Beautiful Japan

Dear all, really sorry for the lack of updates!

Main reason was because everytime i am writing a new post, my laptop will shut down on me!

Anyway, I was travelling a lot for the last quarter of 2010! Every trip was amazing and left me sweet memories.

Unfortunately, Japan experienced terrible 9.0 magnitude earthquake on 11th March 2011. The damages done to Japan was huge and lost of countless lives really shocked the whole world.

That’s why I thought I shall share with everyone the pictures from my trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo during Dec 2010.

Lets hope that Japan will recover from this natural disaster soon! GAMBATTE!

landmark of Osaka, the running Man of Glico

reflection of autumn in the mirror of a building, Osaka

Amazing autumn foliage at Hanatour (light up) event in Kyoto

historical shrine in Kyoto

三十三间道shrine , Kyoto

Kiyomuzudera Temple, Kyoto

Spotted a true Geisha walking on the street of Kyoto

breath taking autumn foliage in Ryoanji shrine, Kyoto

Kinkakuji temple, Kyoto

In a way, I am grateful that I am able to explore Japan before the major earthquake happened!

I wish all the problems in Japan will be resolved soon and the world will still have a chance to experience beautiful Japan!

The beauty of Telaga Warna Lake, Yogyakarta , Indonesia

These pictures were taken in November last year when I went to Yogyakarta. The scenery here is so amazing. We booked a driver to go up to this Lake, it is about 2.5 hours away drive from the town center.

Pictures say a thousand words………These were taken before I’ve gotten my DSLR.

So peaceful and calming…..all the troubles and sorrows will be gone, taking all these in…

Shanghai Expo Tour May 2010

Yes! I went to the Shanghai World Expo!

I was pretty excited to go there, after seeing pictures of those amazing Pavilions and how one can experience the cultures, history and future of each participating countries !!!

However, all excitement was dampened due to the huge turnout at the Expo! In the end I only manage to visit a few pavilions ie. China Pavilion, Australia Pavilion, Malaysia Pavilion and Jordan Pavilion.

China Pavilion from afar…

Malaysia Pavilion beside the Singapore Pavilion

Approaching the Pavilion…there was a long line outside Malaysia Pavilion. Suddenly felt a bit proud haha..

Of course we did not wait in the long line to see our own Pavilion, so we tried our luck by showing our ICs to those Malaysian working there. Fortunately they agreed to let us through the special lane!

This cardboard greeted us upon entrance to the Pavilion

Creation of a tropical forest plus the twin towers!

Other than that, there is nothing much else fantastic to see in the Malaysia Pavilion!

Batik on sale

There is a stage for batik painting but no one was there doing the demonstration when I was there.

It was a disappointing experience with the Malaysia Pavilion but good that we did not waste any time lining up to get in! Proudduck has a more detailed entry on the Malaysia Pavilion, go and read it if you want to see more!

Next, we visited the Australia Pavilion. It was an hour queue, not so bad! Other popular pavilions such as Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany etc will need about 4 hours wait generally!

The queue!

Friendly Australian greeted us at the entrance of the PAvilion

Decor in the hall

Fishes in the air

Mom and Dad posing!

Toy figure on the ceiling..Cute!

While waiting to go into the theatre for the presentation

The presentation is about the future of Australian’s lifestyle, interesting insights to their plans.

a huge screen pop out! lets enjoy the show!

Australia Pavilion is much more interesting than the Malaysia Pavilion! Our Government should learn from others!

Next up, we visited the China Pavilion! Our tour guide has made a group reservation for us, but that doesn’t mean no waiting time!

Brief info about the China Pavilion:

The China Pavilion, also known as the Oriental Crown, represents the spirit of the people of China and showcases a variety of sustainable building practices ranging from passive design to rainwater harvesting. The Oriental Crown is one of the 5 permanent green buildings on the Expo site, and it will be converted into a national history museum upon the conclusion of the Expo.

Amazing architecture

Hong Kong Pavilion next to the China Pavilion, also long lines waiting to get in!

it embodies Chinese history and culture

After queuing for 30 mins, I thought we are getting in!

it was only my wishful thinking! More waiting once you got up there! So many people were trying to cut queue, you have no idea how irritating it is!

Loads of cool stuff in the Pavilion! We were first invited to watch a short film about development of China over the years. No camera is allowed!

The Pavilion has been split to a few themed sections.

Nothing in the China Pavilion impressed me as much as this!

Check this out! Watch carefully!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTxDVtICWz4

Isn’t it COOL?! I find it so COOL! hahaa..

The visitors going through a journey of time

Energy efficient cars for the future

View from the above…India Pavilion can be seen from here

On our way down… the crowd is still there !

more pictures of China Pavilion

Sun was already down when we came out from the Pavilion.

Time to go home after a long day at Expo..

If you are interested to read further about the Expo, go to this link of Todayonline

To be continued…….

Fell in Love with Taiwan- Part 2

Our journey to Alishan continues..

Next up, we were brought to the Everlasting Bridge by our driver.

Introduction to the Everlasting Bridge…

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Us being the tourist!

After one hour +, we have reached our hostel at Alishan.

Our hostel is also a tea plantation and there is a factory processing the tea leaves. We paid NTD1800 for a night stay, transportation from Jia Yi to the hostel and food.

Meet the boss! He was very enthusiastic in explaining the whole tea production process! *YAWN*

See? Still going on….The process seems tedious and boss told us that it is much more time consuming than the tea in China. They do not export their tea as it is only enough for domestic consumption.

Competition of Manhood! The guys test their strength by carrying the 20-30kg tea bag!

oh Forgot to introduce our lunch, 铁路便当！The meat in red is pork meat, which I didn’t eat as I was still having flu then, otherwise, it tasted not bad. I like to eat taiwanese rice, its different from those in Spore and Malaysia.

After outdoor explanation, we get to taste the tea!

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You can even try to 泡茶yourself!

The boss took us for a tour around the Alishan area which includes Fencihu, one of the rail stations along the Alishan Forrest Railway.

奮起湖 without 湖 ~~

As you can see, loads of tourists!

The environment is so serene and calm around Alishan area. It was a beautiful walk!

There are many stalls selling vegetables, fruits that they planted themselves.

Wasabi!

bamboo shoots..these are yummy..crunchy and sweet if you cook it in the right way..

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lovely flowers found in the area…

Next post will be on the amazing Alishan sunrise which we had to wake up at 3.30am for!

I have been resting at home for this weekend, even the Great Singapore Sales cannot get me out of my house. I suppose that’s because I have spent a lot in Taiwan + My leg & feet better rest after all the walking in Taiwan!

Hope my body + mind can recover soon for work! :)))