千九百七十八：Tokyo 2012

Wedding couple at Meiji Shrine

2nd last day of a 16-day stay in Tokyo & I'm ready to go home!

It was a hectic 10 days last week when the guys came to Tokyo for the marathon, & all the sightseeing and running around took quite abit out of me. I'm a very lazy traveller, meaning I like to wake up late, I like to take my time to see the sights and slowly walk around and see the streets and shops, instead of trying to cover as many places as I can in a day so a very tight schedule is not for me since I get tired quite easily and I don't have that much energy to stay on my feet the whole day. Despite the lack of energy, I had enthusiasm, & I tried to be a good guide for them, (although I'm really a tourist in the Tokyo area myself) and I did enjoy myself 90% of the time. The horrible parts of the trip was the freezing weather, the lack of sunlight for most of it, the rain & the super cold winds. Which led to alot of shivering and keeping my head down and being unable to properly enjoy myself and take photos because my fingers / body were so cold. This week seems to be better, with 2 days about 15degrees, but rain the rest of the day. where is the sunshine!?

I'm glad I stayed an extra week, was able to catch up with other friends in Tokyo and just catch up with some rest. Also basically to go to the shops I want to go/eat the non-japanese food that I want to eat w/o feeling bad about dragging the Singaporeans to and wasting their precious travel time.

The new iPad has been announced & I'm quite tempted to get one. But I still actually can't find a need for it. I think Ryo has more of a need for it than me actually. Since I already have a Kindle, I won't be reading on the iPad except for magazine subscriptions (which I'm actually too stingy to take out except for Runner's world). If you are looking at the iPad on the train, everyone around u can see what you are looking at. hmmmm... maybe it's just the impulse of the moment, hopefully I will stop thinking about it.

I want to go Itoya tomorrow again (properly slowly walk around) before going back to Osaka. This is going to be a busy weekend!

千九百七十七：Winter

Huat for 2012!

Finally got down to blogging today, after such a long break. FQR12 projects just ended last night, which is why today is quite a free day. (ok there's work but I'm just giving myself a break until deadlines loom near) Going to catch up on some reading hopefully.

I'm also back in Japan & not very happy about the weather. It's freezing here! There's some sort of cold drift across the whole country, and usually Kobe is sorta warmish, less than 10 degrees but never less than 0 degrees,  but this time it went to negative at night and I did not see any snow yet. humph! Last night was the coldest night so far, I just couldn't sleep because my face was freezing and in the end I buried myself (including my head) under the blankets before finally getting warm enough to fall asleep. I hope this doesn't get worse..

The last 2 weeks in SG went by in a blur. It seems to always be that I'm quite free & relaxed until the last 2 weeks when suddenly there just isn't enough time to meet up with everyone and do everything I want to do. I managed to go to Marina Barrage (very inconvenient place to get to without a car although it is a very relaxing environment, good for a picnic or just to lie down on the grass & enjoy the sky), take a ride on the Singapore Flyer (hmm.. a little overrated I guess, but the view was beautiful at night on the MBS side, and I'm glad I did it once), and went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens (fed swans with a friend's daughter, it was fun!) I didn't have time to catch Wicked, which was a pity, given that I've heard so many good reviews. But then, I'm really more of a play person, musicals just don't captivate me as much. I think my favourite is still The Inspector Calls with my sister & Calvin in London, that was hilarious and kept us in stitches the whole time. Maybe next time.

Chinese New Year was quite subdued this year, perhaps because there's only 2 weekdays and people are still tired after the Christmas & New Year holidays. With so many festivals back to back, who would have the mood to keep celebrating. (& also no mood to work at all for December/January) It was work for me for both days, which was good because it meant no need to give angbaos hehe.. and I don't really enjoy making small talk. Although at the end of it, I realised I did miss eating the CNY goodies, but it was too late, because we didn't have any at home.

