Recently in Vacations Category

H1N1 in Japan

Jhui

on May 18, 2009 1:06 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Okay, seriously...wtf! Before I came to Japan for my holiday, there were no cases of H1N1 yet. Then, on the second day that I arrived in Japan, 3 cases popped out. I was in Hiroshima at that time when it happened. A week after I travelled to Hyogo, there is a sudden breakout of H1N1 in Kobe, which is basically part of Hyogo...wtf. There are also apparently cases in Osaka as well and I'm staying right smack in the middle of both Kobe and Osaka.
Yesterday, the H1N1 count was 5 in Japan and all of a sudden, it rose to a whopping 96 today. Guess what's the shittiest thing? I was near Kobe yesterday and I was out partying at Osaka for most of the week. Fuck, I hope that I didnt catch the virus. Due to the sudden outbreak, Kangaku's closed for a week and I have to cancel plans that I've made with my friends and wear a mask now everywhere I go. Then again, I guess it's the best thing that I can do now to avoid getting the virus. I can finally make good use of the thermometer that I brought with me to Japan. =D

On a lighter note, I've been going out almost everyday since I came to Hyogo.
Wednesday: Coffee Hour at Kangaku(Nishinomiya) and dinner at this pizza place.
Thursday: Shopping with Kanami and the combined birthday party with Robyn at Umeda, Osaka.
Friday: Takoyaki party at Kana's house(Nishinomiya).
Saturday: Lasse's birthday party at Ouji Koen(which is like almost Kobe) and dinner at this Turkish restaurant(Osaka).
Sunday: Mifune Matsuri at Kyoto and a little birthday party at home.

So far, I've been to all the places that have been infected...Kobe, Nishinomiya and Osaka. FML.

Hope that they dont cancel the concert on the 29th though...

Malaysia 2009 + Fahrenheit Concert

Jhui

on April 7, 2009 9:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Went on a short trip last last Thursday to Malaysia to erm...watch Fahrenheit's concert. As Tiger Airways was having some airline promotions, I decided to take the budget airline for the first time in my life! Queued up excitedly to enter the gate and to my disappointment, the flight was delayed by one hour...wtf. Considering that it takes only 45minutes to get from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, I will call a 1-hour-delay a freaking long delay lo! So what if your airfares are fucking cheap? My time is way more precious.
Took a "free" shuttle from LCCT to KLIA to wait for my host sister. Seriously, if you are going to charge 1.50RM for the bus shuttle, dont call it FREE because that's not the meaning of free. Apparently, my host sister took about 1 hour to clear immigrations so we took a taxi to the hotel at around 7pm. Worse time ever to take a taxi because of the after-work rush hour. And yea, my host sister came all the way from JAPAN to watch Fahrenheit's concert with me :D

Stayed at Hotel Concorde KL, the same hotel I stayed at during my Malaysia trip last year. As we were so hungry after reaching the hotel at around 9pm, we decided to eat dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, the nearest restaurant near/in the hotel. Ate so much that I thought that I was going to die. This is the fucking good Cobb Salad we had for dinner that night...as well as for supper(the leftovers) on the night of the concert.

The next day, we went shopping at Sungei Wang, karaoke and fish spa at Pavillion. Took a taxi to Sungei Wang and the taxi driver charged us by the meter!!! The very first time that a taxi driver in KL offered to go by the meter!!! BUT...the stupid bugger was still out to cheat my money. My sister left her wallet in the hotel so we requested to make a detour back to the hotel before proceeding to Sungei Wang. When we reached Sungei Wang, the meter read 6RM but the bugger wanted to charge us 10RM. Reason being: "I stopped at 2 places." SOOOOO?! The meter still ran as usual right? wtf...taxi drivers in KL are fucking dishonest...or at least the ones I met.
Candid shot of me on the phone...retarded.

Karaoke at Green Box. Do you dare to sing in front of everyone?

My host sister posing with the yellow guy.

