Let Thor shock you crazy!

佐世保の旅

2007-07-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

ハウステンボスを観光したら、僕たちは日帰りで佐世保を訪れた。佐世保の最も有名な観光地とは、やっぱり九十九島に限るわ！九十九島の全貌と魅力を感じするために、遊覧船で九十九島巡りした。遊覧船「パールクィーン」は真っ白な船体が九十九島の海に映えて本当に綺麗だ。

遊覧船で皆の楽しみが写れた。

そして、誰かは海員の衣服が無料に着てみることを発見した。従って、皆は一々海員の格好を試みた。

僕とベン：

ロセンナとジェネル：ロセンナとナデァ：九十九島を巡りした末、佐世保の名産：佐世保バーガーを探していた！それを食べいなければ、佐世保に来たことがないような！巨大な佐世保バーガー：ＡＰハウス姫と佐世保バーガー：

最後に、メモリのためにみんなは佐世保で写真を撮った：

台風とハウステンボス

2007-07-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

Hi, everyone! Sorry for MIAing for so long. Recently, I have been caught up with projects, reports, short weekend trips and whatnot, thus I have not been able to update my blog.

Anyway, a typhoon is currenly being let loose in Kyushuu. My first typhoon experience! It has been raining nonstop for two straight days, and according to the news, there has been incidents of landslides and floods in some parts of Kyushuu. For once, I'm glad that my university is on top of a mountain and there is no chance of a flood nor landslideover here.

So, let's continue with the update of my life in Japan. And we shall being with Nagasaki trip, which happened like almost a month ago.

A group of 8 of us embarked on a short weekend trip to Nagasaki. We all skipped our classes on Friday, and hopped onto a Kousoku bus from Beppu to Nagasaki. And from Nagasaki, we took the JR train down to the Holland Village theme park, Huis Ten Bosch.

And on our train ride, we saw this cute little picture of a baby boy sleeping on his mother's lap. よっぽと可愛いんじゃないか。And a group photo of all of us on the bridge that connects the JR train station and the theme park. Right behind us is the hotel that we would be staying for the night - ANA Hotel JR Huis Ten Bosch.A close-up view of our hotel. I really loved the hotel. It was really nice, (in fact, it was better than the theme park) and the stay at the hotel became the highlight of my Nagasaki trip.
A pic of our double bedroom. We opted for the double bedroom instead of the twin bedroom, cos the former is much cheaper than the latter (We are poor students afterall). But the bed was definitely big enough to comfortably accomodate two pple on it.
And the view of the theme park from our room：
And after checking into our hotel, we began our magical journey into the Dutch city of Kyushuu - Huis Ten Bosch. There, as we strolled along the 17th century Dutch houses and historic church towers, we couldn't help but drank in the full splendor of the old Europe's setting.

And our first stop: the teddy bear kingdom: And the world's biggest teddy bear:
Ben! Are you molesting the statue?

And another group photo in front of the landmark building of Huis Ten Bosch - Domtoren tower. Standing at a height of 105m, it offered us a birdeye view of the entire town.
A picture of the Singaporeans and half-Singaporeans on the dutch boat, which took us on a romantic trip through the canals and also one whole round the theme park.
And a SMU jump attempted by the Canadians (Nadia and Rosanna) and Weili in front of a windmill!
And the authentic jump by Thor and Weili in front of the twin towers gate:

P.S. Yijia or anyone coming to APU, if you are thinking of going to the theme park, grab the travel package offered by the student union. It's only 10000 yen and that includes a return JR train ride back and forth to Nagasaki, a 5 stars hotel stay, entrance fee to the theme park and a very good international breakfast buffet. Cheap until siao ah!

沖縄旅の最後の部分：青洞窟

2007-06-21T05:04:00.000-07:00

Always wanted to finish blogging on Okinawa, but I was caught up with many things. But I guess I gotta bring my Okinawa's series to a conclusion before I leave for Nagasaki tomorrow. Haha, I can't wait to go to Nagasaki and particularly this Holland theme park by the name of Huis Ten Bosch. I first came across this theme park when I borrowed a book on Japan's theme park a couple of years back. And I was really mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the park, and I told myself that I would definitely visit that place if I ever got a chance to go to Japan. Finally, my dream is going to come true:)

Oh, anyway back to Okinawa. One of the most memorable events we did in Okinawa is definitely the cave snorkeling at 青洞窟. It's really beautiful, and this is my first time doing a cave snorkeling.

Group pic before going down to the cave:

Overcoming the treacherous path to reach the cave, and at the same time battling the propulsive waves that threatened to sweep us away anytime:

Why is the cave called 青洞窟? Because the water inside the cave is of emerald blue! And it's so clear that you can take a picture under the water!

Me attempting a dive:

The girls relaxing after the snorkel:

And finally, one group pic of all of us inside the cave:

Definitely one of my most mind-blowing snorkeling experiences! If you ever go to Okinawa, make sure you go for the cave snorkeling. Just mentioned 青洞窟 and the shop pple would know where to bring you to:)

ホテル　ムーンビーチ

2007-06-14T18:59:00.000-07:00

Warning: This entry might induce intense jealousy; read it at your own risk:p

So after the 2 hours ferry back to Naha, we went to pick up our rental car and then drove for more than a hour to our 5 stars hotel: Hotel Moon Beach.

Hotel's lobby bathing in the morning rays:

Hotel Moon Beach's private beach, which is so coincidentally named 'Moon Beach':

Our deluxe room, which was in a complete state of shambles:

View from our balcony:

Pretty cool hotel. We stayed there for 3 days 2 nights after coming back from Zamamijima. The hotel has almost everything, and I particularly enjoyed the 大浴場(public bath). Sleek and modern, the public bath provides you with everything, including Shiseido skin conditioner and hair tonic. Picture's not available as no camera is allowed in the public bath.

And on one of the nights, we met up with all the APU exchange students who were also holidaying in Okinawa.

Introducing the Canadian gang:

And the erm, Australian, Norwegian, American and Canadian gang: And a group picture of everyone:

And we had dinner at this pretty cool Italian restuarant. And Ben ordered this squid's ink pasta, which he totally detested it. The taste wasn't too bad, just that your tongue will remain inky black for a couple of hours:

And afterwhich we went to this club in Naha city. Girls seeking shelter from the torrential rain, while the guys tried to locate the club:

There were no one in the club except for us, and the drinks tasted horrible. Imagine gulping down Amowari that tasted so foul that it sent shivers down your spine, and then dancing in a dance-room so sparsely occupied that you felt as if you have entered Zouk at 9pm.

Definitely the worst clubbing experience I have ever had. Ugh.

今気に散ってしょうがない。復習を中途半端にしたい：（

2007-06-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

It's 2.40am in Japan time. I am still in the process of studying for my japanese test tomorrow. Not even halfway done. And it is always during this time that I feel like blogging and doing unnecessary things.

For example, taking photos of myself:

Btw, these pictures were taken when i was studying for my finals before my Okinawa trip.

Sighz...　時々、特にストレスの時に、僕は自己陶酔でばかばかしいことをしがちやな。これはやっぱり不正常じゃないか。

勉強！勉強！

帰国の日を恐れてしょうがない！

2007-06-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

時々僕の知らなかった恐怖は心の深遠なところから浮く。その時に僕は驚いたけれども、自分の気持ちをもっと理解してもらった。

例えば、昨夜僕は夢の一つをした。その夢の中に、僕はシンガポールに戻ったと言うことを見た。その瞬間に、僕の恐怖が言葉で表現できないほど強かった。「日本で交換プログラムもう終わった？したいことがたくさんまだしなかった。帰国に行きたくない！」

僕は友人と家族を懐かしまないと言うことじゃないですけど、ＡＰＵの生活が本当に大好きだ。ここでは、自分の生かす方は自分に選んだ。さらに、自由とか、金銭の使い方とか、全部自分に決めた。この生活は、初めて体験して失いたくない！

でも、現実はいつも酷薄な。帰国の日まで、ただ七週間のみだ。そろそろ、ストレスばかりなＳＭＵにもどらなちゃん。本当に仕様がない！

そういうわけで、いまできることはただ時間を最大限生かすな。日本語をちゃんと勉強して、週末の間にハウステンボスをはじめ九州の各観光地をぜひ行ってみるよ！後悔を持ってなくて帰国する気持ちが欲しい！

座間味島！めんそれ！

2007-06-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

座間味島！めんそれ！(Zamamijima! Mensore!) This means welcome to Zamami Islands in the Okinawa Ben. On the 3rd morning of our Okinawa trip, we left the ever bustling and energetic Naha city for the free and idle island of Zamami. In the morning, the sky was dark and looming, and we were hesistating if we should make the trip down to the far-flung island. But I am glad that at the end of the day, we took the leap of faith and remained unyielding on our original plan.

