A day trip in a hectic life

HI EVERYONE!

Decided to update my rather dead blog by posting about my trip to JB!! Yes I manage to find time to actually cross the bother to eat some good food next door.
Actually, I went to JB for the first time in my whole life early this year and I sort of missed the chance to blog about it (cuz life). Then last thursday, I actually made another day trip there with my uni friends (as a reward for finishing assignments before deadline) and decided to write a combined post of it here!!

After visiting the place twice, I realised how much I've missed out in my 22 years of living in Singapore as I've never crossed the customs to visit the place nearest to Singapore and I was so stoked for my first trip to JB.

Anyways: #1 Day trip to JB

The  first trip was filled with food! We ate literally from morning to night.
Things that we ate that day
Laksa>Brunch meal>Waffle>Ice Cream>Seafood>Roti Bomb

We didn't even shop that day...we just ate..and ate. rofl.

And it was really fun to hang with my uni friends! Plus one of my friend could drive and hence we moved around eating really good things!!

From the first trip was where I was introduced to this coffee shop called "Just want coffee, JWC" and it became the 'cafe to go to' when I visit JB. Seriously their cold brew is awesome and their brunch is really delicious!! If you drink their cold brew, every other cold brew coffee in singapore does no justice to cold brew.

If you like ice cream and want to experience something cool then visit KONE! They serve ice cream on dry ice and it was pretty cool as it lasted.

We then had seafood for dinner on the waters! (Which was pretty cool again) and I remember loving the spicy prawn dish! (I ate it though I was allergic to prawns..it was really good...though I suffered later cuz I ended up with an inflamted throat)

My new "go-to" cafe in JB! 

Their brunch is pretty filling and affordable!

Cafe Round #2: Atlas coffee embassy, where we shared the waflle!

Kone cafe that had pretty cool Interiors!

Went to get Seafood on a floating platform! It was a really cool dining experience 

Ended our trip with Teh Tarik and Roti Bomb :)

#2 Day Trip to JB 2!

The second trip happened just last thursday and it was more for shopping than eating.
We ate Laksa (again), then shopped at the newly renovated Jasco (Which is HUGE by the way, but there were still some stores in the making), then off for brunch at JWC (YASSS), then we hopped over to get our nails done then hung around city square mall (Which is huge ass as well) and finally ate steamboat for dinner (which was major nomz!!). It was a pretty laidback day filled with shopping and I remember buying a lot of cling wraps (Have I mentioned how good Daiso's cling wrap is?! Like for $2 , or in the case of JB RM5.30, its really good quality. Better then the western ones I feel. In the past, I agree that daiso's cling wraps were flimsy but now they are much more sturdier and easier to cut away then the normal ones you see in NTUC anyho..just a tip for people looking for cling wraps).

I also managed to get a discount on the shirt I really like from Uniqlo so I was pretty happy. Only downside was I came down with a bad throat after the trip. I literally lost my voice and was told not to talk for 2 days by the doctor.

Anyways, if you are in JB, do  check out JWC! Like it's are really good place to chill and have brunch. Their Mocha cold brew as well as hazelnut cold brew latte is nice!!

Hazelnut Cold Brew Latte

Well, I'll sign off here! Till the next post!!

Of turning 22 and the end of the most painful semester

Well, I'm back again to update!

I've finally gotten over my most painful semester. 

Yesterday was my last paper and though it wasn't an easy parting, I was done. 

Also, Im offically 22 years old! 

Turned 22 last Thursday and well, I spent it just like any day. 

I spent my day in the office, catching up and clearing stuff at work, 

then studying on my way home, only to be so exhausted to the point I couldn't move. 

Honestly speaking, I really wanted to pop open some cans of beer and eat good food but I was exhausted to beyond means and furthermore I had to wake up the next day to study. As for good food, cuz my dad was not at home by the time I got home, my mom just cooked me instant noodles. But hey, I was craving for them so I ain't complaining. 

My parents didn't specifically celebrate this year as well. However, I could tell that they felt really guilty for not being able to get me anything, but seriously, I dont need anything. 

I have a home, two loving, hardworking parents who brought me up till today. What more do I need? 

(Plus my mom already told me since I was young that she was gonna take care of me until I turn 21...but she still makes noise whenever I say I want to travel/go somewhere...hmm) 

So rather then opening a beer and just having fun, I got home, laid in bed and just watched k-pop videos. That was when I realised, I'm really thankful for discovering K-pop. 

I remember really hating and going "k-pop?! PFFFFTTTT" when it first became a boom when I was in Sec 3. Well...look at me now. 7 years later, when most of my friends have given up following k-pop and having fun in the real world, I'm still lying in bed laughing and watching 13 boys whom are all younger then me trying to survive in a village.

