Paris Pyramid

Edited post ~ I liked to draw reference to the big Museum. I dun think I could rem the routes. I dun think I could do so if I was back in the Museum searching for the Mona Lisa Paintings or Vincent's Sunflower paintings. Guess only those who stayed there long enough, just like me in 4-yr-U, could do so without blinking the eyes.

One funny point about the pyramid to share - Recently we caught a French show and one of the scenes was at the Lourve Museum. The "Mummies" joked that there should be a pyramid to be built and not many people caught the joke. To those who travelled to Paris, they should be aware of the "pyramid" they spoke about in the show. This time I was fast and could catch the humour.

It is interesting to re-read this post and I can't rem the emotion then while writing this post. I only rem us taking a photo in front of the pyramid. There were many people right from the start of the queuing downstairs.  Interesting, I could rem a lot of people trying to pose in front of this pyramid. At this point in time, we still dunno if we would be travelling back to Paris again.

I like this pose. Full of excitement.  Can also feel the big structure towering over many of us. 

蒙娜丽莎的微笑

"蒙娜丽莎她是谁
她是否也曾为爱寻觅好几回
她的微笑那么神秘那么美
或许她也过感情的千山万水
才发现爱你的人
不会让他的蒙娜丽莎流眼泪"

I have shared the tips of visiting a huge museum. For the louvre museum, this tip was handy - zoom straight to the paintings that you would like to see.  We definitely wanted to take a look at the famous Mona Lisa. Many people were queuing to see the painting. It was much smaller than what we expected as we saw many huge paintings - even ceiling paintings. I wonder if Mona Lisa was expecting so many people viewing her portraits? Smile is usually associated with Mona Lisa - did we also realise that she should have other less cheerful moments?

I recalled a Chinese song about Mona Lisa when I was blogging this blog. The  title of the song was the other extreme - the tears of Mona Lisa. For me, I thought many people like to see or hear the brighter side of the day. Not many people also choose to hear or see the less bright side of the day. Many times, we wanted to hear good things especially when the day was already very dull and stressful. But it is actually during this time when family talk, close friends gather. Hearing good things is good but sharing not so good things is also good. I recalled Mario once shared that many of us were actually "friends" in name, we didnt really share. To be able to share is actually a step closer. Only close friends share. That's why I like to use the word "share". Of cos, when we are willing to share, we need to take some time to listen too.

Palace of Versailles

Chateau means palace in French. The Versailles have been one of the "must-see" attractions that we have ticked. Frankly speaking, I didnt do much research into the history of France and really knew nothing much except Napolean, French Revolution, LV. Going to the Palace of Versailles would really be an eye-opener for us into the history of the French.
We made our police report on our way to the train station and it took us more than 3hrs to complete the translation and reporting. Rushed to Versailles around noon time and it was a short walk from the train station. The RER trains were better than the normal Metro trains - cleaner and spacious. We bought a package (which included the garden) and it was ex. However, the palace was beautiful and there were exhibits to view as well. The palace is like a museum too and the life of a king and queen could be appreciated when one walks through the palace. The King and the Queen have their own chambers. I was usually interested in their study room/library. I wanted to have a study room in my future house. A place where I could do work or reading. Study room should be separated from living or masterbed room - just like work from life. Or else it would not be balanced.

The garden was not very far from the palace but it was also huge.  I collected back my tripod from the baggage centre and I happily set up my tripod to take couple photos. After I took one, one female security guard came forward and warned me not to use tripod on the ground.  Though there were no notices, I obeyed while my dear felt annoyed at her attitude. Frankly, she sounded aggressive but I have no idea why I didnt piss off. Maybe I was happy that I managed to catch a shot with my wife.
There was a very big pond further down in the garden. Tourists would do boating in the pond and there were ducks waiting for food in the pond too. We sat by the pond for a while until the boating crew came over to advise us to sit elsewhere due to the boating activities.  He was relatively more friendly.

The garden is installed with speakers hidden behind "walls" of greenery. We spotted on the map and there was a place in the garden that sold macarons. Dear mentioned before that macarons originated from France and hence I decided to buy at least one legendary macaron for her to feast. We walked according to the map but we could not find the shop. Instead, we bumped into an ice cream outlet. As usual, I would want to try the ice cream and so we chose ice cream instead of macaron. I wonder how the macaron really tastes in France but whenever we passed by one outlet in Paris, we would "KIV" due to the "higher price tag".  No matter the price, if you like it and if I can afford it, we can dote ourselves at times.
(Afternote - I dun break my promises to my dear dear.  I got a box of 4 macarons at the Airport during my Sept trip and I personally carried it back and delivered to her at T3.)
 

