this is the day of a rather long drive…

then we came across this area where there were many tour buses, so…

we stopped to check it out too~~~

we also stopped by this castle…

then we arrived at niigata n went shopping… guess what we bought! jigsaw puzzles!!

world’s small jigsaw puzzle!! not one… but 2… n more to come later in the trip even!

sorry no pic for that for now… but it’s 1000 piece, making a A3 picture (2 pieces of A4).

From around 2006, the Japanese puzzle manufacturers have been engaged in a battle for the “smallest”. Starting with puzzles of one-and-a-half to two times as many pieces in the standard dimensions, these were merely small (and Japanese puzzles are typically 10% or so larger in area than European or North American puzzles of the same piece count). Then Tenyo produced a “World Smallest 1000-piece” series*, earning a place at Guinness World Records, shortly to be overtaken by Beverly, with 1000-piece puzzles at 300-piece size. These tiny pieces are not for the faint of heart, and you will need patience, delicate fingers, and very good eyesight!

* A3 size: two sheets of A4, or very roughly two sheets of “Letter” size if you’re in the US.

taken from http://www.imaginatorium.org/shop/tiny.htm

here’s one of the museum that i enjoyed v much….

it’s all trick art… n there are various such musuems in japan…

added 10.51pm…

{ trick art = most of the pictures are 2D, juz paintings… like the bed, the shark, and the falling parts… so it’s how creative u can get when u take the photos…

technique for taking such photos… no flash photography! which is quite tough indoors… that’s y some of the pictures are slightly blurred…}

there are several nice churches there at the old street as well…

added 10.52pm…

{added 17/9/2008 11.36pm…

one of the nice shops at karuizawa old street…

a bit like greece hor~~~

other highlights…

check the pink flower… v interesting… look at the petals… 2 red 3 pink in one flower…

but when it blooms as a bunch… then the colours are in rings of red n pink!

n the other flower looks like a lady in a gown!

 

 give me some time to montage the other pics la… u know v busy with radio drama la..

me first time producing the radio drama le… any comments for the radio drama?

let us know la~~

first sightseeing was the ueda castle… this one was a disappointment after visiting matsumoto’s castle lo…

in ueda, there are several old streets like this…

next stop… SHOPPING at factory outlet again!!!! karuizawa prince… here i come…

i bought 2 pairs of adidas here… each for less than 2,000yen! and i bought 2 pieces of clothing from tommy too~~ cheap cheap~~ sorry no pic of factory outlet too~~

once of my best buy from the gotemba factory outlet! from 13,650 slashed til 3990 with tax… n if u buy 2 pairs of shoes, a further disount of 30%.. timberland somemore le~~

by now.. i had to throw away bulky shoe boxes liao cos the boot of the car was almost full~~

the accomodation at karuizawa… karuizawa is suppose to be a holiday-like place for japanese… apparently… the prince of japan met his wife here… so they were back there for honeymoon or something like that la…

the cute alien like plant outside candytuft..

and a glimspe of our bedroom?

at the rate i m going.. my travel post for the july will last til my NEXT holiday? hahahaha
i shall try to speed up a little.. and guess what as i look at the photos.. i could have messed up the order liao! ahahha anyway..

at matsumoto, we went to school too… this is of course a historical site, with exhibits of the class rooms, the textbooks, and the history then as well…

look at these angels carefully… dont they look like sumo angels~~

the design and structure of this school had this western touch to it…

take a close look at the following pictures of their textbook…

tho i dun really understand the words… but can guess a bit la

i think it’s something like… ‘after surrendering world war II,

they made some changes to the textbooks!’

the next stop.. wasabi farm… never know what the green paste for sushi looked like?

after which, we visited the monkeys.. u might have seen on taiwan dongfeng channel that monkeys love hot spring as well?

think again… that’s in winter but in summer july, will the monkeys be enjoying the onsen?

hmmm.. well we were not disappointed… we did see monkeys in the hot pool… but the moments were really brief… cos they were diving into the hot pool for food that the park keeper threw in!!! well i guess the park felt that since they charged an entrance fee, they had to ensure that visitors saw the monkeys in the water la~~~

i got it fixed out liao.. cos i found the shared expenses excel spreadsheet listing the monies spent amongst us hahhaha so recap…

29/6 day 1 tokyo-yokohama

30/6 day 2 kamakura - ito

1/7 day3 ito - kofu

2/7 day 4 kofu - matsumoto

so… from kofu… we went sightseeing la… of cos lo…

how much shopping can u do out of tokyo town?

ahahah then u r wrong… on day 3 we went to gotemba where there’s a big factory outlet there!! sorry too busy shopping, forgot to take photos… got coach n G say ‘v cheap compared to spore!’ there’s timberland, gap, muji, nike, adidas? n many more la…

ok back to day 4…

alamak i forgot the name liao hahahaha not listed in my expense spreadsheet…

anyway… this is supposedly the biggest shui jing ever in the world, weighing 12,000kg…

also can pray n make wish le~~~

this place is also famous for it’s waterfall… n yes that’s me… :O)

there were aunties selling cherries there too… yummy!!!

