Instagram

Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts

Travelogue: Impulse solo trip to Japan


I love Japan. The people are polite and friendly, food is AMAZING and there's just so much richness in their culture and way of life. Soaking in hot spring water that cures ailments and rejuvenates your body? Yes, please. Learning about Geishas and Maikos who entertain their guests with performances wearing a kimono which is really hard to breathe in? Yes, please. Those are just the tip of the iceberg why I keep finding myself drawn to Japan's mysteries and wonder at how the Japanese ladies stay so fair even though I pile on sunblock all the time.


This end April trip was to be was fourth trip to Japan, and though I only have really basic Japanese conversational skills which were enough for me not to get lost, it would be a challenge even just getting on the right train. I asked a few close friends if they were interested and could travel on such short notice, but they couldn't.


So I decided to be brave and book solo return tickets to Japan! I booked my flights on a Wednesday evening, and I was slated to fly on Saturday night. Talk about spontaneity and impulse! I was sooo excited! I had flown to London alone before (which is a 13h flight) so flying for about 7h wasn't a big deal to me, as long as there wasn't much turbulence.

I've made a number of friends in Japan since the beginning of university, and I reached out to them via Facebook (god bless them!) and arranged to crash at their places during my stay. There was a lot of good luck involved as golden week was the week after, which meant many people would have gone back to their hometowns instead of remaining in Tokyo.



Getting a data plan was a priority for me, but as I did not buy a prepaid sim online and it was too pricey to rent a wireless router since I was swinging solo, I decided to just leech on any free wifi spots I could get. Bigggg mistake. There aren't many free wifi spots in Japan, the most famous one being Starbucks but even so, your initial registration requires you to click a link in your email to activate. Which defeats the whole purpose?! Thankfully I had a Japanese friend with me when I was at Starbucks so she created an account for me using her email.

Being the last minute person I always am, I only started packing on Saturday! Okay, granted I was working til 1-2am that entire week, so I didn't have much time to get ready. I packed pants, long johns and long sleeved tops, remembered to throw in a nice outfit or two just in case, and brought a spring jacket and boots. Seeing cherry blossoms was on my bucket list, but I knew that the time for viewing cherry blossoms was usually in March to mid April so I was just going to try my luck without much hope.

My shopping list was short. I only wanted to get undergarments, socks, makeup and eye drops. My to do list consisted of meeting friends, eating delicious food and experience what it's like to be a Japanese.


Armed with only a positive attitude and a quest for adventure, I checked in and boarded my plane. People are afraid of traveling alone for fear of the unknown, but I wanted some me time and having the freedom to roam around to explore the city. Tokyo and Nagoya, here I come!!

Dinner and Dance 2013

My company had a dinner and dance function at Raffles City Convention Centre recently, and here are some pictures I took that night!! You can decide if I'm a sorceress, a vampire or Christine Daae (from the Phantom). No I'm not a witch!!!

Outfit was rented from a shop in Bugis called Global Mascot. Shoutout to them because I bargained for a good price :X Their store is HUUUGE. It takes up two store spaces, has an area at the back AND I saw a staircase leading up to more stuff!!! Also, after I tried this outfit, I noticed there was a slight rip, and an uncle promptly took the dress for me and sewed it on the spot.

That's service for you!

Global Mascot
766 N Bridge Rd 198734
Tel: 6392 2792

















 




 
 



OMY Blog Awards 2013, Best Interpretation Blog - A huge Thank you!

Attended the OMY Blog Awards 2013 last week, and the theme was 1960's fever! As I don't have any vintage clothes in my wardrobe, I rummaged through my mum's wardrobe to find something to wear. That morning, I also spent a while googling 1960's fashion, using looks from the American series, Madmen as inspiration for my choice of clothes! Finally, to get the correct hairstyle, I YouTubed bee hive hairstyles and tried to imitate them without back-combing my hair. Which was essentially the toughest bit.

Then came Murphy's Law, when I couldn't get a cab for 20 minutes! Had to call one in the end, and managed to catch a breather.

Peal necklaces: Mum's, Pink vintage dress: Mum's, Earrings: Own, Red ribbon: Own.

By the time I reached, Shanghai Dolly was packed. It was my first time there and it was much bigger than expected! However, I arrived in the nick of time because the emcee was just kicking things off :)

In the meantime, managed to chat with my friends and grab photos!










