Dearest...

"時には急ぎすぎて　見失う事もあるよ　仕方ない
ずっと見守っているからって笑顔で
いつものように抱きしめた
あなたの笑顔に　何度助けられた だろう
ありがとう　ありがとう　Best Friend
ずっと　ずっと　ずっと　Best Friend"

Dearest Friend, you're not alone, wherever you're...
because we're here for you, always ~
In spirit and soul~

So, cheer up and let’s live life to the fullest!

Love,
¾ Girl Power

Pride and Prejudice

A story of innitial misunderstandings resolved between two lovely couple of different social standing. The setting portrays a brilliant satire of a polite society in the 18th - 19th century of England.

Darcy, a haughty, handsome and wealthy gentlemen who overcome his initial pride and disagreement on the notion of marriage to a girl of a lower class - even to the point of preventing the marriage of his good friend, Bingley, to whom he is so madly in love with (Jane Bennet, Elizabeth's beloved sister), with his overpowering affection for witty and vivacious Lizzy.

How sweet! The power of love...

I also admire Lizzy's ( Elizabeth) wit and honesty that made her stood out from the rest of the ladies featured in the film, even more appealing the prettiest of the lot (five bennet sisters), Jane. Her character is quite bold in a genteel society of the 19th century England, where politeness is observed to the point of preventing people from "speaking the truth from their heart".

Simple love...

As i was surfing through my "Daily Bread", i read this blog about a nice, touching song on ＂Ｌｏｖｅ ｉｓ　Ｓｉｍｐｌｅ＂－（Ｄｉｒｅｃｔ ｔｒａｎｓｌａｔｉｏｎ）．

简单爱。。。
令人招思默想的话题。。。

I still live in an ideal world where i believe Love can be simple if one love with their heart- truly and sincerely. But i guess i'm being too idealistic, as i was disappointed time and again when the harsh reality jolt me up from my dreamy world.

Nobody really believe in this anymore, and it takes two to clap. So, one silly idealistic fool would only cause disappointment and hurt to oneself.

Is that why people are getting more and more disillusioned about love?

Where is the innocence and courage that one used to have when love struck them? People fear rejection and even disappointment or hurt that might come at the end of it all. As such, became hesitant and dare not venture further to find their true love when uncertainty of whether the relationship will eventually work out tugged at their fragile heart.

Well, after all is said, i still believe Love can be simple and simple love still exists. Hope that i can slowly muster the courage to follow my heart again...

Ｌｏｖｅ　ｌｉｋｅ　ｙｏｕ　ｈａｖｅ　ｎｅｖｅｒ　ｂｅｅｎ　ｄｉｓａｐｐｏｉｎｔｅｄ　ｂｙ　ｌｏｖｅ　ｂｅｆｏｒｅ．．

Have been brooding over this...

It's juz a red maple leaf, but it's one of the only few red leaf that I managed to catch when I was in Japan during autumn ...

Guess I'm silly~

But why am I so careless... "Argh... if only I didn't use my credit card at the airport to buy anything.."

Our Birthdays!

Dinner date at Ma Maison (Japanese-Western fusion restaurant) was the highlight for me on Friday. Food was nice, ambience cozy and most importantly the company was fantastic.

Recount of my recent Japan trip took my attention away from the tempting food that was being served on the table. My buddies tried very hard to grill me on any "juicy developments" while I was in Japan to no avail. After dinner, we viewed the photos but they were soon bored with the never-ending pictures of beautiful scenery, flowers, spiders and streets. Then they started asking, “where are you … I want to see you in the pictures...” Ha ha ha… That’s how it is when traveling alone. An occasional shot of me became the highlight of the album.

Before we know it, the restaurant is closing, and we had to adjourn to Intercontinental Hotel lounge. I presented them with gifts from Japan (courtesy of Yingster and me). They were excited like little kids when they open up their presents; saying that I should go Japan more often so that they will have more gifts (from us). Their excitement caught the attention of the curious waiter at the hotel and Janster joked that it’s our birthday that night. And he actually believed it! Ha ha… he got our names and dedicated a song for us. What a night!

Look at their radiant smiles with the 1st round of gift presentation...

And more smiles with the second round of gift unwrapping session...

And that's us after a Great night out...

Autumn Holdiay in Japan - Part II

After Mt Aso, I dropped by Fukuoka for a quick tour. Did not go anywhere spectacular but managed to get my way to one of the streets (Nakasu) lined with Yat Tais, where I managed to order something with my lousy Japanese at one of the Ya Tai. The friendly couple tending the stall started rambling off and tried to make small talk with me in Japanese. I could only reply “wakarimsen… watashi wa shingaporu jin desu”. So embarrassing…

After two days away in Kyushu, I can finally return back “home” and basked in the comfort of Sevenspell’s wonderful company. Having not seen her for two nights, I couldn’t stop yaking till I was totally exhausted.

Day 5 – Hiroshima
First stop was made at the peace memorial park. Once I got off the tram, the Gembaku Domu (A-Bomb Dome) caught my attention. As I observed the melted concrete structure, something gripped me deep in my heart. Vision went blurred for a second by the overly moistened eyes. Strangely, it still looked depressingly grand although it was ruined to its skeletal-form.

Strolling further down the park, across a bridge was the Children’s Peace Monument surrounded by thousands of paper cranes inspired by a young leukaemia victim, Sadako. Groups of children surrounded the Monument and sang a nice little song before they form little lines to present their paper cranes to the clear display box flanking the monument. Across the road was the Flame of peace. Right at the other end is cenotape that forms a frame round the Flame of Peace, and the A-Bomb Dome across the river. Amazing~ I did not realized this until I review the picture I took. It was said that the Flame of Peace will only be extinguished when the last nuclear weapon has been destroyed. Let’s pray that the evil by mankind will not be repeated again, whether or not the last nuclear weapon on earth has been destroyed.