Had overpriced Nasi Lemak at Madam Kwan's at Pavillion but at least it was delicious. In fact, I gobbled up everything :D

After dinner, we in turn got eaten by fucking big fish, followed by a relaxing foot and shoulder massage.

The poster for Earth Hour...The blackout was due to happen during the time of the concert...what?!

Freaking scary but interesting advertisement for Kiehl's at KLCC.

28th March was my host sister's birthday so we bought cakes to celebrate her birthday. Cake's called M-Discovery and if you ever pass by Hotel Concorde, go buy it. It's really good.

Travelled to Stadium Putra and got our tickets! :D The taxi driver wanted to charge us 40RM but after I told him that the hotel guy said that it will cost only 25RM, he charged us 30RM instead...wtf...so FLEXIBLE one.

Bought these devil ears at 5RM.

The concert took around 3 hours!!! And I love the fact that you can take photos during the concert but that means that there will be irritants who will stand on their chairs to do so and hence block everyone behind. The idiotic girl in front of me did that and no matter how many times we told her to sit down, she refused to. FUCK OFF LAR.
Anyway, the concert was really good and all 4 members were really active and handsome~ that day.

After the concert, we went back, packed our luggages and watched more Fahrenheit's PVs...wtf. And yar, we also finished up the Cobb Salad at around 2.30am. =D Next morning, we got up at 8am and headed over to the Twin Towers to queue up for tickets BUT the place was freaking crowded by the time we reached there...and we reached there at 8.20am lo! By the time it was our turn, we couldnt make it for the time they allocated to us so we left. =(

Cannot go in but still can take photos right? :D

The queue.

KL Tower with Jiro in the foreground. Heh.

Asked some random uncle to help us take a photo with KL Tower in the back but eh...WHERE'S KL TOWER?!

My host sister taking photos in the middle of the road. =D

Sat around KLIA with my host sister because her flight was 11pm and we were already at the airport at 1pm. wtf. My flight was 4.40pm so we sat down and talked till...3.40pm where I decided that I had better leave for LCCT or else I will miss my flight. Got lost in KLIA, waited for the bus and reached LCCT at freaking 4.15pm where I ran around the airport like a mad woman, while carrying two luggages because my sister made me bring hers back. Checked-in, went through customs, baggage check and ran all the way to the gate in just 15minutes...with lots of shouting along the way because people irritated me when I was already irritated enough that there was a high chance of me missing my flight. BUT! Guess what? Flight kena delayed...WAH LAU EH. Somemore this time delayed for 1.5hours...because there wasnt enough oil and they had to wait for Singapore to bring it over. Erm...what?! You want me to wait for you to bring oil from Singapore to KL so I can go back to Singapore?! WTF? Go borrow oil from another airline can?! So ya, never going to take budget again but at least my Malaysia trip+concert was good. :D

Hiroshima Internship Programme 30/5/07

Jhui

on March 20, 2008 12:41 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Were assigned to the Loans Department today. As there was some time left before work started, we were taught by Ms Nakamoto the methods of counting money. It was really interesting but difficult at the same time. What I liked most was that they have only-for-pratice-usage money. :D

Learned about many different types of loans at the Loans Department.

Lunch was tonkatsu with rice. I really love the set meals at the Shinkin Bank's staff canteen. Look at the amount of food!!! The best thing was that it only cost me 400 yen. Quality+Quantity+Cheap.

Returned to the Loans Department after lunch. Was actually a little sleepy though because we did not need to move much today. Just needed to sit down and listen to what the in-charge had to say.

Seriously tiring day.
Dinner was at Handaya again but I ate something different this time. Pork kimchi and gyoza. I've never eaten pork kimchi before in Singapore and it was really really delicious. :D

Hiroshima Internship Programme 29/5/07

Jhui

on March 19, 2008 11:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Next part of the Hiroshima Internship Programme~

2nd day of internship. Same as the day before, we were assigned to the HR department and our in-charges were Mr Nakamura and Ms Nakamoto. They treated us to Hiroshima's speciality, Okonomiyaki, for lunch. I seriously love okonomiyaki, especially the Hiroshima version. Then again, I've only eaten the try-to-imitate-Japan-but-fail-Singapore version so it's not really difficult to choose which version I like.

