Saturday, June 30, 2007
Review of Japan Trip Part 3: Osaka
WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE LONG POST.. BUT REST ASSURED THAT I WILL NOT BE WRITING A THESIS HERE.. =P
we finally explore osaka on e 3rd day..
first we went to Osaka Castle, kind of a must-go when you are in Osaka..
somehow it surprises me to see an ancient building side by side with modern buildings..
its like they dun look compatible but somehow there is also no conflict.. hmm cant realli seem to find e appropriate words to describe my thoughts
we din spend long in e castle though.. cos e exhibition is just so-so. n our consensus is that we still prefer Himeiji Castle cos its more authentic.. To me, Osaka Castle is like an old lady trying to act like a 21 yr old by wearing clothes meant for young adults.. why do i say tt? cos have you seen an ancient building with air conditioning and lift/elevator? it's like imagining the Great Wall of China installing escalators and travellators.. e feeling is jus weird.. although i do appreciate e efforts e relevant authorities and organizations put in so as to let e visitors have a comfy environment, somehow i feel that something is lost along e way..
aft tt, me, claire n jolene went to Osaka Aquarium while irene, feng rong n karen went to shop at Umeda with Chisako..
i will recommend this to everyone who is planning to go to Osaka. though e admission fees is quite high (2000 yen = approx S$26), you'll never regret going there. oh yeah, go buy a pass for 2,400 yen at any subway station to cover both e admission charges n transportation within Osaka (onli subways)
anyway its realli educational for me as i get to see creatures i have never see before & took some great photos.. cos of e desire to take good shots, im out of harmony with e rest.. im always e one lagging behind until jolene or claire has to come looking for me.. but in order to have good shots, one must realli have e patience as well as fast finger and quick decision making.. seriously not an easy task.. mani a times i find myself hestitating (always hoping tt e fish/creature will be in a better angle n position e next moment) and hence losing a chance to take a decent/good shot.. well, one learn/grow from incidents so hopefully i'll be wiser/more decisive later on..
okay, right now its photos time!
thereafter we sat e Ferris Wheel and had an aerial view of Osaka.. nice view but i wont say tt its spectecular ba.. din see an iconic building tt struck a chort with me..
when we went back to shinsabashi (where our hotel is located), we went shopping, which is like FINALLY.. bought comestics and facial care products.. they (e jap brands) were much cheaper in japan, esp when there is discount thrown in.. so end up buying ard a yr worth of stock =D were so tempted to buy shampoo but e rational part of my brain stopped from doing so..
n we had sushi for dinner.. reasonable pricing and e sushis are good, until now i still miss e fatty tuna n slightly fatty tuna... dun ask me what's e difference between them though, they taste just as great! tried other tasty food too.. finally understand why ppl like jap food so much but i feel that there is lots of room for improvement for spore jap food..
Friday, June 29, 2007
some times walking some extra distance proves to have its rewards.. decide to walk to city hall to take train home aft dinner instead of e usual bugis station.. & guess wat i saw?
a whopping 5, yes you saw it right, its not 2 or 3 but 5 Lamborghini parked in a straight row at Raffles Hotel!! think there are onli abt 70 such cars in spore and i manage to see ard 10% of e car population at one go =D
hotels (eg Grand Hyatt & Meritus Mandrin) are always a good place to drool at all e luxurious cars. another time i saw another luxury car at raffles hotel too but too bad i din take a photo of it.. other good locations to spot such cars are Raffles Place, Bugis area & Holland Village.
Perhaps i have an affinity with cars or a sharp eyes on cars ba, have no lack of chance to see such cars on e road while one of my good fren complains tt e onli time she saw these cars is when she's with me..
But i still think that cars are more of a financial burden in spore so you will onli see me drool at cars but no intention of buying one.. lol.. nonetheless i'll like to thank all these car owners who give my eyes a treat =P
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Was checking my emails etc n saw this post in Econs Hons yahoogrp..
Hi everybody,
Having obtained my graduation gown (though with much difficulty and laughter) (due to size problems), it suddenly occurs to me that we have all graduated (yes, i know i am slow). Watching the commencement video of 2006, I cannot help but reflect on the times, both good and bad that we all have spent together, as economics majors. The times spent in the Honours room until the wee hours doing macro (almost want to strangle Basant), to the wonderful times playing badminton, shopping, hanging out, gossiping and bitching about the world are memorable times. 7th July will mark a special date, not just because it marks a new phase in our lives, but it would also mark the last time such a major gathering of econs cohort 2007. I hope that as people goes up the stage, we will cheer each other on as we collect our scrolls. Meanwhile I will look forward to seeing you guys on Commencement.