I took a ton more pictures but this entry would be too long if I pasted all of them!! So you can view the pictures on my page if you wish!

Anyway, the day of the Blog Awards coincided with Colin's birthday, and Mint planned a surprise for him! 

While Colin was on stage strutting his stuff for Best Dressed Award, Yingzi and I were putting candles on his cake and removing the plastic sheet surrounding the cake!

However, he came down the stage too fast for us to light the candles!! So everyone formed distraction tactic #1, take pictures.

Mint brought Colin to a corner and the two of them posed! Super good tactic because Colin didn't suspect a thing!

 When suddenly, everyone started singing 'Happy Birthday' to Colin and he was so happy! (notice how the edges of the cake are a little out of shape? That was because we had trouble removing the plastic sheet hahaha)

 Successful! The chocolate cake was really yummmmyyyyy!!

Then came to the category I was nominated for, the Levi's 501 Best Interpretation Blog! *drumrolll*
Was SUPER MEGA surprised when I heard my name!! Went up the stage in a daze to collect my award. Thank you guys for voting and for liking my posts!! :D 

Happy that I look tall here :X, Credits to OMY

 They called us up on stage to take photos with the winners with the other categories and the VIPs, so here's a combined shot taken by OMY! 

 Still can't entirely believe it 

 This was my first time participating in the OMY Blog Awards 2013 and it's been one great experience! From learning about Levi's heritage and culture, to testing my writing boundaries, to juggling available time and meeting deadlines, it was all worth it!

Which brings me to one of the things I love the most about blogging, meeting new people! Here's The Ninja Girls who stood out in their figure hugging sequinned dresses and afro wigs, who were nominated for best dressed and also won Best V-log award!

Thanks again everyone for reading this blog, for voting for me, and for believing in me. 
Blogging brings me happiness and this award has given me strength!!
Even a simple click "LIKE" on my Facebook page, a retweet or reply to my tweets, comments left on my blog or instagram, always cheers me on. THANK YOU for always being here for me!!

God bless and have a great week all!! XOXO

Lost phone, Beerfest Asia 2013 and how to track your lost Android.

Intended to write some nice happy posts today but I am just upset with myself.

Because I lost my phone 12 hours ago

Yesterday was great, there's this game you can play at 313 somerset (with no minimum spend) where you guess the value of items to add up a certain amount given by the crew, if you guess it right, you get a prize!

Jelly and I guessed the amount and won $10 Paradise Inn voucher each! The voucher had no minimum spend either!!! Super awesome so we decided to have dinner there.

You guys have to try their claypot tofu. It's super good. The inside of the tofu is really smooth and the gravy was just incredibly delicious! We also ordered their sweet and sour pork and it was quite yummy too. 

Anyway, after that we decided to pop over to Beerfest Asia because I had complimentary tickets, plus I wanted to see Killer Queen super badly. Spending your Saturday night listening to Queen tunes live, plus in a mosh pit with people who love the music as much as you do? Would made my night!

When we reached the back of the flyer, aka Marine Promenade, it was really crowded! People were merry, sweaty, having beers, and we got ourselves a bottle each while waiting for Killer Queen.

Managed to catch the last two songs of the Gunz n Roses cover band! The crowd went wild with 'Sweet Child of Mine'

They were delayed for about 15 minutes but came up on stage with rocker gear and a Freddy-lookalike. He even sounds like Freddy, Queen's lead singer! Everything was great until people started rowdy, people throwing air filled balls onto the stage and almost hitting the band, I saw this Singaporean guy getting violent, lifting bench seats and the table, causing the bottles to fall on the floor, and the most annoying thing -

People who sprayed everyone around them, with beer.

At first, I endured the few drizzles, then when it didn't stop, I got freaking furious. 

Here I am dancing and enjoying Queen and you're ruining my night. The people around me kept turning around to see who the group of a$$wipes were. 

The droplets became bigger, the back of my top was actually getting wet, and that was it.

I turned around, looked straight at the Singaporean dude, pointed my finger at him and said "Can you stop doing that!" in my most serious, don't-push-it, tone.

Also, when I turned around, the guy next to him was about to empty an ENTIRE bucket of iced water, either onto his friend JUST DIRECTLY NEXT TO US, or he was going to splash it on everyone.

