Dear Chibi,

After the FujiQ Amusement park, we travelled to the hotel where we were staying for the night. I liked this location, you can see Fujisan on the other side of the lake. Some of us dressed in a yukata (provided by the hotel) while we had dinner and wandered around the building. It’s quite a heated building so it was okay to wear XD That night there was also firework displays we could see outside our room window! It ran for about 30 minutes, and Kazzy was all excited and snapping pictures away.. (took too many, lol) Two which stood out most was a STAR shaped display, and yes.. a SMILEY face one! aww..the smiling face one was soo cool… but Kazzy missed it ;_; We weren’t exactly expecting one of those!

Along with the yukatas, there was of course, hot spring baths! That was pretty relaxing…Um..no pictures from there XP

Mt Fuji the next morning outside the hotel. Looky! No clouds covering its peak!~

Next we went up Mt Fuji’s skii resort o.o Ok, that’s just beyond freezing, hahahaa… *cough* At this point I was feeling a bit unwell. The problem with Japan’s temperature is that it’s reaally really cold outside (so we wear a lot), yet, really really hot inside buildings. It feels like I’ve been turned into an icecube, and then upon entering the buildings, we break into pieces XD We went up there to the snows for a few hours, but didn’t ski or anything. Didn’t..feel like it XD

Next was lunch! This was quite nice too…

Our next destination was SANRIO PUROLAND (aka Hello Kitty Land) It was pretty cute-as expected, and very pink!

Hello Kitty’s House

And the mascots- managed to catch a few of them. To be honest I don’t really know a lot of the Sanrio character names ^^; But I can’t resist taking pictures with them, teehee. I mean look at this bear..just look at her losty face…kawaii…. X3

And of course, who can forget Hello Kitty & Dear Daniel?

After all the cutesy cutesy, we headed to Ginza, Tokyo to wander around the city.

Wow.. Aeris looks so pretty! 4000 yen..hmm.. hehee, and its Totoro with Mei-chan ^.^ It looks small here, bit he’s actually quite big.

L, Change the World- the movie in cinemas everywhere. wowy. I saw a lot of trailers for this and promotional images in both Japan and Hong Kong.

And to finish off this post, some night city pictures of Tokyo.

Part 3 coming soon =)

Dear Chibi,

What does Chibi always look out for when traveling to a new place? The toilets! XD Not so much of where they are, but what they’re like. Sadly, the toilets at the Japan airport weren’t as amazing as the ones in South Korea (the changing toilet seat). They were normal, haha.

Here’s the tap where you push down instead of up, and a mini hand dryer.

Of course, the Japanese come up with much more interesting toilets than that. I was very excited to find that the toilets in the hotel are bizarre. I’ve heard about them, but seeing it in action is wacko XD

As you can see above, the Japanese have extra options that go with their toilet =) As Tokyo is a freeeezing place this time of the year (was -2 degrees, max 9) , the seats are all heated~ ahh. hehe. The moment you sit on the seat, water starts filling up inside, and it says “preparation”- it makes you wonder what it’s preparing, lol. Well, once it reaches a certain level it stops. After doing your business, you flush it, of course. But, tis’ not the end! It can wash your butt for you XD Clicking on the extras, a little pipe comes out and starts spraying water- different options for male and female. Then it can also blow dry it for you. Aren’t the Japanese living a great life? You just sit there and everything does the work for you ^^;;; Might I just add I don’t think I wanna touch those options again! hahaha…

During the trip, I also found other interesting toilets. One that particularly grabbed my attention was one that made FAKE FLUSH NOISES! LOL. You can even set the volume… I don’t understand why they would need an extra option to make fake flushing noises, without the toilet flushing. My conclusion was if you wanted to pretend you went to the toilet, and didn’t wanna waste water for flushing nothing ^^; I dunno.

Hot drinks from vending machines.

Have 5 people who want to sit in the same row on a bus? No problem! They have made 5 seaters possible =)

On the first day we visited a place called Palette Town. They have really cute displays ^^

Not really a fan of cars, but we went to check them out anyway ^^

More cute displays and a fake sky inside the building. Japan has some nice real clouds too…

Doraemon for M12, teehee and a UFO catcher.

Dragon Ball is still very very very popular in Japan.. merchandise everywhere you turn!
Anime poker machines for kids? This one features the anime Kaiji- which is about gambling ^^;

yay!! Cat bus! We sat inside and it’s pretty big too.

