it was a very early sunday morning flight… so… better don’t sleep in case overslept lo~~

by the time we touched down, get the car and nursed our hungry tummies… it’s almost 3/4 pm liao… so… we’d better be on our way to yokohama…

this trip is not the usual route or places that u see / hear of in standard tour itineraries la… but first stop yokohama shouldn’t sound v unknown la…

i was actually here at yokohama during the previous chan bro tour, but bcos i was in the midst of hopping buses, i did not have a chance to walk around… so here i m again…

but within a matter of weeks, the weather was totally different… the last time was bright n sunny…. n this time round… rainy n gloomy…

we were told before we set off that it’s the rainy season!!! but seeing n hearing is always different…

rain or shine there’s no stopping us from eating n shopping still~~~

the nice nice ferris wheel at yokohama

There are various points of interest in the futuristic Minato Mirai 21 harbourside redevelopment. The highlights are the Landmark Tower which is the tallest building in Japan, Queen’s Square Yokohama (a shopping mall) and the Cosmo Clock 21, which was the largest Ferris wheel in the world when it was built in 1989 and which also doubles as “the world’s biggest clock”. extracted from wikipedia.org

the nice nice bling bling kim-kim guan di miao… of cos in chinatown, yokohama… finally we could walk around n take pictures at about 10pm at night cos the rain finally stopped!!

our yummy sushi dinner after the shopping at Queen’s Square…

蜻蜓的故事
在一个非常宁静而美丽的小城，有一对非常恩爱的恋人，他们每天都去海边看日出，晚上去海边送夕阳，每个见过他们的人都向他们投来羡慕的目光。

可是有一天，在一场车祸中，女孩不幸受了重伤，她静静地躺在医院的病床上，几天几夜都没有醒过来。白天，男孩就守在床前不停地呼唤毫无知觉的恋人；晚上，他就跑到小城的教堂里向上帝祷告，他已经哭干了眼泪。

一个月过去了，女孩仍然昏睡着，而男孩早已憔悴不堪了，但他仍苦苦地支撑着。终于有一天，上帝被这个痴情的男孩感动了。于是他决定给这个执着的男孩一个例外。上帝问他：“你愿意用自己的生命作为交换吗？”男孩毫不犹豫地回答：“我愿意！”上帝说：“那好吧，我可以让你的恋人很快醒过来，但你要答应化作三年的蜻蜓，你愿意吗？”男孩听了，还是坚定地回答道：“我愿意！”

天亮了，男孩已经变成了一只漂亮的蜻蜓，他告别了上帝便匆匆地飞到了医院。女孩真的醒了，而且她还在跟身旁的一位医生交谈着什么，可惜他听不到。
几天后，女孩便康复出院了，但是她并不快乐。她四处打听着男孩的下落，但没有人知道男孩究竟去了哪里。女孩整天不停地寻找着，然而早已化身成蜻蜓的男孩却无时无刻不围绕在她身边，只是他不会呼喊，不会拥抱，他只能默默地承受着她的视而不见。夏天过去了，秋天的凉风吹落了树叶，蜻蜓不得不离开这里。于是他最后一次飞落在女孩的肩上。他想用自己的翅膀抚摸她的脸，用细小的嘴来亲吻她的额头，然而他弱小的身体还是不足以被她发现。

转眼间，春天来了，蜻蜓迫不及待地飞回来寻找自己的恋人。然而，她那熟悉的身影旁站着一个高大而英俊的男人，那一刹那，蜻蜓几乎快从半空中坠落下来。人们讲起车祸后女孩病得多么的严重，描述着那名男医生有多么的善良、可爱，还描述着他们的爱情有多么的理所当然，当然也描述了女孩已经快乐如从前。