But yeah, the exam period really took a toll on me. I was soooo tempted to go and hang out with my friends and just have fun. But I kept these feelings in check and spent my days in the library, trying to remember over 12 weeks of content in a week. (and for what. I couldn't even answer my essay question for my paper yesterday..omfg. My psych paper was alright but the media paper was just....heartbreaking).

However, I officially burned out 2 days before my first paper. I didn't want to eat, I just felt really tired and my body ached everywhere. I also didn't want to leave my bed. I kept thinking that if I just lied there, the world will forget me. Then, my secondary school friend saved me and messaged if I wanted to have lunch. So I did because I knew either way, if it wasn't for my friend, I wouldn't have moved at all that day. So I went to lunch and eventually also went out to watch suicide squad. After that, I felt a tad bit better so I revised about 1-2 chapters before I knocked out until the next morning,

I guess I just felt really tired and exhausted by everything because my body just couldn't keep up with what I really wanted to do. I needed to work, to study but I also wanted to be with my friends so so much. I just wanted to hang out with them before they get caught up and busy with their lives but it wasn't at the right time. Also, I think my last school holiday had to do with this tiredness that I felt. My last holiday was just 2 weeks long and before I knew it, it was back to school to the two most rigid modules I ever taken in uni.Then time passed so fast that assignment month came and exams happened.

Now that I'm done for the semesters, I kinda wanted to go out and have fun, to . However, I realised now my friends are pretty much all busy. Actually, I'm not sure if they are busy, i just think that they have their own lives and I feel like I'm stepping invisible boundaries if I kept asking them out.
So, today after i'm done here at work, though I really wanted to go out and celebrate the end of what was the most painful and hardest semester, I'm probably gonna head home back to my k-pop videos.

Anyways, so thats what's been happening to me~
It's a blog so I can write about myself right? Haha.But yeah I should write more productive things rather then just posts of "hi, i am still allive"

SO! that is why i created a dayre account! A friend of mine uses it and talked to me about it a looooooooongggg time ago and I saw her snapchat like a few weeks ago of her posting on dayre and realised oh yeah, maybe this is the place where I can write posts of "hi i'm still here". 

 So yeah! If you want to know how I feel about life and the occasional "i'm still around"  posts, follow me  at https://dayre.me/mltz94  !

With that, I shall close this post.

Cheers!

Complex.

Credit: As stated in picture 

I work myself again today. 
Push myself through the boundaries i believe that will make me a better person 
Friends and family let me know i'm not alone. 
Words of support. Words of help. Words that get me through this hell. 
It goes through my left and out through my right 
As I struggle to keep my ideas alive at night. 

Isn't it weird I write the best after midnight 
When everyone's asleep exhausted by the day's fight
I keep myself awake with this coffee I make
Try to pull myself through tonight and hope I get some sleep at least till nine. 

Pushing and Pushing till I achieve the right words.
Writing and erasing until I achieve what I call perfection 
The essays and exams wont write itself 
and i sure as well can bullshit well but these days not matter how many days I give myself, 
I still can't write the words of satisfaction that can fill myself 

Breathe in and out 
This poisonous smoke that smells
This poison of a stick that maybe resembles hell
Killing my lungs but at least it helps me out 
Getting my thoughts sorted
Getting me to think of words that at least attains a score
Why judge me on grades that i get from this hell 
Can't you just judge for who I am and what i can do well? 

Coffee

That freshly made grind
That freshly made aroma
The smell that kept you feeling a little warmer
Can't go without it in the morning
Its the only thing that keeps you going

Cafe Latte, Americano, Espresso with a shot
Take your pick its a lot but its bound to get you hot
Where I'm from we have the same types but its
Kopi, Kopi-O, Kopi-O Gao
Stay local, stay real.
Why spend $20 bills when you get the
 same thing, same deal with just a $2 bill
But hey, I guess sometimes we cant resist that starbucks deal

Coffee.
That's what I'm addicted to 24/7
That's my medicine to every single one of my problems
To get the the kick, to my head, every morning when im dead
I need that strong black coffee to not end up in a bag

It started out with milk coffee
couldn't go a day with it
Name all 'em milk cuz I couldn't drink without it.

But before i knew it I realized my coffee turned to black
Like my dreams that was dissolving into pitch black
When I was younger, I thought milk coffee was my world
Now that I'm older, I couldn't imagine it in my world.

To many coffee's just a drink
but to me coffee's my everything

"A very random post, but here's a little dedication to what keeps me going every day. -Coffee. Started appreciating it even more because recently I've been getting very tired from staying up late at night and waking up early in the morning. I read somewhere that you'd be more alert and less tired if you quit coffee for a week, but I don't think I would even last 2 days. Hahaha." 

