Yeap! Phooooto updates now! I didnt take lots of photos this time round. The weather really sucked. (Boooo) Come, let me tell u how it went.. Day by Day.
Day 1: 3 December (Thursday)
My mom woke up earlier den me. Me? The time that I had set.. 3.30am
Did my morning prayers, changed and set off to the airport (That's Terminal 3 for ya) I kinda reached too early. The meeting time was 5am and I reached like 20min earlier. So, not intending to wait, I went to check in immediately (Since there was no queue at the moment and I didnt want to wait once the crowd starts coming in)
Malu event 1:
So there were like many uniformed officers (aka police) there and asked me where I was going. Pasted sticker den moving on to the counter. Cos I was taking the flight that made a transition at Narita, the final destination was actually Seattle. The person at the counter checked with me if I was going to Tokyo-Narita. Of cos I said yes. But he didnt seem to believe me. He raised his tone and was like "You're going to Tokyo?" ya la ya la.. Tokyo la.. Wat! I look like I going to Seattle meh? Ok, aft finishing with the checking in of baggage, ermm... I got 'lost' sia.. Not literally lost. Just that I couldnt differentiate the exit from the entrance line. It was only after like 5 long seconds that I saw the exit post sign that I started walking. Whew.. Luckily no one noticed this sia....
And so... I waited for like over an hour..... Super sianz.....
It was kinda exciting for me since I went into the departure gate myself and walked around all by myself. The last time, I still had to follow some of my mom's friends even though I went alone.. Hmmm...
Malu event 2:
Went into the right departure gate.. BUT!! I almost went to Hong Kong instead! How? Well, I was supposed to go to gate B6 but I kinda took it for granted that once I am in the right departure hall I'll be in the gate. So I just turned wherever I liked. Fortunately, there was a sign that showed that gate B5(Hong Kong), B6(Tokyo) so I could stop and turned to B6 just in time. Same thing, I was one of the few who went in first, so no one could question my robotic turn and laugh at it ^_^''
The rest of the trip went well..
Comment on UA flight: The plane that I took was like... Super old. And the TV programmes.. Eww.. Played only twice. It's not like JAL or SQ in which it would be replayed over and over again. My neck almost broke from sleeping in the plane. Haiz.. I was super happy when I could finally land. Oh! And my plane met a tiny turbulence.. Gosh! I was giggling like mad when the plane went up and down and did a swirling thing to my heart. Kekekekeke... Stupid reaction, I noe =P
The luxurious Bento set that we had for lunch and dinner
The salmon fish was really salty.. The siu mai and dumpling tasted kinda weird.. The rest.. Superb!
Well.. It was raining after all.. So, I couldnt resist doing it.. ~_~^
Touch down: It was raining! Brrr... So cold. Still, I only had my long sleeve knitted sweater on. Didnt really bring out my winter clothings since we had to go to the bus immediately anyways.
Question: What's the first 'immature' thing that you should do when you reach a country in the winter?
Answer: Blow air and see if 'smoke' (actually fog) comes out of course.
Hahaha.. Yup.. That's the first childish thing when I came out of the airport. And I kept doing it while running to the bus in the rain. It was fun, really! Stupid (For my age), but fun ^o^
It kept raining all the way to the Head Temple. The night time was more eventful with the laying of the futons. (That's Japanese mattresses for ya) The lodging temple's priest's wife had a very systematic way of doing the laying and we had to fully and strictly follow it. Gosh... After that, everyone was like saying, wa...Japanese really very systematic sia.. (Personally, I think it's just her personality la)
Lodging Temple where I stayed
It's these little details that had me feel that the priest and his wife are 细心 detailed people who made it feel a little like home..
Basically, these are the photos that I could take. It was raining throughout, so I couldnt even take any out from the windows.. And it was already very dark when I reached the temple.
Day 2: 4 December 2009 (Friday)
Basically, nothing happened much. Just walked around, take a couple of photos, tour around the permitted premises, eat, shower and sleep. The sky was clear in the morning but became really cloudy in the afternoon so there wasn't much nice opportunities to take the Mount Fuji photos this time round. Sigh... And of course, we went shopping in the streets near the temples. Dun get me wrong. There's nothing really much to buy. Mostly like prayers beads, sutras and buddhist accessories and tidbits I think. Some ppl can shop there for 3 days sia... Where there's only like about 20 small shops there? Hmmmm.. Whatever...
