Saturday, October 29, 2005

Its normal to you, but not to them!

I was supposed to blog this last week, but my wireless server went 'kuku'.....and now it comes equipped with firewall, which not only slows my internet to just 1mps, I can no longer download anything using limewire anymore....haih...pity!

Anyway, back to my main topic, which is just another crap I noticed after all this while of observing Japs....and guess what, I found some 'stuffs' that would have been very normal in M'sia, but totally not over here! Its either very strange or unexceptable to them.

1. I noticed that when I count from 1~5, its closed palm1st, lift tumb, index finger, & so on, but here, its the opposite, hands opened, close tumb, close index finger, bla bla...I felt really wierd doing it their way!

2. Still about fingers, ppl here don't have our 'horn' shape fingers which represents the no. 6. I used it once b4 & the Japs in my class thought that I was making some sorta funny joke....then scold me for trying to lie to themwhen I explain to them later....They can't accept it kua? Here, to show numbers more than 5, they use an extra finger from the other hand to add to it...example, no, 7 means your 1 palm fully opened, plus 2 finger placed in the middle of that opened palm....wierd huh?

3.Attend sports! Japs in my college are divided into 2 groups, in sports not not in sports. Those involved in sports attends it EVERYDAY! That includes Saturday also k! Damn pia! Unlike in PFS(I don't know bout other schools), I only attend house parctise once everyweek, and 1 or 2 more days for sports...and thats all! Here, attending 4/6 days is considered BAD! So its either you come or you quit! I think I'm no longer in kendo club anymore kua? I ponteng like gila! Lost interest dee, now gym nicer to play! hahahah...soo sorry la captain!

4.Malaysian education system! Know what, of all my stories about M'sia, this is probably the hardest to explain to them dee...It might be normal for us, Chinese schools, English schools, Malay schools, Malay ONLY schools, pure boys/girls school, form 6, etc....but since there is only JAPS school here, its supa hard to explain to them about our school system la! When I say Chinese & English(so called only la) school, they think that it teaches things about China(and anti-Japansese sentiment with it) & US or UK. I have to tell them SOO many times that we study according to M'sian syllabus but using other language only. Then they all go "Har? How do you teach something about M'sia in other language other than Malay?"(They don't know that their English class is worst! English in Jap, tak masuk akal at all!)

They don't have pure guys/gals school here too, so its something new to them....Malays ONLY school is easier to explain la...just need to say racial discrimination, then special treatment to Malays, they understand dee...simple! Form 6 doesn't exist over here cos after form 5, its uni dee....no such thing as wasting 2 years & still risk not entering any uni!

5. ME! I myself is hard to explain also k! The best question was from this guy who asked me about my mother tongue....well, my mother tongue is Chinese, my national language is Malay, but I speak mainly in English....and that guy goes "Huh?! I don't understand?" I continued telling him that my I study in BM in school, talk to gang & my mother in English, some other friends & dad in Chinese. Should have seen his face that time, blankly staring at me for 5 secs, then said "I don't understand why you do such crazy things, but you are great! Can speak in so many languages." Then walked away shaking in disbelief that there is such a wierd 'alien' here in Jap...haih...

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Unforgetable....

There are just some things during my entire trip that I don't think I can forget that easily.....some awfully tired moments, pain in the ass momets, crazy moments, but most of it are just unforgetable...truly unforgetable....and here are the top 3:-

No 3. THE POLAR BEARS!
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Don't let this pic decieve you that this huge cuddly lil' teddy bears are sleeping comfortably on the rocks with icy cool water beneah it....its 32C at that time! With no air conditioning, roof as shelter, its amazing these polar bears can even survive these harsh weather without going crazy.....even we humans at that time was like shouting "HOT! HOT!" If I'm not wrong, these bears can only be found, err....either north or south pole rite?(forgot where dee)...how can the Jap gov let them sun tan to death? Wheres the SPCA la?? Pity them oi!
Picture was taken at: Asahiyama Zoo
Reason for entering my top 3: Just pity them la...imagine I have to go throught their lives now....I sure go gila from the heat dee..

