#356 - Travel diary II

07/01/13: Three words sums up today up: I LOVE JAPAN!!!! Best day out of my entire trip overseas!
We left Shinjuku early to catch the shinkansen (bullet train) to Hakone, and the shinkansen did not disappoint at all! SOOO fast, so clean (yay for Japan's lovely cleaners who made the train spotless before passengers boarded), you could even charge your phone on the train!
Hakone is a town near the mountains, but sadly we couldn't see Mt. Fuji and some beautiful lake (Ashi?) today since the trip would take 5 hours and when we got to Hakone it was too late, and it was getting dark. But....we shall be waking up super early to go see the sights tomorrow, then rush off to Kyoto!
Anyway, we ate at a picturesque traditional Japanese noodle restaurant, and the eight of us were seated in a traditional Japanese dining room, with a low little table, comfy cushions on the floor and doors constructed of rice paper! Food was delicious, yet I'm a little sick of eating too much tempura prawn :P
There were also some cool temples around, and the most picturesque (ah, I need another word to describe the truly aesthetic appearance of Hakone!) little running streams. Oh my gosh, I just adore Japan!
I'm blogging close to 1am right now, but I gotta say that the hotel experience is truly fantastic - the Japanese really know how to treat guests well (Hotel is Maille Coeur, and it IS divine, highly recommended!!!). Very very expensive (~450 AUD for 1 night), but it is so worth it. Dining: divine, my first high class dinner! (as high class meals go, portions were small, but there were soooo many servings! never thought I would enjoy raw fish,,,,but yummmmm). Rooms: stunningly beautiful and spacious, true Japanese-style with luxuriously soft beds and futons that the hotel staff made when we were at dinner (thank you to them!!). Also...HOT SPRINGS....OMG I WENT INTO REAL HOT SPRINGS provided by the hotel!! So comfy, and clean and luxurious :) Also dressed in traditional Japanese wear for hot springs :P :P soooo many good photos!
Also Jap people are sooooo much nicer than Chinese people - they treat foreigners well (many good experiences in Japan), whereas in China, if you speak English, people give you shit. Sanitation compared to China: incomparable!! OMGGGGG perf! Warm toilet seats, toilet seat covers, disinfectant, clean as heck. Trains have very warm seat heaters too!

 Definitely going to enjoy the rest of the Japan trip and shall properly learn some Japanese & Mando after I get back !! Also really glad to find out that Ayaha and Ayaka, my super cute relatives - are actually very closely related to my sis and I, we are actually their aunties!!!

Okay, over and out
-r   

08/01/13: Saw Mt. Fuji and nearby lake Ashinoko today! SO breathtaking and sublime..omgosh. Also the air had a stench that was quite foul because of natural sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide produced by natural hot springs up in the mountains...BUT oh my, it was so gorgeous! The view was amazing, the air was so cold, and there was snow on the ground (no snow in the metropolitan areas). Felt a little disappointed that people built on top of the natural sites near Mt Fuji ...but was admiring the high level technology used to construct awesome cable cars to view the mountain and lake!! The boat ride across lake Ashinoko was also so cute /full of awesomeness(?) since the boat was a pirate ship! I think I am getting overexcited, but I really like how everything in Japan is so well thought out and quirky :) Then left Hakone (*sob*....oh yeah BEST asian / western buffet I have ever ate in my life!!) and went to Kyoto via shinkansen...and now I can't remember if we did anything except find our hotel, indulge and eat out (getting a little sick of ramen and udon soup!!)