The Pagoda that I didnt haf a chance to take and visit two years ago
Day 3: 5 December 2009 (Saturday)
Now this is the day where all the happening stuffs starts to appear I tell you. But then... It rained. T_T so... No photos for this day too. BUT! Something nice happened (Nice for me la) Cos there was this time from 3.30-5.30pm where the shower room is open to all but very few ppl seems to know it, I could use this time to go shower (Even though it's freaking cold in the rain) So after another short round of shopping, I went back to the lodging temple to gather my shower stuffs. As I was holding the umbrella in one hand, I took out my iPod with the other and started to listen to 七里香 and 三人行 while strolling along the rocky and slippery paths.
I felt very peaceful and satisfied. Cos I've never really done that in my past trips. (Well, the weather has always been good every time I went, so...) The sky was kinda blueish Grey, the rain drizzling in a soothing rhythmic momentum that syncs with the song. The branches of the trees drooped low and the breeze was just right. Blowing softly into my face. It was cold, but not chilling that it freezes ur bones. I was strolling slowly, humming to the song, carefully walking so that I wont slip on the stone path. The mood was really great and atmospheric. At that moment, I didnt have to think of anything. I was experiencing me.. The real self inside me that connected to the world. Kinda chim I think. It was like I was truely breathing air. I knew what I was doing and I am thankful and super grateful that I could be there, at the right time, at the perfect place to experience it all.
Of cos, I was freezing like mad when I reached the lodging temple.. So I quickly went to take a shower.
Do not underestimate the power of shower in the cold weather. After a hot shower, your whole body will feel so much better and I really feel more energised after every shower. (Nope, I didnt bring any energiser batteries to eat there)
Day 4: 6 December 2009 (Sunday)
THE BEST DAY EVER!!!
The weather was great! Cloudy, but great! I even had the chance to participate in the Kosenrufu chanting with the High Priest. Well, not that we dun haf tt in Singapore la.. But normally, during the one hour chanting, I'll stone for that hour and wished that it would quickly pass and finish. Well, not that day no! I wished that it would go on and on and when the hour came and passed, I was kinda sad. Cos it's not everyday that you get to chant with the High Priest and believers from other countries on the first Sunday of every month.
The afternoon session of General Meeting was the best! hahaha... Super funny. We had to wait outside Kofubo before going in. Then, someone, dun ask me who, started to run around with the flags. I had a strong suspicion that it was someone from Singapore. hahahaha... We even did a Kallang wave! WOOT! And once THAT started, the other countries followed suit. Hahahahhaa... We even had kids running around with flags. Ok, pictures aint enough... Should watch the videos.. Kekekekeke.... Hahaha.. By the time it finished and we had to go in, everyone was pretty 'high' le.
During the performance (Which I couldnt take as it was strictly prohibited unless you're from the official press members), I went nutz.. Kekeke.. And after that, I was kinda exhausted already. Whatever.. I had lots of fun. That day.. Even though the shower time is limited to 10min per person (Which I think is totally impossible and crazy) I slowly took my time.. hahah. Heck care.
After the evening prayer, someone suggested taking a photo with the Chief Priest of the lodging temple. Gosh, so many ppl wanted a photo of it.. Hahaha.. In the end, we had to take like 10 over times. Well, I didnt dare to put in mine cos everyone seemed really tired already...
The Midnight prayer was memorable too. This proves that the AMX course is somehow like a curse... Ever since I've taken the course, every where I go, I see gender-bias la, racial issues la, disabilities la, equalities la... Super crazy. Ok, so there's this kid who was super excited and didnt slp til like the gathering time which was like around 1.50am. But when the prayer started, he fell asleep =_=''
During the daimoku session where the junior priests would beat the taiko drums, (I was sitting on the right side of the hall) the priest that was coming to my side had something in his ear. I was kinda puzzled and kept thinking what was it. Well.. I finally knew when he came and had his back faced me to beat the drum. (I was sitting like the 4th row so I could see really clearly) The priest had a hearing aid on his right ear. Well.. I was kinda taken back slightly cos it was my very first time seeing that I guess. Referring to a priest with a hearing aid, I mean. I wasnt really expecting that I guess..... See... It's all AMX's fault la. Arghhh.. I so hate that course now.
