Chuzenji-ko

Today's highlight is undoubtedly the Chuzenji-ko (Lake). Woke up quite early this morning, expecting to quickly tour the temples and shrines which come with my Nikko World Heritage Pass (which I'd recommend you not get it unless you're really into shrines ... better to get the All Nikko Pass that gives access to all the natural wonders beyond temples), so that I could spend the rest of the day trekking the Kegon Falls (the highest in Japan) and the Chuzenji-ko.

Another day with awesome weather. As I walked down to the train station, snow covered mountains rolled past ... I wondered why I didn't notice yesterday? Did it snow in the mountains just last night? Yep, it's chillier today than yesterday, which according to the lodge's staff, was the hottest in Nikko. Maybe it's at the turn of the season.

While I had the most blissful day today, there're 2 disappointments :( Firstly, the sakura has not bloomed yet. The long winding road up to Chuzenji-ko is covered with bald / budding sakura trees ... I can just imagine them when the flowers are in full bloom! Next week perhaps? Hmm ... I'm very tempted to make another day trip here albeit extremely time squeezed! Secondly, I realised after I arrived that the hiking trail is still closed for "winter". But the optimist in me thinks that's probably good too since I could enjoy the beautiful tranquility of Chuzenji-ko with leisurely walks, or simply just bumming along with chilly winds and warm (sometimes quite scorching) sunshine.

Enuf words. Pix now.

Nikko Park Lodge where I stay here in Nikko. A tad far from the train station (about 15 mins walk but not too bad). The place is great, the staff are wonderful. I'll be back!

View on the way from the lodge to the train station.

Kegon Falls and Chuzenji-ko from afar ... where the hiking trail is supposed to begin. Took the ropeway instead to get to this viewing plateau. The 710 yen I paid for this quick trip - not worth it. Go straight to the lake and falls by bus (return ticket from Nikko train/bus station to Chuzenji Onsen = 2,000 yen).

Outside the ropeway station. I offered a young Japanese couple to take a picture of them when they were desperately trying to set up the timer ... and they returned the favour.

The Kegon Falls upclose at Chuzenji-ko. The water is from the lake.

Chuzenji-ko at mid-day.




Can't resist the feet shots!


A wild monkey. It wanted to raid a guy with chips in his pocket and followed him for a while. Guy managed to fend it off, the monkey returned to munching grass.

Found a great spot for resting my camera with the timer on. Took a bunch of silly self portraits. Not showing! (^___^*)

Here's the sweet spot. No kidding. Thought I'd return when the sun's softer but they already sealed it off even while I was still there ... :(

Japanesque!

Nikko.

Cute la! Can buy 4D too. Numbers on the 4 boats - 5187.


Hee hee ... look better in picture than in real form (^,^*)

Felt so blissful sitting under this tree, in the shade, cold breeze in my face, munching a bag of rice crackers. Ahhhh!

Waiting for the sun to set. More self-portraits. I'm getting good at it.

No story to the shell. Just pretty. Pretty things don't need much explanation (^___^*)

Embracing the light!



He just arrived to fish at dusk. Think it makes a cool pix ... casting the net in the reflection of the buildings and in the shadows of the mountain.



Love this feeling ... this is so much like Wanaka, South Island, NZ. Love it so much.

Nagano tomorrow. Stay tuned \(^___^*)/

In Nikko (日光)

It's been another day of butt-cracking long distance travel.

Woke up early this morning and took a stroll to the Senso-ji, offered some prayers and got upclose with sakura. When getting ready to check out and head over to Nikko, I realised that the JR pass can only be changed for at designated travel service desks, two of which are at the airport and Ueno, both place I'd been yesterday but didn't know I could turn my voucher in for the pass. Grr ... so I had to make a trip down to Ueno because I would need it on 11 April to get from Nikko back to Tokyo and on to Nagano.

By the time I was on the platform of the Tobu-Nikko "section rapid" service, I was waiting for the 11.50 am train, and it took 2.5 hours getting to Nikko, which is far longer than I had read about. Hmm ... hope the JR train would be faster!

I was all ready to roam Nikko after 3 pm (after checking in at the Nikko Park Lodge, which is a bit far from the train station but a nice cosy place). But the shrines and temples were closing at 4 pm so I took the bus (which is "free" as it's part of the World Heritage pass that I got for this trip) and went one loop to orientate myself with this quaint little town. I later took a walk and ended up having dinner at an interesting eatery near the Shikyo Bridge.

Enough words. Now the pix :)

Stratospheric twister!

More interesting cloud formations during the flight to Tokyo.

Sakura in the garden of the Senso-ji in Asakusa.






