dysfunctional is a norm

2009-10-31T18:59:00.003+08:00

it's almost near the big long hol for me. no plans in mind yet except to fly home for my sis's wedding in nov. bangkok is one of the options. may be cherating for the weekend surfing trip? if you are a tight budget kinda of person, where would you be spending your holiday at?

2009-10-26T22:18:00.003+08:00

too much on my thoughts now...つかれた！
random search on youtube that leads me to a cute song and cute mv :P

ゆき

2009-10-15T20:15:00.018+08:00

the unforgettable moments with franziska, tobi and kazu.

i'm feeling a lil bit upset about workstuff and at the same time i'm feeling glad i got the confirmation letter but the down side is i cannot throw in the towel for another year. i'm so helpless now i'm thinking and missing the snow so much. was reading someone's comment on fb that mammoth is opening early...are you kidding me...it's only october and they have snow up in the californian mountains? haha...sweet as bro. sweet as! i so wanna ride right now. this very moment. when will my next riding trip be? next august in nz? next december in jp? i can only dream about it. guess this craving for snow and riding ain't gonna quit on me so easy. i kinda miss my jappy friends. those good ol' days when we just fall asleep like a baby every single night after the riding because we were so tired from one whole day of fun and riding in the snow.

my very first snowboarding attempt, circa june 08.

mt hutt, circa august 08.

riding rakaia saddle with tobi (left), kazu (right), ryoko and yukiko, circa august 08.

nihongo no shiken results will be out tomorrow and certificates will be given to students who pass the exam. wish me best of luck.

*updated: i didn't expect to pass the exam with flying colours. i got 99%! i was quite shocked actually but best of all, our sensei was very happy for us and she said we were very good students cos we studied very hard ; )

gettin' ol'der

2009-09-29T21:47:00.003+08:00

i just turned older 1 day ago. not really a good day to celebrate anything cos i found myself heading to the ER at wee hours in the morning just to have the gastric pain stopped with a jap in the butt. spent the day sleeping it off or rather a tiring and backpain from the lack of lying down straight. other than that, life has been swirl, not entirely great but no complains except the freaking gastric that almost had my life 4 years ago...i shall remember not to mess with my health and will make sure i do. what i need to do now is to work out!! like serious gettin' rid of those extra fats around the waist that's so unsexy every single time i walk pass the mirror. good time really flies.

who am i kidding?

2009-09-24T18:56:00.003+08:00

the monkey, the girl, the mate.

after last night incident, i realised my heart is still very much alive and warm. i thought i was turning into this cold person i never knew. had not felt so cut since the mae no koibito incident. can't say i'm fully well but i'm taking in the results of my actions as i type. a good friend from LA told me today that i should have known better, that we cannot please everyone around us. i mean why should we? we should make ourselves happy first before anyone else. i can't say i have fully gotten over the nihon ex but i am moving on with my life. i'm just really something. whenever i found myself someone good, i tend to turn them away. when i'm in my own emo world and alone, i crave for love so bad that i doubt it exist. i'm just good at messing things up before it got serious. sometimes i just wish i can go back to the time when everything is okay and just enjoy that moment forever. f***, life was so good then! i could not have ask for more. it was so real, still think about it once in a while. life does go on.

もっともっと

2009-09-09T23:57:00.001+08:00

life has been quite comfy as in feeling very comfortable in the comfort zone. not sure if it's a good thing or not. on a different note, i am very happy cos someone make me very happy lately. apart from that, i don't know if i should continue my current job. not really liking the system or the way things are done but beggers can't complain right? we'll see how it goes. may be i will stay on, may be i will not. gonna have my japanese exam in early october and honestly speaking, i am so not ready as i have been quite lazy and lack of revision done. despite the fact that my sensei has been pushing us to study harder. will meet up with an old friend from singapore this weekend and lots of catch up to be done. i wish i have more time. more time to sleep. more time to see her. more time to study my japanese. more time to catch up with movies and dramas. more time to for my family. more time for everything.

スノボド - sunobodo

2009-08-26T10:36:00.006+08:00

photo courtesy of rio chan.

location: somewhere in hokkaido on a perfect winter sunny day.

last night, i dreamt about gearing up to ride in the white powder. it felt so surreal and for a moment i was back in white paradise. too bad i didn't get to the part of riding it out in the powder. worst part is, it was all just a dream. this romance with the powder will probably stain me for the rest of my life. i feel stoked everytime i think about snowboarding and the deep white powder! it's about time i start saving up for my japan or nz riding trip. whose interested?

