西日本の征服：成功！
March 12, with a one-hour delay, the plane landed in Kansai International Airport of Osaka, Japan. Less than an hour later, swiftly going through immigration and customs procedures (lucky the re-entrant alien residents had a separate line! woot!) I was out looking for the people waiting for me. My Korean little brother Chung Jinho, aka Andy, and Natsuki, our good friend and former floormate didn't easily find me, presumably from my drastic change of hairstyle, thus, "imechen" (Jap. image change)! Meeting up marked the start of the 2 week long adventure!
Most definitely, the two weeks spent together only brought me and Andy very very close. Trips like this only end up either that way or revealing too many faults in the other that you end up not liking each other much. We both took care of each other, as times can get frustrating and very tiring, spending endless hours in the train, walking miles, eating late meals. Some highlights of the trip...
March 12: NAIA to Kansai International Airport, Andy flew in from Korea
March 13: Osaka Aquarium, downtown Namba (Dotombori, Shinsaibashi), Osaka’s famed takoyaki (octopus balls) for dinner
March 14: Duck Tours (tour bus that goes into the river), Osaka Castle, Nihonbashi (Kansai’s Akihabara), very expensive Robatayaki dinner
March 15: Universal Studios Japan
March 16: hike around Nara Koen with Thomas and Francois, living treasures Nara deer, Kofukuji (has Japan’s second tallest pagoda), Kasuga Grand Shrine, Todaiji (world’s largest wooden building) which houses the Great Buddha (world’s largest buddha statue), arrived in Mie Prefecture’s Tsu City
March 17: Ise-Jingu Grand Shrine (most important Shinto shrine), Unagi (Japanese eel) dinner
March 18: Ninja Museum (very awesome), Black Miso Ramen lunch, arrived in Kyoto (and met up again with Thomas and Francois)
March 19: Kyoto Imperial Palace (guided tour was fantastic, very educational and fun), Sento Palace, Nijo Castle, Higashiyama Hanatoro 2009 (a district bloomed into life, where shrines, temples, statues, streets, pagodas were floodlit under moonlight)
March 20: Byodoin Temple (the structure that can be found on the back of a 10-yen coin), Genji Monogatari Museum (Genji Monogatari is the world’s first novel written by a female), sent off Thomas and Francois in the middle of the road to hitchhike
March 21: Fushimi Inari Taisha (dedicated to the gods of rice and sake, head shrine of Japan’s around 30,000 inari shrines), Toji (has Japan’s tallest pagoda and also hosts a big bazaar cum cultural fair every 21st), stopover for the night on the way to Kobe at Washington Hotel Osaka with Andy’s mom and grandma
March 22: had buffet breakfast at hotel, arrived in Kobe, braved the rain and walked to and around the bay of Kobe, stayed at @wan internet cafe
March 23: headed to Himeji Castle (Japan’s most admirable and well-preserved castle in original non-concrete form), headed to Hiroshima Peace Park, Peace Memorial Museum (absolutely entertaining and educational, electronic guides even had Filipino), A-Bomb Dome and Flame of Peace, stayed at Popeye Media Café
March 24: early start for Miyajima (commoners used to be banned from the island), Itsukushima Jinja (shrine that is on the beach), Floating Torii (one of Japan’s three most photographed tourist attractions), Senjo-kaku (Pavillion of 1000 Mats overlooking the pagoda, Itsukushima Jinja, and the sea), 7-hour trip home to Beppu on the local train

On the road...

