24 Hours in Yufuin Onsen Town ♨

When I got off the plane in Fukuoka Airport, one word came into my mind:
ただいま. I’m home.

Though I wouldn’t go as far as to actually call Japan my home, I’ve been here enough that the country seems familiar to me, a constant comfort and escape from my regular life.

This time, I was on a 5 day 4 night trip to Fukuoka, a region I hadn’t yet explored. It was part of my annual cherry blossom pilgrimage and as usual, a quick getaway thrown together just weeks before.

I started out my tenth trip to Japan by heading to Yufuin, an onsen town a little over two hours from Fukuoka.

A paradise of sun, sea and puppies – Koh Lipe 🌴

Imagine a paradise with sparkling blue seas, an entire ecosystem of fish-rich coral reefs right at the shore, and puppies that frolick along the beach. Think of fine white sand, cheap cocktails and the most breathtaking sunsets you can imagine.

Surely I dreamed it all up? There’s no way an island that wonderful can exist?

Koh Lipe in Thailand blew my expectations away and might just be the best island I’ve ever been to.

Just…. Sea puppies! How can you possibly top that?

The whimsical town of Khao Yai, Thailand 🌻

Last August, I went to Macau where I marveled at the recreations of European cities.

Macau tried its best to import the European experience but somehow managed to miss the mark and held none of the grandeur, leaving me feeling like I was living in some weird alternate universe. Still, it was fascinating enough for a once in a lifetime experience. A mark off my checklist and nothing more.

Then I ended up going to Khao Yai, Thailand for Christmas and hey Macau, maybe you should take notes from how the Thai do it.

Khao Yai is a place you go to just to decorate your Instagram feed. It’s made for a group of girl friends who love posing against pretty walls and in flower fields, couples who don’t mind cheesy photo spots, and city kids who want to experience the farm life.

Funny how I started off the year in actual Europe, but then ended up in fake Venice and fake Italy. Nothing beats the original, I’d say, but at least my Instagram feed is prettier than ever!

Warning: You will be sick of my face by the end of this.

Rainy Days in Shirakawago

For years, I’ve seen the snow capped thatched huts on covers of magazines and the odd web banner. Shirakawago seems to be one of the most iconic Japanese tourist destinations out there, along with Mount Fuji, Kiyomizudera and Itsukushima Shrine.

My mother had formed some sort of romantic fantasy around this little village, and we set out just to visit it. I’m not sure what exactly drew her to Shirakawago, but years of advertising had made it just as appealing and mysterious to me.

As with all over-hyped destinations though, I should have expected the crowds that greeted us. It certainly wasn’t what I imagined, though I’m not sure what exactly I expected in the first place.

Maybe I envisioned it to be more like Ainokura, where we had stayed the night before? Untouched by tourism, quiet and tranquil. Whatever it was, Shirakawago took me by surprise but I still enjoyed it, crowds and all.

Tokyo, I’m back! Visiting the Pokemon cafe ϞϞ(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)∩

In June 2018, I quit my job. It was a long time coming and not a decision I came to easily. I had long term plans for my company, but circumstances made it difficult to stay and I struggled with a work slump for the better part of 2018, wallowing in misery and losing my confidence slowly as the months dragged on.

After a particularly freeing trip to Hong Kong in early June, I gathered up enough courage to quit and immediately felt the weight lift off my shoulders. I’ve since rebuilt the blocks of my life and started a new amazing job, gaining back my confidence and love for my career, but in the weeks between my new job, I had free time for the first time in a while and of course, I chose to travel.

It was a no brainer that Tokyo was where I wanted to go. Japan has always been where I had some of my happiest memories while I was undergoing changes in my life – my first trip abroad, my graduation trip, my first solo trip, my first time seeing snow.

I accepted my previous job in Japan too, when I went on a cherry blossoms trip last February. I remember I was in a cafe in Atami, a seaside holiday town an hour away from Tokyo, waiting for a shuttle bus to our onsen resort.

I had my interview the morning before I flew to Tokyo and wasn’t expecting the reply so soon, so the phone call came as a surprise. The matcha ice cream I ordered had just been placed in front of me when I had to duck outside for a shaky Whatsapp call that eventually dropped due to bad signal, but the message came across all the time: I got the job!

When I came back to my food, my ice cream had already melted but I was breathless at the thought of landing my dream job. And it was a dream job for the first year, allowing me to tackle new challenges and new opportunities that I greatly appreciate.

Anyway, that fell apart and I have a great new job now, so I wanted to celebrate and back to Tokyo I went for the eighth time!

Snapshots of Prague ♕

When I was younger, I was obsessed with Jonathan Safran Foer. I saw one quote, and typical to me, hyperfixated on it. I went through great trouble to buy all his books and pored over each so much that I can probably quote entire paragraphs back at you.

Then the movie version of Everything is Illuminated was released and it was shot near Prague so I looked up the city and fell in love again.

I wanted to go there, and some ten years later, I did.

In some ways, Prague was exactly like how I imagined with its fairy tale buildings and winding streets. It really felt like time stood still and I was in an alternate universe, as far away from my worries as could be.

