So cute! Get one today!

awwwww.. so cute can cry.



this baby above so intense.. scally he grow up with lazy eye the papa so bad teach him these kinda things..

=)

Japan 2008 Part (ii) - losing steam but must still blog the good stuff!!!

As usual, when there are like a trillion photos, it gets very cumbersome to put them up. But I feel obliged to (dont know for what.. since nobody reads my blog now)..

FOR YOU FURRY!! I AM PUTTING IT UP FOR YOU!! (Actually not true larh.. i think MONKEY also reads my blog wan, and HS and WH.. actually alot of you read it, except that with these I dont actually have to instruct them to do it. Heh..)

ANYHOWS..

I was saying that I am very grateful for my 2 guides in Japan. When my gal-friends heard that I was going to Japan alone, they immediately volunteered two of their friends to bring me around as guides. These ladies went beyond the call of duty to bring me around.. Last post you guys were introduced to the funkymama Yuki , and today we have Nozomi.. a nice young lady (WHO IS THE PASTOR'S DAUGHTER LORH) working in the local university (man I sound like i am writing for SDU.. all Ps Vic's fault... check out the post in question at his blog here)..

So anyhow this is Nozomi..

I thought her scarf was nice. She said she got it from Singapore. =_=

Nozomi wanted to bring me to Harajuku, but I thought Harajuku is totally do-able by myself. I asked instead for her to bring me to Odaiba, by ferry (which was farnee because on the way there we talked so much we missed the stop and ended up at Yokohama, which is like the next city.. hahaa) .

So anyhow, I wanted to go to an onsen real bad. There was this special theme park onsen at Odaiba which was supposed to have different types of baths (special flavours, etc) and it is built like Edo-Japan. When you get on the inside, everyone changes to like Yu-Katas and you deposit your stuff into lockers. They have this electronic wristlet which acts like your wallet so you dont have to bring any money around.

This is us outside the Onsen. Oedo Onsen.

Panty vending machine! But it's not like the ones at the Sex-shop. The ones here are clean and packed for those who (forgot to bring theirs??? forgot a birthday and need to get a present quick??)


Nozomi was commenting that she thought this foreigner (i.e. me) was very brave to have requested to be brought to an onsen. Most foreigners would be shy because basically you would have to walk around naked (so that you can dip into the onsen, riiiiggghhhhtttt?). I mean.. i didnt really think about it larh, I just wanted to check out the place!

And she was right.. i got the culture shock of my life lorh!!!

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I NEVER SAW SO MANY NAKED WOMEN IN MY LIFE LEH!

But there are no pictures, for obvious reasons. But for those who are secretly wondering, the baths are divided into one for men and one for women... (some honeymoon suites have their own onsens. nice)

I realize the whole deal about the onsen is to soak yourself in SUPER HOT WATER.. then when you cant take it anymore you basically dash out to sit around in the cool air. There was an outdoor onsen Japanese landscaped style and it was spring so the temperature was very cool. And i realized that this going in and out of hot water and air-drying in a very cool landscape garden is very shiok.

So at night, I had a nice girly dinner with Yuki at Odaiba shopping complex. And here we have the famous RAINBOW BRIDGE!



It was super cold and super romantic. Alas there was nobody standing next to me, not even another tourist(!!), for me to exclaim at the beauty (I have this thing for lights at night).

Okay here we tried taking picture in the toilet a-la- XIAXUE style.. I have never tried this shooting your own reflection in the mirror thingys..

Yuki was bringing me clubbing. This was her first night out (EVER) since her handsome Ryugen was born. Calls for quite a celebration, neh?

We went to this club at Roppongi, it was SUPER happening lorh. check out the picture here..


i never saw so many good looking people in one place lorh and it was packed!!! But the name was spelt wrongly larh .. ALIFE! surely they meant alive? =P

So we clubbed till like 4 am.. which is fine, until i remembered that i was supposed to attend my friend's church at SAITAMA (suburban Tokyo lorh) at 9 AM!

I am so proud of myself, i actually managed to wake up and drag myself there. and this nice picture i took from the subs..



so now we know that all the cartoons we saw (i.e Doraemon) are accurate representations of what Japanese neighbourhoods look like. there was another place (and i cant find the picture right now) where they were growing beautiful flowers outside the homes. Very very lovely. Many many colours.. Wish we can do the same... here we only have bougainvilla (however u spell it) lorh..

