The Colour of Laundry

Bought a pack of clothes pegs my first month in Japan from the trusty Hyaku Yen (¥100) store. Of course, the pack was worth much more than the 100 yen I paid for it...


Colorful Laundry

It has been fine well today. It is just the wash weather. Since it is the colorful pinch, the arrival at the bottom, trousers, a shirt, socks, etc. can be dried a lot. My strong ally. Wash becomes still much more pleasant.

:) I should have let you guess what the pack contained.

Also, was met with some colorful laundry myself last weekend when I washed my new pair of reddish Thai pants. All my socks and another pair of pants came out...PINK. not just pink but PINK pink. As a rule I spend my life avoiding that colour as much as possible. But when I saw my laundry...I laughed. For days.

Have a colorful weekend...I am officially on holiday (again) till May 6th!!

Next week is 'Golden Week' in Japan where a bunch of national holidays are stacked into one week...and my university further adjusted the academic calender to forgo today's national holiday and give us an extended Golden Week.

So I stocked up on my reading material, my viewing material and of course the lecturers stocked up the assignments...Golden Week, here I come!!!!

As if I wasnt doing enough of that already...

May the eastern sun rise and heat the temple on your head that you may think Japanese all day...

-Kaos. 1.48am Fiji Time
(and Kaos, before you ask, that's 10.48pm Japan Time)

First Kanji test of the year tomorrow...here we go again. The holidays are most definitely OVER. Luckily this semester I am required to wake up at the crack of dawn only 3 days a week (as opposed to the 5 days last year)...AND I don't have any classes on Friday..yippeee!!!

Its not the waking up early that I mind the most, its the having to commute during rush hour that gets to me at times...something that takes a bit of getting used to for everyone...and is more of a shocker when you come from a country where the only trains we have are the ones carrying sugarcane. And then you are thrown into the other extreme end where the trains are sushi zumi (packed like sushi). So much so that you can't move till the next stop (never mind taking a photo to post with your story).

Also, recent discoveries!!!

- cheap pool place near the train station at uni...
- for the Japanese class I had to go out and buy myself a denshi jisho...aka electronic dictionary (pics later)...the world makes so much more sense now...!!! O_O
- procrastination is my greatest vice right now...but wait, that's not a recent discovery...I already knew that.

And on that note I am going to go multi-task that Kanji cramming and Grad class presentation preparation...more updates in the long weekend (I reiterate: every weekend is a LONG weekend!!!)

:)

Awesome Read of the Day

http://www.vagabondish.com/growing-up-immature-traveler/

Spring has ...sprung! Part 3

Line of Cherry blossoms on the way to my dorm.

But alas! The beauty of the sakura lies in its transient nature...and so within a week or so the blossoms were falling off!

and falling...



sigh! until next year then..and anyway, I don't think the livers of the public at large could have taken any more um...flower watching. :)

Spring has ...sprung! Part 2

And then the sakura (cherry blossom) was finally in full bloom!
...with even more people out and about!

And the view from my window was yet again...(beautifully) different!

Spring has ...sprung! Part 1

First sign of spring from my window taken about two weeks ago! Temperatures were still quite chilly so I didn't get what all the excitement was about.. " oooh! cherry blossoms!" hmpf. its still freezing, bite me!


It didn't seem to bother the eager-beaver Hanami goers (at Yoyogi Park) though. Hanami means to 'watch flowers', more specifically the cherry blossoms, which I have to come to understand is just an excuse to have an awesome picnic under the trees...and get drunk!


Of course, given the population of Tokyo that brings with it the wonderful lines outside the toilets at the park. If you have to 'go', you have to predict your urge 'to go' an hour prior to when you 'really have to go'.


and some more...

especially doesn't help when you are consuming large amounts of alcohol. ><

Here's one from my first hanami, next to Kandagawa River which is near my university...I was quite taken aback, there were some people who had been there with mats, food and alcohol since 9am so when I got to my hanami'ing friends at 6 in the evening...things were quite upbeat! A very refreshing change from the usual stern faces I have become accustomed to on the train every morning! I like hanami already!

(delayed) view from my window

It finally snowed in Tokyo...a day after I left for Thailand. Luckily Ears snapped a pic from my balcony for evidence.
Dated: February 26th

♪♪♪ Maybe we can sleep in...♪♪♪

♪ I'll make you banana pancakes ♪♪♪
♪ pretend like it's the weekend now ♪♪♪♪
...And we can pretend it all the time, yeah ♪♪♪♪
...Can't you see that it's just raining ♪
♪ there ain't no need to go outside ♪♪♪

That Jack Johnson may really have been on to something there.

One of my favourite street picks in Thailand surprisingly turned out to be...banana pancakes.

I had actually laughed at the idea of trying them out before going over when a friend had recommended it. I thought, they are banana pancakes...big deal. Whats so special about that?! hmpf.

Everything. Everything about them is special.
The way they are made, what they are made of, the cheap price, the small window of opportunity they are available in, the sweet condensed milk they are drizzled with...
The tooth pick that you are given to eat it with and the lovely feeling of having breakfast food...at night! sigh. Jack Johnson can make me these banana pancakes any day. :)


Got this in Sukhothai on my walk back to the guesthouse, sweaty and dusty from a day of cycling around in much need of a shower but just couldn't wait!...and just as well because when we came back around an hour or so later the lady had...closed shop!




some expert tossing skillz




on go the bananas






and some greasy goodness frying


cut into bite size pieces


set out on the take away tray before being drizzled with topping of choice
(sweet condensed milk)



tada!
yummy yummy yummy...I got love in my tummy!