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....
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.
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.
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| 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....