KLPF

2009-08-17T01:04:00.006+08:00

one of the models at KLPF.
i think i'm in love with ♥ jean ♥ LOL : )
egao daisuki!! cho kawaii desu ne~~~~~

2009-08-11T21:47:00.002+08:00

life has been very "domestic" for me. the latest work needs me to be proper and groomed. it's like an unspoken temporary swearing celibacy. has been attending nihongo class for almost a month now. sensei is very nice and funny. has been putting on some inches on the handles which is not a good thing. my cravings for ice creams and not-so-healthy diet. i should routine myself to exercise at least twice a week with mininum of 20 minutes per session but can i? i just want to stay sane for now! *breathe in breathe out*

the city of history

2009-08-04T23:55:00.011+08:00

after 3 years, i am finally back to taste the once so in love mille crepe.
honestly, i was quite disappointed with the taste as it was no longer how it used to taste like but guess i wasn't the only one who felt that way.

お元気ですか？

2009-07-26T00:27:00.006+08:00

about a year ago, i had the best time of my life. i was learning to ride in the snow. serendipity to have met you at the snow field's cafeteria. our very first walk under the moonlight, it was cold and there was nothing but the sheeps, snow mountain and the two of us. i still remembered very clearly that night, when we kissed, you softly whispered "hazukashii"... it was sweet and yet funny. you also said we couldn't be together because there is a person waiting for you back home. i didn't care much and so did you. we had our best winter in nz. the crazy road trips. for the longest time in my life, i felt like i was madly in love. my first time watching cherry blossom (sakura) with you. we held hands as we walked the street of queestown. the look on your face everytime i gave you food. the three little words that seems to found their ways whispering into my ears everytime we were together. i will never forget the last day before you board the plane, you were crying like a baby refusing to go home and yet it all seems like it was just yesterday.

i hope love finds you in good health, keeps you safe and warm wherever you are now.

33rd bon odori

2009-07-21T22:10:00.012+08:00

first time at bon odori in shah alam.
- dusty venue (camera was badly covered by a layer of dust)
- kodomo biru + asahi biru!
- mecha mecha kawaii kodomo dane~~

more photos here!

hulu langat (field trip)

2009-07-10T16:50:00.009+08:00

SNSD - Jessica & Tiffany - Only One For Me

2009-07-04T17:29:00.004+08:00

i have been infected with the SNSD virus! ; )
also known as Girls' Generation (So Nyeo Shi Dae).

are you the only one for me?

gloomy sunday

2009-06-30T23:18:00.014+08:00

last weekend, frankie was in town so we were out shooting.
here are some photos that were taken.

i like this "i am shooting you shooting at me" shot by frankie.
taken using nikon d70 50mm f1.8.

hajimete no lesson

2009-06-22T21:36:00.003+08:00

i'm totally worned out...now i know how hard it is to look after kids...i salute my grandmama for that and all the women out there who are super! i guess cos i never really moved about so much at work my legs are killing me. other than that, some kids were very cute, naughty, loud but i hope i can handle well when the current teacher leaves. i think i will sleep very well tonight, no doubt.

p/s: kids ask the darndest questions! めちゃめちゃかわいい~ やばい！！~~~

2009-06-18T14:20:00.003+08:00

omedetou gozaimasu to me! haha...i'm starting a new job on monday. it's very new to me and i hope i can cope with it. it will be very different from my previous jobs as i have to deal with children. yes, very challenging! especially for a noob. wish me all the luck i can have!

2009-06-17T19:37:00.001+08:00

もっと強く! もっともっと強く!!

liu liang

2009-06-15T00:46:00.004+08:00

it's the time of the year again...

