Sapporo/Otaru

We visited the main capital city of Hokkaido -- Sapporo. A must -see attraction is the famous Odori Park, which is simply fabulous in the early morning. We reached there ard 9am, and we could see families with elderly and kids, who were out for a morning stroll. The cooling and breezy weather made it even better and of course, we went for a stroll too!

A picture speaks a thousand words..

An adorable 7-year-old girl in the group, who loves to stick to me. Haha :)

After the walk in the park, we proceeded to a mega shopping mall. Very nice, with glass stained windows > much bigger than the shopping centres here! And of coz, much much more interesting, I was overwhelmed by the amount of apparels they have there!!

After a delicious Hokkaido Crab lunch at Otaru, we went to the next stop > Otaru Canal. Otaru is a lively town famous for its canals, one of them being the Otaru Canal. Lining the Otaru Canal, there are many shops selling authentic Jap dolls and paperware, and the Otaru Music Box Museum is one of the highlights of the town. The shop has dolls too! Must take pic!

After vising the Museum, we had 3 hrs to explore the various shops along the street, and of coz, once I see an ice-cream stall, I had to indulge in the melon soft cone. I polished off two cones during that 3 hrs!!

The 1st cone...

The 2nd cone...

Its really unbelievable le, along the streets, there were many flowers in different colors. So beautiful. SG is more of a tree-country but over at Hokkaido, there are flowers everywhere!

Finally, we made a photo stop at the Otaru Canal. Nice! We reached there around sunset and it added to the romantic feeling in the air!

Sapporo and Otaru were the last two stops of this tour and we came back to SG the next day. Haha! The next post will be on some miscellaneous stuff during this trip :)

Very worried + anxious

I booked myself and Mummy on a 7D tour to Taiwan, from 21-27th Nov. Need to take 6 days of unpaid leave. Need a break with Mummy also, after half yr of hard work.

Told Manager before booking and she said ok. Let her sign the leave form today.

Now left Boss. Boss needs to sign and give green light. Secretary told me I m under probation, so they have the right to NOT approve. Sigh, this marks the start of the worrying period for me.

Guess tmr morn, Secretary will bring form to Boss and let him sign. I m praying very hard that he will approve.

Please pray together with me, regardless of religion. I need all the prayers now.

Ishiya Factory

We strolled along the garden and had to take pictures of the little houses. Tried to go in but well..as I m a grown-up 'kid', i cant get in!

Next coming up > Sapporo > Otaru. We visited Odori Park in the morning, and saw the flowers in full bloom, with fountains as backdrop. Next we went on to Otaru, which is near the sea, and we drove past the Japan Sea. Otaru is a small town, which is famous for its seafood. Otaru Canal, Kitachi Glass Shop and the Otaru Music Box Museum are the famous places there.

Stay tuned for more pics!!

Furano, Tomita Farm -- Part 2

Finally, the biggest attraction which truly captivated us! The flowers on Tomita Farm. The lavender season is from July to Sept, however, in order not to disappoint the numerous tourists who travel there to admire the lavender, the owners have planted lavender in a greenhouse. Only a small patch, but this is to allow tourists to take pics with laveder all yr round. Of coz la, the best season is still July, when the hills are full of lavender. But we really cannot be so picky la, got lavender to take pic already not bad..

Only 1 big patch of lavender in the greenhouse and many ppl jostling to take photos. It was rather difficult to get a pic w/o so many ppl ard :P

Other than lavender, there are also other flowers in the greenhouse. But i do not know the names of these flowers :P Aiya! As long as the flowers are pretty, I'll snap photos!!

These flowers are in full bloom (in the greenhouse) --- hence we snapped a lot of photos. Finally we were satisfied with the pics taken, and we ventured outside to take in more natural scenery.

My fave photo...

Venturing on, we saw ppl sowing seeds for different kinds of flowers, as they were preparing for the flower season in July. There were a few plots of flowers in bloom, and as usual, many tourists were jostling to take pics.

