30th Oct – 5th day at farm, joy ride day

Last night, I heard some really strong winds outside. I thought it must be very cold to sleep out. I needed a backup plan. Luckily I found out that it was just the machine which processed the grains that was set to run overnight.

Almost wanted to use the man-made toilet outside my room. Till today, I have yet to touch it, worrying that I would need to clean my shit later. I managed to hold on untill I was ready to meet Yuhei-san at 7:30am as usual, every morning. I saw the “Sabah Tea” and asked Yuhei-san. He said his friend had climbed the Mt Kota Kinabalu at Sabah before and brought him this.

Today was really an easy day. We started to pack some rice using the rice separator again for couple of 10kg. After that, I was basically wondering around looking Yuhei at work. He was pretty much a solo man. I was only the next WWOFF (http://www.wwoffjapan.com/) helper since September. Usually, he would do the work himself unless it was something simple or repetitive. Then, he used a cool machine to turn the brown rice into white rice. Next, we went to pick Kabosu (lemon like fruit). Kabosu trees could grow around 9 or 10 feet perhaps. Some of the fruits were hidden and tougher to cut them away. It would be more fun if I didn’t have to choose the good one to pick. In the process, I have destroyed various houses of the spiders. Sometimes I was just next to them and worried they may attack me for being an intruder. Remember?! They are huge and colourfully eerie! We spent hours there and picked up 6 big baskets!

After lunch, I went for a joy ride!! =] Yuhei-san said that we were going to the high school festival at Oita city to check out the school for Gen-san next year. It was an engineering school and it was a famous one according to Gen-san. At the school, there was some performance on the stage. Students were everywhere selling food at various stalls. High school life is great. Seeing them, I wished I were 20 years younger again, and back to high school. We visited a few showcases from the Mechanical, Civil, Robotic and Computer Engineering. There was even one course, the “Practical Environmental Engineering”, that did twinning program with Singapore Polytechnic at Year 2!! We saw a photography showcase too, and there was this Twin Tower picture, but the description was saying “at Singapore”! I corrected Yuhei-san. Perhaps, the description was meant for the picture next to it, but the pictures below were the place “Malacca” and a huge mosque.

After that, we went to a department store, called KS. Something like Best Denki. Saw a very rugged Pentax camera and very tempted to buy it, for 26800yen. Then, we reached Mie, a small town near Ogata, to check out the DVD for rent. I saw “Internet cafe” and thought “yes”, I could come here tomorrow instead of Oita city, which was an hour train ride away. Mie is just 2 train stops from Ogata. We were back home by 6pm. On the way, I could see that the clouds were covering the whole sky, but a single line. The view was pretty nice. Yuhei-san also broke his record for asking me more than 3 questions in the car. About Melbourne, what’s interesting in Singapore and Australia. I told him before that I’ve studied in Melbourne for 4 years. He did not ask about Malaysia. Btw, the GPS system in the car here are good. It worked immediately after you started the car, unlike back home, where the GPS needs some time to detect the signal.

Dinner was so delicious tonight that the children licked off the gravy from their plates! The kids got a little more comfortable with me and tried to play with me. =] Ryo-san’s volleyball team name was “Arrows”. The 3 siblings relationships were really good. Would like to play with them more, but I was shy.

Back to my room and watched a movie again. Tomorrow is a holiday for me!! =] I asked Yuhei-san how to walk to the train station and he drew me a map that almost resembled the one you bought outside.

