Friday, May 30, 2008
woots! JIAM TAOSS!!!! Ichiban Hoshii!! hahaa... so happy to see 2 A's after the 1min lagtime with so many NUSians logging into the results directory at the same time! Although didn't get my A+ that i hoped for Communicating with the Academy, was pleasantly pleased with A- for Molecular Genetics and B+ for Japanese 1, New Media and Biochemistry~ At first the score they wrote i thought was for Sem 2 only.. so was alittle dissapointed, but when i checked how to calculate the CAP i realised i hit my target! finally! I'm at the 4-level! YATTAA!!! so happy now! somemore like in Sem 1 i also no chance to use my SU.. hahaa.. although gotta say abit dissapointed with my New Media but i figured with my pathetic mid terms its quite good to get a B+ ba... Lesson Learnt: Must work hard for Mid Terms too!! now that finally reach 2nd upper level, the challenge is to maintain with even more difficult modules coming up~ but thankfully my CAP not that high that i can rest on my laurels... haha i already smell myself mugging harder next sem again to go up higher the ladder! yippee! nothing beats hard work being paid off! =D
YATTA!!
as a commercial break from the japan trip, time to update my outings! haha.. the day before went to lewis' house at tampines where bin, lewis, chih and wilson played mahjong as i treat them to expensive japanese souvenirs.. hahaa.. i dont really fancy playing mahjong for 4hrs but i had nothing to do at home either.. so met them earlier hoping to chat alittle and all... although i was largely ignored due to the allure of mahjong over friends, it was really funny watching them play mahjong with confessions of deprivation (e.g. 2 years never zhi mo le) etc.. soon later caelan and huimin joined us before they headed for da ge's job interview... finally they finished at 7pm then we headed to city hall for dingtaifeng dinner! 好吃的东西在好吃的地方！！
Looking for a way into Narnia~~
Outside Dingtaifeng!
Sorry Bin, We're Taken! (sorry aly! =P)
Mudpie is... F*T... but... Happiness~~ arr~
chilling~
past closing time!
yesterday was supposed to meet the NUS biathlon committee for drinks and chillout at wala wala but then many were busy and our chairman also not free.. haha so sad... as organiser i texted most of them like 3 times with 20% response... kinda demoralising as the committee didnt quite bond before, but i thought maybe holidays can hang out again~ but oh wells.. its not over yet! look on the bright side of life! then again i'm still 'hanging out' with some of them over msn! hahaa! so last min i joined benedict, huiling and diana with ben's church friends at suntec eng wah to catch Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian... Its ALOT better than the 1st series with the kids getting older but susan still looking ugly.. haaa.. the action scenes were cool with alot of funny moments.. immersive plot and nice fighting! although some parts got me shouting internally "LORD OF THE RING RIPOFF!" both are fantasy world of sorts ba.. i give it 4.7/5.0! =D after the movie we went marina square and bumped into raf and pam! haha like so coincidental.. but they had.. after plans.. so well.. haha shall not impede them~ so the 4 of went starbucks and chilled before heading home to kunzzz
4.7/5.0!!
Mini Life Sciencees Outing? hahaa so coincidental lar!
phew... so happy now! wanna go out and cerebrate man!! YEAH!!!!
dEminG
Reap what you Sow.. With god's guidance~
My mind's unweaving/ 3:29 PM
Day 4:
First off we headed off towards Hakone! Our main attraction: Mount Fuji! it was a long drive from toyota where we stayed overnight (yes its a town dedicated to toyota motors) somemore we were quite suay to be stuck in a jam~ along the way one of our pit stops was at laka hanama! which was actually a saltwater lake! because last time earthquake mah.. and guess what.. they have UNAGIS (eels!) in them! omg my fav food.. i can stay there man.. haha
Laka Hanama
Lots of Unagi Snacks! =D~~
my dad and his signature smile with mouth open! hahaa
One Happy Family~
UNAGIs! I wanna fish there man.. hahaa
More Gorgeous Flowers!
Tripod = Better Cam Whore Shots~
after another hour of drive or so, at one of the pit stops as we were about to board the bus, the tour guide spotted mt fuji in the distance and said we were really lucky! we were the first the spot and saw many other tourists around the pit stop grabbing their cameras too! it was really faint at first but with my camera and abit of pp can see le! hahaa =D like what the guide said, we really have alot of "FU QI" to see Mt FUJI! he lead like 8 tours up mt fuji and first time he got to see it! either we are lucky or he super suay~ haha because of cloud movement so very hard to spot the peak~ heres the many shots i took on the bus along the way! though they are all positive shots~ many others i took were too faint due to the clouds and all~ so these are really 'rare' shots in a sense! enjoy! =D
First Glimpse at the Pit STop
Lunch!
nice Flowers!
2nd view of mt fuji~
3rd view! NICE!
Finally we reach the foot of mt fuji where we visited oshino village.. it was really cooling and the air was super nice.. the flowers were all really nice and we saw sakura trees too! man.. its really nice to stay in this kinda village.. cooling.. serene.. clean air and water... man... good retirement place! =D
My Mom's Dream Villa~
Sakuras!
close up of what i thought i couldnt see~
Nice Garden Flowers!
Clean Air = Beautiful Flowers~
Nature's Beauty~
Donkey~~~
Huge Angry Dog~
hello hello?
Blessed Water Fountain~
Udon Making Water Mill!
Tripods ROCK!