Writing Letters

My collection of letters
From the first letter I ever gotten from my grandparents to the most recent one from my friend overseas

Hello World! 

Well, just wanted to write in after I sat through one commercial I saw on TV that seemed really stupid but actually got me thinking.

It was an ad I assume to get people to write letters to xia xue and dash? Because I wasn't really paying attention to the content and happened to just hear bits and pieces of what it was saying, I cant really judge the ad.

However, a point I got from the video was that people now can just send an sms or whatsapp to connet with their friends and most people dont write letters anymore.

This point I agree. If I were to compare the times of my parents and our time, things definitely changed. Our world have became smaller and connected. Gone are the days of "snail mail", now is the era of instant reply. Heck now, we get a bit irritated when our friends don't reply within 5-10 minutes of our message. If we look back to the past era, we would have to wait at least 1 week to get us..so actually waiting 5 to 10 minutes is not that bad

Anyways point is, where did all the letter writing go? Personally I love recieving letters and I write a few letters in a year. Its the best way to surprise people plus you feel a person's sincerity through letters.

When I was in secondary school, my friends and I we made a point to write a letter to each other once a week and it was really fun! Because we were in different classes we just wrote what we did and what happened in our class. Since she was a really good artist, she would actually decorate the paper around her letter and it was really cool. This feeling cant be felt through phones honestly.

Yes typing a message an email is efficient but it makes a bigger impact if you send a letter on a person's birthday then a simple message that says 'happy birthday' right?

I feel that people should know more about that feeling of recieving and writing letters.

The letter I wrote to myself...That I finally opened 2 months back

Something I did with letters was I wrote to myself. Yes you may think I'm some lonely lil shit but when I was 16 I wrote a letter to my 21 year old self. And yes. I was embarrased as hell when I opened it this year. But I felt a bit emotional because it made me look back to those days when I was 16. (It could also be because I opened it at a time when I was really stressed out and just wanted to give up) 

But I realised that writing a letter to myself re-secured my goals. The 16 year old me struggled with her studies and was just insecure about anything. She was just content if she passed that damn N and eventually O levels. But..5 years down the road. This insecure 16 year old, passed both her N and O (not with flying colors for O, but still passed), graduated from poly with confidence and came out a little bit from her introverted shell. This insecure 16 year old got to actually travel overseas with her friends to the place she loved. The letter to myself actually made me realised that I actually am not a failure and was actually able to accomplish so much things!

So you see writing letters dosent mean you need to write to someone else. You can always just write to yourself. To actually get you to reflect about your past (and also boost your self-esteem).

So why not try by writing a letter to yourself. It may seem ridiculous but by the time you forget about it and a time for you to open it comes, it dosent seem ridiculous at all ;)

With that..I shall go back to researching on my paper (urgh),

Cheers!

You don't live to please others but yourself.

I went through a few things recently that made me realise two things.

I am the best when I am alone and I love my life right now.

Yes I still complain about how shitty school is and how having to balance work and school is not giving me a social life but...I really like it.

Working and schooling keeps me busy and tired, but you can only do this when you are young right? Plus I love my workplace too much to quit. As for school, its a stupid decision I made but I should still see it through right? And I am actually starting to enjoy my Psych classes and getting a tad bit annoyed at my media classes haha.

Being busy also means that I won't do stupid things (like trying out a date app and try to meet guys which I realised is really really reaaaally not my kind of thing.)

Another thing I realised while I was being so busy was that...I have no time for shit like relationships and I wondered..why have I always been seeking to be in one when being single is so good! (Maybe in secondary it would've been nice, but secondary school days are longggg over and  I'm over and done with it now.  Dueling in the past wont get me anywhere.)

Being single means you don't have to think about another person, worry whether to reply or not to reply and just basically live your life the way you want! I guess as many say, such a time will come when you meet the right person but I realised now is not the time for me to settle the shit down.

I want to travel. I want to work. I want to get over studying and THEN get married to my work.

I have no idea why I didn't see this until now. Being alone and independent is so awesome. (well that is unless a japanese guy comes and sweep me off my feet haha)

So yeah, life is awesome now for me. I am surrounded by people I love, what more do I need? I was a fool in the past. But now I am striving to live everyday with this new thought of mine.

You don't live to please others but yourself.

Cheers!