After that i went to Harajuku! Sorry, didnt get to see very many exciting cosplay.. apparently the fashion now is to be LOLITA.. so you see all these young gals dressed up as french maids, except that there are wearing pink instead of the traditional black and have these huge skirts (betcha wearing can-cans inside) and holding the hand of this young boy who is wearing like normal street clothes..

blows your mind man.

Anyhow, check out this boutique. this is the entrance..

I mean, Harajuku is like PACKED right.. but when you step into this place, it is like another world. I rem when I studied a little design in school and was reading up interior design, good design kinda transports you to another place.

this is totally good design.. the moment you step in, you FORGET you are in Harajuku.. there is nice music in the background, wait i think it was probably birds chirping because it is some garden theme and the walls are lined with carpet grass.. and the ceiling is painted like yellow with flowers and butterflies.. it is amazing lorh.. i HOENSTLY forgot that i was in the middle of sweltering Harajuku..
see what I mean?
But i didnt take more pictures because they didnt really like it, the shopowners that is..

The next day, I took the SUPER UBER FASTEST EVER BULLET TRAIN in Japan, the NOZOMI train to KYOTO..


Actually in the picture above i was trying to point at the cleaners. They are all dressed in baby pink and blue!!!



Okay, to be honest, even though I paid quite abit to go to Kyoto and Nara, after awhile it is just a blur of shrines and gardens.. I am just gonna post the nicer pictures..

It was no longer sakura season when i was there, but it was the beginning for that of the wisteria.. I managed to capture some very lovely shots..


They just grow all over lorh.. (reminds me of morning glories, but they more attas the wisteria)..

Not bad horh my shots..

I am pleased..

Got standard wan lorh.. =)


And here begins the endless streams of shrines and etc.. this was the first one i visited at Nara.. I took a picture because it was the first... after that I gave up.. everything was built like in the 1st 10th centuries and took alot of skill to make and etc..

I mean I know i totally sound like I dont appreciate it but i do, it's just that.. i like pretty flowers more.. and because we were hitting summer.. trust me.. there were MANY MANY pretty flowers..

so here is the temple..

okay this park is cool because it is the famous DEERPARK because they have alot of tame deer just roaming the park (duh, why not elephant park or tiger park right).

so they had all these deer that were just roaming the grounds.


When I think deer I think Bambi.. now i see the deer i think of jason. i think it's the colour. hahaha.

observing these that roam I see that the Disneyfolks were struck by quite a stroke of genius. Deers are alot more endearing on film. The ones here were pretty aggressive, ate the ticket off the pocket of one of my fellow tourists..



i really attempted to go near them, like pose. But deers are quite scary. They are nothing like the real Bambi. Think this picture summarizes how I felt pretty accurately..


Tentative. Heh.

And deers stink.

So part of the shrine after shrine that I visited - of which like all of them were built in 7th century Japan - pretty amazing, no termites yáll..


This is the shrine that has the most number of stone lanterns..


Cute horh.

And everywhere you turn, there are these little winding paths flanked by trees. Standing at the beginning and letting my eyes wander down, I go back to the tales of Hansel & Gratel and all the little Japanese warrior children living in magical farawaylands...

I forget who I am and I wonder, if I walk down these paths - will they lead me to my castle, my lake, my prince?



But such thoughts were fleeting. The lull of reason and sobering weight of time beckons. I dont want to miss the bus back to my (I would discover.. HAUNTED) hotel. So the let's-have-fun-in-whatever-way-manner-it-chooses-to-descend-upon-us jasmine resurfaces and i thought it would be farnee to take a picure with the spitting deer..


And this picture was taken from my table at the haunted hotel.



Arguably the best meal that I had in Japan but I was too spooked!

I chose to stay in Gion, Kyoto because I was hoping to see a gei-sha. Come to think of it, it may have been a good that i didnt see one I would probably have freaked out..


This is the exterior of the hotel that I went to.

