Friday, April 29, 2005

end of days sanny @ 2:21 PM

I'm still drowning in self-indulgence amidst unpacking all the stuff I bought (mostly food & お土産) from my overseas escapade trip. Once in a while you need to run away from tepid Singapore or you'll go nuts. Even as I'm back here I'm missing Japan and Taiwan...boo hoo! Ok now I get to watch some of my beloved English shows again but I want to catch those Japanese and Taiwanese variety shows, drama serials...if I was living there I'd be a hermit and watch TV at home all day and not get bored, probably. Anyway, to sum it up. There might not be another chance that I get to travel like that, so when reality strikes that I might end up imprisoned in Singapore thereafter, I was really sad that it all ended so fast. Is this a mark of saying goodbye to my 'teenage' days and finally settling into the drab drab world of working adults? Somehow I'm afraid that I'd be just like all the adults, cynical, pragmatic and a wet blanket thrower. Life is like a box of Lego...you dream of making big structures but one way or another you're constrained by the number of bricks in the box. Enough with the moaning, no use crying over spilt milk (can't help it). I might as well show some photos to prove that I really was overseas and not hiding in my grotto. In chronological order! (My perfectionist streak's clipping in) Day 1: Japan, 佐倉に着ました！ Stepped out into Narita Airport in the evening (it was bloody chilly too even though it's spring), my first time taking the Airport express all the way to Sakura, Chiba, where the three of us: me, Qiwei and Stephanie would be staying for our Japan stay. We missed the train so had to wait 40 minutes for the next train. And you thought you'd had it enough with slow MRT trains. Qiwei's elder sis Serin treated us to dinner at the nearby restaurant at Chiba, we were served by cute Aki-chan and whats-his-name(the waiter who's supposedly カッコイイ according to the patrons but turned out their definition of kakkoii is obviously different from mine). Day 2: 浅草、浅草寺 Went to Asakusa's Sensouji. We boarded the wrong train at Tokyo's yamanote line and ended up taking a city tour for 45 minutes (worse still, later on my ￥0 train ticket was eaten up at the Chiba station exit due to my own flakiness). It's good in a way that I was able to find seats on the congested subway and eat my brunch (2 very nice onigiri from 7-Eleven). Over at Asakusa Qiwei bought some 人形焼, it tasted like dorayaki (doraemon's fave food, in case you didn't know) but had more interesting shapes. Stephanie and I at Asakusa's shopping district, with some ang mohs, oji-sans and oba-sans who're unwillingly or unknowingly photographed as well. Love the fake cherry blossoms (took a photograph with real cherry blossoms later on) Went to this shop called Niki (二木) selling all kinds of omiyage, purchased some wasabi mayonnaise and lots of sweets! I kept one of the plastic wrappers as a souvenir for my sister Niki. She said I was very 无聊 but kept it anyway, that ingrate. The snacks there have wacky names. Look at this one. Ooh I'm so scared of offending this snack. Galak means 'fierce' in Bahasa Indonesia. Don't they ever check before branding their products? For dinner we ate Kantou Okonomiyaki, it was soo delicious! We pondered why no one in Singapore has started a franchise for such great food, then thought that the tools needed would be quite costly and many non-Japanese are simply too lazy too fry their own okonomiyaki. Day 3: お台場、フジテレビ We thought that by going early we could beat the crowd at Odaiba, where Fuji Television's broadcasting station is located. Of course, we had to go on a day where there's a whole bunch of students having their excursions. Can you imagine, having excursions to television stations (or tourist attractions)? My own excursions during high school consisted of trips to mushroom factories, soy sauce breweries or visiting cows and goats and what-nots. Over here they actually (have a chance to) see movie stars. No fair! Then again, there's nothing much to see at our TV stations, Qiwei said. True for Singapore. Qiwei and I posing with the Fuji TV mascot. I wonder how they breathe in that suit. In that green plastic bag is some very cute Momu T-Shirts from ONE PIECE! This is Momu. And I also took a snap of a poster featuring Takuya Kimura's latest drama serial, Engine. Only watched 1 episode, arrrggh!!! Racing seems to be all the rage now. We also shopped around the malls nearby, and came to this cute section where they sell all kinds of retro stuff, even very old colouring books...now where did I put those stickers I bought? Shit I forgot where I put those! These machines are called ガチャガチャ (gacha-gacha), or 扭蛋 in Chinese, where you try your luck at getting the 'egg' containing your desired mini figurines. Some of these here in the photo are of the very old kinds, probably about the same age as me (I'm old). These are retro pinball machines. They're like the arcade games of the yesteryears; there are more interesting stuff like old Kewpie toys, novelty food packaging etc; it's all nostalgia lane every step of the way. Watched SMAPxSMAP at night, soo lame and soo cute! No other Japanese group does it like them. They can be so lame and so cool at the same time. *swoon* They should all receive national treasure status. And Shingo has double chins now, probably stuffed down too much mayonnaise. Their skins are thicker than asbestos. Day 4: 渋谷、原宿、明治神社 I had to buy an umbrella 'cos it was raining. Went to Meiji Shrine at Harajuku, got some お守り back; I don't know when I'd be able to pray there again...