Ms Nakamoto, Me, Pei San, Mr Nakamura.

As the okonomiyaki was really too big for us to finish eating it (although both our in-charges managed to do so), we started to play with the thing that you are supposed to eat the okonomiyaki with. Whee~

Returned to the company's carpark after lunch and I was seriously amazed by how high-tech the carpark was. You just need to drive the car into the place as shown above and it will automatically get parked. To retrieve the car, simply key in the password or something and out it comes. So.freaking.cool.

Went to this place called Ougon San, which basically means...Golden Mountain(Huang Jin Shan)?

As Pei San's afraid of heights, she was like grabbing my hand the whole time we were up there. I, on the other hand, am afraid of walking down slopes so I was like the slowest one to descend the mountain.

Group photo~

Plus size cat. Look at it's hair/fur! So fluffy~ All the animals/pets that I saw in Japan had like damn pretty hair/fur, like as if they apply serum to them and get combed a million times per day.

Signboards in Japan are cute and sometimes funny, especially the English ones. Didnt take a photo of that though.

Pei San wanted to go to Fudoin so we got brought there.

Our in-charges were initally shocked when Pei San told them she wanted to go there because apparently, not many foreigners know about this place.

I really like how temples are really quiet and serene. :D

I've not been to Hiroshima Castle yet and really wanted to visit that place but because parking was a problem, we headed to the next destination instead.

So in the end, we went to Shukkeien.

Not many people were there that day(Of course la! It was still within working hours).

Shukkeien is a man-made garden.

I dont know how and why I went to climb onto this bridge. Although not really visible from this angle, the steps of the bridge were freaking smooth and tilted. Going up was a little difficult already...somemore had to come down. Since I'm afraid of slopes, I did the very unglam thing of removing my shoes and basically slid down the steps. If you see closely, those are my shoes at the foot of the bridge. I rock.

Dinner was at this family restaurant called Handaya. Basically, they display the different kinds of food on the shelves and in the fridge and you can pick whatever you want to eat. Like...mix-and-match? After selecting, you just need to proceed the cashier, pay up and enjoy your meal. Damn cool and not to mention...CHEAP. Really good for poor people like me.

As you can see from above, I've added links to names of shops and places of attractions so you can know more about that particular shop/place just by clicking on the link. All links are from this site. It's so freaking cool. Lots of information on Hiroshima.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 28/5/07

Jhui

on March 17, 2008 12:12 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Internship finally started today~!

We have to walk like 45mins(15mins for Japanese people) to the train station every day, take a train, get off and walk for like another 10mins(probably 3mins for Japanese people) to the company. As we were damn afraid that we would be late, we used to leave the training centre early in the morning. In fact, we were like always the earliest to leave and we'll reach the company like 30mins earlier. We will then kill time in the waiting room on the 5th floor.

Lunch on the first day of work! For 400 yen, you get like pork katsu curry, tea and 2 side dishes. Oh wait, there's fruit too! So worth it can! The food's really tasty too.

Spent the first half of the day learning about the history of the Shinkin Bank from Mr Nakamura. Went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial after lunch with Mr Nakamura and Ms Nakamoto. That was like my 2nd time visiting the Peace Memorial.

This was where the bomb dropped on.

Went to a cafe in Hondoori to kill time after that because there was still lots of time left before the welcome party in the evening. Mr Nakamura and Ms Nakamoto returned to the company to prepare for the party whereas Pei San and I walked around Hondoori.

The welcome party was held at Rihga Royal Hotel.

Mr Saeki giving out nametags.

The chairman of the Hiroshima-Singapore Association(HSA), Mr Tamura, giving a speech.

