bbg - life in Kobe

I have not been posting anything for the past 2 months because I was in Singapore. Sorry!

I was back since April week 2 but I was busy adjusting back to the life of loneliness in Japan again so there was no time (or mood) to write.

Finally it's golden week. FINALLY.

I am just glad for a breather from the maps job.

Singapore was as usual, too short a trip (even after 5 weeks). Took a trip to Penang, thanks to the village for watching the bear, and managed to get a few days to enjoy myself with friends and remember what it feels like to travel without a child again - very wonderful - (Walk alot, eat alot without caring if it's a child friendly place, got toilet or not, be able to stop anywhere I want, walk at my own pace, take photos, anyhow cross the road, just care about myself basically). Bb got her time with my family as well, sort of a chinese immersion program where her chinese/mandarin skills in conversation and writing/reading improved by leaps and bounds. She wants to communicate and argue with my mum (it's in her blood) so she would learn actively the words to use to speak to my mum. She misses them more as she grows older, and she was looking forward to visiting SG this time, and was counting down to the trip day by day and mentioning everyone's names daily. After coming back, she kept saying "I miss Ahma, gong gong, ah yi(s), uncle J etc" Sigh.. I also miss everyone.. and I would stay longer in sg if I could..

Penang = Lok Lok!

We made a trip down to Gunma (群馬) to visit the hb's relative about 2 weeks ago. He was an old uncle, and might not make it past the next month due to illness so it was quite a last minute decision to visit that couldn't be postponed further on even though we just got back from Singapore. Gunma is super far. I realise I am not able to stay in any city that is more than 2 hours away from any airport. (There would be no escape back to Singapore in case of any emergency situation.) The town we visited was about 2.5 hours away from Tokyo by an express train which ran once every 3 hours. We left home from Kobe at about 6am to catch a flight to Tokyo and we only reached Gunma at 12 noon. We had lunch and then visited Ryo's uncle for about 30 minutes and missed the train back so we had to wait until 4.30pm for the next train back to Tokyo. The town was not near any famous landmark or attraction so we sat at Ryo's cousin's place for about 3 hours. I snoozed my time away on the sofa while the men entertained bb with toys and tv. When we were leaving, I wanted to get some snacks from the convenience store at the station but there was barely anything there! It was such a good feeling to get back to Tokyo and be able to access restaurants, shops and other conveniences within a short walk. The rural area is a relaxing place if you are well stocked with your drinks and food but totally not for a city person like me. Give me noise and lights and transport and people anytime (not too many people though..). In Tokyo, we managed to catch Ms PS for lunch and also the Marvel exhibition which was quite interesting, because it covers some of the cinematics as well as the history in comics.

Picture taken by Bb!

During Golden Week, we went to the Capcom villa for a 2 night stay. Just the 3 of us. It was quite relaxing. We went to stroll around the Ise yokocho (usually we couldn't browse in any of the stores as we were with the big group) and finally I got to see most of the stores properly. We didn't really do much sightseeing, just the Ise Shrine, and bought some fresh and very cheap seafood back. I accidentally bought a pack of abalones in their shells for about $30. Very good buy! The chef in the villa was a new chef, and it was interesting to see some of the changes that I've thought of previously - like a communal rice cooker so that people just take what they need (a separate pot of rice for each table is just wasteful), more juices for breakfast, quantity of food has been largely reduced to satisfying after finishing everything, instead of so much good food that usually some has to be thrown away because we are already too full by the 3rd course.. etc. The game room has also gone through a game revamp! There were several new machines there now! Mostly good changes! I'm looking forward to the next trip because we can actually eat proper lunches again and not skip a meal in anticipation of the heavy dinner!

Bb outside the Snoopy Cafe

Akane visited from Canada for a 1.5 month long tour of Japan using the JR pass so she stopped by during Golden week for a short stay as well and we went to Naoshima! Finally I get to see the spotted pumpkin! However, her schedule was quite packed so we made do with a generic tour of the island and the sculptures and skipped all the museums which all had long lines. It was good to catch up, and the first time I met her after she moved to Canada.