Reminiscing Zagreb

Sept 2008

I'm here!

I've finally arrived in London - yay! It's Day 6 and things have just been a whirlwind around me. My folks have headed of to a swissoland and I've been attending one induction after another, doing the usual school and banking admin and working out the quickest route to school.

LSE has a whole host of public lectures... Alan Greenspan was here 2 nights ago for a lecture... I didn't know!

Last night I went with SY and CL to their CG meeting which is held at a barge beside Canary Wharf... how cool is that! Haha. It's London's first floating church wor... ;) Anyways, it's been fun apart from the wet and gloomy weather and the need to walk, walk, walk. I miss my car.

From now on, I'll be blogging about my Chevening year at pumpkingoestoskool.blogspot.com

Counting down...

5 weeks and counting.... yippeeeee!!!!!

Here's a teaser.... ;)

"We are going to crash into the clouds"

Our tour guide, Tadashi, kept saying that when we were about to board the Ropeway at Hakone's Mt Komagatake - the second highest volcano in Hakone. Haha. He's a really cute old man who was waving a little red Mickey Mouse flag about to ensure we didn't get lost.

The day started far to early for my liking :P ... had to drag myself out of bed at about 6am and trudge along towards Royal Park Hotel for the Hato Bus pick-up. By 9.30am, we were on the way to Mt Fuji and I was nodding away towards the "little" Spanish boy who happened to be sitting next to me. He actually filled more than his seat and more into mine. :P

Nevertheless, the tour guide was entertaining with stories of Japan's past and the Shogun. He even gave us a dose of his viewpoint about the previous and current Prime Minister. Apparently, they both strive to be obedient to the American President, for trade reasons. He also taught us to make an erupting Mt Fuji so we would have our own "personal" Mt Fuji's. Hahahaha. Ask me and I might just teach you. ;) He also left us with some instructions on how to make a Shogun's helmet. Kewl. I'm gonna try with newspaper when I get back. Apparently, it's just the right size for a normal sized head. :P

Mt Fuji was glorious today, albeit for a short period of time. According to Tadashi, Mt Fuji is a shy mountain. So much for that. Anyways, I have been inspired to climb it. R's climbed it. I just need to find kaki to go with. I reckon that'll be harder than it sounds. Sigh.

The day ended with a ride on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train)... I actually thought it was going to be so fast that everything outside would be a blur... hahaa. Not. But it was a restful ride nevertheless.

Anyways, it was a lovely day and we're off to Yokohama tomorrow. Here're some pics from yesterday and today.

People are so considerate. Those with flu/cough don face masks so they don't pass on their germs to others. I took the shot because I noticed the word "pumpkin" on the advert, since I couldn't read anything else! Haha.

This little girl was trying to clean her mouth with her tougue while her daddy was rummaging thru his bag for a tissue. She's doing a pretty good job I reckon.

Falling asleep in Asakusa.

Everyone's always on the go. People don't even sit down at eating outlets when there are chairs. They prefer to stand. Here's an old man having a Red Bull. Btw, I've been told that everything can be bought from vending machines.... thus far, I've only spotted drinks and ciggies. Urban legend ler!

So... desuka!

I've finally realised where all the old people in Tokyo are... they are in Asakusa! It's a lovely part of the city slightly up north which gives one a feeling of being in an older part of Tokyo. There were loads of older folks here.. hehhehe. I'm learning more and more about life here:

1) Different people hangout in different parts of the city. One would hardly see youngsters from Harajuku or Shibuya or Shinjuku around the Ginza area.

2) Most women wear REALLY high heels and walk super fast. Hence their feet are a little deformed and they tend to walk bow-legged.

3) Shopping in Ameyoko is amazing! Bought a cool red Adidas tennis skirt among other things for only RM 15! Loads of food everywhere.

4) One can buy anything and everything from the 100 Yen shop. It's exactly like the One Pound Shops in UK.

5) Everyone's really well dressed either made up or in suits.

An "early" start to Day 3

It's 10.20am... and we've only just woken up.. hahhha. This is what I'd call a REAL holiday!

