Hello guys! I'm back here as promised to blog about my November Japan trip in 2017 (nevermind the fact that I never actually finished blogging about my trip in 2015 but oh well doesn't matter). So for those of you who didn't know, I purchased tickets for Japan for Vincent and I at the start of last year from Jetstar as they were "free returns" deal. It was sort of a belated graduation trip I suppose and it was such a good deal it ended up saving us a significant amount of money. I hadn't gotten my annual leave approved yet (joys of full time life) but I went ahead and bought the tickets but also purchased a "flexi" package including:

- 20kg luggage both ways

-meals both ways 

-seat selection

-ability to change travel dates and passenger names

I think it ended up costing us like $461.40 per person (keeping in mind this was including the package) so we were quite happy. Anyhow, it gave me something to do for the year - planning our trip to japan to see the autumn foliage. 

Generally I think the best times to see autumn foliage in Japan are between September-December, depending on which areas you are planning to hit up. Cities in the Northern region of japan including Hokkaido tend to reach peak autumn season a bit earlier whereas down south, the best time is usually around November. 

Anyhow, I thought it might be nice to change up my blogging style a little - well to be just a bit more informational rather than blabbering on about random personal things I want to write. What do you guys think? :) With that out of the way though, lets move on to the actual trip itself.... Vincent and I departed for Japan on the 12th of November and our first stop was Tokyo! 

We were made to wear animal ears and make cute cat sounds in Japanese every time our dishes came out, much to our amused embarrassment.


He's just a little bit cute. Sometimes. Not always, just sometimes. 

We spotted the Pablo cheesecake store as we were wandering about and tried a couple of their tarts which are supposedly quite popular with tourists/locals alike. 

I'm a sucker for limited edition stuff so I went for the purple sweet potato flavour. Vincent & I ended up liking this one better than the original though hahaha. It was sooo creamy, smooth & well-balanced flavours of sweet and savoury - the latter of which came from the cheese of course. 

 To be honest there isn't as much foliage areas to see in Tokyo city itself (well compared with Kyoto) so we spent most of the time doing the more "gimmicky" stuff like eating our way through all the raved about food stores. Not that we got through everything on our list but that leaves more exploration for next time! 

We checked out a random cat cafe in harajuku called Cat cafe MoCHA since it looked quite nice interior wise - we were charged based on time but the fee included free continuous drinks (non-alcoholic of course). 

You additionally purchase cat snacks for feeding. It was kind of cool watching all the cats gather onto the mat to lick the "lollipop". 

 I am in love. 

Extra points to this place for having cushions, bean bags & a sizeable collection of manga books as well as novels. It was a combination of all my favourite things - tea, books, cats and warm cosy areas to curl up in!! 

We stumbled upon this dessert store by accident last time we were in japan and it was so delicious we decided to re-visit again at the harajuku store! Croquantchou Zakuzaku is most famous for its crunchy choux cream pastries that are filled with hokkaido-sourced custard fillings. They also sell some really delicious creamy vanilla soft serves! 

Of course a trip to Tokyo wouldn't be complete without driving a mario kart all over the city! It's becoming an increasingly popular thing to do now, following a feature by a video on facebook. We booked online by contacting Maricar on their facebook with no problems. They spoke perfect english, replied prompty and allowed us to change our scheduled drive because the weather was shoddy on the initial date we booked it. 

So like.... I've been attempting to write my first blog post about my japan trip but for some reason it was very productive in the first half and all of a sudden i've lost the urge to keep going??? Well, just feels so tedious because I want to do up a half decent blog post - feels like I can't just post any old random stuff now but.... I am on it. Will do.

That and I also need to create a photo slideshow for a friends birthday so I need to hop right onto that also hahaha. Busy busy busy. Also, I joined the gym but have only been twice thus far. It's been a month since I joined or more. But... I signed up to one of the free personal training classes & have committed to a gym session with my co-worker. Hopefully I don't get smashed too hard.. 

So, it seems like I am continuing with this pattern of sporadic blog posts with long periods of inactivity in between. Anyhow, it is now 2018 - a new year so what better a time to make an reappearance? Well not that anyone is probably still following this blog enough to check for updates but lets say I am blogging for me. People tell me that writing has always been my forte - but I've been so caught up with life now that I feel almost rusty at putting my thoughts into written form nowadays. Excuse any grammar mistakes I might have, I'm currently on a evening shift at work so my brain might not be at its prime. 

