the beach experience 1 (sarushima 2009-Sep-13)

this might be a little too late for beaches, summer has definitely passed. but right before autumn started, we had our beach escapades. funny thing is, we never went to the beach on the onset of summer. it was just that at one point we realized that it was getting colder and colder but we haven't enjoyed the sun yet. so on one fateful weekend, we packed for sarushima which literally translates to monkey island... wahahha.. monkeys are going to monkey island. great!!!

path from the port to the island

so we road the train and got off at some port. and then rode on a boat. this is scary. i never learned to swim so my natural tendency is to search where the floaters are at. who knows what might happen... the view of the island was just splendid. should have taken shots of it while far. i was excited to the brim.

so crowded

reaching the island took 15 minutes. to our surprise, it was crowded. there were lots of people enjoying barbecue on the beach. what i find amusing with how the japanese enjoy the sea is that they are fully clothed. only a few are dressed for the beach, this means few skin to see. wahihihi... most also stay in the shade and never go for a swim. it is like the beach is a place where they go for barbecues and alcohol but not for swimming. and when they get drunk, they throw people to the waters fully clothed. too bad if you were thrown with a wallet and cellphone in your pocket. what a waste...

people thrown to the sea fully clothed

another victim...

i sympathize with the owner...

selected few who were ready for the beach. :D

we acted like kids hungry for the sea. who wouldn't? we lived in an island known for beaches back home, cebu. so we dipped in and went crazy. i never wanted it to end but out there is the horizon, you can still see the city. it was like i was constantly reminded that this is but a short get-away; the busy work life will be back soon. ohhh... sooooooo bad...

a boat suddenly blocked the view. might as well take it.

we were in sarushima or monkey island, but where were the monkeys??? aside from the monkey-looking-and-acting people, i haven't seen real monkeys in there but i saw hawks instead. lots of hawks. this should be called hawk island instead. wait, do hawks eat monkeys? maybe they have eaten all of them. wahihihi...




too bad, all good things have to end. with heavy heart for leaving early, and heavy feet for enjoying too much, we rode the last boat trip back to the mainland. the view of the island is just great. i surely did enjoy my summer break.

this was the last boat since the supposed last boat got overcrowded that a new boat needs to get the others

wow... i hope life stays like this. but my job haunted me after a few hours. T.T

but before my job haunted me we had some pictures taken in the park across the island. somehow, we were not in the mood for posing. i greatly apologize. wahahahha...

on the great flood

it has been flooding back in the philippines lately. i've heard of it but never gave much attention, it has always flooded back home so nothing new with that. but i have never imagined that it could get this worse. i've seen videos of it and it has left me in awe.

imagine an underground passage filled with water... imagine vehicles overturned and tossed around by the rushing waters... imagine people stranded on top of their roofs for hours... it has reached this extent not to mention the hundreds of lives lost. i can't do anything but pray that it will end soon. i can't be any thankful that my family lives away from harm. i can't help but blame our poor drainage system and our people's lack of discipline. if garbage were disposed of properly, then there would be less things clogging up the sewers.

in times like this, i am overwhelmed by the amount of tweeter messages informing of ways to help. it is but amazing to see bayanihan* still existing in this modern age. on a personal note, i am also quite surprised by my colleagues here in japan asking if everything is fine back home. it is a surprise that even people i haven't talked with for a long time (read as usagi-chan) are also concerned. somehow, these draw a smile on my face.

after all of these, i just hope for a better day ahead.

picture taken in sarushima 20090913

*bayanihan refers to a spirit of communal unity or effort to achieve a particular objective. -wikipedia-

letter to anonymous

i have no idea what is wrong with you but please do what you are supposed to do. ok

complain all you want in there. i don' t really care but just do your tasks ok.

you may complain to me that you are having a big headache over something but i haven't seen you working at all for the past days. you have been reading this book the whole day, you've been chatting the whole day. a simple mail won't hurt. bullshit. and you suddenly complain when work comes??? you better go home and rot than affect me.

that task was supposedly mine but i rejected it because of the very many tasks i am having. so there you go, is it my fault if you accepted that task? of course not. did i even recommend you to do it? i didn't. and now that many are asking about it, you suddenly throw your tantrums???? do you expect me to do it for you??? i won't. so don't hold your hopes high. i've got many responsibilities on my name and yes i've been complaining but i'm still doing my job. better learn some sense of responsibility. it sure will help you in the future.

work for christ's sake.

a simple task has been pending for days.

warm regards,

bye

amusement -- yokohama cosmo world

had to tour a new housemate last sunday though it was against my will for i had to speak a different language other than english, japanese, and cebuano the whole time. it is a big headache listening to yourself sounding weird. so we went to an amusement park, best place to go for those with no itinerary. just ride any ride you want...

