Haven't posted a photo in ages. My blog lacks colour.

- Work part-time in an ice cream parlour or a ba-zhang (dumpling) store

- Go for intermediate guitar classes

- Go for more dance open classes

- Take part in the standard chartered 10k marathon (?!?! I know, WTS?!)

- Take more pretty pictures =)

So ambitious right. Anyway it's really one of the last few long holidays I'll actually have so I can't help it lah.

Liberation! Finally. After hemming and hawing for 5 days I managed to get out of the mess I'd created for myself. And turned down a very sparkly interview opportunity too. I think people are thinking I'm mad.

But not if you really know me :) Bangalore, here I come!

Its crappy though, that it would add another week to the 3 weeks of being a lone ranger. Haha. But it's good I think. A good opportunity for us to remember who we were as individuals and to learn to cherish more :)

OK off to dinner!

Oh gawd it's overrrr.

Well it's not just my exams. I was looking at my recent string of very emotional entries and I realize that shitty phase is officially over. I would never say though that I wish they didn't happen, because I feel like I've come out of it learning so many things about life in general.

Things are definitely looking brighter now, and for every bad thing that happened, God has given me 2 times the joy and the peace now. Perhaps it was an intentional period of trial. Pruning, they call it.

So I cross my fingers that I'll get that dream internship, but if I don't, I guess there's a lot of things out there waiting to be done :)

For now I feel like going on a short get away trip; with the 35ers (i want to relive hong kong again!) and with my other friends maybe on a beach resort getaway thing.

I want to blog more, but lately I have been really lazy. I think its all the brain cells lost over studying for Psych - I crammed 5 chapters within 2 nights and now I'm subconsciously applying what I learnt in Psych (especially about Freudian dream interpretation) to everything in life. Heh.

I've been back for close to 3 weeks now, and I've spent the last few weeks mostly catching up with friends, unpacking, adjusting to life here, and what else? Chilling.

These 5 months in Europe/Sweden have been a sabbatical for myself; and its impact on me is far more profound than I could have ever expected. So much so I find it difficult to condense my thoughts into a single entry. So I guess I will put down what I think when the thoughts come to me, and not try to squeeze my sentiments on it into a singular entry.

Anyway, I was just thinking, I don't think I'll return to any European country for the next 3-5 years if I can help it, with the exception of Turkey, Morocco, Greece, or Croatia, because I missed out on them and I think they're really beautiful, judging from my friends' accounts. I'm pretty sick of seeing the same styles of architecture and so forth. Honestly, I appreciate the opportunities I've been given. To be able to even see all these things is a blessing in itself. But I guess it was a case of too much within too small a time frame. Maybe I was just overwhelmed.

So I guess my next 'conquest' would be the Asian countries lying around where I am now. You know what? I'm Asian, but I don't even know much about my own race. I probably know European history more than Asian history, and that fact irks me to no end. So, next up? Vietnam and Cambodia for sure. But till my pocket heals from the damage done to it by this exchange, I dare not initiate any plans.

Told you. I look like a kid who managed to get more candy.

Feeling a bit iffy now so I figure blogging about something happy would cheer me up. So here goes - Japan Part 2+3/3 - Less words, more pictures, because I know I can be really long winded.

After all that snow, we headed to the Takeshima Island, which houses Yaotomi Shrine. Essentially, that shrine's supposed to bestow luck for births and marriages, or something like that.

The island was generally quiet and serene, lacking the hubbub of Tokyo and Osaka (which we would later encounter!)

These were the divinations that people were supposed to refer to after having prayed at the temple.

This was taken on the way back from Takeshima Island, Those seagulls aren't scared of humans at all...

After returning from Takeshima, we headed to a Tea Plantation to watch how a traditional tea ceremony in Japan would be like. The photos of that aren't all that interesting, but as we whizzed past the suburbs, we saw rows and rows of tea bushes! As a sidenote, the green tea in Japan is really exquisite. It's slightly more bitter than what we get here, but its taste is much more distinguishable.

Our next stop was Kyoto, which is my favourite city out of all by far. We visited Kiyomizu Temple, which apparently bestowed luck in love and marriages. I actually was more interested in the scenery. It was one of the most beautiful temples I'd ever seen. Oh, and, I wasn't able to get a picture without people in it, so yeah, my sister's there.

