A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (ii)

A friendly warning before we proceed: Post is very very photo heavy not to mention I've even slot in a short video or two. Therefore, why don't we enjoy a good intro while we let everything load itself as we "scroll" along. Good?

A Japanese Summer: Prologue
A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (i)


Woke up around eight in the morning while we took turns using the toilet. Did I mention how tiny everything in Japan is? I love Japan. *hearts it lots and lots* But cost of living is just a killer. Tiny apartment, tiny toilets and I assure you what you have in mind of 'tiny" right now, shrink it another two times.

Yup.

TINY.

Okay, let's continue. So we pandai-pandai follow YY out, keeping note of all the details as we go. *cough cough* Watch and learn, my friend. GOTTA Watch and Learn. Because upon reaching Shinjuku Station aka the busiest train station in the world, we have to bid farewell to YY as she head off to work. In other words, we were on our own! *gan jiong 100%*

So we explore the station, find the right train line, get ourselves to the right track number and board the right train. Not bad! And we're on our way to the famous Harajuku.

Ah the famous Takeshita Street (竹下通り Takeshita-dōri) a must visit street for us young people. *nods* Read Wikipedia for more info. Hee... By the way, most keywords are linked to a wiki link, just in case you're wondering "where is Harajuku?", "how massive is Shinjuku Station?", etc. Just Clickie. So convenient, right? Because pass experience has taught me not everyone knows Japan as us Japan lovers do.

Hiyashi : Ah this is Harajuku! *points to photo*
X Person: Ah.. okay. *with a very clueless look on their faces*

-___-

HARAJUKU

Where fashion is a statement on its own.

Where you drool over fake food.

Where girls dye their hair blonds, dressed in eye-catching outfit and yet we don't call them "Ah Lian".

Then again, Ganguro Girls probably freak you out even more. If you don't know who they are, you really should click on the link and be amazed. Hey, learn something new today.

OUT OF THE WORLD.

Well said.

Did I mention how droolable fake food are in Japan? Oh yes. I did.

And you would have thought in a country where you can make payments with a mere scan of your mobile phone that old board-carrying advertising is well, the dinasour way of doing it.

Man was screaming "Cheap something something, shop is just behind the street. Come come." Or something like that. =P

Ah pretty Japanese girls willingly pose for us.

*niceness 100%*

Woohoo... lookie at all the people.
Sigh, I wish I am there right now again.

Where else you find a dental clinic next to a lingerie shop?

QUIRKY JAPAN
♥

And along a busy street of fashion and craziness lies a little alley, so hidden, so modest yet so intriguing.

A shrine pulak!

Tapi seorang pun takde kat situ.

It's a ritual to clean oneself before entering a temple in Japan. Four simple steps: Scoop, Wash, Wash and Wash.

Cleaning your body and mind at the Water Place before visiting a shrine.
1. Take a water scoop on right hand.
2. Scoop water and wash left hand.
3. Switch scoop on left hand, and wash right hand.
4. Switch scoop back on right hand and pour water on left hand, then wash your mouth.

DO NOT Wash your mouth directly from scoop.

Info taken from MustLoveJapan.

In which I broke BIG NO NO RULE. *dies* But I did not wash mouth directly from scoop. More like placing scoop near mouth for photo shooting purposes. For this, I will like to seek forgiveness for my ignorance of my manners. Hontoni Gomenasai! *bows*

And we hit the streets again.

Of the many shops we entered. This one allowed us to take pictures for obvious reasons. Famous people frequent the shop man! The owner spoke good English. Well, definitely with such a clientele. Though, he did say it was his first encounter with fellow Malaysians. *grins* I guess we should put our names up there, too.

"Vin & Cub: First Malaysian Visitors"

Why had no Malaysian gone down there? Ya. It was down a series of steps, pass a few shops before you'll find the shop. *sweats* That's probably why! HAHAHA... and why on earth were we down there? *shrugs* No reason. Saja "keh poh".

And our "keh-poh"ness led us to a place where Lost Prophets and American Idiots buy fashion. How cool is that?

It's Coolness 110%.

Snap a short of Harajuku Station before we bid farewell to Harajuku. I know that don't look very Japanese looking is it? But it's the famous Harajuku Station after all.

Off we go again!

Tokyo Day Out Next Stop is a place where even flyer distributors cosplay to attract attention.

QUIRKY JAPAN
♥

Yup. Akihabara. The Electronic/Otaku Heaven!

