Japan Trip '08 - Part 2

Day 4

Sorry dudes! No sunrise. We missed it. Everyone slept on when the alarm went off. Ho ho ho ho! Never mind, I think we were not in the right direction to begin with. Beauty sleep is more important. We had a long day to come too.

So, missing the sunrise, all of us woke up at a much later timing @ 8am. We arranged for the free shuttle back to the ferry terminal @ 9am. 1 hour for us to chop chop wash up and pack our stuff. We were moving to Okayama. The movement was a bit tiring. Shuttle ride -> ferry -> train -> Shinkansen.


We reached Okayama @ around 11+pm. This time our accommodation, Matsunoki まつのき, was much nearer to the train station - within 5 minute walk from train station even with big barang barang. Since the room was available when we arrived, we were allowed to do early check-in. Lucky! Whenever we checked in, we had a tendency to sit and lie around until we had to rush for our train or whatever mode of transport we were taking.

Although we were staying @ Okayama, we had no plan to visit any part of Okayama. Okayama was just a station point for us. We were planning to visit Tottori 鳥取, Himeji 姫路 and Hiroshima 広島. With Okayama in the middle, it was the perfect place to stay @ to make day trips to these places.

The rest of the day was for Tottori. Before catching the train, all of us went to grab food to be consumed while on the train. Bento for me! The train ride to Tottori took around 1hr+. A surcharge of 1670 yen had to be paid for each way. Train in japan is never cheap. And ya, the bento sucks btw! Pui!

Given the time we had before the last Express Train back to Okayama, we could only visit the Sand Dune. Oh! This is our first time taking bus in Japan! I mean a proper public bus which you have to pay. We knew nothing of the paying system for the bus. Of course we assumed it would be like in Singapore where you board and pay for the fare first. *Buzzer went off* Wrong! You pay only when you are alighting the bus.

This is how the bus system works. First, boarding of the bus is from the BACK door. When you board the bus, take note of the stage you are at by looking at the LED panel located right at the front of the bus. When alighting, pay the fare displayed at your stage on the LED panel. This is a system that's really based on trust. The driver won't be able to take note when did you board the bus, so it's really up to you to keep track of your own fare. =) Nice Japan!


Anyway, we alighted a few stops earlier. Oops! My fault. Shhhhhhhhh! Went in the shop nearby for a quick toilet break. There supposed to be a ropeway which we could take to reach the sand dune from there. Ah! It's closed. Alright, on our foot again. Walk walk walk walk walk walk. Tada~ Desert! Er.. I mean sand dune! Man! It really looked like a desert to me. I've never been to desert before, so this was like one to me. It was really a vast piece of land which was filled with sand.


The sea was beyond the slope, so we had to climb up the slope to reach the top and down the slope to get to the sea. Along the way, we roleplayed (or rather just me and Zw) a bit, and me acting a short clip of advertisement. Okay, you gotta see the video then you will understand this part. =D

We met a group of Hawaiian chinese at the top of the slope. Took a photo group with them, chatted a bit, really just a tiny bit, before they started running down the slope. The slope was pretty steep. Salute! We too made our way down the slope, running a bit when the slope wasn't that steep towards the bottom. The sand was really soft. A heavy step will land you knee deep in the sand. THE SEA!!!!!! YEAH!!!

Brrrrrrrrr~ The sea was cold. The waves were pretty strong too. And I didn't bring any extra clothing to change!!! Never mind. Play first, think later. We didn't also play until too much in the first place. Just a few "sprinkling" of water, kicking of the water, that's all. No pushing one another into the sea. We were a group of peace-lovers. World peace! Okay! Time for another jump photo! Group jumping photo. It wasn't easy. I think we had to jump for 10+ times to produce a slightly decent one.


Sound fun, doesn't it? It wasn't by the way. The climbing back up the slope almost took my life away! Kill me! Seriously, I was super unfit among the whole group. I was the stone that was dragging everyone down. =~( Struggling my way back up the slope and walked all the way outta the sand dune. Alright, I survived. I had grown stronger!

Nothing really special after that, took train back to Okayama. Mac for dinner. Damn! I miss McPork. THEY HAD MCPORK IN JAPAN!!!!!

Day 5

Ah! Day 5 and 6 of Daji's photo set are missing. So not much photo to show for these 2 days. Day 5 is dedicated to the west and east neighbours of Okayama - Himeji and Hiroshima.

Began the day by taking Shinkansen to Himeji first. Castle is best viewed @ day. Actually, the real reason was I was afraid we drag here drag there, and end up castle closed when we arrived. =D


Quoted from Wikitravel again - "this striking white edifice is generally considered the most beautiful of Japan's castles". Indeed, the castle really looked very grand and beautiful from outside. Why did I use the word "outside"? Because inside it looked old. =\ Some things are better when viewed from far, like Mt Fuji.


This castle was packed with tourists when we visited it. Taiwanese, mainly. We paid the admission fee and started explore the main tower of the castle. Climbed up and up and up and up. Not bad. Nice view of the surrounding from the top of the castle. On the way down, was thinking whether to visit the other towers of the castle or not. Nah, they probably looked the same. So we gave it a miss.

Next stop, Hiroshima. Taking Shinkansen again. That's the good thing of having a JR pass (though it's darn expensive). You can take Shinkansen here and there as you like. Good for making day trips to surrounding prefectures.


