*Pulls hair*
My articles are still not completed yet, suddenly lost all motivation to write. Think i need to be like Sarah Morton in the show "Swimming Pool", find a quiet VILLA *ha!* to get my inspiration back!
Need to discipline myself to sit down, stop moving and write! Sigh, who knows, i may finish the 3 articles. Okies! That shall be my 2009 resolution! Had managed to come up with a list of 2009 Resolutions, gonna put it up in the column later. gahahaaaa..
Anyways, due to the fact that my pictures are always falling behind and time will wait for no man, i sat my butt down, edit all pictures i'd taken in Japan and gonna post ALL up in one go. Ha~! Make sure your computer and internet speed can tahan!!! Ok, im not so mean. Just posting up the Osaka, Kyoto & Nara trip first, there's enough pics as it is!! Then tomorrow or perhaps, before New Year, I shall post the rest up. Then, i'll have to back date alittle and put them up before they start sneaking into my dreams and haunt me!
Before I do that, I found-ed some TREASURES!!!! These are for Final Fantasy Fans only!! Maybe I'm slow but i found out that Square Enix actually came out with a magazine called Cloud's Message!! I WANNA BUY THAT!!!!! AS well as the upcoming new Final Fantasy Series - Final Fantasy Versus XIII (Yes, im more interested in that. WHY? Because there's more Cutties!!!! It gives me a MOTIVATION to play the game man!! Haha.. Gameplay and storyline are also part of the few factors that made up my GAMING motivation.)
BONUS! Found this trailer too! Enjoy~~
Watch FF13 Versus DKΣ3713 in Game Videos | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
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Nov 13, 2008
We woke up really early to catch our YES!! BULLET TRAIN! I was pretty excited 'coz 1) We are moving to another place 2) It is my first time taking a Bullet Train! My virgin ride!
The earlier tickets were already sold out which i believe the working class people had already bought them all! (we checked them out the day before) and have to go the the later one - 10am.
We do not wish to miss the ride, so, we made an effort to pack the night before, wake up really early (8am), take train from Shinjuku to Tokyo and reached the platform at least half an hour early. Partly was because we need to spend some time lugging our luggages and bags from the hotel to the train stations, finding the platform (its some distance i tell u!). Least we were early than late.
Our pre-bought ticket~
Our minimised baggage. :D
You can buy some bento from this stall, but you'll have to choose your food wisely, some can be really dry. Like mine. :(
Our train is finally here!! WOOHOO!! We still have to wait outside to let the passengers alight, for the cleaners (yes, they were there waiting already with their bags and equipments) to clean the compartments. It was really amazing to see how fast they clean the place, and everything.
View i managed to capture while we were passing through, out of Eastern Japan, onwards to Western Japan(?).
Somehow, as we were leaving the views from busy Tokyo and as the sights of farms, lesser high-rise buildings kicks in, you can feel the effect. You felt less anxious, more relax in fact and pace is much more slower.
The ride from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka takes about 2~3hours. NOTE: Shin Osaka and Osaka are the same city just that with the word SHIN, it means that the Shingansen stops there. YOu'll have to take another train to Osaka city. Our hotel - Chisun Hotel Osaka was just a 5mins walk from Shin Osaka station. Frankly speaking, that's a plus. But it also meant that you will have to take a train down to Osaka, if you wish to do what tourist do - sightseeing. Our road was pretty quiet, and I was a little depress then. Because of the hotel's lobby, restaurant, small room and extremely small toilet. But, you can't really expect much if you are on budget right? Still beats staying in a capsule hotel. Anyways, i kinda adapt-ed to the new room and told myself that we wouldn't be staying in the hotel whole day since it's just a place for us to rest thats all. We can only check in from 1pm onwards and we were like, an hour early? We settled in, placed luggage and realised that it was only 2plus 3pm? Not enough time to do any sightseeing but I remembered that there was a Universal Studio in Osaka, that was the nearest place. Bad choice actually. Should have used that remaining time to tour Osaka city. There's only 2 trains going to Universal Studio in Osaka Loop. One is a straight US train whereas you'll have to transit to board the second one.