09/01/13: Travelled to Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kinkakuji and Yasaka Shrine - one word: AMAZINGGGG (man I gotta find better words to describe the awesomeness of these sites!!). I am quite the easily excitable and amazed tourist. But the former two places are definitely suitable to be UNESCO world heritage sites...the gold material on Kinkakuji reflecting the sun made me go *______* and Kiyomizu-dera was soooo pretty and magnificent too. People like to buy votive wooden pictures and write their wishes down, and then hang them on special places in the shrines. I am not religious, but was totally digging the votive and ancient vibe and thought, why not? Bought one, my sis and I both wrote our wishes down, and hung ours up next to someone's message which hoped KRudd would succeed (or something of that nature) with courage and faith, haha (: Also dubbing Yoshinoya as the "Single men's joint" LOOOOOL. Ate there for brekky and dinner (thanks to dad >_>), was a little awks because the chef recognised us and gave us 50% discount...discounts never happen... omgggg, never eating there again -_- anyway it's "Single men's joint" since besides our family, frequent customers are ALL men...who eat by themselves. Haha. Also went to uniqlo (got my entire family into this store), daiso (AU daiso can't be compared to the Jap one) and Isetan (equvalent of DJ's...) and bought good quality reasonably priced shoessss (: so buttery soft, all have soft insoles and the heels are so low that all shoes are walk-able for long periods of time, yayy! But I wanna weep at cosmetics :(((( so friggin expensive I wanna die!! MAC is more expensive than in Australia wtf...and also you get 5% tax on items less than 10, 500 yen or something >:(  

Admiring the fat rubber duck in Syd as well, thanks for posting it Bitter! Also got your Japanese chopsticks ;P

#355- Running man Jiang

Well you shouldn't be surprised about the title, if you've heard me talk about it recently. I WAS totally obsessed during the 40 or so episodes but I guess my enthusiasm has died down mainly because Song Joong Ki is no longer a permanent member, the scripting is becoming more and more obvious and irritating plus there are no more punishments and they reward guests who contribute very little to the game. So Running Man PDs if you ever read this bring back the earlier games and more exciting guests , and idea could be a We got Married Special, I wouldn't mind seeing the Goguma Couple again (<3) but that's just my personal bias which would never happen because that variety show airs on a competition channel to SBS so yeah....

Anyhow, how has everyone been? Looking forward to tennis because I am, I get to see No1e grace our screens again on free to air tv. Onto other tennis related news, Maria Sharapova is having a fan meet at Melbourne this Friday but me being me, didn't want to spend an extra week there so I book my tickets for the following week only to find out a few months later that I would not be in town for autographs and photos T^T. My only silver lining is that I get to buy Sugarpova candy which I have been waiting patiently for ever since their release in America in August (?).

Follow up from last time's post:

I saw the giant duck and firstly, I must thank those that I may have grudgingly dragged along (sorry guys but I really appreciate it and hopefully it wasn't a bore for you).

Photo time upon request of Sweet:

 From far away the beaks looked like chips and thanks to a certain someone I never got my free rubber duck

 Unintentionally matching in blue and white theme

 Free duck quacker thingo and Sweet I got a set for you which comes with bubble blowers- ANZ sponsored which are a pain to open

According to Better my duck bag is quite the craze back in China and you know on this episode of Running Man that I recently watched, I saw Taeyeon with it as well.

Caption: (as requested)
Mr Consistent- What is that the giant duck that we came to see?
If you can't see it just look at one of the train carriages and then compare that relative to the background
nts never upload photos on blogger using Mac before it takes forever

#354 - Travel diary I

Alright, curently in Japan so....FREE WIFI!!! UNCENSORED INTERNET!
No photos atm but they'll be up later.

29/12/12: arrived at Guangzhou Airport, and stayed at my uncle's place.... SO COLD! Oh yeah, also felt so plane sick after all nighter-ing (why did I do this??!!!) and drinking milk before the flight - never do that again. Also admiring China's obsession with neon lights at night! Ate out with immediate family.