Day 5: 7 December 2009 (Monday)
After the prayer, went back and did final packing cos we had to leave at around 7am. While waiting, a couple of us went to see the sun rise. Correction, we went to wait for the sun rise. While walking, we had chanting at the gate in front of Hoando. That caught us by surprise cos it was really dark and around 4am - ish.. Didnt expect someone to be chanting there at the wee hours of the night. But we were really touched by the believer's ichinen. She sounded as though she had a strong desparate thought that she wanted to convey.....
In the end, the sun rise didnt come. Cos it was super cloudy and partly cos it was time to go back le.. Shootz.. So I missed it.
While waiting for the bus.. The last eventful thing happened.. My friend was very cold (literally).. She was shivering and kept saying that her hands felt cold. Den, she knelt and crouched and her head hung low. I was comforting her cos she was crying already. Suddenly, she leaned towards me and gosh.. It was heavy cos it was the weight from her entire body. I was shocked! *o* I asked her wat was wrong. Her mum quickly hugged her and my friend said that she couldnt feel anything. She didnt haf any energy at all. Her mum panicked and screamed, "Ting! Dun scare me!!!!" (In Chinese of course) Everyone was shocked too and gathered around.
Well the thing was that it was my friend's first winter trip so lots of things kinda happened and she took it for granted. For one, she wore very little and didnt want to wear more clothes.. Vanity la I tell you. Next, she didnt sleep much which led to low body resistance. Lastly, when she was kinda sick and we could feel it, we had her to take some medicine like panadol at least. But she didnt want to... So, it all led to the burst of illness I guess. Well, it's like the pre-fever syndrome I guess. The cold got her but the fever hadnt broke out yet. But thank goodness, it happened before we boarded the bus. Hahaha. But the scene was quite funny. She had to be pushed in a wheelchair and board the bus. At the parking lot, everyone was crowding around her. And photos were taken I think. Kekekeke.. It was like as though there were paparazzi around a celebrity. After a full rest on the bus she recovered and she was able to walk and shop after wards. (Gosh, she walked faster den me sia.. Tsk tsk me) We were able to laugh at the events that happened.. Her BBF also could lecture her.. Hahahhaa...
So.. A tiny scare here and there. But nothing big I guess. Which of course, is a good thing.
On the way out of Taisekiji and Shizuoka, I didnt realise it was actually Monday until I see the junior priests in their uniforms and walking out of the temple premises and go on their way to their schools. And along the way, I see students on bicycles (white, mostly. Is that the most fashionable bike color now?) and uniforms to school. I was like.. "Wow.. It's already Monday le! Students going to school. And I'm going home." It was kinda ... hmmm, weird feeling.
Ok, now comes the bad mood event. I SO HATE THE STUPID AIRPORT! Why? Well, initially, the staffs had us go to another counter or something since we're doing a group check-in. This check-in thing ar I tell you, is USELESS! Why? Cos it's a self-automated thing whereby we haf to type particulars ourselves on this machine thing. Ergh.. It's super frustrating.. Especially since after the staffs saw that one row wasnt going to be enough and had some of us go to another row of the stupid machines. I moved my heavy stuffs here and there. What made it worse was that the push cart wasnt allowed in so many of the aunties had a difficult time moving their stuffs around. I find the whole automated thing super ridiculous. Cos there are people who dun feel comfortable using automated machines and what of those aunties who might not noe how to use it? Wouldnt it be faster if there were trained ppl behind the counters instead? Tsk tsk tsk... CHANGI AIRPORT IS STILL THE BEST! NUMBER ONE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD! THAT'S WWW FOR YA!
I rushed to buy some stuffs back at the airport. I was searching high and low for Haley's ponyon hand puppet. Argh... I think I must have been blind or something... so the trip back was.. ordinary... oya.. The pasta on the flight was aweful. Erlack. And yet, I finished it all.. Kekeke
Well.. Basically, that's about it I guess... Hope u had fun reading it ^W^
A couple of night scenes
Fireworks? Nah.. my hand just shook and it got lopsided =)
I love these colorful trucks.. Reminds me of transformers.. kekekeke ^o^ Why cant Singapore be more colorful???
Enjoy the rest!
