Announcement of Merge!

Announcement!!!

Merger of Shuumi's Squiggles and Shuumi's Travelogue is confirmed!

Too much of a bother to maintain 2 blogs... My travelogue didnt get as many hits as Squiggles did, so will consolidate everything into Squiggles and I think... It's gonna to be mainly a travelogue... All photos and ramblings from my les voyages will be posted here.

Will be transferring posts from the travelogue over the next few days, so please keep a look out for my travel photos at Shuumi's Squiggles!

Paranomic View from the Top of the Lighthouse

Dunno why so small leh... Think you can click on it to see it clearer.

Shionomisaki Lighthouse 潮岬灯台

Overlooking the Shionomisaki Lighthouse

This view is rated the top 100 hundred evening spots in Japan, but... we didn't manage to catch the sunset... all because of the bus system that ends at 4pm. Here's how it looks during sunset. Taken from the top sunrise/sunsets in japan.

Overlooking into the Pacific Ocean

see the roundish horizon? the earth is not flat...

Shionomisaki

Shionomisaki... located at longitude 135.46 east and latitude 33.26 north in the southernmost tip of Honshu.

The visitor centre against heavy cloud cover, taken across from the shiba-grassland.... The sun was horrendous that day, and both of us got sun-tanned...

Hashikui-iwa Rocks II

More photos from Hashikui-iwa Rocks...

Hashikui-iwa Rocks

From the seashore of Kushimoto toward Oshima, various sizes of over 40 strangely shaped rocks rise up in a row of about 850m, as if only bridge piles have been left, Hashikui-iwa is one of the best place of scenic beauty in Nanki designated as a national natural treasure.

Kino-Matsushima Cruise II

Camel Rock...
Lion Rock....

Kino-Matsushima Cruise

"Kino-Matsushima", scattered around 17km in the vicinity of Katsuura Port, shows a beauty of the seashore that nature has created. Among all-sized islands floating on the blue ocean, there is a camel rock, a lion island, "Tsurushima" of a cave, and "Yamanari-jima" where lieutenant general Taira no Koremori is said to have committed suicide into the water after his defeat by Genji in the fighting of Yashima. This place is famous for its scenic beauty of Kumano.

Tsurushima...

The view from Taichi...

Heavy Cloud Cover over Port of Kii-Katsuura

Nachi Waterfall II

Nachi Waterfall

Quiet town of Kii-Katsuura

On the way to Kii-Katsuura, by the Pacific Ocean

Wakayama

A main highlight of our trip was to go to Wakayama and visit some of the national heritages in Japan and to also go to the southern-most tip of Honshu, Japan. We made an overnight trip and visited 3 places:-

1. The fishing port and onsen town of Kii-Katsuura
-> Nachi-mountain and Nachi waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Japan.
-> Kino-Matsushima cruise, among the naturally formed islands.

2. Kushimoto
-> Hashikui-iwa rocks, Japan's national natural treasure and top 100 evening scenic spots.

3. Shionomisaki
-> Located at longitude 135.46 east and latitude 33.26 north in the southernmost tip of Honshu.
-> Japan's top 100 evening scenic spots.
-> Shionomisaki lighthouse, with more than 100 yrs of history.

Although we didnt manage to capture any pictures of sunsets at these spots becos last bus and train ends before 6pm, the experience was still good and we also were able to appreciate the nature in these areas. (Psst! We were the only non-Japanese there!)

Hep Five Ferris Wheel, Osaka

Word Verification Turned On

Received advice from Moozilla to turn on word verification in my comments to stop automated anonymous comments. I have done so and everyone can start leaving me comments again!

Thanks, Moozilla!

Anonymous Comments Disabled

Have been receiving many spam comments... Sick of deleting them... Have disabled anonymous comments... please register with blogspot before making comments... Sorry for any conveniences...

Maybe I will edit my blog code to put my email address in...

But if anyone knows of a way to stop the spam comments and still let non-bloggers to leave their comments, please let me know...

Maiko-san in Kyoto

Butterfly at Kinkaku-ji Kyoto

Grandparents and Grandchild

Kids at Biwa-ko Valley

This girl very sweet and gung-ho... Trying to slam dunk the ball into the basket... Caught this while she was distracted and looking at the activities that was going on...

This boy very cute and sweet... He was very protective of his mum and took care of her all the time.... Kawaii!!!

Kansai Airport

I'm back!

Hallo! I'm back from my Kansai trip... Will start uploading my photos onto the travelogue soon! Have already started posting some of my thoughts during the trip on my blog... Take a look!

Kansai September 2005

Planning for my holiday to Kansai, Japan in September. Yippee!

Think I will put my trip planning details and thoughts to my blog instead of here. I will reserve here entirely for photos... :D

August, hurry up and end. September, hurry up and come!

Yay!

Enoshima

Enoshima is also a popular place in the summer. Many of the Jap dramas often use the sunset at Enoshima as a backdrop....
The top of Mt Fuji can be seen only on very clear days....