蜻蜓伤心极了，在接下来的几天中，他常常会看到那个男人带着自己的恋人在海边看日出，晚上又在海边看日落，而他自己除了偶尔能停落在她的肩上以外，什么也做不了。

这一年的夏天特别长，蜻蜓每天痛苦地低飞着，他已经没有勇气接近自己昔日的恋人。她和那男人之间的喃喃细语，他和她快乐的笑声，都令他窒息。

第三年的夏天，蜻蜓已不再常常去看望自己的恋人了。她的肩被男医生轻拥着，脸被男医生轻轻地吻着，根本没有时间去留意一只伤心的蜻蜓，更没有心情去怀念过去。

上帝约定的三年期限很快就要到了。就在最后一天，蜻蜓昔日的恋人跟那个男医生举行了婚礼。

蜻蜓悄悄地飞进教堂，落在上帝的肩膀上，他听到下面的恋人对上帝发誓说：我愿意！他看着那个男医生把戒指戴到昔日恋人的手上，然后看着他们甜蜜地亲吻着。蜻蜓流下了伤心的泪水。

上帝叹息着：“你后悔了吗？”蜻蜓擦干了眼泪：“没有！”上帝又带着一丝愉悦说：“那么，明天你就可以变回你自己了。”蜻蜓摇了摇头：“就让我做一辈子蜻蜓吧……”

有些缘分是注定要失去的，有些缘分是永远不会有好结果的。爱一个人不一定要拥有，但拥有一个人就一定要好好去爱他。你的肩上有蜻蜓吗？

the past week has been quite frustrating.. i dunno what’s wrong with the pc connection at home… i can log on check emails, surf the net. BUT i cannot goto my login page for my blog! i dunno y~~

on a happier note… i wanna share these photos cos these are the nice ppl who went on the chan brothers trip with me in jun :O)

the spore n japan guides :O)

the pretty gals in bus 1

eugene n family from bus 1

the lovely mr n mrs lim, also from bus 1

my parents, uncle n aunties on bus 2

peiling n family also on bus 2 :O)

steven n family from bus 3

that’s about all the photos i have received from the ppl on my tour despite my appeal~~~

all v the shy lo aahhaa well, if u were on the trip n don’t mind me sharing your face here… u r not too late… email me at marybukoh@gmail.com :O)

then again if u feel shy about having your picture publish here, still can email me so that i can ’share’ your pictures privately la~~

well well.. i m back for a few days liao…

the website was down cos we were trying to do something la.. as a result.. the chinese posts ie 爱情小品are gone~~~

oh well… 旧的不去，新的不来~~ 我只能这样安慰自己咯…

been busy since back… so still need more time to sort the photos la… also my home pc connection like got problem… so bear with me la.. 

finally… i think i have more or less settled what should be done for now n for the next 2 weeks… i hope so… n i m only beginning to feel the holiday mood!!! woohoo~~~

hmmm i m being envied by many… i know i m lucky… n i also know i will be broke then~~ hahaha

so don’t miss me while i m away… tho i might try to squeeze some time to update my blog… if the shopping isn’t that great or when i run out of money!! hahahahha

some ppl already know whwere i m going, some are still guessing… ahhahaha not that i want to be secretive… ahhahaha i juz hate buying things for A B C D E F G when i m on a holiday… unless necessary or unless really convenient! ahhahah esp bad when u have this sense of responsibility to ‘hunt’ that particular thing for the person…Â also what difference does it make whether u know where i m going or not? i ownself know can already~~~ ;p

meanwhile… take care…

i promise more nice nice pics when i m back~~

oh yes… juz a reminder… if u were on the 7days chan brothers treasures of tohoku and hokkaido with ME, plse share with me your photos ok? email me your links or whatever to marybukoh@gmail.com

i will be waiting… … … … …

our reserved electric tram at hakodate!

next, the JR train ’super hakucho’ thats crosses the world’s longest underground tunnel! two tickets cos we get seats !! not free seating… :O)

the time schedule so u know ‘roughly’ when n which part is the deepest portion of the tunnel…

the countryside view on the train before we head into the tunnel…

the giant doll shaped lanterns at aomori nebuta festival museum… this festival is held in aug… the main purpose is to drive away the ZZZzzzzz monster so that they people wont feel sleepy hence work hard in the fields for a good harvest!

some cute ones for the young at heart…

lake towado

tohoku is one of the least travelled part of japan. it is famous for it’s good quality rice, hence, the padi fields are almost everywhere!

one of the onsen hotels!! nice :O) n that’s the famous aomori apple!

