The perfect sleep

The simple joys of..

Not needing the eyemask

Not using earplugs

Not having to reinforce earplugs with a towel

Not needing to fold 3 shirts to lift a very very flat almost-not-there pillow

Not worrying bout bedbugs

Not listening to snores

Not wearing 4 layers of clothes and socks

Just joy.

Only one good thing in London

London was... Bleh.

As expected

We only had one full day and two nights

Other than the very entertaining river thames cruise it was alright.

Weather was good.

Stayed at a student hostel. Went there expecting an apartment. 

Iphone cable decided to die on the very last day and had to ask the reception to charge it.

Black guy.. Wasnt too friendly at first but i managed to break the ice! 

:)

Met a mother and daughter who was starting school there..

The music the black guy was playing started to get to me after e first 30mins of waiting.. Asked him and he very very sweetly, (after much friendly talk) said he could transfer all his music to me if i have a thumbdrive

BINGO!! I was waiting for just that.

Reggae music.. Who knew it was good?

Then while transfering 5gb worth of music, a prince walked in the reception.

Boy did his blue eyes sparkle!

Asked our reggae loving diphelx (pronounced de-flex) for an adaptor but he didnt have one.. So guess which lonesome singaporean girl came to the rescue???

Lol.. He followed me up to get it and we arranged the to meet e next day to get it back.

Sad to say.

We missed each other. I went to bathe in e morning and he met the dad 

-.-

That was the end of my prince story.

The dad ended it with a "he was a very nice boy!"

TSK

I didnt even get his country of residence much less his name.

 

THAT was the ONE good thing.

The northern lights

It's been raining and cloudy almost everyday in Reykjavik cept the first day we came.

Today, finally we got some sun!

Aurora activity forecasts were high and there was promise of clear skies which can only mean AURORA LIGHTS TONIGHT!

so we went, happily to book a tour and off we went at 8am.

Its now 2am back in e apartment and seriously...

Sigh

The guide herself was excited as the chances were as high as it could get..

Saw a wave of green but it disappeared in an instant after awhile, the fingers and toes started to hurt so went back to the bus to wait.

15mins later we hear 

'It's starting its starting!' The experienced driver said.

The whole bus ran towards the dark open field and caught the beginning of a dance.. Then faded into the clouds. 

I could see it, behind the clouds.. It shone white when it should have been green/red.

This lasted bout 40mins? I was dying to use something to blow the damnedss clouds away!!

Can see yet cannot see. 

Super pek chek!!!!

Basically, we spent 4hrs in 5degrees watching the silhouette of the lights.

FML 

Nothing life changing.

So as much as it was there infront of us, it was considered a failed night.

So as these tour company works, u get to go back 1000 times til u see the lights. But of course, we leave in 2 days and the weather is going back to being grumpy.

-.-

We'll see.. Maybe i really need my husband to watch it with me.

Oslo>>> iceland

On the plane in Oslo transitting from Stavanger and cant wait for e bloody plane to take off!

Take me away Take me away!!

Iceland iceland!

Northern lights northern lights please!!!! 

--

We're landing soon!!

One of the smoothest flights ive ever taken!

The only bump was the girl who kicked my chair from behind. TSK.

I take this flight as a really good sign~

Bring it on Reykjavik!! 

Turkey

Today on e coach towards coppacocia the aia ppl were singing and dancing and acting out hokkien songs

It was absolutely hilarious..

To a point where everyone on e bus was in need of a toilet.

But being on a deserted highway it took nearly an hour before getting to a toilet

The way these singaporeans RANNN to e toilet was the funniest thing ive seen so far.. 

Kalambakka,turkey is famous for its beautiful mineral springs 

<3

Fav part of Istanbul was Cappadocia~

The hot air balloons were absolutely beautiful esp against the sunrise..

Waking at 4am was worth it.

The ascend was super fast and my legs actually turned jelly but once we were up, it was *click click click none stop!

The whole tour grp did hamam tgt

A kinda Turkish bath where we were mud masked, sauna-ed and stripped naked for a good scrubbing.

Being naked infront of these women was.. Daunting at first but im glad i did it.

One gets used to such things.

Did k-food for dinner the tofu soup, despite being salty, was delish!

Seeing these backpackers remind me of my tiring journey hahaha

NO MORE

Fell and sprained an ankle, bruised/scarred the other knee

-.-

We made it to istanbul hilton by flight and arrived at the most luxurious hotel yet.

A suite with a living room and 2 toilets.

The view from our 32md floor was sooo beautiful~ 

Breakfast the next three days was another kinda beauty.. Lol

The AIA gala night was crashed by me and my new friend, Perlyn where we mingled, posed and drank with all the 'elites' of that company. Lol..

We then moved to our last hotel in Istanbul..

It was a heartbreaking goodbye with the suite but it had to be done.

The new hotel, thankfully was very homely and pretty!

Ederun/enderun hotel

Walking distance to the grand bazzar so all was good.

We had thai food twice and it was soo yummayy

And that was the end. 

Norway.. Im coming for u.

A lil kid once more

End August 2014

I DID eat my beef again..

Wasnt as delish as the last time cos e chef prolly cooked it a lil longer but still wonderous.

The past 3 days passed like a dream.

The okayama gardens was really beautiful but the waking early and e journey there.. Was..a looong way

But the garden was too pretty! 

Then headed to nara to play/feed some deers.

There were sooo adorable but scary as they really sniffed the air for the biscuits in ur pocket/bag and chase u..

Sometimes biting ur clothes, though i didnt hear of anyone actually getting bitten

Hugeeeeee aquairum in Osaka.. Though ive always wanted to go to the Okinawa one for it's whale shark.. I found a whale shark here!

So... Im satisfied! 

Andddd

Of course..

The main highlight being harry potter land in Universal studios japan (USJ) 

I went crazy for a good 11+ hrs there

No pics as they are all in the laptop but i was there from 10-10pm

No lunch or dinner but didnt care! 

Omgg i had soooo much fun in japan i wanna go backkk!

Next istanbul~

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..