2009-06-13T01:28:00.005+08:00

some things are better left unknown.
the fact will remains the same no matter how much we try to deny it.
sometimes, i do think life is unfair.
but so what. life IS unfair.

helpful travel tools

2009-06-11T16:15:00.010+08:00

i never really like planning in advance when it comes to travelling or backpacking. it's the thrill and fun when it comes to it but for those of you who prefer to book your accomodation in advance, i recommend these two Hotels Combined and Wego which helps you save all sorts of hassles of time and what's not.

hotelscombined.com and wego.com like any search machines provide an easy platform to find your ideal accomodation/hotel especially those on honeymoon trip. all quotations are in ringgit so you don't have to crack your head calculating. all major currencies are available too.

the good thing about hotelscombined.com and wego.com is that it provides descriptions of the hotel you are staying, it gives you map of the area, photos, reviews by past customers and also attractions around the place with prices quoted so you can have an idea what and how you want to plan your time there.

for those of you who is always on the run, it helps eliminates time wastage. i guess it's time to plan another trip again!

bali - day 4 + 5

2009-06-09T00:02:00.009+08:00

on the forth day, it was chilling day for me as it was also my last day in bali. since the first 3 days was packed with activities, i didn't have a chance to surf yet so it was official that i must surf! as no one was there to look after the cameras, it was only right not bring along. too bad there was no surfing shots of me or rather get washed up by the waves.

so allen and i walked to kuta beach and we rented ourselves two surf boards. i sort of briefed him how surfing is done...lie on the board, paddle into the wave and wait for the wave to come and start paddling...well, i'm not good at it but that's how i remembered from my surfing lesson 5 years ago in perth. LOL...yes, that was a long time ago.
as it was such a long time ago, i couldn't recall much but somehow i managed to paddle myself into the sea and wait for the next wave to come. the thing is, i waited quite a while for the wave and when it did come, it was big and i washed me up good...yes...i was washed up like inside a washing machine. it didn't help when the tide became low and the wave got bigger. there was this one time i was caught in the wave and i sort of crashed into this white surfer chiq...our surfboard leash got tangled up and had to walk up to the shore to untangled them. yes, shame on me. there was this local balinese kid laughing his ass off at me. crap. what a day but i was very happy i surfed again. i will be back for the wave. i will.

in the afternoon, it was window shopping and souvenir hunting. i didn't get anything except some local coconut candies. after the shopping, we headed back as allen wanted to try some balinese spa. the thing is, we couldn't find the type of spa he wants so we headed back to our hotel miserably. as i was tired from the surfing, i didn't bother anymore and asked for the hotel's very own traditional balinese massage. RP50,000 (RM16) for an hour of pleasure. allen on the other hand didn't enjoy it because he thought the masseurs were hot balinese babes which turns out to be the same fleshy girl who served us breakfast, do the house keeping and what's not.

lunch and dinner was the same as day 3 (bakso, soto kambing + satay kambing).

we had to get up around 4am the next day as we need to rush to the airport before 5am (our flight was 7.50am). luckily the night before, we got ourselves a good deal right in front of the soto kambing stall where these two motor-"taxi"-guys were trying to get us to ride in their motorbikes to airport. yes, in bali, motorbikes are also transformed into "taxi" where they charge without the metre. so we bargained our way till they agreed to give us RP40,000 (RM13) for two person. good thing we had our "rides" to fetch us to the airport early in the morning as we didn't see any taxi in the early morning hours. it was all good.

if my financial allows me, i will be back for second round. to explored the unexplored and to surf the awesome wave again. till next time, the island of gods.

photos here!

bali - day 3

2009-06-08T20:48:00.019+08:00

every morning, we were served with toasts, eggs, fruits and tea or coffee. it's as good as it gets. the place to go today is ubud and tanah lot. ubud is hailed as the centre of art and crafts. it's a much quieter town compared to bustling kuta.

bali is also famous for the layers of paddy fields. although it's not as evident enough in this photo. you can see tons of them in the country side. at ubud, we visited two main museums, neka art museum and the blanco renaissance museum.

neka art museum has heaps of collections on balinese day to day lifestyle and dates back to many decades to modern days style of drawings.

as there was no photography allowed inside blanco renaissance museum, i have to dig out some photos as reference from the world wide web. antonio blanco on the other hand is a spanish artist that uses women as his main painting subject. in his mansion, you will see heaps of nude women paintings and he is also a poet as poems were combined in his paintings.

the late antonio blanco (google search image)

one of the many blanco's piece (google search image)

a must eat at ubud is babi guling. the infamous ibu oka stall. you won't miss it as the place is always packed. surprisingly, the workers here too speaks fluent mandarin and japanese too! man, i guess they have heaps of chinese and japanese customers. babi guling actually tasted much like our roasted pork. the vege that comes with the rice was a bit spicy for me.