No 2. Chin Wooi's Dream
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I did mentioned before about Chin Wooi's 'I won't leave Hokkaido without it' wish rite? Well, no suprises, it came true....well, it wasn't actually that hard, its just the money part that hurts! With about 2000yen, 2 hours of makan time, we didn't waste any of it at all (Yes, there is a time limit for ALL buffets in Jap!)....This was the 1st time that I actually ate non-stop for a buffet for the entire 2 hours, well, its not just me, even Fook Hee that usually eats the least didn't stop muching too! Boon also complained that he shouldn't have gone to the toilet cos it wasted him a few minutes of makan time.....really not enuf time la....agree Boon?

Why did we become some hungry ghost? Look at our table la....theres the(from the left) baby octopus, 'Hairy crab', salmon, HUGE scallop, more salmons, more 'Hairy crabs' , more HUGE scallops & sausages...that green thing u see on our plates, thats called melons, whats so great? It cost about RM7 a slice, I took 4...thats the reasons!

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We actually ate like ghost, we finish the entire basket of crab(2nd lvl, 3rd from right) and also the salmons(1st lvl, 1st from right), 3/4 of scallops(not in pic though)....which scared the shop owner so much, she didn't even refill it after we wiped it all out! She even asked us to stop when the time was up....damn funny! You should haved seen her face! I think we are in her 'BAN' list now dee....haih...
Picture was taken at: Asahikawa City Centre
Reason for entering my top 3: Never ate so much for so long in my entire life...just unbelievable!

No. 1 GALS!
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We were bathing when we 1st saw them(nono! we din went to the wrong section, just saw them outside)....thanx to Boon's special 'Kau Lui' techniques, we ended up chatting, eating & also exchanging stories till about 12 midnight at the bath house(I meant outside the bath house)...Don't talk bout looks la, it was good to know that they don't run when they see M'sians, and was friendlier than I thought! They are a bunch of Uni students from Kyoto who went there for a short holiday trip....but Japs still like to do something that never amuses us, that is to take pics of us non-stop, like we were from another planet or soon to be extinct...not a bad experience though, as they ranked like the 3rd Jap gal that I have talked to(sad to say this, but my current college is no different from PFS...). I would like to thank the owner of the place(he was the camera men) for sharing with us the famous 'Escargo' that I wanted to try for like ages dee...NICE!
Picture was taken at: Asahikawa City Centre
Reason for entering my top 3: Cos I met a bunch of friendly Jap ppl who are 'young' and the conversation isn't about school or books....but about FUN!

Been There, Done That!
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I know I have described all my places dee, but I bet you ppl have no idea where have I actually been rite?! Where is, Nagoya? Kisarazu? Nagaoka? blabla...well, hope this map helped!

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This is the Hokkaio part...our journey was until Asahikawa in Hokkaido before turning to 'R' Gear....Hokkaido is soo HUGE, we couldn't finish the entire area without another 1 week, which so happen that we don't have...pity...THATS ALL FOLKS!! 3 weeks of my hols!

p.s. Chris, I use paint only ok! Don't complain bout the pics not nice. I know nuts bout comp software and my Adobe Photoshop skills, I returned to teacher dee(If there was any...)
ALL PICTURES ARE RIGHT PROTECTED BY ©J.C. and if, for any reason, you wanna steal, copy, cut, scan, take picture, plz tell me 1st la...

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Don't Worry.....be Happy!

This is the 3rd blog in 2 days.....some ppl even said that I'm mad dee, not being myself, selfishly not thinking but other ppl's eyes n so on....blablabla....but WAIT! I din't force 1 ok! Anyway, I'll cut it short cos theres 'something'(those who knows knows & those who doesn't, sorry la!) coming up soon.....

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This is Furano, Land of nothing but nature...according to the phamplet la...