On our two hours ferry to the island, the shadowed clouds, with lady Luck smiling upon us, started to drain away, and gave way to a halcyon sky of azure blue.

On the deck of our ferry:

Zamamijima! Mensore!

Zamamijima is part of the the Kerama Retto, which consists of six inhabited and some twenty uninhabited islands located about 30 km west of the Okinawa main island. Undisturbed and sparsely inhabited, this island is like an undiscovered gem, waiting for unknowing explorers like us to chance upon it.

Summer House Yuyu.

This was the minshuku we stayed over on the Zamamijima. Very nice and cosy place. And did you notice the Nemo and other sculptures behind us? All of them were handmade by the owner. Impressing!

By the advice of the Oyasan, we headed down to this beach, which is reportedly the best snorkelling spot of the island.

Did you see those brownish discolorations in the midst of the turquoise blue water? Those are coral reefs, rich and undestroyed. I have been scuba-diving for quite a while, but never have I seen something so amazing. The coral reefs are less than a metre from the shoreline, intact and animated in the southern warm ocean water. Most of the other diving sites that I have went to are either partially or totally destroyed by inconsiderate novice divers or irresponisble fishing. This is really the paradize for all lovers of the sea.

Fishes, of rainbow colours and various sizes, unabashed of our existence, swam temerariously near us. And when we littered our unfinished Cheezos as we dived into the waters, school of fishes circled and enveloped us, much like the scene when the birds spiralled around the singing Snow White in Shrek 3.

Just as I was mesmerized by this magical moment, I heard a wailing scream behind my back. Apparently, a sea snake of bright yellow stripes was also equally interested in our Cheezos, and was swimming menacingly close to Jenelle. Jenelle, in her desperate attempt to distract the serpent, threw the can of Cheezos into the deeper waters of the open sea while she swam frantically to the shore. Fortunately, nothing untowards happened to us and the sea snake swiftly disappeared after its brief appeareance. Nonetheless, this incident became one of our laughing stocks for the next couple of days.

Hot girls in Bikini:

There were actually other hot pics (think FHM, haha) of the girls on the beach, but they were ruthlessly censored by the 3 iron ladies.

After the exciting and life-threatening dive, we visited several observatories on the islands. The sceneries from the observatories were equally stunning as the marine life from our earlier dive. We drank in views of treacherous cliffs and mysteriously shaped islands, all of which painstakingly crafted by Mother Nature.

After visiting the observatories, we went to the one and only restaurant in Zamamijima (remember? It’s only a small island) Decent food and reasonable price. Osusume!

On the second morning, we went for a scuba dive trip. This was my second dive in Okinawa. Unlike my previous experienced dive, this was a full dive. The instructors didn’t really ask for my diving license (I left my license in Singapore).

And after the dive, I felt so blessed. So blessed to be able to go on an exchange programme to Japan, so blessed to be able to come to Okinawa, and so blessed to be given a chance to dive in the Japan Sea. It has always been my dream to dive in other foreign seas outside of Malaysia and Thailand. Though it was a little pricey compared to my dive trips in SE Asia, the sense of overwhelming achievement and the unique experience of witnessing marine life of foreign seas certainly made my every cent count.

After the dive, we took the afternoon ferry back to Naha. There we would move into our 5 stars Moon Beach Hotel, and there we would begin our mad spending spree! Wait for my next installment of my Okinawa trip:)

沖縄の最初の日：那覇市

2007-06-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

先週のクォーター休みに沖縄で旅行した。本当に美しいところことだ！沖縄ほどいいところがないということを感じしているな。

僕は期末試験がなかったから、MichelleとWeiliなど先に、RosannaとJustinと京子と長途バスを乗って福岡空港に出発した。それから、国内線のANA飛行機で沖縄に行った。

福岡空港：

最初の日は那覇市で過ごした。那覇市は沖縄で一番大きい市けれども、ただショピングばかりな。そういうわけで、僕は皆と違うプランを持っていて、ショピングしなくて、ダイビングをするつもりだった。

ゲストハウスの大家さんの勧めで、アメリカ浜辺にあるダイビング店を探して行った。

アメリカ浜辺：

僕と真由とアダムとダイビングの指導者たち：

あのどころで体験ダイビングをやった。体験ダイビングはいい経験けれども、今回想していると、本当のダイビングをやったら、もっといい経験をもらうのにかもしれない。そういうことにもかかわらず、僕は本当に愉快な一日と思うよ！

もう遅いから、今日はここまでだ。今度は座間味島についてのことが詳しく書いてあげるよ！その時まで、期待して待っているよ！

Japanese Tea Ceremony and John's Bday

2007-05-31T08:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick recap of the past week before I set off for Okinawa tomorrow. Last week was the midterms/finals/final project/final report week. Though it was supposed to be the most stressful and intensive week in APU, I somehow found time to cook dinner, chat with friends and went down the mountain to do some shopping. Haha, this either means that I am damn smart or I didn't really study. And the answer obviously is the latter (Okie, I did study a little).

I would like to blog a little on the Japanese tea ceremony, which is definitely the best class in the whole of APU. The student office actually opens a Japanese tea ceremony class especially for the exchange students, and regular APU students could not attend that particular class. So when all the exchange students come together, all hell breaks loose. Every class we made silly jokes, commented on the Okashi of the week and giggled about the stupid mistakes each of us made. It was really enjoyable. So I am really sad that such a fabulous class has come to an end for us. Here are some of the pictures we took during our final (where we were required to perform the whole tea ceremony):

The guests and the hosts bowing to each other at the end of the ceremony:

Students caught studying while in the class:

And finally, a group class photo:

Last tuesday was also John's 23 bday. And we went down to Sports Bar to celebrate his bday. And it was like 25 dollars for each person and we could drink all the way from 9pm to 1am. Freeflow of beer, wine, cocktails and others! Fabulous!

John's the bday boy:

The Sports Bar:

From left to right (clockwise): Me, Kyoko and Arienne:

Rebecca and I:

Haha, drank a little too much that night, and suffered a little hangover the following day. Oh, and on the following day, I had my final for Political Science. Seriously, going clubbing and drinking during the exam week is definitely a big No-no in SMU. Over there, even if you are willing to go clubbing, no one would accompany you (including me of course! I'm one of the chaoest Smuggers). But over here in Japan, everything is possible (esp with the exchange students). Okie, that's all from me. Going to shower now and tmr I gotta wake up at 7pm to catch the bus to Fukuoka airport!

Desmond and Ashely in Beppu!

2007-05-26T01:38:00.000-07:00

Ohisashiburi! Sorry for not updating for a long time. I am preparing for my finals for Political Science and Japanese Tea Ceremony, and midterm for my Advanced Japanese. Moreover, I have two final reports to be handed in by next Friday before I fly off to Okinawa! Damn Jialat now. But it is time like this that I feel like blogging instead of doing constructive stuffs like studying or clearing my reports. Sighz.

Anyway, I am dedicating this blog entry to my dearest friends: Desmond and Ashley.

I have known Desmond in RJC, and since then, we have been the 'best of best' (To bean and beer, this is not a grammar mistake or anything: Japanese like to use this term a lot, not my english lousy okay) friends. We used to be in this circle of friends called the Purple Family, and we did all the stupid things like purple family dance and other things. I was the Purple Bodyguard and Des was the purple third sister. And then we have Joan as the Purple Big Sister, Jen Vern the Purple Second Sister, Marina the Purple Cousin and Lip Yoong the unwilling Purple Hamster. I know these sound real gay, but this was all so cool and fun when we were in our JC days. Now, I miss the sexy SO6C:(

Anyway, after JC, Des, I and other SO6C pple went on our graduation trip to South Korea. It was really fun then! And after army, Des and I went on an community service project to Cambodia. And it was there when Des met Ash.

I still clearly remembered when Des first met Ash at the NUSS hall, he was telling me how gorgeous Ash was. And throughout the whole Cambodia trip, he was sneakily trying to create a good impression on Ash. Very very sneaky.

And during the Cambodia trip, I got to know Ash pretty well. Well, you got to be careful when Ash was around. She is really acidic and mean(that's why I used to call her the Witch wheile we were in Cambodia); I always shiver when I recall the tormenting 21 days in Camobodia when I was forced to see her everyday.

Sighz, those were the good old days when we spent our time laughing and giggling away. I really really miss those happy days.

Okay, back to the main story plot: Des and Ash in Beppu!!!