n then we proceeded to matsumoto!!! i like this castle…

of the japan castles that i have visited, this one had signages in ENGLISH!! so at least i can understand n appreciate the structure n history behind it…

it’s got a certificate stating it’s the No 40 National Treasure !!

n i dunno y i took this hydrant… but i thought it juz looked nice amidst the green…

nice contrast…

the meiji king visited matsumoto years back… n almost wherever that he went, there were such ’stone cravings’ to mark his ‘ 到此一游！’

we started the morning with this musuem~~~

can u spot my bear amidst the signage?

the musuem happens to be having this totoro special as well… not that i m a totoro fan la.. there’s a giant totoro there too…taller than me, but the photo din turn out well la ahhaha

then we proceeded to tour a little of the ito coastline…

look at the sky~~

look at the road~~ ie mean the manhole covers

oops… i think we arrived at kamiyamada liao hahahahah

n stayed at this place…

and the dinner at this place…

and the breakfast~~

爱，不需要让你知道

寒冷的二月，山中茫茫的雪中，一男一女艰难的移动着，他们都是户外运动的爱好者，相约进山看雪，途中意外碰到暴风雪，迷了路。  

   女人很喜欢男人，他们之间没有表白过，因为之前，女人仅仅是从男人的眼神中，捕捉到喜欢的信息，但是不确定。他们两个都是骄傲而怕受伤的人，因为不确定，所以不表白。  
  
  大雪中，他们手拉着手，说着鼓励的话，在齐膝的雪中艰难的前进，不停的走着，常常走不了几步就会摔交，衣服已经湿透了，被冷风一吹，两个人都嘴唇青紫。体力消耗很大，但女人仍然边走边笑，男人看着女人，轻松不少。尽管都在微笑，但是他们知道，死神正一步步向他们逼近。已经三天了，周围仍然是一望无际的雪地，体力已经透支，最糟糕的是，食物也越来越少了。 
 
为了生存，他们把所有的食物都集中到了女人的背包里，由女人好好规划，控制每天的食量，以应付最糟糕的情形。更不幸的事情发生了，由于雪太深，在路过一片树林时，女人掉进雪洞里扭伤了脚，整个腿肿了起来，每走一步都要忍住巨痛。男人已经极度疲惫了，没可能背上女人前进，而且，女人也拒绝男人背她，她很清楚，这样的话，他们会一起死在山上。

斟酌再三，只能由男人独自前行，找到出山的路，寻求救援。男人为女人支好了帐篷，安顿好。他们整理了彼此的背包，女人告诉男人“还剩下八块压缩饼干，咱们一人四块“，随后说“你出去帮我烧点水好吗？“男人烧好水送进帐篷来，女人说饼干分好了，装在两个包的头包里，男人摸了摸两个背包的头包，凭感觉，的确是一样多。他拉着女人的手，说“等着我，我马上回来”。

直到这时，他们仍然没有向对方表达自己的爱恋，他们都是理智的人，这种情况下，可能一分手就是永别，如果表白之日就是永别之日，未免太过残忍。
   
男人根本不知道自己能不能走出去，如果，他们中只有一人能生存，那何必让对方用一生的时间，去忘记一个逝去的爱人呢？记得一个普通的朋友就足够了。女人无限依恋的看着男人“我等你，我知道你能走出去。”男人站起身，替女人盖好睡袋，转身。

每走一段路，男人都做下记号，他一心想着找到救援，回去接女人，饿了，啃一口饼干，渴了，吃两口雪。男人的速度越来越慢，他提醒自己，不能停，只要停下就意味着死亡，那女人也就没救了，他努力坚持，他告诉自己，一定要出去。 

    终于，男人耗尽了最后一丝气力，倒下，失去知觉前，他想，女人的食物还够吗？还能撑住吗？醒来，男人发现自己躺在救援队的帐篷里，朋友发现他们没有按时出山，救援队已经进山搜救很久了。

其实救援队一开始并没有发现男人，他们先找到女人的帐篷，然后顺着男人留下的记号，找到几乎冻僵奄奄一息的男人。男人的体温渐渐恢复，他问“她呢”，大家不语，他突然发现，救援队的成员眼角都隐隐有着泪光。男人一呆，“告诉我，她呢”，挣扎着要出去找她。救援队长用颤抖的声音说“别找了，她不在了，我们发现她的时候，已经去了，可能是出去融雪烧水，没力气回到帐篷，冻死了”……   

三年后，男人结婚了，是一个和女人一样喜欢户外运动、喜欢笑的可爱女孩。女人走后，这个女孩陪男人走过了最难受的日子，男人逐渐快乐起来，有了感情，两人走到了一起，有时，他们也会一起怀念惋惜女人的逝去，也更珍惜现在的感情。当年的救援队长参加了他的婚礼。