Day 7-14: Osaka>Tokyo>Yokohama>Basically Tokyo

Osaka Castle

Day 7
- Osaka Castle
Osaka Station ->Osakajokoen Station 
* We had to check out at 10am so we decided to leave our luggage at Osaka Station.
* For 400yen+, you can leave your luggage at the station (a small booth that is maned by people) and go around where you need to go. However do note their closing time. For us it wasn't a problem cuz we had to leave at 4+ for our train anyways.
* Osaka Castle seemed a little smaller then expected and was a bit of a disappointment but its okay cuz i got to see the Osaka-hall that many idols have performed at!

- Hang out at Osaka Station
Osakajokoen Station -> Osaksa Station
*As we had about 3 hours before going to Shin-osaka to take our train, we hung out at Osaka Station first. However...we were late for our train and had to re-reserve our seats to Tokyo. (if you think its a hastle, you dont need to reserve seats but if you want to be sure of a seat definitely reserve. With the JR pass, reserving a seat is FOC)
* Try the buffet called 'The Platinum' at the mall in Lucca near Osaka Station. It's affordable and really good!

- Head to Roppongi to our apartment!
 Shin Osaka Station-> Tokyo Station-> Ginza Station->Roppongi Station  
*We got reached Roppongi at around 9pm+, though we got a bit lost we were really blown away by the apartment. It was really good. Our host was super nice too! And if I ever go back to Tokyo I might stay here again (haha) Roppongi station has got to be one of the more convinient stations ever. we could get to everywhere! Plus! TV Asahi was near the apartment and we could see tokyo tower !
- Hanami @ Tokyo Midtown
Walk over from Roppongi Station 
*As a reccomendation from our host who said that we must go hanami at Tokyo midtown, we walked over to Tokyo Midtown though we were really tired from our trip.However, we were really glad we did. It was really beautiful and it was such a good way to start our trip in tokyo!

Hanami over @ Yoyogi Park. All the trees were
 fully bloomed!

Day 8
- Shibuya, Yoyogi Park, Harajuku, Takeshita Dori, Omotesando
Walk over from Roppongi to Shibuya (15mins+) 
Walked Shibuya>Yoyogi Park>Cat Street?>Takeshita Dori>Omotesando 
*We woke up later then we used to wake up when we were in the Kansai area. Thats cuz we had more days in Tokyo to see everything. Also, we walked from our apartment to Shibuya and it took us about 30 minutes to reach.Basically, this day was all about walking cuz the places above can be walked, so we did. Walking to and fro this area is the best because there are many interesting stores and places you will walk past. Such as the yoyogi stadium!
*Also do do doooooo  try Ichiran Ramen if you are in Shibuya cuz its awesomeeee!!

Day 9
- Tokyo Skytree
Roppongi Station ->Aoyama Itochome Station ->Oshiage Station
*Look out for the Tokyo Banana at tokyo skytree cuz they have a special edition version there. These special edition version Tokyo Skytree Banana cannot be found anywhere but there. Also, if you feel that tokyo skytree is too expensive to go up then just hand around. The place has loads of shop to the brim!
- Asakusa Temple
Oshiage Station-> Asakusa Station
*There are booths before you reach the temple so check them out cuz they are really interesting. The fried manju is really nice! Get yourself some Senbei (though a little ex) if you want!
- Akihabara
Asakusa Station-> Ueno Station->Akihabara Station
*Honestly I have no idea why we made a trip here. We weren't Otakus and we didn't need to buy any electrical products. However, if like me you just came to this place cuz it was always often talking but you weren't a fan of eletrical products or anime, head over to the Don Qui Hote there!
*It was super interesting and you get to see things you don't see at other store! (cuz its filled with interesting anime stuffs!)
*Also, for those who need to chance money (SGD), the money changer just below Don Qui Hote, had the best rate for us to change. Though not as good as changing in Singapore, it was still better then other places.

Hanami over @Ueno Park. This was probably the nicest
place for hanami out of all the places I went. 

Day 10
- Ueno Park/Ameyoko
*The sakura blossomed fully by the time we went Ueno and it was breathtakingly beautiful. However there were many people there for hanami too.
*Since it was the Hanami season there were many booths and my friends and I kept stopping to eat food
* After Ueno Park, drop by Ameyoko and just shop around, there are really cute stores and some stores offer affordable clothes! (Funfact: Pentatonix filmed their cover video of  clean bandit's 'rather be' here!)
- Ikebukuro  (Pokemon Centre)/Sunshine City 
*Accompanied my friend to Pokemon Centre and if you aren't much of a fan like me, check out the stores at the basement of Sunshine City or head over next door to Tokyu Hands! They have a cat cafe at the very top of Tokyu Hands if you like cats!
*Also, the whole street of Ikebukuro is really interesting so you can check it out too!
- Tokyo Metropolitan Center
Walk over from Shinjuku Station (10 mins+)
*This place is one of the tall buildings in the area and you can see tokyo tower and skytree (though really small). We went over cuz it was for free and it was just another place to visit to see tokyo at night
- Meguro River
* Since we had time, we decided to visit Meguro river as well, a place popular to see sakura trees. It wasn't as awesome as the ones we saw at tokyo midtown, probably because it was at night and there were a lot of people. So I'd recommend you to visit this place during the day if your injapan during spring!
- Back at roppongi 
By the time we finished visiting all the places, we realised we haven't eaten so we ate at Afuri ramen neat the roppongi station. Afuri ramen seemed really popular cuz many people lined for the same store near meguro river. So we decided to try it. Apparently its famous ramen is the Yuzu ramen. So if you are over at the meguro river or roppongi or shibuya (ebisu) do try it! its an interesting fusion food.

