Heartless oyster

haha folks i am back at last. is that a crab i see?

Still alive

Those who thought (or wished) that i had been buried beneath an avalanche of snow while trekking the ice capped mountains in hokkaido will be relieved ( or disappointed) that i, well, didn't. I didn't go there to be frozen underneath an everyday fall of 20 cm of snow and have my preserved body to be discovered by anthropologists millions of years later. I went there for sight-seeing and fun, and to have a white white christmas and snow falling on my head and sticking out my tongue trying to catch as much falling snow in my mouth as possible.

Instead i come back as being more tolerant to cold - even tokyo doesn't seem so cold anymore. I shudder, with fear not cold, to fathom what lies ahead in the sweltering heat in singapore. Meanwhile i will just enjoy my last 20 hours in sub-10 degrees temperature.

Baby i'm coming back!!!

100 yen = 15 minutes

Ha finally i get to use the net in hokkaido now staying in this youth hostel in sapporo and bbbbrrrr issit cold down here or what. With everyday temperature averaging around 0 degree celcius, i almost feel like a piece of overgrown piece of meat stored in a freezer. Only that i am still alive and wearing underpants.

And boy is the internet rates here expensive. For a quarter of an hour i must pay 100 yen which is the equivalent of $1.40, you do the math and figure.

But that is not the point. The point of this post and why i heart-achingly spend 200 yen is the highlight of today : I ate snow crab in the middle of the street while it was snowing! Yeah! What an experience. Fingers cold until its numb beyond the threshold of pain makes it more susceptible to pain, so imagine me eating crabs that have thorns and needle-like hair with my bare hands while snow is falling on my head. The sensation of the sweet cold meat of the crab melting in my mouth is enough to make me oblivious to the nailbiting Otaru cold. Shiok desu ne.

6 more days before i can see my baby... Wo ren!!!!

Shagger by the day

Off we went to Odaiba, somewhere by the coast of tokyo, where a sandy beach resides with many birds and seagulls as its inhabitants. Nothing much to write about that place, except that it was damn windy! To say that i was on several occasions swept off my feet thanks to the torrents of icy cold gusts was not an exaggeration. Girls with short skirts must had wished they had worn something else today, but thankfully i didn't see anything. Really. It was chaotic - One moment it was still and fine, the next everyone was shrieking and struggling to step forward. We had to take refuge in the NHK broadcasting company building for quite a while. At least there were some exhibitions there and we were allowed to tour round the building. However, nothing could be worse than taking refuge from ridiculously strong wind in a building full of energized kids. They were everywhere, making the place a hell of some sort. I could only stuff my hands in my pockets, shorten my neck into my collar, and try to get as much heat as possible, in dismay.

The rest of the day was eventful to say the least. Scarcely populated, at least when compared to tokyo, the only bright spark of the trip to Odaiba was seeing the Rainbow bridge and the gargantuan ferris wheel - both trademarks of the Odaiba area. Somehow i really don't understand why and how the japanese must build such huge pieces of engineering feats. It seems they must showcase their engineering abilities to the world. Some ego they have eh.

After that another expensive trip back by train to ikebukuro costing me $7, and that is only one-way. Sigh this is really sapping my reserves. It also seems weird that everyday at around 5 pm i would be utterly shag to the max. The same time as the sky turns dark. I must be some duracell bunny of some sort.

Hokkaido tomorrow morning at 8 plus, via a 6 hour bullet train ride. No more net i think.

SHAG. Miss my baby very much sob.

Another early home-coming.

Did the usual routine except with the added ingredient of mushrooms from a supermart in instant noodles. Oh and ready made miso soup too. Breakfast for the pauper again. Sigh.

If you had been following japanese culture for some time now, the areas Shibuya, Shinjuku and Harajuku would ring a bell. There are certainly places that appear on the must-see list of any avid japan fan, such as myself. Manga obsessed since primary school i was, back to the good old days of dragonball and doraemon, and more recently, all the animes that are saturating the networks even in tertiary institutions. Japan and the areas around tokyo had always been my destinations of choice since who knows when. So imagine me, with anticipation oozing through my pores, travelling down the Hikaru line with 2 minutes to go before i find myself down at the famous harajuku eki station.

