JYeah: the beginning

The night was 9th Feb, when I had a long telephone conversation with Oad (the kind yang sampai telinga panas). We were talking about random stuff, catching up and I asked her about her recent Japan trip in December. She then let me in to a little secret, "Nina, sebenarnya kita nak pergi Jepun lagi, bulan Mei...tapi kita tak bagi tau siapa-siapa pun sangat.....". Without hesitation or much thinking on my part, I shamelessly invited myself OAD KITE TAK KIRA NAK IKUT JUGAK. At that point, I wasn't in the best place in my life so travelling sounded like a good distraction, and attraction, also, it's Oad; how could I look further for a better travel partner?! :).

A couple of weeks after our conversation, I was the proud owner of a return ticket for Tokyo, yo! 

The following months saw us preparing for out trip (lucky for us it was Oad's second time going there so a skeleton itinerary was somewhat ready). Individual research was also ongoing (all at differing pace since we were busy with work/thesis writing/viva presentation). The first time I met the other travel mates was when we went to the Japanese Embassy for visa application i.e. Oad's cousin and friend.

The one thing I found funny preceding to our departure was our accommodation arrangement...in a dramatic summary, we were relying our lives to a total stranger! ;p (turned out to be quite a home-stay, and we lived to tell the tale!).

When the countdown had reached around a week before our departure, I figured it was about time for me to have my suitcase lie open on my bedroom floor, for first-cut packing exercise: the tossing of things - necessaries and maybes. That was the extent of it, mindless tossing. (but of course I have a list, I cannot pack for a trip without THE LIST, you know, the things you bring are as good as the list. OK dah merepek).

Fast forward to the night of our flight......Bazlina, Raudzah dan Zarina sibuk berwhatsapp tentang 'ke-nervous-an' dan 'ke-excited-an' dan 'ke-unpreparedness-an" masing-masing untuk berjalan-jalan di Jepun.

"bawa baju jalan 7 je boleh kan?"

"baju tido nk bawa sepasang ke 2?"

"wah

im only planning to bring 1 jeans.

which is the one im wearing

ha

ha

ha hadoi malas nk pack"

"Omg, belum cek in"

"kita belom activate cc utk overseas"

"dgtgsjjdrb kena activate????"

"omg i havent done"

"Activate tu mksudnya just call the bank"

"Ape no bank pun xsure haha"

"Td kte br activate intrntnl roaming je"

"Kat belakang cc tu ada numbor phone

just call"

"kita dah beli internwt"

"serious ada number blkg tu lol apakah tak penah perasan"

"eh customer service 24hr la

can call now osso"  

(1:41 am)

"baju tido bawa sepasang je kan?"

"kte bwk 2 pasang

sweater n socks tdo juga"

"ahhh socks

td tak sempat nk beli"

"socs ada jual kat kedai 100yen"

"telekung how"

"Ill bring one too utk smyg kt rumah is

on the road, just lengan extension n socks"

"ahh yeah

woohoo what is sleep"

"Whats that"

(4.04 am)

(some content has been excluded, but the above, there's no embellishment).

SO JYEAH, THAT"S ABOUT IT ABOUT THE PREPARATION! 

JYeah: the round-up

This time last week, I was happily eating my soba in room 3132 at Tokyo Dome Hotel with the rest of JYeah team (seven to a room, mind you.. really on a shoestring ;p). I remember it being a wonderful day with general wandering in Ueno area, unforgettable sumo wrestling experience that left me gawking and screeching when I wasn't tired of waiting for the match to start, a short karaoke session just to kill time and to end the day, seeing ELF(/ves) exchanging love.

Upon coming back last Thursday, I already started to miss the washlet, and nope, it hadn't passed LCCT yet at that point. Up until today, sumimasen and arigatou are still being said instead of excuse me and thank you. Ish ish, seriously, this is a motivation for Osaka 2014.

I hope I will make serious effort to find time to really document my travel stories, for future me (this however, I reckon, had been futile looking at my track record on/in blog updates and Moleskine). Till then, please find below, 7000 words to describe each day I spent in Hapangg.