"Mao" and Jerry as claimed by my little boyfriend.

PS21

@ HDB Hub

Having some fun at the STB booth as we while away the hours before our next seminar. The guy at manning the booth must have been pretty irritated as we insisted on taking photos with ALL the scenes available before releasing him for his lunch. lalalalla~~

- Gardens by The Bay -

- Aerial View of the IR-

- What Marina Bay wil look like next yr -

(cant remember what that lotus thingy at the BLHS is..some art/science musuem?)

- Flyer -
*yawn*

- Another shot of the Future of Marina Bay -
(no, we are not pests!)

- Fireworks -

- Durian..i mean..The Esplanade -

- Clarke Quay -

"I wanna get a diet coke cuz I'm going on a diet!" *rubs belly*

My manager's Primary 3 kid said this to make me get him a drink. HAHHAHA kids are sooo cute! How could I not fulfil his wish? We had our family day at Waraku and The Minds Cafe last friday. (I HATE MY BOSS) Waraku's having this awesome promo which gives you 100% rebate on your bill when using OCBC cards. Which basically means that you get your bill amount back in the form of cash vouchers. This way, you can go back and simply eat for free! Not bad a deal huh. But this also means I've got to arrange for another dinner soon for my colleagues. Oh well, i'm pretty cool with it as long as my managers bring their kids along again. *beams* It was really a brilliant decision to extend the invitation to their kids otherwise the whole family day's gonna be sooo boring. I can totally imagine it. Although I did almost lose my voice during my short childcare service, it was totally enjoyable. The weekday promo by The Mind's Cafe is pretty attractive too. Just $5+ per pax and you get to enjoy 2pm-6pm of game time and free flow of drinks! (I HATE MY BOSS)

Now pictures of the cute (disastrous) lil boys!

Waraku's staff gave them toy guns as gifts and that started the terrorist streak in them >.<

*Abel, Benjamin*

btw, Benjamin's the one responsible for the diet coke dieting regime

Die and let die!

I shall spare you if you exchange your green gun with my gross pink one!

Andre (Abel's lil bro) seems so sad even with his special ice-cream. To see him yearn to play with his bro even when he's getting bullied half the time just gets to me. Kinda reminds me of Amir and Hassan in The Kite Runner. Pretty addicted to that book right now. Its the sole culprit for my lateness to work everyday.

It was all quiet for a while then suddenly Benjamin and Abel appeared with a whole stack of Waraku fans in their hands and started distributing to everyone. SO CUTEEE!!

Lastly, here's Bryan (Benjamin's lil bro). He got tired of the plain vanilla ice-cream. So he stuck a chopstick into the ice-cream and made coke float!

these days

my mind is a battlezone

i cant come to terms with myself

seems like listression's here to stay

darn

....

so need to keep my temper in check

Nirgendwo in Afrika

Which essentially means Nowhere in Africa. Just finished reading this autobiography of Stefanie Zewig's life in Kenya, Africa. Being Jews during the Nazi regime, her family was one of the lucky few who managed to escape to another country, in this case, Africa. This wasnt the beginning of salvation, as understood by many. These were dislocations and sacrifices illustrating the upheavals and pain suffered by those who were "saved". The family was treated as outsiders, outcasts, enemy aliens when the war between Germany and Great Britain broke out. Despite numerous strains and obstacles, the family survived to see the end of the war.

