Okinawa-Tokyo Winter Trip (Okinawa Part 1-Shuri)

Day 1 of our Okinawa trip was a visit to the Shuri Castle. It was the palace of the Ryukyu Kingdom (Ryukyu refers to the chain of islands, now commonly known as Okinawa), and served as the focal point for foreign trade, as well as the political, economical, and cultural heart of the Ryukyus for 450 years since the beginning of the 15th century.

Being the largest of Okinawa's castle, you can really sense the status it held in the past. The castle directly overlooks Naha and the neighboring harbors.

The Kankaimon Gate is the front gate to the Shuri Castle. Apparently, it was a male-only gate, used by the king himself and other castle official. Oh well, Loralee & I went through it!!

The Bridge of Nations bell, is a bronze bell that was originally housed in the Seiden.

The Seiden was the largest wooden structure in the Ryukyu Kingdom, the main hall of the Shuri Castle.

At the front of the Castle Park, Dan and I picked up a stamp sheet, where you can stamp an image of each of the gates at the little stamping booths. We finished the whole sheet, yay!

Lastly, this was the view from the Shuri Castle overlooking Naha. It was breath-taking!

Next Stop : Okinawa Part2-Churaumi Aquarium. The world's second largest aquarium, and they have the biggest whale sharks and manta rays!

Okinawa-Tokyo Winter Trip (Sneak Peek)

This Thanksgiving Holiday, Danny and I decided to go to Japan and visit are close friends Loralee & Dan who are currently living in Okinawa, Japan for the next 2.5 years. Loralee and I have known each other for over 5 years of working together, and overtime our friendship had grown stronger and deeper. Naturally, I got to know her husband, Dan, and the four of us have built a terrific friendship! Although Loralee and Dan moved to Okinawa, Danny and I knew we would visit them some time, even if we have to travel halfway around the world! Surprisingly, we didn't think that we would see them so soon, but it was the perfect time to see them in their new surroundings, and to meet their lil addition, daughter Leyna!

Loralee and I had planned this trip since September, and also thought it would be a great idea for all of us to fly into Tokyo and explore the city in its Christmas make-over! It was Dan's first time to Tokyo, so we wanted to show him around and show him a great time! Visiting Tokyo also gave me the wonderful opportunity to spend time with my mother, and all of us were treated with great hospitality! "Thanks Mom, for letting us stay at your house!"

We had 3 full days to enjoy Okinawa, and 4 full days to enjoy Tokyo. As I go through all the photos Loralee and I took, I want to give you a sneak peek of some fun photos! I hope to begin blogging about our trip soon (even though I'm still behind on my Europe trip blog!), so stay tuned!

Happy Halloween! Disneyland & Knott's Scary Farm

Rather than dressing up this year (a first in 7 years!!), we went to Knott's Scary Farm and Disneyland. Knott's Scary Farm wasn't so scary, rather the fun was more in hanging out with friends and going on the rides! Here are some pictures!

Both Disneyland and California Adventures had some attractive Halloween decorations.

Wouldn't be a Halloween experience without riding on Tower of Terror, right? There wasn't much Halloween decorations, but I suppose the attraction itself screams Halloween!

Called "Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy", the attraction went through a transformation where you take a journey through a creepy cosmo, including special effects ghosts in space and new attraction audio. During the night, they project Halloween-themed color schemes onto the dome while playing creepy, eerie music. It was a new form of entertainment to watch as we waited over 75 minutes!! Below, enjoy the many faces of the possessed attraction (a few from the 40+ dome photos I took!)!

As usual, they had the Halloween-Christmas collision at the Haunted Mansion Holiday with Nightmare Before Christmas decorations. By far, this is my favorite time of the year to go on this attraction....they should always keep it this way! The Halloween Screams fireworks show was really great too! The usual fireworks show is replaced, hosted by Jack Skellington (from Nightmare Before Christmas), his skull appears on an enormous inflated balloon just above the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Several other villians appear on the balloon, along with ghosts floating up from the castle and the castle glows in a haunting green aura for a short time afterwards.

Although there was no dressing up this year, it was a fun month! Let's see what costume we end up in next year!

Grindelwald, Switzerland! (Part 3 - Top of Europe)

Probably the highlight of our Switzerland visit was going to Top of Europe! Also known as Jungfraujoch (don't ask me how to pronounce it!), is the highest railway station in all of Europe sitting at an elevation of 11,330ft! It was raining all morning down in Grindelwald, but because weather is completely unpredictable we decided to just go and hope that skies would be clear 10,000ft higher in the mountains!

We took the local train halfway up the mountain, and transferred to another train that leads us through tunnels that go across 2 mountains : Eiger (the most notable mountain in the Bernese Alps) and Monch. These two mountains together with Jungfrau forms the highly recognizable group of mountains visible from far away.

Being that Switzerland is such a mountainous area, the railways have to keep up with the terrain. Below, you can see that the railways have extra "teeth" in the middle of the track. This is called a cog railway system that has toothed rack rails between the running rails. This allows the trains to operate on steep gradients. You wouldn't want the train to roll back when stopped!! Thank goodness for these extra teeth, cuz these trains really do go steep!