29th Oct – 4th day at farm, harvesting day

Yeh, no weeding today. In fact, today was an interesting day, cause we were doing harvesting!! After lunch, Yuhei-san said we shall go to harvest if it didn’t rain. I was hoping so much it would not rain. There was still an hour to go. Took some pictures of the spiders around. There were spiders everywhere here; outside the house, inside the house, even right at the top of the electric cables on the streets! And they are huge!!! The colourful body made them very eerie. After a short rest, it was time, and off we went to the fields. Fortunately in this modern day, we already had machine to do it, and it was cool. The machine separated the grain from the stem and stored it in a compartment, which you can release a handle to pour them out to the grain bag. The remains of the stem will be discharged at the bottom of the machine. However, sometimes the machine is not perfect too, and we had to pick up some left over using the manual way, that is to slice the paddy plant using your hand! Imagine those days when farmers have to do it manually for all. Before we could use the machine, I had to cut away any wild plants with hard branches that may break the machine. We finished off one patch and moved on to another field, nearby, which was muddier. Yuhei-san then left a small patch for me to do it manually. Perfect spot with water almost reaching the top of my boots. It was tough to walk in the mud, and then Yuhei-san advised to walk on the stem instead, and it worked very well! Occasionally, we had to stop the machine in order to fill up the grain bags and carry them to the lorry. Eventually, we were done with 14 bags and I thought I heard Yuhei-san said he was very happy. In the lorry, I asked if today was a good harvest. He said not really. This year was not a good year because there were too many weed. Perhaps, today exceeded his expectation. Then, Yuhei-san surprised me with a question!! He asked me how did I found agriculture. I said tough but harvesting was interesting. Cutting the paddy plant gave you the self satisfaction. He said farming is tough and dirty work. He told me his dad was a not a farmer but he wanted to because he love natures and wanted to be with the nature, and wanted to eat something. Couldn’t catch his last sentence, but I supposed he meant to eat his own food. These farmers don’t eat outside or bento box, not to mention fast food.

In the morning, we went to check out the rice fields to see if it was ready for harvest. Yuhei-san picked up a grain and tasted it! After that, we went to mix some soil together. Then, we drove to the river to wash the plastic bags that stored the soil. We came back, carried some rice around and I was all sweat. After that, I removed all the grain remains in the grain bags, which took me almost the rest of the morning. Then, Yuhei-san tried the rice separator machine in which the end result was packed for sale. I wanted to play with the machine more, but it was time for lunch already.

We ended early today at around 5pm. I cleaned up my pant and the jacket which were all covered with mud, and went for early shower. Dinner was early too. Today, Aiko-san said one very long sentence in a single breath! No wonder they are great singers. Somehow, it just nice to hear the Japanese speaks. Perhaps, the different tones made it very soothing to the ears. I asked for leave at slightly after 7pm and finished off this. Since it was still early and not too tiring day, I decided to watch my long overdue movie on my laptop, “The Vengeance”, a HK show (Fuk Sau in Cantonese). Stupid show indeed.

28th Oct – 3rd day at farm, weeding day

It was pretty cold, the last two days, especially at night. Last night, I set my alarm at 6am since it covered more than 8 hours. In the end, I slept for 9.5 hours and woke up at 7am just on time to brush my teeth and get dressed for breakfast at 730am. Rice and miso soup seems to be a must in their meal. After breakfast, Yuhei-san told me that he needed to go out to do something, and wont be back by 10am. Cant get what he said in English, probably to sell the vegetables and send his 2 big bags of waste papers for recycle. They really take the effort to keep all papers for recycle. I thought, “Yahoo”, I could rest for 2 hours!! Unfortunately, my dream was shattered after he told me to do weeding at the onion field while waiting for him. The nightmare I had yesterday. And so, off I went and did not stop for 4 hours! Just occasionally stood up to stretch my back and legs. It was really tough work and I was thinking about my beer and sun tanning session at Sentosa all the time. Finally Yuhei-san said “yasun de kudasai” (Please rest) and I didn’t realized it was already lunch time. Yuhei-san cooked some vegetables for us. Usually when he is alone, he just eat left-over food and seldom cook. It was a luxury already during my stay, I thought. After lunch, nightmare continued. Yuhei-san said I may start my weeding again at 2pm and stop at 5pm since we had Aikido martial art training today! At least the evening session later kept me motivated and something new to look forward to. There was still 20minutes before 2pm, and my head kept repeating “rest, take pictures, rest, take pictures…” I decided the latter. For 3 hours, I pissed 3 times. Beer appeared again. Recent Shanghai trip moment came back. Later, I thought, it may be tough, but after all that’s the whole purpose of this! I was motivated again. I promised myself then, that I would finish off every slice of onion that I could see on my plate in the future. Around 4:30pm, I put on some music on my iPhone to keep the motivation going. Then, “ring ring”, my alarm set off. Yahoo, knock off time. After 2 days of weeding, I barely completed half of the half of the field (if you know what I mean). Went back to realize I have no more clothes and did my laundry. Yuhei-san has a washing machine for his workers. Not long later, it was dinner time. Today, we had Japanese curry chicken rice. Oishii desu ne. (Delicious). Something interesting about Japanese drinking their coffee. They drink it like Ocha. That is without sugar. Kopi-kosong (black coffee without sugar). Initially, it tasted weird on the first day, but today, I found it nice indeed!

