Golden Week! (Day 6)(1st half)

Sorry, but this final part of my GW blog will be 'abit' long!

This was the best day of all the days in Osaka dee....not only did I get to FRESH new places in Osaka, Randy is, FINALLY going back to where he belongs....hahaha(just joking, dont take it so personally!) Well, today, Me, Randy, Fook Hee, Shi Han & Miss Soo was supposed to meet up with Ghai Leong and some of the other Malays ppl from PPKTJ but Ghai Leong already had another plan set up(which is to walk around Osaka town.....sorry, can't do it anymore....tooo tired of the place dee) so we all ended up going to our seperate places.

First thing, to the Food Exhibition we go....No wait! We dont have time because we wanted to go to the Osaka Aquarium also so we had to forgo that...haih....but look at the bright side, wont be complaning bout eating too much while I'm at Osaka(always does happen). When we reached the aquarium, the first fish I saw was no other than "sardin" fishes packed up in a single place. No I'm no refering to real fishes, its our own species, the human kind, packed in a place a size of 3/4 of a football field. With so many different ppl wanting to see those lucky fishes, It took aproxmianately 1 hour of quing before I could even enter the ticketing area. Fortunately, this aquarium is so huge(unlike the money wasting, boring, soo puny Langkawi's aquarium!) it could practically fill the millions eager to pay 2000yen for an entry ticket!

During the queue, we actually saw 3 Malay girls(I think they are Malays though) with 2 wearing headskarfs we typically see in M'sia. What a feeling! Were like, "War! Kawan....M'sians....Ohana(family in Hawaian)". Everyone was damn eager to talk to them but none seems to have the 'guts' to break the ice...yes! Evan Randy or me....maybe its because of the scorching sun burning any mood we have left to talk. So there goes Ohana.....sayonara

Back to my topic.....I was kinda heartached to pay 2000 yen just to watch fishes swim in the beginning. What happens if its the same shit like what I wasted in Langkawi? However, I think I can trust the millions who are eager(the look on their faces) to.... So I reluctlantly paid my share and in I go.....ok, we were greeted by the workers with their all so pretentious smile with a loud "Konichiwa" which I think they must have repeated for like millions of time until they could have a nightmare by just thinking about it. We then boarded an escalator which brought us to the 5th floor of the aquarium. The journey itself took like a minute but since we could see the sea from there, there goes us happy snapping pics as if we havent seen the sea before (Well, kinda true though, Nara has got no sea around it and I havent seen any since I left Penang!)

The 1st part was the Japanese forest, with a boast of flora and founa from Japan's forest. Nothing special though, but I like the concept of putting a forest inside a building and the trees are still triving! Then from the here till the end, it was fun! A whole network of aquariums joined together to form a really huge 1! There, it was displayed a whole variety of fishes and sea creatures from all over the ocean. From the common fishes in our M'sian markets till a Whale Shark! (For those who are intellectually not so informed, the whale shark is the largest FISH in the world, with the 1 displayed about 40 feet long) If u wonder how can such a huge fish survive inside a tank, wait till u see the tank! Its like a whole building by itself. How nice was it to see fishes that size swim around with peace and freedom unlike Langkawi!!!(Terrible! Just Terrible!) There were also those entertaining animals such as the dolphin and penguin. They grabbed the most attentions with their funny attics which the kids just can't stop yelling when they see 1. Oh ya, the tempereture and humidity differs from parts to parts of the aquarium so we visitors could feel the real thing too! Cool!(Thats why Fook Hee complained hot when we were at the Pacific Ocean and cold when we were at the Antarica....I think he din noticed it...)

I would like to further describe about this aquarium but 3 hours of new experience is hard for me to explain in a 'short' blog....wait till anyone of u readers are here in Osaka, check it out yourself!(call me too if u dont mind some noise!)

Golden Week! (Day 5)

Well, no more temples for today! Went out to the northern part Osaka to show Randy around this so called American Village and also the all so famous ferries wheel situated on top of a shopping complex. The northern Osaka is packed with more high rise and high 'price' shops compared to the southern part which is (of course) more suitable for ppl like me but what the hell, just walking aound wont burn my pocket right(I'll regret it later!)