Des would be in Tokyo for a month to study Japanese, and before that, he and Ash are doing a little trip around Japan. And they are so nice that they travelled all the way down from Tokyo to Beppu to pay me a visit. Tokyo to Beppu is like from Orchard Road to Pasir Ris, and given that the land size of Japan is so much bigger than that of Singapore, the Shinkansen ride took them around 6-8 hours to get here. It's really not easy for them, as Beppu is just a small town with ONLY ONE shopping centre. It really isn't the kind of place a tourist would visit if they come to Japan. So they have been really really nice to make the trip down! Arigatou yo!

And on the first day that they arrived, we checked into the Beppu Youth Hostel, and then we went down to the 地獄温泉 (which means Hell ponds in English). There are 8 地獄温泉, but given the time constraints, we only managed to visit the 血の池温泉 and 竜巻温泉。

血の池温泉(also known as the blood pond) is famous because the onsen water is red in colour, just like that of the blood. (From left to right: Me, Kai and David)

On the other hand, 竜巻温泉is this underground water which would spurt out every 30 to 40 minutes. Pretty cool.A photo of all of us in the 竜巻温泉:

And after the 地獄温泉, we went to try out the mud onsen in Kannawa. The mud onsen is really quite a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The setting was like the old Meiji Era, when the onsen area is partially surrounded by wooden fence and stuff. It was so natural that u can actually feel the grass, mud, sands and rocks as u waddle your way into the mud onsen. Furthermore, it's a mixed bath, and both girls and guys go into the same mud onsen. For the girls, they have this special entrance, so that they can actually undress and waddle and hide in the mud water before coming out to the common area. But for the guys, there isn't any such special entrance, so we actually gotta walk out to the common area in the full glory of our naked bodies. It was really quite a cultural shock for me. Really, mud onsen, one time is enough. I wouldn't want to go for a second time.

After the mud bath, we went back to my school APU and there Des and Ash met my Singaporean and Canadian friends. We had a cooking party, and that was like the best cooking party I've ever had in APU. There were so much good food, that it was like a buffet dinner at a 5 star hotel. Really thank you to my dear Singaporean and Canadian friends for cooking up such a feast. And later, we had a small drinking party at my room. Thanks to Kai, who brought his XO Henessy, we mixed it with the Hynoptiq and we got Incredible Hulk! Haha, a pretty cool drink. Pic of us getting a little high:(clockwise from the most left) David, Shima, Toto (yah, the toilet bowl brand), Kai, me and Kane.

On the second day, we went to try the sand bath at the Takegawara, which is one of the oldest onsens in Beppu. This was a really unique experience. My whole body was buried in the sand, with only my head sticking out. It was really comfortable and unlike the mud onsen, I would love to go back for the second time. In the evening, Des and Ash treated me to a sumptious dinner at the Ryokan that they were staying in. It was like a repeat of what I had with Weili, Kane and Mic in Toba. But I think the variety is lesser over here in Beppu, but the plate of the crabs and the prawns more than made up for it: Itadakimasu:And after the dinner at the Ryokan, we went down to another onsen: Hyoutan Land. This is a really good onsen, as they have a wide variety of onsens for the visiters. We tried the Rock bath, the foot bath, the waterfall bath, the suana and the best of all is the outdoor bath. The experience was sooooo good that I felt as if I was filming another episode of Japan Hour. Wonderful!

So that was the itinerary for Des and Ash's short stay in Beppu. 3 different kinds of onsen in less than 48 hours. Our skins were like glowing in the dark after the third one. Really shiok! Right now, Des and Ash are in Tokyo.

Have fun over there! I will see you again in August!

P.S. Study study study!

Translation from Altavista Babelfish

2007-05-16T23:23:00.000-07:00

Already the close friend came to Beppu from the respective America and Singapore in 48 hours. Now it has been excited! Furthermore, this week end the hot spring and sand bath of the mud are experienced together! It cannot wait,!

Des and Ash！

2007-05-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

もう４８時間に親友がそれぞれアメリカとシンガポールから別府に来てくれた。今興奮してる！更に、今週末一緒に泥の温泉と砂浴を経験する！待てないよ！

Last Day in Miyajima and an encounter with Ai San

2007-05-15T02:20:00.000-07:00

広島の最後の日は全旅程中一番素晴らしかった日だった。有名な宮島へいったし、綺麗な景色を見たし、とても優しいおばさんとあったし、さらに無料のカラオケとアルコールを厚意でもらった。つまり、本当に不思議なの一日だった。僕たちは９時ころゆーすホステルから宮島に出発した。バスセンタでの写真：

実は、僕の主な心配は宮島に行っているところに、急に雨が降ってさせた。特に、先の日でネットでちょっと天候をしらべた,そして結果は一日中１００％雨だった。そういうことは発生すれば、僕たちは大変困った。幸運にもそうなことが全然じゃなくて、宮島に到着した時に、天気が完璧だった！

宮島と言うと日本三景と自然に考えているようだ。宮島,天橋立,松島,その卓越した三つの景観はいわゆる日本三景だ。日本三景の一つとして宮島の美しさは人々の心の琴線に触れる。そして、宮島の一番有名な観光地は、やっぱり大鳥居に限る。

大鳥居前の写真：

厳島神社：

でも、実は宮島の素晴らしい景色がただ大鳥居と厳島神社でなく、紅葉谷公園や他の自然な景色(例えば山や小川や動植物など)も面白いと思う。

宮島に到着したら、すぐに自転車を借りた。それから、僕たちが宮島の小冒険は始まった。

最初に大鳥居と厳島神社に参観するのは当たり前だよ。それから、紅葉谷公園へ行った。紅葉谷公園は豊かな樹木や石に囲まれている美しい庭園だ。ベンさんとカイさんが橋の下に立っていったのが写っている：

紅葉谷公園を観光しったの後は、僕たちが山の上にそのまま上って出発した。歩いてるところに、様々素晴らしい風景を偶然に見つけた：

しかし、まもなく弥山頂上に上るところに限って、雨が降ってしまった。でも、僕は宮島で十分見たことにもう満足した。実は、一日中雨ばかりはずだったが午後４時ころこそ降っていった。だから、僕たちがもう幸運だったと思う、不満を持っているわけがない。

宮島の後は広島市に戻った。ベンさんの勧めで、味千ラーメンを食べてみた。日本の味千とシンガポールのは同じだか違うかまだ分からなかった。でも、まもなく知ったよ。
果たして、日本の味千はシンガポールのより倍に美味しかったように思う。もし、日本へ行ったら、ぜひ食べてみるよ！

晩ご飯を終わったら、僕たちがSpiderman 3を見るのが欲しかったから、映画館を探した。探しているところに、まだ知らなかった藍さんと偶然に会った。藍さんは日曜日で徹夜の映画がない情報を与えてくれた。そして、藍さんは自分の店へ行くのか招待してくれた。実は、最初に僕たちがちょっと驚いた。訳がなくてあまり知らなくて、どうして僕たちを招待したの？

疑いがいっぱい心を持って、藍さんに随行した。藍さんの店はPrivate Barだ。大体に藍さんの主な客様が年とって金持ちのサラリーマンだ。でも、あの日は休みだから、客様がなかった。藍さんはご親切をお掛けて、僕たちの疑いがそろそろ消えた。

藍さんは無料で飲み物やお菓子を与えて、そればかりでなく、自分の人生経験を分け合ってくれた：藍さんは何十年前に仕事のために自分で香港へ行った時に、香港人から助けをもらった。だから、いま同じ助けをほかの日本にいる僕たちにあげた。僕たちもいつか他の人に助けて、ほかの人が他の人に反複するなら、このまま世界は綺麗になるかも知らない。つまり、「Pass it on」の映画という感じ似ている。

あの夜は本当に本当に楽しかった。不思議なの夜だった。藍さん、心から感謝している。特に、あなたの忠告は記憶にいつまでも残している。いまから、一生懸命遊び、一生懸命学べ、僕の能力を最大限生かす！

次の朝、バスで写真を撮った：

このように、広島の旅程が終に終わった。APUの素晴らしい皆さんと一緒に旅行したのは確かに僕の幸運だ。皆さん、ありがとう！広島は滅茶苦茶楽しかった。今、沖縄の旅行を大いに期待しているの！

絶景園＆中華料理食べ放題

2007-05-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

Life here in APU is really slack. And I'm kinda in a holiday mood recently, especially after the trip to Hiroshima. I've lost the fire to study, and everyday I am just planning the itinerary for Des and Ash, and my Okinawa trip. こんな思索は本当にやばいな。

Anyway, let's go back to my Hiroshima trip. So after the Hiroshima castle, we went to the 絶景園. This is a miniature remake of one of the China's best scenic landscape - 西湖。It wasn't a really big place, but it was kinda tranquil and had therapeutic calming effects on one's nerves. So we just wondered around the garden, stealing unripe plums from the trees, and catching tortoises that were stupid enough to be caught by us. Adam, Nardia & Atle with the really stupid tortoise:
After the 絶景園, we went back to the Bus Centre to meet the rest of the people who had gone for the Hawaiian fair. And there, we decided to go for a HK Dim Sum buffet!