浪漫 Paris

Since young, many people have been saying that Paris is a very romantic place to visit, and proposing at the top of the Paris tower is one of the dreams many ladies desire. Having read and heard so many romantic things said about Paris, we definitely included it in our honeymoon itinerary.  The mere excitement of taking the Eurostar from London to Paris was already amazing already as the train travelled across the English Channel. We looked meticulously at the scenary outsides the train windows to look out for french signages to see that we have indeed arrived in Paris.
Our first encounter in Paris wasnt wonderful, and actually disturbing. Didnt want to elaborate further but we were too helpful and we got pickpocketed right under our nose. The experience was disturbing that we decided to "act stupid" and not to bother with any queries/questions posed by people we met on the street. That's to play safe.
We went to take a look at the legendary Paris Tower at late afternoon and we saw a huge crowd still queuing to get to the tower. It was rainy season in Paris and we were easily wet - the feel was uncomfortable. We decided to queue another day. The first day of Paris wasnt fun, thus not even romantic to say.

The view on top of the tower was nice. Paris is made up of many many short buildings and hardly see any skyscrapers as compared to our hometown. We purposely planned to queue in such a timing that we could probably catch the sunset plus night view. We did see some sunset rays but we were still waiting to see the lights. No lights even after 9plus as the daytime in Paris was really longer. Dear was disappointed why we could not stay till midnight and why we needed to go off around 10pm. This was one regret and I decided to bring her to Effel Tower again next time when we stayed in more convenient place (and safe place). We descended steadily and walked towards the Metro, and we suddenly spotted many people looking towards the direction of the Tower. Amazing as the Tower was lighted up like twinkle little stars in blue for almost a few minutes. It was nice though we could feel the tension of the need to get back to our hostel (the route where we were pickpockted).

It was a safe trip back to our guesthouse. I could feel the disappointment. I didnt like to disappoint her especially we travelled all the way to Paris. I decided to find other route to reach our guesthouse since we were still staying for another night. With the new route, we would rest our mind when we got back to our guesthouse later than usual. We didnt go shop for LV or branded goods but we did walk along the famous "branded goods" street. I wanted to buy a LV for her but I really dunno which one to buy. I didnt want to follow one of the Pastors' experience of buying a very expensive bag for his wife yet his wife disliked it and now it became a story to share during the marriage counselling course. Play safe especially the LV bag not cheap.  We did get a LV purse - a small one - and I was happy to see dear buy. Dunno why.
I supposed to buy her a LV bag on my next trip to Paris in Sept. Bought her a Longchamp which she complained that it was small and "weird weird". I really stressed when I went into such shops and I was like a blur sotong, dunno what to do. But I will buy if I know which one she likes...

Punting @ Cambridge

Cambridge - the word was very familiar to me in my O and A levels. It is interesting to note that all our exam papers were marked by cambridge teachers and we get our certificates from Cambridge without knowing how Cambridge look like. Choosing between Oxford and Cambridge for our one day excursion - of cos I prefer my school certificate as compared to the dictionary I used.

Cambridge is not only about the university. I used to think that it is so. It is in fact a town, bigger than my neighbourhood or neighbourhoods. One thing that also caught our attention was punt and punting. Chauffeur standing on the edge of a small canoe and paddle - interesting sports.
I definitely will "malu" myself as this seems tougher than the one I tried in Japan. Different concept and I didnt want to waste money. Also the weather not good and it was raining, so better dun risk it especially it was indeed our honeymoon period.  Watching people punting was also fun especially when you saw people screaming and shouting as they were about to knock onto others' punts or the concrete walls.  Punting is also a very competitive sports among the colleges. During our visit to Eton, and subsequently in Berlin, "punting" sports was really competitive and no wonder it was still popular among the locals.  Must be more adventurious next time especially when I dun need to bring my big camera along with the lens. Cant let them soak in water together with me and my wife.