I just feel.... that it has been a long time since I revisited old hobbies. Perhaps if I wrote more and expressed more of my feelings it can remind me to be grateful for the little things in life. This year, I want to find happiness in myself, to really try to live in the present and appreciate every moment. I always have a tendency to look back on the past or to compare my life with other people's highlight reels. I have been on a couple trips here and there during 2017 anyway, so might as well write up some blog posts so I can look back on the occasion (+ shamelessly spam all the photos I took without annoying people like it would if I had done so on instagram). 

Ending the last day of 2017 with some old friends

I don't have much to say about 2017 except that I felt .... lost. It felt like I started on a high and as things settled in with full-time work I just didn't really know what to do with myself anymore. The mundane tasks in life preoccupied me and what other spare time I had I was always going out with friends or vincent. Anyhow, I hope that this year I can take a more active part in doing all I want to do - or perhaps just finding more opportunities to really challenge myself. Anyhow, so if I keep up with this maybe I'll eventually get around to writing up posts about my japan trip and maybe the melbourne trip I took mid-year.  

The times seem to have changed from when people used to have blogs and commented on other people's content. I have to admit that I use instagram and facebook a lot more compared with older platforms like these but still, I don't want to feel too caught up in the pictures and aesthetic side of things to the point that I cannot express myself through other ways. It feels like people are always watching and judging now so writing freely seems a bit more difficult or vulnerable in a way. Oh well, we'll just see how things go shall we? New year new start? 

Watching things pan out just as I suspected all along, has a certain type of satisfaction to it. Things generally have a way of continuing in the same direction they start out with despite outside influences of trying to ensure otherwise. An uncouth character may choose to blunder on with eyes shuttered despite evidence suggesting change may be beneficial, and that unfortunately is just the simple reality of some. Naivety has it's limits, honesty is a virtue but not all things offered both may thrive. 

Never let it be said that there is no liberation or happiness in acceptance of what is; the sun will rise no matter how much one may wish it were not so, same as how pigs simply cannot be taught to fly. I've really come to embrace that experiences have a way of inspiring appreciation in the people and opportunities of the present. What are a couple of setbacks next to the knowledge that there are always those who will have your back no matter what? 

It is new friendship goals that we can freely take each other's food and go on impromptu karaoke adventures (which albeit involve very little singing). I love every moment we decide to do something fun on a whim - it feels like we're really living. Making something out of what was nothing. Speaking of which.. about a week ago, Tam Justin Joon and I finally simultaneously all had a day off and decided to celebrate Pk's 21st birthday... four months late. I concocted up an epic lie to make pk come with me onto the Tambourine Mountains.

Nights like these, I find myself slathering toast with heaps of butter and eating crackers  loaded with hummus 2cm thick. It's not that unhealthy you say? Well it is because I had no choice in the matter - I simply have no snacks at home. 

Haha its terrible but there is barely any guilt - not enough to make me reconsider anyway but oh well. I'm treating this year as my rest year.. At midnight. Treat yoself right? Do what makes you happy? Welcome to my mid-life crisis. Okay its not as bad as it sounds. I just sometimes feel like life is getting a bit monotonous and i feel little motivation to make changes in my life despite occasionally feeling bouts of insecurity about my persons.

I've barely made chips in my new year resolutions but hey, just let me try relax for now aye? That's what I've been telling myself. Anywho hopefully after this stint of evening shifts I'll be back in the grind of daily life. 

Actually, who am I kidding? I do the same thing day in day out but I really do look forward to going out with friends. I'm so glad every day that I have them with me - I almost feel little need to go out and make more friends simply because I feel as if it would be hard for anyone else to know me like I do. Everything is more guarded nowadays, I feel like I used to be more free to do anything I want without fear of judgement. I'm still pretty vocal and expressive with my opinions or feelings though, just that I tend to be more cynical and think people would mark me out to be some drama queen. 

I think I just show it or say it more thats all, not that I have more emotions than most people. I think?