Japan - Day 20 - Dinner at Kaoru's with the UCSD Japanese Students

I had dinner yesterday with the UCSD Japanese exchange students. It was so nice to see them all again. Like a mini I House reunion! Kaoru cooked a really impressive dinner for us. I wanna learn how to make nikujaga. Shall go back to Singapore and try. Hehe. Its really a pity that most of the Japanese students were so busy when I first came, and now that they're freer (and going on a trip, no less) I'm already going back to Singapore. Oh well. For the millionth time, people have said to me "all good things come to an end", and "treasure the memories that you have". I will!


Pre-dinner assembly. Left to right: Kaoru, Reina, Leonard (behind), Misako, Kohei, Alicia, Chihiro, me.


Really a spread. Nikujaga (my favourite), salami and crackers, tuna salad, beef patties with mushrooms, tuna salad and egg rolls. There was tonjiru too. Good job, Kaoru! -slurp-


Kanpai!


Reina, me, Misako, Kohei and Leonard all squeezed together on a bench.


Alicia and Chihiro.


Someone interrupting my timer shot :p


Last shot of the day. Left to right: Chihiro, me, Kohei, Misako, Kaoru (sitting down), Reina, Leonard, Tomo.

Niklas and Friends, June 2005

Niklas dug this out from somewhere and finally sent it to me. Memories of I House! This is his apartment, Kathmandu 202 which is directly above mine. Boy I look tiny beside all the caucasians.

Japan - Day 19 - Enoshima and Keio

Yesterday (Thursday), I met Tomo around lunchtime and we set off for Enoshima, a small island that's more on the outskirts and not so city-like. I was excited! It was nice to see sand, crabs and flowers again. After that we went to his university, the Fujisawa campus of Keio to attend a class. It was totally in Japanese and I was lost half of the time hehe. The classroom was so nice, it looked like a nicely designed house. The interior was lit with warm halogen lights and the set-up of the room was such that the professor and students can talk freely. Everyone knew each other. If only NUS could be like that too.

Will be meeting the UCSD japanese students tonight for dinner. Looking forward to it!


Walking across the bridge to reach Enoshima.


Tomo, posing for the camera. As Carine would say, "Waratte, warau, chi-zu!"


View of the island as we got closer. Looks kinda dreamy, enshrouded in fog.


Patches of moss covered rock exposed during low tide. Bet it'll be very nice to sit there at night.


Tiny crab in the palm of my hand. It can scuttle around really quickly. There were many hermit crabs around too.


Spider in its web. I wondered what was beneath/inside this white cottony patch on one of the walls. Tomo pried the thing open with a stick of some sorts to reveal that. I felt bad to destroy its web! But, it was really interesting to see this. Never seen this kind of spider web before.


I found out what these are called! Ajisai, and indeed they are hydrangeas. Apparently these bloom in full force during the rainy season, and since its been raining quite a lot recently, there are lots of them around.


Pretty, delicate flower :)


View from higher up. Its a nice bay area.


Last picture of the day with Tomo's friends. Left to right: Misayo, Kaori, me, Tomo, Jouko, and (his name is too long I can't remember :p).

Japan - Day 18 - Sunrise on Mount Fuji

Woke up on Wednesday at around 4am for the sunrise. It was so cool to see it rise above the clouds. And the warmth it brought to my frozen body was very welcome. Intended to maybe get a disposable camera but it costs 2500 yen! The guy reminded me that I could take pictures with my cell phone so I did. Don't expect any fantastic shots.

Prices rise as you climb further up the mountain. Decided to forgo the oxygen canister and settle for some pills that are supposed to increase your oxygen intake. I bought a cup of hot cocoa for the exorbitant price of 400yen (4usd) and enjoyed it while talking to some Canadians and the guy who worked at the rest hut. The Canadians, Anya and Jason, took some pictures for me which they're supposed to send me once they get back to Canada next week. Looking forward to that! And turns out that Isao, the guy who works there, also went on student exchange to North Carolina. I never thought there'd be so many exchange students everywhere.

Climbed from the 8th station to the peak (3776m) by myself. Told myself to keep going cos I knew I'd be very irritated with myself if I gave up halfway. I got so breathless cos the air was thin. It felt great to finally reach the top! Rewarded myself with a bowl of gyu-don (beef with rice) and a steaming bowl of miso soup. Hot food is such a blessing when you're cold!

We would have wanted to walk 1 round around the crater but the wind was way too strong. The stall owners advised us not to do it. Probably get blown into the crater, or off the mountain hehe. So we started back down. It was such a long way! Cos it was a different route from the way up. If you think about it it makes sense. On the way up, you can more or less take a direct route cos you're climbing up. On the other hand, walking down requires that you take a meandering, winding route. Going down sometimes felt more challenging than going up. It was all gravel and rocks, and the wind kept blowing rocks and sand at us so we got pelted painfully. I had a black face by the time I reached the bottom! And sand in my nose, ears and mouth. But it was all worth it in the end. I strongly recommend climbing Mt Fuji to everyone. Though its definitely tiring, I believe its do-able for everyone as long as you're in a reasonable state of health. The peak awaits you!


The glow from the rising sun.


Looking at the brightening sky over the rooftop. The lava stones on top help to keep it from being blown away by the strong winds.


Sunrise.


Above the clouds.


One of the rest houses along the way up.


Valerie, mountain climber! This should be somewhere between the 8th and 9th station.


Rocky terrain.


