Korean food part 1

Busan = Port City = Sea Coast = Sea Food = Eat!



Choose....from the above tanks




Chop it up...



Then serve it up...



Then... eat. Yummy.
Me and Jason love seafood but Sena, our Korean-speaking friend, doesn't seem to heh heh

ふねで

Cruise to Korea
Yea, in my intoxicated state, we took a ferry to Korea, that's me, lunching on deck with Julius, and Anna and Rosyada in the background.




I love the ocean, too bad they posted me to Armour and not the Navy during National Service :P

居酒屋

飲み会！


Chihiro, Keigo (who speaks excellent Singlish after a year abroad at NUS), and me!



The rest of the Japanese-Singapore bunch heh. The first girl, Yoshiko, will be coming to Singapore at the end of this year, probably showing her around then :) I am sooo drunk, what to do, this place is "all u can drink"....

アイスランド交流

The mid-term Japanese exams are over! And what better way than to celebrate than to party? The Icelandic law students invited us over to their place where they treated us to authentic Icelandic food! Lets just say that traditionally, because of Iceland's isolation, they have pretty erm... funky ways of preserving food.



These are nice, spot the black chunks of fried Sheep's blood and fat. Well at least they didn;t serve uss sheep testicles, another authentic Iceland food. The meat was cooked over sheep faeces. :P



With my icelandic friends! I'm glad they told me beforehand what it was, but me being gung-ho as usual tried eating everything... but by far the most nasty thing I have ever eaten in Japan, (and trust me I have eaten live fish, live octopus, squid and clams that try to crawl off my plate here in Japan) but nothing beats the shark meat that my icelandic friends served up. They had to keep it on the balcony because of the stench. Initially i was thinking what the fuss was all about, but after chewing the meat for a few seconds, the pee and uric acid and ammonia overwhelms... and I had to knock back some icelandic liquoir to kill that taste... NASTY!!!



Then again it was a great experience, THANKS GUYS for organising it! :D

足の温泉

Hot spring for tired legs, Yufuin

コカ。コラー

Coke Expo at Hawkstown, Fukuoka 14th May - 15th May



Cute



Me, inside gallery of coke stuff (mainly historical, wow), drinking from a complementary glass bottle of the black stuff

湯布院の金鱗湖

Kinrinko, Yufuin



Hot on their trail, ducks to pond



I love this photo :)

象徴

This is what Yufuin is famous for.

母の日のために

Mother's Day Lunch



On the spur of the moment, I decided to treat my parents to a day trip by train for a traditional japanese lunch at a traditional Japanese inn, in Yufuin, quaint spa resort du jour, 2 hrs away from Fukuoka by express train. I'm glad they enjoyed the lunch, the stay at the Japanese inn (first time for them... tatami), as well as dipping into onsen, a Japanese hot spring bath... kimochi!! :)

JRで

I have fallen in love with Japanese trains... I try to ride one every chance I get

高級ホテルで泊まった

Now its my turn to stay with my parents, and as airline staff they get a discount in Fukuoka's top hotel. Sweet! They say to judge a place you judge it by its worst part. Behold, the toilet.

ラーメン

Ichiran Ramen

Voted 2nd most popular in Kyushu, but my personal choice. Parents loved it. I will crave for this endlessly when I'm back in sunnypore, i just know it

太宰府へ

Next stop, ancient administrative capital, Dazaifu. Because I have currently no love for shrines and temples after that whirlwind trip to Kyoto and Nara, I will skip posting such pics here. Instead, here's the Kyushu National Museum, hats off to the architect... compare person to the monolith, and yet compare the reflection of the surroundings to the blue of the panels

アクロス屋上

View of somewhat-downtown Tenjin as seen from ACROS sky-ledge, which i managed to persuade my parents to climb, because you haven't seen Fukuoka until you've seen it from up here. By the way, told you guys this isn't tokyo..

