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.