Kiss Goodbye

No no.. not me.. but this.. this old old bloggy skin. This skin has served me for a good old 2 years... Come, bid farewell ... and stay tuned to it's new look! Ally... I'm waiting...

Mr. Lonely, No Longer Lonely

Got another Betta clown tail from Chong Pang at only $2.00! This is a blue one, a contrast to ex-Mr. Lonely... But he's more timid and less active, compared to the latter. I still prefer the first one... because he tends to get very excited when he sees me. Here's a chance for you folks to name my fishes... Suggestions anyone? I'm really bad at names..

Ex-Mr.Lonely and his newly decorated home!

My 2 fish tanks. Note that the prison behind has been torn down....

My New Pet

Let me introduce this new member of my office--Mr. Lonely, a betta fish that I got it from Gim Moh Market. It costs me only $1.50! Love bought the tank for me and I'm gonna get some pebbles to redecorate it. Mr Lonely is very active, as compare to Love's 3 other bettas. He was very picky on his food when I first brought him back, but eventually got to train him to feed on the frozen bloodworms. Hopefully Mr Lonely will no longer be lonely...

Summer in Osaka

It's so nice to go back to Japan, to a city where I've never been to... My boss presented SM and I a unique opportunity to experience working life in Japan... It was awesome..

Boss was pretty much interested to introduce a piece of equipment that is used by our Japanese collegues, so he just wanted to send us over to check out on it as well, and since it's a 1-week site visit, we were provided with some training for some new techniques too.

SM and I arrived on Sunday after so much anticipation. But I was a little disppointed the moment I set foot on Osaka as I wasn't aware that it was much more industrialised as I've expected. There were factories and building everywhere, so much like where we departed. The weather was hot, a few degrees hotter than Singapore, but I already felt that I was in an oven.

Though this is already her 4th trip to Japan, SM gave her "oohs" and "aahs" as a fan of the Nippon culture. We checked into our small but cosy room of Hotel New Hankyu, located right in the heart of the city area. We dumped our luggage and went out for dinner. It took us a few streets to finally spot a decent place for dinner. We were seated in a private tatami room and given the menu which was "unreadable". Well, of course we had a few illustrations to help us plus some chicken-and-duck talk with the waitress before getting what we want on the table.

Working Day 1:
Our Jap colleague greeted us at hotel lobby after breakfast and brought us to work via the railway. It took us only 2 stops to reach our destination and a 10-min walk to the company. The company covers a pretty large landscape and though some buildings looked a bit old but the interiors were clean and pretty much well-maintained. We got our keys to the locker and were supposed to change into their working pants before stepping into the lab. Well-known for their hospitality, we spent the whole morning moving from 1 office to another,just to receive warm welcomes from the management. SM and I got a little tired walking around and was looking forward to lunch. Much to our surprise, we were told to wait for the chimes to go off at 12.20pm.And finally, the annoucement came! Everyone proceeded to the canteen with so much discipline.... The good old days are back ...RECESS TIME!

Streams of people were flowing into the canteen where you can choose which level to go to for the certain set meal. And we queued up at the kitchen collecting our bowls of rice, soup and salads. We set down together with our colleagues and everyone just tucked in quietly... 20 min later people started to leave the canteen, and my surrounding lunchmates were all seated there quietly, with an occasional chat, all waiting for SM and I to finish our lunch. Needless to say, I was the last to complete my hasty lunch, giving an embarrassed smile to indicate that we can get our ass of the chairs... *phew*

Lunch break was strictly 1 hour and everyone would be seated with their eyes glued to their pc waiting for the chime to tell them to get back to work.
And all this while SM and I would be sitting at an isolated table facing each other wondering how impossible it was for us to do this back home...At that moment, we realised that we've been taking things for granted.

So we finally got down to business and started trying out the new piece of device and did some training.

We knocked off at abt 5pm, feeling a little tired and hungry but never failed to save some energy to walk and shop.
Trying to make full use of whatever time left, we had dinner and dessert and got back at 11-ish.

Working Day 2:

We made our own way to work, got changed and started our training throughout. During lunchtime, I noticed that most of the ladies did not finish their food. So I thought I should do just and to finish lunch earlier. Smart aleck! My hunger pangs arrived in the middle of my training and I just could wait to end work!



There was a dinner invitation my our colleagues at the guild house to welcome us as well as our British counterparts. It was a sumptuous steamboat dinner, sashimi and beer and welcome speeches by our colleagues. They insisted that we speak as well, and we eventually did after much persuasion.It is a culture to go to ktvs after dinner but we turned down the invitation politely.


SM and I head back to the city and had a ride on the Ferris wheel sitting at the top of a building. Not only were the tickets cheap (SG$7), we definitely got a bird's-eye view of the night scene in Osaka. Dessert follows... Oh well, they really have a wonderful range of ice-cream desserts it is a MUST to have it... fresh strawberries with ice-cream.. YUM YUM!

Working Day 3:
If you say that I enjoy food,I'm really nothing compared to SM. With her around, you'll always be eating good food. We settle our breakfast with buffet at the hotel before going to work. And for lunch today, I made sure I finished all the food in my plate. We got more familiar with the place and knew where to go for free coffee and newspapers. And this is the only place we went without getting lost :P. Of course, you'd find us here waiting for the chime for the rest of the days after our lunch.
It was a terribly long day... We worked from dawn to dusk. We stepped out for the building without seeing the sun-7pm, and guess what, we started at 8. Although their official working hours is 8-5, they usually stayed till 8pm.

