He’s from Samutprakan, Thailand. He came with a bunch of flowers and chocolates. I can’t feed him the chocolates but I don’t think he’ll mind.

So. I was looking forward to last Sunday because I was joining a group of people to go onto Fuji Maru, a cruise ship that is the host of The Ship for 36th Southeast Asian Youth Programme (SSEAYP). It had been docking in West Port since the 19th and had issued an invite to Aleps to go on board for a few hours.

After being notified that I wasn’t able to bring a guest along on Saturday evening, I proceeded to find directions to make my way there. I even made printouts complete with a map, plus I gave myself an extra half hour, just in case.

Long story short, I didn’t make it onto the ship. Making people late for more than 20 minutes was just too much of a meiwaku. I was more angry at myself than at Google (the one time it has failed me!). There were three routes I could’ve chosen from and I chose the nearest way of course, although the second option was slightly more familiar to me. *sigh* Memang terasa agak bangang.

I consoled myself by saying that Fuji Maru is not a saiboat and I’ve been on passenger cruise ships before. The journey from Holyhead to Dublin in ‘97 came to mind.

Anyway, I was quick to let it go also because I was joining Davie on the KL Hop On Hop Off bus from downtown KL to the museum on Monday.

It was a fun outing, although I wished the bus’s huge windows didn’t have water stains so that I could take photos of the places we passed through.

One surprise I wasn’t expecting yesterday was an e-mail from Firefly.

Congratulations on being the ‘HOT’ ones for ‘Sail your way to Monsoon Cup 2009‘!

That one line just totally made my entire week, and it’s only Monday.
A big thank you to Eddy who sent me the link to the contest. Yes, 2 packs of nasi lemak is on me.

As I was still reeling from the news, Sherry came to pick up a book I’m giving away. Mum was kinda confused when I said I didn’t know who she was. Heh. Well now I do, sort of. It was so nice of her to bring muffins, when she didn’t have to. Arigato!

The last part of the night was spent with girlfriends, eating and talking the time away. If that’s not marvellous, I don’t know what is.

While the weather had been great in the first five days or so, it began to rain last Wednesday, and we were driving up to Fukushima that very day. The overnight trip went well, thank God. After that, the chilly wind arrived and my nose decided to block itself, which made venturing out of the house a chore.
I do hope the weather would turn around again during my last weekend here. It’s been drizzling on and off so far. *sigh*

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Paul’s quite honest here, IMO. Taken at Ueno Toshogu Shrine

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Have met quite a few old friends here. People I’ve known since 10-15 years ago. So it’s been good, and my host has been really great. A few more days before I go home. 10 days can go by really fast.

I am off again. This time to Honshu island of Japan. Just heard on the radio earlier today that Barack Obama will be visiting from next week. Hmmmm….. adakah kita ingin pergi mengendap, buat-buat sibuk?

I don’t like packing for winter. For starters, my winter clothes are pretty much the same stuff I’ve had since the late 90’s, with a few recent additions. Secondly, they take up so much space! In the end, I packed just enough for a few days but still ended up with a full luggage. Ah well.

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There are people to meet, football match to watch, food to eat (of course) and onsen! I just hope the wind won’t freeze my face.

Back in 10 days.

It used to be that Sunday is my laundry and lazing day, when apart from washing my clothes I just bum around and not venture out from the house unless I feel like having pasar malam fare for dinner. Then I’ll bum around summore until it’s time for bed, wishing it’s another Sunday the next day instead of the start of a new working week.

Now that I’m keeping my own time again, Sundays are usually the busiest day of the week. A few weeks back, I had Kam Raslan as a guide to show me (plus many history nerds/photo enthusiasts/etc) around a small part of KL on a short historical walking tour organised by the Instant Cafe Theatre’s new initiative CHAI.

Today, I had company to catch the last day of the KL Sing Song 2009. It turned out to be a really enjoyable outing as the talents were superb and entertaining.

Nik bin Jidan is one of a number of buskers who participated and Barrock was somehow inspired to get cracking on his guitar lessons. Heh. For me, Sharidir & Nizam P in the second set stole the entire show and made it their own. While all the talents held their own, it was great to see how diverse their music can be even when everyone had the same instrument to perform with.

The next two Sundays I will spend in Tokyo. I’ll be watching FC Tokyo play Urawa Reds at the Ajinomoto on the 8th but haven’t decided on the second Sunday. I’ll think about it.