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Its soo kampung, that it makes S.P look like KL! No building here seems to be taller than 2 stories...

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Even the horses here look so sleepy & restless....it doesn't even 'smile' for this photo a single bit even after we promised it an apple later...

FLOWERS~~AND ONLY THAT!
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If you think why 4 guys would be interested in flowers....try asking yourself what u wanna get for your gf next time for valentine if its not something called 'flowers'....if u think its only roses, then, how 'out' u r dee la(according to a mag I have)...But this sunflower is DEFINATELY a no no!

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The entire area is covered with Malaysian Flag colours...

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And purplelish white flowers....

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Rows and rows of unidentified flowers...

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Lavenders(our main purpose to go to Furano
)
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More sunflowers....
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and another row of flowers....this pics are taken from all different places but not only you ppl, but I have a hard time differenciating which is the same and which is not...

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CHEERS! I love this place da most, this is the wine factory up on a hill And with FREE wines, I took 2 cups of every flavour...damn! Was it good! And if u think we're those 'Kiasu' ppl who just drink and leave, guess again, I bought a total of 8 bottles of wine while Fook Hee got 7, Chin Wooi got 2 & Boon got 3....totalling more than 600 bucks! We all drunk dee I guess? Kena curse by the shop keeper....well, I don't plan to drink all la...need to mail some to my sis(another big wine lover!) too...

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If you can't read this, this is a 'cheezee' factory situated far...far...from the wine factory, with bicycles that we rented, it took about 1 hour of cycling just to come here...and the cheese? Well, free of course, but I don't really like the taste(still prefer the cheap salty Cheesedale type)...this is where Chin Wooi did his best(I did mine at the wine fac)...muching down his so called 'teatime'...he seemed to like it alot....

Ok! see! Finish dee....damn tention rushing all this while watching my mage fight those goblins & while chatting....Ozzs!

Sapp what?

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1st of all, I would like to say thanx for still tuning in....I know
your eyes are hurt, but bare with me ok! If reading is bad, try typing
it! Ok, welcome to Sapporo City....the city of chess boards....with
HUGE pieces! This is the only city built to make life easier in the
entire Japan. Its just so simple, the whole city is rectangular in
shape, straight lines of roads and distance is measured in 'how many
blocks away'....The pieces, or buildings are unbelievably HUGE! If your
marvel at the size of Times Square in KL, then I bet your mouth won't
close while your in this place....its practically loaded with it! This
pic shown here is the train station itself....its even bigger than
Tokyo's main railway station! I think that its because theres no
earthquake around this place so their buildings could be made XXL in
size...

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After 5 hours of bus ride from Hakodate, we reached Sapporo at about 5am...and its already as right as this! Due to the lack of sleep, we slept for another 2 hours on a bench(where else?) before heading of on our journey to 'nowhere' again....since its still so early, we went to the park nearby to scroll around the historical buildings nearby....and on our way, this few fellas came our way and passed us this 'novel'....being from M'sia(where they give u things 1st, but then ask you to pay for it after it entered your graps!), of course we rejected it....but after they insisted that its FREE! Take la! Know whats so nice about this 'novel'? Its about a teen who is kinda 'sexually active' but ended up having AIDS for his 'journey'(I read the sypnosis only, din actually have the will to read the book at all!) but thats not all, theres even a condom..yes, u heard me right, a 'balloon' fitted nicely in the back cover...well, curious Chin Wooi quickly went back to the guy & took 1(he was to malu to take at 1st), tear of the back page, throw the book away, and kept the 'balloon'!! He said he was just curious.....we just 'shot' him the whole day after that...

This made me think again, Jap doen't encourage ppl to stay of sex before marriage like in my country, but just be careful in 1. Its called concessual sex without the big AIDS or STD or DADDY word as an 'after effect'...no wonder when I said I'm Japan only, some friends was asking bout my 'sex' life here dee....U ALL GILA MER! RM200 for 30 minutes so expensive la! Joking...joking only....but the price is real la...

