Snap Back to Reality

a quick out of sequence post...

i arrived safely in taiwan last night.

i traded:
one foreign location to another foreign location - sapporo, japan to tainan, taiwan.
one foreign bed to another foreign bed - tre's floor to my grandparent's floor.

another oddity:
i can now understand! i am no longer deaf and mute.
arriving in japan, it took time to realize that although they are asian, i don't understand a lick of what they say. with that mode coming to taiwan, my mind was still on the "i don't understand asian talk" mode, but i do. i can actually understand what these asians are saying. i can eavesdrop and listen in on conversations again. i am no longer in the dark. hehe.

excellent. muahahah.

Day Two I

akio & rumi were so gracious to allow me to stay with them during my stay in tokyo. say hello!

i cannot begin to describe their graciousness, hospitality and generosity. thank you guys so much! i hope to learn from you as i get the opportunity to host others. this was not only true for akio's family, but also taro's. arigato!

tis saturday, march 20th. ready? it is one long-fun day, so fun, i had to break it into 2 posts. (also cause i'm missing a crucial picture, and its getting late.)

i am awaken by an angel ... may i present to you, hikari-jan. the arimoto family's youngest member.

off to the bus tour we go!

first stop - asakusa.

tempura lunch -

kaminarimon gate -

my eyes are open, i swear! enlarge the picture.

sensoji temple wasn't too kind to daishi. bad luck, 3x in a row.

finally... good fortune, for both daishi & akio.

next stop - boat tour.
the blue skies was a blessing, but slightly deceiving. it still got pretty chilly...

yup. thanks to the wind.

stop three - tokyo tower.

yakuza! haha. i'm a wanna be.

we are ultimate risk takers. so scary!

i had such a good time with daishi & akio. thank you guys for everything. i really enjoyed the day and the time spent together. it was fun catching up and sharing this experience together. it reminded me of the time in los angeles. these 2 guys are so brilliant, have so much experience and have taught me so much. these days in tokyo will be a memory i will cherish. i pray that one day in the near future, we can hang out again. maybe in another country? of course, wherever i end up, you are welcome!

daishi, i believe you have moved to china now. i wish you good luck and will be praying for you on your new endeavors. good luck with chinese, and when you take over china, please let me know. thank you!

akio, you work so hard both at work and at home. continue to take care of rumi & hikari. i am sure you will continue to be successful in your career. may your business travels be safe and may your work be satisfying and rewarding. when you take over japan, please let me know. thank you!

the first half of the day was touristy, the second half was filled with a different type of adventure.
stay tuned~

Day One +

tokyo oh tokyo, amazing little tokyo!

ippam - international public policy and management. due to its international flavor, i was blessed with becoming friends with many japanese nationals. this is one of the reasons i decided on visiting japan.

i was to meet them at the hachi statue (see "day one" post - hachiko: a dog's story), located at the shibuya station at 7:30pm, friday march 19th. i had 3.5 hours to kill before i met up with my friends from ippam.

so i wandered...

ramen was in store.

it says most welcome by locals, so i went in.
take my word for it, it was oh-ishi (delicious)!

praise the Lord, i found hachi!
thank God, obstacle overcome.

shibuya.

i thought it'd clear up...

... nope.

and since i am writing this post, that means my friends eventually found me...

...oh how i miss you guys! feels like los angeles again.
i must also thank all of you for that meal. oh-ishi!!! arigato.

other highlights:

this "map" looks like one of the presentations my japanese classmates would mastermind.
i see where they get their inspiration.

currently 90 yen = 1USD, easy calculation would be 100 yen = 1USD.

that's $126 for that one melon on the right. its pink, it must be special.

dinner - "steamed delights". i don't think a single meal in japan tasted bad.
my food taking skills drastically improve. i only post these two pictures, cause the others are all blurry :(

Day One

i arrived at lax at 12am thursday 3/18.
i arrived at shibuya, tokyo at local time, 4pm friday 3/19. that's 12 am friday 3/19, los angeles time.

day one -- 24 hours on the road.

highlights:
1. movies on the aeroplane -- 7.5
china airlines cut down on so many movies! i was forced to also watch 2 movies that made me cry... hachiko: a dog's story & everybody's fine. so sad. i frikkin hate sad movies. :'(

2. business class -- 8.5
first time for everything! w00t. i was upgraded to business class for no apparent reason (i hope i didn't pay for it...) from taiwan to tokyo. unfortunately, due to the jet lag, i slept half of it away, hence the low rating. haha. oh well.


my attempt of a shot of business class. utter fail. haha. use your imagination. :P

fuji-san. i promise!

