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Anticipation: Japan 2012

Anticipation: Japan 2012

Royce chocolate <;3

In about 14 days, I will be preparing to fly off for a genuine holiday of my own… My very first trip to Japan. I don’t know what to say other than I am extremely excited! I have been working nearly every holiday since I was 11. My few trips overseas from home were mostly non-holiday vacations (if that made any sense). My last genuine holiday was nearly 10 years ago with my then ex boyfriend to Genting Highlands.

First major holidays in eons! No tour guides though, and nothing more than just plans and more plans… So hopefully, everything turns out well :) itinerary goes something like this:

Tokyo:
Visit Sumo and fireworks museum
Visit Edo-Tokyo museum
Visit Asakusa Kannon (also known as Guan Yin)
Sumida cruise to Odaiba
Visit all those museums on Odaiba
Sword museum
See Akihabara, if only to violate yodobashi!!

Via Tokyo: day trip to Nikko and Kamakura

Possibility: Disneyland?!

Nagoya:
Pay my respects to oh great gundam
Astuta shrine
Nagoya castle
Toyota automobile museum
Tokugawa art museum
Nagoya city science museum
Osukannon shrine

Day trip to Takayama (see the historical village and steal some Sarubobo omiyage)
And Kanazawa (ninja town!)

Then Kyoto – of which I think we will be using the Kyoto walks maps and resources by the JNTO as well as some side trips to various places (Nijo and Momoyama?! Castle)

I foresee a lot of ramen along the way!! Go ramen! Banzai! Must also try their versions of McDonald’s and KFC. Must also visit yoshinoya and mos burger <3

I am quite concerned about the ability to snap and share photos via my phone, since roaming data plans are cut throat and I am not too sure if there’s prepaid micro sims available for rent. No fear, I will figure something out. At least, at the hotel, there’s working wi-fi.

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2011 – WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!

2011 – WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!

I can’t believed 2011 rolled by so quickly?!?!?! funnily enough, I spent most of the year reminding everyone Christmas was just around the corner, received many hateful stares in the process, AND OMG IT’S ALL OVER!

2011:

- Left my comfort zone that was Waife.

- Saw a few concerts, went to Soundwave for the second time in my life

- Watched a lot of movies

- read a lot of books

- Bought my first MacBook Pro <3

- Got a job at the hospital. I must say, I started out not liking it so much. However, now I enjoy it.

- Got my own place, all on my own

- Booked a trip to Japan

- Got myself into a hospital x 4 plus a surgery for the first time in my life.

- Got me a DSLR

- iphone 4s!

 

That sounds like a bunch of indulgences.

 

There were a lot of things I didn’t like in 2011 that I don’t wish to repeat here. There was so much unhappiness in those things, so much tears and sadness that, while it was a better year than 2010 in some aspects, I am glad to see the back side of 2011.

 

2012:

- Visit japan!!! <3 <3 <3

- ipad 3

- PS3 (White)

- PS vita???

 

Actual resolutions:

The usuals, lose weight, save money, read 52 books in the year and play about 120 hours worth of games.

shots of the sky

However, in addition to all that, I also hope that I could keep my house tidy :p Suddenly down sizing and living by myself, I realise I have so many books that I don’t dare to put away >.> and I still don’t. Which means, they are sitting in piles all over. I really need to get into it :)

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This is Home

This is Home

As per the last post, I flew back to Muar over the weekend after grandma passed on, via KLIA to Muar, where I stayed for about a day and a half and then on to Singapore.

Muar itself appeared to have changed very slightly since I was last there. I mean, I can’t even identify the changes myself, other than obvious name changes in some shops – but even those shops only had surface changes and not much else. If anything, there were just more people in Muar, more new houses and nothing I can really put my finger on.

However, the rain sure put a damper on things LOL! Haven’t been back for so long, my body was so not used to it (not that it was the last time I was back, but I sure as hell wasn’t perspiring buckets). The humidity, the heat, the rain… and the damn bloody mosquitoes. Interestingly, I wasn’t as affected by the mozzies as I used to be. So, it was a surprise to find a few large bumps or so when I got to Singapore.

 

I have always said this: The thing I miss about Malaysia and Singapore was the convenience of good food. Canberra has a problem where there’s an abundance of good ingredients but it’s filled with restaurants that cook pretty average food – and they are all close at all odd hours of he day.

Where else, a walk behind my grandma’s place reveal road side stalls that have been there for eons, that opens early enough or till late enough that I don’t have to worry about when I turn up.

Most importantly, I miss my breakfast prata :x although, sometimes, this breakfast prata also ends up being breakfast bee hoon goreng or char siew mee etc, etc etc… apparently, while i eat only bread, cheese ham here in the morning, it’s ok to eat all sorts of food that isn’t rice for breakfast back home. My brain accepted that and actually adjusts to each place without me really noticing it.

Of course, Muar was also the place where I eat vegetarian and mostly don’t realise it. The curry that we got for catering at grandma’s wake was amazing – but there’s no meat in it. cultural practises dictates that we eat vegetarian for a week or something (it wasn’t as strict for the grand kids, as far as I understood).

Muar also reminded me of how interesting and yet despairing the lives of manual labourers were

Completely unsafe make shift housing for the workers, made out of spare pieces of cardboard, wood and aluminium roofing. bet you there’s dengue mosquitoes in there!

IMG_0186

By the way, shaved ice/ice kachang? it’s the bomb in such crazy humidity. if only the man was there selling it T_T guess I was too early.

I must say though, the relative lack of changes to Muar made me more apprehensive to return to Singapore. I haven’t seen Singapore in 5 years. I have heard so many things about the changes, I was worried I had get lost and I didn’t know what to expect.

My plans also allowed me to stay at a friend’s place. After being away and being on my own for so many years, I wasn’t sure I could get use to living with my parents and my sister in a small space. While I love them dearly, I have never managed to get by a day without getting pissed off at my mum’s snide remarks or something that she had inadvertently do. 5 years is a long time to return to being pissed off every day.

I was glad I did that for various reasons, although I think my dad was kind of clingy, worried and all sorts about me :)

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