A bus stand. I love the lighting XD

Some funny displays spotted! And yeah, peace~ ^^v

Snoopy! Thanks to the Curries we saw who took this pic for us ^^

Outside the BANDAI Store.

Gundams are undoubtedly always going to be popular in Japan.

We spent a day at an Amusement Park. The name of it escaped my mind ^^; I think it was called FujiQ. Looky! There’s Fujisan! We see her everywhere =)

The food is pretty good in Japan =) Strangely enough, we didn’t eat any sushi rolls during the 5 day trip.

More Gundam stuff in the Amusement Park, but Pokemon is still popular.

The Ghost House!

Kazzy is terrified! It’s an abandoned old hospital…

As we entered, there were 3 Japanese people behind us, 2 girls clinging onto a guy who were all very very terrified. Nothing seems to be popping out or anything, but the trio behind continuously screamed like mad. At first we thought they were being silly and just making noises, but then one of the girls ran out of the first ‘emergency exit’ XD I guess it was real then, lol. Soon, we realised that it must be the ‘charms’ protecting my mum and sis taking effect. Before entering the building, we can buy ‘protection charms’, one saying “weakling” and “very weak”- my mum and sis bought one each XD This makes “ghosts” kinda leave you alone ^^;; I didn’t buy any, but through the building, Kazzy kept grabbing onto my arm very tightly.. so that must be the reason it wasn’t scary for me either. ehe..

I conquered every ride!! Ok, not really…lol

Part 2 coming soon.

Dear Chibi,

wheee…I’m back from HK and Japan! =) Just woke up from a 12 hour sleep, was suppose to go back to work but I need another day to settle down- unpacked things (and blog, lol) It was quite a trip though, dunno where to start! I’ll probably write a few things in different blog entries cause there’s too much to cover in one post and I don’t want to squish them altogether =) .

All went pretty well except some issues did pop up which freaked us out… let’s start with them. First of all, on our final day in HK, we (mum, dad, sis and I) couldn’t find our plane tickets… o_o what, lost? After searching and searching, we end up calling for help and they told us we can still depart without..it. So yeh. Phew. It end up being with my Dad anyway ^^;

Then the second problem. Luggage overweight about 20kgs. We don’t really have relos in HK so we can’t leave them back here for them to collect. So, what now…? The lady said we could pay for the extra weight, which added to $5000 HKD which is almost $1000 AUD. omg. That’s crazy. Time was passing, and we ended up leaving one luggage behind for a distant relo to ship back sometime- I’m not even sure what was in that luggage >.< All of this mess left us with less than 20 minutes to check-in and board the plane! It was quite a distance… but we made it JUST IN TIME. Just like the movies XD

And then we finally arrive in Aussieland and think nothing worse could possibly happen. We went through the strict customs and came out fine. Jacky picked us up and we put everything in the car and headed home. However. A while later, we realised one luggage was missing- my one! o_o Wow, nothing like this happened in our previous trips. We had to take another trip back to the airport to retrieve it- good thing it was still there though (along with A LOT of other luggages people forgot to collect…aw, you poor children ;_;)

So yeah, what a day that was yesterday. I’m glad I’m back home sweet home =D The weather in Aussieland is awesome, teeheee…

I’ll post some pics in my next entry ^^

Dear Chibi,
On Friday night Mum prepared a lot of yummy food for our Chinese New Year dinner- so much that we ate it again the following day, lol. Jacky came over that night and as usual the four of us- Mark, Kaz, Jacky and I played mahjong again! This time however, the game lasted for almost 7 hours! Didn’t think that was even possible seeing as we didn’t technically finish the game after that either! We got to the final wind and player who was Jacky but the rounds either ended with a draw or him winning (thus it should continue..) Who stood as winner at 4am in the morning…? Me!! eheheee.
Scores:

Jen: 560
Mark: 363
Jacky: 260
Kerry: -297
Well anyway it was late so he stayed over for the night and I slept on the couch for about 3 hours. Morning already! haha.