we rode the 13th highest ferris wheel in the world, Cosmo Clock 21, situated in yokohama. it was my second time riding that and i admit i was quite scared--i have acrophobia and the wheel rises up to 112.5 meters. that is freakin' tall. it would take more seconds before reaching the ground if ever you fall. and more seconds means more time to think of what will happen next, though most will end up dead. wahahha...

up there we saw the whole place, we made plans on where to go next depending on what we saw. we took lots of pictures and we rocked the ferris wheel capsule scaring ourselves.

after the 15 minute ride, i saw something amusing but kept it to myself. if most people go to amusement parks to enjoy the rides, well these two had a different kind of amusement planned. wahahahaha... the girl was massaging her man's groin. what the hell were they doing??? there are many kids in places like this ok. there are virgins like me.. oh.. my innocent eyes were glued to their actions.

the pervy me.

they should have done more. wahahha. ooops... innocent brain, be innocent again. wahahaha

mt. fuji -- the great escapade 2/2

we were branded as team kalaban (the opponents), the four-membered team. don't get me wrong though, it got us pumped up even more. we got a team name, and we got a team cheer. we went there with AWS pips so our cheer was.

if AWS fails, we won't!!!

pretty solid don't you think? but it was all for fun. later on, "boom boom pow" of the black eyed peas became the team song. wahihihihi...

from the 5th station of the kawaguchiko trail, we started climbing at 2pm. reaching the 6thstation was just easy. the path was short and we were still full of energy, but i was sweating like hell. i wasn't expecting the sun to be that harsh on us. other than that, everything was fine. if the trek is as easy as this, then we will be up there earlier than planned.

(this pic above is from esther)

but the path to the 7th station was a big change. i was a complete mess. the road was inclined which zigzags left and right endlessly. after an hour of walking, i wondered where the 7th station was. finally, we reached the 7th and i got my much needed rest. what have i got myself into??? we climbed some more and to my surprise, the next stop was yet another 7th station. what???? there were like 6 seventh stations total. we still managed to meet our mates in here and have some chat before our team headed on. the whole 7th station leg was a roller coaster. it started with the endless zigzags. then there were also steep trails where you have to step on rocks and use your hands to hold on to more rocks. i very much enjoyed paths like those. what i hated the most were the long and high staircases; so tiring. my legs said "stop" a couple of times. at the end of this leg, team kalaban was leading the pack.

(this pic above is from esther)

moving on, night slowly fell. it was not only dark but it was very cold. we had to put on our flashlights and more warmers. by 9pm we reached the second to the last 8th station: yes, there were also many stops like the 7th. we have decided to sleep outside the lodges. we have eaten cup noodles in the previous stop so hunger is not a problem. it was cold. very cold.... and we had no bed: we laid on the benches. but i managed to sleep for a couple of hours until the lodge owner woke us up. he said that we cannot lay down in there. as sleepiness overcame reason, we had to find a place to sleep fast. we bought hot cocoa and we were allowed to enter. it was heaven inside; there was no strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin. but the hot cocoa didn't last that long... that means we have to face the strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin once more. we were completely caught by the lodge owner's bait--we paid 1000 for an hour stay inside heaven.

at 12:30, it was time to face the strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin. the last 8th station was just a few meters up. in there we decided to wait for the others. this means more sleeping time. we called them up and they said they were still somewhere and had 30 minutes sleep only. poor them... wahihihi. joke. strong cold wind trying to enter every pore on your skin finally had an effect--we passed air the whole time. wahihihi

at around 1:30am, they reached us. we started climbing yet again. but it was so much fun now, it was like a fiesta. there were so many people and so many headlights. watching the lights against the dark night showed us how far we still need to climb. how ironic... but where do these sudden flood of people come from???? i have no idea..

the sun was about to rise but no matter how fast we tried to climb we were blocked by the huge number of people ahead of us. we sat down instead while watching the rising sun. i truly can say that it was the best! i wasn't expecting to see another sunrise after joining this trip. for a colorblind person like me, i was able to appreciate the reds and oranges. breathtaking!

looking around, the huge number of people ahead of us were all sitting down as well. if we have wanted to reach the top fast, we should have ran at this point. right after that magnificent display of the rising sun, people appeared again. where have all these people come from????

the moment i reached the top, i paused for awhile and thanked God. i did it!!! it was a very good experience! thanks to all the people who didn't believe that we can do it, they only gave us more determination to climb up and succeed.

looking down from above, what a wonderful world...

MT FUJI... VENI, VIDI, VICI

(this pic above is from esther)

ps. looking down the long, steep, descending trail from above... i told myself, i will never do this again.

i'll keep the descent to myself.