Pic of the variety of the Dim Sum available:
Straightly speaking, the dim sum wasnt really that fabulous. But if you have not eaten Sweet and Sour Pork, or Char Siew Pao for like 3 months, I bet you would relish every single moment as you savored the slightly 'Japanese mutated Dim Sum'.

The buffet cost 1800 yen (slightly over S$20) for 1.5 hour of 食べ放題. But by the 30th minutes, we were all so full that we could not eat anymore. And given that we KTV the whole of the night before, it was natural that we were overwhelmed by fatigue after a hearty meal.

Pic of Thor and Adam sleeping:

Pic of Rosanna and Ben sleeping:

And finally a group photo before we footed for our bill:

I will reveal on the best day of the Hiroshima trip in the next entry! Stay tuned! Btw, the weather report on Saturday forecasted a 100% precipitation on the following day. See how we battled against the natural forces on our last day of Hiroshima trip!

広島旅程２：平安祭りと広島城

2007-05-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

After the marathon of Karaoke, we went to Mac to have our breakfast. And afterwhich, we took a cab down to our youth hostel to dump our bags, before heading out for the 平安祭り.

平安祭り is an annual festival of flowers, greenery and music. It is held annually on May 3, 4, and 5 on the Heiwa Boulevard. The festival attracts over 1,300,000 people each year featuring flower floats built according to designs collected from the public. And this was the main reason why we chose to come to Hiroshima despite the flooding crowd during the golden week.

We went to the Peace Museum (free admission for overseas students studying in Japan) and there we were brought back through the ghastly history of Hiroshima during WWII. And when the atomic bomb exploded 800m above Hiroshima city, all kinds of life forms and combustible items within 2 km were instantly consumed by the storm of fire (at 3000 to 4000 degrees) and sonic blast. And only a few buildings barely survived the Armageddon.

It was a really cool museum, giving us valuable lessons on the disastrous effects of nuclear weapons and such, but given that we hardly slept the night before, we could barely lift our eyelids during the day. The end result: the unglamorous sight of all of us sleeping against the glass wall of the museum.

And after the 平安祭り, we parted into 2 groups: one wanted to visit the Hawaii festival and do some shopping while the other group wanted to visit the Hiroshima Castle. I chose to go with the latter, cos I don't really like shopping.

And the group of exchange students doing SMU jump in front of the Hiroshima castle. 但し、SMU JumpはやぱりSMUの学生に限リです。

The castle bears much resemblance to the 大阪城, though probably less grand and magnificent. Nonetheless, it was free admission for the exchange students, so we were not complaining.

The new V6 inside the castle:

This was my first time travelling with the Canadian gang (from left to right: Adam, Nadia, Rosanna and Justin). Was rather amused by the interests the Canadian gang displayed over small things: like fishes in the pond, tortoises, trees, flowers and many other minute things. So at the end, we took like 2 hours to get from the entrance of the castle to the main castle building. Really fun to be with them and to take our time and smell the roses.

And the highlight of the castle trip was the free rental of the samurai armor, warlord costumes and female Yukata. We were like a bunch of kids, giggling and making a silly fool out of ourselves by taking turns to dress in the costumes.

Nadia the princess and Thor the samurai:

Ben the warlord and Thor the samurai:

Kai the Genghis Khan from Mongols:

Rosanna the Hua Mulan and Adam the mistress. Oh, and we were trying to add boobs onto Adam's chest, but Nadia refused to sacrifice her soft toy for the special touch.

Oh, did I mention that the weather was superb? The weather forecast reported rain for the whole day in Hiroshima and we got kinda worried that the 平安祭り might be cancelled. But in the end, we were really lucky as there were only a few droplets of rain for the whole of Saturday.

運が強いやな！

広島の旅程:最初の日

2007-05-08T01:18:00.000-07:00

This is really one of the best trips I have ever had in my own life. I have never played so hard in a span of 4 days. Thanks to all the great people who have made this trip so wonderful:)

As so many beautiful memories have been created over the last 4 days, I will be writing 3 blog entries to capture as much of the details of the fun and crazy moments of the trip. And this would be the 1st entry on the trilogy series:

On 4th May, a sunny friday afternoon, a group of international exchange students were waiting eagerly for their Japanese tea ceremony class to end. Their luggages, lying at one small corner of the room, were beckoning to them on to the fun and excitement that they would soon have in Hiroshima.

The Sensei, who was informed about the Hiroshima trip, kindly postponed the midterm and let the students off early on that day. And off the students went to the Cafeteria to grab some food before embarking on the 5 hours bus/ferry ride to Hiroshima.

At 1.15pm, the students arrived at Kitahara, the boarding place for the long distance bus to Hiroshima. Overflowing with exuberance, they gleefully took a memorable photo to mark the start of the trip.
And out of the corner of his eye, Thor spotted 3 beautiful ladies peeking surreptitiously at the group from the ATM machines.

"Hey, are they not Mariel, Arienne and Paivi? What are they doing here?"

Thor approached the 3 girls and discovered that they were thinking of going another city for a weekend getaway, but the GODDAMN ATM was not working! And to Thor's incredulity, he learnt that ATM in Japan only works for a specific hours during the day: ATM in Japan does not operate for 24 hours! Then what's a ATM for??? Does ATM in Japan need to rest, like a human being does? Thor was deeply disturbed.

As a result of the unexpected working hours of ATM, the poor girls were left stranded in the godforsaken Beppu City, which has only one shopping centre and the shopping centre is only half the size of Jurong Point in Singapore.

Being a compassionate SNAG, Thor wept for the unfortunate trio from the bottom of his heart.

Anyway, the girls bidded a tearful goodbye to the group of 14 exchange students who were going to have the fun of their lifes.

(Story writing ends here. Too troublesome... From now on, Singlish liaoz!)

Anyway, we boarded the comfortable JR bus, which brought us to a ferry harbour. There we changed the mode of transport to the ferry for 2 hours. And this is my first time on a ferry in the Japan sea. Damn shiok lah. The ferry even got Tatami mat for the passengers to sleep on. But the group of us spent most of our time on the deck, embracing the sea view and mellifluous breeze.

Group pic of the Singapore gang:

Pic of Jenelle and Mic traumatizing the Japanese kids:

Beautiful seaview from the ferry:
When we arrived at Hiroshima, it was already 7pm. As Friday was the golden week in Japan, we could not find accomodation. Hence, we were finding the Billy the Kid Karaoke, where we would sing all the way from 12am to 7pm for 1600 yen (20 bucks).

Pic of the group pic in Hiroshima:

Luckily for Kyoko's ability to communicate in Japanese and Weili's great sense of direction, we effortlessly arrived at Billy the Kid. We made the reservation and with a big group of 14 people, we unwillingly splitted out to find our own dinners.

And David, Atle and I went to this small Okonomiyaki stall to try the famous Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (also known as Hiroshimayaki). 確かに、お好み焼きなら、広島と大阪のに限る。(Indeed, if you were talking about Okonomiyaki, Hiroshima's and Osaka's are the best)

Basic Okonomiyaki with Soba, meat, egg and Veg:

Pic of David and Atle waiting eagerly for the Okonomiyaki: And after dinner, with a stroke of luck, we chanced upon this cheap お風呂 at the end of the small street. The thing about the Karaoke is that they do not have a place for us to shower and clean ourselves up. So the 広島の名湯 was really the thing we needed to freshen ourselves up.

360 yen for shower, お風呂 (public bath), 薬風呂 (herbal bath)、and ソウナ (sauna)。全く信じられない！

And at 12am, we went into Karaoke, and we sang and drank till the wee hours of the night. I was overwhelmed by the Z monster at around 5am, but there were a few brave warriors who managed to tahan all the way until 7am. Bravo to Weili, Jenelle, Kyoko, Nadia, Atle, Kai, Adam and Rosanna!

Pic of the refreshed APU gang in the next morning:

Okay, ここまで終わります。Wait for the 2nd part of the trilogy:)

同性婚を合法化すべきだ

2007-05-03T10:29:00.000-07:00

Right now, it's 2.30am. And tomorrow at 12.30pm sharp, I will be leaving APU and enjoy my sooooo well-deserved golden week holiday. But well before that, I gotta clear my Japanese homework for Friday and Monday (cos I will only be coming back on Monday afternoon). Not to mention that I have a revision test for Japanese tmr at 8.45am, which I have not finished studying.