博物馆篇 British Museum

好大的博物馆 This was our initial assessment of the British Museum. There were several floors of the museum and it was impossible to look at ALL the descriptions of ALL the exhibits.
My dear loves museums. We spent almost half a day (can be longer) at the Hong Kong Museum and I was prepared to spend one full day at the museums in Europe. There were really many exhibits. I am a person who have a relatively short span of concentration. For me, the conquering of Museum was to zoom in straight to the things I want to see (Actually, I am not good in arts and museum stuff so I just stick to the guidebook). 
The entry to British Museum is FOC. We have a tired night and we thought we could just relax and roam around in the museum.  Walking in the British Museum was like trekking actually. You have to climb stairs to different sections and the entire place was huge. As usually the lazy me, I ran out of concentration and told my dear that we could not possibly read all the descriptions of all the exhibits. She was really a meticulous person when it came to viewing the exhibits. Actually, I love to see her serious look and concentration when she views the exhibits. For me, I would just wait besides her and wait for her to tell me the story of each exhibit.
I always make an effort to visit the museums of the local country. It gives u a good understanding of the local country and customs and it will help u take good and meaningful photos. So, it is not true if you have the impression that I dun like to go museum. So, museum "hiking" will always be part of the itinerary for next Europe trip and trips.  It is "out of the path" for the usual travellers.

Joy of a Student

Actually, other than exams and tests, school life was quite enjoyable for me. This time, I decided to visit Cambridge and also check out any old schools worth visiting. On our way to Windsor Castle in London, we read about Eton school - one of the prestigious schools that are very expensive to get in and study. There used to be a tradition that the school only allowed a max of 70 students - hence top top students could study here and many of them were very successful in their lives.
Interesting place to be. We visited the oldest classroom and interesting to know that students (top students) were allowed to carved their names on columns. The tables and chairs were old and the classroom was now used for singing lessons.
My dear has a dream of studying in a boarding school. Though her dream is partially fulfilled by her bro, I did hope that the visits to Eton and other London colleges could fill up the other gaps. 

Visiting the schools also made me recall
my "Skooling" days. Morning took schoolbus, or buses to school, lessons, PE etc, recess, then lessons and afternoon got SCLP or extra lessons. I did not participate actively in sports/ECA and guessed I would not be "top students" in Eton's context. I also rem the lunch at the canteen - it costed about 1.20++ and I used to like to lunch there.
Being in secondary made me become more independent and started to grow to be more mature (hopefully). I wondered how the Eton schoolboys feel but I did think that we had some common stuff. Both Eton and my school were pure boys school - so bullying, "no distraction during classes" should be common. Boys were more active and sweat should be part of the scent in the classrooms. Competition would also be stiff just like my SAP school. 

On responsibilities, I used to eye for committee work in my class. In fact, I volunteered my services as a Treasurer. I didnt want to be the Chairman, Secretary of the class as I thought it was easier to be the Treasurer. I also didnt want to be the Vice-Chairman, Vice-Sec etc as the ECA point was only 1 point while all the main appointment holder was 2 points. Hmm... didnt know that i was already so particular in school days.

I could not recall any sad or unhappy moments in secondary school days and I believe those were my favourite school days. We even camped overnight in school on the last day of our school before we went to JC subsequently.  I went back at times to my secondary school but it had already changed much. Even our classrooms were no longer the same. I guess I do miss the good skool days. The joy of buying new textbooks, the joy of eating lunch in school, the joy of studying instead of working...

让耳朵去听歌 (二)

Its a long time since updating the last blog. Many lovely things to update, just need some time to rem and put it down in blog.
Starting with London - We wanted to see palace, or I wanted to see palaces and castles when in Europe. Not all places are FOC. Sometimes, we went pass a monument or place of interest without entering. We chanced upon Westminster Abbey and thought there were requirements to queue and then buy tickets. Not cheap, so we decided to walk around and see if there were any FOC museums to see.
Walking through the alleys and chanced upon a garden show. It was a surprise to find a nice and big garden and we sat on the green field enjoying the smell of the grass and listening to the orchestra. It was nice. I saw that there were some private apartments besides the garden. I like the feel of having a garden behind the house, of cos not with a big big crowd. Sitting on the field and having picnic is one of my fav getaways.
London is different from where we live. The culture of afternoon tea and enjoying music under the hot sun is definitely not everyone's cup of tea here. I like the mood of just relaxing the mind and if possible, even resting on the field and just simply smell the green grass and listen to the surrounding. Many times, we are too busy with our lives and we may forget how simple we can appreciate life. If the weather is the same as in London, I think Botanic Garden will be a great place to find similar joy.
I like resting our bums on the field. Best deal was after we have taken some rest, we managed to enter an interesting museum from the side door of the garden and were given a brief history of the royalties.  Till now, we still could not figure out if it was part of the Abbey.