Looking up.


Almost there! This is the last gate before the summit.


Finally arrived at the peak. The guy I climbed with helped me take this picture. Never caught his name but he told me he's 34 years old. It was nice cause we were encouraging each other along the way up.


Sign I saw at a eatery at the top of the mountain. We appliciate your behavior. Hahaha. Well this marked the end of our ascent. Only one way to go - down! And home.


My climbing partner Yosuke! Thanks for keeping me company, and stopping me from getting blown off the mountain.


My squished mineral water bottles. The thin air at the top, coupled with the increased air pressure at sea level, squeezed all the air out of them.

Japan - Day 17 - To Mount Fuji

On Tuesday afternoon, my friend Yosuke and I decided to climb Mt Fuji. It was such a last minute thing! We just upped and went. Took the 7.50pm bus from Shinjuku to the 5th station of Mount Fuji (2400m). We bought some food at the store before starting on the path up at 10.30pm. Man it was so dark I was scared! So we conveniently attached ourselves to some ojisans and obasans who had done the climb before and moved as a group. I was really unused to the darkness at first. There was really zero light except for the weak rays from our torches. As I walked along though, it started to feel really cool. Here I was away from the city, surrounded by nothing but forest and rocks. I had never seen so many stars in the sky before. I knew that city lights make the stars appear dim but I never imagined that there were so many up there.

As we climbed up, we took some water breaks. We just sat down on the rocks we were climbing and looked up at the sky. It was such a glorious sight :) We got to the 6th station in a pretty short time and moved onto the 7th station. The segment between the 7th and 8th station was gonna be challenging though, cos it was gonna be a 100 minute climb. Steeper too. By the time I reached the 8th station I was really cold. I was only wearing thin 3/4 pants cos I had no idea it would be this cold. The wind was really sucking heat from the exposed part of my legs. I chose to sleep for a couple of hours in the rest hut while Yosuke went on climbing. It was so cold even in the rest hut, I slept in 2 sleeping bags. Me inside one, and my sleeping bag encased in another.

See day 18 for the continuation of the story! Unfortunately, crazy photo taking Valerie forgot to bring her memory card though she charged both camera batteries fully in anticipation of some good photo taking opportunities. Discovering that fact was the worst part! Hope my pictures will be emailed to me soon by Rebecca, a Californian I met on the way up and who kindly offered to take some pictures for me. Watch this space.

Japan - Day 16 - Home

Lazy to go out and get food after coming back from the trip so I had to cook dinner while my brother slept. Tofu with string mushrooms, cabbage, tomato egg and gyoza. I miss my I House kitchen with all that working space :p

Japan - Day 15 - Kyoto

Sunday was spent in Kyoto. After waking up late, kor and I had lunch in our room before heading out to meet his friends Daisuke and Yusuke. We headed for Yasaka Jinja, which is also connected to a whole bunch of temples further inside and up the hill. After a whole day of walking, we caught some glimpses of the Gion Matsuri and had dinner before we called it a day.


Yasaka Jinja if I'm not wrong. Here's a building with many hanging lanterns. Inadvertantly caught Dai-chan in the picture.


Long tree-lined walkway leading to a temple. Never found out what its called.


Cute little boy who chose to climb through the gate, when he could just have walked around it :) Check out the imp-like expression and the cute rain boots.


Duck swimming in a pond.


Electric blue dragonfly (tonbo) pausing for a breather on the edge of the pond.


Huge graveyard. There's a lot more of it on the right of the picture.


I like the way they demarcate the pathways. The texture of the wood and the green-ness of the leaves look good together.


Are these hydrangeas? I'm not sure.


Planning where to go next.


Cute shop we walked past. Looks very welcoming.


Three geishas we saw. Or maybe they're not real ones. Cos there are special photo studios in Japan which specialise in helping foreigners etc dress up as geishas. You pay extra to wear the whole get-up and walk around the streets.


After roaming the streets, we reach the final uphill stretch to our destination. Three prime specimens of the species, all looking very dead (left to right): Yusuke, Daisuke, Gerald.


Yay. Finally arrived at Kodaiji Temple.


The three comrades: Daisuke (Dai-chan), Kor and Yusuke.


Inside the Kodaiji temple compound. The gardens are very carefully landscaped and pictures can't be taken within the temples themselves.


Bamboo forest.


The moss covered forest floor. I think its very nice. Makes me think of the forest in Princess Mononoke/Mononoke Hime.Very old and dark, with its own hidden secrets.


Destination: Kiyomizu-dera. Apparently I came at the wrong time, its neither spring or autumn now, which are supposedly the best seasons to come. I wanna see sakura and momiji!


View from the top of the hill. Its a long way up.


With oniichan.


Hehe. The signboard on the left says kinen which basically means no smoking. So here's the four of us acting idiotic. Left to right: Daisuke, Yusuke, me and my brother's in front.


Tried to spot some geishas at this place which my brother called maiko street. Maiko meaning apprentice geisha or dancing girl. Spotted none though, but its ok since we saw some earlier in the day.


Restaurants line the banks of the river. This one reminds me of Cesky Krumlov.


The river, albeit with concrete walls. I wanted to go sit along the banks but it started raining. After this we hung around to see the Gion Matsuri procession. The actual thing is next weekend but they were having some procession anyway. I was too far away to get any good or interesting shots so won't be posting any pictures of those. After this it was dinner at an izakaya and then it was back to the hotel with the comfortable, comfortable bed :)