Winter 2008 part 3: Ski

>ns29
Nah...they don't have any prejudice against foreigners...it's our way of doing things that's wrong. Personally saw a Japanese group that booked the place 2 hours before the actual event to properly do the preparations. And Japs always end parties/functions in time....and Japanese don't linger around after parties to take photos. Unlike Malaysians who always like to linger to chat, take photos...not lifting a finger to help those were clearing the place....

>stevelee
Here you go...



>Kelly
You've been to UK with Clement....you tell me....
When you see or experience something beautiful, don't you wanna share it with someone special?....I guess it was my fault for walking into a romantic place with 4 guys...

>chong shen
Yeah....I do what I can here to stay happy. If only girls in Aussie wore mini skirt all year round...haha. Planning to be back in August...you back then?

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Just like all winter holidays, I joined a ski trip to Nagano(somewhere in Japan). This trip, joined by 40+ people, was organized by Ki Lian Chuan(gave her a nickname, "Mom")...a rather fierce girl with a matching face to go along. Tried to take her picture once, but she was so fierce that my hands shook so bad I couldn't press the shutter. She more or less assumed the role of a strict mother throughout the trip. By strict mother I mean...
Laying down rules when we got into the bus. Rules are as follows...
1. No making noise in the bus
2. To go to toilet when the bus makes a stop.
3. No leaving rubbish in the bus
4. To give her our phone numbers so that she can get us when it's nap time.

Laying down rules when we got to the ski resort...
1. To only get the ski equipment when told to and NOT to move on our own accord.... I actually got a frown and nagging for going on my own to get my ski set.
2. To group together and ALL (40+ people) head to the slopes together like one big happy family(with a strict mom tagging along)
3. Instructed us on where to place our ski sets while waiting for the rest to arrive...

Laying down more rules at the party later that night....
*I was absent as I was sick that day. Too bad.....but I was pretty sure she laid down some rules.


Mom's the third girl from left...

Sincerely, I was grateful towards her for organising this trip but does she have to be that strict on us? Come on....relax!! This is a trip where we ARE SUPPOSE TO have fun. I know that you are the organizer and it's hard controlling a group this large...but then again, the youngest in the group is 20 years old. We don't exactly run around wildly and scream when we don't get our cup of orange juice.

Anyways, ski was.....crap. The worst ski trip ever. It's not Mom's fault though....just look at the pic.


God damn global warming.....gonna start recycling tomorrow.

The pic above should explain everything. What the hell are those patches of grass doing? They are not due till 3 months later! There's too little snow to have fun skiing!!!
Even at the top, the snow is just...terrible. Instead of powder snow, we had hard ice and wet snow. Although the wet snow is perfect for making snow balls that can crack skulls(powder snow makes softer snowball that dissipates on contact, wet snow makes good weapon), but there wasn't anyone that I particularly hate so....waste of wet snow.

But I did have fun skiing at fast speed. There was a course at the top where the slopes are steep and the surface is hard ice. As the following formula explains...

Steep slopes + Hard ice surface = Grinning Randy going down the slope REAL fast...

Don't really have anything else to write here so let's look at some pics...


Snow covered picturesque.....gets me every time.


See the top of the mountain that's partially covered by clouds? That's where the "Grinning Randy" formula worked....


Line of newbies getting ready to try out the snowboards....can't help but laugh at them newbies when they fall.



View from atop a chair lift....


These two guys stole oranges from a girl later that night...poor girl almost cried


View down a not so steep slope...

Actually, we spent a total 3 days (28~30th Dec) there. Those pictures that you saw was taken on the first day. Didn't really take that many pics as I had an unexpected visitor the afternoon of the first day.
Guess who came to visit me? My old buddy Influenza!! He brought along his friends Flu, Fever and Cough as well. We had lunch together, then we spent the entire evening together. Had so much fun that I went to sleep early that day....missing the party later that night. Damn friends.

Anyways, fell sick on the first day....but I've been wanting to ski for so long that I kept it secret from Mom and played anyway. My body lasted till afternoon that day.... Being a crazy person I am, I went to the top of the mountain the very next day despite feeling a little weak and coughing occasionally. What a Bad mistake that was...I suffered from 3rd day onwards all the way through 2008.