30/12/12: Visited some giant shopping centre called China Plaza (??). Imported food is very pricey, but food generally had me going googly-eyed since it was so cheap, and I kept converting the price into AUD. Typical bread price at bakeries = 2-6 rmb. I had my first experience in a squat toilet after 10 years, and let's just say I still equally disliked it as I did back when I went before. Why do they not provide toilet paper?!! Sometimes there's also suspicious looking liquid on the floor (hence why I bought my shittiest pair of boots overseas). Moreover the plumbing is highly fragile, so you can't flush toilet paper down and you put all tissues and etc. into a bin, and sometimes, there are things you just don't wanna see there.... >_> Also the home toilet is very prone to clogging because of no. 2's, and as I said previously, plumbing is shit (pun intended, and no it was not me who did a no.2 and clogged the toilet, haha). Once again, we ate out for dinner. Also, we have to heat water for 15 min before we can shower....Australia > China (poor standards of hygiene is making me do TMI on sanitation)

31/12/12: Shopping in some rundown part of town, and more complaints about the sorry state of restrooms. More 3 hour eating out sessions again with extended family members -___-Also I feel like a very naive Westerner whenever I come across disabled beggars on the street - I disliked my relatives' unsympathetic attitudes to their plight (they say that the beggars act like they are pitiful during the day so naive people will give them money, but then when night comes, they're laughing as they dine exquisitely and go home to grand houses). I know that some may be fake, but not all of them are truly like that. I must also comment that people in GZ are so freaking vulgar - a lot of people smoke in restaurants (I do not appreciate passive smoking especially when I am eating food) and many people just spit on the street (ew) and the two general scents I identify when walking on streets are: smoke or garbage. Also, typical China - they don't celebrate the New Year (only celebrate Chinese new year *rolls eyes*) and even cancelled fireworks. One thing I do like about GZ is their giant bottles of fake Yakult for $1 AUD.

01/01/13: Happy New Year! Moved out of my relatives' house for 2 days (thank god, felt like my family and I were cramping their lifestyle) to stay at a hotel. A  million relatives today, living in and out about the hotel and more eating out. I don't mind eating out but we've been eating out every single meal, and we keep ordering the same food (meat-wise) that I am not the hugest fan of....argh, just like me to be the picky eater. GZ Metro is stunningly simplistic and well thought out, having been renovated recently - trains come every 4-5 minutes, and they also have glass panes to prevent people from falling onto train tracks. Trains have TVs that feature ads and also have bilingual maps and little signs to show you where to transfer at. The metro is very easy to use, buses are a tad more difficult to use though. Met my cousin's 6 yo cousin at lunch, and she is SOOOO cute!!!! AHHH. If I ever had a daughter I want her to turn out like her :) :) The wharf near the hotel had some food stall thingy going on, so shops were open when we popped by at 9.30 PM (almost forgot to mention stores are open very late in GZ), and thus I devoured fairy floss at 9.40 for 5 RMB.

02/01/13: Last day of the hotel stay, eating out the entire day (brekky, lunch and dinner). GROSSSSSSSS, words cannot describe how much I detest eating out every meal. But what can you do when you have 30-40 relatives?!! Bought 2 CDs

03/01/13: Moved back to my relative's house (*groan*). More eating out (*another groan*), wandered to a few shops - shopping is very inconvenient when 10 people are going.  Found Watsons (Asian equivalent of Priceline) so was super excited, until I saw the prices for everything (eeek).

04/01/13: I met up with Viv in Taojin (some rich area)!! =D Wandered around with our siblings :) Realised my Canto stinks so badly, I can't even understand anything when salespeople corner me at shops...ordering Macca's was difficult (but made easy with Viv's excellent grasp of Canto). Talked to Bitter as well despite poor reception(: Oh and another tip, do not speak English when going into shops, people try to rip you off because you're a foreigner, and don't give discounts (if this happens, well screw them! Don't buy their stuff) Then caught metro (I dig the metro) to another stop and did late night shopping for cheap stuff like slippers, and late night eating which was not eating  out at restaurants (YES!). Also when Chinese TV broadcasted the giant duck's arrival, I was excitedly hyperventilating on the bus and of course, weird looks were fired my way;P