Ryo is away for a week or so, which makes this short month with each other even shorter. After he comes back, we have around a week together before I go to Tokyo to meet up with the marathon people for a week plus. & we would have been married for 3 years after end of this month. How fast! Perhaps it's all the flying and being apart but it feels alot shorter than that. Which also means that our dear friend has left us for almost 3 years. The worst part is that it happened so soon after the wedding that every time I think about the anniversary, it will also be time for hers. I think of her less often now, but the sadness that comes up every time she comes to mind is overwhelming. The annual visits will be continued for as long as I can, but if I ever forget in future, I hope it will only mean that we are finally at peace with her being in heaven.

千九百七十六：2 more weeks

These moments are the reason why you have kids (not my kid..) 

Almost Chinese New Year, time really flies. 2 more weeks in Singapore & I'll be going back to Japan. I think I'm going to watch Wicked alone, the ticket is quite expensive to ask anyone else to go with me (no one else around me seems interested anyway).. & go to marina barrage to just see the real thing for myself and relive the peacefulness of lying on the grass (hope it's clean) or maybe fly a kite. Have tickets for the flyer, & will head to the botanic gardens to try to figure out my way around. Now it's so warm, it might not be that great an idea though, but I do want to walk around the place before I run out of energy to do so.

on a totally irrelevant note, I'm kind of trying to get kinder bueno to eat (white version) but everytime I see it I forget to buy it.

I've read 4 books so far, including Steve Jobs (the biography). It's pretty inspiring, in the sense that although he was such a control freak & perfectionist with very bad temper and eccentricities, he succeeded in making everyone around him see things his way & came up with the products we are using daily. And the Kindle choose to break down right when I was reaching the end of the book. (T.T) Luckily for the iPhone. I was able to upload a pdf version into my phone and finish reading it on iBooks. This is when I agreed with Steve saying all other products are crap. To give Amazon some credit, they immediately agreed to send a replacement Kindle (but to Japan?! how am I going to survive the next few weeks on the bus!?) because it seems like it was a common issue. and of course my Kindle was still within warranty. I guess I have to read real books on the bus for the next few weeks..

My appetite is improving, less nausea and less diarrhoea. turns out that i'm now lactose intolerant - which had led to the few weeks of very bloated feeling, tummyaches and nausea. & of course these led to no energy, no appetite as well as fatigue (as anyone would feel after going to the loo for the fifth time in a day)

As much as I'm enjoying being around friends and family, I miss being home in Japan. (not the cold though) I miss watching CSI on my big TV, or just tinkering around my plants, my kitchen and just lazing on my sofa. I miss going jogging, (totally no mood to run here due to the weather) and I just miss the supermarket outings once a week with Ryo. After shopping, he would load everything into the bicycle so that I don't have to carry anything, and then he would cycle like mad trying to catch up with me while i run as fast as I can home. & then we would both reach the lobby of the apartment panting like mad & laughing at each other for being silly. sighz.. after 2 weeks you'll read about me missing Singapore instead..

千九百七十五：2012 Resolutions

Teddy Bears at the ArtScience Museum

As usual, checking if I've fulfilled my resolutions for 2011 in my first post of 2012.
2011 resolutions : http://booboogal.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-resolutions.html

1. Running - 80km monthly, Run a half marathon by June, a Full marathon by end of the year. - Done the last 2, the first one only managed it for  April / May 2011 .. oops.. 
2. Photography - Improve on skills with all lenses. - hmmmmmm.. some commented my photos have improved (could be editing skills improved though) need to take more photos with the Macro lens though
3. French - Take classes and get to finish book 1 of the text book. - damn..... I think I didn't finish the book, had around 3-4 chapters left to go.. maybe I should try to clear this goal this year. 
4. Spend more time at home in JPN. seriously need to improve variety of food i can cook. & to try to wake up earlier... - I did manage to wake up earlier towards the end of the year. Also manage to only visit SG with a gap period of 6 months, but travelled alot everywhere else from June to December. Maybe I should be more  concrete about this as well (>.<) food variety probably not increased at all, have to try harder next year. 
5. Read /write more. & love myself alot more.. - Fulfilled my reading goal of 50 books from July-December2011!  -> check out the widget at the side. Made a conscious effort to blog more as well , tried to do a biweekly thing, if not weekly, instead of once a month update on my blog. Should have separated out the 2nd half of this resolution , because it is totally not linked to the first half. I have made some hard decisions in December, & will be adding them on to my resolutions for 2012 as well. & am seriously tired of all the mental strain from all the toxic relationships. 