At 7pm, it was time for Aikido training. Together with the kids, we went to town. We reached a place like a sports hall. At the hall, we kneeled at the entrance and bowed. Later did I realized that Yuhei-san was the instructor indeed!! He coached his kids. He changed to his Aikido attire. First, we set up the hall with the cushions. We still had time to play some “bare boru” (volleyball) with the kids =] When the class started, we all squatted down, Yuhei-san at the front and the rest of us in a line, and bowed. Then, we faced each other and bowed once more. Then, we repeated what Yuhei-san said. I tried to follow, but some phrases were too long and I just mumbled along. Once done, we started to do various warm up routines. Yuhei-san would yelled “Ichi, ni, san, shi..” (Yuhei-san told me later that “shi” was used for counting instead of “yon”) for each routine. Final routine was the forward roll and backward row. After a few rounds, my head started to spin. Then, it was time for some real action. Yuhei-san called upon Ryo-san and Chika-san and then they started to practice each Aikido’s move that Yuhei-san said. All done, Gen-san’s turn with Chika-san. I just observed. The martial art is very interesting. I checked the Wikipedia before that it is a defensive form of martial art. I noticed most of the moves will tend to bend your wrist until it hurts. Then, it was my turn with Gen-san!! It was fun. =] Then, Yuhei-san tried it on me. He was stronger and I could feel the pain. He asked me to try it on him, but I couldn’t catch the move. I saw many Aikido’s disciples coming in, and one of them was a white foreigner! Some were very young, and I saw a little girl in the Aikido costume with the helmet on. So cute!! Too bad I was busy in the class, or else I would have captured a picture of it. I thought I could see the adult session after that (I joined the kids session just now). Yuhei-san asked if I like to try. I quickly followed him home.

Today, it wasn’t as cold as the previous 2 nights. Saw the newspaper today and noticed the weather report on Friday will be raining! Hopefully not too cold then. After shower, I realized I have forgotten my towel!! Had to put on my old clothes in order not to wet my new one. Hastily, I ran to my room to get dried and changed to my new clothes. Every time I wanted to turn on the heater table, I thought of the electricity bill that Yuhei-san will be paying and refrained myself. 10pm, time for bed. Tomorrow would probably be more weeding!!!

27th Oct – 2nd day at farm, packing day

Set 630am but could only woke up at 7am. The weather seemed much colder here. That made it very difficult to get out of bed. I started to worry about my trail again. Too cold to shower and so I met Yuhei-san for breakfast at 730am as requested. They had all eaten already actually. Breakfast was pretty much like dinner with the soba fish replaced by a fried egg.

By 830am we set off to work. First stop was the rice field to set up straws of wheat to feed the cows. Surprised to see a lot of small spiders in the fields. Yuhei-san has 8 fields at 3 different locations. An hour later, we moved to the onion farm, trying to kill the weed that fight with the onion for food. Like yesterday, I fared badly again. The weeds were so close that I pulled the onion instead, on the couple of occasion. Of course, I did not tell Yuhei-san =] He suddenly asked me why I wanted to do this. You see, Yuhei-san is a guy with few words. I thought I was quiet enough, but so far, I had been asking the questions. I told him the model answer and then he asked when I'm getting married!! He said in English, "If u want, u should try".