婚礼后，队长来到女人的墓地，女人在照片上，笑容依旧美丽。队长对女人说“你放心吧，他结婚了，很幸福“。队长流泪了，其实，当年，队长说谎了。女人不是冻死的，救援队发现她的时候，她好好的躺在帐篷里，睡袋盖的很好，男人替她盖好的，她舍不得动。

女人是饿死的，打开她的头包，只有几块平平的石板，没有什么压缩饼干，剩下的压缩饼干，不是八块，只有四块而已。女人，把剩下的所有食物，都留给了男人，她真的，很爱他。队长发现女人的时候，她早已经僵硬的手中紧紧攥着一张小纸条：“我肯定撑不到他回来了，别告诉他，他该有自己的生活。”

来自天堂的玫瑰

罗丝最喜欢红玫瑰，她的名字也是玫瑰的意思。每一年，丈夫都会送给她一些玫瑰花，花上系着漂亮的丝带。这一年，她丈夫去世了，玫瑰花依然送到了她的门前，卡片上仍然像以前一样写着“做我的妻子吧！”年年送花，他都写着这样的话：“对你的爱今朝更胜往年，时光流转爱你越来越多。” 她想，今年的玫瑰一定是丈夫提前预定的。以后再也不会有玫瑰花了。一想到这些，罗丝禁不住泪如泉涌。 她心爱的丈夫并不知道自己的心会如此逝去。 他总是喜欢把事情提前安排妥当，以往即使再忙的时候，凡事仍能从容办好。
罗丝修理了玫瑰，把花插进一只很特别的花瓶里，花瓶旁摆放着丈夫满面笑容的遗像。 她在丈夫心爱的椅子里一坐就是几个小时，伴着玫瑰花，痴望着他的相片，沉浸在美好的回忆中。 一年过去了，失去了丈夫的日子她觉得十分难熬，孤独和寂寞占据了她的生命。情人节前夕，门铃响了，有人送来了玫瑰花。 她把花拿进来，心中非常惊讶。是谁在恶作剧，为什么要惹她痛苦?于是她打电话给花店。
店主解释说：“我知道您的丈夫一年前去世了，也知道您会打电话来询问究竟。您今天收到的花，是您丈夫提前预购的。您丈夫总是提前做好计划，万无一失。他预付了货款，委托我们每年送花给您。去年他还写了一张特别的小卡片，嘱咐着：如果他不在了，卡片就在第二年送给你。” 她谢过店主，挂上了电话，泪水涌流而下。手指不住地颤抖着，慢慢地打开了附在玫瑰花上的卡片。
卡片里是一张他写给她的便条。她静静地看着：“你好吗，我的妻子?我知道我已经去世一年了，我希望挺过这一年的你没有受太多的苦。我知道你一定很孤单，很痛苦。我们的爱使生活里的一切如此美好，我爱你千言万语说不尽，你是完美的妻子，是我的朋友和情人，让我心满意足。时光只过去了一年，请不要悲伤，我要你即使是流泪的时候也是幸福的，这就是为什么玫瑰花将会年年送来给你。当你收到玫瑰的时候，想想所有的快乐吧，我们曾经是多么幸福。我的妻子，你一定要好好地活着啊。请……珍惜生命，追寻幸福吧。我知道那不容易，但是你一定要想想办法。玫瑰花每年都会如期而至，除非你不再应门，花店才会停止送花。那一天，花店的伙计会上门来访5次，以防你只是出门去了。但是，访问过5次之后，他就可以确认：这些花该送到另一处我指示给他的地方一一我们重逢相聚的地方。”  

here are a few videos that i wanna share with u lo….

it really makes u appreciate what we have…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9YtI1DLLNA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDJ-6of5xv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adZCkmuksPM

A 30-Hour Famine Media Trip by World Vision Malaysia to Laos in June 2008, with Michael Wong - 30-Hour Famine 2008 Ambassador.

currently, mediacorp is also working with world vision singapore to help build a school in china… for more details, please go to www.mediacorpradio.sg/charity2008

so please help if u can… every cent counts…

the weather is still gloomy le~~ on off rain- heavy rain- drizzle-rain…

sigh… why like that? next stop is kamakura，鎌倉市, about 50 km south-west of Tokyo.  Kamakura has a beach which, in combination with the temples and the proximity to Tokyo, makes it a popular tourist destination.

This temple was founded in 1063 by Minamoto Yoriyoshi as a branch of Iwashimizu Hachimangu in Kyoto. It was originally located in Tsurugaoka near the Yuigahama coast, but was moved to the present location in 1180 by Minamoto Yoritomo to make it the core of the planned city of Kamakura. After being destroyed by a fire in 1191, the temple was rebuilt with the present layout. The view from Hongu, the main building of the temple, of the Kamakura city along the Wakamiya Oji street is magnificent.

Kotokuin Temple (Daibutsu)