We were expecting Hiroshima to have quite a number of stuff of us to see. However, when we reach the A-Bomb Dome, one of the buildings which was left behind and quite intact after the atomic bombing incident, we were quite disappointed. The building was there. We saw it. Many tourists around. But that's all. I don't know about the other group members, but I don't know how to appreciate the beauty outta this place. There was a Peace Memorial Museum which we could visit, but I think all of us were already afraid of museum. =\

Okay, we had nothing else to do in Hiroshima. It was raining too. As the stadium was nearby, so decided to go over and see if there was anything happening. Right on! There was a baseball match going. But er... couldn't see anything from outside, could only hear the cheering and screaming from outside. Okay! We felt your enthusiasm from outside, people of Hiroshima. Let's move on. Nothing else better to do, so it was time for shopping. Window shopping only for me.

In fact, there's nothing else special from this point on for this day. So I shall fast forward to next day.

Day 6

Osaka, here we come! Osaka, being the 2nd busiest city in Japan, ought to be more interesting at night right? For the first 5 days, we had been returning back to our room very early almost every night.

Our hotel @ Osaka was Hotel Kinki. Kinki, not Kinky. But it's alright. Right at the rear (or was that the front) entrance, with a couple of turns, you will end up in the kinky zone. AV shops! LSBs! Anyway, about the hotel, it was quite far from the station. But the good thing (don't know consider good or bad) was, most of the counter staffs at the hotel were chinese. No communication problem.

We even went in one of the AV shops. Wow! Wow! WOW! A wide variety of selections, from no-name actress to famous AV stars, different genres, young and old. Talk only, I never bought any back.


Then we came across a baseball batting arcade. Like those you see in drama. The machine will shoot a baseball out and you can bat it. Looks interesting. But seemed like that was a long queue, we couldn't afford the time for it.

With the recommendation of a restaurant by the counter staff, we topo and made our way to the restaurant eventually. Okonomiyaki restaurant! A self-cook one some more. I've been wanting to try it long time ago!!!! Some tried to be funny, Zy made a heart-shaped one, Daji made a rectangle one. Conclusion: Don't try to make odd shape. It's proven that it will be harder to flip, other than round shape. =)


After lunch, it was another random walking around the area. Snacking here and there. At the underground shopping street, the guys and girls split up to do their individual shopping. But it was crappy. The whole place was like cater to female consumers. Almost can't find any male shops, except food stalls. Yum yum~ Anyway, somehow we (the guys) managed to kill time by visiting some atas shops nearby. Gathered back at rendevous point and it was dinner time - Italian/French cuisine.

Zw suggested visiting Umeda Sky Building. There was this open-air observatory roof at the top of this building. Admission was 700 yen. Okay price. But wrong timing. 6th July was the night before 7/7, another day which is just like valentine day (think it's 乞巧节). Basically, the whole roof was filled with couples. And couples. And more couples. Sucks. Wrong atmosphere for the group of us. Or rather, we were spoiling the atmosphere by talking loudly and doing stupid stunts. =D


After that, went back hotel and rest.

I want to play UFO catcher!

Day 7



Day 7 was Universal Studio Japan (USJ) day. USJ opened @ 10am. We tried to reach there slightly earlier so we could be the first few groups and save time on the queueing. Ugh! The train to USJ was already pretty packed. When we reached the gates of USJ, a big crowd was already waiting there for it to be opened. =\ Must be all Singaporeans. So kiasu!

The first ride we chiong-ed was the roller coaster ride, Hollywood Dream. Despite being early, we had to queue for approx. 20min or so for our turn. =\ =/ Never mind, it was worth it. The ride was really good! Nice surge, spiralling... Oh, you can choose a song outta the list to listen to while enjoying the ride. Loudspeakers were located at the top of ur seat, blasting the music. Legs were left to dangle around on the ride, so gotta take care if wearing loose footwear. The staff gave Cui 2 solid rubber bands for her to secure her footwear to her feet. =)

No time to lose, next stop! We had to conquer as many rides as possible before the closing time. This park closed @ 7pm. That's very early! I think I recommended the Spiderman ride as the next. I've been to USJ during my previous visit to Japan, and this Spiderman ride was one of the best theme rides I've taken in my life. Theme rides and thrill rides are not to be confused with. Theme rides are rides which has story before, while thrill rides are just rides to thrill your life.


I can't remember when did we left the park for our lunch, but that isn't of importance there, so I'll just skip the lunch part. USJ has limited thrill rides, most of the rides are theme-based. Don't expect too much if you are seeking for thrill in USJ. Let me try to list out all the rides we took during this day.

Hollywood Dreams - Roller coaster
Spiderman - 4D theme ride
Terminator - 3D show + real people appearing on stage
Back to the Future - Simulator theme ride
Sesame Street - 4D show
ET - Normal theme ride
Jaws - Boat theme ride
Jurassic Park - Splashing thrill ride
Peppermint Patty Stunt Slide - Rubber boat in a water slide tube for kids
Snoopy Race - Kiddy roller coaster

Oh! All the theme rides right, they were in japanese language. =) Add more suspense to what going to happen next eh?


The queue for Jaws was pretty long. In the end, we did lots of stupid stuff while queueing up. Taking stupid facial expression photos and nonsensical video clip. After all those stupid acts, it was finally our turn for the ride. Hey! The Jaws ride was much better than I expected! It was pretty awesome! Maybe due to the great acting of the driver. =D

Our visit to USJ ended in the Snoopy area. Spent our last few moments in USJ there. Our Mr Zw seemed pretty bored @ this area. Don't know if he's trying to supress his love for Snoopy by acting bored, or he was really bored by it. But the Snoopy place was really cute. Good for girls and kids.