sitting next to us was this japanese lovely old couples from kyushuu. they were very nice and friendly. i managed to chat with them a bit with my broken japanese and manage to get away with it. really makes me miss my japanese friends whom i stayed with in nz. don't exactly remember how much this meal was but i say it was roughly about RP90,000 (RM15 per person).

next stop was tanah lot. what can i say about this place. it was swarm with tourists. like too many if you ask me. most of the tourists are from indonesia, lots of chinese from china, some japanese and few europeans? not much to say about tanah lot except it has way too many tourists.

after a tiring day, we headed back to kuta and indulge ourselves in soto kambing (soup), rice and satay kambing (lamb) for RP20,000 (RM3 per person). this stall is located at the corner of Jalan Kuta 1. it's the exact some stall that sells bakso during the day time.

the truth is, we had bakso for lunch and these for dinner twice.

more photos here!

bali - day 2

2009-06-01T21:31:00.011+08:00

kuta beach

second day started with a stroll at kuta beach, enjoying the breeze, feeling really grateful to be alive! to be able to enjoy mother nature in full glory. watching awesome surfers hitting the waves remind me of the good old snowboarding days in nz. we had two lunch. initially allen wanted to try out this stall at Legian so we got into this metred taxi (not all taxi in bali is using metre so you have to look out for the blue swallow icon/logo. all the others are rip offs and doesn't run on metre.) later on we realised we were taken a ride because the place we wanted to go is within walking distance like 10-15 mins away from our hotel. well, there's always a first time right? when i got off from the taxi and looking endlessly but couldn't find the shop and decided to just eat at any local stall that looks authentic.

bakso

we found one stall selling bakso (meat balls) so we decided to give it a go. the coconut drink was awesome with heaps of soft coconut meat in it. it was very refreshing as we were both sweating from the heat and walk. we sat down together with this elderly man which later told us that he was from perth. it was really nice of him to show us his black and white photo if not mistaken looked like a sailor from the second world war. i think he is probably in his 60s or older? he also told us that he has been to malaysia 30 years ago and he has been to penang 3 times? if i didn't hear him wrongly. the meal cost us RP18,000 which is like RM3 each!! dirt cheap right? meal + drink. after the meal, we walked around in search for something else as the bakso was not filling enough. the aussie man had 4 bowls!! we only had 1 each so we can try out other food.

as we were walking aimlessly, we found this restaurant called Made's Warung that i heard from friends that it a must try. the price on the menu is pricier than i thought but the place was fully packed. the food was just alright, nothing to shout about. we ordered pork satay, fish satay, and something that taste similar to otak-otak that comes with rice. the other dish tasted a bit like indian rojak. i think the bill was around RP96,000 which is about RM16 each. so now you can probably tell the difference when you dine in a restaurant and any local stalls in bali.

dreamland (a.ka. new kuta beach)

the afternoon schedule was half day tour to Dreamland (also known as new kuta beach) and Uluwatu to watch the sunset and Kecak Dance. the beach and water are much cleaner compared to kuta beach and you can see why surfers will travel in their motorbike all the way here. yes, motorbikes are for rents in bali and most of them are modified version with special metal holder to hold the surf boards. really kickass if you ask me! surfers on motorbikes! with the sunnies riding to the next surf destination.

uluwatu

kecak dance

uluwatu temple was nothing fancy but the place was really packed with tourist from all over. the kecak dance is based on balinese "romeo & juliet" storyline. the play was good and very entertaining. everyone was wow-ed by white monkey god jumping in and out of the flame which at times was very funny as he will sit on one particular audience and make fun of them. dinner at jimbaran was a bit cut throat but the bbq prawns were delicious and has the char grilled after taste. the seafood was not as fresh as they claim. we had white snapper, sea prawns and mussels (with additional rice and kangkong). it all comes to a total of RP340,000 which is around RM55 per person.

on the way back to kuta, we talked about how same different malaysia and indonesia is. the government. the corruptions. the languages. how much similarity there is to it. that boys will be boys. we talked about girls. that the driver and i share the same kind of preference on girls.

more photos here!

bali - day 1

2009-05-29T10:43:00.017+08:00

i'm back from bali. actually like 3 days ago. overall it was a fun, tiring, tanning, exciting and different kind of experience. well for one, i would never imagine that bali would be so much different from what i projected in my head before the touch down. considering it is my second backpacking experience. it was actually a bit hectic, unorganised but still nice reminiscing back. the truth is, we never booked any hotel or backpacker before hand. no one was there to pick us up at the airport. the only thing we prepared ourselves was reasonable amount of cash, sleeping bags, backpacks, dslr, enough clothes for the next 5 days and we were off to another adventure.

