blinking

how quickly time passes. that i should come back on 21 dec 2012 from japan, and it is already 9 jan 2013. tomorrow morning is the flight. mummy is cooking a big dinner now. i smell like oil after standing in the kitchen.

it's hard to believe that in 20 days (did i count days correctly?), 2012 ended and 2013 came. we had our 23rd dec tiongbahru potluck, a 24th dec solemnization gig, 25th dec punggol potluck, social club street dinner, new year's eve dinner. then new year came and passed. then there was the life of pi outing, cz12 outing.

千寻

last three days in singapore, before i go to california for exchange. there are some things i am afraid of. reading the course syllabus for just one of the modules already makes my stomach squirm. this holiday has been very special, and bit by bit the past is slipping away.

and there are other things i am afraid of.

i may be happy in another part of the world.

皇居東御苑

the tokyo imperial palace east gardens. the only part open to public all year round, i think. otherwise, the palace itself is open to public only on new year's day and the emperor's birthday.

i liked that even though it's winter, there is still a lot of colour in the gardens. and the 2 swans in the moat was the sweetest ending to a long day of walking.

temples, shrines

a little shrine up at owakudani.

 

大谷本庙 in kyoto. which i hadn't intended to visit, but it was right at the junction of gojo dori and higashi oji dori. so i stepped in.

 

清水寺, or kiyomizu, in kyoto. this was after a long climb up many steps and seeing a vast area of family tombs on a hillside. didn't stay too long because i was attracted to the long stretch of shops selling touristy confections and souvenirs. then i find my kyoto kitkats here.

 

a walk towards kyoto station and i saw this, entrance to higashi honganji.

 

in search of the mos burger at shijo. from google maps i can only deduce this must be somewhere along ayanokoji dori. it's like a long stretch of shopping mall, and suddenly one shrine nestled along with the shop fronts. as though the shopping centre was built around it.

 

sensoji, at asakusa. with many gates, which all look like the temple itself. i don't even know which is which now. but the main temple has a beautiful ceiling with paintings. and outside in the temple courtyard, many gift shops and small food stalls.

 

meiji jingu, at harajuku. built to enshrine the emperor meiji's and empress shoken's divine spirit. it's really like a hidden treasure in the middle of a city area. check out the aerial view. although the city air may be super cold, once you step in the big wooden gate, the forestry enshrouds you, and you don't feel cold anymore.

on the shinkansen

on a two-hour ride on the speedy bullet train, you can be sure that you are covering a very long distance. you could be in clear blue skies, and then cross into a snowstorm and experience a white-out. but soon enough, if the train pushes on, you'll ride out of the snowstorm back into clear skies.

and happy 2013. or maybe not so happy.