大草场

I like sitting on the green patch of dry grass, enjoying the clear blue sky and sniffing the smell of grass. I have wanted to bring my wife to such a venue to relax and enjoy. Back at home, the grass patch is either muddy or out of the way.
We chanced upon this big patch of grass when we were in Berlin. Very large plot indeed and dry as well. The weather was cool and this made it easy for us to sit and relax.

We were contemplating whether to take a shot of our back facing the famous Berlin parliament house. Just that we were worried that by the time we turned our back, our camera might be "MIA" liao. Of cos, it didn't.
I wanted to take a shot of both of us lying on the grass but it was "too challenging" since both of us needed to be in the picture. Frankly, these 2 shots were some of my dream shots which I would want to take.

Well, no worry, cos I believe we would be travelling. It is both interesting and actually loving to hear from my wife that she has travelled so many times since she knew me. I love to bring her along for tour. Though we may have disagreements, I still enjoy her company.

嘟嘟火车

Don't know when I started to like taking slow rail ride. This time to Europe, we would be taking Eurostar, French SNCF and Germany DB plus some local rail.  I rem reading a photography article citing that some photographers always station themselves at railway stations taking trains, workers at station, movement etc. I had wanted to do something similar. But to spend an entire day at the railway station - I find it a bit wasteful too - could go around see more things, capture more shots of the outsides world outsides the train station.

For me, I like to take photos insides the train more. Especially if I could capture what my loved one is doing. Reading a book, watching the green fields, eating. In fact, I enjoy taking train ride with my loved one. I like a cozy corner, with 2 of us, not much disturbances, no worries of ticket conductors, connecting trains, toilets.  I enjoy going to the train cafe and buy food back and eat together onboard the train. Thats what we did in Japan, However, in Europe, the food onboard is really more dear. I recalled once we were quite hungry and I decided to venture out to the train cafe to source for "food". With cheese sandwich, I realised my loved one didnt really like cold cheese sandwich. Hee, for me, something to fill up the tummy, a place to eat with my loved one, I happee liao. But, I forgot that if I were given food that I do not like to eat, no matter how hungry I am, how cozy the place can be, I will eat little or nothing. Same logic applies. Just want to make sure we were not too famished.

The funny thing that we observed this round was that the trains allow pets on board. I recalled that we were sitting on a train and we spotted a fierce doggy onboard. Lucky that we did not need to sit opp the doggy - the doggy used to sit where the bikes were parked onboard train. Interesting combination of things onboard. Would make a gd photo story of the train in Europe.
We got to bump into nice people onboard the train. There were a very old coouple (abt 70?) who saw us sharing "miserable" food and offered to pass us a sandwich. There was another German lady (70 yrs old) who spoke to us while we were onboard, helping us to translate the PA announcements so that we did not miss getting free drinks due to train delay, change in schedule etc. These nice people we met onboard the DB - Germany trains.  Nice people. We somehow put our guard down with these people around though.
There werent so much train sound - 嘟嘟 - just normal PA announcements. Dunno why I could not sleep soundly on trains. My loved one said I would be tired as I had to watch over her while she slept. I had to endure to ensure safety. This is one of the little things that my loved one said she treasured and would be touched. Though she said 这样容易就感动了？ Not worthwhile liao. Hee. Well. To be frank, I like to see my loved one being 感动 . I like to see her being loved by me.
Train rides - they can be very long, very tiring, very breathtaking, very relaxing and of cos very expensive. I like train rides. I like taking train rides with my loved one better. I like eating train bento (not sandwiches especially cold ones) with my loved one more. I like the surprises when we spotted nice scenary along the train ride.  

嘟嘟火车...到站了吗？ 你听到嘟嘟火车吗？你知道下一站的风景是这样的吗？你有耐心等下去吗？

让耳朵去听歌 (一)

Slow Ferry to Cheung Chau

佷喜欢长洲岛.
连蜜月我们也先到那儿去玩.
海声, 船声, 脚步声, 无忧无虑地听.
不知不觉它已经是我们去香港常去的地方.


This time, a bit different. We still travel but we did not do a backpacking trip (To prepare for the 3-week backpack). We went on a tour, relaxing tour with a luggage bag for shopping.

Cheung Chau is also a bit different. There seemed to be a celebration going on but not the bun festival. There were evening opera shows celebrating the festival. The crowd loved it, also the foreigners who passed by.

