The 9 B's

From A Humble Beginning

Well, after an entire tiring day spent at Aichi Expo, the next day was
spent travelling around Nagoya City and its not to miss 'Toyota
Museum'....you may think that it sounds boring, but trust me, unlike
museum in M'sia, this place is actually fun! 1st is maybe because of
the pretty ticket collector that gave everyone that very good 1st
impression? I don't wanna put her pics up here, but it is available at
request la....hahaha...okok...back to main topic, this museum shows how
Toyota managed to turn itself from a humble sewing machine maker in a
garage(why must it always be in a garage?? How bout ppl like me with no
garage at home? I can't do anything great dee huh?) and after 2
generations, it managed to be one of the top companies in the
world....its a long story, but for me a good 1 la...after the war stuff
and how the son risked his entire father's company to persuit his
dreams to design and produce cars for the Japs blablabla....and after
that, a part of the museum shows almost all the old models since Toyota
bacame a car producer. We can even activate some of the machines to
make some free souvenir such as key chains, plastic cars.....cool huh?


Bedtime

Well, this is where we bunk in on the 3rd night at Nagoya City...its
not actually a hotel, motel, capsule hotel, love hotel or what
ever...its actually a comic house!! Sounds wierd but this type of
'house' is actually open for 24 hours a day and even come equipped with
shower rooms and beds! Ya, there is about a few thousands of comics
inside, but since its in Jap...most of us spent time watching dvd(no
porn 1 ok!) or playing the PS2...or in my case, use the internet to da
max! Oh ya, another cool thing living in a comic house is that we are
provided with a drink bar where we can refil at our pleasure(there goes
we M'sians....rushing to get our moneys worth!)....I did actually acted
like it....drank so many cups of hot chocolate until, I felt so 'hot'
the next day!(cos Milo in Jap is really a rare stuff)...Another
suprising stuff was that I met with the Malays from my course too!! Out
of the entire Japan, without any arrangements, the Malays are actually
in a karaoke just beside our comic house's building! What a shock! So I
went to their place for a while, sing some songs and left at around
3am...or something like that...drank more Milo(until 5am that is), then
went to sleep...anticipating tiring day tomorrow...this pic up is my
room, with all the things I said earlier...the phone is used to order
food when we were hungry(got menu at every room), 24 hours service
somemore!


Beaches

Ok, this beach is NOT the beach I went to surf! This one is near Tokyo
so I just wanna take a photo to show how dirty water there can be...oh
ya, I stayed at my friends hostel with 4 more ppl at that time...cos
his place is near Tokyo and there is 'a way' to get there for almost
free(a trip from Nagoya City to his place is 6 hours and cost about
8000yen...I just paid 160 yen...not telling the 'way' here!)


Beaches Again...

Well, after a hasty plan, we all decided to spend our summer like all
Japs do! Go surfing! After getting some info from the tourist counter,
and another hour of train ride.....we found our beach....BLACK BEACH!
Notice that the sands are black in this pic...but it seems the Japs
here don't mind(maybe they got used to it dee?) But for the 5 of us? NO
WAY!! We spend money to find a beach with beautiful sand(i think ppl
also counted) not black ones! I know the only place we can find black
sand is in Langkawi's Pantai Pasir Hitam...but nono! No black sand now!
Notice that the waves are big in this part as we are facing the Pacific
Ocean...hear me? THE PACIFIC! not small South China Sea...but the
PACIFIC!!!!


Boom....Bang...!

We actually wanted lo leave that place but things started getting
strange....have you seen ppl in traditional dresses(yukata for the
Japs) around the beaches?(imagine ppl wearing Cheongsam to
beaches)....sure got something wrong 1 rite? Another thing was that, as
it was getting darker, there seem to be more and more ppl gathering
around the beach...which makes it obious to 1 thing...SOMETHING IS ON!
We decided to wait for a while longer, and there it is! An announcement
was made telling us(the only onces who don't know I guess?) about a
fireworks display at 7.30pm. So, without wasting time, we quickly
search for a nice spot, bought alot of junk food(it was dinner time
already!) and sat down at our 'VIP' spot for the next 1 1/2 hours
taking photographs non-stop while chewing on our 'junks'....it was
interesting at 1st, but 1 1/2 hours is just a tad to long..and we all
started complaining about how boring it is(this one is just a small
ceremony only, so nothing too special la!) Oh ya, most of you don't
know this, but during the summer holidays, fireworks are everywhere in
Jap! Cities, beaches, housing areas, gardens, parks,
stadiums...everywhere! Its a mandatory thing I guess?