Things I would do to ski down a mountain....

Winter 2008 part 2: Christmas

>ns29
Well, yeah....it was Malaysian Night after all. Had to have something to do with Malaysia right? And we couldn't just make do with "students performance".....if you get what I mean.

>ceddy
Heyss....thanks for reading up my blog. You are one of the few rare ones who actually visits after hearing it from me.

>mayC
Wah wah....you protecting Old Big....do I smell something going on here? It's okay if you wanna say out loud that you think he's handsome...

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So...how was Christmas? Bet many of you went out to look at them beautiful decorations...or spent your time with your love ones. As for me...I started mine with an apology.

In my previous blog, I mentioned that we had problems with Malaysian Night. Well, the problem was garbage disposal. You see, the way they do it in Japan is that you have to bring whatever rubbish you have with you when you leave their premise. Like, we have to bring back ALL of the rubbish from Malaysian Night.....which is impossible, right? I mean, we all came from far away so, what the hell do you expect us to do by not allowing us to throw it at your place? We paid to use your hall you know...

Anyway, instead of just throwing it at some back alley like we Malaysians always do, we politely asked the building management(guards at the lower floors) about where can we throw the rubbish....and they directed us to the service elevators that leads to the garbage disposal area. Problem is, the hall and the rest of the building operate on different management. And those b*stards(guards) had to phone up to the hall managers and demanded why they(hall managers) didn't instruct us about the service elevators. And the hall managers were pissed off about it cause he told us to bring the garbage home.....and they have got the nerve to demand that we show up the next day to apologize!!

Not wanting to leave any bad impression (status is now sour impression....not bad yet), I decided to accompany the organizer to apologize. And so we showed up the next day....10 minutes late (we ARE Malaysians after all). Also, before going in, the organizer(Lee Boon Hon) had to bring with him a bottle of Coke....it was a leftover from last night party. In case you were wondering what the hell was he thinking bring a bottle of coke(it was half filled) to the meeting, he said that he will get thirsty...thus the bottle of coke(What the hell were you thinking?!!) So, right before we head into the offices, he left it at the lounge under a table....hoping to pick it up after.

Anyways, we apologize like gentlemen and meeting was over. Everything was fine.....or should I say, suppose to be fine.....remember the bottle of coke? Well, the hall manager found it after the meeting.....he picked it up from under the table and had a weird frown on his face wondering who could have left it there. Now, everything is not fine....Lee Boon Hon had to walk up to him explain that it was his and why he left it there.....there you go, we had to apologize again. Sigh...NOW we left a bad impression.

LEE BOON HON....why oh why do you have to bring that bottle of coke!!!!! We are definitely blacklisted from that hall. Give it 5 years and us Malaysians will be blacklisted from all places in Tokyo.

Anyway....the rest of the day went on normally...like what Christmas day should be. We(5 guys) met up with some fellow Malaysians(3 girls) and headed to Roppongi hills later that day to enjoy the Christmas illuminations.


From the top left,
Guy 1, wore a Santa suit the night before...everyone else had holiday on Christmas so he took the day off too....
Guy 2, Short guy who won the "King of the Night"
Girl 1, shorter that the short guy who won the "King of the Night"
Girl 2, don't know my name and keep calling me Brad Pitt....yeah yeah laugh if you want.
Girl 3, prettiest among the three...
Guy 3, was some what very very excited around Girl 2....
Guy 4, my ex-rommie...he...all I have about him are bad comments so lets not waste time....hehe
Guy taking the picture, the one who carried a bottle of coke around the whole day...


The place was decorated very nicely and they had stalls selling Christmas stuff..


All kinds of decoratives that cost too much money. Saw a small key chain that cost 4000 yen.


Some Christmas carols performance. The stage had candles decorated around...very pretty setting.


Taken at a small pond nearby....the atmosphere was very romantic that night....which reminded me that I am still single....damn it.


Roppongi(六本木） literally translates as "6 trees". Well, someone lied...


