This is Japan... again (Part 2)

Woke up really early one morning to go to Tsukiji fish market. Now, this was a rather big thing for me because I've been thwarted on the past couple of attempts to get there. The first time, it was raining. And on the second time, it was ALSO raining AND I didn't have enough sleep.

Anyway, I finally made it!

Tsukiji fish market, from the outside.

If you're wondering what all the excitement's about, Tsukiji fish market is one of the biggest in the world, with deep-sea trawlers coming in as early as 3am. By 5am, it's jam packed with housewifes and restaurant owners bidding on fresh tuna and other seafood.


Unfortunately, I only got there about 6:30am. By then, it was a lot calmer.

A little quiet...

The sheer variety and amount of seafood here is fantastic. But the stars of the show are the huge frozen tuna, unloaded fresh from the trawlers. I always knew that tuna were big, but I never expected them to be dolphin sized.

HUGE!

Of course, the REAL reason why I was at Tsukiji was because it had the freshest sushi in the whole of Tokyo. And it was about time for breakfast. My travel book recommended this place called Sushi Dai.

That's it - the one with the green sign and a queue of people

I had to wait about 20 minutes to get in. It's a really small restaurant - only enough room for about 12 people or so. However, it was definitely worth the wait :)

Tiny...


They've got a relatively small menu. I chose the "middle sized" set, which was awesome.

The dude who made my breakfast!

I'm lost for words in describing how fantastic the sushi was. It was SOOOO fresh, I could probably eat a bucket of it and not be sick. The way the fresh tuna and other strange looking squirmy things tantalise your tastebuds is priceless.

Well, actuall it costs 3000yen (approx. RM90), but it's worth every bloody yen. Mmmm...

Maybe I'll post some more sushi pics later... ^_^

This is Japan... again

Been back for about a week now but have been too busy at work to write anything.

Basically, Tokyo was a blast. Not that a great deal happened but it was nice being able to wander around and do whatever I wanted without worrying too much about time.

I stayed at this wonderful ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) called Ryokan Shigetsu, located at the quaint district of Asakusa in Tokyo. The rooms cost only about 250 Ringgit a night (single room) with an attached bath, nice tatami mat floors and a fluffy futon to sleep on. I forgot to take pictures of the outside but this is what my room looked like:



The ryokan even has a public bath with a nice view of the nearby pagoda (see the website!!!). Unfortunately, the water was WAAAAAY too hot - just five seconds in it and I was starting to doubt my ability to procreate after.

Considering that it was the middle of summer (temperatures reaching 32 degrees Celsius, with high humidity), it was a little pointless to have a boiling hot bath anyway.

There are actually two public bathrooms - a bigger one with huge windows that give you a view of the city (the baths are on the 6th floor) and a small one with only a small slit near the ceiling.

But what's rather dodgy is that people in the neighbouring tall buildings can actually look right into the larger bathroom at night.

Which is why the Ryokan swaps the male and female baths, so that the girls get the bigger bath in the morning (with a nice view) while they get the smaller, more private one at night.

The problem, of course, was that when I walked into the big bathroom one morning (which had been a 'male' one the night before), I hadn't realised that they swapped the male/female signs at the doors (wasn't wearing my glasses). Thank God no women decided to have early morning baths that morning... -_-" (free show!)

I highly recommend this Ryokan, especially for the whole Japaneseness of it. It's also really convenient, being only a 3 minute walk from the Asakusa Tokyo Metro station.

They also serve darn good breakfast in the morning, although you have to order it the night before (it's about 30 Ringgit). The other problem is that all the rooms are cleaned between 10am and 3pm, which means that you have to vacate your room.

The ryokan is located right next to the Asakusa Kannon Temple and the shopping district.

This is the famous giant lantern at the entrance to the shopping district. It's normally crowded but I took this shot at 5:30am.



The shopping district itself is full of stores selling souvenirs, food and traditional Japanese stuff like fans, kimonos, tea sets, swords, etc. It also stretches across into the neighbourhood, with a huge collection of restaurants and other souvenir shops. Oddly enough, I ended up eating at McDonalds here pretty often (it's cheaper than most restaurants here).

Asakusa is perhaps the closest link to olden Tokyo, with old aunties (and the occasional young woman) trotting around in their latest summer kimonos.


Compared to the rest of Tokyo, Asakusa is a relatively nice, quiet place. Almost like a small town. This photo's actually been altered - the sky is untouched, but i increased the brightness of the foreground for a better look.

During my stay, I had to pay a visit to the neighbourhood coin laundry (the Ryokan didn't offer such a service). Summer was so hot that I had gone through all of my shirts halfway through the trip (I sweat. A lot). Had the opportunity to mingle with some old uncles and aunties, which was great fun. Really.


In fact, the only problem with Asakusa is that everything closes so darn early. By 7pm, half of the stores in the shopping district have closed. By 9pm, it's a ghost town.

Nice place to stay, though. I'll be back with more pics and updates!

Bushy-tailed kitty...

There's this stray cat (I think) wondering around my neighbourhood lately.

It looks absolutely adorable, thanks to its really thick, bushy tail (unlike the rest of its body) and these really bored-looking yellow eyes.