Since the JR incident also happened near this area, most of the trains now run at a slower pace which caused a slight commotion when our express train was 7 minutes late (which is too much for a Japanese) I can hear the train driver saying sorry non-stop with all those 'ultra' polite Japanese for the next few minutes while some passangers started looking worried as if something bad had just hapened.

Lucky, nothing happened so we just preceed to the shopping malls to check out some of the latest Japanese fashions . As we entered a 'cool' looking shop selling nice jeans and shirt to check it out, I noticed a nice pair of jeans but as a 'normal' college student, a pair of jeans costing RM700 is not a good bargain rite? We left that shop immediately while commenting that even thougt jeans sold in Tough(Times Square,KL) is only half that price, we already complained, but now this! Unexceptable! We then decided to just skip all the shops to head for the ferries wheel instead....

However, just like what written on a fortune paper(do u call it that?) I took from the Nara temple's saying that luck will be with me whenever I go out, It actually happened! I got 20 tokens from a amusement centre for free without even knowing the reason! Well, I divided it, and we played black jack(yes, its like a gambling centre but using tokens instead of cash). Luck struck me again as I actually won 5 more tokens from the machine while Randy is left with only 5.....but since we used up just too much time playing it, we decided to just find a machine that has the highest chances of losing and poured our entire 'fortune' back inside it.....well there goes my 15 tokes....When we left the amusement park, I noticed that its already 5.30pm(means we are inside there for 3 hours! My god!) wanted to ride the ferries wheel but I got a sudden phone call from Shi Han asking us to meet up with him at Osaka Temple because Soo Sing also wanted to meet us.

Without further delay, we decided to skip the ferries wheel ride and just head out to )the castle which Randy blamed me for not telling him about.(I find it boring the last time so....) By the time we got there, its already sunset but there are still a few 'lost' ppl who is just about to enter the place(which sad to say was 1 of us).....rushed inside, took some pictures, said some stupid things and got laughed the whole night.....Then back to Osaka city we go....

This time, its the southern region because Miss Soo wants to have a look around that area(which Fook Hee said a few days earlier that he will vomit if he goes there AGAIN!)....We walked around this place called Namba searching for the most popular food in Osaka, Okonomiyaki. Its a piece of fried meat/fish/noodles which is made like a shape of a square omellete. We were lost on which shop to choose so we decided to let the 'guess of honour' to dicide and guess what, he chose a stall so packed, there is like 15 ppl queing for it. After just 5 minutes, everyone's face turned black so I decided to search for another shop which has less ppl. My hard work paid out so I asked all of those 'charcoal' face ppl to follow me to that shop I just found.

Things brighten up alot when we ordered our food and started planning for the trip the next day. Food came kinda slow(but we din really notice though...was bz talking) but It was indeed unique. Servered on the frying pan fixed to our table, the okonomiyaki was szilling all the way till the last bite....3 of us said that it was nice but Randy said it doesn't suite his taste so there goes 1 unhappy 'guess of honuor'. We actually passed through the same stall which we waited for an hour ago and guess what! There is still like 10 ppl waiting for it! Then Randy was like,"See, I know this shop is nicer! there is so many ppl queing up for it!" I had nothing to say at that moment except that If we had qued for it....it will be 11pm before we can start eating!

After another entire day of going around places, back to the hostel we go again, I accidentally broke my bicycle's light when I went down a slope too fast and the light just flew off! DAMN! After that, the typical routine of climbing the fence, walking quickly towards my room and the whole nite chat which lasted much longer this time with Fook Hee eager to know what we have done...Shi Han didn't come back with us as he was bz doing God knows what in Osaka with Soo Sing.... =>

Golden Week! (Day 4)

Holy! Holy! That was my theme for the second day of the golden week....I can't think of a better explantion on why I used an entire day visiting Nara Garden which I have just been 3 days earlier with my friends here. An entire day spent visiting temples after temples was just what I did not have in mind lo....but as a host, all the wishes of the guest must be obeyed I guess? The original plan was that we are only HOLY until around 4pm and then we 'would' head east to Osaka for a food exabition held over there, but what can I say? God wanted us to stay longer at their temples so I gladly obeyed!