As we exited the temple, the path led us to a myriad of quaint shops below. Some were selling the usual touristy stuff, but some sold food like GREEN TEA SOFT SERVE! I think i ate Green Tea + Chestnut soft serve which was reallllly delish.

The next stop was Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion, which was another one of my favourite landmarks. The Pavilion you see there is coated with Gold Leaf (i.e., it's real gold!) and has been standing there since 1955. The original temple dated back to 1397 but was burned down, twice. It was once a Shogun (Japanese Warlord's) residence but has since been converted into a building that houses Buddhist relics.

We then managed to see a present-day Geisha! OK, not quite. This lady here is a Maiko, otherwise known as a Apprentice Geisha, who's basically someone who's in the final stage of her geisha training. Would you believe it, she's only 18 years old! Maikos tend to be more smiley and friendly, so this Maiko was pretty obliging when it came to photos etc. Geishas, on the other hand, tend to be more serious and sombre, so it'd be rare to catch them with a smile.

We proceeded to the Shinkansen station to catch a bullet train to Osaka.

And trust me, when the train whizzes by, you feel the whole earth shake under your feet. So fast, it's gone in 3 seconds, leaving you with your jaw on the ground and your heart beating twice as fast as it was before.

Within half an hour we were in Osaka. Hungry, we trooped into this Japanese restaurant for our dinner.

Lovely, lovely tempura don + soba.

OK I couldn't resist posting this because that crab is so darn huge, it's bigger than a human. The only catch is that it's fake. Anyway, the point is that Shinsaibashi had LOADS of these crab-adverts and each tried to out do each other in terms of size. Quite funny, because you'd then see rows of them pincers moving and clacking in just one block.

Osaka, Shinsaibashi (shopping district). Yup, they're all advertizing billboards made up of neon lights!

We ended the trip at Universal Studios, which actually wasn't much fun because I didn't get to sit on a roller coaster AT ALL. The only one they had was closed for maintainence! I think I'm going to visit Six Flags soon. Why on earth are there no rollercoasters at Theme Parks?! Gahhh.

And, oh, how could I forget? The famous toilet bowls of Japan which come equipped with a bidet spray thing (a nozzle that rinses your butt), and oh, music to mask any unglamourous sounds of clearing your bowels/bladder. How ingenius!

With that I give you Part 2+3 of my Japan posts :)

Spinning: KT Tunstall - Miniature Disaster

Well hello there. If there's still anyone to say hello to, that is; heh. I've been Missing In Action for awhile now and people who even knew that I was away for 7 days from this sweltering island may not even know that I'm already back. Well I am. Back from the land of the TakuyaKimura factory, back from the land of revolutionary toilet technology, back from the land of the rising sun. JAPAN, Japan!

I figure I better write this before I forget everything that I've seen or experienced. Not that that's likely to happen soon, actually.

The first thing that hit me as I stepped out of the Tokyo Narita Airport was, quite literally, the weather. The wind was lashing madly against my face and as my friends would know it, I love gusts of wind like that. So yeap, the weather was quite amazing. Certainly not too hot, and not overtly cold as well. Something like outdoor air-conditioning.

Tokyo; random cityscape

So. First stop: Tokyo Disneyland! Ok, I'm just gonna be frank and say that the 2nd experience of Disneyland's not going to be as magical as the first. The first time you see it, you're kind of taken by surprise. My first visit was to Hong Kong's. Sure, Tokyo Disneyland is probably twice as huge as that in Hong Kong, but I guess the Disney Magic thing shouldn't be experienced more than once in a year.

Spinning: Maroon 5 - Makes Me Wonder

Note to self: Never ever ever EVER say that any current job is great/cushy/lovely/amazing/wonderful again. I don't know why but it seems to be a jinx to my work situation. Somehow it manages to become bad, in one way or another.