Buildings with anime and manga character billboards here, there and everywhere. But secretly both of us were nervous the whole time we were there because of the recent stabbing rampage happened few months back. Scared lah! Scared lah! We fast go, fast cabut.

But not before we drool over all the Japanese phone we dreadfully wished to own. And Cubbie even gasak the marketing pamphlets that has her idol on the cover. Heee...

Here's the biggy news! We DID bought ourselves a phone each. Unbelievable but true. I'll blog about it in a later post. You wait while I show you cool pictures of the phone later on. *snickers*

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We headed home after that. It rained though. So we ran towards the nearest eatery from the station. Yoshinoya. HAHAHA... yes we have Yoshinoya here in Malaysia.

Lookie what was at the background. Yup. That's the station.

It was still raining after we finished our meal. We waited and we dashed, from one shop to another along Prope Street. Finally we arrived at a departmental store and we bought cute umbrellas there. But of course, when we came out of the store the rain had stopped. *geramness 10%* So we head home with a new umbrella, a new phone and a whole lot of other goodies.

Next Chapter: HOKKAIDO! Hokkaido saikou!

A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (i)

Alright. Finally... *note to self: need to change a fresh new song to this page now* YES YES. The post has finally arrived. Before I begin, please allow me to grumble a little first. After all, a month's absence from blogging really itches my fingers to type type type and I can assure you I can probably go on rambling pointlessly and end the post with, well nothing. In fact, I haven't even got into what I wanted to grumble about YET!

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD. FUN PART AT THE BOTTOM. SCROLL.

If you're not one to read, please skip the following paragraphs and scroll till you see "ramble ends here" sign because that's where the fun part starts. *waves to those who really plan to skip the following* See you again down there!

***** ramble begins here *****

To those who continue on with my ramblings, thank you you kind kind souls. The Ramble of The Day... *drums roll*

PHOTO EDITING

Probably one of the most tedious process make common after the invention of digital camera.

Yup, no longer are we constrained by the rolls of film we buy nor the amount of negatives we have to developed. Oh yes, even with the limited disk space inside your camera, you'll find a way to transfer them out to little pendrives using public computers oh so thoughtfully provided by almost every hotel in Japan. *nods* Thus, you return home with over 1,000 photos. GREAT!

Now, editing photos ain't that bad but there's the "edit to be developed" and "edit to be shared on the internet" kind of photos. And it's not just about resizing photos you "edit to be developed" into smaller files to be posted on the net because you tend to blog about photos you don't want to be developed. Am I confusing you?

You see, there's a set of what me and Cubbie call "the people picture" meaning photos with us in the picture where beautiful backgrounds show where we were in the shot. It's a kiasu thing that says "I've been there!" loud and clear. Those are the photos to be developed so grandpa and grandma can see them *obviously viewing my photos through the computer ain't an option in this case* and those are photos that mummy dearest can show to friends and relatives whenever they come visiting. My mama is proud of my little achievements in life. Or maybe I see them small, she sees them BIG. It's a mama thing I believe. Or maybe it's just my mama. As annoying as her slightly boastfulness might be, I secretly am proud of myself too, simply because she's proud of me. Awww....

Alright alright. Save all the emo talk another. See! Told you I can ramble long and wide if I want to.

***** ramble ends here *****

Here's where it begins. For those who came directly from the top. Hi there again! Shame on you. How can you read my blog without "reading" it. Tsk tsk tsk.

Saturday, 2 Aug 2008: And so we flew from Penang to Singapore and then we had a stop over at Bangkok before we finally head off to Japan. All that to save that extra money to spend later on during the trip. For a return air ticket priced at RM2610, Singapore Airlines Economy Class, I got no complains except the uncomfortable flight back home. *frowns at that thought*

Sunday, 3 Aug 2008: Yup, we arrived early in morning the next day. So early that YY overslept and was not there at the airport to pick us up. *panick panick 100%* Our first challenge in Japan. Two Malaysian gals hanging around the airport. Collected our rental phone and called, called and called. Uwaah!!!! To leave or not to leave the airport? How lah how lah? Tell me what will you have done in our place? We walk down to the train station collect our 14-Day Japan Rail Pass aka Our Super Pass which gave us unlimited access to all trains under the Japan Railways for the said 14 days. Cool right? Except the fact that we paid about RM1.4k for the pass! Hah! And I tell you that RM1,400 is still waaaaay cheaper than all the trains and shinkansen you'll be sitting throughout a 14-day trip in Japan. Worth every cent I tell you.

