WALKING THROUGH A JAPANESE VILLAGE IN HIGASHIYAMA DISTRICT

19th MARCH 2017 ~ We were going to the next must-visit tourist attraction in Kyoto - Kiyomizu Dera. However, after we jumped out of the bus, we had to walk up quite a distance through a small traditional Japanese village to get to that place. I just found out the name of the place is Higashiyama District. This was the first time I saw so many women wearing bright floral printed kimonos walking on the streets.

Unfortunately, there were just too many people at that time - locals and foreigners alike. The streets were quite narrow so at times, we had to move really slow. At the same time, the houses on the left and right had been converted into small shops selling all sorts of souvenirs to tourists, so there were people who made short stops to see the items on sale.

However, you could be deceived by the kimono-clad ladies. They could just be other tourists renting the kimonos for the day and pretended to be Japanese. I could sometimes hear them speaking in other languages.

I first thought this was the attraction but NO, there was still a long way to go.

Sakura! Sakura!

I for once wanted to get away from the crowd who seemed to grow by the number. Where did all these people come from? There was no way for us to lose our way to Kiyomizudera - we just literally followed the direction where these strangers were moving.

[MY OSAKA AND KYOTO TRIP MAIN PAGE]

KYOTO RAILWAY MUSEUM - PART TWO

[CONTINUATION OF PART ONE]

19th MARCH 2017 ~ We then moved on and went into the huge building that housed everything that was related to trains. I had never seen so many trains being put together in one place, and these were all real trains.

There were also a lot of model trains put on display. Wish I could get a few to bring back home but then I would have problems storing. Even though there were miniatures, they were still big and were built to scale.

Right outside the museum was a real life train station with complicated train lines intertwined with each other. At times, we could see bullet trains gliding past at high speed.

This was also the first time I had to be in a VERY long queue just to get into a museum souvenir shop to buy a fridge magnet.

If I had the chance to visit a place like this when I was young, I am sure I will be in a train-related profession by now.

[MY OSAKA AND KYOTO TRIP MAIN PAGE]

A HI-TEA GATHERING FOR THE RETIRED PUAN SABARIAH ZAINUDDIN

29TH APRIL 2017 ~ Puan Sabariah Zainuddin has already stayed home after her official retirement day two months ago but it was never too late to celebrate. A few friends from SMK Taman Universiti gathered (again) at Mutiara Hotel for a hi-tea session specially dedicated for Puan Sabariah. 

There was a birthday celebration by held a big group near us and the cake was then pushed in right beside our tables. We happily joined in the celebration and were then given a piece of the cake each.

There was an ex-student of SMKTUN attending a function at the same place, Mr. Lim Kim Siong [from SPM batch 2009 maybe], an active member of the school's Chess Club. By the way, the man celebrating the birthday is actually his boss.

We stayed there for more than three hours and had to part ways after that. We all wished Puan Sabariah a very happy retirement and hopefully this meeting was not the last one for everybody.