How Duran Duran got its name

OMGWEREINLANGKAWILETSDOEVERYTHINGEVERINONEDAY!!!!!

So in Langkawi...

Well I get there and there is this surly rough tough group staring at the whitey approaching them...these are my friends ^____^ whose names I couldnt correctly say until the last day I was there!!! hahaha Moving on. Here in Langkawi you will find super delicious food and awesome tourist spots. Langkawi is now known as a Geo Park as it has something like 99 different island formations. Including one with an entirely freshwater lake! That was 40 METERS DEEP!!!! (holy cow that is more than 120 feet!) Anyways that is where we end up on the speed tour that we decided to do that took us to Dayang Bunting, otherwise known as the Lake of the Pregnant Maiden ( story goes that two fell in love [story]...whiles later ...their infant dies and was buried our in the lake) the lake was assumed to be cursed for the longest time and recently I believe the current belief is that the curse has been lifted. At this crazy island, monkeys are abundant. Infact there is even a sign warning of monkey attacks ( I did NOT take this seriously - oh~ how wrong I was).









Next stop is the eagle feeding. People would take their children they didnt want anymore and feed them to the eagles...who were too small to care for such mal-nutritional diets. And we watched them swoop does scant feet from the boat to eat the fish that seemed abundant in the waters around us. This place, reasonably so, was called Eagle Island. And there were literally hundreds swarming. This must be where old Alfred filmed his movie.


Our last and final stop was snorkeling at a coral reef off of one of the islands. There wasn't actually too much interesting so we just played around and took under water photos of each other ^__^

Pirate Ship Tea Party

On to Lake Asahi. No I am not entirely certain how to pronounce it. But there I went on this great big pirate ship ( see japan supports its pirates AS WELL AS ninjas - who knew). Pretty much I went on it just to check out the lake view and the Tori on the water. It was very serene looking at sunset. You could supposedly see Mt. Fuji from one side or other of a Lake but even with the nice sunny patch that we were sailing under there were clouds at the mountain tops. A strange thing happened too when I got off it started snowing in the sunny rays. What is up with that. Weather cannot have its cake and eat it too!




this second video is simply provided to show some of the temple traditions. and Dude does it work!!! ;)
(you totally don't get to know what i wished for =p)

Japan unscrambled

We ran around looking for Tofukuji at about 4:20 and we asked this guy and he directed us back to the station we just got out of haha. But once we got to the temple it was long closed.
Near Kodaiji there was a giant Buddha guy at another temple too perhaps I will put up his picture later...


Upon unanimous supreme decision...there must be a ghost blowing on the metal cans to make them move.


If I was cool enough to have my own business card I would definitely leave in the might wooden horses' care.

LEVEL UP!!

Here is Kyoto main station. I mean sure it looks just like every other station EXCEPT FOR THE STAIRS

Princess Ruta I cannot marry you.

So some fun background facts for the gamers reading this. The title is such because Nintendo and Nintendo games ( such as Mario) are from Kyoto. So yes I am back in Kyoto, but more importantly this is where Zelda and the references of this title are from (- ohmigoshbadgrammerteacher!!). omgnoway! yes way. Ruta is the idgit you have to carry all around the third dungeon in the water temple in Ocarina of Time. Why her? All because she is princess to the water temple. But the water temple? Mizu means water and this temple is a huge temple in devotion to the holy water it possesses ( are there too many s's in that word or is it just me). So, yes i did drink it, no I do not feel any smarter. sadly. This is mom's favorite temple, Kiyomizudera. Which is where I headed on my first day in Kyoto right after Ginkakuji and Eikando. Man did I have a busy first day!

I am posting everything out of order

This one is my 3rd day in Japan and I am at Himeji castle sometimes called the White Heron because of its...whiteness. Only its under construction. So instead I got a free walking English tour of the rest of the ground and buildings. This was taken on my new camera as opposed to my camcorder and I am trying to get the hang of things with it. But the rooms we saw were the servants quarters area as well as the ladies in waiting quarters as well as the ground of course. But this is definitely the most recommended castle that I saw in Japan. Even if it is under construction.

Temples in Kyoto are the Theaters of New York

So just after leaving Ginkakuji The Pavillion of the Silver Temple, I made my way down the Path of Philosophy. It was quite scenic. I bet it would be beautiful in the summer.



There are lots of interesting choices at the grocery store and this morning I decided why chose banal when you can go japanese. So I picked up a butter scotch milk to took it for the road.



Man there are about as many temples in Kyoto as many times as you can blink. there were about 5 little ones along this path and a couple major ones as well.

I think that every city ever in Japan has a ferris wheel

Ferris Wheels and Aquariums are nothing new. BUT WHALE SHARKS AND SUNSETS MAKE THEM EPIC!!!

Well this was actually my first day in Japan. Fresh from the plane. I landed in Osaka and headed straight to my Hotel. The Chisun in for anyone who is interested in a nice clean budget hotel. And then made my way to the first of attractions in Osaka. Kaiyukan. There is a gigantic ferris wheel that takes approximately 30 minutes to rotate and is a wonderful couples spot....for anyone who is a couple in Osaka...pretty much no one reading this.

Anyways what I didnt notice really about this ferris wheel for at least the first 10 minutes is that is spouts facts about the city and the aquarium in both Japanese AND English. Its odd, you think that not ever hearing my native tongue I would be super keen to hearing it, but really its to opposite - since I just ignore just about anything anyone says to my or well I smile and nod and pretend to understand, it just seemed natural to ignore whatever the speakers inside this metal crate were telling me.




After the ferris wheel I made my way inside this RIDICULOUSLY OVERPRICE but still awesome aquarium. Here they have the only whale sharks I have ever seen as well as one of the only Beluga I have ever seen. Keep in mind I do not live next to Sea World. In addition they had lots of interesting things here. Like these fish that were so still that they would always win a game of freeze tag. There was also this really awkward fish that well did not have any lateral fins and pretty much defied the laws of fish. It didn't look like he had any friends. go figure.





Here is a view of the light display outside of the aquarium.