To cut the long story short, the TV in the place switched itself off in the middle of the night. The aircon blew hot and cold. It sounds like mere electrical glitches now but it really wasnt then. I was so spooked, I chose to walk down the dark alleyway from the haunted room into the familiarity of mere darkness at 4 a.m. because I was convinced if I stayed in the room any longer something was going to happen. There were NO LIGHTS.. and after figuring my way to the front desk (which was not manned) and communicating with great pain and patience to the care taker that spoke no English, the reality gripped my heart that nobody sympathized with a foreign woman who claims that her hotel room was haunted. It was either I sit in the equally haunting looking lobby (i dont know for sure if it was haunted like the room) with its no windows, dim lights and scary statutes, or roam the streets of Kyoto in stoic solitude until I reach the solace of an internet cafe.

I chose the latter.
My recluse from the haunted house.

I do myself no justice in this clinical summary of my haunted hotel. But I write because I am obliged. And in the security of my HDB room and warm cup of milk, it is easier to do injustice to myself.


Anyhows, here are pictures of the surroundings I took whilst wandering the streets at 5 ish in the morning. I had refused to return to the hotel until it was fully lit.

Looks lovely in the day. Try to imagine it at night. Take away all the lights and you have it about right.

Quaint. (and scary)

I had not dared to look into these walkways at night.

Next to the hotel.



I apologize. You can tell that I lost steam. I was my usual ranting self at the beginning of this post (which was religiously begun two weeks ago. I uploaded all the photos guys, promise. Just requires alot of stamina to finish what we begin) and somewhere in between (i.e. the 14 days) it struck me again that I write best when I write for nobody.

Hence, therefore, henceforth, perhaps, just maybe, I shall resume to my old melancholic ways here again.

Maybe it's all the books I have been back into reading. We remember how I used to read so ferociously. (actually no, i forgot) Maybe it is my HFM speaking. I have little bumps on my arms and legs. I think it might be HFM (which I know is not lethal on adults and the little bumps should appear on soles and palms and shouldnt itch but mine do) that is speaking through me.


I forgot how to write folks. Good night.

What will i be like ten years from now?

I wuz gtalking my beloved wwh just. Complaining tt we never talk now cuz he's always busy (it's true, even he admitted it! I neh bluff u.) So anyhows i wuz asking when he's comin home to Singapore and because he bochup me i very naturally and conveniently started to whine and i started. I am behaving like i did 10 years ago when we were in school lor! Freaky lor. 10 years already i still like that. Hahaa. I wonder if I'll still whine to my best friends 10 years from now? Ha!

Japan 2008 Part (i) - how do you organize happiness?

Hello!

I figured if I dont start now, I wont ever start, like what I did for my Israel trip. So whilst I can I am gonna start now!

First up, what greeted me was the shocking efficiency of the Japanese. This is the busstand for the Limo Bus, they are punctual up to the minute, I kid you not. Whilst we are used to buses coming at ten minute intervals (and being late in that event), the buses here come at times like 16:23, 16:27, 17:01 and so forth.

And everybody's moves are like synchronized as they scurry around moving your luggages into the bus and issue you tickets to collect your luggage and they holler the arrival of buses to various destinations (okay i am assuming the hollering bit, I dont understand what they are hollering in Japanese... hahah.. but must be right!)

And this is amongst the first picture I took of myself in Japan, on the limo bus. I was real happy to be in Japan because for once I can wear my clothes in ALL the combinations I think they look nice in, and WONT look out of place, or all over the top, because everyone is dressed so well / elaborately!


I am glad to say that many thought I was Japanese! (That's a compliment. I think Japanese men and women are hawt! The men are like SOOOOOO well dressed and the women, I mean, I wonder if their husbands recognize them without make up... )

Actually i think the comments on Japanese dressing deserves a separate paragraph by itself and I shouldnt squeeze it in brackets! What I mean to say, is that ALL the girls are like SOOO WELL DRESSED, regardless of whether they work at Ginza (a la Raffles place in Singapore) or whether they do sales in the malls, it's like.. wahh! And they stick like both upper and lower lids with fake lashes, the individual strands kind? It's madness larh. I wonder what time they get up every day to get ready.