But anyway, for the last 3 hours, I have been working on my debate speech. The subject is "legalization of same sex marriage". Wow, what a REFRESHING idea, I thought when I first saw this topic. And I decided to debate for the legalization, and being a nice and hardworking student, I obediently did my homework, and gotta all the statistics for legalization of same sex marriage in America but ironically my teacher decided to do a random grouping and I was assigned to this group whose topic is to debate against the legalization and all of a sudden all my hardwork went into the drain and I have to do my reserach all over again!

Okay, enough of whining, but I have finally finally finished my debate speech, which coincidentally happens to be in Japanese (that's why I took 3 hours, duh):

「同性婚を合法化すべきだ」に反対の意見

私たちは『同性婚を合法化すべきではない』と思います。

まず、初めに定義を述べます。

1. 「同性婚」と言うのは、「男と男」があるいは「女と女」が結婚すると言うことです。

2. 「ごうほうか」と言う言葉は法律上正当認めると言うことです。

次に、否定側のための利用を２点述べます。

1. 同性婚者に養育される子供の人生は普通な人の人生と違います。それは、子供に関して、不公平です。

もし、同性婚を合法したら、同性婚者が養子にすることは次の合法することはずです。確かに、現在はバーモント州とニュージャージー州とマサチューセット洲とカリフォニア洲がもう同性婚者が養子にすることを認める。証拠資料「http://lesbianlife.about.com/cs/wedding/a/marrandchild.htm」です。しかし、養子の立場立って考えれば、そういったことはフェアでしょうか、養子の成長にいいでしょうか。

同性婚者に養育される子供についての例があります。証拠資料「Growing up in a Lesbian Family, http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/families/a/Daughter.htm」です。この例からデイメリットということがいえます。

Chelsia Riceはレズビアンカップルに育てられ出した。普通じゃない背景なので、子供ころからいつも苛められるやら、脅かされるやらで、幼年時代は本当に辛いでした。しかし、そうな辛かった幼年時代はChelsia Riceの選択ではありません。実は、Chelsia Riceは自分の人生に選択の機会が与えられませんでした。

つまり同性婚を合法化なら、いろいろな養子についての問題が引き起こされました。

2. もし、同性婚を急に合法化なら、社会は混乱になるかも知りません。社会、特に年長者、の反応はまだ分かりません。暴動とか、政府に信頼を失うのはとか生まれるかも知りません。だから、安全があるのために、同性婚を合法化しなかった方がいいです。

私たち否定側の根拠をもう一度まとめて述べたいと思います。まず、同性婚を合法化なら、養子についての問題が引き起こされました。次、同性婚を合法化したら、悪い結果があるかも知りません。従って、私たちは「同性婚を合法化すべきだ」に反対です。

以上で否定側立論を終わります。

ありがとうございました。

That's the end of this painful speech! And good bye to Japanese class! Good bye to midterms!Good bye to APU! And Hiroshima here I come!

日本試験やら広島の旅程計画やら期間試験やらで忙しくなっているやな！

2007-04-27T03:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry for neglecting my blog for quite a while. Got 3 Japanese tests over the past week, and next week is the midterm. Not that I studied a lot for them either; only around 1 hour a day, which is nothing compared to the amount of time I spent on mugging in SMU. So, I guess the things that are really keeping me busy are the dinner gatherings and the planning for Hiroshima trip.

Have I ever mentioned about dinner gatherings in my blog before? Dinner gatherings bascially refers to the whole group of SMU students (which are me, Kane, Weili and Michelle) swarming over to one of the floor's kitchen and cooking and eating together. Dinner gatherings are really fun and cosy, as we tried each other's cookings and shared our life stories with one another. But the drawback is that one dinner gathering is awefully long, around 2 to 3 hours (from cooking to eating to washing and cleaning up). So at the end of the day, I would always be so drained that I concussed immediately upon reaching my room.

Oh, and tonight is Ting Ting's (a girl from Thailand who can speak perfect Taiwanese Chinese) bday, and we are going to make her dinner and celebrate with us. I'm going to make tomato pasta with cheese. First time doing it, so hopefully it would turn up well. Will post up videos and photos of the past dinner gatherings sometime soon (hopefully).

And right now, I am also coordinating a weekend trip to Hiroshima for the exchange students. We would be leaving APU on Friday 12pm and coming back around 1pm on Monday. As next week is still the golden week, we are facing problems in finding accomodation for Friday night. May have to spend the night in Karaoke or some 24 hours shops. Haha, so quite some uncertainties in the trip planning, but this just adds on to the fun and excitement. Can't wait to go to Hiroshima.

Oh, I just went to Oita City over the weekend with the usual suspects (left to right: Jenelle from Hawaii, Michelle the Ah Lian, Kyoko from Japan, Dion from Thailand and Weili from SMU).

Did you notice that I was wearing a suit and a shirt? Initially we planned to go clubbing after shopping in Oita. Clubbing was really cheap over here: S$27 for drink as much as you want. But at the end of the day, we were so tired from shopping and trying to find the god damn bar that we decided to call it a day. Wasted for dressing up so nicely!

Picure in Beppu:

Pic in front of Oita Station: Pic in a steam engine train, which we chanced upon it in our fruitless search for the bar:

Act cute pic with Michelle and Kyoko:

Dinner at this damn good Korean restaurant: Overall, Oita was OKAY only lor. Slightly better shopping scene compared to Beppu (the town APU is located in; the town which has only one shopping centre; and the shopping centre is a main tourist attraction over here! How sad siaz). But really nothing compared to the traditionally-rich and culturally colourful shopping scene in Kyoto, nor the energtic and vivacious scene in Osaka. Yah, so I think one trip in Oita is enough for me. The next destination after Hiroshima would be Fukuoka and Okinawa!

P.S. Heyz peeps from CS! Long time no see! I was thinking of you people just a few days ago. Was contempating of visitng you all at your new office after I come back from Japan. Unfortunately, I have reformatted my laptop recently, and due to my carelessness, I have lost all data (and that means all your email addesses!). Please send me an email so that we can keep in contact!

P.P.S. I think I still have Duncan's office phone number, which I used to take MC. Is the phone number still the same?

上級日本語Iの挑戦に応じた

2007-04-15T00:49:00.000-07:00

I love the life here! Time strolls lazily in APU. Right now, I am listening to ‘Wicked’ (Broadway musical), munching on DARS chocolates and surfing my friends’ blogs, while the afternoon sun showered my room in all its golden splendor. Sugoku shiok ya na!

An update of my life here: I have just finished the first week of school. The classes I am taking in APU are: Japanese Intermediate, Japanese Advanced 1, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Foundation in Information Technology, Internet Fundamentals, International Finance, Financial Markets in Asia, Introduction to Political Science, and Introduction to International Relations. And I have joined Akido in APU. Surprise! (Daniel, we can spar with each other when I come back).

From the classes I have attended so far, most of them are not as intensive as those in SMU, with the exception of the Japanese classes. Everything is taught in Japanese, and the Sensei speaks at the speed of a normal Japanese would (which is like the speed of a Shinkansen to me). Yet I have decided to do both Intermediate Japanese and Advanced 1 Japanese class together. If I ever survive the Japanese classes, my Japanese will be so freaking powerful that I can take JLPT 1 by the end of this year. But well, that is provided if I survive the classes. So pray for me, my friends.

Oh, I just got myself a new baby: Casio Ex-word AZ-H9100 electronic dictionary. It didn’t come cheap, but it is a necessity for the Japanese classes over here. Ogle at its splendid silvery beauty:

Some of the photos I came across while I surfed through my picture folder:

APU Entrance Ceremony (the International exchange students):

Yoo, my Resident Assistant from Korea:

Some of the guys from my block:

International students from SE Asia:

I think APU is the most international University in the whole of Japan. Around 50% of the students are international students. So in my block, you will see people from all over the world. The international cultural mix here is so rich that SMU pales much in comparison.

Oh, last Saturday, the Student Outreach Office arranged a Hanami for the International students. We went to the Beppu Park and had a sumptuous picnic in the sea of Sakura.

Kane, Weili and me:

And what do SMU students when they are together? The SMU jump!

All the International exchange students:

And our very very kind staff from the Outreach Office! Thanks for arranging this wonderful Hanami for us! Otsukaresamadeshita!

今から後悔がなくて生活したい

2007-04-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

Just had a cooking party with the girls from the 5th floor. It was really fun. I made Tofu Salad (didn’t look extremely appetizing but it tasted good so anyway) and there were all kinds of food from everyone.

After the meal, we played Bingo and afterwhich, we watched this movie called ‘Click’. It was about this guy who suddenly got a remote control where he can fast-forward his life. And basically, he used the remote control to achieve his dreams of becoming Big and Successful. However, along the way, he neglected his wife, son, daughter and parents. By the time he realized this, he is already old and fragile and his Dad is already dead. I was crying at the last part of the show, cos I could so relate myself to the main character.