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Enough of the 'sex' thing, this is the city's national art galerry....boring? Boon & Fook Hee didn't wanna leave this place at 1st ok! The art part was so-so la...but one of the 'artistess'(got such word arr?) was a big draw for 4 guys wandering aimlessly....2nd floor, 4th window from the right. was where it stood a very 'suave' artist whose painting didn't draw any crowrd except for the 4 of us....Chin Wooi(not Boon as meantioned earler...but i still suspect...) actually went inside the same room 3 TIMES! Man, I think that gal was freaked out with a stalker such as Boon lo! Boy, was he desperate! Besides that gal, we met with some 'ah ma' artist who said this when we 1st told about ourselves "WOW! You ppl are from M'sia!? Your Jap is really good lo!"....familiar? But we were so 'alien' to them as one of them quickly went down stairs, bought a camera just to take a few pics with us! Cos they have nvr seen such a species before and it a self satisfactoty thing i guess? They bought us drinks and sweet and candies and some souvenirs....my god! We freaked out again! Ran away ASAP from that place after that!

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Since its summer now, theres this beer festival going on, but only at night....the entire garden was filled with tables and chairs of all the beer companies here in Japan trying to drunk as much ppl as possilbe! We wanted to enter this place too, but since it again clashes with our more 'sober' plans...forget bout it la!

BATH TIME!
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Well, my tittle said it all...this is our public bathhouse all rite! The walls you asked? Sorry la, but got none!...its called 露天風呂 in Jap, which means 'all you can see' public bathhouse....keep in mind that the gals are nvr in the same place as us 1 la....pity...If you think that we are mad, which I think we were, this places isn't any cheaper compared to any 'walled' bath houses ok! It cost about 4 times more ok! About RM80 bucks per-person per-entry, this was our more 'sober' plan....Ya, there were 'birds', inscets, birds, 'bushes', trees and lots of mad naked ppl around in this place, but it was supa cool ler! I even sun tanned my self while resting on a rock while chatting bout our own single & miserable life in which we found that Chin Wooi is the happiest among us....

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Nice view? Bathing at waters as hot as 50C with strong chilly winds blowing at our face is really some kind of new exp! Rest assured that even at that temp, it is still safe for our 'brothers' according to the Japs...Hey! With a population of 250million to prove it, unbelieable? U BETTER BELIEVE IT!

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MAMAK!? Aiyo....boring la! Everytime supper also Roti Garlic Naan....'sien' dee la! Well, not since I'm in Japan that is. This ulu place has a mamak place in it! Really unexpected! With real Indians cooking it for u....the taste was 同じ with the Pelita Mamak near my house lo! Chris, Sookie, you should try their cheese naan! Damn good la! Better than my place 1 ok! Price wise not so good la...my tandori cheese naan set cost about RM34....didn't really hurt but I wouldn't wanna send so much for every lunch time...

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As much as we wanted, that place doesn't offer any place for us to sleep, so we were forced to go back to Sapporo City to search for a hotel....so, how does our place look at? Its a 5 star hotel ok! Called GRAND HOTEL...........'s garden....try noticing that bench on the bottom left of this pic....yup! Thats our 'hotel' for another 2 nights....nice view ok! Facing a 5 star hotel!

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Boon & Chin Wooi's room...I live with Fook Hee next door...I woke up at 5.30am cos its damn bright(being a light sleeper as I always were)....its soo cold at night that I'm fortunate to have borrowed a sleeping bag from my senior...Boon lost his somewhere in Hakodate, so
he went on to sleep with 3 shirts every night(remember that its the summer season now ok!)

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My whole 'hotel' view again! That signboard says something about thisplace being a garden...thats all I know....My seniors toldus since M'sia started sending ppl to Jap, we are the 1st group of Chinese(I don't know bout the Malays la) to 野宿 in Japan...cool huh? They call us
mad, we call them 'scary cats'....Well, 2 down, 2 more to go....(it'll be shorter, I promise!)