Check out the A-Bomb Dome in the background!

After that, I made my way to the widely-acclaimed spot claimed as (one of the three) best view of Japan, the floating torii of Itsukushima (Miyajima) jinja. He he…, this is the second one I have seen after Amanohashidate on the Northern coast of Kyoto prefecture. Two down, I’m left with islands of Matsushima near Sendai, Northern Honshu!

It's low tide! So I could actually go very near to the "floating gate"!

I took a ropeway to the peak of Mt Misen. It was beautiful but it’s a pity the skies were cloudy; else I bet the scenery would have been even more stunning. While I was admiring the beauty at the top of Mt Misen, a loner “hit” on me and asked to walk around Miyajima together. After Mt Misen, I can’t wait to get back to Kobe to meet Sevenspell for dinner! I went to change my reserve ticket to the earliest ride back once I hit the nearest JR station.

The ride home seems longer than usual as I think of my favouriteTaro ramen that I would be having later.

My poor Ixy has recovered from her cold...

On the third day of my holiday in Japan, my Ixus i decided to take a break... Her brain was still functioning, but she refused to lend me her "eyes" to the world. I wondered if she has caught a cold~

When I was on my way back to Singapore, the weather turns warmer, and she recovered! Indeed, she has caught a cold... Phew!

It got me wondering if I should get another camera in case ixy decided to take a break again...

Went to MS Colours at AMK for a look today, and the helpful guy recomended Kodak camera for it's true and realistic colours (of the pictures). He took a picture of me using Canon Ixus 55 and Kodak and printed out the pictures directly (without any editing using photoshop). There was a contrasting difference in the colour quality of the photos taken by the 2 cameras. (Top-Ixus 55; Bottom - Kodak)

Wow! It looks like Kodak does produce pictures with truer colours and more details... I never realised pictures taken with Ixus has warmer colours... But I still prefer the design of Ixus... Humm... shall decide whether I should start saving for a new camera first...

Back in Singapore!

As the morning sun warmed my feet, I woke up in a daze. For a split second, I could not figure out where I was. I looked aroung the empty spaces and could not find the usual familiar face I see every morning. No more "ohayo~", no more silly giggles to start my day...

A funny feeling creeped in, I don't know what it is, it just feels kinda weird. I think I'm starting to miss Japan - the people, the weather, the food, and the culture over there...

I tried going back to bed after my brunch, hoping to get back that same kind of feeling that I had when I was in Japan. But before I could get into "LaLa Land", I got to wake up and prepare for my dinner appointment.

Meeting up with my friend was good as she helped to bring me back to where I am. And I slowly get used to being back home - in Singapore.

Oh! We had dinner at this nice Japanese restaurant along Wheelock Place. Hee.. Japanese food again. Oiishi~!

Autum holiday in Japan-Part I

I started off the tour with the 3rd to the 7th day alone to various parts of Japan. Initially, I was rather apprehensive of how the tour would turn out as this is the first time I would be traveling alone. (I have never imagined I would be doing this one day as I could never understand why one would want to travel alone!)

Plans has been made to the smallest details - accommodations booked, JR rail tickets bought, Shinkansen schedule checked; seat reserved and itinerary planned. Yet I was unsettled, as I would be alone in a foreign land with my dear friend several hours away from me… and my mastery of Japanese language was pathetic. Time did not allow me to revise whatever little I have learnt during my Uni-years. Sigh.

Day 3 – Kyushu, Beppu
As I set off, I took a picture of the first sunrise I witnessed from Ying’s lodge (early enough to catch it! Rare for late sleeper like me), and I hurried off to catch a subway to transfer to the bullet train.

Upon reaching, I checked-in to the Minshuku; got the directions and bus route to get to the Jigoku (8 Hells). I felt rather silly hopping to all Eight Hells as the “Oniyama-Jigoku” is rather pathetic with the poorly caged crocodiles and alligators. Why is it listed as one of the Eight Hells I wonder…

My Favourite Jigoku~

The pathetic one~

All went well and I even managed to find a nice little Japanese restaurant for dinner. Shopping alone was rather boring, and the streets were quiet. And shops closed really early in Japan. I guess this is the “off-season” for travel. After a call to report my safety, watched a bit of Japanese news, I turn in early (by my normal standard).

Sumptuous spread for dinner~

Day 4 – Kyushu, Mt Aso
A nice warm spring bath in the morning was simply heavenly. The best thing is that it’s a private bath, so I have the whole Onsen to myself! Woo hoo! After I took a picture with the Minshuku’s friendly host, I set off to my next destination in Kyushu – Mt Aso.

Beautiful scenery along the highway and the chilling air simply takes my breath away…
Soon, I reached the foot of Mt Aso at the train station, and transferred to another bus to get to the peak of Mt Aso. There was only another lone ranger that got on the bus with me – looks like I’m not alone (in traveling alone).

Another dose of scenic view kept my camera really busy, as I clicked away, trying to capture the perfect shot. Grand mountains, vast blue skies, cows pasturing on the lush field, wild flowers swaying in the breeze as the bus moved round the curvy roads up the mountain.

At the top of Mt Aso station, I took a ropeway up to the peak and witness the puffing smoke rising from the largest crater I have ever seen; or should I say this is the first time I ever get so close to an active volcano!

The mountains near the crater~

*Shall continue with the rest another day...so stay tuned!*

Congratulations Janster!!!

Today, you're legally part of a blissful union...

Congrats my dear friend!
Can't wait to witness the actual ceremony in February...
My Blessings will always be with you where ever I am~


Love, Hugs and Kisses,
me.