Sunset at Inamuragasaki Beach

This beach is one of the top 50 scenic beaches in Japan... Popular place for surfers and it is very packed during the summer. Sugoi ne... To live just beside the Pacific Ocean...

Tsurugaoka Jingu

Built to commenerate the shogun who protected Kamakura - the capital of Japan in the 16th centure. He built the whole stretch of toriis down to the see to pray for the preganancy of his wife.

Flock of birds going home during sundown...

Thousand-yr-old gingko tree at the foot of the stairs of the shrine. Too bad when we went in 2004, the leaves have all dropped... This is the pic taken in 2003, when we went during an earlier period...

Kamakura

Hase-dera...

Buddha statues at Hase-dera....
An eagle flying overhead the temple...

Moto-Hakone

This is the same view as the weather camera set up in Moto-Hakone...
Further down Moto-Hakone...
Moto-Hakone... bus terminal...

Pirate Ship...

From Hakone-machi...
From Moto-Hakone...

Owakudani

Sulphuric fumes coming out from the mountain...

Stream of mineral water from the mountain... Our hot spring bath water at Fuji-Hakone Guest House...

Lake Ashi (Ashi-no-Ko)

From Tougendai to board the ferry on Lake Ashi...

View of Lake Ashi from the ropeway to Owakudani...

Mt Fuji

Taken from the ropeway to Owakudani...

From Owakudani...

Think 2004's snowfall was pretty much lesser than my previous trip in 2003...

16th Dec 2004... The long zig-zag lines are the hiking paths to the top of Mt Fuji...

3rd Dec 2003... More snowfall than 2004...

Gora Park

December is the completely wrong time to visit this place. We sort of forgot it was winter and went here. And... it was bare... Haha~ Mananged to still get these from the park though...


Almost froze myself to death trying to take this pic. The park had a light up for the night for X'mas celebrations. So we got our tripods all set up and ready for the shot. But it didn't turn dark as fast as I thought it would (it was already 5.30pm and I thought the sun sets earlier in the winter?). We waited in the 9 degrees Celsius cold for about 15 mins and then we gave up. Just took our best shot and left... So, here it is... a light tree and a still-bright sky... Haha~

A Pine Tree

A few hundred year old pine tree found in the Hakone Glass Museum.

Glass Works

Works from the 17th century...


Modern works...

Venetian-styled houses

Inside these houses are the glass displays of different themes.

Hakone Glass Musuem

Venetian style musuem and garden. Here's the view from the entrance. The smoke billowing in the background is from Owakudani - the volcanic area.


Close up of the Christmas tree in the middle. It's not a real tree... It's shaped into a tree with little pieces of glass to represent the leaves.


I like the way the different sides of the glass catch the reflection of the sun.

Japan Dec 2004

Got off the plane from an overnight flight at around 7am, dun like the breakfast they serve... Super hungry.... Worse... Didn't have time to eat as we were rushing to go Hakone. So from the airport, we took a limousine bus to Shinjuku and bought the Hakone weekend pass and the 10.30am romance car tickets to Hakone. The pass was a very good buy... 5,500 yen for 3 days and it covered all transportation.

Bento set on the way to Hakone... Think the theme is "oden" - Japanese yong tau foo...


We managed to check into Fuji-Hakone Guest House at about 1pm after a 50min twisting and turning uphill bus ride from Odawara Station. Very nice place to stay. I'd recommend it to all. Cheap, cosy and also private use of 'onsen' with water from Owakudani volcanic area.

We set off at about 1.30pm to the Hakone Glass Museum - about 15mins walk from Fuji0Hakone Guest House. We had very good weather that day... Blue, clear sky... These were taken during our walk to the museum.

Sarawak Cultural Village

Here's the map of the Cultural Village. The 7 houses are the Bidayuh Longhouse (built normally in mountains) - No.8, Iban Longhouse (more than 10 families living in the same longhouse, connected by a common walkway) - No.9, Penan Hut (this group makes use of blowpipes and darts to kill!) - No.11, Orang Ulu Longhouse (the warriors/sword smiths) - No.12, Melanau Tall House (their people prefer eating sago to rice) - No.16, Malay Town House - No.18 and Chinese Farm House - No.21.


Dennis in one of the family rooms in the Iban Longhouse.... He's standing on the staircase made from notched log. Its very slim and narrow and there is very little footspace on each step to step on. This is the actual type of staircase being used (minus the handrail) by the ethnic groups! Abunai-yo!


(More pictures coming up!)

Sarawak

Went to sightseeing for the very 1st time in Kuching after more than 10 visits over 5 years. Took the local tour to Sawarak Cultural Village and Damai Beach with my colleague Dennis. Superb weather that day.

Sarawak Cultural Village - "the living museum"

Sarawak Cultural Village portrays "live" the state's rich cultural diversity in 1 single place. It is a 17.5 acre sprawling expanse on the foothill of the legendary Mount Santubong fronting the South China Sea with 7 authentic ethnic houses built around a man-made lake. The lake represents the propensity of Sarawakians to site their dwelling alonside rivers or along the coastal areas.

Here are some photos taken around the Sarawak Cultural village.