Our representative, Liling then giving her speech.

Cheers~

The nine of us each received souveniers from Mr Tamura. The souveniers included a ballpoint pen and the HSA badge.

Vivien, Mr Tamura, Grace

Representatives from the Hiroshima ANA Hotel.

Representatives from JTB.

Representatives from Kinki Nippon Tourist.

Representatives from Rihga Royal Hotel

Representatives from Toppan Printing.

Representatives from Hiroshima Shinkin Bank.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 27/5/07

Jhui

on March 16, 2008 11:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

2nd day of homestay. On the way to youme town, we dropped by Hiroshima University, the university where Airi's studying in. Coincidentally, Okaasan's also from there too!

Rubbish bins in the school. Throwing rubbish away in Japan is helluva troublesome because you have to throw rubbish away according to how they are categorised. Then again, it's good for the environment.

The canteen.

The campus was really spick-and-span and the buildings looked really clean on the outside...unlike the university that I study in now.

Proceeded to youme town after the short visit where we met up with Melody and her host family, Ms Oogata. As we were a little too early, we went shopping and bought the same top :D I also bought a yukata that I havent got a chance to wear yet.

After Melody and Ms Oogata arrived, we went to eat ice-cream. There were like so many different flavours to choose from la! Thanks to Ms Oogata for the treat!

After choosing for like ages, I finally decided on grape. Yummilicious~!

Me, Airi, Ms Oogata, Melody.

Poster of Aibu Saki.

Melody, Me.

Proceeded to Sakagura-dori. Apparently you can fill your water bottles up with this water. Ok, I'm not sure if it's allowed because I did not read the sign behind me but I saw some guy doing that. :D

Outside the gates of Kamotsuru.

Standing next to this thing that they steam the rice in. So freaking big.

Me, Airi.

I like the origami.

Things needed to make sake.

Sake galore~ Can drink for free somemore!

:D
It was at this place that I dropped my camera on the floor so...the lens got slanted or something. Luckily the floor was carpeted though. Went to Deo Deo to repair my camera. :(

Ate at Okonomimura for dinner and went to take neoprints after that. I've actually uploaded the neoprints in the gallery like months ago so if you want to see them, please proceed to the gallery.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 26/5/07

Jhui

on March 16, 2008 3:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Saturday was homestay day. As Melody's and my host family were busy in the day, their common friend, Ms Watanabe, took care of us for the day. We had to travel like 45 minutes by car to East Hiroshima.

Played with Ms Watanabe's 3 children, Shouta, Sakura and Momo, at her house. Sakura tied my hair for me :D

Momo, who's like 2 years old only.

Sakura, 5 years old.

Shouta, 7 years old.

Poor Sakura was 'stepped' onto by Momo.

Shouta doing a handstand.

Momo trying to play the piano. So cute~!

'How was it?'

While Melody was playing with Sakura and Momo, I drew maze puzzles with Shouta. This's Shouta's masterpiece.

My maze puzzle. As you can see, my drawing's really bad. :(

Momo gave up on playing the piano and went to ride her 'bicycle'.

Cute~

Had udon for lunch.

Had my first taste of lady's finger. I used to think that lady's finger's spicy because of it's shape. Looks like green chili to me. However, it wasnt spicy at all but kind of sticky~

Played around their house after lunch. Shiitake mushrooms grown by the Watanabes.

Their neighbour's onions.

Saw lots of rice fields there.

Somehow, the kids decided to go frog-catching.

Can you see the camourflaged flog?

Shouta managed to catch the frog.

Momo following closely behind Sakura. So freaking cute!

While the kids walked/ran across the muddy grass patches, Melody and I walked like 2cm/hour or something. We fail :(

Shouta managed to catch 2 frogs in the end. Sakura wanted 1 frog from him but Shouta was unwilling to share them with her so she...started crying. While her mum was trying to make her stop crying, Momo, on the hand, ate jelly as if nothing was happening around her. :D

Had a party held by the HIPPO club at night. It was Shouta's birthday as well that day.