Tokyo tower by mid-day....


Tokyo tower by night...with the heart shaped lights.....which once again reminded me that I was single....damn it.


Santa got overly generous and killed the tree with his presents...


Some bus we saw on the street. It's a special bus that have a built in restaurant and there's a party going on in there....aww cool.

Well, mostly we just walked around Roppongi appreciating the decorations....at least I was. Guy who took the pic and girl 3 was walking together talking a lot. Guy 3 and girl 2 was walking together talking and laughing loud(Fat girls and tall guys can talk real loud) a lot...Guy 1 (me), guy 2 and guy 4 was busy going round taking photos amidst romantic couples wondering why we were still single.....damn its....
AND In case you were wondering where girl 1 was....I have no idea...she simply vanished before my line of sight...

Anyway, after walking a lot and talking a lot, we decided to settle at some place to eat while doing more talking so TGI Fridays it is...


Marimo, girl who were our waitress of the night. I like her cos' she had a biiiggggg...br...smile. She had a big smile.

Had a lot of fun at TGIF. Had great food, had great waitress with two big...br...one big smile. There was a few girls at a neighbouring table who were celebrating Birthday so our group sang them a birthday song. Girl 2 challenge me to walk over to personally wish them Happy Birthday, so I walked over, wished her and got my picture taken with the birthday girl.

All in all, I had a lot fun that day....Merry Christmas once again peeps....

Winter 2008 part 1: Malaysian Night

>ns29
Yup, they are a good match. But too bad Japs don't know about the existence of kaya.....gotta teach them about margarine+kaya.....

>stevelee
To me, Malaysian Night was more like a disaster....but well done nonetheless....otsukare

>Kelly
To far far away....hope you had fun there. Damn....wished my college were somewhere near yours....would've asked you for some chocolates.

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Last year ended in ways that I could have never imagined. So much wrong that if I were a girl and had boyfriend, he would have to suffer my bitching and complaining for two whole weeks...but not all were rotten, though. Just that....we humans always had fun complaining and bitching, right?

Okay...the end of 2007 started on the 24th December. Do you know what day that was? No, I don't mean Christmas eve. Who cares about Christmas eve? Remember me mentioning it in my previous blog? Yup, that's right, it's the day we had Malaysian Night. The event was....let's look at some pics as we go on shall we?


3 hours before the event. Saw this florist(had a bunch of pretty ladies working there) so, I decided to buy 2 bouquet of flowers for the King & Queen event we are going to have. Not that I'm a hardworking co-organizer but...(once again, had a bunch of pretty ladies working there)

Anyway, Malaysian Night started with a lot of confusion and a lot of jogging. The leader do the confusion part then send me jogging to set things right. Long story short, we manage to set everything up in time to receive the guests...oh, forgot to mention that I'm still in "normal clothes" at the time.


The night started with a speech from the President(guy who were confuse and sent me jogging) We later had performances from Tourism Malaysia in Japan. FYI, the lady dancers are Japanese.


Next was another good performance from the guys....they can really dance...


"Dance? What dance....oh, you mean the stage!! Sorry Randy....very hungry here-la." *chew *chew *chew


Performance by one of the seniors. He sings very well...but apparently not good enough to win over chicken. The guest were more concern about the chicken which were decreasing frighteningly fast..


She was lucky as most guest were done eating and finally noticed the stage. By the way, she was doing some dance from Okinawa.

After the performances, we played some game called OX (not an ox or anything to do with a cow but more like circle and cross). Then, I came out from behind the stage with the Santa Suit to give the winners their presents...


No that's not me.....


This is me in a Santa Suit. Apparently, Santa Claus went to study in Japan when he was young. Remember the little elfs that help him pack presents? They were actually very short Japanese....


No one took pics of me giving out prezies...so this will have to do. Went round to take photos with people round.


Last performance of the day....guests were invited to join the dance on stage...


Who ever said that Santa couldn't dance!!! Santa can joget better than any Malaysian....well, except the one teaching.


Last event of the day...King & Queen of the night. The last 4 finalist...