2012 Resolutions on the way: 
1. Read more (80 books at least this year) - must try to read 2 books a week!? oops .. this didn't sound like that much when I finished 50 books in 5 months. 
2. Only be nice to people who deserve it. - hence my resolution yesterday of don't bother asking about pple's day if they are not interested in yours. (seriously, isn't it just courtesy to ask how about you? even after you reply a really boring answer because if the person didn't want to know, he or she wouldn't have asked in the first place. Since they have no interest in your day whatsoever, by just putting a stop to the conversation, i guess they don't need my concern in the first place. ) 

3. Detox my life. Cut off toxic/ poisonous people who call themselves my friends/family yet show no concern for me or my well-being or my life whatsoever (these people are usually self-centred, gets angry easily with me yet never reflects on their own behaviour to check if they themselves are guilty of such behaviour & speak without care if they hurt others.)  Holding on to such relationships only serve to put myself under tremendous mental strain & I'm currently under enough as it is. 

4. Appreciate my parents more. Not much time in their lives as they get older.. which means less time for me as well. Despite all the rebellious situations when I was younger, 

5. Again, be in Japan more. 

6. Finish my French elementary lessons (at least!!). 

Spent New Year's Day & the day after at home almost sleeping throughout. Perhaps because I stayed out on New Year's eve and it's been awhile since I had actually slept so late. The horrible situation of not being able to get any cab is really a turnoff for any future festive seasons though. Why can't they leave the SMRT to run for 24 hours on Xmas & New Year's Eve when they can do that for the marathon? But was a first time I actually ushered in the new year at a club/drinking venue, had quite a good time. Xinhuan visited with her family & her kids are already so grown up. 


Xmas was a quiet affair, but enjoyed myself nevertheless. I think. 


Am really hoping this year to be a good year (for everyone around me, not just me). All the best to everyone!

千九百七十四：Festivities

View of the Esplanade from the SkyPark

The festivities are upon us! 2011 is coming to an end and it's been a lazy cheerful mode in the country. With so much excitement in the air, of many things that happened, the major incident being  the SMRT breaking down leading to people being unable to buy their presents - seems abit stupid to me because can't they take buses or cabs? or just that the news programs all happen to interview dumbos?

I haven't had a Christmas in Singapore for 2 years, and it was nice being around for gifts exchanges & Xmas dinners which really added to the atmosphere compared to me being alone at home during the non-public holiday in Japan usually. Visited the Art Science museum, managed to see the Titanic & Cartier exhibition as well, ($24 for Singaporeans - ask for the Singaporean prices at the counter!) and despite the wet weather over the past week, it has been pretty good in terms of events so far. I am feeling better in terms of health, perhaps I can resume light running in a week or so. Met up with secondary school friends as well, & despite the fiasco at the end of the dinner, we had a pretty good time catching up.

A wedding lunch on New Year's eve, parents' wedding anniversary dinner next week or today probably.. Seems like the year will end pretty well :)

千九百七十三：Kinect

everyone wanted a shot of the rainbow

I think I am very forgetful nowadays. I can barely remember what I did last week, or the week before. Last week was the xmas lunch on friday (received chocolates for the gift exchange) and the food was only so-so despite being at the Raffles Hotel Bar & Billiards room. Convinced my parents to buy the Kinect on Sunday after lunch, and it has been quite fun so far. I must warn everyone not to buy the 4GB system because it is a scam! 4GB is barely enough (became 1.2GB after I updated the XBOX OS) it's like buying a 16GB iphone only to realised the OS takes up 10GB! ... quite angry at this, no choice but to buy an external xbox hard disk.