The two years in SMU have been fabulous. I have gotten almost all I wanted: I aced my GPA, achieved an excellent CCA track record, and grabbed my desired internship. However, have I allocated enough time to my family members and my friends?

In all honesty, I didn’t. And I am so so grateful to all the great people out there, who have given me your precious time and dragged me out of my self-created rat-race. To my Mum and Dad, who are always there for me, even when I always flare up at them with no apparent reason. Thank you so much. And my sister, my cat and my rabbits, who are always at my disposal when I need to relieve some boredom. Thank you so much. And to my brother, whom I have always neglected, I am so sorry. Let me amend all the broken relationship that I have so wistfully brought upon myself.

And to Jiaming and Dillon. Though we talked and met like less than 10 times a year, I’m still so glad that both of you are always by my side. And to Jiaming’s parents too, always treated me as if I’m part of the family. Thanks!

And Des and Ash! Thank you so much too! We had so much beautiful memories together! Thanks for always taking the initiative to accommodate to my hectic schedule. And I will see you again in May! Take care!

And Andrew, Weifa and my other Bravo brothers. Thanks for bringing so much laughter and bliss to my two years of torment. Especially Weifa, who always make the effort to msn me to check if I am still alright and stuff. Really appreciate it dude!

And my JCC friends! Jas, Maki chan, Kit Chan, Zhao, Ryan and Nia. I miss all of you so much. I was clearing my email and saw our stepping down emailer. The smile on all our faces, and suddenly memories of all the past events started pouring in. Our inaugural JCC camp, our Vivace booth and our small lunch gatherings! 思い出しているんよ。絶対忘れないやな。

And last but not least, my wonderful SMU friends. Sean, Harvey (thought I hate to say this, but yah Harvey), Justin, Teckwee, Daniel, Wanzhen, YL, Wenduan and Theo. Sheez, I know I got to get hated for this if I forget to put in someone’s name here. But yah, right now, these are the pple that I am really grateful for. For giving me so much of your time to me!

Thank you! Houmani okini!

さよなら！一月の不思議な旅程。

2007-04-08T23:23:00.000-07:00

School is starting in 2 days time! I can’t wait for my Japanese class to start. Hopefully, I will be able to pass JLPT 2 by the end of this year.

Anyway, back to my traveling journey. So after spending 5 days in Osaka, we headed over to高野山, which is reportedly the holiest place in Japan. That mountain is filled with tombs and temples. We spent one night over in one of the old temple on the mountain (which ironically had a damn good wireless connection. That was also where I first chatted with Harvey since I left Singapore) Quite a cool experience. Our room was almost like a 旅館 (Japanese style high class hotel) and the atmosphere there was really serene. The next morning we woke up at 6am to attend the morning service. It was freezing in the morning, and we were all so sleepy, but I guess attending the morning service was really a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Crazy pose in our room:

And after staying in 高野山 for a day, we went down to京都. 京都 is a must-visit if you ever come to Japan. The richness of the Japanese culture and tradition is so thick that it is almost palpable in the air. Went to 金閣寺and 清水寺. If you ever come to 京都, these are the two must-visit tourist attractions. If you like shopping, then you can’t miss 祇園 and the food district. Good food, traditional handcrafts, and lots of clothes and accessories! Really shop till you drop.

In front of 金閣寺:

舞妓さんと一緒に写真を撮った:

Our hotel room in Kyoto (highly recommended by Lonely Planet and me):

Kyoto University (Japan’s Second Best University). Kit chan, Kyodai whoooooor!

And we went past this fantastic cake shop, which sells all kinds of fruit cakes. Everything in the shop looks so yummy, and despite the exorbitant price, we headed in for our afternoon tea (S$10 per slice but it was heaven):

After 京都, we went to鳥羽, which is right besides the seaport. There we stayed in a Ryokan, and I finally experienced that kind of 幸せ感 that is always depicted in Japan Hour. The onsen was really good, and it has a whole array of Shisedo skincare products (Japanese’s upmarket skincare brand) for the customers to use after the bath. I think I used up at least half bottle of their skin conditioner. But the best thing about a Ryokan was its dinner. Look at the Sashimi boat!!! Lobster, fresh fish (dunno what fish but it tasted good anyway), abalone!

Marvel at the myriad of 海鮮料理。There were like fried oysters, miso-boiled oysters, French cuisine baked fish, more sashimi and many other kind of foods. And as the rest did not really like oysters, I think I took their shares and gobbled down more than 10 oysters. (Ash, aren’t you jealous? Hah:p)

Look at Weili’s and my totally satisfied faces:

I think for those (Desmond and Ashley) who are coming to Japan, you got to try staying in Ryokan for at least one night. It doesn’t come cheap, but if you wanna experience that kind of 気持ち illustrated in Japan, you really can’t miss it! Yah, the next morning, I woke up early to take the morning Onsen. Breakfast was served at 8.30am. And again, it was another feast of seafood. Hahz (my stomach is hungry again).

So after鳥羽, we finally and regrettably concluded our amazing weeks of traveling. Really shiok to travel and shop and eat, but I guess it is also a good time to bid farewell to this kind of life, at least for a while. Too much traveling is exhausting and law of diminishing marginal return starts kicking in after certain point.

From鳥羽, we took a 3 hours train to Osaka. Afterwhich, we took an overnight bus from Osaka to Fukouka, and then another 2 hours bus to Beppu Wan. Lastly, a cab down to AP House.

And here at AP House, another journey of amazing experiences awaits the 4 of us. I’m sure we will have hell lots of fun over here in APU.

おはよう大阪！

2007-04-04T03:59:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Right now I have finally arrived at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University. After one whole month of traveling, it is comforting to be able to settle down at one place, albeit a totally unfamiliar one. And I must say that I am really impressed by the standard of the APU hostel. My room has everything, ranging from a personal fridge, aircon and a telephone, not to mention the necessities such as desk and wardrobe. Take a room at my room:

Here’s a very short recap of the 5 days after my Wwoofing. I met up with Kane, Weili, Michelle and Jingping at Osaka on 16th March 2007, and there we embarked on our 2 weeks of non-stop traveling around Kansai Area.

Our first stop was Osaka. There we spent 5 days, going to places like 海遊館 (biggest aquarium in South-east Asia), Universal Studio, Osaka Ferry Wheel, 南 (Osaka’s amazing shopping district where all we did was to mai dong xi and chi dong xi).

My really tiny business hotel room (my arms could almost touch both the walls):

Group photo in front of 海遊館 (look at our 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Kawaii pose):

SMU jump in front of Osaka Ferry Wheel:

Extremely delicious Okonomiyaki at南:

Spiderman pose in Universal Studio (brings back all the good memories of my JC days when my class was totally engrossed in the Spiderman 1 movie):

Wicked! Ashley, I caught this really musical for free in the Universal Studio! Ha-ha. Okay, not the whole show, but 35 minutes of its best parts. The story gave a twist to the orignal Wizard of Oz, telling a tale of a mistaken Wicked Witch of the West. The songs were fabulous, and the actors could sing, but some of the songs were translated into Japanese. So I guess some of the flavours of the orignal musical were lost.
Hear Thor the lion roars!

Oh, and we saw this really cute girl, and Kane just couldn’t resist taking a photo of her. Sheez, now I miss my sister.

Okie, I guess I will stop here for now. Feeling lazy again. Will blog on the Kyoto and Toba photo the next time.

P.S. The weather at APU is toally crazy. It's supposed to be spring now, but it is totally freezing over here! Wind temperature was as low as 4 degrees today! And it was hailing yesterday! Quoting Masa, one of the Japanese students over here: Fucking Cold!

桜の綺麗な友人

2007-03-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

Okie. I am dedicating this blog entry to my dear dear travel mates in Japan. Introducing the 桜の美少女：（from left to right: Jing Ping, Kane Kane and Michelle)

And the 桜の美少年：(Thor and Weili)

Right after my Wwoofing at the goat farm and the strawberry farm, I joined this group of beautiful people at Osaka. Our travel itinerary was to spend 5 days in Osaka, 1 day in Mount Koya, 5 days in Kyoto and the last day in Toba. I am really really thankful to be able to travel with them; without any of them, this trip would not be half as fun.

Weili: He is the chief planner for this trip. He did most of the planning and booking of the guest house and budget hotels. Otsukaresamadeshita ne, Weili san. He is also a big fan of Ramen (he just had 3 Ramen for dinner) and Milk Tea (drinks at least one big bottle of Milk Tea everyday). Good to have him around, as you know he would always be there if you need him.

Jing Ping: This little girl has the appetite of an elephant. She can eat so much, and I doubt if she ever felt full in her whole life. Really a funny character, and if we ever have any leftover food, she would be more than happy to help us get rid of it. Our official ゴミ箱 (rubbish bin).

