Globalisation - My PoV

I know the world is globalised when...

... the best Hiroshimayaki I know is in Tokyo, even though I've been to Hiroshima.
... my favourite Korean food is in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
... the best pizza I had was in Seoul, South Korea.
... the best Chee Cheong Fun (a Cantonese-style rice wrap) is from Luang Prabang, Laos.
... the best Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi) I've had is in Tokyo, even though I spent 15 days in Vietnam.
... the congee (Cantonese-style porridge) I can't stop thinking of is a a street stall in Hanoi, Vietnam.


=)

Springtime

It's spring, and I've been hounded by a cold for the past month. Hurrah for me.

Blocked nose, slightly yellow mucus and sometimes with traces of blood - lasted for a month. Finally moved on to the next stage a few days ago but now is just equally troublesome: runny/dripping nose, puffy and itching eyes. Basically my fitness is not surprisingly at minus 200 (stairs are now pant-inducing woohoo) and sleep has been usually troubled by difficulty of breathing and the frequent need to clear my sinuses. I've also ran out of Ge Gen Tang and will be out of Clarityne soon. Which means I might actually have to go to the doctor soon, but that sucks because I don't want to spend anymore money on dentists or doctors thank you.


Ahhh spring. Thanks for your schizophrenic cold-rainy-and-sunny-days. Get over yourself already argh.

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In other news, I had reallllllllly good conveyor belt sushi the other day. The line for it was amazingly long even at 5.30pm, but because we were fine with counter seats, we only had a 15-minute wait. Yay! The seared salmon belly sushi was soooooo goood! I'd love to take my family there some time. If only...

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Just two months left to the end of this student chapter... The road ahead's still kind of obscured by desires, obligations, what ifs, and maybes. Ahh student life... I knew since 18 that I would miss you and that you'll always be a honeymoon period. But I guess I also knew I'd definitely be fine moving forward. More than fine probably - I've never really been one to look back in regret/longing.

So, with a scarce 2 months left in Japan too, I think I might start documenting things that I'll miss. Starting with cheap, but very delicious conveyor belt sushi! I can eat my fill for about 1000yen (16SGD). Yum! =)


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Also, why are tickets to California so expensive =( sigh. 

Exam Time, CNY, and Snow

It's been a rather busy exam period but for me at least, it's starting to wind down a little. Just a final report and one more exam left.

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On another note, here are some pretty pictures from the past week or two:

Sunset from a random building rooftop.

Symmetry: A beautiful park near my campus.

The same park.

In other news, heavy snowfall in Tokyo last night! It was kinda amazing. Until you start to feel the water/melting snow squish around in your boots/wet socks. Heh. Still... =)

A Happy Lunar New Year to one and all indeed!

Back in Tokyo

Got back to Tokyo 3-4 days ago after a 34 hour journey from my friend's place in Norway. Europe/Scandinavia was amazing, and it was so comfortable and wonderful to catch up with my friends there. Yet, the more I travel, the more I realise I don't know anything. Scandinavia is really quite an eye-opener.

Been busy rushing 2 presentations for tomorrow and well, still working on the 2nd one now. After tomorrow will be 2-3 weeks left of school, which means 2-3 weeks of deadlines, papers, and exams. Oh wowee.

Some photos to come after tomorrow!

Kyoto 23-25 Nov

Apologies for the recent neglect - caught up doing too many things and nothing at the same time heh.

Last Wednesday (23 Nov) was Labour Day and a public holiday, and since I usually have no classes on Tues and Thurs, that left me 3 days free, so I went on a solo trip to Kyoto! =)

Days 1 and 3 were on my own, but day 2 I was lucky enough to have Sze Ping come down from Osaka to join me. It was great catching up with her =)

Anyway here's some pictures from Kyoto. Even though it's supposed to be the start of the perfect momiji (red maple leaf) season, but the unusually warm weather so far meant that it was still pretty much multi-coloured with just some red trees. Still pretty though:

Famous Kinkakuji

Sze Ping and I at Toufukuji

The thousand Torii Shrine - Fushimi Inari

Kyoto Imperial Palace

It's Autumn =)

Europe next week on, but I still have lots to prepare. What's new? Heh...

Midterm Red Magic at Nikko

The past four days were the first school break in a while. Thursday was Culture Day - Bunka no Hi (文化の日); Friday was a school holiday in preparation for the Waseda School Festival on the subsequent Saturday and Sunday. So yay, no classes for 4 days in a row, and since I usually have classes 10.40-12nn, and 2.45 to 4.15pm on Saturdays, this was my first ever free weekend!

Thursday was spent recovering from the all-nighter that I pulled on Tuesday night that preceded a 9am-6pm day (with 2 reports and 1 presentation due), and so Friday we went off to Nikko (日光）to see some of the autumn red leaves.

Nikko National Park is quite an interesting place actually, with a World Heritage area, theme park area, onsen, mountains of deciduous forests, Lake Chuzenji, plateaus and waterfalls too. Definitely worth a second, and much longer, visit, but for now, mission accomplished.

More photos up on facebook.

Too bad but am now back to reality of more midterm reports, assignments and presentations.

Tokyo Hike

Waseda had an event whereby students could sign up to 'hike' - by which they actually mean saunter at your own pace - for 20km, through 5 different university campuses for one whole day.

It was quite fun, despite taking up my Sunday, leaving me with no weekend again, but then again I never usually do have free, lazy weekends.

Pictures up on Facebook.