Yokohama/kobe/osaka

22 aug 

Currently on a long train ride from Himeji back to osaka.

Staring at the ceiling of the train and just felt some sort of weird elation.

Still cannot believe im on this trip.. And at this point, all alone. 

It's a good and refreshing feeling.

Who knew i would still be away from home 4months later?

Who knew i would have decided to go solo in asia?

Who knew i would i enjoy myself so much?

6 concerts, 2 countries, 3 cities, 7 days.

All done and today is the first day of proper traveling alone.

Got up, checked outta Kobe's hostel

Left the huge ass (increasing) lugagge at the train station's lockers for 700¥ And went in search of another round of Kobe Beef lunch.

I did have a few in mind but stumbled across the most prestigious one (researched and planned on skipping) by chance and so.. Fine, prolly a sign.

I was early so waited 15mins at e opposite departmental store.

When i went back at 1105am, the second floor was already half full -.-

It lunch.. Was sooooo mind blowing.

Even til now, i can taste the beef at the tip of my tongue.

I thought e one i had 2 days before was already outta this world but thissss was another class up.

  

Cold  tomato soup was served first.

Then then display your piece of meat for inspection

Look at the marbling (act one pro beef eater) 

Whatever it is, it was fuckin good.

They cook half and let you finish before the other half so it wouldnt get cold.

There is also a sign that teaches you what to dip ur beef in.

First would be w special salt from somewherw to taste the original taste wahh

When it went into my mouth.. I almost exploded with happiness.

Next was to have some pepper and wasabi with it..

Didnt expect a great combi with this two but it was good tho i preferred having it plain or with a lil salt as the wasabi covered my heavenly beef's taste

<3

After the superbly satisfying lunch, they served earlgrey/coffee iced/hot.

This cost me 7,000¥ 

But it was worth every yen as all the reviews say. TRULY. 

Thereafter it was time to head to Osaka and change another train to Imamiya. Damn train didnt stop at my stop cause i hopped on e Rapid train which skips stops 

So i decided to walk to e apartment from e next closest stop.

The summer is DEF here. But it was a good workout after e lunch, god knows i dun ever have an exercise (proudly) 

The lady at e counter heard i came feom shin-imamiya instead of imamiya and her jaw dropped lol.. 

Put the things down and decided to head outta osaka as my rail pass was only valid for another 4 days. Cannot waste!

So i headed out to himeji where the "most beautiful castle in japan" sat.

Only when i got on e train at osaka did i realise, i was gonna pass by kobe again.. Sigh it only made me wanna do the kobe beef again (seriously)

It was a long walk to e castle and it looked so sad with construction til i met 2 aunties who helped me take pics.

They brought me around the castle to show me where i could get e best photo!

Maybe too many castles this trip. It wasnt too awesome~

Different definitely.

So now, hoping to get back to the apartment safely, grab some dinner and sleep! 

23 aug-

Its 7pm and in on a train AGAIN..

From Kyoto, i really am a lazy fuck. Hahahah

Woke at 1pm and only managed to reach Kyoto at 3.30

Did the golden pavilion and Gion (famous for geishas)

But didnt spot any..

It rained about 6 therefore the early night back to Osaka. 

Imma wake early tmr for the sake of it and the plan is to go Okayama (which is past kobe, past Himeji) lol..

Obviously my plannibg sucks but anyway, ive been thinking bout e beef all day.

I even dreamt of it last night! Mouriya turned me down as they were full so i went to another shop to eat ROFL

So.. After okayama gardens (apparently a must go) imma head to kobe for my darling kobe beef again <3

Hopefully with it being a sat i wouldnt have a problem getting a seat. 

:)

Oooh im so excited to eat it.

After that i may have more time.. Not sure where i should go maybe kyoto again for some proper walking instead of just e temple and geishas..

Blogging from seoul

To be specific, blogging from Kintex,Ilsan..

Sitting on e floor of e mosh pitt awaiting for the 2nd night of Beautiful Show to start.

Last night was entirely tiring and the only part worth it was History & Kikwang's solo. 

I know before the mushrooms post i told myself to keep up the entries for a good reminder in the future but obviously.... 

Thigs are just BUSY.

Prague,krakow, budapest were missed out in my entries so i will do a backtrack when i get my senses and sleep.

Today is day two of concerts.

I have 6 concerts in 7days. (I know,guilty)

Tmr a flight to japan would start my day at 5am. Then we would need to rest-> yb's concert at 5!!

Meeting a japanese fan who helped me get all the 4tkts.. I met her in Korea many years back and to tell e truth,i cannot rmb how she looks at all!

But she was the sweetest person! Even paid for all e tkts in advance as my credit card couldnt go through.

Picked YB up from e airport e day before and it was a lil chaotic thanks to the plane liad of SM town fans who were there when he came out! He got pushed and squashed.

When we got to e van, the face was BLACK.

Anyway,when i read this is 10yrs,i hope im embarassed by myself.

Another awesome thing tt happened in Seoul was fainter joining for a night!