The colorful Gundam!! If you are a gundam
fan like me, don't miss this out! 

Day 11
- Cup Noodle Museum (Yokohama)
We headed over to yokohama to visit the Cup noodle museum! This is worth a visit because you get to make your own cup noodles! And yokohama is a really pretty city, very different from tokyo and the rest because you can see the sea and stuff.
- Chinatown
* Another place to visit because Yokohama is famous for its chinatown. However, i felt it changed a lot since the last time I visited it and it wasn't as fun as it was in the past. However their panda bun is really cute so do try it if you have a chance!
- Yokohama Stadium
*Because we had to take a train at the station near yokohama stadium, Just nice when we were there, there was a huge baseball game so the stadium was roaring with cheers. Also they were playing Southern All Star's new song. It was so fun even just to walk past it.
- Odaiba (Diver's city etc. )
*This is where Gundam is at! It was super cool to see gundam at night. So if you plan to see it, watch it at night cuz the light effects are cool! Its head even moves and theres a mini gundam episode at the back.
*After that we walked around the Odaiba area and saw the statue of liberty. As we were walking around, I saw this pop up booth playing the latest PV for TVXQ's song, sakura. I literally dashed across the road to see and stare at it. (Guess this was enough for me cuz I stupidly didn't buy the tickets to their concert at tokyo dome)

The tokyo tower on the road. The light and cars brighten up
that street that makes it look like Tokyo Tower. 

Amazing view at night. You can see the Odaiba area! 

Day 12
- Imperial Palace Area
*We left after lunch time  to explore the palace area. The palace area is huge. The flowers were really nice around the area however, it was kinda boring to me because there was nothing. Like just flowers and all. Maybe it was because we didn't see the imperial palace, but its worth a visit during spring cuz of the flowers.
- Shinjuku
*We walked around shinjuku because 1.there was takashimaya 2. we were planning to go hakone and the odakyu sightseeing counter was there. However, the sightseeing counter was closed so we had to go back another day. We didn't go hakone in the end because the next few days till we fly back the weather was pretty bad.
- Tokyo Tower
*We went over to tokyo tower, BUT! it was pink that day to celebrate the coming of Spring. It was pretty, but my friends were disappointed about it. They didn't want to go up so I did instead. For all One Piece fans, there is a collaboration between one piece and tokyo tower, so do check it out. I didnt go into the one piece museum, but I shopped for stuff at the one piece store. ><"
- Roppongi
*We went back to roppongi hills for dinner and ate at the only shop that was open, a chinese restaurant. Its affordable but the food was so-so. We then realised we haven't drunk at a bar or club since we came to japan so we decided to look for one after dropping our stuff at our apartment. We then found this small bar near our place. Their open till 5am so when we went in at around 12, there was nobody and it was really nice. They played really good music so it was a nice place to chill. Sadly I don't remember the bar's name...if not i'll recommend everyone there cuz the staff there was really nice too!

Day 13
- Meiji Shrine
*This was a place I never been to so it was really refreshing. We got lost at first but eventually found our way there. Its deep in the forest like area but it felt really nice to walk around that area.
- Shibuya/Harajuku Area
*Since my friends wanted to buy stuff last minute and we didn't really see all the shops the last time we went, we spent half a day at the shibuya/harajuku area. If you like cute stuffs then Shibuya 109 is just for you. They have a huge H&M, Bershka store there so if your a fan take a look. Especially the Bershka store, its is quite sleek. If you have the feel for desserts at around 10pm like us, drop by Shibuya 109 men and theres a store called 'hoshino coffee'. They serve really yummy pancakes!

View from Tokyo World Trade Center. One of the best places to see the
night view of Tokyo. 

