To a friend who's always been next to me since kindergarten

To a friend who've never judged me or my actions

To a friend who sets me back in the right direction when I've gone astray

To a friend who've always been by my side when I need her

To a friend who always lends an ear when I need someone to listen

To a friend who understands me more than I understand myself

To a friend who supports me no matter what I've chosen to do

To a friend who travels thousands of miles just to visit to me

To a friend who everyone deserves


I'm so glad to have someone like you in my life. Wish you all the happiness this new year. Happy birthday Angie =) Miss you and love you lots! *hugs*

Inspiration from the land of the rising sun

Ahh, finally finished editing all the sketches and the year has already gone! Happy new years =)

I didn't have time for many sketches for the Japan trip but I put quite a lot more effort into the editing. The following drawings are going to be very colourful :D Quite fitting for a country so rich and vibrant at any hour of the day!

The first of the sketches are from Ghibli. Visiting the museum in Mitaka, Tokyo was worthwhile and I wished I had spent more time there. Unfortunately, we had just come back from a long trip from Osaka that day and the museum closes at 6pm. I had 2 hours to soak in all the magic as photos were forbidden within the building =(

Hann got me a gift from the Mama Aiuto Shop (thanks!) : A small box with the iconic Totoro character waiting for the catbus



The musuem had a rooftop garden with a robot statue from Laputa - Castle in the Sky. We got up just in time for sunset (around 4.15pm) and were greeted with a great view



All entry tickets came with a single viewing of a short animated film, which change every few months, screened only in the museum theatre. The one we saw was of a breadmaking goblin witch (?) which found an egg princess (?) and put her to work in her bakery. The egg princess was able to knead a large amount of dough which turned into a magical walking doughman when it was touched by moonlight. Together they tried to escape the goblin witch. It was really cute and enjoyable even without dialogue! The film only lasted about 15 minutes.



Apart from the awesome Studio Ghibli, Tokyo (and all of Japan in general) has fantastic public transport. We never had to wait for more than 10 minutes for the next train. Once inside, you can see everyone's mobile phones glued to their hands. I also noticed their right thumbs are usually flatter and wider than average. Too much texting maybe?



Our first destination out of Tokyo was Hiroshima and there are no direct routes on the Shinkansens (bullet trains) for these 2 cities. If we missed the Tokyo shinkansen, it could mean waiting 1 or 2 hours in an in-between city to catch another Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Haha, and we almost missed the Tokyo shinkansen. There was a lot of running with heavy luggage, plus, shinkansen platforms do not have escalators... fun!



The shinkansen ride was also the place I got the best view of Fujisan. Thankfully it was a clear day.



Last sketch for the post, I miss the food. Sigh, hot takoyaki on a cold night was heavenly

Don't think I'll do a food post for Japan like the one I did for KL and Korea. It might take too long to upload xD