Luckily we don't have to stay to complete the whole row of onions!! Would have taken me the rest of the day. We then went to the site where his elder son was representing his school in a 5 persons relay half marathon!! His son was the first runner. We waited and saw him!! I clapped and yell "Ganbatte, Gen-san!!" We spent 2 hours there as cheerleader in the cold wind. His son's school came in 2nd in the competition.

Interestingly, I noticed the Fire engine here has English on it saying "fire department call 119"! We went home and Yuhei-san prepared instant noodle. After lunch, we packed those self-made rice cakes for sale. These rice cakes are raw and need to be cooked. They are not cake from confectionary stall. Yuhei-san used a tube to suck out the air inside the bag before it was sealed using a machine. Then, we packed those Kabosu that I’ve separated yesterday into several boxes for sale as well. Obviously my quality control was bad. Many of them were rejected by Yuhei-san. After that, we started collecting various kinds of vegetables, including green capsicum and egg plants. The most interesting one was mushroom, where many logs where used to place bacteria in order to grow them. Yuhei-san said it takes one year to grow the mushroom. He also warned not to collect those grown on the ground. They are poisonous to eat!! He said you can die if you eat!! Unfortunately this was also where my disaster happened. I was walking among the logs and then I heard “creek”!! There goes my S$160 Goretex pant!! Very sadden by it indeed, after an interesting day. Careless pig!! I thought it would be pretty safe, since my Goretex were already dirty when I came to Japan, and didn’t want to change it yet until I was about to leave the farm. By 530pm, I was pretty tired already squatting most of the time, cutting vegetables, and wondering when we would call it a day. Before we were backed home, we feed the goat and the ducks again. After that, we started to pack those vegetables for sale. I did the egg plants and green capsicum. One of the egg plant looks like the head of a swan =] Finally at 7pm, Yuhei-san said “Let’s go for dinner”. It was like a father telling his kid that they will be going to the playground. Of course, I acted professional and did not show my excitement. Dinner was a fish, miso soup and some potato and vegetables for sharing. I did the washing and then quickly went to take my bath. Yuhei-san is a very hardworking man. Not long after meal, he went back to work and packed all the vegetables. Yuhei-san told me he works everyday. I’ve asked if he goes out on Sunday with his family. He said no. He works on Sunday too. He only rest, like half a day, when he is tired!!! I wanted to help him pack, but I was really exhausted. Quickly finished typing this and went to bed at 9:30pm.

26th Oct – 1st day at farm, Kabosu Quality Separator

Last night, met a couple in their 50s from norway going on a world tour! They were from Grimstad and knew the current cycling world champions, who is also from the same town! Horimoto san joined in the chat later. Then, another Londoner guy came, in his 40s or 50s and he had just been wwoofing like me recently at a cafe and a farm. He shared his totally two extreme experiences. We all chat till 12am for 3 hours plus.

Went to the station this morning and realized the 752am train was from Oita station instead, where I need to transfer to another line. So I had to wait for the next one at 831am. Luckily it was only an hour ride from Oita Eki and I wasn't late.

I waited for Yuhei san to pick me at Ogata eki. He was 50years old but looked young. After a 10min ride, we reached his place. Didn't know what to expect, I just followed him around to see if there was anything to help. He was packing up the room for me. And my first task was to clean the toilet!! Luckily it was just sweeping the floor. The toilet was not the norm u would imagine. Yuhei-san removed the cover to reveal a bin of shit and urine. He carried it and found a place to bury them. Washed the bin and the cover! Maybe next time I need to do it before I go.