Another exciting moment was when we went to see the A&F models on Wednesday before we went to shoot the xmas lights at Orchard. Thanks to James & his super camera, the shots of the models & me turned out great :D hehehehe, so happy to have managed to catch them just before they left at 7pm. Borrowed the Pen from Julius' brother, it was quite good! lightweight (lighter than I had thought) and good quality pictures generally, but the price is still the obstacle to purchasing it.

Desaru day trip tomorrow, hope I don't feel sick or anything in the car. Work has been slow so far (maybe everyone is in the Christmas mood already) ..

It's almost 2012, the year went by in a flash!

千九百七十二：Singapore Marathon 2011

Runners heading to the finishing line

I am sad (embarrassed) to say that I didn't run my last planned race of the year due to some unforeseen circumstances. However I did go to support my colleagues & friends.

After seeing a few races in Japan go smoothly, I must say the Singapore one seems very disorganised! Long queues at bag deposits; no cut off times, so many barriers to deter supporters, too many people for all events (too many people crowding the finishing area), too many walkers (blocking photos of the marathoners). The only thing better was the pacers which were very visible in SG (& GC) with their  balloons and costumes. I couldn't see the pacers in Japan at all, all they had were the timings stuck on their backs (who can see those from afar?!)

After a morning at the marathon we headed to Tiong Bahru market for lunch & I got to eat my favourite chicken rice. Not something big to be happy about, but I guess nothing beats the real chicken rice in Singapore.

a Jack Russell outside Tiong Bahru Market

It's been non-stop eating (or at least feels so to me) of my favourite foods so far, even though I haven't had much appetite since last week. The volume of food I can take in is reduced though, hopefully this gets better over the next 2 months.

Not much thoughts so far, been feeling tired easily & discovered some hurtful stuff that I shall try to not think about (which the more I try, the more I end up thinking about it & feeling angry and sad). argh!!!

The least I can do is not let myself be hurt by people I care about anymore. But how? Build a wall around me?

千九百七十一：Korea

time waits for no man (or woman..)

I'm back from the Seoul super short trip! The temperatures were freezing (need 2 thick jackets above my heattech top & normal sweater & gloves) which really tired me out; I spent all my energy fighting the call and was dead tired by early evening.

The flight there was quite short, around 2 hours, but the trip to the hotel took around 2 hours as well. I should have taken the airport express bus to Myeongdong, but did not know of it until when going back, which was a pity, because it was cheaper and faster. I'm glad I got a room at Skypark hotel, because it was like 3 minutes from the subway station was was just plonk in the middle of the shopping area. I finally met up with Marini & Qling at around 4pm and we headed for my first proper meal of the day - bibim cold noodles. It was delicious! but very spicy. & I think I ate it wrongly w/o using the cold soup. hmmm.. We walked a little around, saw a demonstration in progress, escaped the confusion and crowds and met the bride for dinner at a crab place. I didn't know that crabs were famous in Korea. & they were pretty good! Unexpected food of this trip. After dinner, they brought us to Dongdaemun for me to look around a little - it's like MBK in Bangkok with all the small wholesale type clothing shops where there are lots of shops u have to bargain with and they all carry similar clothes after walking around for a bit. Maybe we were there too late, but the area isn't as happening as portrayed by the Japanese travel programs. (>.<)

The next day, we had brunch or actually an early lunch - some sort of hot pot. The luncheon meat was surprisingly good :) Then we went on to Red Mango for some dessert. I think I ordered a different item .. I wanted frozen yoghurt but the person didn't seem to understand me & I ended up with Yoghurt icecream. This is the problem with going to countries where they don't understand me! By the time I realised someone else did order frozen yoghurt, it was too late (because I was too full to eat anymore). We headed for the spa after lunch & it was a very very interesting experience. The old aunties who were the "scrubbers" were also in their undies (which was super weird) but practical & I dunno why we paid to torture ourselves in the oven sauna! At least at the end of it, I was scrubbed super clean & probably that "detox" session burnt some fats as well, because I was very hungry after 2-3 hours of spa activities. We had Ginseng Chicken for dinner, which was only so-so because I didn't like the sticky glutinous rice in the chicken. After dinner, we shopped a bit more & went back to the hotel early (too cold & we had to wake up the next day early for the wedding)

