last post

apparently u r still watching out for this space.
thats really very sweet of u, but i think im quite done blogging.
i had a reason to when i was away. then a had a reason again when i was in school.
but now that both r over n done, ill probably stop. it makes me a whiny bitch too full of myself.
so, till either of the 2 reasons resurfaces, ( hopefully more so for the first than the 2nd) u can kindly save urself the trouble of even getting to this page.
but once again, ure very sweet n i feel the love deep deep :)

all other things in tokyo

1) ito-ya



my most fruitful stop. 8 floors of stationary. amazing. spore shld have 1 too!


2) grandma n kid braving the wind


that day was really quite a windy day n my hat flew off 3 times. so i eventually took it off. then i while walking i notice this boy. but only after i took the shot did i realised his cap has a elastic band! i was like ' wah! like that also have!' looks like the work of a grandma :)


3)talk show interview


managed to catch them for a bit. tho i was really scared to take pics of pple there. u know how they r abt being all private n not disturbing pple right. i mean, they have 'no phones' sign on all public transport k. remember how its 'annoying' ?

4)toilets


obviously i had to try every button on it. the 'oscillating' on was my favourite.

5) advertisements


they have rubber faces. all the time. its their society. it stifles n conforms everyone to a pt they go rubber.

6) macdonalds


i always make it a pt to step into macs when im travelling cos they always have local stuff. n of cos to compare the standard n food quality. aussies have yummier chicken patties for their mc-chicken burger. china has AMAZING yeriyaki burger (which came with yao ming toys when u order happy meals). hmm, i wonder y i havent tried thail's macs, but thai KFC's spicy wings r powerful too man. in japan, they have teriyaki of cos, n some prawn batter one n i cant rem what else. they had the usual big mac too, that i remember.
i also make it a pt to buy food up the plane cos aeroplane food make me puke. ince the food cart comes out, ill be hiding under the blanket. i bought my macs teriyaki burger for my ride back but didnt get to it cos i had a cup noodle too, haha. my brother wacked it once i got home. he said its ok. but to my brothers, everything is 'ok'.

7) bushy building


i guess since most of japan got bombed n rebuilt architecture was really quite unique n interesting.


8)pachiko ( i think thats what its called, i can never quite get it)


when u walk down lanes so quiet on a sunday afternoon n suddenly u see a glimmer of hope, that there is some light ( ok lots of lights, n flashing ones, too) it can only be a pachiko joint.
can u just see how much pachiko balls this old man has ordered?!?!?!?? either he sucks so badly, if not pachiko is really something. if i had enough time, id go in n see whats so wah-wah abt it too..

food in japan

1) yakitori under yurakucho subway station.



this is my kinda food. cheap n good street food. this is where ur hot sake is heated in a microwave n taken straight to u, unlike our previous dinner where the chap had thermometers to ensure ur sake is served precisely. whatever that i never ate b4, or sounded weird, i ordered. so i had things like pigs heart, pigs guts n something else along that line. when it came it all tasted the same. all really chewy. so we did some guess work like ' this one so small n extra tough, so must be the heart la, hearts r the strongest muscle in the body right?' etc... the mackerel was really good too, best iver had n i am hardly a fan of oily-fishy fish. oh n i was told that those joints that hand red lanterns outside means its a drinking place. so if u dont order sake, asahi etc.. they're gonna get upset. n of cos we only looked for places with red lanterns.

2) vending machine drinks


they have LOTS. so i decided i shal drink as many as i can while im there n everything its gonna be a difffernt one. from yoghurty orange drinks to yuzu (tangerine) green tea, to peach melba tea with strawberry, to yet another tea but this time made of many other different teas.... n not forgetting their coffee too. just outside the boarding gate i bought another 3 bottles, but none shown here. their lipton lemon was really yummy n not too sweet. the other 2 my brothers enjoyed it. some isotonic drink n the other was grape. everytime i go to japan, im gonna try more new stuff :)


3) an pan bread shop


this shop specialises in an pan. which is jap tao sar pao. didnt buy any tho now i kinda regret but i did walk in n the shop was so ... 'pang'. oh now i remember y i didnt anything, it was too crowded. totally not a fan of crowds.