For those confused abt what commencement is all abt, u can look at the videos at
http://www.nus.edu.sg/commencement/2006/webcast.htm for reference.
The one for Econs is under 10 july 2006 3pm.
KC
tears were forming in my eyes when i read e msg..
cant believe that we are going to part our ways officially veri soon...
while e memories of hons yr is still rather vivid in my mind..
in 8 short months, my social circle expanded vastly, forging mani strong friendships i never imagined possible..
ive even spent more time with some of them in sch than with my family members during sem 2..
i cannot imagine how different will my hons life be w/o them..
w/o them i most prob will break down while doing e assgnments..
w/o them, im sure my hons yr will be a pathetic blank n not dotted with numerous wonderful memories..
w/o them i may not be able to complete e grueling and challenging hons yr..
im realli fortunate to have known them.. they have certainly helped me grow and become a stronger person...
at this juncture, i will like to say a big THANK YOU to all of them. realli treasure e friendship and there will be a corner in my heart dedicated to all of you..
"Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?
Can we survive it out there?
Can we make it somehow?
I guess I thought that this would never end
And suddenly it's like we're women and men
Will the past be a shadow that will follow us 'round?
Will these memories fade when I leave this school
I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye
Keep on thinking it's our time to fly....
As we go on, we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change, come whatever
We will still be, friends forever"
冒失鬼
不知是我最近走楣运还是被小人害，我这几天总丢失东西。。 先是上个拜六把乘车证落在我家附近地铁站的某的角落， 不知蒙受了金钱上的多少损失。。而昨早又不知在哪弄丢了我在日本所收到的一份小礼物 - 一个香包。。 虽然这个香包不是很值钱，但这毕竟是人家送的。。 具有纪念价值， 所以我的心到现在还在隐隐作痛。。 啊啊啊啊！！！ 我到底是不走运还是这是我身体给我的暗号， 提醒我的精神状态不好， 需要多加休息？？
Monday, June 25, 2007
Musical Monday
東京にもあったんだ
福山雅治
東京にもあったんだ
こんなキレイな夕陽が
うれしいな 君に見せたいな
君は元気かな
東京にもあったんだ
こんなキレイな月が
うれしいな 君も見てるかな
君に逢いたいな
いま以上 自分以上に
なりたかったんだよ
急いで 急いで…
勝つために覚えたこと
この街のルールに
少しだけ染まったよ
お願いだ 涙は隠さないでくれ
お願いだ 心は失くさないでくれ
ほら ごらん 一緒にさがしてた
明日に僕はまだ走ってるんだよ
東京にもあったんだ
こんなキレイな夜空が
おかしいね 涙こぼれてる
君に逢いたいな
ときどき忙しすぎて
僕に迷ったり 君にも怒ったり
生きるために傷付くこと
この街のルールに
もう少し 逆らうよ
お願いだ 涙は隠さないでくれ
お願いだ 心は失くさないでくれ
ありがとう 一緒に泣いてくれた
君はね 青春のゴールだったよ
ねえ わかってたんだよ
ねえ わかってたんだよ
わかってるんだよ…
東京にもあったんだ
こんなキレイな夜明けが
うれしいな 君に見せたいな
君は元気かな
おわり
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Review of Japan Trip Part 2: Nara
went Nara on e 2nd day of e trip..
to be frank, my memories of Nara has been largely reduced to have fun playing with e deers, ultra bright sun tt poses a problem for us when taking photos, visiting Todaji and spending quite a bomb on souvenirs and confectionery plus muscle ache throughout e day (all thanks to Himeiji Castle) =D nevetheless i will provide a not-too-skimpy description of e time spent in Nara..
e unique part of Nara is e mani deers you can expect to see, especially in e vicinity of Nara Park. why is tt so? nids some tracing back of history here. Legend has it that God Kasuga, who has been enshirned as a guardian of e Fujiwara family (the ruling family) came to Nara on e back of a white deer. Thereafter, e deers have been warmly protected as servants of e gods.
anyway e deers are rather smart, they will loiter or stay put at e area where there is sale of deer biscuit... when you go near them , they will appear very friendly but once they realise that you dun hav biscuit to feed them, some of e deers will start to ignore you and walk off.. very pragmatic man..
from Nara Park, we went to Kofuku-ji where the buildings were said to be a thousand yrs old..
Then on the way to Todaiji, we went to an earthquake centre where i experience "first hand" what happens when earthquake strikes.. one-of-a-kind experience, i can say. this also shows how much emphasis Japan puts in educating e public about this natural disaster.