On the wedding day - it actually got colder. Cloudy overcast sky. I swear, I'll never go Korea in winter again. We made it to the wedding venue via shuttle bus, the wedding was quite an interesting affair. The usual ceremony was quite similar to a church wedding except we didn't understand what the officiating guy was chattering about - he made a speech for >15 minutes. The table arrangements were weird too, there was no eating no drinks, so why were there tables in there? They should have put in more chairs as >half of the people had to stand at the back of the hall. The traditional ceremony was funny, and I'm glad I was able to witness it. It was almost exactly as the dramas portrayed it, (with whichever few dramas I watched) the husband had to piggyback the wife around the room! I'm very glad I got the chance to see this, but most of all, happy that a friend who has been like a big sister to me has found her own happiness as well.

After the wedding, we went back to change, (dresses & heels are not for the super cold weather) and we headed for some tea at a store called Tea Therapy. It was a very cozy place, with half herbal teas and half herb teas, at a very reasonable price & we tried the very delicious ice kachang too! After that, we headed to dinner, finally we had bbq pork & chige & that was the last of my trip.

Headed back to JP yesterday morning at 6am for a 9am flight, I'm so glad JP is so warm (at 15 degrees it feels so warm!).

Now I'm just looking forward to Singapore to avoid the cold winter here for 2 months! :)

千九百七十：Kobe Marathon

Kobe Marathon Participation T-shirt

My 2nd last run for the year is over & I'm feeling that alot of weight is off my shoulders! I know that I'm not in to win but there is just pressure on myself (from myself) that I need to do better that I did previously. Now I have only the Standard Chartered half marathon in Singapore left to worry about!

The run expo was a rainy affair, and there was only a small hall with with not many exhibitors. It was quite a sad event compared to the Osaka Marathon Expo and I don't know if it was due to poor planning or just plain stinginess on the organisers' part, there was no wet weather plan.

It was lucky that the marathon day itself was sunny but with very strong winds. It was a horrible run mainly because I had the urge to pee which got very very bad towards the 7-8km mark & I was really running for the loo rather than for any other reason in the end. The race course was too crowded - again poor planning, I don't know why they start everyone off at the same time cos in the end the 10km runners are stuck behind the slow full marathon runners who are definitely not going to be running at the same pace as us (or the people who actually need to use the loo) with many sharp curves in the route where runners were slowed to a crawl when running (now i understand the pain of the F1 racers in Singapore).

I managed to finish the run in an hour+, seek immediate relief in the loo of the end point before going on to support the full marathon runners.

Hiroki did really well! I'm actually surprised that I managed to catch all the people that I know was running, & that cheering them on helped to boost their morale (at least that's what they said). It was fun chasing them with the trains to 2 different points in the race - something that is probably not doable in Singapore. (How to go to Orchard then ECP then suntec within a few hours with all the walking & road closures in between?!) But the sunny weather was such a boost to runners' morales & you can really see the difference in the videos. Most people tried to finish with a run here but in the heavy rains during the Osaka Marathon, everyone looked depressed even at the finishing line. At least I experienced the worse one with hopes that if I ever join any marathon again, it should have better weather?!

I'm glad I've done all I wanted to achieve this year (train up, improve my 10km, do a good half marathon & try a full marathon). Heading to Seoul tomorrow for a colleague's wedding, it seems to be super cold in Korea! I hate the cold, it makes me feel all sleepy and want to just hibernate like a bear. I'm so looking forward to escaping 2 months of the cold in SG in a week!!

