The Return of The Kumpung Kid

- Never Stop Dreaming -

So here we are again, Monday, at my workdesk slogging to pass time with no visible signs of snow that really sullens everything. Bright blue sky, random pieces of clouds barely blocking out the harsh sun rays and to an extent to what some might proclaim, "Oh my, what a beautiful day!". Complete tragedy for me because I need snow and I do need it badly. Being away since Friday night and only to return on the pre dawn hours of Monday, all my precious snow have melted leaving not a single untouched, clean and white snow in sight...Bad bad bad.

The trip down to Osaka will entail numerous details so here we go...

Friday after school I headed home at around 1615 hours (my work officially ends at 1630 hours) clearing taking advantage of the festive mood to skive a few measely minutes. Reached home around 1635 hours and from then I took my time have a nice decent scrub down in the shower. Fluffed up my mane feeling really recharged and anxiety filling my mind about the Osaka trip. Exhilaration was to a point similar to Indiana Jones or Lara Croft because I could really feel the adrenalin flowing thru my body. Took a while to sort out the gear for the trip and then filled up my backpack with of course my precious camera. Draw out six slips of ￥10,000 notes from the envelop with much disgust because I know that these are my reserves. Did some last minute checks and then I saw my house faded in the rear mirror as I made my way to おぎのや。

I was about 10 minutes early to scout for the bus but 10 minutes into the pre-determined bus ETA (2010 hours) time, there was not a single bus in sight. Just as I was about to freak out my phone rang and I was told that the bus had already arrived but still there was not a single bus in my sight. Then I realised that the bus might have been parked at a different pick up point which was the case after I sniffed out the huge おぎのや compound. On board the bus, I realised that I was the ONLY passenger on board, pathetic I guessed. From there the bus made it's way to the darkness of the night with intermittent stops, either for toilet breaks or to pick up more passengers. By the time the bus reached the last pick up point in Matsumoto, Nagano prefecture, the bus was filled with more than 10 passengers including myself. From this point on it was a non stop high way route to Kyoto Station which I found myself tossing and rolling to get into a comfortable position to sleep. The bus had heaters beneath the seats on the opposite side of the aisle which was good for other passengers but not good for me since I dreaded the heat. The tiny 2 seats, confine space and warm ambience inside the bus was proving a little too difficult for me to snooze off. In the end, I simply gave up when I my watch vibrated at 0550 hours on Sat morning.

Peering out of the window, I realised that I was already far away from ricefields, mountains and sunken valleys but rather towering buildings, empty but well lit city streets and a very slight hint of dawn approaching. Since the bus will take approximately another hour odd to reach Osaka Station, I was not able to sleep anymore and that I was pretty excited and looking forward to the day, I was simply staring wide-eyed outside the window. Upon reaching Osaka Station, dawn was only beginning to settle in comfortably with light blue skies stretching along the horizon. I alighted from the bus and made my way to the nearest toilet to do the usual morning chores. Just when I was exiting the toilet and was about to call WY, I caught him walking in my direction. Well this was like the second time we actually met and on both occasions, by pure coincidence without prior arrangements. It's really funny how SGreans are connected via mental airwaves when they are put in vast lands.

Picking up 2 other fellow SGreans, Kathy and Daphne later in the morning we ended up in some uneventful cafe with not so decent looking wafers, rude staffs and was even told to keep our volume down. Ok I confess we were rather loud at certain point but the rude attitude of staffs really wasn't necessary since I had such high expectations of the Japanese service industry. Perhaps the young waitress wasn't the most average looking lady to be put out to the front lines so that would explain and fulfill the self-fulfilling prophecy that 丑人多做怪. After the lousy experience and breakfast of wafers which I had skipped altogether opting for plain can coffee off コンビニ, we were headed to Yodobashi. Here I tried once again my bargaining stint only to find out that I wasn't so lucky this time round and was rejected. Since defeat was not something I would take lightly and I was pretty adamant to buy my flash unit on this trip, I approacjhed another staff, a fairly decent looking young lady. Weaving a little charm spell, it worked in the end but with only slight reductions and I was forced to either take or leave the deal. I took it in the end at the expense of losing pieces of ￥10,000 notes in the process. Since Yodobashi credits points which works like money on your subsequent purchases, I grabbed a diffuser, battery cases and a new set of batts.