05/01/13: Woke up at 5.30 to catch the 9.30 flight to Narita Airport.... totally head over heels in love with Japan the moment I stepped foot in the airport! Japanese Customs takes your fingerprints and photo before you exit :) Worlds away from GZ in terms of hygiene! Shops are open very late, and I'm staying at a nice hotel in Shinjuku (streets are soooooooo pretty...). Ordering food in Japan fail: couldn't read Japanese, shop owners couldn't keep speak English very well, and we finally realised we had to look at pictures with numbers next to them, remember the number of the food we liked, then go to the ordering machine, put money and put our number, get our ticket, give to the cooks, and voila! Food out in 2 minutes :) Food and drink portions are generally small too...

06/01/13: The very distant relatives who stayed with us earlier in the year (Ayaha and Ayaka) travelled 3 hours to get to Shinjuku so they could take us to Tokyo Disneyland! And omgosh, picked up a few Japanese words along the way (a little language barrier), traveled on Japan Rail (sadly, no bullet train) to Maihama. Went on around 12 different rides / attractions in total (all are beautifully done) and Tokyo Disneyland is awesome since they put accurate estimated waiting times outside attractions and rides (waited exactly 70 mins for 1 ride, which was the estimated time). They have fireworks every day at 8.30 pm, day and night parades, a lot of food and souvenirs (quite pricey)-love this place!! SO WORTH THE TIRED LEGS AND BEARING THE COLD, brrrr. Got back to Shinjuku after 9pm, hopefully I will visit Ayaha's place sometime in the future, and learn some Japanese :) A funny custom of Japan is that people like to wear their school uniforms when they go out on weekends...:O and like China, people in Japan are obsessed with wearing masks that cover the nose and mouth. People are also so polite, friendly and accommodating and their English is pretty good. They bow a lot too! I want to live in Japan since I like a lot of things about it but one thing I don't like is whaling and treatment of sea animals. Anyway, 
Over and out,
-r

#353- Decisions, Decisions

Hi guys, hopefully you've made up your mind regarding your uni course if not then please decide soon. Some factors to help you with your decision:
- location and accessibility
- Environment
- The Course ITSELF <--- I think that this is the most important
- What your chosen faculty can offer you i.e. work exp, certain skills, etc
- Employability
- Flexibility
- Lastly scholarships but remember this shouldn't be the be all or the end all.

On that note if you ever pass Auburn station have a look out for the James An College sign because they spelt scholarships as 'sholarships', I found that pretty funny seeing as they're selling education when they can't even spell properly themselves.

Since I'm comparing universities, I've been collecting the stuff that they sent. It's surprising to see the effort they spent on paper, mailing, micro sd cards.

Also seeing the duck tomorrow, wish you were here Sweet to see this giant ball of cuteness. oh wells and guys i'm never calling you again, your reception is horrible V!

#352- DUCK

From Sweet who is currently in China atm facing censored internet usage 

~Bitter

29/12/12: 
I am currently blogging at 6-ish in the morning! And today is the day I get to travel overseas after more than 10 years, so yayyy. Anyway, in the early hours of today, I read this and mourned the fact that I would not be witnessing this awesome, sublime piece of happiness.  But zomg, I am so excited for what lies ahead!!! :-)
 

#351- Goodbye 2012

It's almost 2013 and I hope that 2012 brought us all fond memories and experiences that we will treasure for a long time. I think that I am very atypical, seeing as I'll be heralding the new year by watching Running Man-  I am addicted to this show big time (Song Joong Ki FIGHTING). In case you're interested it's a variety show where the members (and usually guests as well) have to complete missions and if they lose then they have to face a punishment which usually involves ridiculous things (I finished the hot pants arc ....)

Also I got my Mac but because I'm not entirely used to it, I'm still blogging using PC and gosh it's so weird whenever I use the touch pad because I think it's like a Mac and unintentionally push down on it (gosh I'm such a dope). So Elisa and Better when you get back teach me how to use it properly because I still can't open a new tab deliberately.