Day 14
- Tsukiji Market
Roppongi Station>Tsukiji Station 
*We reached tsukuji market at around 8am, but its open to public only at 9am. So take note if you want to visit the market area. We eventually decided to have sushi for breakfast but there were soooo many people. I gave up cuz I had other places to go that day and I went to eat at Sukiya instead. My beloved fast food chain in japan. My friends who ate the sushi at tsukiji said the sushi was amazing..so don't give up like me if you want to eat good sushi.
- Yokohama station area
Tsukiji Station> Naka-Meguro Station>Yokohama Station 
*This day was my solo-trip in japan day. Cuz I had to visit my grandparents grave. After visinting, I hung out around the area because its the only area I'm super familiar with because I stayed around this area when I went to japan in the past. The yokohama station area has 2 huge malls (takashimaya and sougou) but the area outside the mall is more interesting.
- Yamashita Park
Yokohama station>Motomachi Chukagai Station (Minatomirai Line) 
*Since it was still early and my mom asked me why not drop by yamashita park since I was near, I did. I bought sandwich and coffee and head over to have lunch there. It was actually nice to just sit on the bench in front of the sea and people watch. It gave me time to sink in the fact that I was in japan, venturing alone and I was kind of sad I had to go back the next day.
- Tokyo World Trade Center
*We decided to visit Tokyo world trade center really last minute because my friend was sad that we couldn't go up the observatory deck at roppongi hills cuz it was closed. And for just 600 yen, it was worth it. The sight was way nicer then the tokyo metropolitan center. Its a really nice dating spot but then again everywhere we visited seemed like a good dating spot. You can see tokyo tower really clearly and the rest of tokyo as well. (including the rainbow bridge)
- Tokyo Tower area/Azabu area/Roppongi Hills
*Since it was still early by the time we went down, we decided to go see tokyo tower because my friends wanted to take a non-pink picture of the tower. We then walked around that area and decided to walk back to roppongi from there. We passed by Azabu area and eventually reached roppongi hills. We then explored the place cuz though we stayed damn near the place we didn't visit it at all. Shops were mostly closed but we just window shopped around. Things at Roppongi Hills were branded stuff so I wasn't interested but my interest peaked when we passed by TV asahi's office building. I was so excited cuz I knew there was a TV asahi opposite our apartment but didn't think the main office was nearby as well! It was a really nice walk back and of course. We dreaded the fact that we were leaving the next day.

Day 15
- Fly back to Singapore
Roppongi Station>Daimon Station>Haneda Int'l Airport 
*Before flying back, we had ramen in the morning at this store called "Tsurumiya Yokohama Home ramen style" It's between Nishi Azabu and Roppongi. Its definitely a must must try cuz its probably the best ramen I had during the time I was there. Another thing I regretted. Not eating this ramen earlier.
*We then took a train to Haneda. (We took the asakusa line because for the Tokyo Monorail you would have to go out the station and walk over, which is a bit tough if you have huge luggages. )We had to change only 1 time and it took us around 30mins. It felt super fast. (Especially if you wait for the express train).

=So that ends my journey in Japan. It's been more then a month and I still miss my days in Japan and can't wait to venture back again. But the next time I do, I'll spend most of my time at Osaka cuz I love the land of takoyaki hahahaha=

(P.s. I hit my 120th post with this update!! Whoa..haha)

For all my pictures of my trip,check it out here
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Things to Note:
1. Walking Shibuya to Harajuku Area
As mentioned these places can be walked so if you are not sure how to, just ask the Tourist Information Centre that is just in front of the Hachiko statue. Theres a woman there who speaks really good english!(though I talked to her in Japanese and we spent about 15mins talking about stuffs) They will even recommend what you should look out for!
2. Transportation
If you got the suica card, a charge of 1000yen per day is enough if you stay within the tokyo area. (unless you plan to venture to places like disneyland and yokohama which might cost a tad bit more)
3. Hakone/Mount Fuji Area
We were planning to go Hakone but gave up in the end because of the continuous bad weather report until the day we left, however for those who plan to go hakone/mount fuji area (lucky you) drop by Shinjuku station. Go out of Shinjuku Station West exit and head to Odakyu Sightseeing service center there that sells a 2 day hakone pass that allows you to take the romance car, ferry and trains within hakone for free. It is only worth it if you plan to stay there for 2 days. (because for hakone, you can't see everything in a day) The sightseeing centre has people who speak in english so no worries for ya'll! For more info check out this site: http://www.odakyu.jp/english/destination/hakone/

Thoughts about my trip to Japan

Every trip's reflection post starts with an airplane. 

2 weeks ago, this day, I was still venturing about the streets of Tokyo (Shibuya to be exact)

and now here I am writing a post about my trip. 

I honestly thought I already left a post about my trip but apparently I didn't. 

