In Asia, especially Taiwan, it is very common for ladies to be extra cautious to the exposure of UV rays and some go to the extreme by wearing a pair of gloves while driving.

And of coz to satisfy Hello Kitty fans like us, there is a Hello Kitty version of the ‘hand cover’, in the ever popular Pink shade!

It promises to be ultra thin and breathable so you won’t get hot wearing it. With this kind of cover on, you never have to worry about getting a sun tan watch on your arms!

On a side note, my mom got me something of similar nature from Japan, minus the Hello Kitty, but I am still not "brave" enough to wear that out on the streets!  (lol)

The Olympics will be starting in Beijing very shortly, and in the June issue of Strawberry news Hello Kitty dressed in panda clothes is bringing fans to Beijing with her:

I have been trying to find Hello Kitty dressed as panda on my last trip to Hong Kong but didn’t had much luck … if anyone spot them somewhere online please let me know!  =^.~=

It’s now official!  The Hello Kitty Resort which I have mentioned before will open on July 11th just in time for school aged Hello Kitty fans around the world to spend their summer holidays in.

To celebrate the grand openning, Rakuten Taiwan is working with Uniresort to give away one night of free accommodation at the Hello Kitty Resort on 7/11 (yeah, 7-11 is one of the sponsors for this contest too) to three lucky winners.  To get into the contest, all one has to do is to sign up for a new Taiwan account on Rakuten, unfortunately though, you must have a Taiwan ID to get a Taiwan account.

But those of us who ain’t Taiwanese can still buy a night’s stay on Uniresort’s page under Rakuten.  With starting rates of NT$19,800 for a family of up to 6 people, and two themes (English Charm or French Country) to choose from, many of the dates have already been booked. 

If you want to be one of the firsts to stay at this world’s first Hello Kitty Resort, be sure to check out the official site at Rakuten!    : )

As for me … I am not sure when I will be in Asia again! : (

There has been a Disney cruise for the longest time but there has yet been any Hello Kitty themed cruise, which makes me wonder when will Sanrio put Kitty on the sea?

And lately there are some related news - rumors is that Royal Wing, a popular cruise ship company based in Yokohama of Japan, is showing interest in partnering with Sanrio to bring Hello Kitty and friends into a cruiseship - essentially putting a Sanrio Puroland inside a boat.

There is no words on if the two parties have agreed on the deal and if there has been any definite plan for the Hello Kitty cruise, let’s all wait and see!  Maybe I can ride in a Hello Kitty tour bus AND a Hello Kitty cruise on my next trip to Japan! 

News source (in Japanese):
http://www.kanaloco.jp/localnews/entry/entryxiiimay0805672/

Finding a toilet for a potty training toddler might not be easy while taking a road trip this summer, so Hello Kitty worked with Combi to come up with a creative idea - a portable potty made with cardboard!

Can be used by both boys and girls, and can hold up to 200 cc of pee pee per specification  : )

There is a chain of tour buses called the Hato Bus, which is one of Tokyo’s foremost sightseeing bus service, providing convenient one-day trips to all of Tokyo’s best tourist spots.

From their large selection of tours and buses, there are some specially decorated buses with Hello Kitty all over (and inside) them bringing tourists to Hello Kitty themed trips:

 
 
^ Images courtesy of Strawberry Fairy. 

The buses run mostly short half day Tokyo trips and some even included meals.  One of them brings you to the famous Puroland (i.e. Tokyo’s “Hello Kitty Land”), yet another brings you to Odaiba - where you can find lots of shopping and a mini Eiffel Tower.  Absolutely love these places and love the Hello Kitty Hato Buses!  Hopefully our trip to Japan will materialize in the near future and I can ride on them for a first hand experience!

For more Hello Kitty Hato Bus information, see http://search.hatobus.co.jp/main/kitty.html

technorati tags: hello kitty, hello kitty bus

Continuing with the travel theme, now that Summer is around the corner, I have been looking for a cooler bag to hold Ethan’s dinners and lunches when we have to go out so food won’t turn bad before he gets to eat it.

The one I have currently is a blue Hello Kitty one, but it seems to leak water due to poor insulation so I have been looking ups and downs for a new good looking one - the rubbermaids one just won’t do it for me!

Here are some that I found on eBay and Yahoo:

None seems to do the trick for me … the OK looking ones are either way too big or way too small!  Anyone know of any good looking ones I can get?  I don’t want a blue/white rubbermaid box!  (lol)

technorati tags: hello kitty, hello kitty cooler

Been on a travel mood lately because we have decided to take a short road (train) trip to Montreal for my birthday (and Ethan’s 19 months ‘birthday’ - we are both born on the 20th!)

So I thought I will browse around to see if there’s any cute bags or suitcases that I can get (one of my pink Hello Kitty suitcase broke on our way back home last time), and I found some of these at eBay:

^ See the fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur?

Not sure if they are authentic, but they sure look BIG!  (But probably still not enough to carry baby’s stuff for a 4 days trip!)

technorati tags: hello kitty, hello kitty bags

As you might have already find out, Hello Kitty has recently been appointed as Japan’s Tourism ambassador for China and Hong Kong by Yokoso Japan.  

As a result, there will be a Chinese blog in the official tourism blog in the Yokoso Japan website and there will also be Hello Kitty stuff featured around Japan.