Notice something wrong with this firework? well, nothing is wrong with
it, it was purpoesely shot towards the sea to generate a sunset(or
sunrise) feel...can find this in M'sia...duh!



This was one of those 'interesting' onces....it was a HUGE one, and
this pic was taken un zoomed at all....I don't know how to say it, but
it is HUGE!! The explosion was deafening! I can feel my eardrumbs beat
everytime one of these explodes!




After all this fireworks display, we dedided to move on to another
beach(a more beautiful one), even though it was already very late, and
the train we took was the last train(means no turning back)....it was a
risk we decided to take(imagine the horror if the next beach we went
was also BLACK!)...so, another 1 hour long train journey. Since we need
to change trains once, this pic was taken on the station where there is
no one else except the 5 of us....reason? Well, I hoped I can try to
get a ghost to be in this picture, so plz stare at this pic and try to
find 1 for me...Its supposed to work, I heard....now STARE......


Beds...

Now, did I mentioned anything about staying at hotels or motels or
anything comfy when we reached our 'new' beach? OK, here it was...my
hotel room! Its a little small and dirty, but hey! Its has natural
air-condtioning, a toilet just 2 minutes walk away and the best of all,
ITS FREE!! Well, I can't take the stares from passersby though..kinda
like kaypo-chi fella...so I woke up kinda early 5am(I slept at 3.30am
on that same day, after some venturing with my old Penang pal, Loke
Eng, hunting for supper) This picture was taken at 5.30am...notice how
bright it is already...and its soo cold!!! Brr!! William even used his
towel as a blanket...cold!


Baths!!

Guess what, we(not me only) did not bath for the past 2 1/2 days
already when this pic was taken....the was no water in my friend's
hostel so we didn't bath before we went to our beach hunting thing, so,
we were quite 'down' with our dirty bodies and corp's stench(just
exageratting a little, its not actully that smelly...yet!)....but after
asking around for public bathrooms, we actually found 1(after 1 hour of
walking, getting lost, because some Japs decided that a bankrupt public
bathroom was still worth reccomending)....we were damn relieved when we
found this place! Was like a dream come true! Ya, this pic might seem a
little bad(i took the pics! with the auto
setting) especially to my gal readers, but I did not place any faces or
reveal any really obscene areas(dream on!), means I won't put this as a
18-SX pic...


BOYS!!

Yup! After a nice bath, the 5 of us are fully energized and set to
enjoy the day! YEAH!!(the position of us now has nothing to do with the
position in the bathing pic)


BEACH!!

Yup, this was the nice beach we found...its called 'Kamogawa'. The sand
is a tad brown, but with the amount of ppl here! I think it was a
perfect place after all!! There was even a few life guards on duty(the
1 standing rightmost in this pic), taking care of everything....the
look really fit, I mean, all dark and the '6 packs' thing..And the
beach is really crowded! Its a holiday season, so what can I expect?
Everything there was damn expensive(the surf boards, parasoil, sun
block lotion...blabla...even the food was expensive!)



