turning japanese - twin liner bus

looks more like a train to me ;p

turning japanese - parking area for bikes

One of the things that amazes me most as I experience life here in Japan is their use of bikes. Bikes here are used by everybody --- to the office goers, stay-at-home moms, kids, and of course those health buffs. Bikes also are registered in city halls - and I mean complete with certifications and all that paper proofs that it belongs to you.

From where I grew up, bikes are used only for recreation or for a morning or late night exercise, but here its like its equivalent to a car. I can see beautiful petite Japanese woman (oops! too much admiration..hehehe) wearing skirts, no wait, "mini"skirts to go to work; and sometimes guys in their coat and ties as well.

And what made me think that bikes REALLY are so much a part of Japanese' daily life. They have parking areas for bikes as well.

These parking areas are situated near train stations so people who uses the train to go to work leave their bikes there. And after work and train travel again back, they can just hop in to their bikes and head on home, since there is no tricycle that could take them to short distances like in ours ;p

orange bike is hubby's

Its gonna cost you though. When we left hubby's bike in the parking area and have been gone for 6 hours, it cost us 100 yen (50 pesos approx.). They have this vendo look-a-like machine (which i forgot to take a picture of) that computes how much you are supposed to pay by just keying in the parking lot number. And you can't cheat and just pull out your bike without paying the fee. It locks your bike until the machines says you've paid (cool hi-tech Japanese). Not bad eh? considering you have been super stressed from work and quite sleepy on the train ride - a bike ride can be quite invigorating.

photohunt - entertainment

As usual, always late with the posting of the photohunt.

Last Saturday's theme is entertainment. Picture showing my daughter popping bubble wraps bringing entertainment to an otherwise boring day.

photohunt - garbage (july 11)

This is a super dooper wackadoodle late post of the photohunt themes. During the time that garbage was the theme, I couldnt come up with a picture to depict it. But today while walking on our way to eat lunch, we saw this computer monitor laying around like a gum wrapper and I just could not resist. Funny thing is that I cant even see a gum wrapper on the streets. How's that for garbage. ;p

See related posts:

photohunt: painted

kopi roti - kaya toast

At the waiting area of NAIA Terminal I1, near the boarding gates, is a breakfast nook called Kopi Roti. Having read raves about this shop in Awesome Planet's blog and the fact that we still havent had breakfast yet made me want to check it out.

It is a coffee shop with just a few selection of tasty treats, toasts and buns mostly.

What I ordered was the kaya toast. It is toasted bread sliced thinly and served with kaya spread and butter. (Kaya is a famous jam hailing from Singapore and Malaysia made from coconuts.) To me it feels like eating pan de coco only on a crunchier bread. For 55 pesos, you get 2 sandwiches - not bad.

Too bad I didnt have the chance to taste their coffee selection because adding caffeine to my already excited phase that day could kill me :p

To get a glimpse of what their menu looks like and their branches, view this.

turning japanese - prologue

So this stuff that I was talking about that left me "blog dead" for a month and a half was this trip that my husband planned for us two girls (my daughter and me) to visit him for a month.

During the start of the preparation to come here, I thought paperworks were the hardest to fix. It turns out packing stuff to buy and bring was the hardest. I mean to fit the whole house, where I have been most comfortable with my entire life, in two 20-kg suitcases is just so hard - doable - but hard ;p

So iniweyz, this is a pretty major thing for me since I havent been away from home for more than a week or two, and that Baguio (still, with family) and Surigao (at my parents house) are the only places I went - which still feels like home - so there you go.

Let me share in the next days the experiences I'll have during my stay here - from a not so well-travelled momma's standpoint (ignoramus hehehe). I'm sure every bit of experience - be it good or bad - will be worth blogging and reading. Hai!

boyce avenue on avril lavigne's keep holding on

My husband sent me this link from youtube saying that this song fits us perfectly - sweetness! I havent heard of these boys (or boyce? hehehe) yet and just thought that they are just one of those guys who want to make it big in youtube. Apparently, Boyce Avenue did make it big and have been big for quite sometime now. In fact, they had a concert already here at SMX MOA according to my friend. Iniweyz, I just super love these guys and how they do their own interpretation of famous songs - acoustically.

Boyce Avenue on Avril Lavigne's Keep Holding On

My personal favorites are their version of Oasis' Wonderwall and Goo Goo Dolls' Iris.

Enjoy!!