4) beef curry rice with something-katsu


i wanted to order tonkatsu, which is basically pork cutlet, but the man said he didnt have n offered somehting else. i was obviously am clueless as to what he said, but heck i was gonna try it anyway. i communicated my order by taking his fake curryrice plastic display outside, brought it in n pointed n finger at it. n we did the same for my mum;s order too. u do what it takes to get ur food i swear.


5) funny coffee name


i guess the were trying to say decaf-espresso.


6) typical local eating joint


no frills, no english. but comes with free ice water k. dont play.


7) tully's coffee


this is a franchise coffee joint all over tokyo. its their version of starbucks. there r starbucks ard too but i think i only saw 1 thru the entire trip. theie menu board is in english n they do frapps, blended stuff n the usual suspects. i got a honey milk latte with extra shot. it was yummy n good. really comparable to holland v starbucks. not all starbucks is as gd k. (n they have excellent service too)


8) udon at ANA airport lounge



the fact that they served udon n soba was awesome. but the fact that their fish cake had 'ANA' on it was mind-blowing.

disneysea

ok, sorry for the delay. im getting terribly lazy to blog n busy with a million things.

so here r some pictures.

at disneysea...


most pple look like this....



others look like this....




and the rest look unknowingly... japanese.


and then u have fathers, who all look the same... with that special accessory.



and if u ever open anything thats like a disneyland, u MUST have many popcorn pushcarts everywhere. best if u sell beautiful popcorn tumblers so pple can buy get their refill. n trust me they will, since they already paid for the damn tumbler. oh, n do have various flavours all over... like strawberry, caramel... n even black pepper. pple r such suckers for things like variety.



oh, n there were tonnes of dead babies too. esp after mid-day...

day 2 tokyo

so i started the day myself. managed to find my way to ginza, which is really near by the way. then at ginza i was absolutely clueless n cldnt find any sort of bearing to even get started. so with my most 'jing-chum' face, i approached some guy. i realise i always approach guys. but i think it works, heightens the 'jing chum-ness'.
u see, b4 i left i made special effort to get the wall papaer tokyo guide, so they shows all teh coolest places to go, eat, shop, see, stay. n with a map, i thot yay! lemme go dig tokyo man! sadly, most of my day was spent in the 'cool' areas, but never near the cool shops. i mean, the book tells me 'shibuya' or meguro or ginza. but when i really looked at the map, bloody meguro is this whole area ( same as ginza n shibuya..) n nakameguro is nothing is a different thing. so i walked n walked but never quite found anything. but its ok. here n there i get abiiiiiiiit. for lunch, if its a hole-in-the-wall kinda shop, no pictures, no english words - im coming in. i had big plans to go n anyhow point. but while trying to study at least a bit, trying to decifer bits of seemingly chinese characters (seemingly, cos really if it wasnt, i wldnt know) to help aid the choice. but the old man wanted to take my order n didnt look tooo patient, so i just said 'ramen'. n i got gyoza too. time in ajisen ramen n other jap eateries paid off man. after that i walked pass some pretty pastry shop n got myself 2 macaroon. (just tried them n too sweet! still cant compare to laduree in paris).

anyway, so along the way i found a couple of vintage shops, but things were obviously way too expensive, n this lil shop that sold insane things like a chocolate bar, but its a calculator. i went mad in that stall. i ahve a new found respect for these japos. they r sooooooooo clever it leaves me floored.OH! n i managed to find ito-ya. which is this stationary shop that has 8 levels. no shit. had a blast there. went ard, floor by floor slowly studying what each gadget does n nodding away saying to myself 'yes indeed these pple r super clever'. u know those eraser that comes in a pen-like holder n u click the top for 'more' eraser when it gets too short? ok i saw one that was super cute n tiny. so i grabbed. then i walk somemore n saw another eraser, but this time thin like a penknife, n u slide the rectangular thin eraser out. ok, very smart. then i saw another eraser. which came in this dispenser that was WAY bigger n things looked alot more complicated. after studying it, its a 'battery operated eraser'. which u plug in n it will work like how electric toothbrushes work, i suppose. i was like 'wah lau. like that also have ...'. so yes, they do have their share of erm, ridiculous things.