Winner was decided by "loudest cheer". So King & Queen was actually the "most popular" guy and girl of the night. Well....yeah...nobody ever said that King or Queen had to look good right?


Well.....ehem...correction; Nobody ever said that KING had to look good. The Queen was as gorgeous as all the fairy tales we've read. The king.....the king was popular.

All in all, the event was a success.....although we had little complain about the food, most people left with smiles on their faces. And as for us organizers, it ended exactly like how it started....confusion. We've manage to clear the hall within the time limit set by Japanese(hall manager) though.

The thing about japanese, they were always strict with their time. I remember asking for another 5 minutes or so to properly clear the hall, but a firm "NO" was what I got. But like I said, we've manage to clear the hall in time.....so no problem there right?........ Wrong. While we've manage to put away tables and stage un-properly, we've also manage to not notice the small pieces of rubbish stuck on the floor.

We were called back to the office the next day to apologize ....but that's a story for another day....

Winter Holidays have started!!

>ns29
Yeah...trust me with this. Wearing skirt after skating will ease your legs as jeans tend to be a little tight.

>stevelee
Yeah...I enjoyed the burger on the 1st and 2nd bite.....but after that is quite hard to swallow. Didn't you notice I keep eating fries after a bite or two of the burger? And the fries was too salty too....

>calvin
Dude...one thing I learn from the Lore of Craps...."never repeat your crap within a short amount of time or it'll lose flavour"

Besides...I'll leave that one for you to decorate your blog with...

>Kelly
Really? Don't think anyone would complain if you were late though...
"It's a lady's right to have someone waiting for them"...or so I was told.

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Winter holidays officially started today.....and I'm bored out of my mind! Sigh....I prefer schooling days where I have my research(will blog about it in the future) to do. Much more fun doing tests with the new machine I helped built. Much much more fun doing upgrades with the heat management of the machine....discovering new stuff....discussing it with my lecturer. The only times where I actually feel that I've been born to this world with a purpose and not just a waste of Oxygen.

Now....I'm just too free and have too much time. So bored.....anyway, here's a pic of my dormitory...


See that one room with lights? That's my room. Just in case you're wondering, I did not take the trouble to get everyone to turn off the lights of their rooms just to take this picture. I said I was free, not stupid.

As for everyone else, they've gone back. Well, I'm not exactly alone...my junior, Wye Marn(Few people said that we look some what similar....) is here too. But he usually wakes up at midnight to start his "war". DAMN IT!! I know that you have a good sound system and that you are proud of it...but can't you show it off when I'm NOT trying to sleep?


Pic taken last year. He's the guy on the left....look like me? Wow...that's a worse insult than a kid calling me stupid. And yeah....I was thin back then.

Anyway, the whole day today, I spent my free time in my room, watching anime....imprinting my chair's cushion with the shape of my butt...not really doing much. But I did discover one other thing.....the secret to dieting and losing weight. This mystery have long eluded the vain girls and guys of the world and I manage to solve it. The answer is.....


Yup, peanut butter. Sounds like bullshit as peanuts butter is fattening right? Well, yes if you eating a bottle at a time. But what you should really do when you want to skip meals is eat a spoonful or two of peanut butter......wait, not a spoonful at a time but small bites, like eating it off a chopsticks. Taking small bites over a long period of times can somewhat quell your hunger and prevent from over eating. And the good thing is that peanut butter is rich with fats and calories...so your body gets the energy it needs. This works but not recommended if you plan to only eat peanut butter in one whole day. Eat ONE proper meal(breakfast or lunch), then lick the living hell out of that chopstick. Have I mentioned it?...no I have not.....PEANUT BUTTER TASTE GREAT TOO.

Quote from Black Lagoon, a anime...
"Amen Hallelujah Peanuts Butter...."

Wha.....what? I told you I was bored right? No need to let your jaw hanging wide reading this entry..."Wow, what the hell is Randy thinking, talking about peanut butter? Don't he have better stories to tell? "

Sigh....I'm bored and irritated. But don't mind me...this should be temporary. I'll be having loads of fun starting from Monday.


