Siang Ling sent me a message on msn, asking me to update this half almost dead blog.
The last entry was early February and based on the academic calendar, that is last year.
Pretty much had happened since then and this is how I summarize it : “I was in 4 countries within a month“
General outline of the trip
I left Japan at the end of Feb, just a few days after I submitted my thesis. It was winter.
I arrived in Malaysia spending 10 days at home; tropical weather.
I flew over to Auckland via Melbourne .. where it was autumn already.
Then I flew back to Osaka via Brisbane where it was spring and summer respectively.
All within just less than a month. Number of flights? Calculate them yourself. Don’t forget to include 2 domestic flights in Japan.
I flew so much, I now think that 8 hours in a plane is considered short haha…
Well, I actually flew home and around for just a reason; sister’s wedding. The first round was held in KL (quite obviously). And since she is married to a kiwi, it is held for the second time in Auckland. And because of that, I took the opportunity to stop over at 2 cities in Australia.Photos have been uploaded as private albums in facebook so unless you are a stranger, or a “not-so-close-friend” you’ll get to see it from there.
Lots have changed. First of all, my writing skills. It wasn’t even good to begin with, but I just feel that it is getting worse.
Next, English Language… I got home in Feb and I felt it myself, and I was also told that my English Language sounded awkward… bleh
Anyway, I was in KL and I was doing the usual things; hanging out with my family and old school buddies, blabbering loads of crap at the mamak as usual.
Then… I also realized how old I am every time I saw secondary school students in uniform.
Earthquake and Tsunami
The March 11 earthquake in Northeast Japan happened when I was in Melbourne. I was having dinner when my friend got a phone call from her grandma saying that Australia had issued a tsunami warning and asking her if she is okay. No details from her grandma so I just assumed that it was either Chile or Japan that had an earthquake.
Yeap…I started to worry because my house and uni is just 3km from the sea (though standing on a hill). I know quite a number of people who live on the foot of the hill, close to the shore which faces the wide open Pacific Ocean.
On the way back I was talking with Wai Hong about how terrible it will be if Japan had a massive earthquake and the biggest problem isn’t the earthquake, because after all Japanese buildings are engineered to withstand the worst quakes. It is the tsunami, and lack of parks for people to evacuate to, and the fact that Japan relies on nuclear power.
… and unfortunately everything I uttered in the tram on the way home turned out to be true.
I got home and turned on the tv. The news footage kept me speechless as I saw the waves rolling inland, sweeping across familiar sights which I see everyday; rice fields, greenhouses, narrow roads, farmhouses, small trucks and white cars.
Though I do not know anyone from the tsunami affected area, it was Tokyo that I was worried about.
Tokyo has very very few parks (for people to evacuate to). The buildings are super duper extremely dense (look at Google Earth), making neighborhood roads very narrow and that limits the number of escape paths. If there is a fire due to leaked gas pipes it will spread swiftly throughout the rubble (just like San Francisco and Kobe) killing many more people who have no way of escaping.
I immediately contacted several of my friends residing in Tokyo. Some stranded in trains, train stations etc, and aftershocks just kept going on (as of April 8, there are more than 200 aftershocks recorded in Tokyo region). Some of my friends fled home because the supermarkets ran out of food, no power and water, also because they were worried that the radiation gets worse.
(note) despite hundred of strong aftershocks, the buildings close to the epicenter and Tokyo are still standing perfectly with just a few broken glass. Trains (though reduced in frequency due to short of power) run perfectly on time.
Now that I’m back, the situation in Japan feels the same, only very few foreigners. So few, I could count them with just my fingers. And because of that, a lot of souvenir stands were closed and the youth hostels were quiet.
I’ve moved up to Tokyo since Mar 31 and the number of aftershocks I’ve felt was 6. And apparently, the number of shocks and the intensity has reduced a lot since Mar 11.
Ganbare Nippon… It takes time, but I hope that Japan will recover soon. And don’t worry, I am fine, and will be fine. Tokyo is fine and Japan will be fine too.
Toilet
I’ve moved into the university dormitory and I get my private toilet. Just felt like sharing it. This toilet is awesomely intelligently designed to save space.
I’ll show you the pictures and let you figure out how it works.
Done! …