I was particularly attracted to the bond between Owuor and the family. Owuor, a native Kenyan, was the loyal houseboy of the family. Walter (father) started off as a tenant farmer in Rongai, where he met and was taken care by Owuor when he came down with malaria. After some time, Walter got the opportunity to serve in the army and the family moved to Nairobi. Owuor actually ran away from the farm and his family to Nairobi in search of his bwana, memsahib and memsahib kidogo. Regina (this should be the role of Stefanie) adapted very well and quickly to Kenya, learning Swahili and Jaluo, understanding the African culture and got very attached to Owuor, who is her best friend. As a matter of fact, the Jewish family will not be able to survive without Owuor's help. Owuor is as attached to the family as he is to them. Ironically, he has a huge family of own (three wives and numerous children whom he rarely sees but supports with his earnings as a houseboy), which he abandons so that he continue to serve the Jewish family. Owuor does not read or write nor does he understand the german or english language. However, he is able to understand the family's intentions, thoughts and actions very accurately. I guess this is what they call "seeing and listening with your heart instead of your eyes and ears". Alas, there is a parting at every end, the family found a way to go back to Germany, their homeland. Before Walter found the chance to break the news to Owuor, the latter had already decided to run away from the family in the middle of the night. Owuor knew all along. It just breaks my heart to know that Owuor and the family will be separated forever.

So gonna search for the movie now!

The world as such..

thru the eyes of a child

Went for a tour visit of SAFRA Jurong this sunny afternoon. What a brilliant idea to spend away a lazy Friday afternoon of work right? Kudos to our dear manager! *yipee* Anyway, I was pretty surprised at the scale of SAFRA Jurong. A pleasant surprise actually, since I have in my hands Mei-bf's SAFRA member card. hohoho! But my hopes were dashed when the person-in-charge told me the sad fact that single females are not entitled to membership. How am I going to fulfil my brilliant plan of sneaking in and leeching on their tantalising facilities then? *sulk* Oh well, its okay, its alright..let me devise my evil little plan B. I'll come up with something soon. *beams*

Nice pools, empowering gym facilities, yummy snack outlets all around, tennis court, childcare centre, not to mention KBox. These are what all clubs should, or rather, must have. Basic foundation needs of the pyramid. What really attracted me was the Magnificent KidsAmaze (i think it was something along those lines) and BazGym.

Anyway, KidsAmaze is this 3 storey high playground for kids whereby moms/dads/ahgongs(who occupies a much higher percentage of the consumer demographics, according to my observation this afternoon) can just drop theirs kids off here while they get busy with whatever adult stuff is required. Best part is, this maze playground is actually pretty fun for young peeps like me too! Though it might be a wee lil bit tough to scurry thru all those tiny openings and climbing up the ladder roofy. Why do I know that? Cuz this cute lil boy, Ryan (which i hooked up at the maze), insisted on bringing me around the maze and showing me every single gadget the playground has to offer. I almost had my limbs entangled while following him around. He seems to be so familiar with everything. The playground PIC should well make him the ambassodor. I was just telling Monica how beneficial this facility may have on the kids and not just the parents. Firstly, psycho-motor skills should be way advanced by now. Courage and dare-to-try attitude may be developed as well. Not to mention social activeness and speech. Kids will also be able to make many new friends (which is pretty impt in a concrete, close-up and individualistic environment like ours now. Take myself for instance, I dont remember making many friends in my HDB estate simply cuz my mom didnt allow me to play outside with the other street kids. So when ppl talk about losing sentimental value when moving house, it doesnt really bother me. I'll probably just miss the attached and comfortable feeling of knowing my directions. Oh btw, back to the maze playground, they have this long spiraling tubeslide which is F.U.N! The speed at which I slid down was a lil off my expectation. I even let out a yelp unexpectedly. Hmmm...wondering whether this speed is safe for lil kids (who probably will slide down much faster than me)? Oh well, kids are kids. They will survive anything thats spells fun.