Nara Garden is only 10 minutes train away from my place. Its an old place but well kept (from us M'sians) and is the safest place in the whole world I think. This place have tons of temples and more temples which comes in all sizes and shapes. The biggest Buddha statue in Japan is also situated here(why do I always stay in a place near huge Buddhist statues? Kek Lok Si's "Quan Yin" and now this?). Maybe I should start saying that I'm fortunate because I did actually witness alot of young tourist around this area so its a 'happening' place right? About the safest place in the world, I said this because there is a deer garden inside this area where all the deers and bunnies are free to roam around even though the main road is just next to the place. Ppl around here are so law abiding, they actually slow down when they past this area even though its a main road as not to hit those happy go luck deers who can cross the road as many times as they wish without getting killed. Where else can I find such a place?

Well, since I dont fancy temples that much, what can I say? Today was more like helping Randy record his 'nonsense' crap while once again proving to the Japanese that I am(at least still) religious? Arr.....I'm just bored!

Golden Week! (Day 3)

Well, this Golden Week is actuaLly almost 3 weeks ago but since I'm just to lazy to type at that time, I'll just type it before I completely forget about it. Well, this blog should start like this:

LONG-LONG TIME AGO IN A PLACE FAR-FAR AWAY CALLED NARA, (plz play the Star Wars song!) THERE CAME THE MOST TREACHEROUS EVIL MONSTER THE WORLD HAVE YET TO DISCOVER. TORTURING HIS VICTIMS WITH HIS 'CRAPPING' SKILLS TILL THEY LAUGH TO DEATH, IT WAS BY FAR THE MOST FEARED CREATURE IN THIS GALAXY..........

"Har! You are coming to may place this GW (golden week)? dee arr? Why so fast 1? Bored of Tokyo dee mer?". "Don't tell me you miss me dee lor?!!! I'm not gay ok! I like girls only!"
That was the 1st reaction I had when I knew my former roomie, Ah Huat (its your name right Randy?) is coming all the way down south from his college in Kisarazu....I was kinda shocked! What is he thinking? Everyone here on the southern region, including my senpai and 'Lau Ta' is going up to tokyo to meet up with the rest of the ex-PPKTJ during the 1 weeks break while this fella wanna come down here pula? Mad arr u!

Well, after informing my seniors and the other 2 M'sian kawan about him staying in my room illegally for the next 3 days, I made some contacts with Ghai Leong and Naim to meet up during the same time Randy arrives but by God's willing, he would have us go on seperate ways on that day...(will explain below) Soo Sing will also be with us to travel around Osaka but since her college is too far to travel back everyday, Shi Han has reserved a hotel room for the two of them for 3 days consequtively.....what they wanna do has nothing to do with me though....

On the day my roomie arrives, Fook Hee and me were there to greet him from a station called 'Namba' while Shi Han was out to Suzuka looking for a date with u know who la....I was kinda shocked that Randy took a shinkansen(bullet train) to Osaka since it was so damn expansive, however, it seems that he is now a huge spender so he says he dont mind spending a 'little'(13000yen!) on a faster transportation. Well, since that day was raining, we couldn't go anywhere much so we just ate lunch at a fast japanese food restaurant and get my ipod photo fixed because of lousy speakers .....showed him around downtown Osaka which he claimed is boring because its the same with Tokyo. After that, I actually found the best 'Takoyaki'(fried octupus balls) which is so well hidden inside rows and rows of buildings. It was undeniable that its the best I've ever tried till today so I've wowed to go back there for more next time! However, this roomate of mine seems to still hate Jap food so after Fook & me finished our 'appetizer' we ended up in a restaurant no 1 on this world wouldn't know, MCDonalds! What else? Its actually my 1st time also so, okla....go and have a try la! MCD here is a little different from M'sia in choices in the menu. We can chose either salad, nuggets or fries in our MCvalue set instead of just fries ....which I think is a good news for those dieters out there!

