first days in osaka

long overdue pics!

last day in tokyo, haneda airport ..

Mr and Mrs T brought me all the downtown to buy an pan (red bean bread) from this really famous shop in ginza.. (which had a whole lot of diff flavours..heh) couldnt bear to leave them...

arrival at kansai airport.. waited for an hour for the rest of my travel mates to arrive from sapporo..

on the train to the city:) the trains in japan are really really cool. you can turn the seats ard to face each other.. and they have all these automated stuff which are not found in singapore.. but transportation expenses are atrocious!

first group picture!!

thor, jin ping, weili, kane kane, me!

cheap katsu don (meaning abt 6-7 sgd) ard our hotel.. the area was a little, scary. cos it was a lil like the suburbs.. with mainly working class males being the pop.. and pachinko parlours and suspicious looking shops ard... ended up avoiding walking ard the hotel for the next few days.. just went to whereever we wanted and back.. think it allowed us to see another side of japan.. that told us not all was pretty..

matcha flavoured beard papa!

they had a kuishinbo (which actually means glutton) in osaka! :) it was more like a food street in the shopping centre selling all sorts of jap goodies.. heh

eh... this was a really "interesting" hotel facade...

sculptures in front of a hotel.. heh.. this was near minami.. which is in namba (like the orchard/far east of singapore)

red bull gives you wings! right kun ? hee

famous osaka okonomiyaki! friend noodles/ pancakes with eggs and sauce etc etc.. had to queue quite a while for this!

another osaka specialty, takoyaki!

at the famous osaka aquarium.. comprising of 8 stories........ think its supposed to be the largest in japan..

spot the seal?? heh

ferris wheel in osaka.. freezing cold that day..........

attempts at being dainty, think kane's pretty suited for it.. but as for myself..............

on the cable car :) brrr..was abt 4 degrees that night..

charlies' fallen angels? haha..this was taken outside the osaka castle..pity the sakuras werent in bloom yet..

osaka castle.. its been turned into a historical museum now..

sakura! or so we thought.. hee.. i think they were the plum trees instead..

3 duo hua? :) :)

lunch/dinner was omu rice. must have been the best omu rice i've eaten so far....cheese and eggs over the rice in cream gratin with veges.....

plates all wiped out! one of the rare times!! :)

my room in osaka! tiny little room with 2 beds and a tv.. shower was a shared bath (but not mixed bath!) or a single shower for all the guests.. but i think through this i overcame my shyness to use the common baths. after a while u realise that everyone's too busy washing themselves then to bother noticing you ..haha

universal studios and mount koya pictures!

universal studios japan!


we happened to visit on the first day of spring break for the students so it was jam packed!! heh busted our hopes of entering the place early to catch all the rides.. ended up paying another 40 or so dollars to get the express ticket to bypass the queus.. hee..takaii ne!!


first shot of the theme park from outside.. we arrived at around 930 and there were literally thousands of people (mostly teens) at the place.....



one of the buses that went ard the theme park.. it was really amusing how they translated all the songs to japanese.. imagine "sesame street....." in japanese........heh



oh oh we caught this shot musical of Wicked.. which is this new broadway musical of the wicked witch of the west (from the wizard of oz ) pretty interesting ! cept that it was again in jap.. haha



rahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

spiderman! spiderman!!!! the ride was pretty interesting.. a lil 3 d effects.. realised the park didnt have many thrilling rides.. mostly visual.. guess thats cos its universal studios la..

got hungry! katsu hot dog! (the food is ridiculously overpriced in theme parks :p)

wizard of oz!

MOUNT KOYA
One not so pleasant thing abt this trip has been that we've had to move a couple of times... meaning lugging our 20 over kg luggages ard .. onto trains and buses... dragging them across bumby roads.. up slopes......... im craving a massage! haha. Point to note: NEVER carry heavy baggage when travelling . Guess we dont have much of a choice cos we're all moving to the hostel after this so lots of barang.. haha we prob look really silly to the locals lugging such huge luggages ard...

Took a train then had to take a cable car ride up to Mount Koya..pretty cold up there.. mountain air was definitely colder..

at the cable car station..

at the entrance of the famous tombstones..mt koya is supposed to be this really sacred place...and serene..

dinner! they actually laid out eth nicely for us in the tatami room..

vegetarian dinner! tempura, tofu, beans, vege.. :) delicious!

trying out jap cutesy poses while wearing the yukata! haha..

breakfast the next morning.. rice, miso soup.. beans.. tofu..vege.... healthy yah.......

After mount koya we were off to kyoto!!

i miss my family... (and my lil cousins! )

osaka and kyoto!

hey everyone!!

im sorry ive been so laggy with my posts ever since i left takasaki .. ;P
its been pretty crazy since then cos weve been moving abt quite a bit whilst lugging our ridiculously large luggages (we looked like really silly backpackers ..hee) cant believe its been almost a month now that i've been in japan!

im getting more and more homesick by the day.. missing my mummy and papa.. yilin, kor and zq.. really hope everyone's doing well .. cant wait for my parents to come by in abt 2 weeks time.. :)
miss all my wonderful friends.. jun especially (in paris!) happy birthday girl!!

im in kyoto now! its a beautiful city with lots of culture seen through the little lanes of traditional japanese housing and the occasional sighting of a maiko san (apprentice geisha) all dolled up in the traditional kimono and white make up.. saw a really pretty one! will be posting up pics as i go along..

its my third day in kyoto now.. spent the last week in Osaka and Mt. Koya (this sacred mountain which is the site of many famous japanese families' tombstones.. ) . Stayed in an inn run by monks in Mt Koya, but it was wonderfully serene and we had a great vege/tofu dinner provided :) went to universal studios japan (it was so packed! the day we visited coincided with the spring break for the students.. haha) and we ended up buying this express ticket to bypass most of the longer queues.. heh..