Took the opportunity to get to know the furry fella better:



Awww... -_-

日本へ

After various form of drama throughout the week, it seems that I'm actually off to Japan this coming Monday. I've got my air tickets and visa here on my desk, which means that - unless my streak of misfortune continues - I'm off.

Haven't taken a holiday in a long time. Sure, the first couple of days is a working trip but the rest of it will be time for me to be alone. To do whatever I want. In Tokyo.

Tokyo Tower - taken during my previous trip

Sorry if this sounds all emotional or even boring, but I'm really looking forward to this trip, even though I probably won't get much done and won't get to see a lot of things I'm hoping I'll get to see. Chances are, something will happen right in the middle of it all to ruin one of my many plans (I hear it's been raining a bit).

I've been meaning to visit the famous fish market there at 5am in the morning to snap some photos and eat fresh sashimi for breakfast (haven't had the chance). So far, it's rained every blasted morning I've tried to go.

But yet, I don't care if I end up being thwarted by rain again. Whenever I'm in Japan, I just feel good. Even if it turns out to be a complete disaster, I've got this baseless confidence that I'm going to enjoy myself.

Tokyo is one of those cities where I've always felt rather comfortable in for some funny reason. Familiar, even. Maybe it's because of my many years of anime/manga fandom/geekdom. At least I've stopped fantasising about having a Japanese girlfriend.

...

Erm, maybe I haven't :P


The other thing is that Japan is the only non-primarily-English-speaking foreign country I know of where I'm actually able to speak the language somewhat (I'm completely hopeless with Cantonese, which is why I dread going to Hong Kong). Other than Indonesia, of course.

But what I'm quite surprised about is the fact that I'm actually looking forward to this trip!

This is a big deal because - in all honesty - I've not really looked forward to any sort of holiday since I was 9-years-old and realised that every trip to Singapore guaranteed a new Autobot or Decepticon. And mind you, I've been on plenty of trips since then.

And the best part is - I have no idea why I'm so looking forward to it!!! Maybe it's because I'll be travelling alone with nobody to wait for or to keep waiting. Maybe it's because I'm itching for some sort of urban adventure. Maybe this time, I'll get off the correct exit at Shunjuku station (the incorrect one being the West exit).

It's 4am... time to sleep.

BTW, this is also my 100th post, which is a milestone of sorts, I suppose. And this blog itself is a month or two shy of its first birthday. I still remember signing up with Blogger, not knowing what to write on this blank virtual soapbox. Now, I've got enough rubbish written to be compiled into a coffee table book.

Thanks for reading.

Fairly useless trivia - Part 1

And now for this week's completely useless bit of trivia.

Some of you may be aware of the existence of two distinct marine clownfish: The Ocellaris Clownfish and Percula Clownfish (also known as a false anemonefish / false clownfish).



Both species are very closely related and have very similar patterns and colours although an experience marine biologits could probably tell the two apart at a glance.

What I didn't know (and I bet you don't either) is that the 'easiest' way to tell them apart is to count the number of spines on their dorsal fins - Ocellarises have 11 while Perculas have just 10.

...



-_-


Well, now you know.

It'll be difficult keeping the little buggers completely still while you count, though.

Shitty car...

Managed to snap this BMW 3-series while driving in KL (I've cropped it from a much wider shot):



The license plate reads 'TAH11'.

That's kinda like Malay for 'shit'. And I guess that's kinda cool... No?

Weird dreams at night...

I've been having some very strange recurring dreams lately. Not that it's a problem, but it's kinda weird that it happens so frequently. Maybe one day I'll speak to a dream interpreter or fung shui expert. Maybe Lillian Too... And when she's not looking, I'll set her hair on fire. Hmmm...

Anyway, the dreams are:
1. All my teeth becoming loose / falling off.
2. One of my legs being much shorter than the other.
3. Being able to fly by simply lifting my feet off the ground.
4. Seeing my dead relatives alive and well.
5. Finding that I've not studied for an exam, only to realise that I'm not in school anymore - and finding it darn cool that I've realised it in the middle of a dream.
6. Having a real big urge to take an in-dream piss, unleashing a torrent of yellow rain in my dreams, only to wake up with a full bladder thinking, "My GOD!!! Luckily I didn't release in real life!!!"
7. Attempting to play some sport (usually basketball) only to find that I suddenly can't play.
8. Finding myself in a HUGE bathroom (more floor space than a football pitch), with many bath tubs, showers, places to crap and so on, usually with a ceiling that's over 30 feet high that gives the whole place a very nice airy atmosphere. Yes, I like to take baths.

And there you have it. If you can tell me what 4D numbers to buy from this information, please contact me. Thanks.

Annoy your neighbour's dogs. And children too...

At this very moment in time, I've got a really wayang headache from listening to some ultra high-pitched sine wave audio samples. Thanks to this guy, of course.

Apparently, a female student in some other country heard about how some adults (read: old farts) can't hear audio frequencies at 16KHz and above. This student then decided to use a 16KHz sine wave audio sample as a ring tone, which is brilliant since she'd be able to hear her phone ring during lectures while her teachers won't.