I'll be helping with organizing "Malaysian Night" this Monday. And see that cute Santa waving? Yeah, that'll be me in that Santa suit. Hope that I'll look ridiculous in that suit so that I'll have better things to blog than peanut butter.


Heh....I know that you'll want to try the peanut butter thing now.....do let me know the results.

Simple acts of kindness.

>stevelee
haha....yeah, and I really do have the experience of "accidentally" entering the girls shower room once...

>calvin
Let's generalize by...no one yelling out vulgarities when someone bang into them...
Or I should have instead said that Japs will apologize if you bang into them....as if it is their fault for getting in your way. 3 years here and I'm still speechless when someone apologize to me when it is my fault...

>liyin
Sadly, no snow at my place.....and besides it's quite dangerous skating on a pond...no matter how frozen solid it may look.

>kelly
Oh....ok, it must have been that you forget to get his phone number and you blame yourself for it. =)
And uhh.....don't have to worry bout skating with me. I only scare japanese, they apologize when I scare them...malaysians however.....

>ns29
Seeing how the kids there were laughing out when they fall, kinda wasted that you didn't get your share of the fun of falling down....
Anyway, the best way for your leg to heal faster after skating is to wear a skirt....most girls I know will definitely agree to this. So...you should try it out too....

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Had another outing last Sunday. This time, I went to Tokyo to attend a meeting discussing Malaysian Night that is to be held this 24th. Anyway, I was at Ueno Station, quite a big ass station with 20 train lines or so, lots of restaurants and shops around..kinda like a small town rather than a train station (please take a moment to reminisce about train stations in Malaysia)......ok, so you get my point, it's a big station.

So, while I was there, I saw a lost foreigner, the kind that
looks at his paper....
gets on an escalator.....
gets off after it carried him up a step....
looks at paper again....
gets on another escalator....
jumps off...

There's gotta be like, more than 40 escalators there...it'll take him one whole day to complete the "Ueno Stairmaster Challenge" so I took pity on him and offered help. He must have been in quite a hurry because he forgot to show how surprise he is at my english proficiency (Not being a narcissist but in Japan, it's quite rare for an asian to be fluent in English )....he did remember to say thanks though...

Not long after helping a lost man, saw another man whose treacherous wallet escaped his pocket.But lucky for him as a lady in shining shoes picked his elusive wallet and returned it to the rightful owner. The owner smiled like a child holding two pop sickles.....and also bowed an exact 90°...

Seeing these simple acts of kindness (performing it myself), the area around me suddenly seems brighter....the air around feels lighter....there are springs in my shoes and I bounce with joy as I walk. Made me realize that it's been quite a long time since I've seen any kindness around me....and never knew that such simple things such as that could brighten up someone's day.

But just as I began having hopes for mankind, the other Malaysians whom I were suppose to meet were late for the appointment and my dreams shattered to a million pieces.....sigh...

But lets forgive and forget shall we? Nobody's perfect after all.....especially Malaysians when it comes to punctuality.

Anyway, took a few random pics around tokyo...took it from my handphone...


Christmas tree outside a department store....
Have any of you pondered on the connection between Santa Claus and a decorated pine tree? And how did the Santa down the chimney story started? And what about the socks? Hmm....

Once upon a time, there was a fat, bearded man named San Taclaus. He sells deer and have a ranch behind his home. But someone discovered cows so business was bad. So he decided to start a chimney cleaning service and did advertisement by decorating a pine tree outside his house. And for every tenth customer, he gives them presents.....and he was famous because everyone was amazed at how he manage to keep his beard white even after cleaning the dirtiest chimney. But he always dirties his socks so he keeps many pair and hangs them on the wall.....and oh, his birthday falls on the 25th December....


Saw a sign saying "Roof Garden".....it's as boring as what you see in the pic....and that's not even real grass. You can't get a good view of the city as they blocked the sides with fences....and it was cold. What a total waste of time.


Went for dinner at Wendy's. Ordered a Super Mega Cheeseburger....
It's a three pieces of beef with two pathetic slices of bread to cover em'....didn't enjoy my meal because it's just like eating a large chunk of meat(can't taste anything else). Good for hungry people or those who plan to commit suicide by heart attack. Shouldn't have ordered it.....

