the wacky wombat weblog

For a motley crew of 5 cats, their home is at the ground floor of the block I live at. Here are a few of them, caught on camera one evening as they sat waiting for the rain to subside.

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The tiger year for Japan begins on 1 Jan 2010 and it's a huge holiday where everyone goes back to their hometown and throng the shrines and temples for prayers. So for the first few days, the whole city was strangely deserted, except for the temples. With his Japan office still closed, Au Yong and I stayed at Ueno for the first 4 days and went around shopping at Akihabara, Shinjuku and Shibuya.

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3 unique sights converge at this traditional wooden train station. Takeshita-dori is a narrow lane crammed full of quirky shops and fashion-crazy harajuku teens. Omotesando is the wide avenue of consumerism Japan where you get your LV & Chanel after having your gourmet tea & cakes. Off the main street, you get smaller alleys with equally chic stores catering to the fashion-conscious with deep pockets. Meiji Jingu Shrine is usually an oasis of calm, but this time it's filled with people praying for prosperity.

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Located in the centre of the city is the Imperial Palace, residence of the imperial family for the past century or so. Surrounded by high walls and moats, only the East Garden is open for public access. I've been here twice in the summer but this is my first winter visit. A distance away from here is also the controversial Yasukuni Shrine to Japan's war dead. Controversial for housing the soul of convicted war criminals executed by the Allies, but it looks and feels like the average shrine otherwise.

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Tokyo is an old city, with hundreds of years of history. Despite the glitzy image that it has, parts of the city remains more working class (Ueno) and traditional (Asakusa). Ameyokocho in Ueno is atypical of Tokyo in that it is an open-air street market, selling everything from food to counterfeit fashion. Asakusa is where you can find the most popular Buddhist temple Sensoji.

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We chose to stay at Ubud, Bali's cultural centre, as we wanted a quieter environment to chill-out at, away from the party crowd. Ubud turned out to be an endearing place - we didn't want to leave at the end of it! Its serene paddy fields, delicate art & craft work, captivating music and dances, and decidedly unique Balinese cuisine makes Ubud my favourite place in Bali.

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We spent a day exploring 2 beaches in Bali - Kuta and Jimbaran. Kuta is the perennial party beach, with babes, hunks and also fat people in unsightly bikinis suntanning or surfing. Jimbaran is where the fishing boats come and go each day with the daily catch, which ends up served as dinner at the many seafood restaurants lining the beach.

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We stayed at Tegal Sari Accomodation, located in Padang Tegal, just about 15 minutes walk from central Ubud in Bali. Nestled amongst paddy fields, it's a tranquil place to relax in. We stayed first at the Garden View deluxe room for 2 nights, and at the Duplex facing the paddy fields on our 3rd night. The atmosphere and service is top notch, for a very reasonable price, so we'd definitely recommend this place for anyone seeking a laidback holiday in Ubud.

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On our third day, we went for a walk around paddy fields in Ubud. The villa we stayed at provided a guide to bring us through the walk, which started at one village (Keliki) and ended at another, passing by a valley. The "walk" turned out to be more of a 3-hour jungle hike, with us going up AND down the valley (not across it), but it was fun! :)

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