比较多声音.
比较热闹.
佷喜欢, 佷喜欢你的声音, 陪伴左右.
有空再来, 让耳朵去听歌......

Journey of A Lifetime

We are legally married! Though both of us have travelled together many times, this time is the Journey of a Lifetime. Previously, I did not think that I would also share the joy of marriage - being a family man - like all my married buddies. This time is REAL.
It isnt easy - the route leading to this Journey. There have been ups and downs and we managed to cope with them, just like the humps on the hiking tracks. The Journey is not easy as well. We learn and we share.
As impatient as I am, As stubborn as You are, We move ahead, hand in hand, along this Journey of a Lifetime.

Snow Corridor

I was really amazed when dd told me that there was a snow corridor in Japan - I thought Winter gone and so was the snow. I did rem hearing Alpine in Japan and was a bit worried about the necessary protection especially when we were trekking up high?!
The amazing (or risky) part of the Alphine Route was the exposure or opportunity to travel using more than 5-6 modes of transport across different stages. Still as headstrong or stubborn, we still proceeded with the plan to go to ALL stations. Of cos, this time round, make sure got transport either way. Hee, not too bad since I realised we were not too far away from civilisation yet (Quite near cities). However, one thought flashed my mind was whatif we were stuck in the snow mountain!? Gosh!
The journey was smooth and steady. Just that we ran out of cash and have to use credit advanced withdrawal. I thought it was service fee chargeable only and I did not realise the system was as good as owing the credit co money and interest chargeable :S. But good thing was we did withdraw some $$$ as there were no credit payment for the tickets.

It was a refreshing and fun Xperience. I like to bring dd to snowing area as I realise she likes snow! She was so joyful when she first saw snowing. Hmm...the cautious me only concern was whether the high snow walls would collapse with the strong heat in the background?!
We managed to try out ALL the modes of transport and we only had a little episode of nearly missing the "boat" again. Lucky that we did not play the "slide" game and dd insisted to carry on with the journey. If not, we would again waste $$$ and still could not see what we wanted to see.

Our protective gears were quite sufficient. Good and steady. When we were on our journey back, dd and I saw one old lady and I decided to give up my seat in the cable car. The lady was very grateful and wanted to help us carry some stuff. Jap old lady, and we still find Jap living away from commercial cities more helpful and approachable. Hee, there were actually other tourist sites in Alpine Route which I thought one could not achieve in one day tour. In fact, dd already said "Japan is a place that we can only cover one area in one day". Quite true considering the railway and transportation. I thought I would really do better planning next time when we go Hokkaido.
Not only the journey with different modes of transport is fun. The main idea is together we explore. Ok lah, there is no need to be smart or to know everything in advance de. Impromptu also brings along nice and sweet surprises.
Cheers!

桜餅 - Sakura Mochi

We chanced upon a very traditional mochi (Rice Cake) during our visit to Sakura - Cherry Blossom site.  It was a rice cake, covered with Sukura leaf. Insider the mochi, there was delicious red bean paste.
We did not know it was sakura leaf until DD came back to google. What we did was to try to remove the leaf when we wanted to eat. Pretty sticky and hard to remove - we didnt know it supposed to be eaten as well :P
We ate too much stuff too so we kept 2 on the train back. After the ramen - yummy ramen - we decided to leave the traditional sakura mochi near an old beggar in UENO. Hopefully he could also enjoy the mood of cherry blossom. 
Next time, we must try to eat the leaf too. Well, feel like a caterpillar :P 

Ohayo Sakura

One of the things I want to do is to bring Dd to see sakura, picnic under the sakura tree, wait for sakura flowers to drop down and land on our heads. To see Sakura, careful planning is required so that you can have the "backup" plan in case the sakura forecast fails - weather and mood unpredictable.
We did some planning to follow the sakura blossom trails. Weather in Tokyo was pretty cold this time round and too cold means no blossom of flowers. "Do you know why the sakura didnt open in time?" "Becos weather too cold lah!" - Well, I didnt think about that though.
We missed the blossom sakura when we began our journey - got trees but no full blossom. Bits here and little bits there. Weather was cold at our first Sakura blossom site - Aizu. Actually, the sakura trees are also quite elegant. I didnt understand why the sakura means so much for the locals. But seeing rows of sakura trees - could imagine how magnificient the scene would be in time to come. Dd always wanted to ask the receptionists, ticketing officers at JR Offices, officers at Info Counters if sakura opened liao or not. I was reluctant to ask as I thot I had checked on web at local Internet terminals liao mah - why still need to ask :P.  Well, I guess I too MCT le.