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Haih...so much more to go....

Ok! Since I actually wanted to place all the photos & finish this entire holiday thing in 1 go, I have about 54 photos uploaded, & guess what, I can't post them all at once, so, with no other choice, there goes another 4 more blogs to go....BUT! before you ppl start reading, plz make sure that you have been to the toilet, taken your brunch, not played the comp for the past few hours before & most importantly, in good mental health.....I am not responsible for any mental illness caused from reading my looong-looong blog....so here it goes again....(eyes drops are encouraged too!)

WHAT LAU WEI! THIS IS HOKKAIDO MER!?
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"My GOD! What kinda train is this? Even PUTRA line is much longer than this lo!" was what I thought when I first stepped into Hokkaido...scary ok! If this is the 1st thing that greeted me in Hokkaido to bring me to Hakodate City, then the city must be actually KAMPUNG!?! NO!! I was expecting a CITY!! CITY!! not a KAMPUNG!! Anyway, the entire trip to Hokkaido from Aomori was a little confusing to we ppl.....because of the ticketing system and the 'tricky' train changing system, we actually went to Hakodate 1st, then turn back to the 1st station on Hokkaido island, then head back to Hakodate again! & if that is not enough, we have to pay 1400 yen for that trip to 'nowhere'.....

It all started like this....we reached the 1st station(called Kikonai) and was supposed to align and take another train, but Fook Hee didn't manage to & was brought straight to Hakodate 1st(wierd as it is, but even if the train goes to Hakodate, we ARE not supposed to take that train) as we took the other slower(this train above) smaller train to the same place(thats why its so tricky!) Well, on the way, Boon decided that we should go visit Doraemon's official house situated inside the underwater tunnel between Aomori & Hokkaido. Well, since I used to be a Doraemon fan(with 50+ comic books), and this is a once in the lifetime chance, why not then? So, when we reached Hakodate, met up with Fook Hee, we took that 'forbidden' train back to where we came from(cos that small train only operates 3 times a day) & half way through, we got caught.....and even though we spoke in 'fluent' Jap about our situation & misunderstandings about this 'forbidden 1'(we were still confused on how it operates) However, with no avail, he butted us out at that Kikonai station even though we wanted to pay the fine....and if that is not all, WE EVEN HAVE TO PAY THE FINE AT THE STATION somemore! & since trains are rare in Hokkaido, we were told that since we aligned from that train(not even our own decision), there is no chance for us to go to the Doraemon thingy for they day(mind u that was just 11.30am in the morning then) Damn gila tention at that time! Have to pay but can't go anywhere except back to Hakodate....I still wanna complain more...but this blog is kinda limited so if u wanna hear me blable bout this stupid incident, wait till u meet me la!!

The truth...
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Ok, bad things away, I still arrived in Hakodate in 1 piece and a little 'lighter'....but I can still survive....whats 1400 yen to me...ehem, ehem! Ok, enuf crap! This place behind me is Hakodate, I came here AGAIN at 2.00pm after my cruise to 'nowhere' tired n damn hungry(breakfast was at 6am ler)....so the 'me' in this pic is not actually very able to smile, but frowning at the confusion...well, this place isn't actually so bad at all....its so unlike any place in the entire Japan as it has this 'European' fell over here....well, the words are still in Japanese though, but it really has this slow, western type influence la....just can feel it when I first saw this city....

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The 1st agenda of the afternoon was definately MAKAN dee....we came to Hokkaido with this very pure motif to eat something very special....something very unique to us M'sians who thinks that the largest edible animal is no larger than a cow or an elephant(for those mad ppl!) For those who could read Jap, there shouldn't be any suprise...BUT! I still bet no 1 of you have ever tasted of will be able to taste it unless you come to Hokkaido, n only Hokkaido. Well, if I say that this vege stuffed burger has a piece of meat patty made of the largest animal on the surface of the earth, how does that sound? Don't get me wrong that I'm encouraging whale killing, but hey! Since I'm already here, why not taste it? Just one whale burger per M'sian(we ordered the same thing) won't kill all the whales rite? What la those whale killer Japs! It tasted ok only la....the meat tasted like beef but the texture was like rubber(note that only the young toothful ppl are able to chew it) Anyway, 1 is enough for me....no more plz! Supa filling!

