Holiday
New Japan pictures
Jun 14th
Haven’t added anything to my travel album in some time – haven’t really been taking that many photos in my recent trips to Japan. I brought my new camera this time round, though, and managed to take more shots.
(Also visited a Ninja park over there, which was really fun, even if it’s decidedly targeted at children.)
Food photography in Japan
Jun 3rd
So I was recently in Japan again, and I took the chance to try out my new camera (I’ve since got a proper lens for it). I’m still not experimenting very much, but even when using the camera as an advanced point-and-shoot, the results are definitely better than pre-DSLR days. This S$500 is turning out to be a really good investment!
Yakiniku
Katsu curry
Back from Japan
Dec 28th
So I’m home now. Have been back for some days already, actually, but only just started feeling like I needed to update the blog.
I really didn’t do very much this trip, although this time I did follow Ailin to her shougakkou (elementary/primary school) as Santa Claus. Little Japanese kids are actually really cute – especially when decked in their little chef outfits when serving kyushoku (school lunch). I had lunch with this bunch of rascals (ninensei, or second years, I think), and though I had absolutely no clue what they were saying (aside from trying to teach me the ichi-ni-sans of Japanese counting), it was relatively enjoyable. Until the whole class started swarming me for presents, anyway. That was scary. And funny. All at the same time!
While doing some browsing in the supermarkets I came across a section of gift meats for the festive season. This consisted nicely packaged meats. What a delightful concept! Imagine receiving a gift box of six chunks of beef, turkey, ham, etc. ready for roasting. I suppose maybe the giver might be hinting for you to host a dinner party. Not something you’ll find in Singapore (I think). I don’t remember ever seeing stuff like that in the UK either…
It might well be the last time I’m travelling while having that funky KrisFlyer Elite Gold status, and though it seems I’ll never be getting any free upgrades on these super-full flights between Singapore and Tokyo, I’ve been making good use of the airport lounges. I went to check out United Airlines’ lounge. It was very big, and had these super-cool automated beer machines, but all in all I liked ANA’s lounge better. We eventually relocated to ANA’s lounge, where Ailin pointed out something that I didn’t notice – the fishcake in their udon had ANA’s logo stamped onto it. Funny stuff.
Japan the Third
Apr 30th
Again, too lazy to actually blog about the trip in detail, so here’re the (partially annotated) photos. Didn’t do too much travelling this time, actually, but strangely enough the photos still piled up.
Junk foods of Japan
Apr 29th
I didn’t really eat out that much while I was in Japan this time, but I did try some of the weird stuff they sell in the supermarkets (and the local McDonald’s).
The only reason McDonald’s made it to the list is that this burger, the Teriyaki McBurger, tastes exactly like (my memory of) the Samurai burger, a limited-time item that was available sometime in the early 90s (I think. Maybe the late 80s?) and once again in the late 90s. (again, I think. It’s not like I keep a record of these limited-time burgers!)
Basically, it’s just a simple burger with a beef patty (Japan uses a sausage patty I think), some lettuce, and teriyaki sauce – and I’m lovin’ it!
I’ve recently become a fan of corn chips, and here in Japan they must of course have wasabi-flavoured Doritos chips. Sadly, it wasn’t particularly good, but it was interesting. As were those Pizza-la (a local pizza chain) tie-up ones I’d tried – yes, they are branded under both Pizza-la and Doritos!
Now this is just weird. They had some special edition (I think) black sesame cereal thingy and I thought I should try something Japanese for my breakfast cereal needs (yes, traditionally Japanese I know) as opposed to sticking to Crunchy Nut. Again, pretty interesting, but not something I’ll eat on a regular basis =P
Maybe I should do a better junk food catalogue when I’m next in Japan! Then again, it’s not really something I’d want to deliberately set out doing… Having proper food seems a lot more enticing, somehow.
Still alive
Apr 14th
Here’s a shot from Miyajima, just to let everyone know that, well, I’m still alive. =D
I think I’m done with travelling around Japan for this trip (not that I’ve done very much of travelling – just a weekend trip to Hiroshima, and more recently another busy weekend going to Yokohama for a Jack Johnson gig). It’s been exciting enough, but I think I’m kinda drained from it all (Old already, no more stamina for all this moving about).
Plus, I really need to get working on my project…
So, guess I’ll just be bumming around (and hopefully doing some readings and statistical analyses) in my remaining two weeks in Japan. Doesn’t sound too bad, really.
Japan redux
Jan 16th
A picture speaks a thousand words, so here’s my 166k word essay about my recent trip.
Also – 2 video clips, not particularly exciting, but I figured I’ll upload them so I can delete them from my hard drive =P
The sloth, it moves!
The bonito flakes, they move!
Hmm. I see a certain pattern with those videos. All about stuff moving. Oh well. I wonder how many words a video speaks?
Old holiday pics
Dec 11th
In the true spirit of procrastination I’ve added some captions to my more recent holiday albums, so. Err. Yeah. Check them out if you like, I suppose?
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| Japan |
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| Netherland |
And away we go!
Aug 31st
I’ll be off to Japan tomorrow to join Ailin (and kill the remainder of my summer holidays), with a brief two-day stopover at Bangkok first (since I’m flying by Thai Airways, the stopover was practically free).
I haven’t really planned what to do in Japan (Ailin has done more homework than me, for that), but here’s some stuff I’m hoping to do in Bangkok.
-Watch a Muay Thai match
-Get a Thai massage
-Ride a tuk-tuk
-Take a canal boat
-See, uh, Thai stuff
-Visit (and shop) at Chatuchak weekend market
-Take a peek at the red-light district
-Slack
Quite happening lah huh? Hopefully I’ve changed enough money for everything. I’m hoping to live like a king for the next 2 days =P
Weekend break
Jun 5th
(I’ve just made some (backdated) posts about my Poland/Hungary and Scotland trips, you can check them out as well.)
Back from Stonehenge! Pictures up here, and Kenny’s got a post on it too, but anyway here’s my summary of it all.
Lester just returned from his stint in Tanzania, so he, Kenny and I decided to make a short road trip to Stonehenge. In a nutshell, it was pretty interesting, quite nice to look at, but probably a little overhyped. I would still go, but definitely do not expect an earth-shattering monument.
I’d never actually seen, or even heard, of the white horse hill figures before this trip. They’re essentially just giant markings on the ground, made prominent with chalk. Kinda useless, but pretty fun to look at.
Come to think of it, I’ve never actually touched a cow before, either. The three of us spent quite some time trying to entice them with grass, but it was a futile task – considering that we were hardly the only source of grass in the vicinity.
We stayed over at Bath, which was really very pretty. The University of Bath would actually have been my third choice after York and UCL, and it was kinda interesting to see the place I could have been spending my university years at. I concluded that I’d probably have liked staying there, actually. York’s still lovely, of course =P
Finally, a rushed dinner at Kenny’s place in Cambridge, before I scooted off to catch my train(s) home.
All in all a very fulfilling trip, it kinda makes me miss home more, actually. All the people I haven’t seen for quite awhile… Oh well. Just three weeks more…