Later that day we went to Ray’s place for the first time. After food and chit chat, I think Jacky, Marcus and Burpy were playing with the Dreamcast, while Ray, Emily, Somps, Nico and I were playing poker on his balcony ^^ I think it’s a fun game, even though I don’t play it often at all (I think last time was at Somp’s 20th bday party..?) Emily ended up the most rich, followed by Somps- and poor Ray lost so he shouted us drinks XD

At 6pm, we met up with Flora and went to some Korean restaurant in Eastwood for dinner. I always forget I don’t really like Korean food until I taste it again, hahaa.. Jen, please note- never go to a Korean restaurant! XD It’s just a personal preference, it’s not like they taste bad, just not as good…as.. Japanese or Chinese even.

In the end, Ray, Jacky, Burpy, Flora, Emily and I went to Karaoke! This place was exactly the same as the one in Stratty o.o I forgot the name of the place but I’m not surprised if they’re the same business.. The place looked identical and the song list was the same nuisance, especially trying to find Chinese songs (mando/canto, male/female artists and bands all together in a book under one list sorted in song titles by the amount of words o.O?)- nevertheless, we found some stuff. hahaa. fun fun.

It was a long day, but lots of fun =) I’ll be heading off Monday night (tomorrow)! Need to start some packing and cleaning.

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ah, this quote rings Year 12 bells. A ‘journey’ quote I used.

Dear Chibi,

I seem to be most motivated when I know someone who is similar to me (similar circumstances, similar age), and is able to achieve something I haven’t achieved myself. I would think ‘If she can do it, so can I!’- and that’s because at least things would seem ‘possible’ or at least ‘doable’. They say anything is possible, but it requires a lot of courage too. However, if I’m only ever going to do something because someone else has done it, how will I ever leave a trail? Althea has left a trail for me to follow when she produced her animation Space Alien Ehushu- which largely motivated me to create Steal My Rain. I’m unsure if I want to continue pursuing in this field, but I definately learned a lot in the process and came out with something I’m happy with.
I wonder what’s ahead of her after The Poisoned Rain of Agharti? Will she be able to make it to the other side? I hope she finds her way. Even if I haven’t yet left a trail, I hope I will some day =)  I hope she continues to pursue her dreams too.

Dear Chibi,

On Saturday morning, Jacky and I decided to have a look at Parklea markets to see if we can find some remaining accessories for our “80s” costume. We could go as an 80s movie character or just something 80s in general. I chose the latter…leg warmers, side ponytail, fluoro pink off-shoulder shirt, mini skirt, leggings, plastic fluoro bracelets minus the make up. I cringed at the thought of it, but told myself.. “It’s for a good cause.” lol The crazy make up would have really done it.. but I couldn’t make myself to do it ^^;
We found it without much trouble and wandered around the markets. This place gave me a really…weird mixed feeling. As some of you may know, I use to work here back in 2005- for a year. Although some days were okay, the overall experience was unpleasant and I eventually quit working at the end of a full year. It ended on rather bad terms too, but I was happy I was freed from the nightmare. Now I’m back here again, and nothing about it seems to have changed. I recognised every shop, it’s location and their owners.. besides, I did see them for every weekend for a year.. I wasn’t sure if my ex-bosses still worked at the place, but decided I’d visit my god sis instead- who was at the center stage. We had some good chat and saw that Brian (her little brother) was also there- he hasn’t changed. So we were chatting until I asked her where we could get some good food. She mentioned there was this Hot food shop with two lovely owners. Shop 2, entrance five. I froze. Is it..really the same people she was referring to..? I was curious. I wanted to know.

After much hesitation, Jacky and I slowly headed towards the shop, but stayed far enough for them not to see me. Even without my glasses, I saw them. Instead of walking up to them, I continued to walk pass- there’s really nothing more to say. How to describe this… it’s like- suddenly seeing your ex after a few years. There’s awkwardness, not much to say but you’re wondering if grudges have disappeared or not. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say.

Well anyway, we headed home and realised we still had a couple of hours to spend. Randomly, Jacky opened a movie file I had on the computer and it was Kagen no Tsuki (Last Quarter of the Moon). I had forgotten I downloaded this ages ago, so we watched it unsure of what to expect. Ok- we got curious as to what we were watching so I paused it at the beginning to read a little summary on wiki, haha. It was a mystery, supernatural live action based on a three-volume shoujo manga by Yazawa Ai- creator of NANA! So we watched on.. I was slightly freaked out by some parts of it, but overall the plot was uninteresting, a little confusing and weird. lol. Oh wells… at least I didn’t watch it myself ^^;;