3. leaving on a jet plane, don't know when i'll be back again -- 9.0
the pleasures & blessings of being able to travel. although worried and scared, it is still exciting!

Ready or Not... Here I Come!

hide-n-go seek was such a fun game growing up. did you ever play it in the dark? that was actually one positive thing of daylight savings, fall back. the sun would set earlier, so we can play hide-n-go seek in the dark.

i loved being "it." ready to find the treasure, you know, your friends...

10...

9...

8...

well, i leave tonight for my vacation to japan and taiwan. i decided to go with my backpack instead of a suitcase. reason being is, i will be travelling from place to place, city to city during this 16 day "vacation." after packing all my junk into my backpack last night, i realized, i have wayy tooo big of a backpack. the weather has been cold (it snowed in tokyo 2 wks ago), so i kept jamming clothes into it. i've never travelled with such a big pack. i'm not a girl, its just cold. honest.

7...

6...

in japan i'll be hitting up tokyo, take an over-night bus to kanazawa, then fly again to sapporo. from sapporo, i fly straight to taiwan, take any means of trasportation down to tainan (in the south) and eventually make my way up to taipei (in the north). the actual physical part of travelling is the most grueling and exhausting part of any backpacking trip. the anticipation and the constant feeling of the "unknown" can be a weary process.

5...

4...

the amazing thing about this trip is that, not one night will i be staying in a hotel. besides the over-night bus to kanazawa, i'll be crashing at a friend's or family's place every night. this is nice, but also takes away a certain aspect of freedom. different, but i will definitely enjoy the company. i look forward to spending some quality time with akio-san and taro-san's family as well as trevor-san!

3...

2...

thank you all for wishing me a bon voyage!!! i definitely appreciate it, if you can remember to pray also, that'd be great! i'm not looking forward to this trip. weird, but, i dont want to give up my comfortable room/bed and familiarity to hop into the unknown. simply put, i'm not looking forward to this adventure. last time i participated in something similar to this, travelling by myself was back in 2004, when i trekked through europe and tokyo. apparently, being 6 yrs older has made me 6 yrs less adventurous. i get tired way too easily now. i can imagine myself with a huge backpack, lost and unable to keep walking cause i'm too tired. haha. old man!

1...

the main purpose of this trip is to visit my friends, or in hide-n-go seek terms, to seek them out. although anxious and a bit unwilling, i do look forward to this. i enjoy seeing things from their eyes. it may not be a perfect representation or a perfect reflection, but, just a snapshot, just a glimpse of them, in their lives, in their culture, in their environment... as long as i find them and dont get lost. that's why its called hide-n-go seek in the dark. ;)

ready or not, here i come!!!

Chugging Along

one would think, since i no longer watch movies, i'd have more time to blog. apparently not. here's what i've been up to. and in terms of enjoyability, worthiness of time or productivity, again rated on a scale of 1-10 (higher number, greater smile).

book - lords of discipline -- 9.0

heart wrenching but amazing. i have a love hate relationship going on with the story. towards the end, i kept talking to myself, while streams of tears flow down my cheek... why did that happen?! why did you decide to let that happen?? ahh!!! its amazing how a story captures your emotions. you are no longer reading the book, but you're in it. if you can patiently read through 75% of the book, while it builds up for the last amazing 25%, go for it. definitely worth the read. if you do... you & me, lunch, dinner, coffee or whatever. we're having a heart to heart.

i need to join a book club.