Yea! The Universal Studio train! Cute eh?
The man-made city that greets you.
The infamous globe that greets you..
There were still many people walking in and out of US.
Aint the tickets cute??
Shops, kinda similar to DisneyLand.
H..o..m..e......
Thats where the toilet is.
COnclusion? DisneyLand is much much much more funner than Universal Studios. Taking into considerations of the entertainment given while waiting, the stimulator rides, videos, 3D shows, they all sux! Only one i like was the Terminator. I had wanted to ride the roller coaster with the 360 turn, but it was closed. So, nothing much to do there, didn't buy anything from US i think. Disppointing. About the rides.
Nov 14, 2008
It was RAINING outside!! Not too such whether was Kyoto rainy too, so we took our chance and began heading for KYOTO!
I believe we took a bullet train to Kyoto (too long le, abit forgot about my route and places I'd visited), changed to the private subway from there. Kyoto do not have any JR lines. All buses and trains are run by Kyoto itself. Please correct me if i'm wrong. They have a one day pass where you can get UNLIMITED rides on their transport system. So you gotta plan your route correctly to minimise the time wastage as to travel from point A to B takes time as well as walking to the destination, seeintg the whole place (its HUGE I TELL YA!) and what about stopping by for meal breaks? Eating finger food from time to time while on the way to your temples? There's ALOT of temples in Kyoto.
Anyways it was raining in Kyoto. What a letdown. The first place i wanted to visit was the Imperial Castle. The name sounds cool ya? So, i had my hopes up high eventhough it was raining cats and dogs.
Passed by these stone walls built by rocks only. There wasn't any cement to hold the rocks together. I remembered someone (i think was a tour guide)telling us that during that period, they didn't have any cements to enforce the wall. Hence, they stacked BIG stones VERY tightly side by side.
The entrance to the palace, finally!
As it was a guided tour by one of the imperial employee, so of course there was a time table. We were pretty early, it was raining, the only thing we could do was to head to the nearest teahouse within the palace's compounds.
The main entrance to the interior. There were 2 imperial guards guarding there. Could more or less connect to what Lou had told me, about her brother working for the imperial family.
To let you have a rough idea of how long the wall barrier was.
During the whole tour, there were at least 2 imperial guards following us around, making sure that no one gets left behind. They'd usher you too, if you do not follow the tour guide to the next area.
The whole trip wasn't totally pleasant mainly because it was raining, hence the many umbrellas that made photo taking difficult. My poor camera got caught in the rain too many times. The other thing was, the rooms were totally emptied. So it was pretty hard to imagine how the room used to be like. I was comparing that to the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. No exhibits too, to show what the officials used to wear, etc.
Rain = hard to travel around, so we walked to the nearest chocolate cafe. It was pretty cute, as in, like what you saw in the dramas. That cafe was located on the second level with an external staircase leading up. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we walked on and decided on the most convenient method - MOS Burger! Haven't tried it anyway.
My FAVOURITE drink in Japan!
Rain seemed to be getting light, so we continued our journey to.... yes! The Nijo Castle. Seriously speaking, i have not seen any castles yet. We had this Kyoto map with us (In my point of view, if based on that map, Kyoto is really small, compared to the rest of the cities like Osaka i guess.) that we used to travel about. We walked from the palace to the castle, passing by at least 2 shrines on the way.
Haha, saw this rather cute poster...
Clifton was asking me to buy one of these bags to use since you DEFINITELY WILL NOT see it in Singapore. I was like NO WAY!!! It looked more like a postage bag to me... :S
Reached the castle after at least 30mins of walking i guess. The castle was closed but we figured out the route and nearest train station. Mission accomplished! Saw that we weren't that far from the main Kyoto station, so we decided to walk on. Chanced by this street, it was like a mixture of residential plus shops, open air yet sheltered at certain areas, many small alleys leading to either a house, a temple or to another streets. Vehicles are not allowed in until the later portion of the lane.
Selling everything, ranging from fruits to toys to food, and even seafood!!
This was the other end of the lane.