So we took a ride on the Narita Express down to Seibu Station and met up with YY there instead. Hah. Lucky us for our detailed planning. Always a Plan B in case A didn't happened. Sankyuu Cubbie for all that research *huggles*

Met YY, lots of huggles between Cubbie and YY, old school friends. So warm and fuzzy. You can tell how happy YY was to see a fellow Malaysian, a fellow old time friend and me, a new friend found. ^^

YY lives in Tokorozawa, Saitama. Downtown Tokyo where rent is cheaper and thus is a popular "bedroom community" where working Tokyo folks make this place their home, coming back to rest after a hard day at work. Prope Street is a colourful arcade street just outside the train station. YY's place is about 25 minutes walk from the station and thus throughout our 14 days in Japan, walking along Prope Street had became a norm for us. We go Prope Prope out as early as 5.30am in the morning when the shops are still closed and we came Prope Prope back through the rain as late as well, almost midnight.

Our First Meal in Japan. It's silly I tell you. Simply silly. Our first meal in Japan was... CHINESE! *smack herself on the head* What were we thinking? Well, actually I think we weren't, at least not with our brain, our growling stomach got the best of us. Notice how BIG the portion of everything is? Ya, food in Japan is dem expensive but it's also dem BIG. I almost never finish my bowl of rice, a big taboo back home. *sticks tongue out*

OMG. I just posted a very clear picture of myself. Rules have to be bent for dear Japan no? How can I go on "A Japanese Summer" without a single picture of me! That will never do.

The sunset view of the little alley heading to YY's place. Yup, that's a "longkang" lah I know but I must say it's the prettiest longkang view I've ever seen.

A series of event happened after that, one which involved missing a concert I so longed to attend which I rather not mention. Otherwise, it was a night with as much disappointments as there was anticipation for what was awaiting us the next 13 days in Japan.

Next: A Day Out in Tokyo

Good Bye People!

Vin & Cub signing off from cyberworld

for two whole weeks!

TWO WEEKS.

*excited 100%*

Countdown Begins - 5 Days Left

A month's absence was called for. I rarely have the time to sit down and blog. Yup, I am in front of the computer but planning takes up all of "My Time". It's exhausting to have your brain work during the day and work somemore during the night. Maa... "My Time" became "Plan Time". It got even worst when "Plan Time" cuts into "Sleep Time". T__T

What's done is done. 5 Days More to Go. The tingling excitement finally kicked in yesterday. Was getting paranoid for not feeling a thing before that. It's a BIGGIE DEAL! Yet I was almost emotionless.

But it's finally here. If I manage another post, it'll be great. If not I shall leave you with this silly silly strip I baked out in 5 mins. The lines are sucky but I was not really attempting to use my brain after all.

Cubbie says doggy is so kind. She likes kind doggy and I'm just bad to call it stupid. I say that's not a doggy at all. XP

On a side note, I don't like this post. Am not in the mood to blog after all. *pif*

Vitamin C vs Vitamin P²

Hah. And I thought all I needed was Vitamin C. Boy was I wrong.

Getting Vitamin M, then find a Vitamin C? Life was, is and never will be that simple. No Siree. Found your Vitamin C? You got to make sure Vitamin C got enough Vitamin M within itself and more importantly the essential Vitamin P² that is greatly dear to us.

That’s right. In this metaphoric world I have just created since this last post, we are all Vitamic Cs to one another. It’s sad if you’re not a Vitamin C to someone and equally heartbreaking to not have any Vitamin C to call your own.

And every Vitamin C came from a set of Vitamin Ps. Vitamin Ps are where Vitamin P² comes from. In other words, the source! And without it, Vitamin C can’t react to form a chemical reaction strong enough to make a difference. Without Vitamin P², at this very moment Vitamin C is pretty much rendered useless.

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Obstacle 02: Vitamin P² Solved!

Vitamin M vs Vitamin C

There are many different I WANTs in life.

What do you crave for at the moment? What is it that you willing to part away with your money to get it? Or what is it that you want but am that bit reluctant to say “bye bye money” for? Worst still, what is it that even with sufficient Vitamin M, you still find yourself in need of a whole long list of other vitamins?

The answer? There are many different I WANTs in life.