After USJ, we went to the Takoyaki Museum inside the Universal City which was just outside the theme park. Takoyaki Museum though was named as a museum, it wasn't much of one. It was just a place where many Takoyaki stalls were clustered together. Each of us went off to choose a stall we like and buy the smallest set the stall sell. Then we gathered and shared our loot. Not all takoyakis were nice. Sad. Zw had the best among us. Winner: Zw!

I think Day 7 was takoyaki day too, beside being USJ day. According to Zw's plan, we were to go to Namba and find the Takoyaki King. But we were ill-fated, we couldn't locate it. I think we were already near it, but we turned the wrong direction at the last point. We turned into the LSBs zone. =\ Who was leading the way!?! @ssh0le. Eh... I think I was the one leading. Shhhhhhhhhh!


Never mind. Abandon plan! Headed back to our hotel. Everyone was tired. Zy starting to feel sick. My left knee was starting to give my a slight problem for now. Along the way back to our hotel, we guys had our late dinner @ Yoshinoya. NICE!!! So much better than Singapore's one. Tabao-ed back beef bowl for Cui.

End of Day 7. The Lord of Destruction's coming!

To be continued...

Japan Trip '08 - Part 1

Introduction

Here it goes. I've finally got the photos and selected the few hundreds for the first 7 days of the tour. I'll be splitting this tour into multiple parts to blog on. It's tough to one shot do all 21 days, you see... Besides, this is also hard to one shot read all 21 days right? It's for easier digestion. =) I'll split them into appropriate length for reading.

21 days in Japan. Touching down @ 8+am on the 1st day and taking off @ 7+pm on the 21st day. The group consists of 6 members. Me, Zhenwei, Zhengyi, Cuiling, Daji and Zeming(who came in during the 2nd week). The combination might be weird, but oh well, we just happened to come up with this combination. Overall, the combination was actually pretty fun!

Prior to the trip, we had gathered for around 4-5 times, discussing on the itinerary and accommodation of the trip. Everything was planned from scratch, with some help from a sample itinerary from Cui's colleague, Cui's Lonely Planet, Wikitravel, JNTO, and some other websites. The planning was tough. We had no idea how the places were, except to imagine them ourselves from reading the description written from the references.

Over the 21 days, we travelled from the tip of Kyushu, all the way from the west to the east, until Tokyo. Clocking mileage as we travelled, trying to explore as many places as possible within this short 3 weeks. Hey! 3 weeks in Japan is short! We left so much places unexplored. This trip is more like a preview of Japan for all of us. Anyway, this is the movement over the course of 3 weeks.

Fukuoka 福岡 (Day 1,2) -> Miyajima 宮島 (Day 3) -> Okayama 岡山 (Day 4,5) -> Osaka 大阪 (Day 6-8) -> Kanazawa 金沢 (Day 9,10) -> Takayama 高山 (Day 11-13) -> Kawaguchi-Ko 河口湖 (Day 14,15) -> Tokyo 東京 (Day16-21)

Let's begin the journey!

P/S: We took quite a number of jumping photos, some are pretty cool. Also, I was caught digging nose quite a number of times too. NO!! I didn't really dig, my finger was just nicely positioning outside the nostrils. Really. I only pick my nose in private one...


Day 1

Just upon checking out of the immigration gate, we already seemed lost. So we went to the Information Counter and checked how to get out of this airport to get to the nearest subway. Ah! We had to take a shuttle bus to reach the domestic terminal and take the subway outside there. Alright! Let's go!


Another hiccup! We had problem purchasing the ticket. =\ Small issue, solved shortly after that. But felt pai seh by hogging on to the machine for quite a long time. This is very normal. It was only our first day in Japan, so we needed to orient ourselves to the alien environment with their alien machinery. =D Let's skip the journey to our hostel.

Tada~ We arrived at our hostel safely! Luckily one of the rooms was already available, so we chucked all our barang barang in that room (which was the ladies' room). We were supposed to move out immediately to catch the train we planned to take. But.... we were quite shagged out by the 7hrs flight and a long walking distance. Ahhhh.. Let's just take a short break eh?

That short break in the end became a long one. Leaving less time for the next destination. But who can resist rest time... Never mind, it's just day 1. Let's not be harsh on our bodies. =)

After that break, we headed hastily over to the train station. Searching nearby for some cheap restaurant for lunch, and we found a ramen restaurant with enticing menu. Man! Menu can't be trusted. In fact, this ramen was one of the worst we had in the entire trip. After lunch, we resumed our plan and took the train to Beppu 別府. The train ride was around 2+hrs. Sleep.........

Here's some introductions on Beppu. Beppu is one of the Great Three Hot Springs of Japan. Beppu has many natural onsen (hot bath) and hot springs which are purely for viewing only. Those are too hot to bathe in. You can cook with the steam from the hot springs. The top sight of Beppu are the ten hells (地獄 Jigoku). Each of this hell has a theme, and thus, earned them the titles such as Sea Hell, Mud Hell, etc.


We reach Beppu @ around 4pm, which was 2-3hrs behind schedule. We were supposed to visit 6 of the hells, but those places closed at 5pm. We went over to the Information Counter to confirm the closing time. Great. We only had 1 hour, impossible! Considered ourselves lucky if we could even visit just one of them.


Don't know if it's a blessing or what. Just outside the exit of the train station, a taxi uncle approached us. Offering us a tour package, bringing us to 2 of the hells, another 2 viewing spots and any dropping point. Due to the lack of time to explore Beppu, we decided to take up the offer. But luckily we took up the offer, the viewing spots that the uncle brought us to, those places are unreachable unless you drive. It was definitely worth the money, though we had to fork out a bit more than what we planned. The uncle also kindly showed us the best photo-taking spots at each of the places and acted as our stand-in photographer. Nice!