View from the banks of the river on which the Asahi beer building stands.

Train to Nikko.

Tobu-Nikko train station.

Slots for plates where people write something ... maybe wishes? Just outside the Nikko JR station. Weird.

View of the Nikko neighbourhood.

The Shinkyo Bridge, famous for a reason I forget ... can google la :)

Waiting for my dinner and overwhelmed by the notes covering the wall ... this restaurant has pretty awesome atmosphere!

And, as tasted, pretty awesome yakitori too.

Juicy chicken yakitori.

My humble contribution to the wall v(^___^*)v

That "post-it" eatery ...

Nikko town at 7 pm.

Dead tired even before it begins ...

Haha ... sort of. It's been a long day! The plane actually touched down ahead of schedule and was one of the more pleasant flights I've been on. The flight attendants were the friendliest and chirpiest ever, and in particular one of them - this gentleman was tireless and so happy to serve that I wish he's on every flight I'm on.

So I have no qualms recommending United Airlines. So far it has not failed me yet. In fact, the flight left Changi right on time, and I was one of the two last passengers to board the plane 10 minutes before gates were to close, a time when usually there'd still be a long queue outside the boarding gate. Besides, it's so easy to accumulate miles unlike SQ which just refuses to give any miles for promo tix (we pay good money to ok!) and trips to Tokyo cost much fewer miles compared to Krisflyer again (20,000 for United compared to 40,000 for SQ)

Well, anyway, it was already 5 pm (Tokyo time) when I finally checked in at the hostel. I was freaking tired from the long customs queue (took an hour before I was cleared), the long train ride from Narita to Asakusa (almost 2 hours). The only bright spot was, there's sakura everywhere! I think I must have seen sakura somewhere else but what's truly unique here is that they are grown in such organised way and usually covers an entire compound so that when it blooms, it's a sea of pink fluffy flowers! Beautiful.

It's already not very cold anymore although Ryota recommended that I brought a winter jacket, which I did (learned my lesson of not listening to 雪 when he said it'd be cold in Kangding ... the locals know best!) So no problem exploring the great outsides! But for today, I decided that instead of venturing out to the Senso-ji which is very near where I'm staying, I'd just take a shower, surf some net, make some blog and diary entries, watch some TV, drink some coffee, down some water cuz I'm feeling pretty dehydrated already, and then go to bed. So that I could wake at 7 am and take a leisurely morning walk to the Senso-ji before checking out and setting off to Nikko. Yay!

And the adventure begins. I'll post some pix tomorrow (^___^*)

Tokyo!

The day is finally here! Hehe ... now sitting near my gate B6 with about half an hour to spare before the gate closes.

Haha ... this will be the first time I'm in Japan on a real vacation although I've technically-speaking, been there thrice. This year, I'll be flying free beginning with this trip, and then in Aug/Sep to Chengdu cuz I suddeny have a free ticket due to Krisflyer's anniversary promotion.

Claimed my miles from United Airlines, whose Mileage Plus is a fabulous mileage programme! Unlike SQ, Mileage Plus allows you to credit any mile from any kind of flights you take (which means promo tickets, like I always do :) So one single trip to the US can earn you a free trip to Tokyo. Well, depending on where you fly to ... I had to make another HK trip to accumulate enough miles, but that's really ok since HK is also my annual pilgrimage destination. Haha ... Oh but even if you have only Krisflyer, perhaps it's only SQ that doesn't credit miles flown on promo tickets because I managed to claim those for my trip to Chengdu last year on Air China.

Well, anyway, initially I wanted to take it real easy on this trip by going to only 2 places outside Tokyo but since I found out that I'd be so nicely in time for the Takayama Matsuri, I've added it to my itinerary. So I'll be heading to Nikko tomorrow, then on to Nagano on Sat, Takayama on Mon and finally back to Tokyo next Thu.

Ok, seems like they just made the boarding last call announcement ... see ya!

Sakura blooms

A week with my new phone ... the way the contact list is organised and touchscreen SMS still drive me crazy but I'm having tonnes of fun customising the wallpaper and the back cover.

Chanced upon
some pretty sakura blooms
at Takashimaya B1
and
they're the perfect match for my phone!
(they have lots of pretty stickers!
Was also quite tempted by birthday stickers too)
Besides, its' the sakura season now
and
in matter of days,
I'll be seeing
the real thing in full bloom.
So i decorated
the back of my phone
with some sakura blooms.

Here's my first work of phone art (^___^*)

What makes me happy

Found this on Chevy's FB, taken by her friend ... most beautiful thing I've seen in a while!

New SAMSUNG F480!

My first touchscreen phone ... is so pretty ... hehe!

I observe ...