With an image of teenagers in outrageous costumes and extravagant makeup lined up along the streets firmly etched in my mind before i stepped out of the station, i was mildly surprised when i spotted none of that kind parading around the station. Instead, the itenary for the day started off without a more contrasting theme - the Meiji-era built shrine for the Emperor was our first place of visit.

The place was nothing short of breath-taking. Trees of varying-shaded leaves lined up the entrance to the park that we had to walk through to get to the Meiji Jingu shrine. Leaves began spiralling down like snow when the chilly breeze broke them from their branches. A cooling brisk stroll in the morning with unexpected sunshine was nothing that i expected. We also passed by gigantic structures that confirms our arrival at one of the most sacred site in Japan - a Gate, pictured below. Once again this is not a picture that i took. Sad.

The shrine was not a disappointment too. It was huge, and i almost thought i was transported back into the Meiji era. We were even lucky to witness a wedding ceremony taking place. As usual, we sprang into 'tourist mode' at once and began snapping away furiously. For christ's sake i even took a picture of an old-looking tree.

Damnit 'i blog until shag liao so to cut the long story short - After we left the shrine i encountered a toilet that was seriously only meant for midgets and anyone below 1.3m tall coz the urinals are so short that i sprayed over the top of the urinal, wetting the sensor as a result. At the entrance to the shrine where the huge gate was, there were masses of weirdly dressed Cosplayers, finally living up to my expectation. Hesitantly, with much goading from my auntie, i took some pics with some of them who didn't look too scary. Then we went to the famous takeshita dori (street) where teenagers hang out during the weekends to buy their stuff. Alrite at least i bought something for myself coz it wasn't too expensive also. My best bargain is a 1000 yen t shirt!! $14 t shirt from japan! HA!!! I gloat at the misfortune of those poor sods who spent way more than me getting miserable items in japan (points accusing finger at brother).!! Feeling triumphant, we proceeded to Ometo-san chome where all the expensive boutiques line the streets. One things amazing about japan is that there are sooooooooo many boutiques of the famous brands here, each often occupying just one building by itself. Whereas in singapore you hardly find such things happening. Needless to say i can't afford any of those items so we finished that area quickly, and moved on to Roppongi Hills. Same thing there - all the big brands dominating the streets and i was so bored and hungry and tired after so many hours of walking and at 4 plus it was dark already so we left and took the subway back to Ikebukuro. Coincidentally its our place of stay, so thank god.

Ah.... shag days everyday and thanks to the companionship of my auntie and brother, i am spared the rigours of exploring the nightlife of Tokyo. Who says family trips aren't good? The camera is sucking the life out of my wallet here. 2 AA batteries bought at 7-11 costs around $6?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!? Lucky i went Sony building yesterday and got myself 20 batteries for ard $11. Tan dio. Stupid japan technology.

Sunny winter

As usual people from singapore (aka me and gang) once again display the pauper lifestyles they have to endure in this land of the rising prices by having instant noodles and canned food for breakfast in the warm dormitory kitchen. We are all reduced to paupers with all this inflation we encounter once we step onto japanese soil. Even a packet of tofu cost $2 at 7-11 here!

But anyway, after that priceless meal we went down to Asakusa, a place without the physically imposing skycrapers found nearer to the heart of tokyo city. Rather, we indulged ourselves with the sight of many edo-period buildings. Much akin those buildings where on the roofs you find prancing ninjas on a mission to assainate the evil gang leader, like in those movies. The main focus of the tour today was the Senso-ji, a temple erected in the year 600+ (or something like that) in worship of the guanyin pusa. Or issit the goddess of mercy. That makes it the oldest existing temple to remain in this city or country. Oh, and there are geishas to be found here too! I was so excited to see people that came right out of the time machine - their faces are so white and their hair must be either a wig or they use alot of gel.