End of the tour, the time was already 6+pm. Our dropping point was at Takegawara Spa. The interesting about this place is its hot sand bath. They bury you with the hot sand for ten minutes or so. A nice and relaxing feeling. The hot sand bath costs 1000 yen. Take note, no towel is provided. We paid another 250 yen for a thin and non-absorbent towel. After the hot sand bath, we cleaned ourselves off and dipped in the hot bath. Ahhhhhhh... Life was great~

After the bath, it was time for dinner. Shops in Beppu closed early. Apparently it's not so much of a night town, er..... Unless you turn into the other area. Oh.. Wikitravel stated this - "Beppu is also known as the Las Vegas of Japan, a reference more to its extensive sex industry than gambling." Of course, we didn't venture into that area. We were just looking for food.


Found this pretty atas looking restaurant. But wow... The price was pretty good. Sat, ordered, chatted, ate, chatted, paid, back to the train station. Took the 9+pm train and reached back Fukuoka @ 11pm+. A long day for the start. =\

Day 2

During our stay in Fukuoka, there was a on-going festival - Yamakasa Festival. It's a festival where people carry their float and run down the streets, parading and racing. But the climax, where the racing and parading happen, was some time later in the month. Our stay in Fukuoka only allowed us to see them exhibiting their floats in the street. So right in the morning, we started off walking to one of the shrines in Fukuoka. It was supposed to be the main shrine for this festival. After visiting the shrine, we walked to the Tenjin train station.


Throughout the whole walking journey, we spotted numerous floats displayed on the street. Those floats were really nice. The figures on the floats were well elaborated. Too bad we didn't know the story behind, or else we would be able to appreciate it more.

Our next plan for the day was to go to Dazaifu 大宰府. First stop @ Dazaifu was to visit the Tenmangu Shrine. Quoted from Wikitravel - "This shrine is popular with students as it is dedicated to Sugawara-no-Michizane who was deified as Temman Tenjin or Kanko, the god of culture and scholars." Wait... None of us are studying anymore! Never mind.


The streeting leading to the shrine has many shops selling a plum-paste pastry called umegaimochi. But seriously, we couldn't really taste the plum in it. It was more like red-bean paste. Or did they bought the wrong one? Along the street, I came across my first contact with Kitaro. Kitaro is a manga/anime/movie, which is now very popular in Japan. Looks cute. Google for it and see. Lunch was also at that street.

During the shrine visit, Daji tried to toss the coins into the donation box (that's what you do at a shrine), but he missed. All of us ran away and acted as if we didn't know him. I mean, at that distance and he also can miss. Woot~


After that, we visited the Kyushu National Museum. The museum was new. And nice looking. Good scenery around it too. But, it ranked first in my "Top Boring Visits in Japan". =\ I think maybe I'm not a lover of museums. What to do, Zy and Cui fell asleep while resting on the benches right in the middle of the museum. =


Okay, out of Dazaifu. It's not a night town too. Best to get out of there before sun set. Reached back Tenjin. Oh wow! Night stalls set up along one of the shopping arcades. Bought takoyaki to snack on. DELICIOUS!!! Oh yeah, the girls bought Yukata too. It was for the Gion festival of Kyoto which we would be visiting @ Day 15.

Day 3


Okay, I should be able to squeeze day 3 into this post. Day 3 should be short. The day started early with us moving to the train station at 6+am in the morning. Our first Shinkansen ride. The bullet train is really faaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssst. Transiting @ Hiroshima and switched over to another normal train to reach Miyajima-guchi to take ferry down to Miyajima. Everyone missed the takoyaki last night, so we bought some outside the train station there. The previous night's tasted better. =~( Nevertheless, I love takoyaki!

Upon reaching Miyajima, we checked out the information counter to see if there was any transportation that we can take to reach our ryokan, Jukeiso. Apparently, there's free shuttle service to take us there, but it's only available after 3pm, which is the official check-in time. It was only 10+am, so we put our barang barang at the coin-lockers and began our tour for Miyajima.


Right outside the ferry terminal, we spotted lots of deers walking around freely. Lots of them. LOTS! And they were attracted to anything that dangle. Clothes, papers, bags, etc. Anything they see dangling, they will attempt to chew it off. But they look cute~

In Miyajima, their local speciality food product is manju 饅頭 in a maple leaf shape. Manju, though chinese writing is man tou, is not like chinese man tou. It's like... chiffon cake texture? Hmmmm... Can't find something to relate to. Anyway, it's a kind of pastry with fillings in it. Lots of variety - red bean, chocolate, custard cream, etc. All taste good. It seems like oyster is another food speciality there. Many restaurants selling grilled oysters. Looks good, but I don't really enjoy eating oysters. =)

Miyajima has one main attraction that everyone must go. It's the Itsukushima 厳島 Shrine. It has a big big red shrine gate out in the sea. It was really a beautiful sight, when it's high tide. During low tide, it didn't look that impressive.


Visited the shrine, walked around the surrounding, saw the pagoda. Time for lunch! Curry rice for the guys and doria/gratin for the ladies. Both were super nice! The doria/gratin is something like baked rice. Well, it was my first time coming across this name. Btw, it was the best we had tried over the 21 days. Sometimes crowds and big names might not mean anything about the food. That cafe restaurant, that we had our lunch at, served better food.