Ice Water Test~
After that we finally begun our ascend up mt fuji (on bus of cause!) up the windy road up to mt fuji where to my worry the peak appeared and disappeared from our view repeatedly due to rapid cloud movement.. along the way a deer ran out in front of the bus and then hid back in the bushes and i managed to capture a split shot of it! haha blur coz no time to set correct mode but well.. not bad.. can see abit~ hee finally we reached the 5th level and it was like 50metres visibility! i was like soooooo SAD and depressed that i set up my tripod aiming at the peak waiting in the cold 2-5 degrees as my parents went to the lodges to shop.. stubbornly i waited and waited.. refusing to leave without taking a pic.. we were given 30min there.. and at the 28th min when others gave up and boarded the bus.. the clouds begun clearing! it was sooo exciting and memorable as my parents were like shouting "chu lai le! its coming out!!" so we took many shots as the peak slowly revealed itself to us... so glad it finally cleared till the peak and we could take a family shot... We been to Mt Fuji! truely!
can you spot the deer?
New Heroes Ad
foggy but still happy and praying!
its starting to clear!
Starting to Clear!
Slowly... but surely~
i can see it coming!
Our Patience is Rewarded! Yeah! So happy! (as shown on faces)
Mt Fuji's Peak in Full Grandeur~
Yippee!
We can now proudly said.. We've been to Mt Fuji!
tired but happy, we then headed to our onsen hotel at lake kawaguchiko~ where we had a hot spring bath and sashimi dinner dressed in yukatas! (was pay yourself = $200) where they had 10 types of sashimi freshly bought today... like on japan hour, we had to pre-order and then the chef went to the market to pick the fish himself before coming back and prepare it.. sea urchin, tuna, squid, octopus, salmon etc etc... was really enjoyable! now this is how real sashimi tastes like! =D~~ the yukata was kinda weird for me as it was SUPER airy and i didnt know how to wear at first.. since its like really easy to 'run light'.. hahaa.. after dinner we finally retired to a traditional japanese room and tatami bed! whee!
Last View of Mt Fuji
Sashimi! whee!
Japanese Traditional Room!
Tatami Flooring!
so thats all for Day 4! Stay tuned for Day 5!
dEminG
H.A.P.P.Y.ing~
My mind's unweaving/ 1:02 AM
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
woots! theres no depression that sleep can't cure for me! hahaa.. although i did have 2 weird dreams... one about my friends and someone else... and another was a mini adventure with my camera! haha.. how funny actually when i think about it... was almost perfect for a movie.. hahaa... drama action and humour... hahaa... strangely there are some kinds of dreams you really remember even after you woke up eh? anyways pretty much got over it but i guess it'l come back and haunt me again like it did yesterday out of nowhere.. but being emotional or even worst the stupid emo feeling is just isn't me... so well... although im one day late.. here's day 3 of my japan trip!
DAY 3:
First off, we headed to Todaiji Temple and the Nara Deer Park! At first i thought they were 2 separate places but it was actually right next to each other! nara deer park wasn't exactly what i pictured it to be, as the deers arent as friendly as i thought! haha they bumped you and mass herd you if you had any food... a tourist even got her plastic bag of snacks attacked by the deers! oh man.. looks can be deceiving.. not forgetting their land mines on the floor! hahaa
A brief moment of affection~
afterwhich we walked over to Todaiji which housed the biggest bronze buddha statue i think~ made prayers and also tried to climb through this pillar in the middle of the temple.. it had a small hole that is known for granting wishes if you think about it as you climb through the hole.. haha although i went through with relative ease (even with my tummy), i was so focussed on getting through that i forgot about my wish! hahaa.. then again i had fun.. so i guess having fun in life was my wish? =]
Japanese Food Stall Flags
Todaiji Main Temple
With my dear parents!
Beside the Offering Altar
Outside the perimeter~
Despite how it looks.. i went through really fast! hahaa
*prays*
The Bronze Buddha
cleansing of hands before entering the temple
gate guardians
after that we stopped by a kimono and souvenir shop for tenpura lunch before heading to the next famous kiyomizu temple! hmm legend says if you dare to jump from the top of the temple, your resolve is strong enough to overcome all adversities.. hahaa.. which is.. hmm... haha if you really have the courage to jump.. i'm sure you'll pull through ya? then again no one actually did it.. haha interesting story no doubt... pretty nice... and again would look GREAT if the sakuras were in bloom! =p
Kimono Show
upward climb to the temple~
pretty red shrines
first view
the hand washing, drinking and purifying water source
the famous view of the kiyomizu temple~
its really HIGH! and no i aint jumping! haaa
the blessed mountain spring water
the beautiful scenery and walkways~
shopping on the way down~
next off, we went to kyoto station to catch the shinkansen! (bullet train) which cost about $30 for one station distance... to give time for the bus to catch us at the next station we were given 2hrs to shop at the kyoto station which had a 11 storey shopping centre! hahaa if only our MRTs were like that eh? hahaa i will be begging on the streets man.. >.< but beacuse we got too caught up with shopping we were 5min late for the meeting time and the tour group almost left without us! haha the bullet train really arrived on the dot and left in like 2min from the tracks! wah! any later and we would have to catch the next train! hahaa.. exciting!
the Kyoto Tower
Kyoto Station
grandeur of their train station~
Happy Terrace for Happy People!
arhhh my dream bag!
on the shinkansen
after that we took the bus and travelled due east and stopped at this highway stop called 养老 hahaa.. but it was interesting as it got the name from the emperor who was moved by a son's filiality to his drunkard father and named the town as so~ there we had a fantastic unagi don meal with udon! yummy! one of my fav meals in japaN! haha after that headed to the next hotel the toyota castle (not really a castle at all) alot more humbler than the hyatt but still had a decent accomodation!! this time as i was more energetic i went to play the toilet that can wash your backside when you're done! hahaa... cool man! then again dont press the wrong button.. later spray wrong part~ haha
the infamous toilet~ with warmer seat too!
dEminG
Stay Tuned for Day 4!
My mind's unweaving/ 9:32 AM
Boat Shoe from Timberland
Green Scarf from Hermes