Kane Kane (pronouced as Ka-Ne Ka-Ne): This girl is always been bullied by me. Her favourite lines are 'I'm very full. You eat lah.", "You eat first lah, it's okay." and very very Kawaii 'Deshou". The good thing is she is very caring and selfless, always putting others' interests be4 her. Very nice girl, in fact too nice at times, so she is always bullied. 誰のせいですか。

Michelle aka Ah Lian: Wah, I tell you this girl is the Chilli Padi. Very fierce hor. Don't ever cross her path, or else you may not live to see the next dawn. Okay lah, but at least she's the Ang Mo type Ah Lian, so she is still considered as the upper class of the Ah Lian society. Very easy-going girl, can joke with her and know that she won't get offended.

Okay, gotta pack my bag now. Moving out of the hotel at 9am tomorrow, and going to Toba to enjoy my virgin Ryokan experience. And in less than 3 days time, I will arrive in APU and officially begin my exchange life in Japan.

Frenz in Singapore, 気をつけて！

Posing in front of a 忍者専門店：

Daimaru's latest print advertisment 1:

Daimaru's latest print advertisment 2:

谷口の苺ファアーム

2007-03-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

Since tomorrow I will be moving to another guesthouse, I might as well do another update of my entry. Really not sure if the next guesthouse has a good wireless connection. Here's the story of my second week in Japan:

My next Wwoofing was with Hiroshi San at Taniguchi strawberry farm. Work at the farm was not as tedious as the one I had at the Ueda Kashikoubou. The work mainly revolved around picking stawberries, preparing strawberry jam, doing carpentry and house chores. Though the workload was lighter, I felt less happier over there. Hiroshi, the host, was the typical Japanese man: stern, reserved, always grouchy. And stingy (erm, don't get me started on this).

From right to left: Hiroshi (the strawberry farmer), beautiful and friendly helper 1, Thor and beautiful and friendly helper 2.

However, looking at the bright side, I did pick up quite a few things during my stay at the farm. For one, I learnt a lot about strawberry. I also went to the stawberry distribution centre and withnessed how strawberries are packed and shipped out to other parts of Japan. I also made stawberry jam, which I had it the next morning for my breakfast. And that was seriously the most delicious stawberry jam I ever had in my life.

Pic 1: Me at the distribution centre.

Pic 2: the yummylicious handmade strawberry jam! (You can see the strawberries!)Overall, I would rate my second Wwoffing experience above average. I'm glad that I only stayed there for a week; any longer would have been a little unbearable. The host for the Wwoofing plays an important role, and a less than friendly host really makes a great difference to the overall experience.

Fresh Yummy Strawberries:

Young beautiful 25 yrs old-looking mummy picking strawberries with their kids:

Okie, gotta pack my bag now, as I will be moving out of the guesthouse tmr morning. Just saw the invitation email sent out by Harvey, and suddenly memories of the first 2 chalets with the class just flash across my mind.

Really miss all of you who are back in Singapore! Take care, everyone! Good luck for your final! And take care Shorn! Really wish that you are coping well!

I'm also homesick! Miss squeezing my sister's cheek, miss teasing my cat Wang Wang, and of course my Mum! And a little on my Dad and my brother. Nonetheless, all of you please take care until I come back okay! Bao Zhong!

日本の最初の一週間

2007-03-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Minasan,

I’m so sorry for the late entry. Didn’t have a fast connection for the past few weeks, but now it shouldn’t be a problem: I’m in Kyoto now! Okie, so much things have happened over the last 3 weeks. Here's a little update on my experience in Japan so far:

I spent my first week working at the 菓子工房上田。The Ueda couple, who own a bakery shop, a goat farm and a Japanese restaurant, are around 70 years old each, and they have been really nice to me. They treated me like their own son, really touched.

Pic below: Frenz I made in my first week of Wwoofing:

Short intro of other WWOOFers around at the菓子工房上田. Kylie and Claire from Australia:

Yoko san from Japan (around Tokyo area):

And David from Canada. Extremely funny guy. Always preaching about Christ, and he thinks taking photo is an act of vainity (that's why he had a towel over his face)/

Work has not been easy. There were really quite a lot to do, and the goats can be really irritating at times. My daily rountine was like to wake up at 6.30am in the morning, have breakfast at 7am, start work at 7.30am, lunch break at 11am, continue work from 2pm to 5pm and dinner at 7pm. The days were structured, but they were peaceful and rejuvenating. No internet and handphone; so my body and mind had a good rest.

(Pic below: My first falling snow experience and me freezing my ass off)

Did quite a lot of things over my first Wwoofing. I did Sai Kang, like cleaning the stables (which were damn smelly) and feeding the animals and changing drinking water for them. But there were some priceless experiences too, like I saw the mother goats gave birth, and I even helped in the process too. Also tried making raisin bread and waitering in the japanese restaurant. (Pics of me helping me to make Bento) Okie, that's my very very brief update on my first week of Wwoofing. Will tell u on my 2nd Wwoofing experience when I have time.

Take care in Singapore! Miss you lots!

Pics below:

My bedroom; the 5-star hotel standard Ofuro (Japanese bathroom); bakery shop; japanese restuarant.

お久しぶり！

2007-03-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

My apology for MIA for the past week. I was working in this bakery/goat farm/japanese restaurant/ pizza shop at Awa Ikeda. And Awa Ikeda is a small town, so I could not find any Internet cafe over there. That is the reason why I have not been replying emails and updating my blog... (btw i got 255 emails to clear right now)

For those who are not in the know, I am currently WWOOFing in Japan. It is kinda like the work and travel, but I do not get paid. Instead I am given food and accomodation by the host. So I have just finished my work in Awa Ikeda and am moving over to Saidaiji in Okayama to work in a strawberry farm.

Just a recap of my life in the past week:

1) I passed JLPT 3! Hoooray! 288 out of 400. Not a fantastic score but given that i only studied for 3 days, Thor you rockz! Haha, so i will be exempted from the entrance exam in APU. No mugging for me until April!

2)　I had a lot of first times during the past week. I withnessed the birth of baby goat on my first day working in the goat farm. After that, I withnessed another 8 or 9 more baby goat being born, so much so that i got sick of it. Oh i also helped pulled a baby goat out from the mother goat; it was kinda a new experience.

3) I had my first onsen experience yesterday. It was so different from the one I had in Korea. In Korea, everyone wore swim wear, and the onsen was more like fanstasy island or water theme park. In Japan, there was only one pool. Everyone got naked and I withnessed a lot of grotesque things being done in the japan onsen. Definitely a culture shock for me, though I have read up on it and prepared myself. this one deserved a blog entry by itself, so i shall leave it to the next blog.

4) My japanese host has been real nice. The male host, whom I addressed as Sensei, is a real famous Wakashi and Yokashi Sensei (Japanese and Western pastries) in Japan. And I get to try a lot of pastries and cakes and breads everyday freshly out frm the oven. The female host, whom I addressed as Mieko San, opens a Japanese restuarant. So she also treated me to a great feast everyday. at the end of the day, I have put on really a lot of weights.

5) argh, okie gotta catch the train to saidaiji. Hopefuly there is internet cafe over there. Will blog again soon!

Ja, mata ne!

P.S. Japanese are real pretty!

僕の過去数日の日記

2007-02-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, some updates on the past few days of my life. Well, I became even busier after I completed my internship at Credit Suisse. From Monday to Wednesday, I was helping out at the JCC Origami booth and the workshop. More details on those few days could be found on: jccgasuki.blogspot.com.

Some interesting things happened while I was manning the booth. Opposite our booth was (my guess) a LTB project booth, which was promoting safe sex and healthy lifestyle. And on the Wednesday, they had this little game which required 3 couples. As SMU students are notoriously busy and nonchalant to things that do not concern their grades, the people manning the booth were facing difficulties in attracting 3 couples to participate in their game.

And they were so desperate that they came up to my booth and pleaded me to join their game. But you know I'm the most eligible bachelor in SESS, and I do not have a gal frenz. But those guys were so desperate that they said anyone will do. Even a guy will do.

So I pulled Qihan (who was innocently folding origami hearts at my booth) and forced him to be my gay partner. Haha, look at his forced bitter smile...
And our opponent was another pair of feigned couple from the Gym Staff:
So the game mainly revolved around 2 quizzes and some exercises. It was quite fun after all. And I was making fun of the gym staff team all the time, that if they didn't win the game, they would put shame on all the Gym Staff people.
At the end of the day, the Gym Staff team did emerge champion and win themselves the latest Creative mp3 player (cost around $249). The gay team (which was my team) was the first runner-up, and we won a Creative live cam (cost around $160). Haha, real cool. The live cam will come in handy when I'm in Japan.
Okie. it's getting late, I will talk about my gathering with my secondary school friends some other day. Yawn...