千九百六十九：Kyoto

The escape artist at the Philosopher's Walk in Kyoto

Last week was quite relaxing in the sense that the projects got signed off finally! & the team went on some event on Friday so it was a very coincidentally good timing that Shuping & Susan came to Kyoto over the same days.

Thursday night was 焼肉、 finally settled my beef cravings. I can't even remember the last time I had bbq beef, was it with Ryo's team?

Friday was sightseeing at Kyoto with the girls, it was a very very gloomy & chilly day with rain & lots of bus rides. We got to chat a lot on the bus rides at least, & I realised that Kyoto is too big a city to cover even in a week!  (maybe because of the jams.. & the fact that we were taking buses.. the subway network is not comprehensive enough, we had to walk alot of places)  I feel sorry for the people who live in Kyoto; there are so many tourists on the public transportation system, & the buses are so tiny with so little seats, are they paying taxes to maintain these systems? Around evening time, the horrible buses are packed to the door, and locals are not able to get on the buses (because the buses are so small) & I  actually feel thankful for the SG buses being so spacious and user friendly in their designs (even for standing people!) We managed to head to the Philosopher's walk (stumbled upon the cat above), then 平安神宮 & 金閣寺. When the sun set, we headed towards Gion, & then the shopping district. Luckily, we were all laidback travellers (not the kind who must cheong 10 places a day) & this suited us very well + our legs were all super tired from the walking around & the standing in the bus for >40 minutes per ride.

Saturday was a trip to 嵐山 Arashiyama (the most scenic place in Kyoto in my opinion). I should have set off earlier, but I was in serious sleep debt after 2 nights of sleeping late & waking up early the next day, and the seats were all taken up by energetic old ladies who were ready to go sightseeing at 9+am. (T.T) I had to stand for the whole of the 1.5 hours train ride there. Although there was only about 20% of the trees having turned yellow for autumn, having not been in Arashiyama for 2 years++ , the view still pretty much took my breath away. Seeing the bridge against the mountainous backdrop with patches of red & yellow, & a river with super clear waters, it was very scenic, if you try to ignore all the human traffic trying to squeeze pass you when you try to stop to take a pic (>.<) Anyway, loads of fun that day with the girls. We headed to the 竹林, managed to see workmen cutting down bamboo trees, old men doing watercolour paintings by the roadside, duck udon for lunch, an orgel museum (only headed into the shop hehe)

Kyoto is famous for it's 漬物　(pickled vegetables?) so we had alot of fun trying out pickles at the stores (of course we bought some!) I think the best part was that we were all sorta on the same frequency, especially with the "take alot of pics of everything" & "take alot of candid pics of the other girls'" mentality since we all had our own quite good cameras. I haven't travelled with friends in a while, it's usually Ryo & he doesn't take pics much (unless he wants to post something on fb) or he will be kinda involved in playing his games on the phone (which is pretty irritating) and be waiting for me while i browse or take pics instead of taking pics himself so this time was 10x more fun.

Dinner on Saturday night was with my cousin who also happened to come to Osaka at the same weekend, (the girls went back to Tokyo..) & his baby is already 1 year old! I haven't met his wife/baby directly before, and I must say the baby is a really really cute & sweet little girl! She was just smiling all the time (almost) & charmed the socks off 3 grown men at the next table which was quite funny cos they actually looked very macho & scary to me, until they started making faces at the baby. wahahaha!

Sunday morning was runclub activities and had to wake up at 7am sobzz (T.T) But was quite happy that I went; I hadn't realised that the last time I went was in July! Everyone seemed genuinely happy to meet up with me, & I feel very guilty that the next one I can only join is in February after I return from Singapore. sighz. I had a good time catching up with everyone during lunch (brought them to eat chicken rice for lunch!) and made  some new friends as well.

I'm very glad to be not going any where this week (for now though) because my legs are so so so tired! There is the quarter marathon this Sunday, & Korea next weekend. Glad to have events to look forward to!