After that we did some formalities and exchanged information. Yuhei-san has a wife, Aiko-san, eldest son, Gen-chan (15 years old), 2nd son Ryo-chan (12 years old) and a youngest daughter, Chika-san (10 years old). And a dog named Shiryus. She likes to jumped on you when you play with her. He has been to Tanzania, Africa for 4 years to share agriculture experience and research rice plantation. Not learn agriculture, as I understood wrongly initially. His farm was at Tokyo before he came here 12 years ago. His elder son is a long distance runner, while the others played volleyball! Yuhei-san explained that the harvesting had just finished not long ago in October. He will not start sowing again until June. Seeding usually starts in May, and when it’s grown, they are planted on the field in June. Interestingly, the Amigo ducks he had (about 200 of them) were not for the eggs but used in the rice field to make the soil better!! He also has a goat for the same reason but he said the goat was so far not very obedient. He also plant different vegetables.

After lunch, I was assigned my first real task! To separate the good Kabosu (lemon like fruit) from the bad ones. The 3 baskets took me the rest of the day. Met a couple of worms and kept thinking about dinner after the 2nd basket. To sum up the day, Yuhei-san brought me to his vegetable farm to help out pulling wild grasses that are competing nutrition with his vegetables. He did one row, and I tried the other. I couldn’t catch up. He picked up some of the radish and off we went to feed the goat and the ducks. The radish for the goat and there were this one big pile of harvested rice remains. These were for the ducks. Yuhei-san then drove a few bags of rice to sell them off. I dozed off and waited for dinner. Before that I met his wife and elder son. At 7pm, I met his obasan (grandmother) as well. She was 75 years old and drove for more than 100km from her house at Kumamoto alone to come here. I wonder why the elder here are so healthy. Dinner was great. Simple but great. A piece of soba fish and miso soup each and some vegetable, bean, and potato for sharing. I felt weird, sitting with the family, like a stranger sharing table in a restaurant. I blamed myself again for not doing my Japanese homework enough. I would probably be able to communicate with them more and don’t felt that odd. After dinner, Yuhei-san showed me how to use the shower. I quickly excused myself to get cleaned. Very Japanese, like those in onsen where you sit on a stool throughout the session. After shower, I bid the rest good night. Yuhei-san was very nice and worried that I would be cold. He brought me an extra blanket. Then, dig out an old heater, which he wasn’t quite satisfied. I said “it’s ok. Daijobu (ok) desu” but he insisted and climbed up and down to set up a heater table for me. It’s a small table where you can slot in your legs underneath where the heater is. He said, “takai desu” (expensive). After setting up, he repeated “takai desu”. I felt bad. Perhaps, I should had said “hontoni (really) daijobu desu”. He said good night and went back to his hut. I settled down my stuffs. The environment was so quite, I can hear my own breathing. Occasionally, the fridge would cough, and the dog complained but only very occasionally. Perfect mood for some Zee Avi’s music and the songs from “V for Vendetta”.

25th Oct - Quiet day at Beppu

I realized last night that if I were on Singapore paying my rent for 550 sin dollar, that would make up to 36660 yen approximately, which would allow me to stay at 3000yen accomodation at Shikoku during the trail for 12days!! So I would only need to sleep out every 2.5days and anything more would be a bonus!! =]

Woke up earlier than the alarm I've set at 8am. Showered and had my breakfast at the dorm. Later I tried to look for a prepaid sim card that comes along with a phone that u dispose off after use. At least that's what I heard. Went to the hotel suggested by the staff at the dorm but all they were selling were just phone cards. Since I'm going to be here another 89 days more, I might as well get a phone card to call home, in case I can't get the sim card. Slot in 1000yen and happily pressed the button with the nicest picture on the card. Only to realize later that it was for local call only. Damn it. Another 1000yen. Then I tried to call mom and it worked!! What am I talking about? Of course it would work!! Then I tried to call the farm place looking for Yuhei-san in Japanese. But I think he was not in. Had to call back at 3pm. I hoped that's what I heard.