Another one which I had my eyes glued and jaws dropped was BazGym which houses olympic-liked gymnastic facilities for kids all thru to adults. They are only accessible to course takers though, which should be the way. Otherwise, we can expect to see the papers' headlines offering free advertisements to the gym already. Pretty interesting courses for young kids to train their flexibility, posture and psycho-motor skills. So parents, dump ballet and piano, consider gymnastics. How cool is that? But thinking about it, 'cool' is probably only apt on surface value. I had a quick try at the easiest equipment i thought of, the trampoline. o_0..really is not as easy as it seems. Hmmmm, but I belive it all boils down to whether you dare to do it. Should you have the courage to try. You will eventually master it, no matter how many times you fail (why the hell should you care about how many times you fail anyway?). However, should you dont even dare to take the first step, it will always seem like an impossible dream whereby only god-sent kids with extraordinary talents are able to do it. But, kids being kids, they will probably not think twice (maybe not even once) and just do it. Sometimes, adults do need to learn from kids. Why cant we just go ahead and flow with with our gut feel? Why the hell do we need to think so much all the freaking time? Whats the point of all those contigencies and what-ifs when you arent even gonna take the first step out of your comfort zone? Those plan B/C/D/E/F/G are just devised as mere deterrence so as to possess that fine excuse of staying within your comfortable box and living that monotonous, boring life of yours.

So all in all, moral of the story is to embrace the 2 best sports brands of the millenium

> 'Just do it'

> 'Impossible is Nothing'

Much as girls adore diamond rings, I do not really fancy dark eye rings.

4 more hours of precious sleep before Netballuxion. Oh seriously, I'm crapped.

DayTwo

Nihon Genki Yo!

Kobe, Sannomiya

Rise and shine cuz the early bird's the one which catches the worm! So that's the same for us. In order to ensure that we catch the JR train to Kobe, we decided to arrive at the train station at 5.30am. *yawn*

Yup, the train's departing at 6.30am, but we had decided 1 hr in advance should be just fine. That's kiasu singaporeans for you. Well, we had initially intended to allow us some buffer time to get lost trying to find the train station and also to figure out the mind-boggling transport network. Seems like we're pretty street smart after all. *beams*

Mister patiently queueing for the train which probably was scheduled to arrive like 1hr later? But that's the commendable thing about Japanese, they are so darn orderly. My jaw hung open for quite a while when I saw how they queued for trains. Or rather, *ahem*, we were frowned upon when we conveniently (and happily) trudged (unknowingly) into the train without queueing.

Here comes the train, but nahhh..not ours. Luckily the train conductor stopped us, otherwise who knows where we'll end up at. =X

Comeon now, Everybody in orderly twos for the approaching train!

We see the world in our shadows (:

TrainConductor-san dressed up ever so smartly for his train.

I dont know if its me or he's trying real hard to avoid us. Probably cuz we bothered him with too many questions. =X

Hah! Our Train to Kobe finally reached! Off to Kobe we go!

And I've come to appreciate (maybe totally-adore will be a more apt) my JR Rail Pass. No need for confusing ticket purchases. Just flash and go! And judging by the number of JR trips we took, it's so damn worth it! $439 (for a period of 7 days) well spent! The only low point probably accrued to Japan's much-too-established train network. Its quite impossible to avoid taking other types of train other than the JR. So, we still had to fork out a lil bit of money for the subways, skytrains and whatnots.

We bought this cheap and PRETTY bento set at a convenience stall near the train station. We took great care not to splurge on stuff within the train station as it generally screams EXPENSIVE! Well, this bento set isnt exactly that cheap either. Okay, maybe its cheap for average Japanese standards? Anyways, we decided to watch our wallet and our weight (at the same time, much forcibly). Hence, we are sharing the bento set.

The admirable thing point about Japanese is that they are able to make potray every single thing as a piece of art. Even their staple food look so pretty and It sure makes one think twice about consumption

A Japanese we chat up told us about Nunobikinotaki (which is translated to mean : Nunobiki Waterfalls). Since its extremely near the Kobe JR Stn and we had to ride another subway train before reaching our Kobe Hostel, we decided on a crazy itinerary, ie. Trek Nunobikinotaki with our baggage and all before crashing at our hostel.

Here marks the start of our little morning nature trek. How healthy~ Oh gawd, the mere look at the inclination of the slope makes us kinda regret our hastily sponteneous decision. However, a decision made is an action to be completed! So off we continueeee..