After lunch , we headed back to the station to retrieve our bags and take the free shuttle to our ryokan. The ryokan had good services and the staffs were very friendly. We had a nice welcome and showed to our room. As we had already explored most part of the island, left the trekking (we have no time to do that) and cable car up the mountain (it was down for maintenance -GREAT), we stayed in the room waiting for dinner time.

Here's the part why I like the staff there. At around 4+pm, one of the staff came up and checked on us. Why? She informed us that the Itsukushima Shrine is closing soon, along with some other places. Generally, most places close @ 5pm in Japan, btw. She was afraid we were slacking in the room too long and forgot about the time. That was really nice of them to be so thoughtful. Of course, we told her we had already visited the areas and thanked her for informing us. =)


Dinner time came, and time to make our way down towards the shopping arcade. Ah! What we didn't expect was that all restaurants were already closed! Hmmmmmm... Either the people there had early dinner, or they don't serve dinner at all. A manju shop was still opened, so we went in bought some of them to try later at night and for the breakfast next morning.

Lucky for us, there was one restaurant which was still opened. Now I know why most of the ryokans in Miyajima had dinner and breakfast package. It's almost impossible to find dinner in Miyajima! Alright! This place had my favourite yakisoba! Woot~


After dinner, we went back to the Tori Gate and took many stupid photos. The whole place was almost ours, very quiet. Then came a group of other tourists. We had enough photo taking, so it's time we gave up the area and went back home. Cui suggested catching the sunrise the next morning. So yeah, everyone gotta wake up early the next day. Sleep...

To be continued...

Back from Japan!

Ah... back in Singapore now. Funny... 21 days in Japan, I didn't really miss Singapore much, not even the food. But just 1 day back in Singapore, I'm already missing Japan! And the food there!!! How how how how how?

Anyway, will start to do the post on the trip as soon as I get the photos. That crazy Daji took 13.6gb of photos. Insanity...

Japan, here I come!!!

Finally, the moment has arrived.

0115 flight, reaching airport later at 2300...

21 days in Japan...

From west to east...

Everything should be in the bag already...

Let's hope nothing goes very wrong...

Revise through itinerary...

Look through the maps again...

Last minute shopping...

Ahh..... I'm really getting paranoid....

Oh well.. Screw it! 2 more hours I'll leave this house, and come what may!


JAPAN, HERE I COME!!!!

Narcissism...

Have I mentioned before that I am a narcissist? Alright, I'm one! WAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAA!! Ever since I got my new webcam I've been abusing it. No! WAIT! Not strip dancing!!!!! Just random taking photo of myself with different facial expressions and actions. XD

Below is just a sample collection of 4 such photos. Enjoy! Wahahahahahahaahahaaa!!!


If I were to post all the photos I've been taking so far........ Hmmmm....... No, don't wanna waste my time on uploading. =D)

taboos...

damn it.. watched 2 shows during this kind of timing, and they are the wrong kinds of shows u shouldn't watch alone at late night...

channel U kept showing the advertisement for Premonition which is scheduled to air tonight (Friday).. then was at crunchyroll then saw the show.. thinking why not watch it now.. at least thot it's juz a normal show, which talking abt premonition and how that guy changes it.. and how he change the past.. some more the main lead, he's the fairy from proposal daisakusen.. nice ojisan.. then sakai noriko! my old time fav!!! so shouldn't be a scary show right? ah ah ah! i'm wrong!!! okay lah.. it isn't that scary or wat.. but it's the classical japanese horror movie way of scaring pple.. suddenly appearance with sound effect and stuff.. tio scared a few times... then after the show wanna go pee oso scare a bit.. *shy* i'm so "without daji" (a.k.a. "bo ji")... =\

never mind.. needa change the mood.. or else it might be hard for me to get through the night with a sane mind.. =)) looking thru the anime list in crunchyroll.. ah.. cooking master boy.. that's an anime i wanted to watched long time ago.. let's watch it... NOOOOOOOOOOOO~~~ wrong choice of show again!!! late night easy to become hungry one!! then look at those food!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! DAMN IT!! even though the anime was dubbed in cantonese, but i can't stop myself from watching it bcos of the food!! and i'm getting hungrier while watching it!!!

so people.... remember! do not watch cooking and horror show at this kind of timing! those are taboos! strangely.. the supposedly REAL taboo shows are the perfect kind of show u should watch at this kind of timing.. bcos no one.. ho ho ho ho~ *munch munch munch*

Parking Summon!

got blogger arrested for posting racist online content before.. so i better be careful with my choice of words..

that day went to zeming house for japan trip discussion #4.. kan suay... tio summon.. $50 bucks.. well done... another 50bucks threw into my japan budget.. kns... not going to drive to his house next time... sucks... yeah.. i'm a sore loser!

anyway, i'm pretty surprised by how efficient those Parking Attendants are... they can put the summon shortly after u park, or time nicely after an hour or so if u did put some coupon.. well done! i think they are campers.. even very active at time after midnight.. =\

then i'm thinking of way to protect ur car, making ur car less vulnerable to these people.. following are some suggestions. (I SWEAR I'M NOT RACIST!!!)

1. brush pork oil all over on ur car and paste a note saying that. reason(defend): coat with oil can prevent rust from exposed metal parts mah.. reason(real): maybe oily looking so they wont touch.
2. use bacon strips wrap around ur wipers. reason(defend): can bbq those bacons strips can eat.. reason(real): raw meat might disgust some poeple off, so maybe it helps to fend them off.
3. hang pig heads (inside or outside up to u). reason(defend): decorative purpose... reason(real): pple will think it's ah long's car, so wont touch it.. scare..

look, i'm not racist okay.. all my suggested actions above are justified properly with no racist remarks.. pls dun anyhow spread this post, or else sekali i really tio trouble.. =p

Meaning of Life...