Mori said there are 3 types of young people in Japan:

"Normal" young people - Kids who've been to university and have "regular" jobs.

"Freeters" - Those who work in restaurants, bars and other places part-time just to earn enough for a living or to travel

"Needs" - Those who live off their parents..... hahhaa. Society is so harsh!

Ok, I need to go get ready now.... it's supposed to be rainy today. :P See ya later alligator.

Lost in Tokyo

It's day 2 in Tokyo and I'm still amazed by the massive crowds... it's really intense here! Love the city, the lights and the architecture. Found ourselves lost in the subway a couple of times and ended up going round and round looking for the right exit.. hahhaha. ;) I also paid a special visit to the loo at the Aoyama-chome station. :P Had a raw egg for dinner. Thank goodness the toilets in the subway are clean. I'd have had no choice anyways. hahha.

Oh btw, it's Earth Day in Tokyo today so HAPPY EARTH DAY y'all!!! :) Here're some shots of today's sights... enjoy!

Bangkok - Nov 2006

Here're some long overdue photos of the trip with CY ... :)


The rest of the photos are available on ofoto.com....

Happy trails to Ipoh... bro and I

My night in KK

Went on my first "duty travel" to KK on Sunday night. Travelling on business class is NICE! ;)

Some excerpts from my trusty travel log:

"On-flight (sunday nite): Met the head of anesthetics from Queen E hospital in KK. Gave her my card - hope she emails me. Hmm, on the other hand she's a Gold Card member... hopefully she doesn't call for favours :P. Apparently she used to attend LC and knows Philip Koh, Wong Sai Weng, Susan Khoo. SMALL WORLD! Quite a chatty lady, from KL spent 12 years in KK, no family... she was telling me about the challenges she faces when dealing with the government.

Arrived yest (sunday nite): Was raining cats and dogs! Staying in the lovely Magellan Sutera Harbour. The hotel upgraded my room to a Club Room, hehe, no balcony but with a beautiful view of the marina. Too bad no camera... and no camera phone! (going to get a new phone once I'm back in town.. must, must, must). Requested for room with single bed, but none available. :(

The hotel is packed with tour groups - Japs, Koreans, Aussies, Brits, you name it!! It's a shame it's been raining in the evenings so much tho. Eric picked me up for dinner.. it was STILL raining! And we went to an Italian place in town. The soup was good, pasta so-so (mushroom ravioli in carbonara sauce) and some biscuity pizza thing which I've not had before.. yummy! Dinner turned out to be most unexpected. Eric shared a life-changing experience, a conference he attended in Taipei. It was so hot and noisy talking in the restaurant so we decided to come back to the hotel lobby for a chat. He ended up sharing Psalms 50 and praying for me :P

Could not sleep much yesterday nite... mind was working so hard! Had some strange dreams involving M, his mum and some other ppl.

Today (monday morn): Had breakfast with CoSec and dir of safety & security. EVERYONE (except the 3 of us) was in shorts and slippers.. and me? I'm in a suit.. :P

Waited and waited and waited for the presentation on BEA... still waiting now. :( Looks like the meeting's not going to end at 1pm. Met some lawyers and bankers from Spore. One of the laywers knows Zoe... :P Small world. I'm frozen stiff.. it's so cold here in the waiting area, and I think in the meeting room too. Need sleep.. ZZZZ. Gosh hope I don't need to present! And that they don't ask me questions.

Yawning now... I think I've gone to the loo 5 times. :P SO COLD! Brrrr...
Hmm, I wonder if I should take the cab home from KLIA or just take the KLIA express to KL Sentral and then get a ride home.. Think I'll do the former so that I don't trouble Dad.
Am waiting in the Golden Lounge in KK (they DO have one!) for my flight... guess who's on the same flight?!! MD, CFO, Dir of Operations... sigh. My guess is I'll be sitting next to one of them... hmm "

In hindsight, I should have gone a little earlier to KK... found out that some of my colleagues who went had a mini golfing holiday there... :P