Everyone was just enjoying themselves, either sun tanning, surfing,
making sand castles, picniking...but the wierd thing was, I dont notice
any rubbish on the beach. I think that Japs are really law abiding
citizens to da max! How can they have picnic on the beach but leave
nothing behind at all? So unlike us M'sians where we tend to leave
almost everything behind...not on purpose, just that we 'forgot' to
bring it back...excuses...Back to my story, we get in our shorts only
ASAP and off we go! Playing with the water...swimming around....now
only do I understand why only during the hottest summer season can we
swim in the ocean, ITS FREEZING COLD!! The air temp was about 30++ but
the water I think was only 20++....brr! COLD! An hour later, after
getting used to the water, we rented surf boards, not real onces, but
just 3/4 of the real size, and started 'riding the waves' with it...its
such a cool experience! And I managed to master it half an hour later,
riding all those waves bring me back to the shore at high speeds...its
even better than car racing I did the last time! With so many ppl
around, its nerve-breaking just to control my board not to knock on
anyone(I did knocked on someone also, but it was her who knocked me,
travelling with her surfboard while clashing me by the side...thats WAS
FUN!! No more explanation about it) The 'surfing' thing lasted only for
an hour(we rented for only an hour since it was expensive)....damn I
wanna do it again!


BIKINIS!!!

Okok, before any bad impression starts to apear in your brains about me, let
me tell you that this photo was not taken by me but by a friend of
mine(I was still playing around the ocean at that time....I Swear!)
There is nothing suprising here too, as those who doesn't wear it that
get that 'are you lost' kinda stare...for most part of it, its just a
norm in Japan....another proof I'm not a maniac, when on water, I have
to take out my specs, which mean I don't concentrate on 'thing' like
this(unlike my lucky friends)....well, after playing until I got myself
darker and some burned skin, time to leave this place once and for
all(I don't know when I'll be back)..it was fun! Purely unforgetable
(the homeless nite, bathing thing, surfing...all of that was COOL!!).

AICHI EXPO!

REUNION AT LAST!!
Well, since the next few blog will be about my entire 3 weeks of hols,
I think its best for me to put some pics up in order not to bore everyone of my readers....ENJOY!



After an entire 4 months, I finally got the chance to meet with most of
the Chinese guys & gals from my Jap course back in M'sia!
Most of us still stayed the same(we all agreed that Fong Zyin[standing
1st from left] changed the most since we left M'sia....she looks more
matured than the last time). There was about 14 more chinese ppl not in
this pic because they either had other plans already, or still having
fun 'schooling' at that moment!(Shi Han was the camera man) This pic
here is taken in front of Nagoya station after my 'just' 4 hours of
train journey(nothing compared to those to come) from my
place.....after reaching, it took more than an hour just to wait for
everyone to arrive....haih, talking bout we M'sians with M'sian
time...never on time 1!!



After all those busy moments of taking pictures and blocking ppls
way(we never fail to do so everytime), we were told that there is a
Pokemon park nearby in conjunction with the Aichi expo....so, without
delay, off we go!! Chatting all the way until we reach the entrance.
The entire team park is filled with exiting small kids running here and
there to all those rides....well, for the 11 of us 'grown ups', its
another happy moment snapping more pictures with all those cute &
adorable Pikachu rides, dolls and in the pic above, a customized
Pikachu car...I had to admit, being a past Pokemon fan, I actually had
the urged to buy some Pokemon souvenirs back....but not wanted to be
called 'childish', maybe next time.....when I have the chance and no 1
is looking....:P


HOMELESS!!
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After all those picture snapping, there was a sudden conflict on what
to do for the rest of the night till tomorrows Aichi....Some wanted to
stay in the youth hostel, some wanted to play the entire night &
another crazy 'some'(no prize for correct guesses) wanted to do neither
but just wanna try to stay homeless......however, since the youth
hostel was fully booked, there was only 2 more choices and no doubt the
playing group was the winner! But since me, Boon & Chin Wooi had
made up our mind, off we go to Aichi to overnight there! The troubles
that we face baceuse of our 'smart?' decision was frustrating I
guess(check my past blog for the events), but we did learn a few tips
on homeless survival for our Hokkaido stay and being the top 3 out of
1~2 million of ppl was REALLY a GREAT
feeling!(no joke ok!) The reason I look so happy in this pic is because
I just came out from my bath and the station I'm at at that time was
the nice & fuzzy(translate: SLEEP)....that 1 stupid guard have to
ruin everything!


