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