i really miss takasaki, Mr and Mrs T.. I guess they grew to become like family to me and now im starting to really miss their presence..really hope to vist them again sometime soon..

think i'll post more as i upload pics ya? update as i go along.. :)

day 18

DAy 18: Last night in Takasaki..

heading off for osaka in a couple of hours! prob get to see the cherry blossoms there or in Kyoto :) ..

im gonna miss Mr and Mrs T so much.. and julia too :) really feel as if they welcomed me as a part of their family.. theyve welcomed me to come look for them anytime whilst im still in japan :)

had chinese food for dinner tonight.. Mrs T had learnt how to cook chinese food way back when they lived in Singapore for a couple of yrs.. abt 10 yrs ago? She said she thought i'd prob not get to eat chinese food for quite a long time.. so she cooked it for me.. damn sweet of her..........
it was delicious! had tofu with veg and scallops.. home made char siew that was juicy and tender........ and prawns in chilli sauce (a lil like chilli crab style) hee.. shiok! haha...

had my last lesson with mihoko sensei as well.. she and this other teacher at the centre got me a little gift :) japanese inkan (personal seal with your kanji initials on it) .. heh. really nice of them! Theyve really been so warm towards me and helping me so much with japanese..

... im going to miss Takasaki, the people and the food :) .. Sabishii ne! ..

last dinner in Takasaki..

day 17

day 17: kimono - the challenge :)

i guess no one can call a japan exchange complete without trying on the kimono.. heh. so try it i did! boy was it difficult.. but fun nevertheless :)
Mrs T has an entire wardrobe of kimonos and obis (the waist belt) in her possession.. they were all so beautiful! According to her, the cheapest ones started at ard 5,600 dollars and could go up to the thousands! but the fabric was gorgeous.
We decided to try on this particular kimono which Mrs T wore when she turned 20 ( girls in japan have to put on the kimono and have pictures taken etc. at the age of twenty.. kinda like a ceremony for them.. ) 40 yr old kimono but still in good condition .. heh. It was pretty!

So off we started on the kimono tryout.. hehe. Both Mr and Mrs T were so enthusiastic abt it..heh. even buying me the white socks/slippers to wear with the kimono even though i was just trying in on at home.. :)

well enough said, i'll let the pics do the talking!


This was when we were almost done already! After abt 45 mins! The kimono was heavy man.. plus it was tight.. so felt kinda like a heavy corset.. heh. but Mrs T was amazing in helping me :) she hadnt worn a kimono in years so she got a book on how to wear it properly.. heh. and it turned out great! a natural at obi tying.. heh.


they actually moved all the stuff behind me away to take this pic.. said must do a sitting down one.. heh.. more traditional.. see the socks?



back view! the knot at the back was really well done.. hm but i think its not so clear in this pic..

everyone! :)

dinner for the night at this traditional soba restaurant.. (soba is hand made everyday!)

fish cake.. kinda similar to the thai fish cakes but served with onions and ginger and shoyu.. yumyum..

hot soba! oishi yo! really light but delicious :) heh. there i go abt food again...

Days 15 & 16

Day 15 & 16

Konbanwa!

I really believe this is more like a food blog than ath.. haha. Just looking at the no. of pics of food compared to that of people.. :) Well, kinda hard not to talk abt the food here.. i'm like trying almost a different type of Jap food everyday.. Mr.. and Mrs T are trying to make sure i get to try as many as possible before i leave for Osaka.. which is in two days!!! Argh... im gonna miss them and Mihoko sensei.. and Julia.. and the food of course :)

Man, im starting to miss dancing.. was showing them some of the emix videos the other night.. made me miss it even more.. hopefully will get to dance a little at the University :)

Yest was great! We went to vist the Koshike Doll factory.. its those wooden Jap dolls? Anyway.. I tried painting one!! Had to draw out the outline based on a sample and then paint on it afterwards.. was much more difficult than it looked man.. we asked them how long itd take and they said should take abt 1-1.5 hours.. but i ended up sitting there for 3 ! haha. My right hand was almost cramping up afterwards from holding the doll still in one position the whole time...... but it was great fun! :) really enjoyed myself there..

Didnt really do much today.. just went to the dog cafe with Mrs T and Julia then went for a short swim again.. heh. Real nice diving into a warm pull when the weather outside is chilly.. Its been exceptionally cold these 2 days.. the mountain areas were snowing and there were blizzards in hokkaido.. temperatures like 1 degree in the mornings and at night.. plus the wind is extremely cold from the snow.. so when it blows.. brrrr........... the other night when i came back i was in such a hurry to change into the room slippers cos it was so cold that i put on Mr. T's ones instead.. haha. he ended up chasing after me in pink furry slippers (which theyd gotten for me) and konked me on the head laughing.. haha. :P

Anyways, dinner tonight was great! (As with almost every night.. hehe) .. We had corrokke.. the friend potato pancake thingy.. hee. And chicken stew!!





went to this little restaurant (an hours drive away) yest for this hamburger steak in tomato soup/sauce. It was oh so delicious.. meat was tender with melted mozarella on top and served with toasted bread which was so soft on the inside... when dipped into the tomato soup ... simply heavenly ........



hard at work at the doll factory.. this was the position i stayed in for 3 hours!



almost done!!




voila!! the finished product.. hehe. didnt get to lacquer it and stuff.. so it still looks pretty raw.. but still.. yay!!!




dinner tonight... - corrokke with chicken stew, cucumber and tomato salad and rice.. :)