I felt free when I drifted through the streets and even if everything was terribly expensive, I was happy. We spent much time just sitting in courtyard cafes and doing nothing, enjoying the lovely blue skies and cool weather. I wouldn’t change a thing about my trip.

I guess I just should have expected that I’m not the only one enchanted by Prague. The hoards of tourists didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the city though, and I think I explored enough of it in my brief three days here.

The Odawara Plum Festival in Soga Bairin! ❀

 

My first trip abroad at the wee age of two and a half was to Japan and some of my happiest memories were carved during the four or five other times I’ve been there since. To me, Japan marked some very important times in my life- my first flight, a two week student exchange, my post graduation trip, my first time catching the musical group that changed my life live.

When my mom suggested an extended mother-daughter trip, I knew without a doubt that it had to be Japan again. But we just went to Kansai in November and Hokkaido in January last year, where else could we go?

It just so happened that I knew a friend had been planning a Japan trip and she mentioned that there was a place where we could catch cherry blossoms in February. Kawazu had a type of early blossoming sakura that bloomed along a 3km long river bank, attracting up to a million visitors each year during the sakura season.

I planned the trip around Kawazu and we ended up taking a Shizuoka prefecture trip that far exceeded my expectations. Izu Peninsula wormed its way into a special place in my heart and I couldn’t recommend it enough to anyone who’s looking to stray away the mainstream cities of Japan.

February is also the plum blossom season of Japan and I decided to make a pit stop in Odawara first to catch one of the top ten ume hanami spots in Japan.

21 years has passed since we visited Japan together so of course we had to take a little memento shot. After arriving in Tokyo, we did a few more comparison shots but perhaps that’s a tale for another time.

Only 35 minutes by Shinkansen from Tokyo Station,  Odawara is a sleepy little forgotten town. No one goes to Odawara just to visit Odawara but it serves as a gateway town to go to the Hakone/Fuji area. I find that an awful shame because we stayed two nights in Odawara and I found the town lovely enough, if not a little quiet, but quiet is exactly what I was looking for.

We stayed in Hinode Ryokan, a 100 year old ryokan that is run by the sweetest couple who speak very limited English but are kind and helpful, happy to give tips to travel around or where to eat. I expected a creaky old building and was surprised to find out how creaky the building could get, but it is amazingly well preserved for such an ancient house.

2016 in snapshots (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧

Ah, 2016. What a year, eh?

As the world created history and moaned about 2016 being the Worst Year Ever, my 2016 chugged along quietly. The past few years of my life were filled with change and discovery (2015 in review here) but so perhaps it was time that I settled down. That’s not to say my 2016 wasn’t eventful though!

January

The first day of the year, Amara visited me from the States and we went from internet strangers to sleepover buddies. Together, we went to the sand dunes of Malacca and the EXO concert in Singapore where I accidentally bought the best tickets in the house. I miss you, bby! Two weeks later, it was Malacca all over again to visit Henry with the rest of the Melbourne girls. Once I had enough of all that sand, I went off on my family trip to Sapporo where I ate too much snow, too many crabs and watched the first leg of GOT7’s Japan tour with Kelly.

February

 We embraced a new member of our family with the arrival of Doori, my little hedgehog. She was neglected by her previous owner and came to us in a mess but we can work with you, little one. She still shies away from us even today and she has ballooned in size, but hopefully that means she’s eating and sleeping well?

March

I had a new client in March, what I thought was my most challenging client yet. (I would be proven wrong as the months crept pass in 2016, but I like to think that I’ve learned from each hurdle.) The launch of a new concept store had me suddenly working on design, art concepts, photoshoots. I had to choreograph models, pick out outfits, pull together an entire event. I myself became a stand-in model a couple of times but at the very least, my nails have never been so beautiful.

April

April came as a surprise because I had no high hopes but it turned out to be my favourite trip of the year. I promised my mom that I would bring her to see cherry blossoms for her birthday but with flights fast selling out, we had a last minute change to Busan instead. Busan itself was charming and quaint but the real standout was the little military city of Jinhae, planted with 10,000 cherry blossom trees that were in full bloom on the day we arrived. As an added bonus, I managed to catch Jaejoong and the army boys of SuperJunior performing, and received Sungmin’s signature!

May

Pick PR people as your social contest winners and we’ll deliver exactly what you want! Debbie used my details to win a free flight to Bangkok and without much thought, we went for a 48 hour trip in Bangkok. Cafes, shopping and quick bites – Bangkok city continues to impress as one of my favourite metropolitan cities.

June

Ho Chi Minh city was burning hot in June. The country is steeped in history and it was fascinating to discover it layer by layer, to see the true value of human resilience. It’s sobering to think that only decades before, the countries around me were torn apart by war. Now all these countries are thriving, built upon sweat, blood and tears. On a lighter, jarring note, I happened to bump into not one, not two, but three of my university mates in Ho Chi Minh city and we had a small get together. What a small world!

July

In July, I went on the ~Trip of Dreams~.Everything about Seoul was lovely and I was genuinely happy for every minute of it. Morgan and I met each other -online, of course- just barely a year before, and within months we were planning to meet each other halfway across the world. I gritted my teeth and went for the two concert package of EXOr’Dium Seoul and it was truly, completely worth it even if my baby was out injured.