Sure enough, Kit tried playing this 16KHz ring tone in front of all of us and most of the 'more experienced' people in the office couldn't hear it - even though it irritated the shit out of us younger people.

The human ear is supposedly able to hear frequencies between 20Hz (ultra low-pitch bass) and 20KHz (ultra high-pitch treble). This is also why audio CDs have a sampling rate of 44.1KHz, which results in a maximum attainable frequency of about 22KHz - just a bit higher than what humans can hear.

And so, we tried listening to various audio samples at the office to check our individual cut-off points at this website.



Apparently, I'm able to hear stuff up to 18KHz. The other guys in the office could only hear up to 17KHz. So I guess that means I win... *yay!*

Try it out and tell me your frequency cut-off points! Do it now!!!



****

As a side note, you could burn an 18KHz or 19KHz audio sample onto a CD, drive up to a kindergarten and play it at full blast on your car stereo with the windows down. Imagine the extremely baffled look on the teachers' faces as their students go completely bonkers. *Insert evil laughter!!!*

Why haven't I thought about it before?Vol. 1

Been posing this question to various friends over the past couple of days:

Why hasn't anybody invented powdered instant beer?

You know, like instant coffee? So we could all nip to the water cooler after hours and get ourselves completely pissed?

After all, I don't think carbonation is a problem, since you can do the same with vitamin-C soluble capsules and Eno. As far as flavour is concerned, if they can make Maggi taste like chicken, I'm sure some genius out there can create artificial beer-flavoured stuff too! As for alcohol, I'm sure there must be some sort of chemical reaction that hasn't been attempted yet between cow dung and hydrochloric acid. Or something else.

The reprecussions of such an invention would be incredible - it would completely negate the purpose of beer coolers, ice boxes and portable fridges! All you need to do is hop over to some kedai kopi / petrol station, buy chilled water, mix and drink up.

And if you going camping or fishing, you can carry a whole 2kg sack of it and it'll last you for a whole month.



-----


Ok, I'm done.

Another late Friday night in the office...

Ah well... haven't updated in a while so i thought I might as well.

It's 2 hours till kickoff in Germany 2006, and we're eagerly awaiting it (no, I'm not alone here - apparently none of us here have social lives to speak of).

Lot's happened in the past week. Jun Kit and Mei Hoon got registered (*yay!*), my youngest sis turned 16 (*yay!* *yay!*) and I had the runs (bloody teh ais... -_-). Actually, I still have the runs.

It's a bit depressing - all my friends are either married or dating someone at the moment. Or engaged. Or just having a blast at some club, no doubt surrounded by hoards of scantily clad women. Mmmm...

Come to think of it, what on earth am I doing here?

World Cup fever FWWWOOOOOoooo...!!!

Shattered slumber

Thought I could have had a quiet, early nite tonight.

After dinner I watched some videos, did a bit of reading, took a shower, brushed my teeth and went to bed at about 10pm. Ahhh... how nice.

But then, a good friend decided to call about 30 minutes later and said, "Ah Chong, arr...? Come let's go get a beer."

"Dude, I'm sleeping...," I grumbled

"Oh, sorry sorry. So early wan arr, you?" he said.

"Sorrylah, next time. I had a long day."

"Ok, next time lah."

"Ok?"

"Ok! Ok!"

"...Ok. See you some other time lah."

"Oklah, goodnight."

"It's oklah."

"Ok."

So I went to back to bed - only to find that I was now wide awake. And that I really wanted a beer. And so I called Aloy back and went with him and another friend to the pub.

Which is why I'm writing this blog entry at 2:46am.

I could've been asleep for almost 5 hours by now... But at least I had a nice drink and nice company.

*Grumble! Grumble!*

The point I'm trying to make here is that when, erm... Yes, that's right.

ZZZzzzzz...

Blast from the past

Been moping around the house all weekend and decided to look at all the random stuff I've collected on my computers over the past few years. Ahh... the nostalgia.

Came across a whole bunch of old photographs. These are all from a trip I made to Ireland in 2000 while I was still studying in the UK. They were all taken with my old Canon AE-1 film camera and scanned on someone's then state-of-the-art flatbed scanner.

A seagull!!! Bear in mind I was doing this with a manual-focus camera...

Me on the boat to Ireland. It can get a little drafty.

A self portrait - can't remember where it was taken, though.

That's Dublin at night. The dude on the left is Joshua - haven't seen him in like 13 million years...

No, these pics aren't really anything to shout about. I have been very much into photography for most of my life but I only really started to get serious when digital cameras popped up.

What's particularly sad is that most of the 'creative' pictures I've taken while using film were rubbish, thanks to my rather poor understanding of dynamic range and lighting back then.

In the past four years since I first picked up a digital camera, I've found my technique and knowledge has improved by leaps and bounds. All because I've been able to experiment without having to waste loads of film.

Now the funny thing is, I'm suddenly finding it quite tempting to go out and shoot in film one of these days - just for the sheer hell of it and to see if I can get the sort of results I'm getting these days with digital photography. I wonder if the old AE-1 still works...