As for the men, I mean EVERYONE is in a suit! I was super impressed until I realize that the salesmen also wear suits, it's like default attire. But be that as it may, it's hard to look wrong if you are guy and you are wearing a black suit. I mean, if you are good looking, you look better. If you are not look goodlooking, at the very least you look sharp! And all the Jap men who carry bags all carry nice GUY-BAGS.. leather or otherwise, and you dont see any of the laptop bags that Singapore guys are so like to carry around. Heh.

It's farnee, I met ALH for lunch that day and was recounting the above to him.


ALH: Cant be everyone is so good looking right?

Me: Really larh. EVERYBODY looks super good larh.

ALH: What about the old people?

Me: Urm, the women in their 40s all are like well preserved larh. The men also. Actually you know what, I didnt see any old people in Tokyo. Unless we are talking about the REALLY old ones like 80 plus. I think old and ugly people dont exist in Tokyo.

ALH: HAHAHAAAA.

Really what. He laughed as if i was really biased and just obliterated the old people from memory. But really what. I really never see any like gross people in Tokyo. Except for the really gross ones.

So back to my pictures. The other thing that pleasantly surprised me was the DRUG STORES in Tokyo. (Drug stores my XXX lorh) These places are like DECKED with cosmetics larh. And it goes on for like floors! It is probably like 80% cosmetics (I promise I am not exaggerating) then the rest is like your normal WATSON stuff like plasters and biscuits.

I mean seriously, have you ever had such a choice of hairspray in your life? For girls?

Look!



Many had forewarned me about this sight. And many had predicted that I would go mad in Japan in these shops. But I didnt.

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Because I dont read Japanese. And everything is in Japanese. O well. Heh.

The other thing, which I already blogged about, is the vending machine food stall thingy. The picture wasnt clear in the previous post so I put it up again. What I wanted to eat is in the picture on the right side.

I actually lost weight when I was in Japan - primarily because all the food was SO HEALTHY and in SUCH SMALL PORTIONS.. no wonder Japanese women are so "tall". I was seeing everyone eye to eye and I was in flats and they in heels. But back to the issue of weight loss, and i WALKED SO MUCH... but i put the weight all back on when I reached home - blame it on the local food craving ( you know, curry, char kway tiao and the likes of those things)



So this is the first of these vending machine stalls that I ate at. The girl was nice. I dragged her out and pointed at what i want and she told me the number that I should press on the vending machine.

Actually most people in central Tokyo understand simple English, they just dont speak it.



This, is a love hotel. Just outside mine. Check out the hourly rates. Apparently such hotels are the norm in Japan - flats are so small that couples use these for a little bit of privacy. Well, if you ask me, all these tourbooks are written by angmohs. The place isnt so small what - it's like in Singapore. And I think the space in HK is much more limited in any event.


Another interesting thing is that Japan is pretty much handicap-travel-friendly. The traffic lights are highly populated areas (like the place I stayed at) play music when the green man is on. Different song for different areas. I took this picture because I thought it's farnee that the sign says it's for the use for the visually-impaired, like they can see the sign right. Hahaa.


Speaking of my hotel, I like it. There was this nice good looking guy at the front desk who remembered my name and room number so I didnt have to ask for my room keys whenever I returned... hahaha.. but seriously, it was VERY CHEAP, clean, and in a good location. Ikebukuro and along the Yamanote line which runs in central Tokyo, I will recommend it to anyone who wants a no frills kinda stay. Not to mention the very nice (and attractive) guy at the front desk who was so very nice. =PPP

This is the games thingy that they have all over Japan.. Pachinko they call them...



I also went to Shibuya, which was a little bit of a disappointment really. i expected the shopping be really good, this place i headed to is REALLY famous. but it is really like a high class Chatuchak - or Far east.. But it was nice, street fashion, except that i wasnt in the mood to buy street fashion clothes.. I did buy some SUPER BLINK accessories - which if I have the time I will blog about.

But i like this picture, because it is like in fairytales when the trees part from the clearing and you see the castle?? And excitement fills your heart cuz you are going into the fairytale castle?

I did feel somewhat like that. heh.