I'm guessing it was the former because he was looking at the friend, who wasn't aware of what was about to happen. 

I am SO glad I stood up because if he really did pour that bucket of water, we would've also been hit by the water. 

Anyway, Jelly was so funny, he said he was thinking of  a fight plan in case they didn't listen to me and I had to "follow-through". Like, if they would pour that bucket of water on ME, instead. Which was also highly possible since I was in front of them.

If they did though, I might've also started my first fight with 6 guys. Hahahahah confirm lose but would've been angrier than an angry bird.

After their last song, "We are the Champions", we went to one of the benches to sit and finish our beer that we bought with our last Beerfest currency (poker chips la). Took a cab back, and that's when I realised my phone was gone.

My baby :'(

Before this, I had NEVER lost my phone, in my entire life. And just to clarify, I wasn't drunk or high, I was more sleepy and tired at that point. The last time I used it was at the benches, but I remember putting it into my bag, though it was lying on the top of my stuff so it could've fallen out.

I rushed back to Beerfest but no one turned anything into Lost and Found, no one saw the phone, and I believed the team at Beerfest did the best they could do. I traced my steps from Beerfest to the point where I boarded the cab. So the other option is that...

It dropped in the cab.

It's highly likely because I kept calling my phone (which only had 10% battery life when I left it) and by the time I found an app I could remotely install on my phone to locate it, my phone's battery died. Urgh.

And so, this is the morning after, where I'm completely blaming myself for NOT INSTALLING A TRACKING APP on my phone. And not finding a remote app fast enough. Also, that I was careless and didn't do a double take before I left the cab. Jelly was also upset for not noting the license plate number of the taxi driver, because he usually does that, except last night because he wasn't feeling well.

I didn't backup the photos in my phone since March or something, and definitely didn't update my contacts to Google's cloud so I am regretting that as well. 

Bleh.

Since I am so distraught and resigned that my phone -which would probably have been found by the taxi driver by now when he changes shifts- is 95% gone, I should make a trip to Starhub to get a replacement SIM and use a spare phone, and make a police report.

Sigh.

---------------------------

Also, with all the research I did last night on how to find your android phone without having a tracking app installed, I wanted to share what I found with you guys so that if you ever lose your phone, you can refer to this! 

But just to be safe, just install the tracking app NOW, and also, if your phone is switched off, there is virtually no hope left, except on reliance on the good will of people.

  • Android Lost

1. Download Android Lost after you've signed into your gmail account, you can do this on a laptop/desktop or even on your friend's phone!
2. Access Android Lost via web at this website http://www.androidlost.com/
3. Register your phone by either starting the application on your phone, or borrow a friend's phone (if you've already lost it), to SMS 'androidlost register' to yourself, for instant registration.
4. Once your phone has been registered, you can wipe all memory, locate by GPS, etc.


  • Where's my Droid
1. Download Where's my Droid
3. To use the app, text your attention word to your lost device's number from another cellular phone. To make the device ring the default attention word is "wmd ring", and to get the location of the lost device the default word is "wmd gps".


  • AVAST
1. Download AVAST (it's an anti-virus software too!)
• Control it remotely via a web-based interface (my.avast.com) or SMS.
• Locate your phone on a map.
• Lock the device until you find it, activate the siren, or wipe the memory to keep your private data safe.


  • Plan B
1. Download Plan B after you've signed into your gmail account, you can do this on a laptop/desktop or even on your friend's phone!
2. Plan B will start automatically and send your phone’s location to your Gmail address.

3. If for some reason it doesn't start after 10 minutes, you can borrow a friend's phone and text the word "locate" to your phone number.
4. Once you have found your phone, download Lookout Mobile Security to add all the essential protections that your phone needs, including security scans for malware and spyware, backup for your contacts and all the best lost and stolen phone protections -- all in one easy download!

 Plan B only works with 2.0 - 2.3 versions of Android

----------------------

These are the best ones I could find with the best reviews etc, use at your own discretion, I don't take any responsibility if you've lost your phone or can't recover them using these software. Android Lost was my best bet but my phone ran out of battery before I could install it.

*frustrated*

Hope this helps you guys, fingers crossed that my phone is found soon and thanks for reading!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...