So the basic questions everyone asked me were "How was your trip?", "what did you do?" and more importantly "how much did it cost?". 

Well, I shall answer all the questions slowly and probably post my Itenary here though maybe not in this post cause it will become super long. 

Basic information about my trip, my friends and I travelled 3 places in the 2 weeks. We went to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo. The trip was simply amazing and very surreal to me because firstly, I never imagined my parents allowing me to travel with my friends (cuz they don't let out of the house late at night, how did they allow this trip was really mysterious for me). Secondly, to even go to Japan during spring was a far-fetched dream for me. 

Though it was a bit costly, I never regretted my decision to journey through Japan one single bit. The last time I was in Japan was probably about 4 years ago and I never been to other parts of Japan except Tokyo because my grandparents lived in Yokohama (which is pretty much near Tokyo). So it was really exciting (yet worrying) to venture to other parts of japan. I was also really worried about travelling without my mom because I never really spoke to people in Japan when I travelled with my parents cuz my mom did all the talking and I never had to buy train tickets cuz my mom did those as well. But all in all my trip went smoothly and it was really great. 

Being in Japan for the 2 weeks was simply amazing. The people were so nice, the skies were so blue and the air was just different. However it was super cold. You would expect spring to be around the coldness of being in an air-conditioned room but NO. When we reached Osaka at around 8pm, it was 3 degrees. How was this spring! I basically only wore 1 long sleeve and my coat. It was not enough (people who know me, knows I'm very weak to the cold) .We reached the station that was apparently near our apartment but we got lost. It took us a while to find our apartment and I swear I wanted to just curl up at one corner and just stay there. However, we managed to find it but it was still so cold. 

Though during the entire trip it was super cold, I liked it. I mean I rather suffer in cold then in warmth. 

We visited a lot of places that I only ever saw images of on the internet but the place I fell in love the most was Uji. After that was Kyoto followed by Osaka. Uji was simply beautiful and I definitely recommend people to visit there if you are ever in the Kyoto or Osaka area. 

I managed to make a trip to Universal Japan to visit Hogwarts and that was probably another highlight of the trip as well! Though it rained and there were many people and I didnt take any rides, Being in hogwarts was just fun. I got to see Shingeki no Kyojin as well so...YESH.

Uji, the land of green tea and probably the most  beautiful place
I ever visited. 

The week I spent in Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Uji was probably the best but all good things come to an end and we had to go back to Tokyo. 

Tokyo didn't really change much since the last time I was there. It was still a busy city but it was beautiful this time because everywhere we walked somewhere there was a sakura tree. We rented an apartment in Roppongi and omg I think it was the best place I ever stayed. The apartment was so comfortable and we could even see tokyo tower from the apartment! It was simply amazing. The place we stayed at was also near Roppongi Station and we could visit all the places we wanted to go with ease. 

Basically in Tokyo what I did was Shop and eat. That's all I did. But one place I really liked that I never visited was probably the meiji shrine. It was totally zen. I never knew there was such a place in Tokyo. 

OH! AND YES! Our apartment was really near TV asahi. It was so cool, but sadly I didn't see any actors or idols..it was kinda sad..cuz I think I could have seen Kimura Takuya the day before I was about to fly as he had a press conference for his new drama at the area, but being me, I didn't think of exploring the area that day and missed the chance to see him. I was so near yet so far *cries*.

Leaving Japan was almost unbearable, honestly I didn't want to leave. I wished I could stay there for a month. It was nice to talk in Japanese and actually talk to the people there! I honestly feel that taking up Mass Comm changed my life because I became more of an extrovert. Throughout my entire trip in Japan, I went around asking people questions and occasionally had a chat with them. One such person was this elderly lady in Osaka. She was 81 but she still worked as a nurse and learns traditional japanese dance on the weekends and let me tell you, she dosen't look 81 at all. She then went on talking to me about stuffs and it was nice. I talked a lot especially to people at the tourist information counters. I don't know why but we'd just start talking until another customer arrived. Many of them start chatting with me after I finished asking my question by telling me "you japanese is really good!" then I'd tell them my mom was japanese and after that we just chat. It was really nice. 

If I travelled with my parents, I probably would not have the chance to chat so much with the people there. Also, me being able to speak japanese probably saved us time and our lives. I was pretty shocked that there weren't much english menus wherever we went. Though it was troublesome to translate menus to english for my friends, i'm still glad I managed to read the menu to explain to them. If it was me 4 years ago, I might just die at one corner cuz I couldn't read it. 