soon mum joined me after ending early n so she joined me, also, for long walks of nothing much-ness. here n there, in n out of the trains (like LOTs of trains, in a million colours) n we finally went to shibuya for dinner. which was yakitori in a almost chi-chi place. tiny, no pictures no english. to we played charades with the waiter n finally got our food. soon after he tried to make conversation with his limited n super acentde english. when told we're from spore, he very excitedly said something that went 'ah! ma-rai-on!' obviously we were clueless ( but tried to look totally not it) n then he continue to gesture. picture him gesturing with his hands to show like he's puking/or something gushing out from his mouth... got what 'ma-rai-on' is? then he went on gesture laser beam eyes.... haha. too funny. our dinner ended off with cherry blossom ice cream followed by more walking n train rides to get back to our hotel.

once again, im sorry but pics will come later k.
tmr will be disneysea. we were told there is this huge difference between disneyland n disneysea. that is, disneysea sells alcohol, while in disneyland its like 'oh god forbid!'. so of cos we're happy, n i bet so r the japs.
ok till tmr.

day 1 tokyo

im here on a short trip with my mum, who is uh, working.
its my 3rd time here but the previous trips were disneyland filled n lotsa touristy stuff. never even been to ginza! so this time, im gonna walk the streets, do what the japs do n survive being alone, which i dont really fancy, plus my horrendous navigating skills really makes things a bit scary sometimes.

touched down at Narita at 3ishpm, the ride was so bumpy it made me sick. was really on the verge of puking so i made sure the puke bag was near at hand. anyway, after that, got onto a shuttle bus to tokyo bay, where my hotels is.
there is lots to learn from these pple here.i was on the bus n got a call so i was yaking away for maybe 3mins. the next thing i know i hear one of those pre-recorded announcements which went 'passengers, pls note that the use of portable handphones are not allowed on the bus as it ANNOYS other passengers'. thankfully i was surrounded with disapproving japs who wld prob given me the dagger eyes.

so my mum had a dinner meeting so i was off on my own. decided to walk ard my area n get some dinner. my aim was to find this particular subway station which was barely 2blks down, but i simply cldnt find it. went here n there n everywhere n even asked this chap, who cld only tell me where my hotel is, where the highway is, but not exactly where the station is. hmmm. in the end, i gave up n decided to follow where everyone walked. i mean, if so many pple headed in the same direction, SOMETHING must be there right? eventually, i reached another station, huge one, which was great cos they had little eateries n supermkts. after reaching i wondered whether that station was the one i was told to go to instead of the invisible one. similar, n very long names really dont help u know.

at the station, after scouting ard for a bit, i settled for ramen. vending machine ramen to be exact. ive heard of these b4. so i HAD to try it. jsut for fun :) u buy a ticket (which seems simple enough till u realise u cant read ANYTHING ) give it to the counter fella n he'll dish u ur bowl of noodles. thankfully there were some pictures next to the machine. but matching the jap characters among 30 different names, totally wasnt gonna work for me. so i was smarter n matched the price instead. at 430yen, i found my bowl of ramen! so i got the ticket, gave it to the old man, n while waiting i realised im not only the youngest in that minuscule standing-only stall, i was the only female. the rest were 40ish jap men in balck suits slurping their ramen away. it sure as hell was weird. what happened to those supposedly gd looking jap chaps that we see on our gatsby ads? where in tokyo r u? oh well. soon i got my ramen, n man, it was good. ok i think i was more satisfied that i got a vending machine ramen than the ramen itself. but hey, at least i managed to get what i wanted.