There are different species of sakura - we guessed based on the colours. When your nose got close to the flowers, besides attracting the bees, the pollens would also get stuck on the nose too. The smell was pleasant and nice. It is good if you can see the sakura trees in action - full blossom. The feeling of being a japanese eating and chatting underneath the sakura trees is really wonderful. We saw people chope seats on picnic mats very very early - people doing introduction and orientation program, students declaring their affection for fellow schoolmates, family feasting....
Dd said she wanted to have a book which spelt out all the species of Sakura. This would help her in our next Sakura trip to ID all different sakura flowers. I will rem to buy her one, plus the Sakura Starbucks bottle - forgetful me! Too mission-based like what Dd always describe me to be.
There was a very small episode in the viewing of Sakura. I could not rem the exact location - I think it is at Sendai - we backtracked to Sendai Castle area to see Sakura cos we were ahead of the blossom forecast. Dd pointed to me while we were on the local bus on a very touching scene. It would be refresh from time to time in my head - especially when I was rude to my loved ones. A son and his mother viewing Sakura trees. The mother was on wheelchair, slightly inclined and the son brought his mum out to view the Sakura trees. The mum looked very weak but the son was very patient and I thought he was tying to lift the wheelchair up at an angle which his mum could view the sakura flowers. Probably younger days, the mum had brought her son out as a routine to see sakura trees. Touching scene and it made me miss my family too. I really want to bring my family to Japan to eat their fav salmon sushis, see and touch sakura flowers. 

I love my family a lot, just that I dun tell them. Naggings means concern and love. Reminders mean I mean alot to them.
My dream
- My parents, my sister and her family plus baby and my Dd and me (plus our family :P) walking underneath the sakura trees, strolling along the paths of sakura trees....

Of Snow & SnowBoy

We went trekking in the snow - the first time that my dear dear have touched and seen so much snow. However, too thick the snow so we had real difficulties walking through. In fact, me got trapped several times but my dear dear very "brave" - kept venture out... I let her lead the way so that I can see her...and at times can save her if she got stuck in the snow. Hee Hee.
The snow was thick - many times I wondered how thick we were standing or walking. Risky leh. And we didnt bring along shades and the snow was like a mirror and the reflection would make one "blind" de. For the cautious me, I kept looking out to see if got wolves, or even polar bears haha. Just kidding on the bears.

I  didnt have the chance to make snowman last time. This time, we had the chance to do a snowman today. We were not well prepared though, a pair of gloves shared among the 2 of us. But the snow was very clean, freshly "brewed" from the sky 2 days ago according to a local. Hee Hee. It was real cold, so we did a mini snowboy. Eyes made of leaves while the nose of stick. Fun, loving and standing in the middle of the snow. We wondered if anyone will notice the snow snow?
Dear dear realised when we were back in Sg that it was quite risky out in the snow. Her pooh pooh told her and her colleagues also said so. Hee, actually, she was a very stubborn person but hor, my worried cum cautious look made her stop wandering off. Though we saw some couples walking back, some of them were equipped while some not so prepared. Well, it is better to play safe cos I am a systematic person. Dunno if it is really true that Engineers think systematically. For me, it is not systematic, it is not about workflow. It is about caring and loving a person and want her to be protected and safe... even at the cost of "pissing off"... haha.

火车Bento

One of my fav habits in Japan has been eating the bento on train. There were many types of bento and I recalled eating some bought off the rack by the "train waitress". This time round - not sure why - the train menu did not have bento. However, the stubborn "me" always still insisted to eat bento on train regardless of whether nice or not. For me, I feel that it is part of the customs or culture to eat bento on Japan Rail - dunno why but I feel joy doing that...even though the bento might not even have any stuff that I love to eat!


There is something that I feel really uncomfortable though, and I wanna make sure I can rem to do it next time. I didnt rem that my dear dear wanted to buy 8pm Bento - the Bento that would be on discount. We did something similar for the doughnuts though. And it was quite true - the Bento was very expensive in the range of 1000Yen and not all were nice. In fact, one of the nicest Bento was from the "Sushi Market" in Tokyo - the one that I promised to bring dear to eat early in the morning.

I rem dear dear said that many Japs would be envious of our nice Bento on the train. Really, the sushis were legendary in dear dear own words. The Bento episode made me realise one thing - I am really mission based man, or rather ego guy at times. I do my own way in my own thinking, at times didnt even spare a little thought. I need to be more receptive to ideas, I think. Well, I will still eat Bento on Japan Rail. But next time, I will not ask dear dear to eat with me. I will only pass her the scallop. :P.