After chugging through 2 large mountains, we finally made it to Top of Europe! It was just 34 degrees at 1:30pm, and I guessed that was the warmest it was gonna get! Good thing I wore 3 shirts, a windbreaker, and gloves! (I never wore so much in the middle of the summer...it felt a little weird!) Although, with this heat we're experiencing in California now, I would give anything to go back to Switzerland!

All I could say about this place was "amazing!" We were truly lucky that the rain had passed and the clouds were starting to break apart. There were a few moments when a patch of clouds would engulf us, but it never gloomed our mood! The Sphinx Observation Terrace gives you an amazing 360 degree view and stands about 380 ft above Top of Europe... that was quite a long elevator ride!! (The below picture was taken from a different viewing area, The Plateau, where you can see The Sphinx on the top left and Top of Europe in the middle)

The moment you step out on the Sphinx terrace, you are welcomed by a stunning view of the Monch Mtn! I really don't think any more words are needed to show how grand the view is! All the wire netting around the terrace serves to avert the risk of lightening....I wouldn't wanna be there when that happens!

So, even someone like me who's not afraid of heights got the jitters when looking straight down from the terrace! I realized how far up we were when the people below looked like ants! People below were enjoying the ski & snowboard park, the snow disk run and the sledge dogs. Gosh, it was killing me that I didn't have my snowboard to enjoy the Alps snow *sniff sniff *

We noticed these crows (?) hanging around the area, but I wasn't quite sure what they wanted...haha. The food that people hardly ate outside in the freezing cold? The breath-taking view of the mountains? ...Probably the view!

After about an hour of exploring the area, we were starting to feel light-headed! Going up stairs was a real challenge, and we had to take a few breaks to control our breathing again. At that moment, I understood why I saw so many people sitting/lying on the ground of the meeting area when we first arrived to Top of Europe! We quickened our exploration of the other areas and ended our 4 hour visit with a picture of the Swiss flag that was proudly standing at The Plateau. I felt like I had just finished a long, challenging hike up the Alps and reached my goal! It was a great feeling!

We caught the second to last train out of Top of Europe back to Grindelwald. I wonder what happens when you miss the last train...I wouldn't wanna know! We were completely exhausted and headed straight to the hotel. I emptied my backpack and was surprised to see what had happened to my water bottle (below)! I guess I wasn't the only one who had a tough time with the high elevation, hehe! For those of you who are interested, I've scanned a map of Top of Europe and you can see the vast and amazing structure built inside the mountain.

No doubt, Top of Europe has created a lasting impression. People always talk about the Alps being amazing, and experiencing firsthand, I now know why this place is spoken so highly of. The panoramic picure in the very beginning is just a 180 view of the mountains...if you could imagine being completely surrounded by these vast mountains you'll be another person talking about the amazing Alps! "I heart Switzerland!"

Next Stop : Hiking at First, a popular hiking area in Grindelwald. This time I didn't get lightheaded!

"The Tonight Show" with Conan O'Brien

Today we went to a taping of the Conan O'Brien show. Yay!!!! Danny, Ed and I dodged most of the traffic up to Universal City and had time to eat a yummy Italian lunch and get back in line to enter the studio. Below is the guest line up:

"I got a golden ticket~!" If you're the first 90 to the gate, you are given a golden ticket and can come back and still keep your place in line. That was a great system because there are so many tapings where you have to stay in line to keep your spot.

We got really good seats! We were seated 4 rows up right in front of Conan's table. The studio looked much smaller in person, but the entertainment given to the audience was huge!

(5:00) The show begins with Conan's usual monologue, and he goes outside with Andy Richter to entertain the Universal Studios tram riders with bowling. Only, Andy goes inside an enormous inflatable ball and Conan rolls him toward the pins! Conan runs back into the studio, the tram drives off and Andy is left hopeless in the parking lot trying to roll away! It's when he decides to roll back home and comes to the gates that he breaks it (broken gate below)! Ah~ fun times!

Conan and Andy did their "In The Year 3000" bit, followed by his usual talks with the guests. Antonio Banderas promotes "The Other Man," and Bill Hader promotes "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." One funny thing he did with Antonio was a tomato fight, in which Andy and the Max Weinberg band joined! Conan got pretty damp! Then the show ended with Chris Cornell singing "Imagine."

(6:15) The show comes to an end with Conan singing a goodbye tune just for the audience, and we all exit the studio. That was an awesome show and maybe we'll go again towards the end of the season!

Crown J @ Club Nokia, Los Angeles

On September 4th, Danny and I had the oppportunity to go out to Club Nokia and support our friend's Los Angeles performance. Danny being part of Flyboy Ent. went out for Crown J's two-night event, and I fell into becoming his personal photographer for just one night! Me, still being an amateur photographer, was a little intimidated, but I just told myself to have fun with it! Below are some pictures from the night...enjoy!

Crown J totally kept the audience excited and up on their feet! He performed six songs, including his newest single, "I'm Good." The crowd was awesome and the performance ended on a good note!