Now that we are full, we contacted our hotel for our 'driver' to pick us up & check us in at about 3pm....Well, there wasn't a 'pick up' service actually, but since we told the person in charged that we are from M'sia....this reply came "Oh my! You ppl are from M'sia? Wow! Your Japanese is extremely good! Why not I reduce the hotel rate from 3500 yen per person to 3000 yen PLUS I come and fetch you all wherever you ppl are right now...! Come! Plz stay with me...PLZ!!" Nope, I wasn't exagerating nor lying(I don't lie 1 ok!)....we were all actually kinda freaked up thinking that our hotel might actually be a haunted ghost mansion where the owner, Count Dracula wants to suck some M'sian blood cos he was bored of Jap blood dee....

Nope, that place was fine, very fine, nicely decorated, cozy, just kinda feel at home....and if u ppl wonder, ya, our 'hotel' wasn't actually any hotel, just a person who owns a HUGE(in Jap term) and wants to make some bucks out of it...no wonder it was cheap...but I'm not complaning though, there wasn't any problem at all(No, no 1 to suck our blood too!) However, sad to say this, this hotel is the FINAL hotel that we actually stayed in for this entire trip...the rest? Well, u guessed it right....

MARKET?
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A market?! Wow! This is also something new! After checking in and rested for a while, we took of wondering around the area nearby looking for some 'unique' things here and we found this! A WET MARKET! I have stayed in Japan for 6 months now and I have not seen a wet market before except for this place...Japs don't actually buy stuffs in the morning like our mums do(or maids for 'some' lucky ppl!) but in the supermarkets ONLY! So, this sight was new and actually refreshing....a dirty place....FINALLY! But if your notice in this pic, there aren't any rubbish on the floor rite? But trust me if I say this is one of the dirtiest place in Japan dee....as in how clean the entire country is for me to say this place a dirty 1.... well, a wet market still sells what a wet market sells...raw stuffs of course! That was one of the unique things here too....We were all bz taking photos of all the stuffs sold here, some traders even wanted to 'shoo' us of too...but we are from S'pore right?(Only say we r M'sians if its something good) they don't dare to harm us KIASU ppl ones....

RANDY!!
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Gosh! Hakodate is really popular with your 'ppl' over here Randy...I saw your cousin, cousin's cousin, Randy.Jr 300 all FOR SALE! And theres tons of ppl buying them up....As we were bz taking pics(as usual) Chin Wooi made this swear, this swear so great with emotion & enthusiam that it defies all other swears I have ever heard of made...that was to eat those 'hairy' crabs no matter the cost!(The most popular 'kiam siap' person on the entire planet just did a miracle!) And we as friends are always there to support him of course! Promising that we SHALL eat it or would never leave this piece of land...EVER!(we actually wanted to eat it ourselves too la!)

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This crabs are HUGE! It doesn't really show in this pic, but if you were a M'sian crab, u would wanna call 10 more of your friends to fight of a bully of this size! Safe to say that we humans have tied their hands up to aviod such a thing from happening....and the price there...the 4 of us could eat buffets each n still have money left to buy a can of beer each for each of those oversized crabs.....no craps!