Five Colours Lake

Five Colours Lake

I finally able to bring my dear to Japan - one of the places I have wanted to bring her there. This time round a bit unique - it was a backup plan for UK trip. I was not supposed to repeat my previous journey as I should be going to places that I have not been to - oops, that meant that I would be equally blur like a sotong. I like to be prepared so that my loved ones needed not to go through the "tough" journeys of finding, searching, looking for the correct route.
I didnt know that there was a 5-coloured lake near Aizu Wakamatsu - near a place called Mt Kanda. Was so happy when spotted it in the Lonely Planet. A child-like in me dreamt that there would be 5 different lakes and we were supposed to trek thru the jungle to witness the 5 different lakes. Hmm...wont it be more interesting if there were 5 different types of colours emitted from the SAME lake. Ya, I didnt think of that. Too simple yet too complex for me.
I am also a person who do not want my loved ones to be put at risk. Trekking through the so-called "50m" high snow was definitely a dangerous feat for me. Though we thought that the heavy snow should be just "5m", it was still 3 times of my length to make me feel uneasy. But cant show the worried look so as not to frighten dear. While trekking through the think slippery snow, I was thinking whether there would be wolf or any lobang underneath every step... Guess my dear was actually more adventurous and courageous compared to me. Too calculative? Maybe too meticulous - taking calculated steps, doing risk assessment... at times, it may be appreciated; just that it takes some time to be appreciated :P.
It was also the first time that dear touched snow. I like to see her happy face and expression. It is so good to be able to fulfil a dream. Going Japan with my loved ones has always been my dream; seeing and throwing snowballs should be part of her dreams. Just that she needed to be more accurate in throwing the snowballs....

跟2009年说再见

Countdown @ Hong Kong 

2009 countdown to 2010 was special for us as we did it in Hong Kong - 2008 was at Bintan. 2011 would be at? 
We have witnessed fantastic fireworks back at homeland and we expected a fantastic show at Hong Kong since it was a city of pearl.  Imagine standing besides Victoria Pier and looking at the fireworks and lightings - a romantic countdown plan?
The roads were closed and many tourists and locals were coming or swarming into Victoria Pier to standby for the fireworks. Cool or I should say, cold weather.  We went early and roamed around trying to find a gd spot to dinner and watch and wait. Ended up eating at McDonalds - but still yummy.
As we were still early, we went to find suitable places to sit down. Security personnels every where and it was hard to find a place to sit - apparently there were no places to sit and many sat on the ground playing cards, drinking and waiting. Warmth as crowd crowded together. We went to sit and hide from the strong winds near benches with trees and bushes. Many couples were also sitting there and waiting for the countdown. Really cold and I was worried for dear dear. So, I went to buy Coffeebean Hot drinks and for two of us to keep warm.
Near to 0000hrs the fireworks began. A few burst of light rays in the sky. Some "sayonara" songs and NY songs. People yelling and laughing. I didnt need to use my camera. Well, guess it was still a significant countdown cos we were together counting down - 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... Happy New Year.
Decided to record a small episode for the new year though. I had a serious diarrhoea and food poisoning from one cafe in Wanzhai. First time I dun enjoy the flight entertainment and food and red wine =S. First time I wished I was back home on the last day of the journey - usually very low morale when holidays ending. Lucky my dear was with me, helping me pull through this "watery" moment. This encounter made me become more cautious when travelling and eating. I ended up with 3 day Medical Leave and almost 2 weeks to full recovery. Scary and watery. What a way to start the new year... But the important thing is recovery and healing. Treat it as detox bah. =)

敲敲澳门的门 Part III

There is something that both of us wont miss out when we go Macau.  It is a very cozy small cafe hidden out of the streets and casinos. Our favourite Cafe Nata - the superb Macau Egg Tarts.

I still rem the first time I went to Macau with my parents - we were told that there were nice Portugese egg tarts in Macau - something "Must-Try". We didnt manage to find one outlet as we were rushing to and fro. Second time, my parents, uncle and sister went and they chanced upon Cafe Nata. And the sweet and delicious story of the Egg Tarts continues...continues in our trip too.