after ramen, i walked to this little booth selling steamed chestnuts. i didnt know what they were selling till i actually bought them but i knew i was gonna get it anyway. packaging was pretty n chestnuts were HUGE. biggest ive ever seen or tasted. it smells like bacon but taste nothing like it.

sorry i dont have pics yet... didnt bring my hp cable. sigh. till i get back?

home

im finally home, after shifting back on labour day. oh the irony.
ive somehwat reclaimed whats rightfully mine, tho i do feel quite bad abt it. sorry mel! n ive decided to TRY n be gd n stay home, ok for longer blocks of time, at least. ive been eating like mad, suppers n more suppers, n breakfast (its amazing, this will power to get outta bed for food) n lots n lots of sleep. 14hrs of sleep without a care in the world is simply, siok. i feel like my cat when i sleep that much. stretching in bed under the nice cold sheets (lets picture a rainy day k) n a wide wide smile of absolute bliss only to head straight to lala-land right after... dont pass go, dont collect 200 n right into dreamworld.SO i pass my days with excessive sleeping n eating, no brownie pts for guessing thats my holiday fat is back with revengence. lost most of it during the last stretch of term time, n since i can absolutely get by without eating much when im depressed doing work, n be super greedy when im happy (n im HOW happy now right?) i better find something to occupy my time before i turn into xing fei fei.
just had breakfast, n i think im gonna watch tv to sleep (ok nap) till my lunch appointment :)

after assessment 1

im finally back from the dead after crashing out for 22hrs.
the hrs prior to the 845am, 9am, 920 then finally abt 930am deadline was madness. more mad than it was ever mad. thankfully it ended.
it was funny to see how different the ID n archi (architecture) peps r. we both had crits in the same area n we were all waiting outside the room, 1 comes out, the other goes in, just like taking oral exams.
845am :
- archi peps all fresh in their nice dresses n ties (ok, nice is relative) n their 'kic-kok' shoes. models all inside the room. everyone jsut waiting outside for their turn. n even the first person is early.
- ID peps, in their 2 day old clothes, obviously have not brushed their teeth so dont even ask abt their last shower. running frantically in n out of the room, trying to put bits of their stuff into the room, to a pt, i think the archi girl had to hold the door for all of them. n of cos, the periodic screaming of 'dr yen! dont close the door!!'

- archi peps were holding scripts, for their presentations
- ID peps, running in with drill guns cos ' hey, so long there is more time, we'll continue to drill more upstairs'.

930am
archi peps : all seated on the chairs provided, revising scripts, meditating to some pt,im sure.
id peps : all seated on the floor, still in their 2 day old clothes, wondering if they can really jsut go in like that. n if asked abt their white spray painted nails they'd rebut saying ' its the new designer look, u didnt know?'

i managed to get a shower b4 rushing back. i mean, i was in slippers in socks man. had no time to slip shoes on after forgetting something at 815am n rushed bck to hall. luckily i sandpaper-ed the white paint off my hands earlier in the mrng, it hurt like mad.so instead of white hands, i had, red, but natural, ones. the waiting was 1 hell of a bitch i swear. everytime the door opens, im like ' is sarah out? omg its my turn!' upon going in, i was freezing like mad. presentation didnt go too badly, i managed to defend any bad comment or question, n thankfully, very thankfully, no one realised that my stuff looked like toilet rolls. id be soooo badly marked down for extremely poor semantics i swear.ice cream n toilet rolls, even a retard knows it dont quite go.

finally when i was done at noon, n hadnt eaten since i dunno when... i went for a gd lunch but fell asleep half way thru. on the way back to hall i was talking nonsense. which explained the 22hrs now doesnt it?
now i gotta go get that damn damn portfolio done so i can be DONE DONE. by tmr 330pm, id a be FREE WOMAN. hell yeah!