So looking forward to dinner, we rewarded ourselves with a meal of beef teppanyaki, ~$35/pax. Walked till late and back.

Working Day 4:
4 days in a row with only 5-6 hours of sleep, we dragged ourselves to work, saddled with exhaustion. I really took my hats off my Jap colleagues; they were extremely patient and sincere in training us, making sure that we really learn our stuff. Our training ended at 7pm again but we were delighted when they offered to bring us to a place for Takoyaki, which is a popular food in Osaka. It's a unique experience where one gets to cook their own takoyaki, just like steamboat. Due to my past working experience, it's not too much of a challenge to me. I was trying to stuff the money to the cashier after dinner, but still ended up losing the bill to my colleagues. SM and I felt kind awkward and embarrassed having them to treat us as well.

Working Day 5:
Looking forward to this day, yet shadowed by a sense of reluctance; the feeling of departing this place, where people are so endearing, warm, hospitable and helpful...Though we were of different nationalities, speak different languages, practice different cultures, there were like my friends for years and it was so comfortable around them...recalling how long I took to get comfortable with a person back at home? 5 days? No way!

We had our own hands-on, or rather a "test" to show how much we've learned over the past few days. These 5 days were quality time spent. Really appreciate every minute they spent, teaching and guiding us ever so patiently.... We really learned alot from them in terms of techniques, pratices and bits and pieces of Japanese greetings.

A farewell dinner was organised for us in the evening at a Jap restaurant near our hotel. It was situated at the higher storeys where we can get a panaromic view of Osaka city. The usually quiet and shy Yamamoto-san became a little bit more chatty and cheeky after a few rounds of sake. He wanted to check out my cool dude back in sg so I showed him the pic. Soon after, my phone was being circulated around by those curious folks who all nodded in acknowledgement at the sight of him. And of course, I got to see their beautiful wifey pictures as well!

We parted with a tinge of sadness but exchanged emails to keep in touch...

R&R Day 1:
Though we were quite drained form the week's work and walk, we forced ourselves out of bed, making use of whatever time's left to explore as much as possible. We hopped onto the train to Kyoto,one of Japan's largest cities and an important cultural and spiritual center. With the aids of maps and the locals, we managed to visit the 2 most popular temples. Despite the stifling weather,tourists swarmed from all over just to catch a glimpse of the rich cultural heritage displayed through the Japanese architecture.



R&R Day 2:
Mirie, our Jap colleague, had volunteered to show us around her hometown, Nara, a 30-min train ride from Osaka. Ritsuko came along as well as she's never been to that prefacture before. So 4 of us, got around the city with Mirie being the driver cum tour-guide. After some time, Mirie realised that she'd left her wallet at home, so we took the chance to check out her cosy home which was under renovation. Took some pics nonetheless. Afterwhich, she dropped us at a famous bakery, where mouth-watering cakes get swiped out in the morning. She drove us through her University campus that she once attended.

We had a stroll at Nara Park where Bambi deers graze freely on the greens. Mirie led us to the Todai-ji temple, the oldest temple in Japan and world's oldest buildings, with 1000 over years of history. In it, sits one of the worlds largest bronze figure, a 16.3m Buddha statue.

Lunch was at a quiet Jap-Western restaurant where I managed to feast on a plate bacon spagetthi after so many days of Tempura and Miso.

Oh.. here comes the exciting part..the 100 yen shop! Daiso! A hundred yen means $1.35 and got myself some pretty socks, ribbons and wrappers which I got at daylight-robbery prices back here! Needless to say, SM trugged back with 2 humongous bags of goodies, grinning from ear to ear.

Dozing off at the back off the car, I woke up finding myself at the hilltop at dusk. I stumbled out of the car and walked towards "Lucky garden", a small Sri Lankan cafe overlooking the lowlands and greenery. We had al-fresco dining, or rather, tea-break, talking about our hobbies and past-time. As the night grew, Mirie sent us off at the train station and handed each us a small farewell gift--sovenir from Todai-ji temple... Aww.. I was so touched...and there we parted.




Last R&R Day:





Osaka Day... so many days in Osaka, yet no chance to explore.. We visited the Osaka castle and we walked our separated ways after lunch. SM loves shopping, so she went on with her spree. I made my way to Kaiyukuan, Osaka aquarium looking foward to find my Mola Mola and whale shark. It's the only aquarium in the world that displays the world's largest fish .. and I'm not gonna miss it! Then I can proudly tell my fellow divers that I've seen it, so what if it's in an aquarium??!

The was a slip of paper that came together with the tickets, it stated, " The whale shark has been moved back to it's home, the new whale shark will arrive on 12th Sept" ... My legs weakened.. my heart turned cold..couldn't believe my eyes.. I turned back to the counter and asked the counter again. Yes, my eyes were not lying... THE WHALE SHARK IS NOT AROUND AND THE NEW ONE IS ARRIVING ON THE 12TH WHEN I'M LEAVING ON THE 11TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHH!! WHAT THE @#$%^&*!


I took a few minutes to convince myself of the wretched fact and walked in. Not much in a mood of taking pictures until a cute little creature caught my eye... I've forgotten all about the Mola Mola... It was a consolation at least.. I stood by the glass panel observing the poor lonely creature swimming by itself.. I brave through the freezing waters in Bali and I finally found it.. yet my heart aches to see it being imprisoned in a cold dungeon.. Hope that it can be returned to it's home soon, like the whale shark.. I'll be back again for it.

Largest Ferris Wheel in the World