I'm currently in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, Japan staying in a very good Japanese friend's house. This place is down east of Kansai and is quite provincial compared to big busy cities of Tokyo or Osaka. It has been great so far, spending time with Natsuki and his family in Osaka. And so far, I can tell that despite we are staying only for two nights and two days, we are goingto be enjoying the company! Not much to do in Mie until there are some time t spend with good people... it was Matsusaka Beef for sukiyaki today and Unagi tomorrow.
Needless to say again, the Osaka trip was great. First, I arrived around quarter past 7 in Osaka's Kansai International Airport (KIX) while Andy waited 4 hours after arriving ahead of me. Dinner was McDonald's that night, but that was the least elegantof all dinners to come in Osaka, hosted by the Kobayashi family. We met family pets Bob (Spongebob Squarepants) and Luke (Skywalker of Star Wars), Miu-chan and Soutaro-kun sister and brother to Natsuki, and of course the very lively parents! We got to do some great things and many of them for free, courtesy of the Kobayashi... Universal Studios Japan with a Express 7 Pass, a 30,000-yen yakiniku and hotpot dinner, entrance into Osaka Castle, a duck bus tour, to name a few. After 4 nights in Osaka, we headed on Monday morning to Nara and met up with Thomas and Francois, by 4:30pm we were headed for Mie.
So far, it has been absolutely great and hasn't even as tiring as I had imagined because we miss out on some things intentionally to spend more time resting. I guess the same method shall be used in visits to future stops on this 2 week long trip.Nonetheless, I7m sure it will be great!

A Last Week of Lasts

Midway into my Philippine home comeback vacation's last week, I feel like I'm trying to squeeze in as many "last" activities which I could have easily afforded doing the first three weeks.

March 6 was my last drinking session. In a get-together with friends from Junior Term Abroad back during Ateneo days, a party was held at Nezy's house supposedly to show appreciation for my visit. Sir Pilar even graced the small party and drank with us.

March 8 was the last long-distance trip that I would make before I fly out of the country. We went to Enchanted Kingdom, the most popular local theme park. It's pretty decent for the price (Php500 - weekend/holiday rate) that we paid. The girls even got a discounted price (Php400) in celebration of Women's Month. The park was pretty empty, so much so that we had to wait many times because the "scarier" rides would be so empty to run immediately. It was very much worthwhile, despite the fact that we arrived in the afternoon already and that we had to go home way before closing time.

March 9 was my last supposed visit to Ateneo, but then as usual, I volunteered to help out a foreign exchange student. Jollan also reminded me that I owe her a Ken Hirai album CD that I promised her before.

March 10 would now definitely be my last visit to Ateneo to finish up a few tasks. First, I need to meet up with Candice to get the Addidas-made Ateneo jacket from her. Second, to help the forex student do a little pasalubong shopping. Third, to get Jollan her CD. At night, I am to meet up the BSS peeps for a last dinner, Mathew's treat! Very very rare occasion that Mathew pays for dinner!

March 11 is when I hope I would have enough time to finish packing, do some final shopping, and visit a steak place!

March 12 is the last day I spend in the Philippines. And then, it's off to Japan for my big trip with my Korean little brother Chung Jinho, aka Andy! I'm excited for the trip! Before this day, I have to finish my research for the trip, as I don't want Andy to worry about most of the details. I should be able to take of that!

Image Change!

Ok, talk about a make-over! I didn't change anything other than my hair... today, I got a complimentary haircut from The Menage Manila, Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Makati City, Philippines. I couldn't be any happpier with the result! I was doubtful at first, because it didn't seem to be working out for my sideburns; but lo and behold, I came out looking like a Japanese/Korean singer (thos that don't sing well but have the face to work it out in the showbiz industry). Haahaa... Ok, maybe I'm giving myself too much credit... EGO BOOST!
Anyway, the point is, I look different now with the new hair... I told the hairstylist that I wanted it short hair (and seriously, anything was considerably "short" with the hair I went into the salon with) and still have the ease of blending in with a community of East Asians at least in so far as my hairstyle is concerned, relative to my age and look. I'm happy with the turnout most especially because the old people in my family had either flabbergasted or almost-angry expressions on their faces when I came home with the new look! Aah... to disappoint them with my contemporary fashion and proving that I decide for myself what I want to do with myself... that's part of the satisfaction with this new hairstyle. We'll just have to see how it works after today, when there is no stylist around to fix it to the way it's supposed to look!
For now, here's a before and after look...

Back to Blogpsot

Somewhere in an older post, I'm sure I had mentioned that I have made blogs more than just a few times before and always just end up forgetting about them and stop posting until after way after when my urge to make a journal grows back to a certain level to bring me back to posting stuff again! So, here I am again... back to blogspot, at least, this time around, I'm just continuing my old account! And how timely that my post here now is a little while before I leave for Japan (after this month-long Philippine visit for the spring break) and my last post was way back in September 2008, a little also before I left for Japan!