Mini Story time:
No shopping trip is complete without a little drama.....
When I went to pay the balance for my macbook (and to collect it as well), I found out that the receipt was printed wrong- human error on the person who serviced me, my bag had a Macbook pro instead of a Macbook Air and whilst they're the same price, the weight differs by a lot. So the staff when inside to check if there were any macbook airs left and they were all sold ): BUT at their other store in the city had 8 in stock but it was 8min away the only problem was that I had an appointment to get to in the city so I couldn't wait for it to be delivered, so the trusty staff that was attending me said that I should go to my appointment and when I get back he'll have it ready for me. When I came back I was running late a bit, so I was worried if I could make the train (prelude CityFail) at 3:25 at Town Hall if not there was the 3:39 train at Central. By the time that I was on my way to any nearby station the 3:25 train had already left so me being me, caught the train at St James (the closest station) to change at Central. I got to Central at 3:37 and went to the platform for my line and guess what no train- CITYFAIL btw that day when I went to the city the train was late by 10min and there was not even a single announcement- CITYFAIL.

End of story~

Moving on, I thought that I'd share this with you but I recently started a solo mission of my own which is to complete a 1000 piece jig-saw puzzle and to make matters worse it's a quarter the size of a normal piece so right now I harbor a massive hate towards skies.

 Remember I have tiny hands

I'll leave you all with a picture of a sunflower that I grew so hopefully it'll brighten up your day/night/morning (: That's it for me today,and I wish you the best of luck in fulfilling the resolutions that you set for 2013. Happy New Year!!!!!!

Oh and NO1E I pray that you have a successful summer and I can finally cheer you on in person like a massive fangirl (:

#350 - Boxing Day

Got up early since Bitter asked me if I was interested in boxing day sale "shopping" :P (shall abbreviate to BDS since I'm too lazy to type the whole thing...)
I have never been to BDS before and though I don't think I will go again, it was an interesting experience.

> Trackwork....... thank you dear Cityrail.I've never been to Olympic Park Station, but it was so modern and futuristic compared to most stations :) 
> Being packed like sardines
> Security guards at every escalator and entrance
> Asians. Asians everywhere :P
>Mispronunciations of French names.
> Shit weather (hot, cold, hot, cold........)

Anyway sales were quite disappointing all in all, or just weren't that appealing to me - but yay, that meant I only spent money on food! Bitter got her MacBook Air for a really good deal though (:
We swooned and aah-ed over Liu Wen, luxurious Ladurée packaging and food that we will probably never eat, divine camera lens and bodies, then popped up to Central to satisfy our pho craving at Gia Hoi. Gia Hoi is a place I highly recommend if you like authentic Vietnamese food, great service, cheap delicious meals and if you like bargains (always 20% at Canley Heights, though not at city).  

#1 fav dish, and one I will never get sick of. I will love this forever and ever. Beef pho!

Bitter's meal - spicy beef pho (:

Bitter!!

Anyhoo during our eating fest, Bitter & I managed to be telepathic, I was thinking of Hungry Jack's large $1 frozen coke and Bitter just happened to think of the same thing and ask if we could go get one :P so off we went, trekking 1km to Hungry Jacks in Central...only to be sorely disappointed because they didn't sell it!! -__- eventually went back to Town Hall and got it, but it was all soggy. And there is like no escaping Gangnam style................

Oh and to drama fans, I also highly recommend "The Moon that embraces the Sun" - I have watched a plethora of dramas recently, and this was so good!!! I did not suffer from the Sweet Syndrome at all (haha) - I was totally hooked from the beginning to end (: Loved it.

Also I shall be going on a hiatus starting on the 29th, but I may sporadically post if I get access to blogger (yeah, no thanks to the CCP's stringent and ubiquitous notion of internet censorship!). Or else Bitter shall post on my behalf (: Anyway hope everyone has been having a lovely time atm. I can't wait to escape the crazy weather here. Over and out,
- r