Honestly I never planned to go to Tokyo for this trip, but because my friends wanted to go to Tokyo and I wanted visit my grandparents graveyard so we went. Visiting my grandparents graveyard was painful. I never cried when I attended their funeral but I don't know why that day as I stood in front of their graves I just broke down. I thought to myself that if they were alive, it wouldn't have been me guiding my friends but my grandfather. Instead of visiting their graves, I could have been visiting them and they would've been proud of me finding their house. Something my grandfather and grandmother always told me was "come visit us by yourself one day! We'll let you stay here and bring you around!" but even before I could do that they passed away. So that was probably one reason out of the thousands I cried before them. After visiting their graveyard, I just roamed around Yokohama thinking about things and eventually ended up at Yamashita park. It was a nice half-day alone that day but once again it was unbelivable. I was in Yokohama alone and I managed to go to the places without help. Amazing, I thought. 

So this is probably all my thoughts throughout the trip. I'll probably post up my itenary in my next post so that for those of you whose planning a trip to Japan can take a look! I'll try and add in some tips too! 

To end of my post is to answer the question of "How much did it cost". It costed my hand and limb. Okay I'm joking. Everything from air ticket, apartment, transport fee, food and shopping it costed me S$3,685.  (yes a weird number but when I calculated this was the amount it added up to). 

Honestly, since I saved up money since I was a kid, this trip was more than affordable for me. Many people around me probably thought my parents paid half my trip for me but nope. I funded the entire trip myself, which is maybe why my parents had no say against my trip. 

Till the next post, 

Cheers! 

Many thanks for my travel buddies. Cuz of them I was never bored and
because of them we were never lost. It was such a chill trip with them. ><

Then and Now

I was on the train the other day to Tanjong Pagar when I just glanced out the window on the way to Clementi. 

There was a temple with a huge Buddha statue and behind that was the holding school that I used to attend when my primary school was under construction. Or should I say it used to be behind the temple. 

When I passed by that day, behind the temple stood two tall buildings of what looked like a HDB. I tried to see if the holding school was still there or was torn down but the train kept moving and I couldn’t see it.

As I passed it, I suddenly thought to myself how much time has passed and how much Singapore changed. Just 11 years ago when I studied there, I could still see the train passing by from the open field in that school when I had PE.

Looking back at Singapore as a whole, I realised Singapore changed so much. 

Where gardens by the bay stands today used to be a park where my parents brought me to cycle on the weekends when I was 7. There wasn’t an ION mall when I was 10 and big splash at East Coast still boasted its slide whenever I passed it. (Though I remember it being closed whenever I went past it.)Heck, Queensway’s cinema was still there whenever I passed by it and I remember when I was very young, it had a billboard painted and left outside though there wasn’t any movie playing inside.

But as Singapore evolves into a globalized city, it would mean that we need to “upgrade” our city as well and the places that are forgotten would be taken down one by one. 

However, little do we know that these places that are forgotten still holds memory to some of us and only when the media reports that it is going to be taken down or demolished do we realise ‘oh…’. We always assume something would be there, however when we try to revisit it 5 years down the road we realise a huge brand new building has replaced the one that held you memories

It isn’t just buildings. Our transportation has also evolved a lot in just a mere 13 years. When I was in Primary 1, there was only 2 lines Red and Green. But now, we have Red, Green, Purple, Yellow and Dark Blue. (I go by colors because I can’t seem to remember their read names…as you can tell I’m not good with directions)

Though we moan and groan about the speed of the train or how the buses isn't coming when you are rushing for a meeting, take a step back and compare it to the past. 

Our buses has also became so efficient! With the ez link card and buses coming every 15 minutes or so, it has changed so much to keep up with the fast-paced life we lead. (we don't even have to push the button nor figure out how much we need to pay to go to a certain place cuz the machine counts it for us now) 

Do you remember this? Do you remember what it used to do?
Took this one day when I was on the bus. Gotta take it before it disappears!

 

Photo Credit: Google Images

I don’t know if it is just me but I felt that in the past, time seemed to go slower. Now, it feels like time goes to fast that you’d think “shit. Did 24 hours just passed?”

I’m not sure if it is because I’m now all grown up and my life revolves around deadlines, deadlines and more deadlines. But it seemed like the sun stayed out long enough for me to enjoy myself.

But one thing is for sure. Change is needed as people are evolving now and the society around us is always improving. I am definitely one that supports having these changes around but its just a bit hard to believe how fast things are changing.

It kinds of scares me at times but I still look forward to see how much our country will change in the next 10 years. Not only our country but the world as well.

Maybe in my next post, I should talk about the habits and things that changed over the 10 years or so.

Till then, how about re-visiting that place you grew up at or a place you used to hang out after school (whether primary or secondary) and see if it is still there.

Cheers.