Nov 15, 2008
Our first stop was Nijo Castle.
Heee, tou pai some of the male students there. Really look like those taken from comics one right???
There were alot of tourist as well as students on excursion, there, temples, mainly those tourist attractions places.
Little boy trying to test his strength.
I did realise that most of the temples and such have gardens with ponds. Same thing as with the Imperial Palace.
Some of the infrastructures. It was similar to the ones in China, as in, no screws just woods.
Signs of Autumn. Leaves were really green and bright.
So many children!! Most of them wore hats, for easy recognition i guess.
While on the way to the next location, there was this stretch of road that sells FOOD and sovenirs. You can get full easily by walking past this lane by trying everything!
This particular temple has this granite structure known as Kogetsudai. Am not really sure of what is it purpose, too lazy to check it out anyway. :P
Clifton seemed very interested in the spider webs.
Cute eh? A big fat cat eyeing the yummylicious desserts!!
In Kyoto, you'll find alot of ladies wearing their kimono, in temples, streets, etc. Was lucky enough to find this pretty lady to take a picture with me.
See how beautiful the weather was~~
You'll find alot of this in Japan's temples. The people pray, wrote their wishes in papers or wood and hung it up.
Saw these students taking pictures there and I siezed this moment to take one with them. :D
There was this temple called Kiyomizu Temple where there was like 3 gates to passby till you reach the main entrance.
You'll have to pick up one of those scoops, gather water and cleanse your hands with it if you sees this in front of a temple.
We were still at the top, have to walk down slowly.....
Its only 5.30pm there... By the time we reached the bottom, it was already dark. Lighting was weak, hence we have to quickly walk to the main street.
It was pretty near, from Kiyomizu to Gion street (planned route). FYI, Gion Street used to be packed with Geishas. It was a little quiet at night, most of the restaurants were covered, cant really peep in.
GEISHA spotted!! Wanted to take with her, but hesitated for she seemed to be chased by us people, being stopped to take a picture with her, i think was the reason why she walked away so fast. Still, being able to see one without having to take a personal picture with her was good enough for me.
Nov 16, 2008
Next stop... Nara! Nara is North of Kyoto. Another area.
There was only 1 interesting place to go to in Nara, that was to feed the deers and to visit the Todaiji Temple.
Bus interchange and the only direct bus to our destination! We aint the only gaijin who wanna visit that temple. Some locals are keen on that trip too!
The directions you'll see the moment you got off the bus, but you can just follow the crowd if you want to.
Deer crossing the road like nobody's business. It reminded me of signs you'll see if you were travelling in Australia, they have the Kangaroo crossing sign. hee.
So many deers!! Old, young, male, female. All waiting to be fed. So horrible! And you gotta becareful as there's alot of shit on the ground and is kinda smelly...
Cute hor? When i first saw her, she was stumbling onto the ground coz she lost her footing. Very cute, coz she was very small and wearing that outfit. Couldn't resist and asked her mom for permission to take a picture with her. I squat and she wanted to do the same. *screams CUTE* Her mom asked her to stand up and she did. Noticed what was she holding in her hand? hehe. *super cute!* Plus she had that chubby squeezable cheeks and pouty lips!!!!
After a long way, we reached our temple... finally......
This was the biggest buddha in Japan to be house in the temple you saw earlier. Just see how big those petals was!
Woot! What was the long queue for???
*Gasp!* They were crawling through a hole in the....
Us trying to feed the deers. You can buy biscuits from the vendors nearby. I was pretty terrified because they came really close and chew off from your hand. And they have wet nose...
Nara done, next stop, Osaka Castle. Which also marked our last day in Osaka le.. *sad* Time passes so fast especially when you were enjoying yourself and when the days were shorter.
Beautiful eh? Saw this big dog lying on the ground near the counter.
Osaka Castle. Grand hor?
View taken from the highest level.
Was leaving the castle when I saw this scooter with the dog sitting there wearing the helmet, not worried whether will he loses his balance or what. So cute lor and also the helmet reached his nose.. hehe. Meaning, his eyes were covered?
