Land of the Rising Sun: Peace after War

We visited Nagasaki, a city which is known for being a victim of the atomic bomb.

This is the entrance to the Atomic Bomb Museum. The abundance of ponds and fountains at this site symbolizes the victims' thirst for water when the land became literally fried by the bomb.

This monument marks the hypocentre of the atomic bomb, and the concentric circles represent its radial effect to the vicinity.

The peace statue. Each limb has its own meaning. By the way it's the rainy season in Japan now.

Kumamoto Castle. Used to be occupied by samurais.

The view from the top of the castle.

Beautiful colourful paintings on the walls and sliding doors of the castle interior.

Dazaifu Tenmangu. One of the famous shinto shrines in Kyushu.

A long stretch of shopping street leading to the shrine. Traditional Japanese souvenirs and pastries can be bought here.

Land of the Rising Sun: Transition

After looking forward to this trip for more than 2 months, I could finally step foot onto Japan! Although I went to the same Kyushu region last time, and visited a few familiar places that I've been to 13 years ago, the experience this time was totally different! It's because this is the first time I visited Japan after I began studying the language 9 years ago. Couldn't wait to put my Japanese into practical use =p.

Since I've never travelled anywhere further than Japan, I could say this is my furthest trip overseas. Though it lasted for only 7 days, this is also my longest period away from Singapore. (my past overseas trips only lasted at most 5 days) Of course, this is my first plane journey after 10 years. The feeling of boarding a plane is so exciting!

The flight was 1 am, so I had to report at the airport by 10 pm the previous day. Had ample time to pack my stuff during the day. My luggage would have been lighter if not for those unnecessary stuffs which I didn't even touch throughout the trip (eg. jacket). FYI it's summer in Japan now.

After some briefings and misc check-in stuff, we crossed the customs easily by scanning our biometric passports. So fast and convenient! We were then free to roam around the restricted area.

Almost onboard the plane...so excited!!!

Quite a few seats were vacant, so I shifted to occupy the window seat at the front. Sadly, my camera couldn't capture the night view very well, but witnessing through my own eyes is good enough.

At night, the runway strips at Changi Airport look really spectacular! Just like tons of stars on the ground! The starry sight only lasted for a minute as the plane began to take off. Then the night view of Singapore island presented before my eyes. Very very dazzling. Some described it as 'light pollution'. The Flyer can be seen as a tiny circle among the crowd of lights.

Played around with the in-flight entertainment system, listened to Fish's album and the SIA mandopop channel hosted by Bukoh Mary. As expected, I couldn't sleep well in the plane. Before long, it was dawn.

A magnificent view of the rising sun at the horizon.

A closer look. I missed this view 13 years ago. That time my flight was around the same timing too.

The typical plane food. I ate so slowly that everyone's tray was collected except mine haha.

Before long, we finally reached Fukuoka Airport. That's when all the adventure began. But for now let's fast forward to the departure day.

Boarding the flight back to SG. Luckily I brought an extra bag along for all my omiyage (souvenirs).

The skies are so clear. The sea is so blue. The clouds are so white! The slightly curved horizon is an evidence that the Earth is indeed round.

The plane flew past the southern tip of Taiwan. The stretch of land slightly visible at the far end along the horizon is China.

The flight lunch.

The flight path. Couldn't get a steady shot due to turbulence.

Some flight statistics. The outside temperature is so cold (-55 deg C) that ice crystals formed on the window.

Islands can be clearly visible from the plane. The tall towering clouds are simply amazing.

Back to my home island.

Quite lucky I could get a window seat for both to and fro journeys. The view is the best when the skies are clear, and when the plane is not flying through the clouds. However the sun can be scorching bright at times.

Yup, this finally fulfills my desire of riding on the plane. =)

Portrait

Ok I dunno what to blog now, so I went to dig out some pictures saved in my files...

Who's this? So cute haha... Feel like wearing one of those bags too!

Here's the answer to my previous qn. The right one, not left one. Both have wide opened eyes but the expression is completely different lol.

Guo Liang has been quite daring lately...

Stunned by the results? It's like totally 恍神

Poor Yuzhu. Cheeks must be really painful...

What am I? Rabbit? Chipmunk?

"Hello, I am Beatrice. May I help chew?" Whoa so seductive...

Have always been impressed by Zhou Chongqing's crossdressing, ever since 真爱无敌 (the angel show starring Chen Hanwei, Jacelyn Tay and Wong Lilin). Not forgetting his contagious laughter.

He stole the show during this skit...hahaaa

Or do you prefer this? I think Auntie Lucy is getting more popular than Zhou Chongqing now.

Auntie Lucy even has her own fanclub! @ http://auntylucyfc.blogspot.com/

我很 shy 的！Hahahaha.... *flaps hands*

Bolts N' Nutz: Beyond the Island - Japan

My first overseas trip by plane happens to be furthest away I’ve traveled from Singapore. It was a night flight on Japan Airlines and we were expected to sleep on the plane. Somehow I just couldn’t get myself to sleep peacefully. And I couldn’t understand the Japanese film that was screened at the front for the benefit of those awake. (there were no personalized mini screens installed at the back of the seats) Eventually dawn came and a streak of sunray was seen rising from the horizon. A really beautiful sight.

This should be the first time I come In contact with Japanese culture. The service was superb and the people were really polite. We were bowed wherever we went. Not knowing a single word of Japanese, I could say nothing but just ‘hai hai’ and pointing to the menu when ordering food. Whenever someone spoke to us, we could only reply ‘hai hai’ back. Now it sounds so silly. Imagine saying ‘Welcome’ to someone and he replies ‘yes yes’…

The tour guide was really funny. She wasn’t able to converse in English very well and hence made a lot of hesitations ‘err… err…’ in between her lines. In the bus she spoke through the microphone and I think everyone almost feel asleep with her ‘err… err…’ My family named her ‘Madame Butterfly’ after she tried very hard to explain the origin of this character with lots of ‘err… err…’ The amazing thing was that the ‘err…’ could last for very long (about 5 seconds) before her next word.

There was one night when we stayed in a hotel with traditional Japanese-style rooms. Had a fun time playing with the sliding doors, rolling on the cozy tatami mats and posing our mini samurai swords on the cute stuffed animals.



The markings for pedestrian crossing were rather complicated. They stretched very far across the wide road junctions, were lined horizontally, vertically and diagonally, and were painted like zebra crossings. We had no idea where and when to cross haha. The night scenery of Japan streets was quite typical, with lots of neon lights shining from the buildings. We also visited a pachinko outlet but the noise of the metal beads were too deafening.

I also visited the steam geyser, where you could cook an egg just by dipping it into the hot spring. My greatest impression of this place is the strong rotten egg smell. I used to think it was due to people bringing in eggs to cook, and some became rotten…

Went to visit the snow mountain, or rather a volcano. The clear white snow juxtaposed with the background blue skies really gave a spectacular view. You could even stand close enough to look into the vent, but there was nothing but mist. One push and that’s it, haha. This is also my first time touching real snow, felt like ice-kachang, but softer and fluffier. How I hate the sight of dirty grayish trampled snow on the ground.