After that, I went to the train station to ask for the earliest train to Ogata and to confirm how long was the journey. There was this lady occupying the English speaking information staff, and so I waited and waited and waited. That lady probably asked where she could find a husband around Beppu as well. So i decided to show off my Japanese and asked the other staff there! Before I could speak, she saw my Japanese phrase book and immediately directed me to the same English speaking staff. So I waited and waited and waited. By now, the foreign lady had probably asked about hospitalization fees for giving birth in Japan. So, I tried my luck again with a different staff. "Koko kara Ogata eki made, nan jikan kakarimasu ka?!" was my first question. The lady looked stunned at my Japanese. Luckily the old man next to her understood and said "ni jikan".
"so desu ne. ichiban hayai densha wa nan ji desu ka?!".
"ichiban hayai!?". The old man then directed me to a board outside and pointed at 752am for the particular line. I thanked him and left. The foreign lady was still there. She must be asking about the education for her kid by now.

Next I just walked aimlessly around to the park and the beach. Not long later, it started to rain again. Damn it. Should have brought my raincoat along. So I was stuck in front of an empty stall writing this. Half an hour and the rain didn't seems to get any lighter. I tried a few more steps and came to a shop selling food. It was 12pm and my stomach started complaining already. I hesitated cause I could see the prices from outside. The obasan waved at me to signal me to come in. I obliged. It wasn't that pricy. I picked up a chicken rice and tomato juice for 540yen. It wasn't that great too. Thanked the obasan for letting me to eat there and just on time, the rain got lighter. I moved on to Beppu park and made a turn back to my dorm. Nothing much interesting. Then I checked up on the transport from Yawatahama where the ferry will stop at Shikoku to the nearest temple 43 near Unomachi station. To save cost on the transport, I thought I should start my pilgrim from temple 43 instead of temple 1 at Tokushima, which is a 4 hours train away! It's not uncommon because many people from Kyushu did it this way too. So I supposed I should be able to get my pilgrim stuffs at temple 43. My eyes were working very hard to stay open. I took a break and dozed off for 45minutes or so.

Time to call the Yuhei san again. No luck. Answering machine. So walked aimlessly again and found these small interesting streets!! Red light district!! Then I found the onsen recommended by the dorm staff. For 100yen, I thought that must be the cheapest in town!! Doh!!! They don't provide towel. Well, I expected too much for 100yen. The lady said 250 for a towel. I hesitated. I told her I would be back later in my own Japanese language that only I could understand. I thought I must practice cost saving and limit any extra things to carry on my backpack. So I came back half an hour later. Went in to the men section. One look see all. (a Chinese phrase to mean the place is small). I got naked and oops!! Can't find any soap!! I expected too much for 100yen. So, I quickly rinsed myself very thoroughly using the COLD water there from head to toe without any soap and jumped into the pool before anyone see me. Then a guy came in. Cheh. (Cantonese tone to express that’s no big deal) He didn't even rinsed properly at all, not to mention without soap. Then 2 more guys came in. But they did bring their own shower cream and cleaned themselves up very thoroughly. Then a three generations came in. The dad rinsed a bit. But the grandpa also just jumped directly into the pool. Maybe that's the standard for 100yen onsen! But I did notice that all of them rinsed using the HOT water from the pool instead. I waved hello to the cute son =] the dad looked at me and smiled. After 20minutes cannot take the heat anymore. Dressed up and rest at the hall area.

Went to the food stall that Horimoto-san recommended. For 550yen, it was very filling although it wasn’t fantastic. After that, got my breakfast at a supermarket and tried to call Yuhei-san again. He was in and I told him that I would arrive around 10am tomorrow and will call him again when I arrived. He understood all that I’ve said!! Went back to dorm to rest. Chat with an old man staying in the same dorm. He was from Tokushima, Shikoku as well. We told me he had done the 88 temple pilgrimage 23 times!! 4 times was on bike. I hope that’s what I heard. The conversation was rather tough. I regretted for not doing my homework enough during my Japanese classes.