In Todaiji, got a bit of a shock cos its quite crowded and its a weekday.. saw quite big grps of students there so tt explain e crowd.. i suppose they are on excursion trips ba.. but cant help comparing Hemeiji and Todaiji cos realli benefitted from fewer ppl when touring Hemeiji. Anyway Todaiji houses one of e world's largest wooden Buddha statue. the temple itself is not very big and i end up spending quite a fair bit of time shopping for souvenirs.. typical singaporean, no cure man.. =D
intend to go to another temple but its kinda far + by e time we reached there, it will be closing soon so decided to tour e nearby 春日大社.. somehow it gives me e feeling of singapore zoo, very green, very calming.. think its some cemetry but din see any tombs ard... hmm...
one day is too short a time to tour Nara, got some iternary on e various places to go from the earthquake centre but looks like i need to wait till next time liao..
went back to Osaka and try to do some shopping but similar to Kobe, most shops closes between 8.30 to 9pm... diao.. this makes me wonder wat does e Japanese do at night...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Review on Japan Trip Part 1 - Himeiji
we reached e Kansai International Airport on 10/6 at ard 8am (Japan time) and had e first time of travelling in Japan's railway cos we DIY our way to our hotel in Osaka.. end up spending more than an hour on e trains.. n cant get to slp on e way there cos we have to make quite a num of transfer between e various railways n subways..
e railway system in Kansai is realli complex.. one look at e railway map & my jaws fell.. but one good thing about it is that 90-95% of e station names were in Chinese characters!! tts when i know i wont get lost in japan shd i am alone.. =D
Upon reaching e hotel, we dumped our baggage and off we went to Himeiji which is a whopping 100 min journey!! u can complete a movie during e journey man!! most of us ended up slping in e train as none of us slept more than 3 hours on e plane.. when we reached Himeiji, we had our first taste of authentic Jap food & they are GREAT!! not that we went to restaurants, we jus went to some eateries in a department store.. e prices came as a little surprise to me too as i left spore with e impression that a decent meal will cost at least 1,000 yen but i onli paid 900 for a veri filling lunch (ramen + one bowl of coloured rice ?)..
walking on e streets of Himeiji, i took an instant liking to this city.. even though its a Sun, e streets were not crowded n e pace of life there is quite relaxed that i have difficulty believing that this is japan! to top it off, e weather is sooo comfortable.. cool wind + cloudy sky (perhaps due to e drizzle that went on & off)..
anyway Himeiji Castle is realli big and e scenery is simply beautiful!! there are families having picnic there.. how i wish there's such a venue in spore to go to for a picnic.. & tts where i first saw a Jap shuai ge.. haha.. he is e shuaier version of Hong Jun Yang but too bad he's attached..
okay i will e photos take centre stage for now.. type too much liao.. =D
the inside of e castle is mani level of exhibitions. we can onli wear e slippers provided to e inside due to e wooden flooring. & dunno why all of us blur blur and end up taking two pairs of slippers, n actuali wearing both pairs together until realisation dawn on us much later.. =P think its partly cos they 'stack' one pair such tt it looks like just one shoe n out of habit we just took two 'shoes'..
e one thing i cant stand in e design of e castle is e numerous ultra steep flight of stairs.. just by looking at e slope of e stairs alr give me e 'har' feeling.. actualli climbing up is not a prob for me cos i can simply focus on onli one step and make my way up..
e prob for me is on e way down.. due to psychological phobia since i sprained my ankle twice years ago while walking down e stairs, it sort of becomes a challenge for me.. & wat happens is that i put too much pressure on my right leg when going down e stairs such tt my right thigh aches for days to come.. stupid stairs..
aft visiting e castle, we took a leisure stroll in Himeiji and were rather reluctant to leave for Kobe.. so when we eventually reached Kobe, it is ard 7pm n too late to go anywhere.. so we decide to have dinner before engaging in some shopping.. for dinner, no i din hav e chance to eat Kobe beef but i have an equalli large serving for dinner (don + soba!!)
then came e 1st surprise/shock for us.. most of e shops, especially departmental stores closes at 8!!! so there's pretty nothing much for us to do after dinner so we just went back to Osaka..
not sure how others feel but this is one regret of this trip - din get to explore Kobe..
then another surprise when we are back in hotel.. e hotel did not provide room service! but e room is rather spacious, by japanese standard & e basic facilities such as TV, hairdryer n kettle are all branded eg National.. japan is realli japan.. =D
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
can start work officially liao
just saw an email notifying tt my license has been approved.. which means that i am also officially employed or rather self employed liao..
1st reaction from me: wah, MAS is realli efficient leh..
it realli caught me by surprise.. esp when i still a bit in hol mood n wants to slack..
as ive mentioned before, i realli din wanna start so early.. in fact my ideal starting date is 2 Jul.. but then i was kinda forced to go to training & it soon becomes a chore for me with all e hw etc.. a few other incidents later n im a not-very-happy and sian 1/2 person..