Along with many other ojiisans and obaasans (all walking at a pace much faster than ours) *covers face and runs to hide* errr..It must be my heavy luggage weighing me down! *blames it all on the extra baggage* 0_o


Finally caught sight of our first waterfall! And to laoshu's dismay, there're 3 (i think) more to go. This means more walking and higher risk of getting crushed flat by our backpacks. We had niavely thought that the mere act of trekking ard with our backpacks would be sufficient training for our Kinabalu Climb. =X Oh well, we did make it back alive and in one piece right?

Mini Niagara Falls?

Japanese do love dogs, i realised. Just like Taiwanese and Americans, for that matter. You can almost find every Japanese family to own a doggie. And the best part is, they are able to walk their dogs almost everywhere in town. Okay, maybe not so much for Japanese. But Taiwanese and American malls usually allow pets. I was quite surprised when I was surrounded by doggies while shopping in a mall in LA. I still remembered playing with this chihuahua while on board a domestic flight in California. Hmmm, I wonder whether that chihuahua requires an air ticket for itself?




A pretty serene place to spend your lazy mornings, isnt it? Does resemble Taiwan, Hualien's Taroko Gorge a wee lil bit.

After quite a while of walking, we came across this cool bridge with vines coiling all around it. I was pretty excited to see where it will lead to eventually. A pity, i saw the dead end a lil too soon.

I think this is the map of the the whole trail?

Seems like Laoshu is doing pretty okay on one of the many MANY stairways packaged in the trail.

Up, up and away..with his bike?? I'm already like dying with my backpacks choking me! Hmmm..I guess my backpacks may be heavier than his mountain bike?

Looks like Laoshu isnt doing so well already. ascending slopes everywhere, rahhh!

Here comes defending champ...Worm Slayer! *claps*

Then comes the ultimate black horse...Wormy Warrior!

Round 1 ... FIGHT!

Wormy Warrior : You think you big-size, I scared izzit?!! *Pow! Bam! Wham! Slammm!*

And the winner of the World Worm Grand Slam goes to...*drumrolls*...Wormy Warrior!! *claps*

Well, we need to get our mind off the long long road ahead of us, dont we?


Just another 0.6km more to go! susu!

The Dam! The summit is near! I can just hear it calling out my name!

We made it! Hurray! '

(did i mention I so hate stairs now?)

Just a little lesson on Kobe's water supply system, which is cleverly demonstrated in this reservoir park.

Hmmm...I guess this should be the name of the founder?

Obviously, mating insects feeds on our interest

Tranquility of the reservoir

After much time resting in admiration of the reservoir, our eyes caught sight of stairs again! sighhhh

When there's up, there have to be down. So reaching the summit also spells descent for us. As can be seen from the map, cable car service is available but (sad to say), at quite an exorbitant figure. So...being a shoestring backpacker, we decided to embrace the closeness of nature...walk!

The adventurelust in us decided to abandon the average route everybody takes and try out a new trail. Life is boring enough. Sometimes, just a simple turn into the vast uncertainty can spark off some fun and excitement. But, we soon realised that there's a reason why everybody follows that designated route. We landed ourselves on a desolate vehicle road. So what if we are so darn lost?! There is still fun in every corner and we dont even have to look that hard.

Morning view of Kobe Inner City coupled with Carp kites signifying the Festival of Little Boys. Yet, we totally missed it, sighhh. Give me some cute little boys! errmm..sounds abit paedophilic here.

Time for some artsy fartsy wild snaptures before working out poor feet again...

- turning to your fate -

- lone backpacker -

yes, laoshu is pretty tired of this long, dejected road which apparently seems to lead to nowhere.

- desolation -

But every road will lead us to somewhere, always.

and tada! we were led to Uozaki Stn - the home of my fav hostel in Japan - Kobe Dears Backpacker's Hostel.