There are the little things that you just crave for. Like a more comfy pillow to sleep on every night. Nothing really you can’t do without but yet all the more delighted to have it as your own.

Then there are the bigger things in life. By bigger I mean cost-wise kind of bigger. Like taking up that Japanese class you have always wanted. Buying the queen size bed that allows you to sleep with your hands and legs spread out. Simply unnecessary yet simply tempting to think about. Or finally getting yourself a new tech-savvy phone that lets you snap better quality photos, listens to music, and oh gosh, maybe even update your blog.

Should I get what I want? Should I spend that extra few hundreds? Or should I save it for a much bigger I want?

And it's such a BIG I WANT, that it’ll probably take up the cost of all the I WANTs earlier. And you decide alright, dream big. Go for it. I can do away with the minor stuffs. Give me B-I-G.

Then you realize… Vitamin M was not the main supplement you need.

Originally written on 4 May 2008.

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Obstacle 02: Vitamin C Solved!

The day I met "The King" pt03

Uwah. I'm too lazy to update but I figure I might as well get it done. *sigh* Three weeks to update a 3-day event. Imagine that!

So... I woke up early on Monday morning, so early it's almost like I'm waking up for work. -.-;;
Godmom gave me a ride to the LRT station on her way to work. Reached the station at 8.15am and got caught with the morning crowd. That's when I actually woke up, woke up!

The sight was just amazing.

*bows to the civilised people of Kuala Lumpur*

I might have been away for way too long for I don't remember seeing such a sight during my wonderful four years of university life there. Or maybe I have been at the other side of town. *shrugs* But it's time like this I feel so damn proud. *tears of joy*

And so I sat there for the whole 30 minutes staring at this amazing sight. One by one they boarded. If the train's full they just wait for the next one. NO CHAOS! Eventually they all boarded and the station was left empty. A new crowd shuffles in and they knew perfectly where the line is. すごい! I swear there's no indicator to tell them where to line-up or maybe I'm just not a regular. ^^;;

Now you might think I'm not exactly normal, sitting there for half an hour staring like that but hey! I'm nice and considerate too just like this people here. My laggage takes up a person's standing space.

One Hiyashi with Laggage = Two ai ki zo kang eh KL lang

So I just sat there and deserving people get their rides before me. 8.45am and the train that came was considerably emptier. Thus, I boarded and continue my journey home. Arrived at Puduraya at 9.15am and bought my bus ticket home.

3 Days 3 Nights. Kuala Lumpur. Wonderful.

Then again, there was the pile of work that awaited me the next day. I guess it's true when they say there's a price for everything. *smiles sheepishly*

The End
"The day I met "The King" Trilogy

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The day I met "The King" pt02

And then it was Sunday 22 July 2007!

I bid farewell to Cubbie's lair and a grumpy brother cub that I never get to meet after all. Reach IOI Mall way before any shops were opened. ^^;; Wanted to have a Hong Kong-ish breakfast at Wong Kok but alas it was not open yet and so we waited... and waited. Finally there were signs of movement in the restaurant. Off we go if we can get to be the super early birds and enjoy our food.

"Sorry. We're not open yet."

Well, I'm sorry too cause you just lost a customer, two customers to be exact! Because by then the mall was opened and so we head in and enjoy yummy spaghetti instead. LOL. There goes our hong kong-ish breakfast.

Loveable godparents arrived around noon and I thanked Cubbie for being such a kind host. The trip down and the sleepovers let me see another side of Cubbie which I never thought she was.

Kind and caring!

HAHAHA... *runs away*

But she was. When we were all sleeping soundly after a late movie night, she woke up silently by herself at 7.30am in the morning, went out and bought delicious nasi lemak for us ignorant guests who make fun of a sleeping cub when we woke up an hour later. So touching! T__T

But then she did tell me not to come again so soon cause being a host is tiring and she won't be so eagered if she sees me that often.

Dot dot dot.

I guess its very true when they say distance makes the heart grows fonder. *snickers* so... point taken!

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Afternoon was catching up time with my godmom. A beautiful lady that everyone praises.

Cubbie whispered "Your aunt is hot!"

By the way, she thanked you for the compliment! XD

She was the one who taught me to dress up and be pretty because I'm a girl... a woman now. ^^;; Not that my mom doesn't do that. *grins* But mom is a more conservative loveable housewife who doesn't go for worn-out jeans with patches and paints as designs but she is loved by the way she is.