Well, after eating, we just headed back to my hostel where we sneaked in from the side gate to avoid detection. Climed the fence as usual, and walked quickly towards my room to avoid being notice(theres actually not even a soul at that time but just wanna make sure!)....well, after getting to know my seniors, we just spent the rest of the night(or should I say morning?) chatting in front of the TV room trying to catch any lost or left out information since the morning we left Tokyo while eating ramen for supper, din last long though, were all soo tired that we just went back to our rooms an hour after that......ok, day 3 of my GW is done! (note that there is no day 1 and 2 as GW starts on friday and this blog is wriiten on that Sunday)

Finally! Internets back!

Yes! 1 month of being disconnected from the entire world has just ended....so many things happened in this 1 months time so i think this blog is gonna be in a few part....i'll be describing my live with the Jap classmates and hostel mates in this first chapter so...here it goes...in two words....'so different!'
My class is 3M, 3 stands for year 3 and M is for 'Mechanical'....this class consists of 44 ppl and 2 aliens(1 of them is me! the other is an alien from Kenya)....and in this 44 ppl, only 1 gal...haih...and they say Japan is the world of pretty gals and handsome guys...i'm not saying that their not handsome or ugly, just seem o be kinda like M'sian Chinese ppl only, except for the fact that most of them dye their hair......there are still nerds, ah bengs, gangsters, 'si ham chai'(cantonese) in my class. However, most of those friendly ppl are the normal onces and the nerd ones only!(I dont despise nerds ok! They are the ppl who will help u most when u have any troubles in your studies!) The Bengs and 'sea creatures'..I dont care bout their existance la!
My class members are an active bunch who loves to talk....but when I say this I meant that they even talk when the teacher is teaching...with loud voices. They are kinda 'cold' when i fisrt went to class, since they have a tendancy of not speaking to strangers, but since 1 month has passed, I can practically talk to them without any problem(except in language vise) on any topics dee....Some seems to have alot of interest about M'sia so there goes my long story from 1941(when their grandfathers attacked my grandparents time) till the present day. Can actually see that they are kinda sad that I still say about the war thing(hey! its my expertise ok! world war 2), even asked me is I'm mad at them because of that long-long time ago thing! Of course said yes la! Mad at them for not staying longer at M'sia, leave so fast after losing the war! At least start a family there so can have more Japanese in M'sia(they actually laughed!)....then continued saying that if I hated them, I wont waste 2 years to study Jap and come here! Well, they looked happy after that and can see some cursing those China's 'Chinese' for remembering those dark moments.
Most of them(from what i could c), doesn't respect the teacher at all....dont even give a little face lo! I was thinking that Japs are a bunch of hardworking ppl who are well diciplined but it seem that my 1st impression bout them now that I'm here is the total opposite! They read comics, sleep, talk, play with handphone, listen to Mp3 players while the teacher is explaning god knows what on the blackboard...i say this cos this only happenes when a teacher is really a slack 1 la! At that time, i can't even understand a single thing the teachers teaching......but for me, doing such things when a teacher is teaching is kinda rude, but hey! Japs are doing it like its so normal so I guess its my 1st culture shock here!(Not the mini skirt thing ok!)
All classes are conducted in Japanese even for my English class! Thats what I call learning English in Japanese.....I don't understand how on earth do they improve but if u just see their English standard, you will understand how 'EFFECTIVE' this system is.....hey! With my lousy English, I could be God of English over here, everytime we have an English Conversation Class(the only time we actuall use English), that Kenyan guy and I are the only 2 who can speak in English! And the rest of the class was like "WAR!! u both can speak so well....we wish we were like u both la! Teach me English la!". I even argued with that teacher te other day for saying that using the word 'toilet' is not appropriate when asking permission to go to the W.C! Well, it was only a 2 way conversation becos I think its too fast for the Japs to catch the words.....I lost anyway....but I'm satisfied with the answer that 'bathroom' is more appropriate(as in American English) cos Japs are using American and i've studied British.
Ok back bout my class, its a mechanical class so all my subjects are mostly specialized subject, it consist of studies of industrial energy,material strengh,technical drawing and designing, computer language, electrics and electronics & machanical design and developement....sounds hard huh! Well, its hard! Besides that, I have basic subjects such as maths(2 different maths subject...something like pure maths and further maths in form6 but this is like both also further maths, just different topics), Japanese English, PJ, and Advance physics. Haih..life in Japan is not easy after all......