"She's a researcher ... she knows everything!" I started to argue that I didn't know everything. "Well, ok, but you observe everything right?"

Well, yeah ... I can't really say no to that. Sometimes, I observe a little too much for my own good. I see details that people do not. The details irk me sometimes, and people find it hard to understand why things are wrong when the details are not in sync while I find it difficult to explain what people cannot see. When seeing is believing, what comes after observing?

Therefore, I choose to feel. I believe wholeheartedly that love is when two people are inexplicably attracted to each other, when the invisible bond cannot be rationalised, much less observed. By that, of course I don't mean love at first sight all the time, for only time can tell if the feeling grows or wanes, and yet still is impossible to rationalise. I believe in placing faith in the "feeling", but for most, when seeing is believing, where does feeling take us?

Hope for Ponyo on Blu-ray!

Well, I'm not sure if Japan has released the movie on Blu-ray, or if it has, it has any English subtitles on it. But Disney will be releasing Ponyo ... still way ahead on 14 Aug 09 :( ... but hah, yah! More Ponyo this year and the Blu-ray disc with English subtitles and original Japanese audio tracks, I hope, which is likely the case like what they did with Spirited Away, etc.

Hope the USA will enjoy Ponyo as much as I do (^___^*)

Hermit for too long

I went to the Malaysian High Commission to renew my passport this morning. "Knowing" from memory that there was a OCBC outlet at the Orchard MRT, I didn't bother to withdraw the money for the payment last night. But alas, upon arrival at the station, I found that the space where OCBC used to be was under renovation. So I walked all the way the next known ATM in Wisma Atria. I still haven't gotten over my immense dislike of the new Orchard MRT exit location - super far from Wisma. And just when do they plan to re-open the connecting tunnel to Wisma?

At the High Comm, things were pretty breezy albeit busy. There were many people but the entire process was not unbearable. Not to say that the service's any better than back home, except for the friendly uncle who's helping out at the photo booth, who kindly answered my questions and who exchanged money with me when the cashier declared she had no change. How to be a cashier when you're not stocked with small change? Imagine Carrefour telling its long queue of customers it's run out of change.

So anyway, after about 1.5 hours at the High Comm, I was out and headed for the Central Library at Bras Basah, only to find it closed for a staff event until 2 pm this afternoon. Gee ... and I'd thought I could kill time comfortably while waiting to collect my new passport after 2.30 pm. I might as well just go hang out at Borders. But I've made an appointment and since I'm already here ... I'll just make do with the cold stone floor at the "stage area" outside the library.

In just a bit, I'll be meeting an insurance agent ... just to find out how I could perhaps manage my finances more efficiently. And especially in this increasingly uncertain world, I don't wanna take chances. I've also realised that compared to many to many friends my age, Ive had a solid long-term financial plan, at least in my opinion, so it's probably time to learn more.

Hope my battery can last till then!

I blog ...

... because I have nothing to do. Hahahahaaaaa ... I'm making me sound like a sad case ... which I probably am. Which is why I'm talking gibberish now ... but hell, no ... I'm digital ethnographying ok ... (^___^*)

Now ...

... if you head over here, you might find some "sanity" in the revelation of which bloggingtypes of friends you have (sane or not, crazy or "sot" ... hehe) Not a 100% accurate but it's quite descriptive of my blogging style ...

... until I find out that at least 5 of my female friends are "The Performers" while my guy friends are a good variety of blogging personas, from "The Idealists" to "The Performers" to "The Mechanics".

Interesting.

等待着一个不会实现的梦

Bus ride in the rain

The lens of rain casts an interesting view on the world, making me unusually pensive and reflective.

My first comic strip :)

Death

A post by Elvin brought up personal deathly memories I'd rather keep buried (no pun intended!) but instead, I poured them all out in the comments section. The text, I share here, for I truly do think that things, good and bad, happen for a reason. And that is to make us a stronger person.

huishi, on March 17th, 2009 at 11:24 pm said:

I’m very sad to read all the unpleasant encounters that everyone who’s posted here have had. But remember, bad things happen, and even if they leave a long, deep scar on us for the rest of our lives, it is but a reminder for us to be stronger, to love and cherish this life - ours and everyone else’s - to never give up on it, no matter how hard it may sometimes get.

I never really thought about death, it just seemed like a distant, dreamy concept “it’ll never happen to me” until I was 19. It was a beautiful afternoon too, a weekend, maybe very much like the one the Bangladeshi worker had died on. My aunt arrived at our gate and told us my uncle had just passed away in the hospital after a heart attack. My very old grandmother completely broke down, and I was at a loss. It was too unreal.