Thorの天使たち

2007-02-11T01:24:00.000-08:00

Last night, when I woke up to go to the loo, I was bitten by my stupid black rabbit. He rushed towards me when I was about to step out of the toilet, and sank his vicious teeth into my ankles. So now I have two vampire-like bites on my ankles. How I hate my stupid rabbit.

Here are some photos of my wonderful project mates at Credit Suisse. We were supposed to do a review of our experience in Credit Suisse with the Head of IB Operations, HR managers and Directors at the end of our internship. I guess my team did a good job; my manager loved our presentation, and commented we looked prepared and confident. I guess all these would not have been possible without the 3 angels: Pei Shan, Ningxia and Nabilah. Thanks gals!

I shall let the pictures do the talking again:)First slide of our ppt presentation. Crossed out the Credit Suisse logo with a red line, cos it's part of the CS policy that we could not take the logo outside of the company. Another photo of us at our table:) Eveyone looks so professional!
Thor and his 3 angels (imagine Charlie's angels) - Smug look
Thor and his 3 angels (imagine Charlie's angels) - Smart look
Thor and his 3 angels (imagine Charlie's angels) - Silly look

Ningxia and Peishan posing to feign the 'busy with work' look.
I shall end off with a cool Credit Suisse advertisment.

どな人ですか。僕が。

2007-02-11T01:08:00.000-08:00

Credit Suisseの皆さん、ご親切を心から感謝します。

2007-02-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most happiest moments of my life.I Really, thank god for blessing me with so many wonderful things and allowing me to know so many beautiful pple.

First of all, I just received a sms from one of my tutition kids. He didn't fare very well for E Maths during O level last year, but this year he got a B3. I felt so proud of him, and I hope, with this B3, he would be able to continue to pursue his dreams and fulfill his ambitions. Daniel, I wish you all the best for your future endeavours!

Next, I would like to say thank you to all of the people in Credit Suisse Derivatives Support Group. Today is my last day of internship in Credit Suisse, and I am really grateful for all your assistance over the past 9 weeks.

My workplace at a glance
Outgoing: Special thanks to the ever brilliant Gokul and perpetually laughing Lijuan around for filling my first 3 weeks with so much laughter. Thanks Mr. Eugene for stripping my name, and affectionally labeling me as the all-encompassing 'Intern'. And of course, thanks to Dexter who great-heartedly imparted me with all the deceiving and somewhat despicable tactics to get the innocent young girls. Really, the memories of us mocking each other would be inked indelibly in my mind.

Gokul, Mr. Brilliant aka Joker

Dester - 変態な男です。Gals, be careful of him. Lijuan aka 大笑姑婆
I have spent the most time in Incoming during the period of my internship, and it was there that I met many beautiful people who have embraced and treated me like one of their kind. Thanks Emilia, for the 3 weeks when you nanny-sit me and selflessly taught me all about Incoming; your never-waning patience and meek nature really touched me. Lester, one of the most diligent and responsible person I have ever met, also gave me unique insights into the banking industry and government sectors, and guided me whenever I tumbled onto problems. And the rest of the Incoming team, who have sung KTV with me and treated me to a fabulous Japanese meal! Arigatou!
Emilia. Meek and patient - I was her apprentice for 3 weeks:) Duncan, my Incoming Boss
And the settlement team, which I did not have the fortune to work with, is also filled with a bunch of great people. Chiaming for giving me tips on facial products and Angnes for sharing me with her knowledge on electronic gadgets.
Angnes, super funnie gal who knows damn a lot about camera, hp and all the electronic gadgets. And the lady on the right is Claire, boss for the Settlement team.Chiaming, who likes to quarrel with pple, but is in fact an extremely helpful guy. And Yanlin, the gal who likes to quarrel with Chiaming (actually not just her lah, most pple quarrel with Chiaming)
And there are so many other people in DSG whom I would like to thank, but I'm just simply too sleepy and tired to carry on. So please do not feel offended if I didn't mention your name. I'm sure you have helped me in some ways or another, and I am, or at least was, very grateful for your assistance.

And how can I forget about other interns who have survived the 9 weeks of internship with me. I will post the photos of my project mates later. These are wonderful SMU pple whom I have worked with for the past week to churn out another award-winning presentation!

Really, thank you so much! I couldn't believe how fast time has passed, and almost in a blink of a second, I have ended my virgin internship. I'm sure it will be another blink of a second before I find myself on Thai Airways, embarking on my 5 months trip to Japan.

And just when I was going to bid my last goodbye to all these great pple in DSG, I suddenly realized I was surrounded by all of them. I was really touched when Diana handed me the departure gift. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. Angnes got me a travel adapter, which I have been telling them I would be buying this but couldn't fork out the time to do so. And then when Diana asked me to open another gift, it was 5 1000 Japanese yen packed in a Credit Suisse hongbao! My first Hongbao of the year! I was so touched that finally I did not bear to leave Credit Suisse. Really, Credit Suisse is such a nice place, with so many nice pple, and a nice work culture.

Goodbye card filled with everyone's blessings and good wishes.My dream adaptor. Thanks Angnes for being so thoughtful. This will be so useful when I go over to Japan! My first Hongbao of the year! With the exclusive Credit Suisse Hongbao packet:)

I feel so blessed now. This is what life should be all about. Simply amazing.

僕の友達は天才ですか、馬鹿ですか。

2007-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Just talked to a frenz of mine. Has always thought he's a chao mugger (like i am), but a short converstaion led me to the discovery that he's actually...

So i always say smu got a lot of hidden dragon and crounching tigers.. never know when they will come out of their lurk and pound on u.. be careful..

And here's the video i have promised all of u:

And u can see Harvey was so touched by Dex and Harugay's new rendition of Bday/CNY song that his mouth couldn't stop twitching and his eyes couldn't stop rolling.

That moment. Priceless.

Theoの誕生日会！

2007-02-04T09:02:00.000-08:00

Ever since I started my internship at Credit Suisse, I have been neglecting my frenz, and family members. Felt really guilty abt it. And recently, one of my frenz passed away, and that really shocked me. I always thought that I am still young, and I have much time on my hand. Studies and GPA first, and frenz can wait (hmm, I guess I'm a mugger?). But now I realize how foolish I once was. Life is really fragile and u will have so much regret if u never really spend time with pple whom u love so much. So for the past week I tried to catch up with those that I could meet.

And there are so many more frenz I would like to meet up be4 i fly off to Japan. Especially those who are going for exchange during year 3 term 1, I would not be seeing you for one whole freaking year! So please drop me an email or sms to make an appointment with me. Currently, I'm booked for the whole of next week , but I will be free from 12 Feb onwards, at least for now. (I'm free on Valentine too, unfortunately)

Anyway, this is supposed to be abt Theo's bday. My apology for disgressing. i shall let the photos do the talking.

SESS rocks!My best project teammates ever! Awesome Marketing team!

A pity Victor and Thin were not with us:(Hmmm, Nanyang girls who can't speak Chinese. No wonder they are close frenz - birds of a feather flock together:)Theo and her sis.. And make a guess at her sister's name!僕は本当に世界の一番幸せの男ですよ！
YL looked real good on this photo. I wonder who's the photographer? hmm..

Loot! Pirates game! Quite cool:)

Don was trying his best to teach us how to play the game.

(Is Theo's bday party that boring?)

Sigh, I afraid so...But life can never be boring when Harugay and Dex are together!
Mini bday celebration for Harvey, who was so moved that he could not utter a word. Oh, remind me to upload the video where Dex sang happy bday in his soprano-like voice.
Bday duo - 美女与野兽

自己紹介：僕の家族員です。

2007-02-04T08:20:00.000-08:00

This is 旺旺。可愛いよ！I have always thought I am a dog person, until my bro adopted this kitten. Cats (Wang Wang) are better than dogs ( Boo):p

This is my beloved sister, Xin Ee.

This is my extremely untidy house, which is hidden in a god-forsaken corner of Singapore.

Haha, that's all for my intro to my family members. My mum refused to appear on my blog, and I refused to feature my two hideous rabbits (黑老大 and 白痴）. Or maybe next time...

始めの一歩

2007-02-04T05:23:00.000-08:00

Finally my first step into blogging. The purpose of setting up this blog is to share my life in Japan with all my frenz and family members. Minimum writing. Lots of photo. じゃ, どうぞよろしくお願いします！

What Kind of Geek are You?
Name
DOB
Favourite Color
Your IQ is	frighteningly high
You are a	physics geek
Your strength is	you never need to sleep
Your weakness is	caffine
You think normal people are	interesting
Normal people think that you are	satanic

This cool quiz by owlsamantha - Taken 278963 Times.