The temple was nice, had alot of good food for rather steep prices, but we still bought it anyway coz you can't get anything more authentic than these. Takopachi was good, very generous servings (for $7!), and we also got fried egg wrapped around noodles-forgot-what-its-called. One thing remarkable while we were eating was the weather was damn hot. With the sun shining directly at us sitting down at the table eating hot food and drinking free warm green tea was discomforting to say the least - I was wrapped in 5 layers of clothing and was too lazy to remove the jacket. Who's to say winter's not hot?

More on the temple : it was nice, very big , and uh... very ancient looking, and the pagoda beside it was amazing too.

After that we discovered a cheaper railway alternative other than the JR line (Japan Rail), which was the subway lines (special mention goes to Paul btw). It was a culture shock at first, with singapore's railway only offering 2 directions at best. Ok, throw in the NEL, the LRT and the up-and-coming Circle line and that merely makes the situation more confusing a little. Come to tokyo and you find a myriad of interlocking railway lines with hundred over stations and 20+ lines and you become a lost sheep. Yet everyone knows where to go, which was remarkable considering the fact that the train station becomes more of a complicated cauldron of thousand over rushing people. And yes, the transportation fees are costly. The cheapest cost of one ticket is already $1.40, and yesterday when we went to yokohama it cost us a total of $15 pax. Sorry SBS transit: i shall not cheat the bus fares again, nor will i complain of the $1.60 i spend to travel to sengkang.

Sorry for digressing. After Asakusa we headed down to Ginza where only the rich and trendy hang out. Super crowded. No kidding. Everything is damn expensive there. Hermes, LV, Tiffany & Co, Gucci - you name it they have it. Bloody piece of shit, there are even two LV shops there, both within 1 km away from each other. Japanese really know how to pamper themselves. At least i bought something there - teriyaki beef don from yoshinoya costing me 420 yen = $6 (still expensive shit). Sony building, an 8-storey building showcasing the latest sony products, was the last destination in Ginza that we went to. 'Nuff said.

Oh and did i mention that electronics are slightly cheaper in Japan than back home? Tempted to buy camera but no yen lah. Perhaps Evon would like one. Tell me if u want one yah.

Figuring out there's nothing on earth that i can afford there unless i perform a striptease in the middle of the Ginza junction for 2 hours assuming i earn at least 100000 yen in an hour, i left ginza empty-handed but not empty-tummied.

Next stop : Tokyo tower. At last a tall building. Lit up at night with thousands of orange florescent light bulbs, it was a sight to behold. As usual, with billions of people in tokyo, even though there are so many places to go to, the queue to take the escalator 150m up the tower was packed with people, mostly unemployed japanese (i assume) and students. Ok, and maybe 3 foreigners. Probably i was too overwhelmed by the shag day i had walking around with a heavy bag, but i wasn't too excited at the prospect of being 150m high up above sea level, putting myself in extreme danger should terrorists decide to sabotage the hundreds of people stuck in steel manufactured tower with only 3 lifts and 1 flight of stairs as escape routes.

Shagged, i almost wanted to just jump off the tower screaming "Banzaiiiiiiiiii!!!" when i saw a familiar sight that was starting to even surface in my dreams. Think even you can guess it. Yes, throngs of nodding japanese are queuing up for the elevator to go down to ground zero. Sad country.

Yokohama

Had a pleasant surprise in the morning watching japanese news while munching on my half crap toast and the 4th instant noodle breakfast in a row - it is going to be 12 degree celcius in tokyo today! Too much cold weather can be detrimental to one's insanity, as it makes the neuro connectors in the brain snow thus creating a traffic jam. Finally no more shivering beneath those layers of down, wondering why the hell am i shivering with so much protection on.