My dear realised that when we said we wanna packet dozens of the egg tarts, the tarts packed would not be as hot as dining in. Didnt know about that and I wanted to order a few more to eat de. In fact, we finished one box of 6 tarts and we went back to q for packet home. The sale assistant took the empty box and opened it for QC Checks! Dunno whether it was the egg tarts - the yummy egg tarts - that kept me from being "fierce" that I didnt react negatively to her rudeness.... 

It is a place - a cozy place that my dear and I like to go. I have never tried their kopi and this time round we did. Didnt know expresso so small cup de - really blur sotong me. I acted cool cool to order expresso while my dear got nice coffee... quite funny when I shared it with dear.  I hope it can be a tradition for our family to visit the Cafe every time we go Macau. And on the bigger note, the backpacking tradition should continue... big backpacks and cute little backpacks...

敲敲澳门的门 Part II

It was a sweet surprise when you went to a place which you didnt expect. We chanced upon a flower exhibition - actually more like a garden of tulips exhibition when we wanted to visit a photography exhibition in Taipa. It was drizzling and yet there were still many visitors. We felt like "trapping" in a sea of tulips. 

Honestly speaking, when it comes to flowers, I am always lost - I can recognise rose, sunflower, lilies and a few others only. Not that I dun buy flowers for dear, just that I got "poor floral recognition skills" always. I almost wanted to tell my dear that there was a rose exhibition :S.

After taking some couple shots in the garden, I wanted to do some big aperture shots on the tulips. 

Lonely Tulip

Focused on one with greenish background. Dear mentioned that it looked so lonely, and I kinda like agreed with her. So, I decided to try to take a bunch instead. Seemed that she could visualise the shots better this trip. And I really thought it was a gd idea. Maybe I was too focused on taking photos - forgot the importance of composition liao. Suddenly thot of waking up early in the morning and tried to catch the morning sunlight on all these tulips - it would be nice too =).

Tulips in group

It was really good to have dear with me. Besides our flexi tripod, we could help each other take posed shots - flexing our "photography muscles" to compose and shoot. Some were "cool" photos while others were "artistic photos". This garden of sweet surprise made me like Taipa even more. Must intro to friends when they visit Macau next time - dun always stuck in Macau itself - there are other things to explore as well.

I think in general, it was a switch in the view of our trip in Macau. We didnt expect to chance upon the garden and well, it really freshened our views and mind - kinda of immersed into the botany. The whole garden actually blended in with the environment - trees behind, a big lake with Hard Rock Hotel in sight, colonial buildings =). Very romantic feeling too.

Dear asked if we wanna go to the Hard Rock Hotel to check out the T-shirts. I tend to collect a typical localised T-shirt if available. But the Hotel seemed quite far and me also a bit lazy to try to hunt for the building. So, decided to give it a miss. Dun rem seeing any tees with Hard Rock Macau though :P. Next time bah. Next time when we go there again. Of cos, when we need not walk from a distance, and it is within 100 m. Knock knock Macau's door and see different perspectives of Macau it can offer...

敲敲澳门的门 Part I

Christmas 09 @ Macau

Macau is always part of the journey for many friends that I know - however, Macau is a place that I love to go as well. There are always sweet surprises.

We didnt realise that 新马路 still got Christmas Tree deco. We spotted the nice blue tree while we did our simple shopping for our families. The feel of the place was nice - simple yet elegant. At times, I did feel a bit amazed by my "travelling memory" - I still could rem the name of the place and roughly where to alight when taking the public buses. Well, this made me the natural guide for my dear.  The Christmas decoration was really very nice and the lights stretched from Christmas all the way to New Year Eve. Lucky the deco was still on when I decided to bring my heavier tripod to take photos.... my spider tripod could not do the job... Though I brought my wide-angle out, I didnt even see that I could capture the nice white colonial building together with the Christmas Tree until my dear reminded me. Really at times, things so overwhelming that we tend to be lost in the jungle, in deep thoughts until we cant see or spot clearer pictures.  That's why its better to travel in pair, do things together.

I love to go to Macau, I think we love to travel to Macau.  There are always some things that both of us must eat.  We love to eat the egg tarts and 鱼蛋 there - there are also cute memories behind each type of food. We learnt a key lesson this round though. Things that we want to do or eat, if given the time, we should go for it. One of our favourite "hangouts" in Macau was closed, so we did not manage to "packet" the egg tarts back to our guesthouse for a feast. Well, lucky there is always a second chance or opportunity.

Margaret Cafe Nana Egg Tarts 

我们应该敲敲澳门的门, 看看她能给我们多大的惊喜.