I may be slacking my life away recently, but hey! I'm doing serious thinking on my life from this moment onwards too okay! It's only when one has this much free time can ponder upon this mystery of life. What is the meaning of my life.......

All along I was quite happy that I set my career path long time ago, during secondary school. I wanted to be in the IT line. From there, I went into double Maths + Physics + Computing course during JC, and eventually, Comp Engineering during university. Now I reached this point that I wanted to reach. Where do I go from here on? I'm lost...

Working is a definite. But, what's the meaning behind working so hard? Earn big bucks, own big car and big house? Do I really need all these? Even if I want those luxury of life, are those my ultimate aim of life? I believe my vision for life gotta be something better than that. I know I'm not a superficial person, easily satisfied with these kind of stuff. Let me slowly find that ultimate aim of life.

I always have this thought, "what if I'm dead now". I had this kind of dream before a few times. During that dreams, regrets that I have until now started to surfacing to my mind. Ahhhhh... those regrets, they can never be resolved. I start to think beyond that, who will remember me after my death. Have I left any impact in anyone's life? Definitely I didn't, and most probably won't be able to, manage to leave my name in the history (unless i go take a knife and start slashing people on the street).

So, if I just fall dead tomorrow, isn't my life a useless one???? I haven't accomplished anything, leaving no impact on anyone's life, leaving no trace of my existence, so what is the meaning of my life up to now?!???!?? If there is an almighty up there, surely my life ought to have a meaning right? Or that mean so long that goal of my living has not reached, I won't be leaving this world that soon? Hahahaa! I don't know, but that's what I was hoping to believe in, maybe. Awwwwwwww... The meaning of lfe is too sophiscated. I definitely don't wish to leave this world without etching my existence in this world, or at least in somebody.

If I were to leave this world tomorrow, would you friends kindly remember me for life? At least until I managed to leave my name in the book of history. LOL!


P/S: No! I'm not committing suicide or doing mass slaughtering. Just finding the meaning of my life only. Lax.....

souvenirs from the sisters...

met up with the sisters today for dinner and ktv.. though the eldest one onli joined in for a while.. the korean bbq was not bad lah.. the ktv.. *ahem* i regretted singing leo ku's 2 medleys.. really chui... need lots of lung power to sing for straight 10+min...

anyway.. lemme present the souvenirs from them...


ah.. the hard boiled quail eggs.. always saw them on tv, but dunno how is it like.. edible? black black one...


pineapple cake.. ah... looks good...


WTF?!??! WHO LEFT HER PAD IN THAT PLASTIC BAG?!??! oh... chey.. it's marshmallow... naughty naughty.....


alright... great.. now here's another sex novelty... candy condom.. better dun leave it lying around.. or else my nephew and niece thot real candy and open and beg my mum to let them eat.. not good... tsk tsk...


ah! this is sweet!!!!! knowing i'm graduating, so they got mi a "graduation scroll" (or whatever you call it as)... let's see what cert is inside...

hmmm.. look like those coconut sweet wrapping... why coconut sweet inside sia? let's take a closer look..

.... condoms.. real condoms... nice... something that i totally have no use for.. hahahahahaha.. naughty girls.. dunno wat's in their mind... cham ah... or i have a wrong impression in them??? NOOOOO~~~

anyway.. dear trio sisters, thanks for the souvenir... interesting stuff.. hahahaha.. i'll definitely get souvenir for u all from japan too.. don't blame me if i get the similar stuff for you all too!!!! hahahaha.. no lah.. i won't.. but ya.. really thanks.. oh... and thanks mike for driving me back... pai seh!


note to all my friends... anyone need condoms? i got free condoms to give out... pm mi if u need them.. i wont tell the rest abt it.. *grin*

Result's out...

YA HOOO~~~~ I PASSED MY BLOODY FYP!!! MINIMUM EFFORT MAXIMUM GAIN!

Alright... it was a scary bet afterall, i shouldn't have really pushed my luck every sem.. now that the final sem really scares me badly... luckily nothing goes wrong this time..

Name	WANG SICONG		Matric	043198H06
Programme	COMPUTER ENGINEERING		Year	4

Exam Yr	Semester	Course	Exam Grade
2007	2	CPE416	B-
2007	2	CPE428	A-
2007	2	CPE479	B
2007	2	HMJ3	B-
2007	2	HW310	B

The above exam status is FINAL only when all your results have been released! REMARK: YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING (COMPUTER ENGINEERING) WITH SECOND CLASS HONOURS (LOWER DIVISION)

CPE416 is distributed system.. happy enough that got a B- for it.. the bloody paper is kan phua xiong and everyone was cursing txy... but then again.. guess that the cummulative curve saved me ass...

CPE428 is simulation and modeling.. ah... that was quite a slack mod... A- is very good enough for me le... HAPPY x2!

CPE479 is FYP.. WOOT!! this is the most shocking liao.. it's a B!!!! IT'S A B!!!!! wahahahahahahahahahahaa!!!

HMJ3 is jap level 3.. chui.. it's B-!!! look like my jap is really that chui.. gg...

HW310 is prof comm.. ah.. writing mod with no exam.. sure pass one...


Yeap! On average i think my academic result is an average B... plus FYP B.. that gives me a 2nd lower.. good enough.. i never ask for more than a pass with merit. =) congrats me!!!!

Lucky you, Unlucky me..