Took a train ride to yokohama today, with the journey's length more than equivalent to a trip from boon lay to pasir ris. Too bad we didn't take the bullet train, or shinkansen, otherwise the time taken would be halved. As usual the train station would always be crowded, something like orchard station times 3. I suspect that either the japanese are too boh liao and derive multiple orgasms from watching the train operator honk his bell, or that most of the japanese people are unemployed and spend most of their time making japan look like a major economic power by sprinting around the station in circles. After an hour plus or so we reached the Sakuragi-cho station. Below is a picture of the view out from the station, but alas i got it from the web. Note the large ferris wheel and the weirdly shaped building - they are nothing worth mentioning about.

Yokohama, as we all know (or about to know), was one of japan's major sea port during the restoration period now transformed into a scenic place to suck foreigners' yen dry. Ok, other than that it also houses some offices which i don't bother finding out what they are. But remnants from that era still exists with the edifices of eropean-styled buildings scattered around the vicinity, like the red brick warehouses just by the bay. Basically what we did today was to prance about excitedly once we were out of the train station and point with our fingers at the tallest building in japan, the Landmark plaza shopping centre, at the same time snapping away hurriedly as if there's no tomorrow. In short we did what all foreigners are supposed to do.

We also paid our precious yen to get a pass up to the 79th storey of the building to get a bird eye's view of japan (I paid 800 yen after imposing as a high school student - the adult fare is 1000 yen haha tan dio). Heck, we even managed to spot the picturesque view of Mt. Fuji from there! After performing every foreigners' duty (in case you still do not know, it is to gape at everything that shows off the japanese's technology and take pictures, then splashing their precious yen on expensive memorabilia), only then we were satisfied at having fulfilled our preordained destiny and left the observatory tower. By the way it only took a mere 50 seconds to travel the 79 storeys, at a whopping 720 m/s maximum speed.

Then we walked around and i pee-ed alot at various toilets and walked a mind-boggling 10 km at least until 7 pm and we left for ikebukuro for dinner. Ok i lied but i shall not tell you what i lied about. Oh and some hong kongers just bought a 5000 yen snow crab and offered me a generous small piece of the leg while i was typing this! Yummy delicious oh boy i'm in heaven you don't eat any better crab than this i tell you its sweet to the tongue and the taste lingers on your taste buds long after your oesophagus sucked the meat into your tummy much like how the bitter taste of a snail stays stubbornly in your mouth.

Alrite i gotta go can't update much coz someone wants to use the computer sob sniff sob sniff i'm crying i want more crab!

阿阿阿

Woke up today with a slight feverish feeling but it was quickly dispelled when the adrenaline of anticipation kicked in. Either that or it could be due to the 2 panadol pills. However our plan to scale the highest mountain in japan was thwarted by the closure of the mountain during winter time - we can only stay at the foot of the mountain and enjoy the ice cap from below. So we ditched our plans, and went for more mind numbling shopping at shinjuku, much to the delight of my shopping possessed brother. An interesting fact to note of shinjuku is that there is an astonishing average of 2 million people who pass through the shinjuku keisatsu (subway) everyday, easily making it one of the busiest rail station in the world. And no kidding, there ARE indeed many people zipping past us in a zombie-like yet efficient manner. Did i mention that everyone stands on the left side of the escalator, making room for those who are rushing to use the right side? And that they actually queue up while waiting for the train, no matter how packed the place is? Really amazing stuff here. Super disciplined. And not to mention polite. This country can easily be the place where you hear the most "Thank you's" rattered out in a fashion that only be done by reproducing it millions of times everyday. Add that with a smile and a willingless to ensure that you get the best, and you become the happiest customer. Not to say its good - coming from a country with bad service can be discomforting as it may get some used to before the becoming oblivious to all the pearly whites beamed at you.