On the last night, I decided to forgo the final EXO concert to watch Epik High and I think that night will be the most meaningful concert for me for a very long time. It may sound cliche but Epik High has shaped a lot of decisions in my life, so to stand there in the crowd singing along to the songs that touched me in my younger days, was the accumulation of 10 years of dreams. I cried like a baby that night and never felt so free. The next morning, Tablo himself quoted my tweet and thanked me for going to their concert. No, thank you, Epik High. Without you, I’m not sure what or who I would’ve been.

August

I’ve been a simmering Seventeen fan for years, watching them grow from tiny preteens to the 13 young lads they are today. Seeing them perform in Singapore filled me with a sense of nostalgia and longing. Seventeen radiate such youth and energy. I might be a jaded old fool, but I still giggled my way into the attention of my favourite child, Lee Chan, and shamelessly made him shy with my boldness.

September

I can’t remember much about September so it must have been a peaceful month. Went to Dean’s showcase and autograph session on a whim and mortified him with a pick up line, but other than that, September was quiet.

October

I never pegged myself as a golf person but my entire October was a golf frenzy. One of my newer clients had a new golf range of products happening and somehow I was swept up in the greens. I had the opportunity to be coached by a former PGA player and even got to watch the top golfers play at the CIMB Classics. Ryo Ishikawa winked at me! Maybe I should change my fandom interests over to the sportier kind…?

Oh, and I watched Big Bang’s fanmeet. Big Bang doesn’t bother with Malaysia anymore so I don’t know why I bother with them.

November

Hello, my favourite country in the world! There’s something about Japan that keeps pulling me back, from the courteous friendliness of her people to her breathtaking displays of nature and architecture.Two years after my last Kansai trip, I came back to revisit the temples that I so loved, this time with family. The leaves were in full bloom and so were the crowds, but it didn’t stop Kyoto from being just as impressive as I remembered it to be.

December

I went on my first company trip! It was nice spending time with the people who have been with me for the past two years, and rediscovering their true personalities under the professional veil. The following week, Park Bogum fever was rife and I had free tickets to his fanmeeting. Went in to fill my time and came out filled with respect for such a charming, polite man. As a final farewell to the year, my family went to Kaohsiung and Tainan where we spent six peaceful days just wandering about the two quiet cities. My 2016 was hectic and this was a nice end.

♡

There you have it, my 2016. I didn’t realise I did so much but it was a happy year for me. I’m always thankful of everything I have and this year is no different.

2017 is already shaping up to a wonderful start with what I have planned and hopefully I’ll be looking forward to a few more changes. I think I’ll cut all the cheesiness and just end this post before I start questioning the meaning of life again.

Bring it on, 2017! (*•̀ᴗ•́*)و ̑̑

EXOr’Dium Seoul 29/30 July 2016 + sort of fan account!

Last October, I watched EXO perform at the One K Concert. I remember feeling slightly terrified then at the hoardes of fans that scrambled over seats and pushed their way through the crowd to get closer to EXO. Fans brought their EXO dolls around and I found it a sad sight. I never want to be like that, I thought to myself as I sat in Kamong, Jongin’s sister’s cafe and sipped at my expensive mint chocolate smoothie. (I hate mint)

Barely 2 months later, I created a doll Instagram as a joke. And flew to Singapore to watch one EXO’LuXion concert. Which turned into two nights in a row after I managed to snag tickets for the second night. And 2 months later, I watched the Malaysian concert as well.

By then, my feeling of alarm had faded into a muted echo, taken over by this incessant need to see more of EXO, closer, better. I suppose this is how addiction feels, but I’ve never been happier so when I decided to bite the bullet and buy a 2 concert SMTown Travel Package, there was little hesitation. I even gritted my teeth and went for the deluxe package, dropping around USD850 for 2 concerts and 3 nights stay.

Eat yo words, self.

Busan – Pastel dreams in Gamcheon Cultural Village (부산 감천문화마을)

No trip to Busan is complete without a visit to the self-proclaimed Machu Piccu of Busan, especially since it’s been a life long dream of mine to visit Machu Piccu. Gamcheon Culture Village doesn’t share the same sort of history Machu Picchu has, but with its tiled buildings overlooking the sea, perhaps its other nickname, Korea’s Santorini is much more apt.

Busan is a wonderful place to visit. It’s famous for its rocky cliffs and sea views, its seafood and seagulls. The people are nice and friendly, much more willing to help a lost tourist out than the people in Seoul. What no one warns you about though, is how much walking Busan requires.

Most directions will tell you to take the bus from the Toseong station up the hill to the Village. Please listen to what everyone says. My mom and I are the kind of people who like to wander into places normal tourists don’t go and prefer to walk over taking public transportation. Unfortunately, we also tend to overestimate our walking ability and underestimate the distance. It was a steep almost 20-minute hike (I mean hike; that was no walk) up before we finally huffed our way to the entrance of the village.

But oh, was the pay off worth it.