AICHI EXPO

Guess what, when the gates open at 9am sharp, everyone(including my
self) was running non-stop towards the many halls opened by all those
supa popular companies such as Toyota, Hitachi, Toshiba, Mitsubishi,
bla..bla...The scene that time was like the 'kali-toi' I used to play
when I was a kid. The guard personals there was like trying to stop us
from running with their hands spread wide out while we, the 'runners'
try to dodge them as we try go get to our goal asap! Its just like a
marathon race during the starting stages for those of you who don't
know what 'kali-toi' is..(where was your childhood?) What you see in
this pic is just 1/200 of the entire parks area(which is why visiting
the entire area in a day is something impossible and why some have been
to this place as many as 50 times!)....if you look closely, you could
notice a M'sian flag and the word MALAYSIA(its kinda small)..
thats the countries exhibition area, with hundreds of
countries having their respective halls showing of their most prized
commodities in their country....before you continue to scroll down
down, try to guess1 or 2 things you think the M'sian Hall would
display....



If you guessed something about M'sian food, congrats, there is a stall
selling roti canai(which I bought out of madness cos it cost a whopping
800 yen(RM30) for a plate like above)....taste incredibly good even
thought the curry is the Jap type and not hot at all!(after 4 months of
no M'sian food, anything is GOOD!)..and no hand is used....must use
chopstick, unless I want the entire expo'sppl to stare at
me...haih...Theres one more thing in display in the hall that I think
none of you ppl will seriously guess, maybe jokingly thinking, but I
bet none will believe it!



Nope!! Before I expose it, let me get back to my 'brief'(I'll try my
best) story ....This is the Toyota Hall(unless u ppl are blind and
cannot see) which is the 1st hall we went. This is supposed to be the
most popular hall for the entire Aichi Expo so as the 1st few who
entered 1st, we had the chance to actually enter the place and we were
like 'bangga' abit cos my senior didn't get to enter the last
time(sleeping at the front gate really paid off huh?) Toyota's main
theme was something about robots of the future....no, not war machines
of the Americans(and that of my liking) but robots that shall be our
children's 'slaves'.....okla, not that bad la...just robots that can
play music while standing on its two feet, a walking, rapping, dancing
DJ robot, and a display of future vehicles that not only could
transform from a buggy to a sports car, but also a walker(like in mech
warrior) walking with 2 legs while carrying 1 passanger....What can I
say, it was damn cool! Makes me feel that those sci-fi I watched on tv
is just something 'realistic'and no longer another 'its just another
Hollywood thing'....



This buggy could lower its structure and transform into a sports
car...wheels pulling to the front or back and the seat lowers to a
sleeping posture....the walker is not available for display outside the
hall(no pics allowed inside all the halls)...so, no pics on it....too
bad!



No, this building wasn't destroyed in an earthquake, its made like
that....that 'cut off' part is actually a waterfall flowing down from
the op of the building...This is the only exhibition hall that I failed
to enter in zone B(the Jap company zone)...according to William and
Michael, they were seated on a moving car(that look like a safari jeep)
while donning a 3-D googles....ok, this is how it works inside, during
the entire journey, they could see an artificial created 3-D view of
the Africa's Savana....there are many animals all around them and when
they extend their hands in front of their googles, they could see that
they were holding a fruit(it was random I guess?)...banana, or apple,
blabla.....and it attracts those 'animals' nearby to eat it(by throwing
or just holding it)....and if they attracted a huge animal(elephant,
rhino) it knocks their jeep and it actually shakes....the whole animal
attracting thing is done by us humans so its not just another boring
computer timed thing(which makes it so great!) This is the 2nd most
popular hall, so its kinda sad that I failed to enter!