Sakura and Melody.

There was lots of food that day~ Yummy!!! Finally met my host family that day. She's Ito Airi, a university student who's like only 2 years older than me! :D

Hiroshima Internship Programme 25/5/07

Jhui

on March 16, 2008 2:59 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Split up and went to our respective companies.

Hui En, Me, Peisan. On our way to work. The only day where we got to take a car to work. Had to walk like mad and utilise the train for the rest of the days.

The place where Pei San and I were supposed to intern at.

We just had to go around the company to do greetings today so we ended relatively early. In fact, we ended work before lunch :D Ate at Yokocho Ramen which was located a short distance away from the company.

Hmmn, what to eat?

The chef of the shop we went into was from Shanghai, China. We knew that because he was eagerly showing us photos of his hometown when he realised that we could speak Chinese.

While waiting for the ramen to get cooked, we camwhored in the shop. Whee~

Dont ask me why I did that.

My miso ramen.

Walked around after lunch and Pei San discovered her favourite Mr Donut...so we went to buy donuts~The donuts there are seriously pretty and presentable, unlike Singapore's neighbourhood donuts shop. I really cant stand the donuts sold in Singapore. First of all, the size of the donut's damn small and the donuts never fail to look like as if they were done in a hurry or something. Slapping a teeny-weeny M&M on top of a plain donut does not make it a M&M donut okay!!!

Kamenashi Kazuya~

Went to take neoprints. Neoprints in Japan are like dirt cheap and the machine's functions are like really good. No wonder I took so many neoprints in the 3 weeks there. Like...6 times?

My favourite shop. Daiso~

Met Vivien, Grace and Melody at Hondoori.

Supposed to pose like as if we were very tired but...why is Hui En laughing?!

We took the wrong train back so we were like the latest to meet up with the rest at Yokogawa Station. :(

Dinner was donuts, bread and takoyaki.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 24/5/07

Jhui

on March 16, 2008 2:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Went to Hiroshima Shudo University today.

Before setting off, we had a short internship briefing by Mr Saeki in the cateen of the training centre. Following that, we set off for the university in a taxi~!

Weiying, Vivien, Me

All of us upon reaching Shudo University.

Had a really warm welcome by the students there.

We got split into smaller groups and had lunch with the students there. Look at the amount of food in the Maku-no-uchi bento.

My group.

Was brought to the library after lunch. My god! Their library is big, pretty and modern...Unlike NUS' lao kok one.

Pretty origami at the counter.

They have like plasma TVs in the library where students can watch movies there. This is so unfair!

What I like about the library most. They have well-equipped facilities for the wheelchair-bound.

Some prize they got.

In the library with the teacher and students.

At the entrance of Shudo University before leaving the campus. One of the guys was really comical and ran after our taxi for a short distance. :D

Had a lecture by Mr Hashimoto on workplace manners after we got back.

Since there was a 10pm curfew, we stayed in the computer room for the rest of the night.

Supposed to go to the various companies early the following day but we ended up talking till quite late...This is what happens when girls get together :D TALK.

Hiroshima Internship Programme 23/5/07

Jhui

on March 16, 2008 3:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hiroshima Internship

Took the JR from Kansai Airport to Osaka station to take a highway bus to Hiroshima.

The 8 of us with all our luggages basically clogged up one carriage of the JR and resulted in many people being unable to get onto the train during rush hour. So sorry!!!

The highway bus terminal.

In the bus. Everyone was really excited at the start and were taking photos like there's no tomorrow but in a twinkling of an eye, everyone was in la la land.

Finally reached the Hiroshima Shinkin Bank training center. This was my room for the whole internship period. One person to two beds~ So shuang~ In the end, one bed became the place where I dumped everything on(clothes, plastic bags, receipts, bottles...) and the room was seriously cluttered up by the end of the internship.