Meet West in East

Disneyland Tokyo - an overpriced and over-rated theme park where only fools who had the mickey-phenomenon so drilled into their depths of their senses go. Or so i thought. From the moment i stepped out of the train station i felt the magic tingling through my spines - or it could be due to the icy chill caused by the breeze that greeted me once i was out of the warm train cabin. Maybe. But the place was pure magic. To hear that from a person who detested such capitalist globalisation is even more so remarkable - it is that nice. The atmosphere is fantastic. The place is renovated to such an extent that the very mention of the escape theme park at pasir ris will embarrass you. An overwhelming sense of nostalgia, back to the years when a toddler-sized me became fascinated by the likes of mickey and friends, coupled with the christmas theme of the park, made me wanna hug all the mascots at once and take pictures with them, if not for the fact that screaming japanese girls were hogging the limelight to be with their idols. An uncharacteristic haolun went shopping at the disney shops, buldging his bag with plenty of disney paraphernalia that were too kawaii to be missed. Not for myself of course, they are gifts for people. But rest assured that all those cost me a nuclear bomb - oops i forgot the word nuclear bomb is a sensitive taboo 4 letter word. A brief summary of the things we did: we caught a xmas parade that makes the singapore version looked pitiful; took a roller coaster ride in the the dark among other rides; took plenty of pictures; ate some lame hamburgers; watched dance shows; caught fireworks, and errrrr.... took more pictures. Doesn't sound like much does it?

I hope my broken jap can cope through the next 2 weeks or so. Oh well i'm tired of typing already and i gotta wakey early tmw morning for the trip to Mt Fuji. Sayonara peeps.

Frozen underpants

Yeah i am finally here! At the land of no return of yen, land of loose socks, land of anime styled pedestrains, land of expensively-assembled eateries, land of suck-all-foreigners'-moeny-dry, land of congested train cabins. Sashiburi ne, nippon.

What a shag day. Basically we reached Narita airport at 8 a.m after a delay due to some fault of the wind balance mechanism and straight after that we lugged our luggage to the limited express train and took a 1 hour journey to our place of stay which was an extremely minuscle yet cosy place where we will sleep on futons and share washrooms like students in a dormitory and after we took a two hour nap till 2 plus pm we took off for the famous shooping paradise shibuya which was indeed a fashion capital of some sort but i don't really think that is my cup of tea so i didn't buy anything except some gifts for the dear folks back home but my brother actually bought a pair of sneakers unhesitantly so i can only say good luck to him if his money runs out coz every thing here costs as much as a bomb including the meals which cost an average of 7 to 10 dollars but the servings were as big as u can imagine ortherwise if feeling scroogey you can go macs and buy a 100 yen = $1.40 hamburger so after that revigorating meal (frankly speaking the airplane meal wasn't enough to even power my brain) we headed off for what else but more window shopping until late at night when the temperature plunged sharply to around 2 degrees or so but thanks to my fat reserves i could still tahan it and finally at around8 oplus when most of the shops were already closed for teh day we reached our place and i decided to go for a bath and i nearly died while showering.

22 weeks

22 weeks. Not considered a terribly long time, yet not a very short time either. A slight pang of sadness was felt while taking pictures during the last hour of work. It shows i'm only human. Don't worry, I have already recovered from that. Keep the long story short, pictures hence.

The nice people from the QA: Hussain, Shi Jie and Huimin(IA students), Khian wee, and me

The warehouse and us.


The peeps from the office decided to join us for a shot too. That's Joe and Nic sitting by the way.

Oh well, time flies as they say.

But so do men. Tonight i shall fly to the land of the rising sun. Bon voyage!

Poor Evon... I am gonna miss her badly. 17 days chop chop!!

Farewell sniff sob

This post is a tribute to something very important, something that was integral to my well-being for the past months. Today was the day i bid farewell to it, although it had served me well up to this very last day. Without it i would had fallen victim to the harsh reality of the outside world.

The object in question is the piece of skin just at the corner of my nose.