A series of photos:

After Tomita Farm, we went to the Ishiya Factory > 白色恋人 (Shiroi Koibito). This is a famous Japanese cookie, two thin slices of biscuit, with a thin slice of white chocolate in the middle. They also have dark choc cookie. Bu the white choc is the original Isuya cookie. What really captivated us was the mini garden outside the red-brick factory.

The garden has many little houses (like the one above), and kids can go in and out of the houses to play, just like playhouses, and there are furniture inside the houses!!

Visit the site: http://www.shiroikoibito.ishiya.co.jp for more information.

More pics will be uploaded in the next post :P

Hokkaido, Furano > Tomita Farm -- Part 1

Before we went to Tomita Farm, we stopped by a field. When told that we would make a stop at the field, to take pics of the field, and A TREE, we were appalled. Is there really such a nice tree? Need to specially make a stop to take pics?!?! Moreover the tree and field are not in the schedule, but the tour guide decided to add in, since its on the way to Tomita Farm.

Well, guess we are all wrong..coz the scenery is truly very captivating. Especially on a sunny morning!

And i decided to play some 'camera tricks' by trying to 'hold' the tree in my palm!


Well, the best part is the endless and vast fields. Even the crops are fresh, green and neatly plotted in rows.
As we stopped by a shop to have pumpkin ice-cream (yup, they have ice-cream in many flavous, such as Lavender, pumpkin, melon, and the usual choc, strawberry.. but i did not dare to try lavender. Melon is my fave!), we saw the peak of snow-capped mountains in the midst of clouds.
Will post pics from Tomita Farm in next post. That post will have a lot of pics, coz the farm is really too beautiful!

Reminiscence of Japan, Hokkaido

Suddenly I was filled with longing for Japan, Hokkaido. Perhaps the holis are coming, so I m thinking of my annual trip oveseas. Miss those 'flying' days when I can travel many times a month. Now that I am working, I do not have the luxury of doing so. However, I m adamant that I'll travel at least twice a yr.

Then I realized that I have not finish posting pics for Hokkaido trip. Heehee, so let me just select a few nice pretty pics and post!!
This is a picture at Takinoue Pink Moss Park -- when its in full bloom, the whole mountain will be covered with pink moss. However when we reached there in mid-June, most had withered and only patches of moss are left. Nevertheless, we try to snap as many pics as we can.

After the pink moss park, we went to Sounkyo Gorge in the later afternoon. The gorge is situated at the foot of Mt. Daisetsu-zan National Park and consists of many cliffs, 100m tall. The most popular attraction is the waterfalls, especially the Ryusei-no-taki Falls (Shooting Star Falls) and Ginga-no-taki Falls (Milky Way Falls). Of coz, since its so famous, we had to take a pics.

The Milky Way Falls, which is said to be the female counterpart of the pair of famous falls. I guess it because of the way the water flows, and you can feel it when you are there yourself. The waterfall is more gentle, with trickling sound.

On the contrary, the Shooting Star Falls, believed to be the male counterpart, is more thunderous and fast-flowing.

That night, the hotel we stayed in, is the middle of the gorges, and when we looked out from our room, we see the stream, trees, and gorges. Its really very beautiful and to be able to stay there for 1 night is already very theraputic. Nature is really a whole lot of goodness!

The next day, we proceed to Tomita Farm, where we will see the biggest attraction of the tour --- LAVENDER!

Hazy 'joke'

Today, I stayed in office from morn till evening. So the haze is not a problem to me. When we go to toilet, we will pass by a balcony which is outdoor, hence for that 10-15sec, we will get a 'feel' of the haze.

Every time someone comes back from the toilet, he/she will exclaim, "Haze is getting worse!" And one of us would quickly log on to CNA, check the PSI index and announce the latest reading. Wahaha, we seem to be making some 'joy' out of the PSI, guess office is too boring, hence PSI seem to be the only 'alive' thing now.