Toshiba! Even if they say its the 3rd best, I think its the coolest of
all....why? Its just easy to explain, the exhibition is called future
casting system...where everyone gets to be on TVWell
The 1 1/2 hour line up was damn worth it for this hall! They 1st
scanned our faces using a huge machine....asking us not to laugh or
make funny faces or we won't see our faces on screen later! The
scanning part was the easy one..the hard 1 was to wait for the computer
to randomly put our faces on the characters....me, Boon & Chin Wooi
feared that we would be accidently placed on female characters!(Imagine
the horror when your friends see this!)...Luckily for the 3 of us, it
didn't happened....Oh ya, the story is about the future when the Earth
has been so polluted that its no longer habitable. Humans left that
place to another planet while leaving robots to patch up all the
things....the story is 1000 after that, where 21 brave crewman left on
a journey back to their long lost home called 'Earth'(in my case
Penang...hahha)....and so, I got one of the best character, the captain
of the ship's security force while Boon was the bridge's crew with the
captain(he actually got the more airtime compared to me) while Chin
Wooi was the science team...its was an anime, but seing my face in it really makes me feel
great....I remember that my character even shot the bad guy with the
best weapon I had at the invader because while asking everyone to
retreat to safety! A must watch! Too bad after screening it, all the
images were deleted! I would hve bought the show ok!!



This hall displays an array of light work, but i find it VERY boring so I
actually slept inside! True to its theme, it really made me
dream inside the hall! hahaha....



This is the JR(Japan Rail) hall featuring the world's fastest train, Maglev.
Travelling at 581 km/h using magnetic force, its about to enter service
in Japan soon....really want to try it la! If the price doesn't kill
la! This station master here is trying to act macho I guess? Cos we
complimented him that we need a 'macho' looking man in uniform to fit
with the pic of the train...I think he melebih-lebih abit....like what
we say back in Penang...'TRYING TO ACT CUTE!!' DUh!



The ferries wheel on right is nothing so special except for its shape
so I won't waste my time explaining on it..the grass infested building
on the left is by Mitsubishi showcasing what the world would look like
without the moon.....the mirror and lighting effects in this hall is
the best of all dee....an entire room full with mirrows while we sat in
the centre....the movie was projected all over the mirrors which makes
us fell that we were in the show also....and ya, for those of you who
don't know, if there was no moon, the wind on earth will be 200km/h and
the earth would be spinning more than 10 times faster than the speed
now....it said that the moon slowed the earth's axis rotation down.But
if the wind is so fast, maybe it could fly me wherever I wanna go rite?
Not bad! I can FLY!!!



SUPRISE! Tongkat Ali it is!! I give credit to the M'sian gov for knowing that the Jap
population is dropping at a drastic rate(only half of the population
left after another 50 years)....so what can we M'sian do as a good
friend of theirs? Help them with what we got!! Show them how the Malays
could have 10 children and after being over 50 years old, still have
another 3~4!! Long Live Ali's Stick!



S'pore Hall's display on the hand was food.....proudly showing of food
that doesn't taste a fraction better than Penang's food! Ipoh in the
case of the chicken rice above! Even though I was longing for some
Chinese food, I didn't even bother ordering any cos this Kiasu
S'poreans just don't know what to show of if its not the food which
they copied(and downgraded) from M'sia..and especially Penang! KIASU!!!KIASU!!!



After an entire day of walking, a little rest on this Pacific Island's
countrie's hall.....nice tropical feel huh? Well, this is almost all
that I have energy to type for the Aichi Expo thing....I walked
non-stop from 9am till 9.30pm visiting all the halls....there is about
another 150 photos that we all took....I missed a few more interesting
halls as some are simple on the outside but incredible inside(like Sony
with their 10m*50m worlds biggest TV), but since I'm a law abading
citizen(Am I?) and there are stict rules against taking pics inside the
hall....no pics of it to show of.....thats all for now...be prepared
for much more on the other places(this is only a fraction out of my
crazy 3 weeks holiday up north....my Chinese Seniors say that we are
mad!!)

Too Much Fun, Too Little Time!

What can I say? Nothing `unfun` had happened till today after 1 week and 2 days into my trip...I have overnighted on the floor twice, didn`t bath for 2 1/2 days, use RM360 a day, went surfing in a beach full with bikini gals, watch a HUGE fireworks display twice(1 1/2 hours display), went in a public bathing room and saw naked man(including my friends) twice and many other stupid things....I can`t describe everything now, and I don`t think I can put any photos yet unless I`m back at my hostel(I`m onlining from a China`s friends house) Just wanna say that I`m having a good time now, even though I had used up 70,000yen till today...