When I was there, I met two very kind Japanese. One of them is Yuki, Jean's friend who became my friend. Yuki was VERY hospitable, she even offered to let me stay at her room when i was looking for a hotel one of the nights. She brought me clubbing and shopping with her very dear son here, Ryugen. He looks Japanese, except for his dark skin and head of curly hair. He is very cute he is... i bought him this tshirt that says, "Cool Hunk". Indeed he is.

Of course, we had to go to take neoprints. Here I was just snapping pictures before I got caught.
heh.


I dont know why they dont let the men in. heh.



The neo-print area was filled with school girls, and pretty Japanese girls. But no surprise larh, with lighting like this in the neoprint machines, everyone will look good!

Just to illustrate how big and bright the lights are, here is Yuki inside the machine rummaging for change to take pictures. Yuki is real hospitable - she refused to let me pay for my meals. but lucky i move fast. =)

I cant find a scanner so I cant take a picture of the neoprints we took, suffice that it was very cute. Ryugen got really excited when we put him on the floor, he was just running around into other machines. And interrupting other girls taking pictures, but not that i think they mind. It's not everyday you get a cute little boy running into your room.


I also visited Mount Fuji on like the third day of my trip. I was very fortunate, because apparently you dont always get to see Mount Fuji. The weather keeps changing. I almost didnt see it because it was filled with clouds. This is the sakura at the base station of Mt. Fuji. Good larh, I also got to see sakura, which is also supposed to be super lucky cuz it was so late into spring already, all the flowers had withered. But at Fuji still cold so still have sakura.



so nice horh.

Again.
And up at the fourth station (which was the highest we could go in the weather) got this uncle selling sotong. hahaha. i like.



Okay this is me sitting near the snow. This might be the first time i saw snow actually. Quite anti-climatic actually.

And we have Fuji!


And again!

This is Hakone, which is near Mount Fuji.. and it was soooooooooooooo cold and nice and windy there. That day i happened to be wearing fake lashes.. wah i tell you, so windy one of my eyes the fake lashes nearly got blown off lorh!
Ducky cute. =)




So nice. It was probably the best place i went to in Japan. =)

Many Many SAKURA!!

Okay this is a picture with nice scenery. Then this random stranger ah ma's daughter, i asked her to take for me. Then the Ah ma thought i want to take with her (and why would i want to, since we are all random strangers. but since we are all tourists and I have a digital camera.. i thought i would pretend and let her take with me lorh. Afterall can take again right.. )
This picture so nice! Even ALH said so. =) heh. It was taken on the bullet train btw. =)

After Fuji I went to this high rise building at Ikebukuro to reward myself with fine dining. The view is good horh.
I dont know about you, but sometimes when I am faced with great beauty (which is prone to hit me when I am in a high place, or facing a wide expanse of nature - be it fields or mountains but especially large surfaces of water), but when i am facing with great beauty, i usually feel so very lonely. It's like wah so nice, then you want to turn around and tell someone - it's like the expression of beauty completes your appreciation of it. You know, like taking it in. AND if there is nobody to express that to, meaningfully.. the awareness and consciousness of that beauty just swirls around on the inside of you and leaves you feeling, empty.

You know what I mean?


So anyhows the restaurant that i went to was super nice, service very good, food very nice, waiters very cute and price very cheap. i even got a free bottle of wine. Hahaa.

So I shall end this post with my post card pictures of Japan. To illustrate the point about the expression of beauty completing our appreciation of it.

This one is the only pink sakura that I saw. Not bad lorh, even the very yim jeem P said I can use it on his online mag. Which btw has changed their name and you can take a look by clicking here.

This is another very lovely shot of Fuji.
I am going to try and blog about the rest of my trip (haunted hotel - YES! one of my hotels was haunted lorh).. but it's hard to upload so many pictures and etc. I am lazy, but I have to share my joy and stories with so many of the ppl I love, who have not seen the pictures!

Japan was so good.. possibly the best thing I ever did for myself!

I am rambling, but I am really grateful for the sms-es and the emails and the msn conversations and the blog comments, that i had when i was away - and all the little things that were done by very many people, that reminded me that i am very much loved and thought about whilst i was away. It was little but i was v touched. (Yuarh somebody commented before that i very easily touched. what to do, tender heart what.. lol). But yes, thanks peeps!

Japan was good for my heart.

Indeed. =)