The week that was...

>Stevelee
Yeah..I know. ALL glass are transparent....won't be a special thing to have one at Tokyo Tower.

>kelly
Sigh....still, I think that you would've had different opinion on ski had you a handsome young doctor that look like whichever movie star that you like to spend the new year with...

>ns29
Didn't you know? Japan's food is sooo healthy that instant noodles isn't considered junk food! You need to eat more McD's...drink more coke and eat potato chips to change my opinion about you.....

>dam
Hmm...I have no idea why they built a Calvin there. Seems to have no purpose....

>lyk
We've met so much that stuff here must be old for you....but keep reading anyways!!

>chong shen
YO dude....haven't heard from you for a long time! Anyway, yeah....do drop by here...lots of great place. Gonna be here for another 2 years...do come within 2 years if you want a free guide cum translator.

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The weather here have changed it's address to winter for quite a while now. So....what have Randy been doing so far? Eat lots and lots to prepare for hibernation? No, of course not! I'm not a bear....I'm a crab(My nickname during my high school days) remember? As a crustacean....I have faithfully done what nature intended for me in winter. So, until now, I have participated in a doubles badminton tournament and went for ice-skating.


Look closely....it's a half-gold medal.....

Half-gold medal here means that I got 2nd place. The finals match was a close one. We lost the 1st round by 3 points...won the 2nd round...and lost the 3rd round by 2 points. Although I lost, my team made the opponent work hard for it....and thus the half-gold medal. If I've been slaughtered (Lost the game like a helpless sheep being led to the butcher)......then I would have gotten a full silver medal. So, you can see here that they've awarded me for the valiant fight I put up.

So....how did I celebrate my half-gold win? I went for ice skating....


For those who understands Japanese, you might have noticed the 一般女性 (Ladies) sign at the bottom right of the ticket but this is not a fake nor have I bought the wrong ticket. And NO...I didn't go there dressed up as a girl. It's just that they only had this ticket for some reason....Maybe the guys keep wandering into the ladies changing room by "accident"...so, the manager(must be a guy also) printed the Ladies ticket to give us guys an "excuse".


Found this "lost and found" showcase....displayed are items like gloves, shoes, handbags....HANDBAGS!! This involuntarily made me think about Malaysia. Would take a miracle + Buddha working there to display a handbag in "lost and found" in Malaysia.


A skating rink....Very different from the one in Sunway Piramid.

The surface doesn't melt, so you don't get wet and cold even after falling 26 times....not that I fell though. My junior fell....and I just happen to drop in in time to say "congratulations!" every time.
Another different thing here is that there's no one behaving badly.....like laughing at people who fell (except me) ...pushing other people so that they fall (except me) ....or skate very closely to other people and scare them when you suddenly emerge from behind (except me again). Yeah....I'm a naughty boy. But what else do you expect me to do there? Spent 3 hours there doing nothing but going round and round and round the same small place...It's not like I'm not a goldfish in a bowl (once again, I'm a crab. I have fun going sideways, not in circles) so, that was the only fun I could think of at that time....hehe.

But the best part is that no Malaysian yelling out vulgarities when others bang into them....not even the ones that dressed up like "Ah Beng".

The thing about people who dress up like "Ah Beng.....I just don't understand them. They are willing to take the trouble to make their hair, which is kind of the over-exaggerated type, and pants wore very very low to show people what brand their boxers are. How the hell are you going to skate with pants wore that low? Oh...sorry though, no pics of them. Cameras are forbidden inside the rink you see...

Went back feeling very tired but it was a fun day.

Sigh...thank god I'm not born to hibernate during winter.

Autumn....season of the red leaves

>Kelly
Yeah....I worked very hard for them. There was once where I waited with my arm outstretched for a whole 2 minutes before being able to snap a decent shot.

>stevelee
Don't think I want it. There's a guys in that video....you can have it.

>Clem
Hmm...you may be right, but there's that "running jaguar" symbol at the front.....