& now after barely settling down, it comes e bomb.. call it a bomb cos its hardly good news for me.. i have yet to tune my mind to e right mode and not exactly mentally prepared oso..
jus hope e company dun push me to e limit, at least not now..
i realli dun wanna throw in e towel even before i try it out..
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
back to reality
im back in spore.. still cant believe it..
e trip jus came n go in a whiz...
realli din wanna come back.. =P
have so much fun in Japan..
so in love with e country now..
kinda planing for e next Kansai trip liao.. lol
will blog abt e trip when everything's settled..
so do keep a lookout!
Monday, June 18, 2007
Musical Monday
咕叽咕叽
孙燕姿
约个会
餐厅选在吃到饱
一瞬间
什么浪漫都死掉
咕叽咕叽
白头偕老难见到
睡觉 起床
慢跑 洗澡
下班 睡觉
谁比谁好
能差到多少
迟早都要
向上帝报到
既然坏的
通通改不掉
用力思考
保证 自找 烦恼
放手 无聊 大笑
咕叽咕叽
数数钞票
永远都比标签少
名牌包
里面还要塞到爆
咕叽咕叽
什么病都能吃药
掏光 荷包
自我 慰劳
工作 花掉
谁比谁好
能差到多少
迟早都要
向上帝报到
既然坏的
通通戒不掉
用力思考
保证 自找 烦恼
我们都好
我们都是鸟
冬天飞向
南方的怀抱
一起筑巢
地球飞一遭
放弃思考
不要 自找 烦恼
放手 无聊 大笑
无可 救药
祷告 我不要
地球 还不太熟
旅行 想到太空
月球没有好朋友
相爱 不肯拥抱
仇恨 记得太牢
原始的情调
是什么面貌
好想知道
能不能求饶
能不能咆哮
一点就好
真实就好
谁比谁好
能差到多少
迟早都要
向上帝报到
既然坏的
通通戒不掉
用力思考
不要 自找 烦恼
放手 无聊 大笑
Rap：
Let＇s wake up in the mornings
Let＇s go to bed at night
Let＇s make hay in the big sunshine
Yea we＇ll make hay in the light
Let＇s bury all our hatchets
Let us get along
Let＇s hold our hands and save the world
Let＇s not
谁比谁好
能差到多少
迟早都要
向上帝报到
既然坏的
通通戒不掉
用力思考
不要 自找 烦恼
我们都好
我们都是鸟
冬天飞向
南方的怀抱
一起筑巢
地球飞一遭
放弃思考
不要 自找 烦恼
放手 无聊 大笑
碰面 都是 问好
咕叽咕叽
Monday, June 11, 2007
Musical Monday
记得
张惠妹
谁还记得
是谁先说永远的爱我
以前的一句话
是我们以后的伤口
过了太久
没人记得当初那些温柔
我和你手牵手
说要一起走到最后
我们都忘了
这条路走了多久
心中是清楚的
有一天 有一天都会停的
让时间说真话
虽然我也害怕
在天黑了以后
我们都不知道会不会有遗憾
谁还记得
是谁先说永远的爱我
以前的一句
是我们以后的伤口
过了太久
没人记得当初那些温柔
我和你手牵手
说要一起走到最后
我们都累了
却没办法往回走
两颗心都迷惑
怎么说 怎么说都没有救
亲爱的为什么
也许你也不懂
两个相爱的人
等对方先说找分开的理由
谁还记得爱情开始变化的时候
我和你的眼中
看见了不同的天空
走的太远
终于走到分岔路的路口
是不是你和我
要有两个相反的梦
谁还记得
是谁先说永远的爱我
以前的一句话
是我们以后的伤口
过了太久
没人记得当初那些温柔
我和你手牵手
说要一起走到最后
我和你手牵手
说要一起走到最后
Thursday, June 07, 2007
flying off soon!
its realli possible for last min packing to occur.. 90% of my sutffs are packed within 1-2 hours.. efficient ya? of course la, i study econs leh.. lol
i cant wait!!! Japan here i come!! =)
last econs gathering before flying off..
with a slew of gathering/outings these days, im suffering from a bit of gathering fatigue.. haha.. but since tis time is ktv i just went to hear 歌王唱歌.. =D
at e same time, me n SX kinda want to make it partial Mambo but its not very succesful cos e outlet either din have their songs or there's no MTV, just words!! Imagine our horror n giggling when we can onli see white words in blue screen with NO music n KC is trying his best to sing..
nonetheless its still quite fun with lots of photo taking.. =)