She had an incheon flight and i stayed over w her at Conrad,Seoul..

It was the prettiest most atas hotel ever!

The hotel's bar w a nespresso machine no less.

Met her at the hotel close to midnight and had to have twotwo BUT it was closing so we (some of her flight crew as well) went to e next door chicken place .. It wasnt e best but ok.. Not satisfied, we HAD to tapao twotwo go back hotel to eat. Lol.. The crew must have thought us as crazy!

Even though we were full from beer and the not nice chicken,once we ate twotwo (4am) we still could finish it! Lol~ 

Next day we woke early to walk Hongdae,got back to my hostel to have jjm delivery for lunch! 

The joys of having an awesome friend <3

Magic mushrooms

It was the 'must try' in Amsterdam. 

Legal,cheap and high.

I was promised dancing vivid colours and silly laughing.

What was not conveyed was the enhanced fear and paranoia that comes with a single question asked to self.

I was told this was an amplifier.

PURE mushroom, no drugs no chemicals. It amplified ur joy and senses.. No alcohol allowed with it but any drink while u chew this lil sourish funghi was fine.

It took some time to kick in and one could not stop smiling or giggling.

The music pounding in e streets of the gay pride festival seemed to be playing only for me~ after an hr, i was ready to call it a night thinking e mushroom had run it's course. Back thinking straight and the colours seemed back to normal. 

As i was living alone outside of the city centre, i swore i was fine and bid my new friend farewell. 

He sent me to e metro and we parted.

Once i got to the platform, i asked myself a tiny question, "was this my metro number or was it the next one?"

That was when all hell broke loose.

The wave of paranoia came on so strong, i started shaking and wondered "is this the train? What happens if its not? Will i die? Will i get lost? I have no one here! No one will help me?" and i knew i needed help.

I asked a friendly looking couple next to me if they could help me get to my hotel, guess they didnt notice wat state i was in. They gave me verbal directions and told me to get on the next train. 

I saw the train and went back to 'happy mood' jumped on and waved happily goodbye.

After 2 seconds paranoia came over me again. This time i knew something was wrong. I was shaking outta fear of being "alone". looking at e train stations, i was at least 6stops away and realised i wouldnt be able to make it and called my friend who was in Amsterdam but the phone didnt get thru. 

I knew i had to think happy thoughts so i took my ipod out and listened to my kpop songs but as much as i tried to sing along, the dread overcame me. The people on the train stared and started moving away from me. I was going to faint.

That was what i was.. One of those scary crazy ppl on a train shaking and talking to themselves. It started feeling so hot and i got super thirsty, looked around for a bottle of water and saw a man holding a half finished iced tea. It took all my strength to resist the urge to grab it from his hands and drink it.

I knew then, i needed help again, i approached a middle aged couple who were obviously tourists and asked if they speak english, with a quick wave of hand and head, they gave a negative and i accepted and went back to my music.

After a while i was gonna faint from panic. What if i died alone in amsterdam. What if i faint and got robbed. What if i got lost. What if what if. 

I started crying and shaking even more and approached another grp of 4. 

This time i was really desperate. I heard myself speaking in a perfect sentence "i really need help. I took some mushrooms and i really need help." Whipped out my hotel room card and gave it to them,begged them to send me safely to the hotel. They asked for e station and i was still able to point it out while shuffling and bending my feet. 

I think the fact that it was the Hamptons assured them i wasnt some young druggie they shud leave alone. Thank god, thank heavens, they agreed to send me back. A more motherly woman held on to me which had a very powerful effect over me. I was better and could take the phone out and call the mum is SG. Told her i was outta my mind and i was with a grp of Austrians who were bringing me back to my hotel. 

Hearing the mum's voice helped so much. I was more in control of the mind again. Paranoia left but the thirst and heat stayed. 

The kind souls left me at e door of the hotel and i went up to e reception and demanded two bottles of water.

They all knew something was wrong with me and watched me with guarded eyes as i settled down at the lobby.

I knew it wasnt safe for me to go up to the room alone. God knows if i would die alone.

I starting speaking to two gothic lesbians and asked if they werw here for Pride the prettier on talked to me and i begged her to sit and talk to me while i calm down.

Told them bout e mushrooms and NEVER to try it.

It took me an hour in the lobby to trust myself to be alone in e room.

The fear still built up and down but wasnt as bad because of then controlled environment. Called up a friend and texted others to feel more like myself.

Put on a comedy and felt the laughter bubble up.

It was 3 am when i fell aslp. Waking at 6am, i could still feel some remnants of paranoia but decided i will have to fight it as the trip was only supposed to last 6-8hrs.

Made my way to e airport to pick the sister up only to find that the trains weren't working. A tiny fear did build but i met another dutch w luggage,we decided to share a cab (50euros) to e airport and she talked to me thruout the trip. By e end of it, Angelyn was finally back. 12 hrs after chewing e bloody shrooms.

Never again.

What a disgusting way to learn a lesson.