Waiting

took this pic in osaka, at the station nearest to where my uncle stays. something simple yet i like it.

no ordinary ramen

it might look like normal tonkotsu(pork broth) ramen but its not, not at all! i went all the way to akashi to try Caramel Tonkotsu Ramen! the pork meat has been dipped in caramel sauce while the broth has been mixed with peanut butter. sounds weird and horribly disgusting eh? but it's not bad actually. the peanut butter doesnt overwhelm the taste so its not actually sweet, maybe a little. i pretty much though it was okay and wouldnt mind ordering it again. the shop that i went too actually serves all sorts of weird ramen like tonyu(soy milk) tonkotsu ramen or avacado tonkotsu ramen. i did try the soy milk one and honestly i couldnt tell the difference from a normal tonkotsu ramen...
it was a cool experience though, i can now brag ive eaten weird ramen! hehe

Happy New Year

This post is kinda late, it's been 23 hours into the 2009. but i've been busy and tired(from taking pics) and sleep. well, i spent most of yst capturing the sunset sunrise from umeda sky building (pic). i went there like 2.5 years ago but it was during the day, the night view is definitely something.the coolest elevator ever, period.
the sunset, i actually din get to see the sun set, partly cos i was slightly late and secondly cause it was kinda cloudy. view of osaka's WTC and tempozan park(where the aquarium is)
HDR-ed imaged of osaka
more views.
changing your white balance can get an entirely different effect.


the moon in the pic!
this was the sunrise pic, but there wasnt much to see, too cloudy, haiz. i left early instead to go...
here, yodobashi umeda, their flagship store.people like started queueing up at like 3am and by 7, queue was quite ridiculous. i still managed to get my breakfast at McD before joining the crazy bunch. i wanted a new lens but they din have fukubukuro(literally lucky bags, think ang pau or sth), so i got the compact digicam pack. before i continue, a fukubukuro is usually sold during new years(most places sell out on the 1st). it's a bag of goodies, usually slightly old stock but at a very highly discounted price. on of the fukubukuro being advertised at one clothing shop was priced at 10,500yen but if u were to buy everything at retail separately, it would be 40,000-50,000yen, a whooping 70+% off. the only downside is that u cant really pick what u get. so this was my first time buying a fukubukuro. i wasnt sure what to expect..honestly, i was thinking i would get some old old cam cause it was only 10,000yen. after queuing(and dozing off) i paid for my box and when i opened it, it was a fuji z20fd! too bad it wasnt a f100fd but nontheless, it's pretty good and fairly new(april 2008). furthermore, the cheapest they're selling at kakaku(online) is 14,500yen which is like 30% cheaper. but they included a 2gb normal sandisk card(1000yen) , an instant portable photo printer(think polaroid) which is maybe 4,000yen, an infrared adapter(3000yen?) (cos the printer caan only be connected by IR, dumb huh), strap,face towel, 10 free prints, booklet and a bottle cap tripod i think. the cost of everything separately would prolly be around 25,000yen, which is pretty damn cheap! oh, the only downside, the camera was pink ^__________^ but i can live with that :P i spend another 5k yen on clothes, got me a down jacket,one outer wear thingy, one long sleeve shirt, muffler and 2 pairs of socks :D
i'm going back tomorrow,i have quite abit of pics actually throughout my trip here. will post them in due time!