Introducing the long road into this quiet neighbourhood, which I heavily depend on when searching for my way back to the hostel

And we are probably the only ppl who actually walk to the Train Station, obviously!

Yup! We made it back to civilisation and its time to feed our growling tummies. Got recommended to this bento shop by dear Satoshi-san *awwwwww* (this cute guy at our hostel). Such a brilliant recommendation for backpackers alike. Cheap and good and did I mention large portions of food for the price paid too! This guy seems to be the only one manning the shop which means he's the chef, cashier, runner, packer and whatever other roles that might be needed. Pretty solid one-leg-kicking skills.

Best thing is, this bento shop is just a stone's throw away from our hostel (Kobe Dears Backpacker's Hostel) and all the other sake breweries! Oh i so love Kobe!

just look at THIS! oh man, i'm hungry again!

seems like laoshu is enjoying her brunch! and we so love that black weird appetizer bento boxes usually have. In case you're wondering which alfresco restaurant we are dining at, its the most luxurious smoking bench outside the Sake Factory (yeah, the one that serves free sake samples). With food, wine, alfresco setting and natural aircon, what more can we ask for? *beams*

In a blink of the eye, our bentoboxes turned to this. Devilishly delicious! And best of it all, its such a great value for money!

Yup, this is our fav place of Kobe! wahhaha!! FREE SAKE SAMPLING! and funny old ojiisan who kept filling our glasses with all kinds of sake. I had to tell him STOP like so many times. After a while, he started all over again. Oh mann, i love the yuzu sake!

Time to switch on our brains and start our little sake learning journey. They have a whole series of pictures and equipment illustrating the differences between the traditional and modernised sake production. They even showed a film about sake production, its benefits, history and modern japanese culture. quite cool, though my the first thought that came to my mind was CHAIRS FOR MY ACHING LEGS!!

as you can see, the tour is pretty interactive. Well, i dont really remember seeing a "No Touching" sign. Okay fine, even if there really is one, I wouldnt understand it anyway. lalala~

This shows the modernised and high-techy method of sake production. The machines are basically doing what I'm demonstrating in the above and below pic - grinding of rice and sedimentation

Sedimentation of fermented rice in the olden days.

Just a few of the vast sake collection of this factory

" Hmmm..so you mean there's more sake factories around the area?! More FREE activities?! yuppieee!!"

Pretty flowers of Kobe unite!

anyway, the one on the bottom left hand corner resembles those flowers in Alice in Wonderland!

Come some bustling night life at Ikuta Road! Where we roam around in search for the legendary KOBE BEEF (which we probably would have a hard time debating whether we should showhand just for that miserable piece of heavenly beef).

kooooobeeeeeeeeee beeeeeeef!!!!!! *uncontrollable salivation* Its so hard to convince myself that such paper thin slices of beef costs such a freaking bomb! But the way they packaged it does kinda shout out its unbelievable price tag to me. omg, i'm gonna faint! definitely must try kobe beef! But no, this shop does not offer cooked ones. Search still in progress.

And then we obviously wandered into this international food street where they sell all kinds of cuisines but Japanese! -___-" While concentrating hard zooming in on the stall menus, I got stopped by this weird chinese/japanese/korean/just-some-weird-nationality and he started chatting! I tried telling him (at least 10 times) that i'm not interested in cuisines other than japanese and that i'm in a damn rush for my long overdued dinner but to no avail. And laoshu is nowhere to be found. Now I know she's off in a corner, shooting papparazzi pictures.

We found Kobe Beef! i repeat, KOBE BEEF! As you probably guessed it, due to its high-class price tag, we decided to share. Taste like tataki beef! *slurrrppp*

The mere thought of a need for such regulation does give me the spooks. Means that its pretty dangerous to be a lady at the train station, even at 5pm?!

Takopachi van right outside Uozaki Train station! Supper? heeheee! "Hello stunned-bro, so much food on your hands already still buying takopachi?!!"