This is a post that I wanted to write on long long long long long long long long long ago. In fact, my original plan was to write a proper essay on it. But then again, I failed my GP, and no point making my readers suffer. And myself.

I bet you heard this, or you yourself said this, many times before - "Why is the world so unfair?", or something similar. How often do those people think thoroughly before making that statement (Oops! That include myself too!)? Why do I said so?

Everyone has their own point of view, their own perspective. The judgment done by people often differs between one another. These differences in judgment are due to many factors such as background, wealth, biasness, etc. What is good and what is bad, are just what one PERCEIVES. One man's meat, another man's poison.

Someone with big house and big car is often linked to being a lucky guy, while a poor one is an unlucky person. Of course, on the superficial level, that is a definite. But look deeper in, if you may. You might find that the poorer one may have other areas that he is "luckier" than the richer one.

Last time when I believed that the world is unfair by nature, my favourite phrase for that is, "If the world is fair, The fingers on my hand will all be of equal length." Now I've changed that old thinking of mine. The fingers of the hand are given different length and characteristics because each of them has their own role and duty. Each of them has their own pros and cons. Now that's fair.

What I want to say is (in case my organization of thought or my writing above is really that terrible), how good or how bad your life is depending on how you perceive it yourself. If you determine that it's bad, oh well, it's definitely bad and I feel sorry for you. But if you can see the beautiful part of your life and determine your life is a good, you will enjoy your life more and I congratulate you on that.

If you really find yourself often say "Why is god/world so unfair?", try this. Take a step back. Look at your life carefully. Are you missing anything good that has happened and you ought to notice? It might be just the way how you perceive good and bad. If you are comparing with another person, then think deeper about it. He/She might have what you don't have, but you sure have things he/she doesn't have too. But then again! If you are just cursing and swearing due to impulse, go ahead. It's a nice way to put blame on... TEMPORARILY.

Well... My aim in this post is just that I hope to see my friends able to live their life better and more enjoyable, rather than to live and complain about it. Perception... Yeah, the pasture is always greener on the other side. .......... GET A LIFE!

room hopping..

recently doing room hopping.. one day sleep in my room, next day sleep in my sister's room, then next day (if kids not staying overnight) sleep in the kids room.. basically sleeping anywhere i like, except my parents' room...

then came a phone call ten mins ago.. my sis called home and happily said she's coming home this sat for a short trip.. =.=" think she too rich or wat... great! now i gotta tidy up that room and act i've never been using that room at all... *grin*

Compilation of MVs

Since I'm so bo liao, let's do a mini compilation of the MVs that 曾愷玹 appears in.

古巨基 - 情歌王
The longest MV she has appeared in. Shiok! Youtube split it into 2 parts.





林俊杰　－　期待你的爱
The song used in the recent Cornetto ice cream




周杰伦　－　我不配
This is the first MV that I noticed her. Well, saw her first in Jay's movie first though. This is like an follow up for me to like her more. LOL




吴克群　－　牵牵牵手
I've posted this before. Nice song nice MV!




Next 2 songs, apparently Youtube disabled the embedding option. =/ So, just go to the link bah!

柯有伦　－　Crazy
吴建豪　－　放手


Anyone knows of other songs? Let me know if there is. Thanks!

Long day....

Have I mentioned this before? A day seems super long if I wake up too early. Apparently I slept almost for the whole of yesterday. Let's recall. Reached home @ around 9+am, slept @ 10+am. Woke up @ 1+pm to bring dad to see doctor. Back home and slept @ 4+pm. Woke up @ 8+pm, rot a bit, and went back to sleep at 10+pm. Woke u at 9+am this morning.

WOOT~

3 + 4 + 11 = 18hrs of sleep. That rocks! Great! Then rotting around since woke up. Watched TV, game a bit, rot a bit. Damn it's only 3pm now! Not even the timing I used to wake up.

Man..... Life of a slacker....

Something exciting..

Here's the thing I was pretty excited about. I'm going to Japan for 3 weeks! Alright... Most of you already know this thing, nothing new. Big deal. Hey! I'm really excited over this trip okay!

Met up 4 times with the groupie, last night being the 4th. Let's recall a bit.

We had an ice-breaking session at Alif. It was just a normal supper with the groupie members (sans Zee) plus JJJ. Oh oh oh! That was the night we sent Wy off to airport too! It was kinda for me to repay my gratitude. Wy often drove me home, so I ought to do him a favour too.

The next time we met up was at West Coast McDonald. This was the 1st official discussion meeting too. Based on a template itinerary that Cui has, we started planning our route for the trip. Zw was not in the discussion because he was not feeling well. Oh! I had the WaCh-MaCh-WaCh monthly gathering before this meeting too.

The 3rd meet up, also the official 2nd discussion meeting, was at National Library. Well, it was supposed to be at National Library, but we met quite a few problems and didn't manage to get a good spot there, so we moved to the McDonalds at Bra Basah there. Prior to this meeting, each of us has to research part of the itinerary to do as homework. Basically, this meeting was to plan what we going to do and allocate the days spent at specific areas. Ah! Zw was out in this meeting too. He had to meet up with his Taiwan trip's member for their discussion too.

Last night's meeting was quite an emergency, at least I felt so. Why? Because the accommodation might be an issue already! A few lodgings which we shortlisted previously are already fully booked! This is not good! Cheap, accessible and good lodgings are not easy to find. So we gotta find our accommodation ASAP and book them! That was the aim for yesterday. Actually, come to think of it. It was today that we met up. I started to pick them up at around 12am+. It's today! Alright. Back to topic. I was doing quite intensive research on the accommodation around all the areas we will be visiting. It was quite hard, and considering I was doing last minute work. LOL. So typical me. Well, at least we kinda managed to settle for the accommodation and the baton was passed over to Cui for her to do the contacting of the lodging.
Hahahaha! Zw was out again, he's in Taiwan.