I had lost it. Lost it thanks to the folly on my part. Still drowsy after the 6-hour concussion the night before, I went to wash up. Eyes barely opened, with my vision unaided by the lenses, i did the most dangerous thing a man could ever do in the wee hours of the morning - shave. The customary downward strokes began, but with my psycho-motor abilities deeply hampered by the repercussions of waking up at 730 a.m, i floundered.

I had shaved off a tiny part of the skin of my nose. It hurt. I winced. My skin. My inpermeable fortress against the viruses and bacteria of the microscopic kingdom.

The term 'bloody nose' had been totally redefined by this morning's events. Bummer.

Oh ya, special mention must go to the finale of my attachment. I can only say, "At long last!"

Yokkatta

Tanoshimi ni shite imasu. Those of you who spot the word 'sh*t' in there might be thinking what a crude undiscrimated gesture that is on my part, but no, that's not an unruly greeting aimed at anyone who chances at this. What it means is that ' i am looking forward to it'.

Oh, and something i learned from Paul yesterday through msn - Kimiwa utsukushi desu ne. Translated it simply means 'you're hot babe'. Incredibly useful tip to xian some nihongo zar bohs there, but i don't think i will actually put that to good use there. I risk getting a earful from someone when i return if i do.

Time passes excruciatingly slow the more you can't wait for it to end. Bummer.

Goody 2 shoes

Was a good boy yesterday. Decided to reward myself for being such a good boy by buying a pair of shoes for meself. A pair of white sneakers. With white laces. 7 years since last wore white shoes. Ignore the pair of white army-commisioned No-Balance shoes worn during the hey-days of 2000 - 2003. Think it looks weird - too bright, too clean, too shiny, too eye-catching, too unbrownish. Realised too that feet has expanded over the years into a mind-boggling US 10 1/2. Has a niggling feeling that it might actually be 10 4/9 - they can't be that big.

Now to soil those clean pair of shoes. Do step on them when we meet - I would very much appreciate that helping hand- no- leg.

Am getting weirder by the day. Spilled the packet of kopi-siew-dai while attempting to hang the packet over a key slotted into the key-hole of the chest of drawers, then failed miserably as the contents splattered exagerratedly over the entire floor. Good thing white shirt didn't become a victim. Took a mop and mopped. Cried over the spilled kopi. With milk. After mopping, became delighted for no reason.

Sleepier by the minute no thanks to the loss of caffeine. Another day of shopping means another day of spending? It is a very very very good day today, and its wednesday.

Toilet talk

Today i talked to a urinal.

"Hi U4. How are you? Rinse me some water if you are feeling good today," i asked, knowing full well to have hundreds of people spraying their ammonia waste into your gaping hole isn't exactly uplifting to your spirit.

Expectedly, U4 replied that he wasn't really chirpy, and he was in a piss poor mood.

I began to probe more into his nomenclature when he started telling me to shut up.

"Ssssshhhhhh." U4 began to salivate, not at the sight of the gross evil-stench that accumulated in his mouth, but to drown the urine down into his gutter.

"Fine." I flicked, zipped, and walked off.

1+2+3+4+5+4+3+4+5+6+7+9+8+7+6=22

The number 22 can never be more sweet smelling as today. Gone is its long standing significance as 21's poor cousin, for to me and many more others, this week is what we had been working our socks off for - the 22nd week. The amount of blood, sweat and toil that we had reproduced over and over again for the past 21 weeks can finally be justified by the culmination of this week. No more waking up at 7.15 a.m wishing your job could be a mattress tester. No more dour sour hours in the office. No more thinking of lame excuses whenever you want to take a day off. No more whingeing. No more ranting. No more whining. No more grumbling. No more groaning. No more moaning. No more.

Woohoo!!!!

Finale.

The IA is coming to a closure finally, after 21 weeks of ardous monotonity that only people as workmanlike as ants will relish in. As always, let's reflect on what i had learnt and accomplished so far - that QA is a bloody waste of time, especially when the subject matter is about fasteners. One bright note is the high frequency of mc's that i took, mostly of which are taken strategically on fridays and mondays.

Japan beckons.