Osaka: A Trip That Went Wrong

No, it wasn't that bad, really; but it could have been alot better.


First off, I began to have a fever the day before my departure. It's probably a combination of stress and lack of sleep mainly from work, and then probably the reduced adrenaline which has been widely studied as the main factor for "leisure sickness".


Anyway, the trip started off on the wrong foot. I was worried that they wouldn't let me through immigration over in Japan, so, I got all drugged up so that my fever would subside, and went into hybernation pretty much for the first 3 days of the trip...

Drugged all the way from HKG to KIX, now on Nankai Express from KIX to Namba

Though slowly recovering, my moving radius was confined to about 1km from our very centrally-located hotel in Namba... which is not so bad, because besides Umeda, Namba/Shinsaibashi is the main tourist/retail hub in Osaka. We went to this shopping street called "Tachibana", and already my travelmates went nuts. Seeing that they were so excited buying stuff, I emerged from my sick body, and ATTEMPTED to get something for myself, but like most other times, I ended up not buying any clothing (well, except a sweatshirt) because they simply don't make clothes my size in Japan. What do taller guys wear in Japan?

So, no spending on clothes, and I couldn't eat anything cold, raw, spicy, nor fried, this really has been a... Thrifty Trip Through the High Yen Times.

(there will be more to come... but sort of brainfarting and dunno what to write about this trip at the moment)

The only store where I could get something that fits me (what an irony)

A corner restaurant near Tachibana, nice place but no appetite though

Oh how I love bathrooms in Japan, especially the multi-functional toilets, you know what I mean?

(just realized that I have NO pictures taken in Osaka, so all picture posted today are supplied by Fun, THANKS!)

放假先至來病

唔通連個天都唔鈡意我？

唔洗驚，聼日一定會好番既！

你又知今日我會好番既？

唔知架。。。希望在明天啊嗎....

甘。。。就希望在明天啦！

Everybody have a good long weekend. ;)

我又玩

見你地玩的甘開心。。。 我又玩！！！

邊個話我唔似老豆款。。。 哎呀，係時候餵奶啦。

一個男生，兩個女生，仲唔係Player? 好似在等緊。。。

係啊。。。Moron of the Year 喔

La donna e mobile

What a busy week this turned out to be, and what a grand finish.

Following an overnighter on Wednesday, I had to worked a WHOLE day on Saturday.... it's becoming borderline unacceptable, really... But then, hopefully it's just a phase and it'll get better as it goes forward.

Sunday was a day at Ocean Park. I realized that it had probably been almost 20 years that I hadn't been there! Though things have changed, most things are still there... the rides, the dolphins, seals, sea lions. Didn't get to visit "An An" and "Jie Jie" or "Ying Ying" and "Le Le", next time maybe. Hard to believe too, that some of those rides are still there after 20 years... probably time for a revamp... which is already an on-going work in progress with their proposal of 3 new hotels within the Park.

Site formation and preparation works have started for the Summit Hotel

My favorite ride... the Cable Car

What do you think they're pointing at?

The full weekend wasn't quite done after a full day at Ocean Park... I then headed to TST for Verdi's "Rigoletto." As one of this year's Arts Festival's premier events, it was much looked forward to. But I was just too tired and I was dozing off probably for 70% of the First Act. Good thing... because then I was able to stay up for the remaing 3 Acts, haha.

And of course how could anybody miss one of the most well-known arias for tenors, "La donna e mobile" at the start of the 3rd Act? Just when the intro starts, you'll remember the late Pavarotti's many renditions at his solo concerts, and also one of the most famous performances ever, the "Encore - the Three Tenors" concert in 1994 at Dodger Stadium in LA.

0501

A few months ago I wrote about a night when I stayed at the office until early morning....

I look at the clock now, it's 5:02am, and still not done. I began to wonder what the f*ck am I doing here?

At least this time I'm not doing it alone. Have 2 colleauges going at it with me.
And Faye is on the iPod singing... let me check... "The Place Where I Had My First Love", a remake of Teresa Tang's classic. I think of all of Faye's album, I enjoyed her Teresa Tang remake the most. Her voice is perfect, and the rearrangements were cool.

Now Sandy comes back with "Slanted"... Rome, Paris, Lisbon, Milan....

Oh when can I go home...

二月有個二十九

記得小時候覺得閏年好得意，有二月二十九號的。如果在這天生日的，是否要連續三年自己騙自己才當三月一日是正日生日？昨天又有同事話他們會用舊曆計。。。但是，就好似更加麻煩。有誰會記著你的舊曆生日？

今天過得沒有什麽特別，四年一次的229，又是忙碌的一天。透不過氣來。雖然日晨是過得快，但工作排得滿滿的，幸好有個日本假期to look forward to，但始終這幾個禮拜可以做死人。有件奇怪的事，就是電話跳左去三月一日，有d約會差點忘了。。。sigh... our reliance on digital calendars...

前幾天又想，爲何過年後有轉工潮？便發覺原來在二月遞信的可以省兩三日的。雖然不太多，但當你的心已經不再現有的工作裏面，時間是難過的；而且，某些公司的管理層亦很無聊，對盟去意或已經resign的員工不禮貌、小器、諸多左撓。其實，始終都曾經是一場賓主，何必搞到如此地步？唉~~希望。。。

前兩天收到個。。。唔係好想收到的電郵。想回覆但又未想到一個比較好又得體的回應。不能不自己又細想，爲何情緒還會受到影響呢？也覺得，有d人做每一件事情都是爲了自己好過一點。説到底，自私是我們保護自己的一個很好方法。每個人都entitle to 一點點的自私。問題都是出在你有幾自私、你對對方有幾無私、你對對方的期望是什麽。。。





今日沒有什麽照片與個topic有關的，但又好似寡左d，不如都搵張相分享下先。。。



這張相是懾於上海一個private collection裏面。根據資料應該是1958年的一幅政治宣傳海報。1958年的15年後，即1973年。現在已經是2008年嚕。。。這些海報倒是一個時代的見證