WY, D and K were also busying roaming Yodobashi while I continue my spree until Weili and his gf showed up. Then the 5 of us SGreans from different parts of Japan went on to Namba for lunch and also some shopping. Well I have been to Namba on the April trip last year with Mum, Dad, Brother and his family so I was pretty familiar with the streets and yeah, brings back memories as well. Had Ramen at one of the tiny joints in Namba before heading back into the streets of Namba and then finally back to Yodobashi in Osaka. Man we seems to be quite fond of Yodobashi because afterall it's a prominent landmark and everything else simply resolves around it. In the evening, 3 more SGreans, Joanne, Huiwen and Jing showed up. So it was a final combination of 2 awesome dudes, 6 fabulous home grown ladies and 1 Kumpung Kid aka "The One with the Menacing Camera" going into a Izakaya for dinner. While the lighting was fantastic, I was really obliged to try out the new flash after reading various periodicals on using it. I was brutally destroyed after the first initial shots with my subjects looking like as if they were to be hit by a on-coming 18 wheeler high beaming HIDs. I was really better off without the flash so I guessed I have a long way to accumulate field experience before I flash this light gun again.

Dinner was a combination of whinings, comparisions, gutter-uncensored material from anything to anywhere. Of course the food was fantastic and the free flow of liquids was definitely a party booster. After dinner it was カラオケ till 0600 am. Initial few rounds were subtle and easy where everyone else sang emo songs, slowly opening up their musical vocal chords. Then as the session progresses, I was really taken aback that most of these absolutely fabulous SGreans can sing Japanese songs with such ease that I would have mistaken them for a Japanese...W, double Js, D were really really good with J songs and K and J was especially proficient in English. I was too tired to pull out my camera to soil the mood so by 0430 am, I was already in LaLa Land. Exited the カラオケ at 0600 am, headed to Joanne's apartment with WY, D and H and while walking there after the train transit, it was actually raining tiny pellet like hail stones which I thought everyone else presumed it was snow. J's apartment was pretty amazing in a way because it resembled HBDs flats back home. I swore there was like a 98% perfectly modeled neighbourhood of HDBs. No pictures again because I was dead tired. WY, J and I snoozed till 1330 hours before WY and I headed out as not to impose on J any further. Again no pictures of the neighbourhood because we were actually running after the bus.

THANK YOU JOANNE DEAR for the kind hospitality...Hugs and Kisses

Sunday morning, WY and I headed once again to Yodobashi (WHAT?! AGAIN?!) but this time it was to one of the chain stores 風月 on the 8th floor of Yodobashi for モダ焼き which is basically お好み焼き with 焼きそば. WY and I totally screwed up the meal by attempting to split it, add sauce and spices and finally eating it. We were stopped 2 times by the staffs because it was not ready yet and then finally when we were ready to eat, we were greeted by sinister smiles and grins from most of the staffs in the shop because we, foreigners are really pathetic I guess. After brunch, we went to Yodobashi and WY grabbed a Bose headphones. Nothing eventful after that as we headed out to Osaka and Shin Osaka to locate and confirm out departure points so that we would not be stranded, broke and probably homeless. With only a couple of hours before our expiration in Osaka, we headed back to Osaka and tried our hands on racing games in some Arcade centres which seems to be a thing of the past back in SG.
1900 hours, WY headed out to grab dinner and then the long bus journey back to Ueda. I was waiting for Miki, a friend I made while I was in Osaka in April 2008. We had a rather nice dinner that was filled with nothing less than updates our lives since we parted in April. Great but time was a little short so once again I bade goodbyes to Miki before heading to Shin Osaka for the bus back home.

That's pretty much my weekend which left the Kumpung Kid broke, tired with a sore neck and dehydration.