tv - the bachelor, "on wings of love" -- 6.5 (ranked low, cause the title killed it! can it get any cheesier? yet, i still chose to watch it.)
yeah... yeah, rain on the jokes. as a guy, how can you not watch one guy being pursued by 300 women? and not dream to be in his shoes?!

jake totally should've chose this young lady, ali -

but he chose vienna -

ali is totally cooler, so she gets a bigger picture.

wth is wrong with him? omg. he should've never let her go and just chose her. how in the world did he choose vienna? she needs to grow up and learn how to relate with girls!

don't you dare call me a teenage girl!

i enjoyed the show because i got to live vicariously through jake and see how men and women interact. being a single non-dating man, what better way is there to learn? reality tv! this is what i've learned (and yes, i know its a reality tv show, given potential scripting and what not, the following can still hold true!) :

• talk is cheap - you see how jake was able to make all the families love him? you see how he was able to convince every family that their daughter was going to be chosen? he said all the right things at the right time. talk can be cheap. mean what you say and say what you mean. if you're confused, let your actions speak for yourself.


• people can be confused - when it was down to 4 girls, i realized jake was going to have a hard time to choose. the remaining girls had very different personalities, 2 out going, and 2 were quiet and reserved. what exactly did jake want? i was pretty sure he'd pick the out going one, made more sense with his who he is at the time. ms. inee disagreed and bet against me. pay attention to the next bachelor, she's gonna be on the show. i think jake will regret it. he needs a good balance, and i don't think vienna's gonna do it for him.


• girls, beware of nice guys with no backbone - i speak from experience and now have witnessed it through reality tv. nice guys who are too nice, don't want to "hurt feelings." good intentions, unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. if they don't start being honest with you and themself, be careful for that big heart break.


• stop kissing girls - jake, go wash your mouth. you probably contracted aids from kissing too many girls. i know its practically impossible, unfortunately, it's definitely likely for you since you kissed all 300 girls, every 5 minutes, all season long. as a Christian, purity is huge. if and when i date again, i wanna be like my current dating brothers and sisters - wait for that kiss on the alter. she might suck at kissing, dont worry, you got your entire life to work on it.

amazing what you can learn from a reality tv show huh?

life #1 - shooting range -- 8.0

i owned that target!

fun and scary. holding one made me pee my pants. i wont tell you what happened when i fired the shot gun. i was very against guns, but changed my mind this past year. they are dangerous, but so are women. :P i would not be against owning one in the future for protection of my family. however, i'm gonna have to work on my aim. the only girl who went with us, worked me, lil phil and john feng. what a n00b, owned by a girl. i did take out the targets groin area, if it the target was a guy, i think i won.

life #2 - sean's wedding -- 10.0

being single has been hard, sean's wedding reminded me that the Lord is in charge and i need to wait patiently on Him. sean is now married, at the age of 37, while knowing the girl for a brief 6 months. never the less, he's married. the wedding was simple and in sean like manner, a bit last minute for my liking. it was still a wedding - the union of a man and a woman in the sight of God. i decided to go and forfeit my friend's bachelor party because this was a testimony to God's goodness in sean's life. congratulations sean. may our Lord bless you abundantly and continue to work in your life.

it also helped that i went with my obc friends, and it was a hoot.

highlights -

• tim chen (immediately after getting in my car on the way there): kenny, can you believe it, sean is getting married! we have to see it to believe it. <--- i'm on the same boat as you tim.


• owen (to a random girl at the reception): can i take a picture with you? <--- who is this kid?! he got game. no wonder i'm single and he's dating.


• every obc kid with utmost sincerity (to sean and entire audience during the reception): sean, congratulations! i cannot believe you're married. i was very surprised to hear the news. <--- who says that during a toast at the reception. haha.

life #3 - beauty -- 10.0

romans 1:20 - for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

first time seeing a double rainbow. it was amazing and a clear reminder.

life #4 - daddy mah -- 10.0
no wasted time. the game must've been too much fun. congratulations greg & monica!!!

life #5 - vacation time -- ??.?

stay tuned for beautiful sights, tasty aromatic delights and wonderful stories from tokyo, kanazawa, sapporo, tainan & taipei.