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And the time came when I need to get ready for the night with the King. I got dress pretty and would really like to share a picture but as much as I'm tempted to, I can't because it's still a no-no for me to put pictures of me on the net. LOL. Now, up to this point you probably think I'm too full of myself with the over-use of the word "pretty" in one entry but I call it confidence.

HAHAHA...

Sometimes I beh tahan with myself also. Sorry!

Sooooo.... thought wanna take lots of photos to share but the whole atmosphere is so prim and proper, it's awkward to take out a camera and start shooting. I'm actually wary if it's allowed as well.

So.... all I managed was this.

See! See! I wonder who sits up there. Royalty perhaps or very rich people! Hahaha... but the truth is I don't think those umm... what do you call those. argh... gotta google for that *after awhile of googling* Balconies? well anyway, I don't think the view from there is all that great. You just amuse yourself with your own privacy and being above the rest. *rolls eyes*

Was it good? It was good but it was a bit slow too. Among all the plays I've watched *okay not exactly many* but this probably the least exciting one. But that does not mean it's not good, it was! It's different from all the recent musicals where the stories are supported by lots of action and dancing, etc. To quote Mr Cool *yup, he made an appearance even in an entry that goes down to KL*

"Why you watch a play that is not your era? It's an old old story already."

HAHAHA... wise man's words should not go unheard.

But I really grab at every chance I get to enjoy such rare entertainment. The King was funny and I love him more than Anna, naturally. LOL. I'll end this entry with two more pictures.

My ticket to meet "The King" is kinda blur. @_@

And to end the show...

End of part two but not the end of the trip.

Stay tune for part three!

The day I met "The King" pt01

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Two weekends ago (27 - 30 July 2007) I made my first trip to Kuala Lumpur since last year's convocation. The feeling was soooo strange. After a hurried lunch, my parents drop me at the bus "shop". ^^;;

Dad: It's like we're sending you back to MMU.
Me: I look like I'm going back to MMU.

And when I got on the bus and waved goodbye, I felt so sad. Not because of the departure. Come on, it's just a weekend. But I suddenly miss that feeling of coming back home after weeks and months away and then catching the bus back again to Uni. I couldn't believed how sentimental I got on the bus. *blushes*

But all that was just the beginning of a wonderful weekend...

Sleep over!
Hahaha... so cute! Never had we ever held a sleep over when we were students together in Uni but alas now, as working adults! *grins*
A peaceful night with glasses of red wine, packets of nachos and cheezels and of course a good "Chocolat" movie.
Thus, it was no surprise when we went out and bought bars and bars of chocolate the very next day. ^^;;

Sushi with friends is sooooo missed!
A movie was of course necessary.
Harry Potter does the trick in more ways than one.
And it was good food all the way. Yummy!

Then came Sunday.

The day I met "The King"......

tbc

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Mr Cool what are you doing in my dream?

*sings* I had a dream...

Okay that was a little lame.
But I did!

I dreamt I went to Japan!

With Cubbie!

*Okay, got to stop ! at everything.*

Anyway, to be exact there were me, Cubbie and 4 others I can't identify. Simply because the other 4 are always a few feet away from us. Both of us are like the leader of the group. ^^;;

So we finally arrived in Japan and as we land I panicked. Why? Because I realised we did not have any proper documentations with us. We were in the immigration office and the officer there was questioning us. -___-;; Maa... we're not illegal immigrants. We're not that stupid to be that obvious right?

And at one point it got weird that the officer will actually believe we're not here to work illegally if I can produce some KAT-TUN concert tickets to prove I'm there for leisure purposes. *swts* And a girl sitting on the waiting bench said it is impossible to get tickets anymore cause they're definitely sold out. What the??? *blinks*

Well, you can't really suspect such innocent group of young ladies right? Hahaha.. the officer was soooo kind. He actually let us call back home to have someone mail the documents over to proof our innocence. And guess who I called!!!

Mr Cool!

Mr Cool from my office. What are you doing in my dream? I guess you can always rely on Mr Cool to mail the right things over. And alas he did! He mailed them over. I have no idea what courier service they use in dream but boy are they fast! It arrived almost immediately.

I don't really know what happened after that for I have to wake up to go to work by then but one thing's for sure, I'm in Japan legally!

So this post is dedicated to Mr Cool.
Thank you for saving me in Japan.

Now let's see if I can continue my dream tonight. *looks forward to an enjoyable trip* teehehe...

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