Japan, and more praise to our acheivement in getting there without getting lost!! If you are good at directions, you probably have to imagine how meaningful it is to be able to get to a place without getting lost for direction blinds.

Monorail station! The name of the monorail is Lily seagull, beautiful isn't it?

The monorail track.

The interior of the monorail. There weren't many people because it was a public holiday morning and the rain was pouring.

Still I was very excited to be on the monorail, though my whole body was totally damped by the rain, including socks and shoes.......

The weather in Japan has been strange these days, one day it may be 32 degrees and another day it drops to 20 degrees. It's quite similar to the ever changing weather in Melbourne, isn't is? Seems like God is reminding me of the lovely Melbourne, and asking me not to forget about its beauty and of course the amazing people there.

The weather was not very good, but it didn't affect our excitement to go shopping~~ I think the scenery is still very beautiful on a rainy day here. I don't know why I don't mind rainy days as much anymore. I used to dislike rainy days as it usually made me feel low and lazy. But I don't mind it, and actually appreciates it for it brings down water. After going through years of drought in Melbourne, I realised how precious water is and how privileged are we to be able to use clean water freely. I really think it is God's grace for us that we are able to use these resources. Thank God also for Australia's abundant rain this winter.

Pretend to be sad because of the rainy day...

Here we are in the big shopping outlet-Venus Fort. A small version of the Ceasar Palace Shopping Mall in Las Vegas.
The colourful fountain, and above is the fake sky scene. Apparently the purpose of this is creating a day light atmosphere for customers to lengthen their shopping hours.

Jiang Jiang!! And this is the typical tourist photoshot~~

Factory outlet for some famous clothes brands.

Face portrait artist.
Japanese gift shop. They even sell Ninja customes!!

Fuji television building. A famous tourist spot, too.

Another tourist photoshot in front of a Ramen festival.

This was called Spring onion roast pork special ramen. It was super delicious!! The best ramen so far. It cost around $13 aussie dollars.

Talking about the price of food, one thing I would like to mention also is about the cost of living in Japan. Even though I have lived in Australia, I still feel the cost of living in Japan really high. I brought along around $1000 aussie dollars with me and I can bearly get pass until the end of September, and this is only for the expenses for daily living and most lunches. I feel I have not bought much stuff but have already spent more than I expected. Transportation in Japan is also known for its high cost. Before my handy card arrives (it takes forever to be allowed to open for a new bank account), I will have to tighten up my belt!

I took many photos at the start, but at the end, my friend and I got too tired we were not able to take out our cameras to take photos. Again, it was another day of intense walking with extraordinary weather condition. Having said that, I have felt more healthy these days and hope my blood circulation can improve through lots of walking.