「お世話になりました」と祈りたい。 Anyway, I'm quite sure now that all the カッコイイっ子 (a.k.a. 帅哥) in Tokyo are concentrated at Harajuku. Qiwei thinks that they scout Johnny's Junior members from Harajuku too. Most of the youngsters at Shibuya and Harajuku whom I saw dress really well. Even so-so lookers look that much more cooler in their make-up(yes the guys are all metrosexuals-what's wrong with that?) and dressing. I'd go people watching here anytime, means permitting. Day 5: 千葉 We spent our remaining cash at Chiba. Ate at ファースト・キチンFirst Kitchen, a fast-food chain；they had the best french fries ever. Move away McDonald's, when is First Kitchen ever coming here? Sob...I'm sick of McDonald's and that scary Ronald McDonald. Sadly, both Qiwei and I forgot to buy the Japanese National Soccer team merchandise. Day 6: 台北西門町 After spending time in chilly, CLEAN air, I was in for a shock come Taipei. Firstly, the smog's visible and suffocating; though after a few days I became accustomed to it so it's okay. In Taipei I learnt this: The motorcycle is king. Everywhere you go, there's bound to be a biker lurking somewhere. I decided to nickname Taipei biketown from now on. The three of us spent the most part of our stay in Taipei at 西門町, as our hotel was near the shopping district. The food there's cheap and super nice...We're totally addicted to 鴉片粉圓...I want my marijuana powder balls (literally translated-of course it's not made of ganja)...again, no franchise here...我好想吃鴉片分圓 ...like I said, we kept loitering around Ximending most of the time; on the first day alone we'd already bought lots over there...our feet were very sore by the time we returned to our hotel room...oh yeah, the hotel has all sorts of hilarious english phrasing on their labels, here's one of them: There's no slipper walking but of course shoes are allowed to walk in the lobby. Day 7: 五分補，龍山寺 On the second day, we visited the shopping district (very cheap but most of the shops sell similar clothings) and Dragon Mountain Temple (Longshansi). I ate smelly tofu (crispy version) for the first time, it's okay but I prefer the grilled one (which I ate at Danshui). Day 8: 淡水，士林夜市 Qiwei's Taiwanese friend Yawen took us to her old university at Danshui, where we're told many Taiwanese MV were shot. We marvelled at how those film editors can make those MVs look way slicker than the actual location sceneries. We also ate the local delicacy, called 阿給. Well it doesn't taste as hot as it looks. My bowl's the one all covered with chilli. We also passed by Jay Chou's old high school and the eatery he loved to go to as a student. Jay Chou used to study at this 臺北懸立淡水國民中學 Yawen and us at Danshui. It was very glaring and windy, funny weather. I'm so going to put this photo to scare people. Later on at night we went to Shilin night market and Yawen helped me to snap this pic of a certain person's advertisement. Mar, pay me 10 bucks. Day 9: 光華商場 Went on a DVD, VCD buying spree at Guang Hua Market. Turned out that the day we visited the market was the last day before the building's renovation works so in a way we're lucky. But not lucky enough 'cos later on at night we watched this Japanese drama which guest star Tsumabuki Satoshi, Kashiwabara Takashi and Fujiki Naohito all looking their most handsome, titled Platonic Love. I'd have combed the shops for the VCD/DVD. Arrrgggghhhh!!!! I want to watch that show!!! And 格鬥天王! And all those variety shows!!! Aaaaarrrrggghhh!!! Day 10-11: 西門町 It's back to Ximending on the last day(s) of our stay in Taipei. We ate some other delicacies such as Taipei's carrot cake(much nicer than the ones here), gigantic sausages and Taipei fried chicken. Oh yeah, there's a building in Ximending which sports a giant banner of Edison Chen's ad. Edison Chen again. Yawn. Qiwei and I played the 扭蛋 game in Ximending, hoping to spend our coins in a constructive way. Unfortunately, both of us didn't quite get what we wanted (She wanted a Tony-tony Chopper keychain, I wanted a Edward Elric figurine - both very cute but oh-so-unattainable) Here are some of my conquests: Sanji keychain, Zoro keychain from the ONE PIECE Niu Dan machines. Minnie keychain (so ugly it's cute) bought in Japan, shoes bought in Taipei. Close-up of the Sanji keychain. Bwahaha. Close-up of the Zoro keychain. And now I'm back in Singapore, blogging, moaning, reminiscing and thinking of what lies ahead from now on; would I be able to have such a holiday again? Well if I couldn't, at least I could relive and replay them in my mind, although...memories are just that, nothing can be done anymore except to look to the future. But I wonder, is the future really worth looking forward to? Somewhere deep inside all of us, do we want to slog for an indefinite absolution (what a paradox)? Ok, enough with the crap, I should be thankful that I had a safe and nice trip. Oh crap. I'm resigned. comments  sanny said... I wanna go Japan again too...sigh...wonder if I'd ever have the chance again... 10:30 PM   ♥ Put your finger in the pie ♥