両親が来た

Ah, my folks are here, staying in my hostel for the first night, where I wowed them with (suprisingly edible) Japanese-styled chicken curry and crab salad with sesame dressing

ドライブ

In Sam's car
Reading everyone's blogs and talking to all the exchange students who are leaving back for Singapore soon makes me wonder how i'd cope back "home", because for me, home already seems... here.



In a pensive mood tonight. Isn't life what you make of it?

白糸滝

Shiraito Waterfall



Me wading through the still-freezing-cold-water.... itai!



Father and son catching fish swimming upstream. Nice shot, this one eh? There are stalls nearby that would fry your catch for a small fee.

いちご

Strawberry Picking, with the lovely folks from Church

This is a nice change of pace isn't it? I'd always preferred to visit the wilderness rather than cities, and today, we went to a farm and paid 500 Yen for the privilege of picking strawberries and eating as much as we want. I think I ate at least a carton of them heh heh



The choiciest, most succulent strawberries... goes well with unsweetened yoghurt

飲み会

Not travelling in Golden Week. Party, party, party.



By the way Nona's place is 3 times the size of my room.
"DJ-ing" tonight meant me choosing the song playlist for the night, I regret stopping my practical lessons with DJ Bul at Underground, just couldn't commit to anything long term as usual can't u James? hurhurhur



I am now rather averse to the smell of alcohol... pttf...

親しい友達を訪問する

Szechuan-styled hotpot dinner, Ijiri Hall

Since its Golden week and I refuse to pay exhorbitant prices to travel, the policy this year is: Stay in Fukuoka!

These are the (and still bestest) friends that I made in Japan, and the holidays are a good time to get together now that we are not all staying in the same place anymore. It was Tianfang's birthday celebration, and we went over to his new place, and he treated us to szechuan-styled "mala huoguo". They bought 2 kilograms of sliced lamb and by the end of the night we were all stuffed!



If it looks hot, i am telling u, it is!



Then, the quintessential pastime of every self-respecting mainland Chinese person. Table Tennis! After playing that the whole night, I think i must have picked up a skill or two from them, comeon, its in their blood... watch the olympics, and u will see! Haha

博多どんたく

Its called "Pride"

Today marks the official start of the "Golden Week" Holiday in Japan, where there are 3 public holidays back to back, coupled with the weekend, making this the time where all the japanese people take a break from their work and travel! An estimated 2 million people will be expected to come to Fukuoka to watch the Dontaku Parade, one of Japan's biggest matsuris. And me, I had the chance to participate in this year's Dontaku in the International Contingent with my Singaporean friends, with the added honour of being the flagbearer for the Singapore Contingent! I have never touched the flag since primary school when I did flagraising every morning, so this was absolutely natsukashii. :)



Cross-straits relations are good

This blog ain't political, but lookie here, ground level knows best!



With some of my other gaikoku-jin friends who also have the honour of being their respective countries' flagbearers.

Yea, walking down Hakata, Nakasu to Tenjin waving to the crowd, spotting familiar faces, dancing to the rhythm of the drumbeat and clapping the clappers in sync... This is surreal

暑い志賀島

Shikanoshima Beach BBQ

Day 2 of the freak heatwave that sent temperatures hitting above 27 Degrees! = berms and short-sleeved T-shirts + BBQ + DAY AT THE BEACH! 45 Minutes drive from Fukuoka is Shikanoshima, linked by a narrow spit of land jutting into the Genkainada sea



It does look as if I am placing my foot on Rosie's head doesn't it? hurhur



Also means BBQ + Slacking at beach + Beach Soccer + Swimming in cold water (not me) + exploring the coastline. Fukuoka has so many nice beaches closeby I'm seriously reconsidering going to Okinawa...





:)
After BBQ, we drove up to the observatory, and whoa, we could see the WHOLE of Fukuoka from there, no kidding! From Kashiihama in the east, to Uminonakamichi, to Fukuoka Tower and Marinoa City in the west. I'm sure I would be able to see Eto campus if I could recognize it.



Whoaaaa