Afternoon Treat

Perhaps the best jam I've ever had! I was browsing through a little store called St. Cousair while I was in Japan. I was so surprised and happy when I saw jars of jam labelled 'matcha milk' and 'strawberry milk'. Who knew such flavors existed? I couldn't resist buying them, of course. It was worth every yen.

A Hodgepodge of Pictures

(1) coffee from Cibo

(2) my cousin's used up shoes

(3) a store that sells records, old and new, plus some other neat stuff

(4) Starbucks green tea latte, not the most appetizing visually..

(5) sakura-matcha Kit Kat!

(6) lace-hemmed socks from Japan

(7) shopping at Forever 21

(8) more coffee from PASTO

(9) super creamy hot chocolate from Mary Grace

(10) rain drops and light from the car window

These are some photos I've taken in the past few weeks with my iPhone, edited using the LINE camera app. Up to this day, the weather has been absolutely dreary; I haven't used my SLR, fearful that it'd get soaked by the rain.. Hopefully the weather improves soon, strong rain doesn't pass by without a few casualties.

Take care everyone!

My Favorite Place

First order of business upon landing at the airport: stock up on Lipton Milk Tea at Lawson, my water for the trip.

My family and I ate at this cozy hotpot restaurant, where we had ourselves some seafood hotpot. The place was completely barren; there was only one other table occupied. Two if you count one of the staff handling some papers. Snow began to fall heavily while we ate, what a great way to start the trip! My restless nephew kept himself busy while waiting for everyone else to finish their meal. Afterwards, we bought ourselves some soft-served ice cream. Blueberry for me.

Traditional Japanese toilets, nyehe. How ominous looking.

As a travel agent, my mom organized the trip as part family vacation and part familiarization trip. A lot of time was spent inside a bus as we moved from one area to the next. Sometimes it would take up to three hours to get to the next destination, but I don't think I slept once on that bus. The snow kept me busy. There were times I'd stick my camera out of the window to take a photo of the scenery and pull back quickly as if I were shooting bullets at some zombies, then quickly hiding to reload. Although in reality, I was hiding to prevent frostbite. I'd love to open my window and feel the icy breeze on my face. You can't get that in the Philippines. I was like a dog sticking its head out the window, but that didn't matter. It did not matter at all.

A sweet, sweet surprise

A few weeks ago (or was it months, I can't remember), I received a little, pink parcel from my friend, Chrissie. To my surprise, I found two little red velvet cupcakes! Even better, it was frosted with Nutella buttercream and sprinkles! Oh, how delectable and scrumptious they were. 'Twas even tastier with a glass of cold milk. My boyfriend and I tried our best to resist devouring them in a few seconds. I think that says a lot about how good that cupcake was, considering that my boyfriend doesn't enjoy eating Nutella (how weird, right?).

Chrissie and I plan on joining forces someday, exploring the city for places to eat and drink, taking photos along the way. And I may even start posting on her blog as well! I'm crossing my fingers that we don't end up being lazy pieces of crap.

And a little message that my boyfriend left on my carpet. 

Take care everyone!

Early in the Morning

My first official day in Japan. Or at least a fraction of it. Watching the sun rise, a great way to start the day (especially since I had to wake up at such an ungodly hour). A crescent-shaped croissant for my first round of breakfast. Sakura that has yet to bloom near the bus station. Two cute, fashionable girls hiding from the cold wind; they were there for quite awhile, I'm not quite sure what they were waiting for. Passed by a steampunk-esque area on the way back to the airport. I didn't fly all the way to Japan just stay overnight at a hotel, of course! That morning, my family and I went back to the airport to take a flight to Hokkaido. It's my most favorite place on Earth, I think.

Last Summer in Europe,

It's hard to believe that it's been a year since my vacation to Europe last summer, and here are a few snippets of the trip. My family and I went around the Czech Republic, visiting places like Karlovy Vary where we stayed at the Grand Hotel Pupp (pronounced poop!), Cesky Krumlov (I refer to it as Shrek town because it's so medieval-esque), and Prague (the capital). Beautiful country --- the third photo looks more like a postcard, doesn't it? It was taken in Karlovy Vary! After a week, we crossed the border to Hungary where I found out that Budapest is actually divided by a river into two areas  : Buda and Pest. Amazing! We also took a day trip to Austria where most of our time was spent shopping and eating --- as we do in pretty much every vacation. Did you know that the European diet is very rich in vitamin B? Lots of BEER or any other alcoholic beverage for that matter. And I found out that I don't get red after drinking alcohol, so that's good.. Although I hardly ever drink, ha ha. Plus, we met this golden, headless street performer guy that started doing the peace sign at us, so we went over to him to have a photo taken! So funny.

The Czech Republic could very well compete for the prestigious honor of being my favorite country; I loved every place we visited, I loved the Becherovka, I loved the cold weather, I loved the protein-rich food, I loved the vast, yellow acres filled with canola. In a few days, however, I will be on my way to my absolute favorite place on Earth: Japan. Goodbye life savings and figure, LOL. I'm so excited!