i slept over at allen's place (my backpacking buddy, a friend i met during my backpacking days in nz last year) the night before. his brother in law was nice enough to drive us to lcct. with the swine flu going on, i don't see anyone backing up from travelling and let's just say the airport security on H1N1 isn't as strict as it can be. even upon arriving Bali, we didn't even have to walk through the H1N1 scanning machine. if you ask, we are all as well as dead. who know one of us is a walking time-bomb waiting to explode. as usual, international travellers are required to fill the necessary forms and medical form for H1N1 and to be carry at all time during the stay in the country. when we arrived at the airport, the arrival hall was packed with sea of humans holding welcome signboards and names. for a moment i felt like i was being welcome like some sort of celebrity! it was very tense! hahaha taxi drivers will holla at you to get your attention and asking you where you are going! it's unbelievable that there is no public transportation such as shuttle bus or public bus to city centre. it's just so bizzare! so the only rational thing to do is to bargain with the taxi driver. from RP80,000 to RP50,000. it's RP25,000 each for two person. (just remember one thing, take away the 3 zeros behind and divide everything by 3 and you will get that in ringgit, it was really hard on the first few days but the calculation will come naturally after a while...really cracks my head for mathematically challenged!) not sure if it was the best deal but being desperate, we got on the toyota avanza and headed towards Kuta (city centre).

poppies lane 1

as soon as we were dropped off by the main road, the driver directs us to where we want to go which is Poppies Lane. where all the backpackers are. prices varies from each backpackers and hotels. usually comes in 2 single beds no dorms like the ones in nz. cheapest price asked was around RP80,000 per night with no breakfast, comes with fan, no air cond so basically very basic stuff like beds and toilet (not to mention very run down and it's those kind of love hotel you see in movies or haunted motels). those with swimming pools, air cond and breakfast are above RP200,000 per night.

our resting place for the next 4 days

so we got ourselves a deal on one of the hotels called Rita Hotel - RP150,000 per night, which is only RM25 per person with 2 single beds, air cond, no water heater but comes with a breakfast set that include fruits, toasts, any kind of eggs of your choice (scrumbled/half boiled....) tea/coffee. it's a good deal if you ask me although the room might not be the kind you want to bring your gf or wife on vacation or honeymoon to. oh, did i mention there is not blankets provided? good thing we brought our sleeping bags!

kuta beach

didn't do much on first day as we arrived around 3.30pm in bali and by the time we got settled with our accomodation was already half day gone. we were sweaty, tired and trying to plan what to do for the next few days. we decide to chill at the beach watching surfers surfing and just enjoying the moment. it's so weird because everyone in bali was super friendly and at times i feel like we are taken advantage of in some ways. don't get me wrong. i like friendly people but there is a fine line that people shouldn't cross. later during the trip only do i realised that these people wants to do your business and will try anything even making friends with you. earlier on at kuta beach that day, allen was bargaining with the beach vendor on a flip flop and i was telling allen that he should ask for cheaper price. during that conversation, we were conversing in mandarin and to my surprise, the vendor's friend said "san shi wan" = RP30,000 ... i was dumbstrucked! literally. from then on, the next few days were more and more surprises as i withness balinese speaking in fluent french, spanish, japanese, mandarin, english...fuh yooh! so i made allen speak teochiew which was our mother tongue or family dialect. once we use teochiew on the street talking between us both, the less they will bother on us as they couldn't understand what were were saying. or should i say less annoying locals trying to sell you their day tour/products or just trying to get you to try their "magic mushroom" hahahahah....that my friend is another story i will share soon enough. while relaxing by the beach watching the sunset, this bloke from the beach who is a surfing instructor by the name of Brad (which is not his real name) made friends with us. we talked for a bit. about surfing. touring bali and no plans made yet. and i don't know if you are reading this but mate, i am really sorry we never take up your day tour as we found even cheaper tour the next day. he was a cool and nice guy. telling us not to talk to strangers or stay away from people selling "mushrooms" and "weeds" on the street. it's not very frequent to have friends telling you they encounter this kind of situation and moments in bali, which is probably why i am slowly falling in love with backpacking. learning to enjoy simpler things in life.

more photos here!