Enjoyed a while longer of the internet access and tried to plan for the trail. Knocked off early for tomorrow!

24th Oct – I love my dorm

It's always tough to leave a familiar place. I got used to China. My longest stay this far and enjoyed every bit of it, especially meeting up old but very great friends here! Yap and wife got to leave earlier. I bid them farewell one last time and thanked them again. I really can't thank them more for all the great hospitality I received. I bid farewell to my hiking shoe! He has been going through the blood and sweat with me at Mt Fuji and Mt Kota Kinabalu!! “You will be greatly missed, bro! May you next owner treat you well!”

Yap, the Kan Cheong Dai Si (Cantonese to mean over cautious) told the cab driver my flight was 10am instead of 12pm. As a result, the taxi was here half an hour earlier. So the cab driver told me he would drive slowly and gave me some life-meaningful lessons throughout the 45minutes journey.

Reached Terminal 2 Pudong International Airport. The queue to check in was like a curling snake. But, it wasn’t a long wait, luckily. After I checked in, I already felt like I was already in Japan!! The security staff was very fluent in Japanese with one of the passenger. The shop assistants were speaking Japanese to the customers. Japanese were heard everywhere I go!! For once, I thought this terminal is specially for Japan flights only!! After breakfast and uploaded my latest blog, it was soon time to board. The journey was pretty quick. Just after I was served the lunch, the announcement to land was made.

At the Fukuoka Airport, I was probably the last one to exit. The custom officer asked me quite a lot of questions; where I'll be staying at Oita, who am I staying with. For how long. Where I'll be going after that. Where I'll be staying at Shikoku. I remembered the book by a foreign henro (the 88 temples pilgrim) and try to impress the custom officer that I'll be walking the Shikoku 88 temple trail, and hence staying at different places. She didn't looked surprise nor impressed at all but gave me that doubtful expression and asked if I was well prepared with the necessary clothing. She asked what's next. To simplify things, I told her I'll be back to Singapore after that from Shikoku. She repeated a few times "from Shikoku?!" as if she was asking me "are u sure!?" I got a bit nervous by now. Probably she knew there is no direct flight to Singapore from there. Next she looked at the amount of money I noted down on the arrival card and doubt I can survive 90 days with that sum. So she asked if I had credit card and even my credit limit. But she did courteously apologized first before she asked that. After hearing my answer, she was more satisfied and let me passed with a final question "you can take such a long leave?!" One more stop, baggage checking. Again the same questions. My new nikko and the laptop were even taken away for scanning. But at least this was less stressful since I have nothing illegal with me to be worried of.

Had to reorganized my backpack after that. Checked the lonely planet but can't find much info on Oita accomodation. So decided to stay at Beppu for the night instead and go to Oita the next day. (Actually, Beppu is at Oita prefecture. I was suppose to go to Ogata) Great! There was a direct for 3100yen only =] The ticket officer guided me to buy my ticket using the machine. I was presented 3 types of tickets but knew nuts about what they meant. Since the difference was only a 100yen, I just chose the more expensive one. 412pm was the next bus and I still have half an hour to text my family on msn that I'd safely arrived, but unfortunately couldn’t go to any websites.

After the bus passed the town Yufuin, the area suddenly got very misty. Couldn’t see much in front. Getting dark very soon too. Wondered if I'll be able to find the hostel. About 2 hours plus, we reached the final stop at Kitahama Bus Station. The driver was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand. I followed the Lonely Planet map guide. And in minutes I found the dorm, Beppu Guest House. I love Lonely Planet !! And this place is a heaven. For only 1500yen a night, there are free coffee and tea, free laundry, free locker, free internet with wireless, even free shampoo and shower cream, great hot shower!! Clean with great amenities.