Something to clarify first. Zw did not pang seh us for the discussion or what. It's really because of the timing that we set. So it's not his fault or anything.

So, ya! I'm still going to Japan after all!!! And it's extended from 1 week to 3 weeks! Great!! Damn, I have no money...

I'll write another post on the Japan trip details another time. Basically, this is the route. Fukuoka (Kyushu) -> Miyajima (Hiroshima) -> Okayama -> Osaka -> Kanazawa -> Takayama -> Mount Fuji -> Tokyo
Woot~ From the west to the east! But we are not going north to Hokkaido. No time. No money. So Tokyo is the last stop. Banzai!!!!!

update - akan datang!

soon soon.. got a mood to blog again soon... but still a bit in the emo state since the last emo post.. but recently got something happening, to slightly distract me away from (but sometimes still pull me back into) emo mood..

soon soon soon!! i promise! new post coming soon!

Screwed up players

Can't imagine my grand opening day of slacking jsut got spoiled by a simple game of dota. Screwed up zion players.

Fuck...
Fuck...
Fuck...
Fuck...
Fuck...
Fuck...
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Fuck...
Fuck...

Anime!

something to offset that emo post...

ANIME!!! recently no drama to watch... so i watch anime.. finally got used to streaming quality.. and the worst kind.. crunchyroll.. yeah.. crunchyroll definitely has one of the worst quality for viral video...


Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!

saw ys introducing this anime on her blog, so i went to give it a try.. man! it's funny! and exciting too.. starting might be a bit draggy, as they are introducing new characters into the story.. but from 20+ onwards, it's very very very exciting! got battle.. maciam watching naruto and bleach fighting scene lidat.. 2-3 eps for each battle... then u will start to watch non-stop

I was doing screenshot everytime he did the "reborn" action. why? bcos i wanna see how many different type of boxers he has in total.. hahahaha.. but i started taking screenshot since ep33 lidat.. so i need to backtrack 30+ to get the rest of the screenshots.. if i managed to get all i'll do a collage of it. hahaha..

click here for the synopsis and link to the anime on crunchyroll..

girls will definitely fall in love with Reborn.. hahaha.. Ciaossu~


Gintama

I barely finish 10eps or so only.. but eh... hahahaha.. it's a crappy funny anime lah.. lots of nonsensical jokes in the anime.. and parodies of other stuff here and there.. i won't really recommend this to normal anime watcher.. this anime is only meant for the hardcore anime fans!

click here for the synopsis and link to the anime on crunchyroll..



crunchyroll got quite a lot of shows there lah.. but the quality is really chui one.. if u dun mind the quality, go ahead and watch the shows there.. if u need recommendation for animes of a few years back one, can ask me.. =))

The Story of Backside Itchy

Maybe I should talk about the backside itchy issue.

It was 2 nights ago. I was trying to find my stapler, looking through my drawers and cupboards, high and low. Then I came to this particular cupboard, which I named it as the "Taboo Dimension". Despite knowing that my stapler definitely won't be inside, I still opened it and looked through it. That's the story. Backside itchy.

Photo albums, little trinkets and gifts, etc... It's funny how clear each memory is. I can remember all the stories behind them. Yet in the past, I couldn't even remember which gift was for which occasion. Every item is like bringing me through a memory journey.

I tidied up the cupboard and added more items into it. Well, my room is always in a messy state, so there are stuff, that are supposed to be in there, are not there. Then I suddenly thought about something else. "I've tidied up those stuff, but are my feeling too?"

Hmmm.. I have already let go of her. So what's holding me back now? I've been telling people to introduce female friends to me and stuff, but I wasn't even serious for once. The only time that I was serious enough was last year a few months after the broke up. Guess I was trying to find someone to fill up the void in my heart. Glad that I didn't do anything stupid, but I almost did =p.

But there's something something that's bothering me. Why did it end? How did it end? I recalled the reasons and stuff she had told me, and tried to understand that. But I wasn't able to understand the situation. Actually there are many times I feel like asking her, trying to clarify this "mystery" of the past. But I didn't manage to do so. That would be weird to ask her, wouldn't it? That's something of the past, it's quite a taboo topic, and she has already moved on. I shouldn't be dragging her back into the issue of the past, at least that's what I thought.

So, how do I ignore this problematic issue that have bothering me for so long, but yet retaining the sweet memory? *sigh* =\ Guess I can only hope that I will slowly become numbed to the bothering issue, and keep telling myself to move away from that past.

Oh! I need to state this clear again. I have already let go of her!!! Ya, it's just that issue is still haunting me. That's all!

And ya, regarding the 2nd occurrence of the backside itchy, I was reading DS's (codename used) blog. Saw photos of the MayDay Concert thingy that she had uploaded, I've more or less guessed there might be some photos of that Pig (codename used) and her bf. But I still read on. Think I really wanted to see what my reaction will be. Lame right? Yeah. That's what I did. Indeed, got!! Man, I did feel pretty sour. Hahahahaha!

Attention to R #2 and DS!! If you read this post, keep it to yourself okay? orz

Yup! That's the whole thing behind the backside itchy post. I didn't want to elaborate it previously because I still have a paper the next day, which was this morning. Not good to get myself emo up before the paper. I mean I was already emo, but cannot afford to flare it up.