the warm welcome at akita mineland :O) tho the name is spelt wrongly la ;p

the greenery at the samurai houses…

the bullet train aka shinkansen we took from akita to tokyo! one thing amazing i found out… the seats rotatable! to suit the direction of the train in motion…

the delicious yummilicious ramen at yokohama’s ramen museum…

kushiro of hokkaido is famous for it’s wetlands n cranes…

as u can see… it’s rather different from the previous snowy weather… n the 3 white dots as it may seem to u are 3 cranes flying off~~ to i-also-dunno-where la…

next destination - tomamu alpha resort…

the view from my room on the 32/33 floor… the 2 blocks u see are the premium/more exclusive ie more expensive accomodation la~~

the directory stating the date, temp (-8) and the different ski routes that are operating…

one part of this resort is the place where fish leong shot her MV for her song ‘chong bai’… the water chapel… oh well… in my case… the frozen water chapel la

it’s here that i built my one n only snowman… the snow here is so powdery that it’s quite difficult to compact the snow to build one tho…

my :O ‘perpertually-stunned’ snowman…

next stop - sapporo…

1. the “susukino” which is well known for it’s stretch of 10+ or 20+ ramen shops…

2. odori avenue? oops i’m beginning to forget the names liao…

where the xmas illumination ie lights are… this is also the very place that will feature the snow sculptures in feb…

one pic taken at 5.55pm n the other at 6.1?pm… note the different lights for the tv tower…

one of my breakfast while i was in sapporo… check out the piglet in the bowl… so cute!!

final destination : TOKYO DISNEYSEA!!

u have to take this disney rail to disneysea! single trip cost 250yen ie about SGD3.50!

din really take many pic here cos was enjoying most of the rides!!!

my donald duck lunch box…

my tokyo friend that i made from my boracay trip in aug07, her name is tomoko. oops i forgot is this chip or dale ah? there’s another photo in tomoko’s camera… n sadly when tomoko approached a man to take a group photo for us that day, she dropped her 2 day-old camera onto the cement floor! She thot the man got hold of the camera when she let it go…. AAARRRGGGHHH… the lenses couldnt be retracted!!!! aiyo… my heart ached…

the only nice picture i have of the light/fire shows at disneysea that night…

with that, i end my report on my dec 07 japan trip…

looking forward to my jun 08 one already~~~ ahahhahaah

one of the sea creatures unique to the waters here… it’s called 冰之天使.. something like that… sorry don’t have my reference travel books..

it’s v cute… it’s about 1.5 - 2 cm… ‘flies’ in the water by flapping it’s wings…

another work of nature unique to hokkaido…

Marimo~~ so cute… how did green algae roll into cute green balls?

from wikipedia…

Marimo (Japanese: 毬藻 marimo), also known as Cladophora ball, Lake ball, or Moss Balls in English, is a species of filamentous green algae (Chlorophyta) found in a number of lakes in the northern hemisphere. A marimo is a rare growth form of the species where the algae grow into large green balls with a velvety appearance. Colonies of such balls are known only from Iceland, Japan and Estonia.

on my birthday… i was there…with all the 大白鸟s…

this one… i think it’s a frozen lake? we saw pple stopped by the roadside…so we stopped too n we snapped whatever they were taking too ahahhaha

this is lake mashu i think… finally the sun was out!!!

the famous prison-now-turned-musuem in Abashiri…

one of the five wings where prisoners were locked in…

despite the cold weather… there was a line of ppl fishing at the Port of Abashiri…

oh DEER~~~~ that we saw along the road when we stopped to check out the oshinkoshin waterfalls…

n the temperature is…

i have also posted some general scenic photos in the pages…

check them out if u want more la :O)

really fresh n oiishi!!!

the top left is salmon roe, ikura in japanese, it bursts with each bite with a slightly saltish taste.

~~~ from wikipedia~~~

top right is crab, kani in japanese, which needs no explanation la :O)

bottom centre is sea urchin, uni in japanese… almost jelly-like… yummi-licious!!

~~~ from wikipedia~~~

another dinner feast at another hotel… following pic are close ups of individual dishes :O)

i promise the next post will not be on food ;p