>MayC
Wow......you know my taste for girls. even I myself don't know exactly what I like!! you must tell me more....

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YES....I know it's already December and it is winter...and I also know that this blog is long overdue. But I also know that you all miss autumn and red maple leafs.....so here it is. I didn't really manage to get any great shots but hope that it'll do.

The place that we've been to this time is　竜神峡(pronounced ryuujinkyou） which means Gorge of the Dragon God, and 袋田滝(fukurodataki) which means.....umm....Waterfall at a umm...paddy field of bags. Or sacks of rice on paddy field waterfall....you make the decision which sounds better.

The special thing about 竜神峡 is that they have a long bridge that connects the gap between two mountains....and that's it. It doesn't leads to anywhere....good view from above though. And as for 袋田滝, they have ...well, a waterfall. Said to be the 3rd best waterfall in Japan. Before you go "OOOooohhhh....Wahhh...." , there's something you should know. The title "3rd best" don't really means 3rd best....you see, every prefecture in Japan have their own "3rd best". For example, there's a "3rd best" park is here in my place....whereas the park near my friends, is also "3rd best". BUT....but the view at 袋田滝 is great nonetheless.

Anyway here's the pics...


View from the hanging bridge at 竜神峡.


The dam at the bottom. There's a river that goes along very beautiful ravine behind it. Just wished they had a kayaking rental service. Would be great to experience autumn on a kayak.


This is ......must I say it? Okay...this is a bridge.


More view from the bridge.....nice spanning view eh? You don't get too much of this in Tokyo.


From the front....
Girl who don't drink Coke...don't eat McD...don't eat potato chips....drinks green tea. She's the nightmare of any fast food/drink companies.
Girl who loves eating and is not afraid of putting on weight...she actually brought a pack of potato chips there!! Who on earth would......okay, there are all kind of people in the world
Boy whose cooking looks like rubbish but is worshipped by my tongue
Boy whose cooking looks nice but taste like rubbish.....yes, he shares kitchen with the previous one.
Boy who once used to crap(not sh*tting but talk nonsense) a lot but have lost touch somehow .


They've put a piece of transparent glass at the bridge. Japanese mostly avoid this piece of glass for fear of breaking the glass and discovering that Newton's law is true.....


They've put a piece of transparent glass at the bridge. Foreigners usually fight among each other to stand on this piece of glass and try to confirm "In case of emergency, glass breaks"......or was it "....break glass"

Anyway, here's something funny. There are numerous transparent glass along the bridge and this is the second one. Jap tourist mostly walks past the first one without too much comment or pointing. But when we stop to chat about this piece of glass, we're suddenly surrounded by jap tourist who ...for some reason...got very interested of this and started making comments like "Wahh....it's so scary!" ..."I wonder if I would fall through if I stood on it?" .... and such...

Makes me wonder, why are they striving so hard to look cute? I mean, they could have done the same at the first piece of glass but they had to bring their "cuteness" over to us at the second piece.


See the dragon mural painted at the back? That's the dragon god. No history or folklore about this place. I suspect that they held a meeting and decided to name this place "Gorge of the Dragon God" during the time when Dragon Ball were famous......what a knockoff.....


This place houses bells. There's a coin box inside and the bells will ring if you put in 300 yen. There's three type of rhythms to choose from.....love, happiness and peace. They all sound the same though.


here's another look at the bridge.


May not look so but the view here really is nice...and oh, the pathway you see in the pic, they lead down to the dam.


This one is nicely taken I think. Any comments on this, Clement?



some yellow maple leafs...


The lake at the bottom. There was a man painting this scenery. Tried to take his pic but the sun was in the way and I couldn't get a good shot.


One last look at the bridge...


At 袋田滝. One of the nicer views I've seen this year. Couldn't take any other pics cause we stopped for late lunch along the way and by the time we reached the falls, it was too dark to take any blog worthy pics....but trust me when I say this place is superb for autumn.

All thanks to Hafizah(Fellow Malaysian in my college) for arranging this outing. Looking forward to the ski trip I'm going this 27th....SNOW!! SKI!!! SNOWMAN!!....YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!