Don't get me wrong, it's still quite all right; still has its positive aspects. But take this advice: Pray that you won't end up working under a workaholic boss. Because you'll be expected to be as much of a workaholic as he/she is. Mentally he/she will bellow "TAKE NO PRISONERS!!!!" And somehow her drones will receive the psychic transmission. Then the day starts. And probably won't end until late into the night. The past few days have been something like that - my new home is actually my office cubicle. My house is but a hotel. My friends urge me to "think of the money", but if I have to do this on a long term basis (in my case meaning until my contract expires) I don't know how to deal with it.

Weekdays have basically become an off-limits zone for enjoying myself or any form of a social life whatsoever. By the time I finish at night, it's too late to go for dinner, and I'm almost always too tired to do any partying. My apologies go out to Mab, whom I asked out first, but ended up having to cancel it 'cos my boss was fuming at something. Hurgh. Drone indeed.

But but but! I'm still all right (I think!) because of my side-splittingly humourous colleagues. My mentor/direct supervisor (not my boss) is a self-deprecating lady who always takes care of my welfare - and the best thing is that all of them are NOT the kinds who will make a mess and hotfoot it out of the office leaving me to 'kio sai' (clean up. clean shit, literally.) In fact, they always share the burden.

At times it is majorly voyeuristic, just sitting in a corner pretending to be meekly doing my own work, when in reality, I'm half the time observing the little politics that occur in the office. To be frank, it's not as politically charged as offices in the central area, but still there's bound to be some. Especially where hierarchy is involved.

This is going to sound quite insane, but as a small fry in the office who's just filling the position temporarily, I enjoy what little authority I wield. Yes, take heart fellas - as temps you still wield some sort of authority, you know. At the very least, most of the time (unless you're in sales and you need to hit a commission), your colleagues don't normally bitch about you because they don't really see you as competition. And in the face of office politics - for example, facing an elaborate corporate hierarchy - you don't get too intimidated. At least we're more carefree, and we don't have to dwell on what I think are the most annoying/unnecessary aspects of the working world.

That's why I've resolved to cherish my University years. University is going to be the last milestone before I actually face the ugly side of human nature, in its full blown glory.

Spinning: Some Cantonese Song

I'm a little restless now, because I drank a whole pot of Chinese Tea. So, I am sleepless for tonight and I decided to stop procrastinating and start typing the second part of the HK travelogue. Here it is.

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I'd never been to Disneyland until this year. I'd heard a lot about Hong Kong's Disneyland - about how it's too small and unable to compare to its counterparts in Florida and Japan. Partly true, because you can cover the entire park within a day (and that's so wrong!) But we figured, what's an adolescence without having SEEN Disneyland? So despite all the negative press about it, we just decided to include it in our itinerary.

We took the MTR to Lantau Island, and from there we hitched a ride on one of those specially designed Disney trains. Cute, and I bet they probably spent a bomb on them. They had windows in the shape of Mickey's head, and even hand-rings ( Those things you use for support hanging from the ceiling ) in the shape of Mickey's head. Plush blue velvet seats lined both sides of the train, and they had really interesting sculptures and various Disney memorabilia on display in glass cases beside the seats.

OK, maybe a photograph paints the picture better.

The ride was short, though, and when we stepped into the entrance, we saw banners of Disney characters. As if on cue, all of us rushed to our respective favourites and cam-whored away. And being the 'swakus' ( or 'noobs', for the uninitiated in hokkien!) we were, we spent at least 15 minutes there...

...Not knowing that we were just in time for the afternoon parade. Basically, the theme park would hold a parade 2-3 times each day, and they'd showcase really detailed floats, each starring a specific Disney licensed character/cartoon. They'd have dancers at their front, back and flanks, and as we discovered, it was a rather magical spectacle. I'm not exaggerating. Perhaps it was too long since we saw something so, well, cartoonish and cheerful. I mean, they were playing the zipper-dee-doo-dah song! How could we not bop along! I don't know about the others, but for Pam T. and me, we just stood there, mouths agape. We almost wanted to burst into tears. This might sound so over-the-top, but no, it's true. When you see it for the first time, it's an amazing feeling. Perhaps we were recalling our childhood, *shrug*, but unfortunately, it only lasted for a fleeting moment :( For me, at least.


Flowers on stilts. What made this hilarious was that the mascots were grown men. :) Gotta give it to them for managing to look so funky while on stilts AND while dressed in ridiculous outfits.