Met Mr Atushi Horimoto from Matsuyama, Shikoku. He was 42-years old working as a bartender and camera man at Osaka. He was on the bike tour around Kyushu for weeks. Amazing. I told him I was going to walk the 88 temples pilgrimage. He was shocked and said I am crazy!! But I like it =]

Went to a nearby place for an amazing ramen. Bought some bread for breakfast tomorrow and backed to the dorm to shower. Next, I was stuck in front of my laptop. Met and video chat with my sister. Checked out Facebook. Updated my blog. Charged up my phone and laptop. Sorted out my photos. But too tired to upload some ofthem. Knocked off at 1...

23rd Oct – Shopping day

It was raining the whole day! But Yap was so nice again to bring me around for shopping. Mirror, checked. Extra camera battery, checked. Portable harddisk, checked. Mini tripod, checked. Slipper, checked. Supposed to meet Dennis for dinner but unfortunately, Cindy’s grandfather passed away yesterday. So, we went home to rest early. Time flied. It was time to start my Japan life tomorrow. Excited but missed my stay here.

22nd Oct – Met up with Dennis

Yap was so nice to be on leave today to bring me around for shopping. Got my New Balance walking shoe. Then, we met up with Dennis and wife whom were here to look for houses. Dennis will be moving over to Shanghai with a new company. After lunch, we went home to charge up for the night. Before that, Yap brought me to the Japanese noodle shop again. The pork noodle was the best Japanese noodle I have ever had. The stall was famous for the Japanese here as well. And to accompany with a perfect draft Asahi !!! wow, it’s just heaven. No kidding. The best Japanese draft beer I have ever had. Too bad I forgotten to take a picture! Then, there was still time for a bottle of the German beer outside Yap’s place, before we met up with Dennis and Yap’s gang. No kidding. The best bottled beer I have ever had.

Well, this Shanghai trip was supposed to be a relaxing week for me to prepare myself for the life in Japan. In the end, I drank more than I would in Singapore!

21st Oct – More Expo !!

Finally decided on Nikko and bought my GoreTex shoe! Yap’s in law asked to come back for lunch again. Yeh, home-cooked food !! How can I reject?! =] After a wonderful meal, Yap and I took the subway to meet his wife to go to the Expo. Indeed I managed to use up all my tickets. Actually, there were so many tickets available outside at half the normal price. As usual, people were everywhere. After the 3 days only, you will be horrified even at the utter of the word “Expo”! Anyway, it was a great experience. If given a chance, perhaps I would go again at different country! At night, Ben called and rushed me to go clubbing. So, I had to fly Yap’s kite to the Jazz bar and went to meet him. When I reached the area, I saw two ang-mo babe. So I asked them “Hey babe, do you know where is Muse 2?” They were giggling like I am an idiot. They must think a China man was trying to woo them. I don’t blame them, cause the club was just 50m in front of me.

20th Oct – Tian Zi Fang and Seven Treasure Old Street

Met up with Jo to visit Tian Zi Fang (田子坊) at Tai Kang Road today. This place is like an old street with shops and restaurants with plenty of opportunity to take pictures. Bought an old postcard for my sis who loves old stuffs so much and mailed to her. The Post Office here is very hardworking. They work from 7am to 7pm!! Back to Tian Zi Fang. That place was originally named Zhi Cheng Fang (志成坊) making me more fond of the place, that we spent around 5 hours there, looking at photographs from famous photographers and window shopping around. There was this interesting restaurant which offers patron who can finish a 1kg burger in 10minutes for free!! 1kg is no kidding. We saw some photos of the hall of famers from various countries who managed to do it.

After that, Jo brought me to Seven Treasure (七宝) Old Street. Quite a famous tourist spots too. Perhaps we were already late, so the crowd was not that bad. This was so called the closest to any of those water towns famous around Shanghai like Tongli, Zhujiajiao and Zhou Zhuang. Since it is also geographically closer to the city, the place is definitely not as great as those further away.
Promised Yap’s in law that I would be back for dinner. They are really very nice people. And of course, home cooked food is always the best! I love the meal so much =]