Sep 11, 2001, I woke up early in the morning to enjoy my last day in New York before flying home the next day. I stopped by a cart for a coffee and croissant, ears plugged in to the radio. “A jetliner had crashed into the World Trade Center just minutes ago”. I was maybe 20 blocks away, near Union Square. I remember sniggering at how stupid can the pilot be, completely refusing the thought that hey, there could be people in the building killed, not to mention the pilot and passengers. Death was still an unreal concept. But then, by the time the second plane went in, I was brought back to reality. I hurried down to a clearing near the Square to find a horrifying image of 2 burning towers. Moments later, a more horrifying one of the massive structures tumbling down. In downtown New York City. Sirens wailing, people screaming, choppers flying everywhere. The Big Apple was at its most peaceful over the next few days.

The next story is my own brush with death. Like always, death is something that happens to others, definitely not me. I’m quite a reckless road crosser. One Sat, I attempted to navigate the slow traffic leading to the Novena Church. Out of nowhere, a car came charging and knocked me down, tossing me several feet away. I was in a daze. In fact, I think the driver was more in shock than I was. I had scratches. The driver wanted to send me to the hospital. Other drivers advised me to have my injuries checked. They were just light bruises, which i eventually self-medicated. I thanked the drivers and moved on. Only on hindsight, I realised how bad it could have been, how fast I could have had my life snuffed out. I’ve been a more careful road user ever since, for my own good and others as well.

Another incident that gutted me was one perhaps 2 years ago. My sis wasn’t feeling very well but we still went out for breakfast together. After that, on our way home, as we were walking, she simply just collapsed without warning. We were flabbergasted. Not knowing what to do, we just had to get her to regain her consciousness quickly. It’s probably just minutes before she woke, but that felt like an eternity, and quite honestly, I never felt so scared before, not even during my own brush with death.

To this day, I’ve not quite overcome the sadness of my grandma’s passing 6 years ago. She’s been there ever since I was born, always caring and loving me more than anyone else. When she was gravely ill after a fall, I couldn’t visit her often (she’s in Malaysia). The long National Day weekend that year, I decided to pass on going back because of the horrendous crowd and queue at the customs. We thought we could visit her the following week. See, death still is sort of elusive. We just assumed that she’d still be there. The Tue following National Day, my grandma passed away and that remains my greatest regret in life.

海轮和大狼的爱情故事

刚刚看了《向世界出发2: 云南·女儿国恋爱崇拜》。被感动到了，也思考了蛮多的。

今天这一集说到了一对好难得才可以千里来结合的夫妻 - 来自广州的海轮和摩梭男子大狼。对啊 ... 男的放下了千年以来摩梭民族的走婚风俗，女的放下了广州的繁荣城市生活，一起称泸沽湖为新家，结婚生子。听起来很浪漫，很感人，很幸福吧？

如果「走婚」令女儿国成为恋爱天堂，那麼「结婚」会否真的是恋爱坟墓呢？

以下是一个来自城市的女人，爱上一个摩梭船夫的一段浪漫爱情故事。 八年前，一个来自广州的女仔—海伦，来到泸沽湖旅行，邂逅土生土长的摩梭船夫—大狼。大狼对海伦一见锺情，海伦亦对大狼有一种强烈的感觉，所以在离开了一个星期之後，海伦又再次回到泸沽湖找大狼。为了大狼，海伦结束所有在广州的事业、离开家人朋友，移居泸沽湖与大狼一同生活。大狼亦甘愿放弃摩梭人的走婚风俗，正式与海伦结婚 …

Gigi：「这真的是爱情的魔力，你喜欢一个人，可以什麼都不顾，跳崖就一同跳下去。当你喜欢一个人的时候，不会有太理性的分析在里面…」

可是，现实归现实，并不是每个美丽的爱情故事，都会有一个美丽的结局。从自由自在的走婚变成一夫一妻的结婚，结局会是怎样？

两人依然克服不了传统的障碍，根本无法享受一个平凡幸福的婚姻。大狼的家人不愿意接受海轮这位媳妇因为摩梭人根本没有结婚的礼俗。摩梭男子也从来不必对女人负起什么责任， 更不了解做丈夫的责任是什么。他们其实还比摩梭女子来得弱，因为在一个摩梭家族里，只有女人当家，男人只需吃喝玩乐。海轮也觉得自己付出的必大狼多却没有得到理想的回报，觉得自己很委屈，对这段姻缘有所失望。

最令我心寒的是，为什么爱情的魔力可以使这对情侣不顾一切来结合，但不能够让他们幸幸福福的相处，互相学习，白头到老？来自不同民族，不同文化和背景的人始终是不一样，不适合在一起的吗？