Hopefully she will stay as the tourism ambassador for a little longer coz we already used up all our vacation time this year and the earliest time we can possibly go will be in 2009!   \(*O*)/

If you will be going to Japan in the near future, here is an article by Associated Press about her appointment, plus a video on MSNBC if you want to find out more before you go!

technorati tags: hello kitty, hello kitty japan

I have purposedly call my Hello Kitty sites “Hello Kitty Land” because a true “Hello Kitty Land” does not exist - the tour companies in Asia tend to call Sanrio themed parks in Japan “Hello Kitty Land”, but in fact, their true names are Puroland and Harmonyland.  However, an announcement has been made today that a first ever Hello Kitty themed park outside of Japan will be built - in my favourite city, Taiwan, of course!

The new theme park will be built as part of an existing amusement park, Janfusun Fancyworld and the plan included themed rides, hotel and maybe even a casino (probably not Hello Kitty themed - don’t think Sanrio would allow that!)

It will be located in Yunlin, somehwere between Taichung and Kaohsiung, giving us yet another excuse to go visit Hello Kitty Sweets and other things in Taiwan.  (BaBa said we can just take the high speed rail again next time!)

They are still in the gathering financing stage so there is no words as to when the park will finish building and what it might look like … but they are trying to get over TW$600M to get this thing happen, can’t wait to see how that’s going to turn out!

Again … I guess it’s not a bad thing I didn’t go to Taiwan last month, there are more waiting for me next time!  hohoho  (But then, BaBa did say one day he will bring me and Ethan to the Hello Kitty Land [Harmonyland] in Japan ???)

^ The entrance of Puroland in Japan

Source:
http://news.pchome.com.tw/finance/chinatimes/20080428/index-12093387035623324003.html

After flying on EVA’s exclusive Hello Kitty plane, and staying at the Hello Kitty room at Grand Li-Hai Hotel in Kao Hsiung, I think I have another excuse to go to Taiwan again.

It has been made official that there will be a Hello Kitty Themed Resort made available for Kitty fans across the world in Guansi Township of Taiwan as early as July of this year.

Checking on google map, Guansi is in between Taipei and Taichung, my two favourite cities in Taiwan. Plus, Taichung is my husband’s favourite city in Taiwan … that gives me more excuse to go back to Taiwan to visit Hello Kitty Sweets and more on our next trip to Asia (hohoho)

Concept photos released today:

Introductory rates for the room are between TW$16,800-19,800, with rates expecting to increase to TW$22,000 & up once the resort commence operation - that is a minimum spent of US$500+ per room … argh, I guess I need to save up more money before I spent another holiday in Taiwan!  (Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t go last month afterall!)

Source:
http://travel.1-apple.com.tw/index.cfm?Fuseaction=View_AppleNewsContent&ShowDate=20080425&Article_ID=30485092

The balance on my Hello Kitty Octopus was running really low this past weekend so I have to go refill it with more money.

Unlike the regular Octopus card which you can insert into one of those “automatic machines” and refill with cash, mini Octopus cards and other Octopus devices must be refilled at specific stations such as cashiers at 7-11, wellcome supermarket, etc. 

And so I went to the Wellcome supermarket right at where we stay in Hong Kong, and ask the cashier lady to help me to recharge my Hello Kitty Octopus for me.

She starred at me and give me a blank look when I pass her the tiny Hello Kitty hanging on my LV neverfull GM …. “Huh?”

“Hmm … this is my octoupus”, I said.

As if I am lying, she kept starring at me and asks me to put what I claimed to be my “Octopus” at the “recharge point”.

The machine then “beep!” loudly signaling a successful recharge.

The cashier lady still looked a little puzzled, but at least my Octopus is now well stocked with money to shop and travel with me wherever I go!

Well, at least my Octopus is less prone to theft I suppose!

On my last trip to Hong Kong, YeungBaBa told me about some Hello Kitty octopus he saw while he shops at 7-11 the day we are supposed to leave town.  Since I don’t go to 7-11 often, I decided to check it out at the 7-11 at the airport and found this:

Source: http://www.octopus.com.hk/release/detail/tc/20071120.jsp

It’s too cute to resist I immediately picked up the one in red.  But since it’s a little plush, I have to wrap it in plastic before putting it into use or Kitty will turn BLACK ^^”””” 

And this morning when I register my Octopus card for the Reward program to get some points from our daily grocery shopping for baby Ethan, I realize there is two new mini octopus cards design featuring Hello Kitty complete with a cute phone strap:

Source: http://www.octopus.com.hk/release/detail/tc/20080121.jsp

The fruits one is really cute and this one is not so prone to dirtiness but I can’t use two octopus at the same time (and I already have one unused regular card back home in Canada!) … I guess I have to pass on this one this time!

OMG, while browsing for fun I saw this picture from Sanrio Italy’s official website:

Can’t read Italian, but I suppose it’s saying you can get it for EUR241 a month?  The website also said starting price is EUR13,100.

Wonder how it’s like to drive a Pink SMART around town … been on a Hello Kitty car on our dream trip to Taiwan and it was great!

Source:
http://www.smallcarbigsmile.com/default.asp 
via http://www.sanrio.it/home.asp