Crown J had a surprising visit from Ron Artest, Los Angeles Lakers NBA player, and thankfully I was able to take a decent photo! ~phew!

These are just some photos I played around with.

Crown J is a hip-hop singer and rapper. Check out his label and give your support! www.flyboyent.com "Good luck with everything Crown J and see ya soon. Peace out!"

Grindelwald, Switzerland! (Part 2 - Pfingstegg)

On the day we arrived into Grindelwald, we decide to take a mini exploration to a nearby mountain by taking one of their shorter cable car rides. (On a different exploration, we took a 30min long cable car ride!) We go to Pfingstegg, which is about 4500ft elevation, to get a better view of Grindelwald. Please, enjoy the view that we experienced from the cable car!

The snowy mountains in the distance, you could see glaciers! Apparantly, they have glacier hikes! That sounded really cool, but probably not a good idea for a newbie like me to take such a dangerous hike, haha!

...And these are the cows we saw at Pfingstegg. Everywhere in Grindelwald you'll see cows eating away on the endless acres of grass! They don't really fence the cows into an area, they just roam around freely. So, tourists can come very close to them, and they don't seem to be bothered by the constant attention!

We then say goodnight to our first night in Grindelwald and get plenty of sleep to take the amazing trip to Top of Europe where we get pretty light-headed being in 11,300ft high elevation!

Grindelwald, Switzerland! (Part 1 - Getting There)

Now, we begin our journey to Grindelwald as we say goodbye to Luzern. It was a dramatic change going to Grindelwald being surrounded by snow-capped mountains and webs of hiking trails and cable cars taking you to almost every level of all the mountains!

Grindelwald is a quaint village located southwest of Luzern in the Bernese Alps, and is a popular winter tourist destination for skiing and a summer destination for hiking. It's great you can enjoy these amazing mountains all year long!

So! We take the Goldenpass Panoramic railway to Interlaken Ost. Only the first car of the train provides a panoramic view of your trip. The windows wrap up the top of the train, and is like an IMAX experience! I love how Switzerland trains are on time and get you to your destination as scheduled! But, you gotta be careful because they make no announcement or buzz of a horn when your train is about to leave -just make sure you're already in the train!

Riding the Panoramic coach was definitely worth it! The smooth, yet fast, ride alongside an enormous lake and through the mountains, gave you billions of photo opportunities. The view was amazing and the comfortable seats made the experience all the better, haha! With the snow-capped mountains coming into closer view, we knew that we were nearing Grindelwald!

From Interlaken Ost we take a local railway to Grindelwald. (The train station below is not Interlaken Ost, we took a detour before arriving at Grindelwald!) Not to mention we view a group of cyclists about to take on one of the trails -I'm sure they've done this a bunch of times!

At last, we finally make it to Grindelwald! Since we had an afternoon open to do some exploring, we decide to take a short cable car ride up a nearby mountain to get a view of the village from above. That experience will be my next post! Sorry to keep you waiting, but I don't want this post to be a long, tiring read for ya =) (Oh! And we encounter some local moo-moos (cows!) in the mountains!!)

Perseid says, "Will You Marry Me?"

(August 12, 2007)

Danny and I were celebrating our relationship and visited the Getty Villa and Getty Center, ending with a dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant in West Hollywood. Danny thought it would be fun to see a meteor shower as it would be perfect conditions (that night just so happened to be a New Moon with no light in the sky to give the best optimal view of the shower) and would be my very first time to see a shooting star!

Arriving to our viewing site at midnight, Danny was studying the Star Finder Planisphere to show me the various constellations visible that night. The meteor shower was amazing! With no moonlight in the sky and the city lights so far away from the area, the stars were visable at its best! The meteors were shooting nonestop and were enormous!

It was then that Danny got down on one knee and proposed to me!!! (Since most people know the details of his proposal, I won't repeat it again here!) It was completely unexpected and perfect. We will now make it a yearly event to see the Perseids and remember that special night.

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So, everyone, that is why shooting stars holds an important meaning to us and the reason for our blog site name! We actually went to our proposal site last night and tried to view the meteor shower, but it was just too cloudy! At least we saw one star, but we didn't know the name, haha! Oh well...there's always next year!

Danke, Luzern!

Before leaving Luzern, here are some random extra photos that I'd like to share!

Can they put enough Swiss flags around town? Apparantly not! We found a flag on the mountain on our way back from Rigi Kulm.

These three restaurants sure did up their buildings...Very nice! Actually, there are many buildings in town that are "dressed up." It really adds the enjoyment of strolling around.

When you think of Switzerland "Swiss Knives" has gotta be one of the things you think about! Every corner you turn, you see knives for sale! I guess I gave into the pressure, but it was all worth it as Danny is lovin' his Soldier Knife and I am enjoying my small 125th Anniversary knife! Another Swiss Made item? -Sigg bottles...and yes, I gave into that pressure as well, haha!

Hmm, the best sushi in town? Too bad I didn't try it to see if it was true lol!