Lets hope that the haze will disappear soon.

Phantom of the Opera

It is here! Finally!I have been dying to watch this opera since sec sch, then I was at London for holiday and saw the tickets for it, however it was sold out 6 mths prior to performance. So i had no choice and could only settled for Ms Saigon then. Now that this opera is coming to town, next March~April, I would definitely not miss it for anything in the world!

NOTICE > Who is interested to watch it? Please let me know so we can go tgt. :)

PS: I still haven found the way to get the pics out of my digital cam, really a gadget-moron. Will try to experiment harder and post the dinner pics asap. :P

To be happy

I decided today. This morn, right now, 9am. I want to be the Happy Evelyn i used to be.

Since 17th July, I became a scheming, think too much, grumpy and not so happy person. I dun like it. I want to be the old me, the always smiley (i still am now, but less often). Work change a person and makes he/she mature, more scheming, grown-up, perhaps more moody, unhappy. I refuse to be like that. I refuse to fall into this baseless trap. I want to grow up, be more mature, but the childish, innocent, cute and happy side of me wont disappear. I will merge and incorporate these two different personalities.

People always say, character and personality wont change. My happy and cheerful disposition will not fade away. Heehee, in fact, i m trying to bring happiness and cheerfulness to this boring boring office, where everyone only has 1 expression: BLACK BLACK FACE, w/o a smile. Even the 'big big brother' > when i said "Good Morning" to him just now, he gave me BLACK BLACK FACE. Nvm, its attitude problem.

Frens! Lets not be unhappy anymore. Its a transitional phase from study to work, hence we must have a window period to get used to it. However time will pass, and we shall support each other and get used to a new life together.

Today, my colleague, XH, who came to office tgt with me, is leaving. Tmr is her last day, and she is joining a US consultant firm as an env engi. Heehee, so tonight we having girls' night out! I guess we will take lotsa pics later and i will psot them tmr.

Advice from an 'old man

Today, I got an email from 'an old man':

Work SMART, not work HARD, always remember
Work as BOSSES want
Slow down work during office hrs, act very busy at 5pm onwards

And it was signed off 'Old Man'.

I like this mail, its from Daddy.

A dead corner

Read in Sunday Times yesterday that one must really love one's job and have a deep passion for it. Because you must face this job for almost half a lifetime, perhaps clocking 10-12 hrs a day doing it, and lets face it: work definitely takes up a large portion of our time.

I feel cornered... i dunno where to continue, where to walk, where to turn to..slowly the realy world and society is making me not smiley anymore. The working environment is not healthy for nurturing young ppl, with ZERO experience. But i cannot deny that there are nice ppl here who are willing to teach/share if u ask them. But some ppl are simply detestable, trying to make life difficult for you if they dun like u. Sigh, i feel trapped suddenly, and for the 1st time in my life.

I feel that i m doing something which i dun like. How do u know if u like ur job or not? I m blur, lost my direction. Or is this a bottleneck? I dun like to sit at my desk all day, facing endless quotations and specs. I like a dynamic job, vibrant and changing. Some thing that will allow me to communicate with ppl, feel the world moving, feel the hype and the vibe of society. Perhaps i m really not cut out for engineering, more suitable for a PR/marketing/communication job. Perhaps its time i see the 'real' me and face up to wat i really wanna do, and not wat i must do.

I feel trapped in my job, which i must face at least 8hrs a day.

Scrunching my face

Recently I always get the feeling that I will wake up with a face full of wrinkles. Sigh, if i dun sigh, i will scrunch my face, knit my brows. Only within this wk, i feel i have aged 20yrs. But its not abt work. Its something closer to heart and makes me feel that humans have their 'ugly' side, which when shown is really not beautiful.

Looks like i must start to go back to my old style, of smiling and laughing more. Laughter maks a person more cheerful, optimistic and younger. Where is my laughter? I m looking for it........