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Ok! This is one of the reasons I told you that I don't feel as if I'm Japan as soon as I touched this island....even the bus here has these western feel in it...and that restaurant behind, well, that doesn't look like any typical Jap restaurant(which is usually small & cramped up)..Ya, another suprising thing about this place is that there are more churches than temples over here, anglo, russo, methodist..u name it, they have it! There is also an entrance fees for each church(MUST PAY 1 OK!) so its not advisible to join so many churches or go to youths so much cos i'll make u broke in no time(its not cheap ok! Some charge about RM8 per entry)

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After getting bored of all those crabs and buildings....we took a turn downtown to explore Hakodate City...we walked around aimlessly(biasala) and actually wanted to take those trams for a ride around, but since it doesn't bring us to where we wanna go, we just took some photos, and look for more yummies on the way....there was a suprising number of 'Hokkaido Limited Edition' souvenirs around this area, but since there are a lot of days more to go, we dicided to skip buying it 1st except for some that are possible to chew on....we don't want any sweet sticky stuffs sticking on our bags while attracting ants don't we? That Honeydew flavoured Kit-kat was really good! Soo different from the typical types we could find in M'sia or even any other places in Japan....and speaking of limited edition, I really can't find those chocs over here at my place(& Osaka) and anywhere during my entire journey! Well, Japs are true to their words I guess? Furtunately, I got some before my trip ended(about 4 boxes) but now I'm left with only 1.....NO!

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Did I mentioned downtown just now? Ya, its not called 'downtown' just because its the main town, but its really DOWN at the foot of the mountain. The climb up to the cable car station is one hell of a tiring experience, but if the view from this slope is really so beatiful, I can't imagine(at that time) how cool the view would be from up mount Hakodate(will be told later on..) Hakodate is a popular fishing port(the crabs?) so its no wonder that fishermans have this service to bringing ppl out to the ocean to catch some fishes themselves...but for a price of course! Well, we skipped that part without even thinking as the price KILLS ppl like us....

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Guess what? On our trip up, we found this strangely huge hall and from far, we could see some ppl entering it in numbers being brought by the bus load...Being another curious 'S'porean'(if anything goes wrong), we wondered inside the hall on purpose & uninvited....the 1st thing we say? FOOD!? My gosh! Theres a buffet going on and there are some dancers in skimpy clothes walking around the hall(we would be informed that there will be a Thai themed buffet going on later...that explais that skimpy clothes..) AND our nightmares came! That guard took notice of us and decided to follow us quietly behind(it was obious la!).....Then, out of no where, we found this blocked staircase entrace. So, calmly but quickly, we got our asses pass the 'blockade', went up to the 2nd floor and WHOLA! A radio station! Since we are being 'persued', might as well find some shelter and hope that those kind radio station fellas would offer us a safe passage!

The result? Well, we 'M'sian' are actually more than welcomed inside the radio station....they actually weren't suprised see us visitors as they are having a 'open radio station'(something like open house in M'sia la!) but since its only until 6pm(we entered at about 6.15pm?), the stairway was blocked....and when heard that we were from M'sia, they quickly invited us in and said this "WoW! You ppl are from M'sia? Your Jap is good ler!"(I personally found out why Japs always say this to us. Its because that they know nuts bout M'sia & this is the only save topic to talk about) Well, they were also so kind as to bring us inside their recording studio where we toyed with some things around while doing what tourist would most likely do...take photos la! This radio station was the best radio station in the entire Japan for 2005, and they got a trophy to show off! Boon actuall took the trophy from the shelf and have his picture taken with it, I don't know if he noticed, but our guide was freaking a little as he took it....the thing was made og pure glass u c...

This pic up there is a quick snap shot with the DJ who went to commercial just a second ago...we rushed in after the door was unlucked, took a few shots, have a quick chat, then ran out again...in less than 1 minute, where she continued her live broadcast! Really admire her ability to talk non-stop la! From current news, weather, sports, 'kay-po' stuffs...all also she can ler! (Talk bout all rounders)

MR. HAKODATE
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After that brief 'stopover' we headed back to our main destination, that is up mount Hakodate....If you wonder why I put Mr. Hakodate as the tittle above, notice that with Japs, they have this -san thing behind names, like Cheong-san in my case...and in Jap, 'san' means mountain too! So that makes me a mountain n Mount Hakodate as Mr. Hakodate...enuf crap, this place is has one of the best sceneries in THE WORLD(top 3 to be exact!) Thats why we wouldn't wanna miss this place for all heavens! Even if the price for going up is kinda hefty though.....The best time to go up this place is about 5pm where we could take pics before the sunsets, and wait for a few more hours so we could see the changes slowly. There was a free history lesson about this place in one of the video rooms, but its just another history, nothing much important....