Which brings me to mention that the entertainers were all pretty professional. What made them stand out was that they actually responded when we waved, or smiled to them, or if some kid tried to grab their attention. They'd wave back, smile back, wink back, even breaking formation momentarily to dance closer to us. Nice.

See, that's what I mean.

So after ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the procession, we went crazy with the rides. Let's just say that er, the rides cater more to wee kids. The only ride we actually found thrilling was the ONLY roller coaster in the themepark. And that wasn't even too nauseating. We had fun nonetheless, and I've got to credit those lovely travel-mates of mine. Without them, Disneyland wouldn't have been so entertaining.

We took a ride on the carousel. It's one of those 'compulsory' attractions. You haven't been to a theme park if you haven't sat on their carousel, especially if you're talking about a Disney theme park.

Eek, er, I wasn't aware someone was stealthily taking a photograph whilst I was laughing like an idiot on the carousel. But seriously, it has been a long time since I actually looked this happy!


Amande petrified me whilst we were on that Jumbo-ish ride. Actually, maybe it was vice versa. I was the one who kept pushing the lever up so that we could make the darn elephant rise to its highest possible level :þ She kept laughing throughout the whole thing. There she is with that lecherous smile.

And Amande was raving about the go-karts - she was really excited about cars, you see. And, hee hee, we did get to sit in a car all right... but this was no go-kart. Basically, they put you in a car, either alone or in pairs, and all you do is step on the pedal. No need for any steering though there is a steering wheel provided in addition to those annoying 'zoom zoom' accelerating noises whenever one stepped on the pedal (just for the sake of realism I guess), because there was a fixed rail which the car is attached to. To make matters worse, a clueless auntie was right in front of us, and she stepped on the pedal every 3 seconds. So, we crashed into each other very often. Amande's pissed! Naw, just caught her in a 'hrmmph what is that Auntie doing!' moment.


And this, in my opinion, is one of the funniest pictures I've ever seen of my friends and I. (You have to click on it to see our expressions up close) It was one of those coaster-cams which attempt to capture your most embarrassing moments on the coaster. Don't ask me why Elke and Zhu Hui are grinning away like Cheshire cats on a roller coaster ride! Pam T and I were just, 'Ahhhhh!' all the way. Amande looks, I don't know, a cross between shocked and amused.

And then Disneyland lit up at night! This was the part which made me melt into a fuzzy mess of warm goo. The night parade was really a disappointment, though. It was supposed to be a Chinese New Year special, but it only lasted all of 30 minutes, out of which 20 were spent getting a good seat (on the floor, actually.)

Yup, warm and fuzzy all right.

Anyway, as I said, the Disney experience was made much more memorable by my travel-mates. Just look at them! Disney should hire them as ambassadors already. Well, without them, queuing up would be incredibly frustrating. Why? All I'll say is that we were disturbed by rude Mainland kids trying to jump the queue. Even worse, the adults allowed them to, and even had the intention of doing so - too bad they weren't as small as their kids, and too bad we were so annoyed that we formed a human wall to prevent any sneaky kids from squeezing past. There's only so much we can tolerate, you know.

That building there on the left (with the lanterns) was our hotel. It was posh, but the fun part was staying in a posh hotel with your friends doing not-so-posh things. Like soaking our dirty, smelly feet in their bath tub. MASS soaking, in fact. We really had to do that because of all the walking.

And yeah, we did silly things. Like this.

Yah. It was cozy.

Amande's not present 'cos she wasn't staying in our room. But she did have her share of her fun, staying in our room until the wee hours of the night :)

You know, with travel-mates like that, what more could I ask for? Often times it is the people who determine whether you have fun on a trip or not. And these people really made the trip something I'll remember for a long, long time.

Oooh, by the way, this is so random, BUT YOU MUST EAT THIS if you ever go to Hong Kong! It's the most delicious thing I've ever sank my teeth in! It's called cha leong, not sure of the intonation though, just trial and error your way through there! That's what we did anyway, and er, we did get some weird looks and I'm not sure if we accidentally uttered a swear word, but the locals there are pretty understanding.


And there, my parting group picture.