COUNTDOWN!
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Well! For anyone viewing this pic, I will charge a price of 100 yen each....I know who you ppl are so don't think of escaping! Ok, back to my story now, this view is the view with the top 3 ranking thing. As you can see, on the left u can see water and on the right, another patch of water...nothing special? This two oceans have different temperature all together and is totally different! On the right is the Pacific Sea while left is the Japan Sea...and they are just seperated by a few kilometres apart....which creates this 'waist' kinda shape. Pic take at 5.30pm...

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This was just half of the real amount of ppl that crammed with me till the night....ALL of them have a camera....if Eric, Cheng Hock, Ramblas, Frex was here to 'Sut' it....they'll be rich dee!

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7.00pm....the light are beginning to lit up

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8.00pm....very dark & windy up here! Brr...

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9.00pm...well, this is it, the 'most beautiful scenery' If you don't think so, then I pity you...cos if the pros who have thousands of photo hours gave this award, it couldn't be wrong....I seriously liked it up there then, except for the chills & the crowd, it could have been a perfect place dee....sorryla, as romantic as it is up here, I don't think any couples wanna be up here to date, unless you don't mind 200 other ppl staring at you la!

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Well, we decided that we had enuf of Japan so we decided to head over to Holland right away after getting down from Mr Hakodate....the 12 hour flight was supa tiring dee, but since we heard from this tourist info guide that this place, at the ouskirts of Amsterdam was the most beautiful place at night, we dragged ourselves there praying that some of those shops there contain some eateries which would tame our 'wild' stomach growling fiercely inside...

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This place was purely made of 2 things only, either red bricks or wood...nothing else! And its all decorated with lightings, it really felt like we came during the Chrismas season...fortunately, there was a few eateries over there, albiet VERY upscale type of eateries. Without caring for our wallets, our 'guide' took us inside on of the 'expensive' restaurants which actually rocked our wallets and Chin Wooi even went without eating anything inside. Fortunately for us, there was still something 'swallowable' inside the menu, so without further adue, we all ordered a few same stuffs(which so happenes to be the cheaper onces) with the waiter staring at us suprised as why this few 'poor' guys actually come to this place....well, dinner was nice, light on the stomach but heavy to our wallets....

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And if u believe that I was in Amsterdamn(I think no one of you will), then those pics are really convincing enough.....well, I don't really remember the place's name, but I looks so like Holland(red bricked buildings), I really asthonished myself when I know that this piece of land is still inside Japan...

Oh ya, to intro a few 'guides' that took us around, the middle guy(sleveless 1) is called Kim Keat. He is my pal since our PPKTJ days. He don't really mix with the Chinese ppl too much & usually stick with the Malays, but since I'm a banana, hey! No problemo! He loves drinking as much as I do athough I don't spend even 1/10 as much as him when it comes to clubbin or drinking....and he doesn't know what and where about this place(even though his college is here) cos he says that his time is spent drinking and not 'jalaning' around...so I guess why he & his friends brought us to that upscale place! That guy on the right of the pic is one hell of a person....WHICH YOU MUST AVOID! His hp is full of porn pics n videos which he proudly shows everyone, and he talks soooo much bull shit, it makes the bulls feel bad to even shit! A word of advise, run when you see him!

Well, that concludes my Hakodate part....of your eyes are starting to bleed or swell and wanna try to file a lawsuit again me, plz contact my lawyer 1st, Mr Jason Lim....I will give you his hp no. when u sue me....thats all I have to say now
To Be Continued>>