Dilemma

Learning, Poetic, This Person
It’s a dilemma
Between safety and beauty.
Each is a glory.

——

falling leaves on a moss garden

red falling leaves are beautiful and I want to experience them again someday yet it is always hard choice to me — always a dilemma between beautiful autumn or short torture of itchy welts

I’m allergic to cold weather — after 1 week I’m getting bad skin rash and itch that won’t let me stop scratching crazily on the itchy part; my recent Kyoto was the worst so far

I should have had antihistamine with me so all the falling leaves and moss garden images wouldn’t have been shaken by my skin-scratching disco 😂

I still wish to be back someday 💕 not in an extension of biz trip, but a personal leave only 😍

Sour Citrus

Learning, Poetic
Sour citrus,
You’re like an unpleasant day
To taste,
Yet still comforting these muscles and skin
When soaked in hot water
For bath.

——

bought a plastic bag of sour citrus in a village near the river behind Kiyotaki Tunnel — not good for juice but excellent for hot water soaking 😃😊

Personality

Learning, Poetic, This Person
It’s me.
Which me?
This me,
That me,
Me out,
Me in,
Me right,
Me left.
I want the best me
That’s happy.

——

a temple with many statues made by a monk artist’s stone carving students

one statue represents one student’s personality — I guess

hundreds of them

asked to choose one, I did this one — laughing at myself is a best part of getting older and mature; the only one that can’t be not serious in is my work! 💕

About Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple

When Lunch Is Free

Learning, Poetic
When lunch is free,
I am still saying tough things.
When lunch is free,
I am still saying sweet things.
And all are real things
As I am as free as a free lunch.

——

a lot of rice! yummy side dish in a bento — day #1

a lot of rice! yummy side dish in a bento — say #2

a lot of rice! yummy side dish in a bento — day #3

Released

Learning, love, Poetic
It hurts when released.
In heart.
It hurts when kept.
In all.
And so I released.
All.

——-

I sent blessings and prayers to those passing away not known by their family — whoever and wherever you are all, I am one of those remember you as a family member 💕 May all beings be happy

I believe they are released from any unhappiness

🙏🏼

Bamboo Groove

Learning
A lot of smiles
Along the bamboo groove
Heading to the mountain
Where snow starts to move

——

sometimes you just have to smile and just smile 😊

racing with the time? why not? 😊

I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky 🦅

Autumn in Kyoto

Learning
Red leaves that come late
And green foliage that stay
Both recite stories
Of how time flies and leaves tracks.
Every single second counts.

——

Kiyotaki Tunnel, rather not nice if you go there alone

this is a river with crystal clear water worth the tunnel crossing — stunning view, clean air 💕

the other side of the bridge — I bet you can’t see people sitting on the rocky river 🙂

A Fragrant Machiya

Learning, Map It!, Poetic, This Person
This fragrance that travels in to the breathing brings me to where unknown stories were told.

Who built you,
Dear home?
Who grew with you,
Dear home?
Who left you,
Dear home?
I feel you,
Dear home.

Today I stay with
You
To realise that
Home is where breathing feels so real.

——

my favourite room where the fragrance of hinoki wood and tatami is the strongest — I feel home 😃

thank you!

I thought I would stay in a boutique hotel made from a machiya

I found that I am alone in a two-story fragrant machiya which is 3 times bigger than the condo unit I live in Singapore — won’t stay alone next time!

THE FRAGRANCE!!! ♥️

About machiya

Lost (Coldplay)

Learning

Heading from Nara to Kyoto on Deepavali Day with this song on repeatedly is giving me balanced vibe after meeting many happy deer.

♥️

this band is not the best with the music but superb with the lyrics which mean the most to me

thank you!

Dear Deer

Learning, Poetic
Dear
Deer,
You’ve mirrored me so dearly.
Curious to passers by
When stomach is empty.
Dozing off out of rule
When stomach is full.

——

she surprised me from behind the giant root 😂 oftentimes I am curious as heaven 😌

she didn’t even want to look at me when I said hi 😂 sometimes I just want to lie down after long walk 😌

This Love

Learning, Poetic
This love is a red leaf
Early ready to fall
When others are firm.
This love is a happy snail
Silently slowly to reside
When deer are swift.

This love is what nature says
To leaf to fall,
To snail to reside
In a gorgeous
Fall.

——

I saw a red leaf among the green then a snail slowly came to my sight — what a beautiful day to see my love summarised in a frame; thank you!

Well Fed

Learning, Poetic
Good morning from a park
Where all beings are happy.
Both the feeding and the fed
Are well.

I wish all beings be happy
Wherever they are.

——

i bought a bundle of biscuits to feed the deer in Nara; seeing how well fed they were, I decided to sit down and just watched how human beings showed love to those tame animals 💕

False Alarm

Learning, Poetic
You rang loudly in my ears.
I ran following you.
I was safe in pyjamas.
You blinked an eye then went away.

You are always alarming me
And I start to distrust you.

Dear,
False alarm.

——

another false alarm this morning at around 7:20

this time many had decent clothes as many guests were ready to go out early

I was confused because several seconds after instructions to evacuate, the messages changed; this time telling that it was a false alarm and we didn’t have to evacuate

compared to the first false alarm I experienced in Penang earlier, this one in Japan was handled very properly; when a couple and I ran to the office room behind the lift, two officers in fire uniform were walking in — less than 5 minutes!

Japan is really outstanding in emergency management.

my plan to wake up a bit later didn’t happen; I will get prepared to go out early 😍

dear Love, I hope to still believe an alarm when it goes off. 🤭

You

Learning
I called your name
Boldly
I called your name
Loudly
I called your name
Sweetly
I called your name
Softly
I called you so you heard me.

I call your name
In silence
I call your name
Silently
I call your name
Melodiously
I call your name
Secretly
I call your name so you be there.

——

a little bird on 11:11 at 11:11

Humankind (Coldplay)

Learning

Promise me, dear self that no matter what know that you are a human.

Let them do whatever they want in their life, their own mirror.

Bless yourself and those true to you, your own mirror.

(me to myself)

——

(lyrics)

Today I heard the strangest
I heard the strangest song

A DJ a star away is
Playing it to turn us on

My heart started glowing
I feel it inside, it's flowing

I say I know, I know, I know
We're only human
I know, I know, I know
How we're designed, yeah

Oh, I know, I know, I know
We're only human
But from another planet
Still they call us humankind

Today I had the strangest
Feeling that I belong
Before, I was dying
I feel it inside, now I'm flying

I say I know, I know, I know
We're only human
I know, I know, I know
How we're designed, yeah

Oh, I know, I know, I know
We're only human
But from another planet
Still they call us humankind

Before, I was dying
I feel it inside, now I'm flying

I know, I know, I know
We're only human
I know, I know, I know
How we're designed

Oh, I know, I know, I know
We're only human
But we're capable of kindness
So they call us humankind

Centred

Learning
It is not out there
What is searched is here waiting.
A centred spark—

——

keep centred — thanks, Beloved for all the blessings

💕

no one can shake an ancient rock

Serenity, Joy and Beauty

Learning, Poetic
This serene moment
Has brought me joy
That sparks beauty
Anywhere I am.

Let them interpret
A picture
As they wish.
That is their life.

Mine is here and now.
No one is accurate
In defining me
As serenity, joy and beauty
Is a luxury
Differently designed
For each of reality.

——

a line of serenity

me and myself in joy

even when tilting, my eyes see beauty 💕 not your definition of beauty, it is mine and mine only

Remote

Learning
There’s a vibe within
Spreading a home everywhere.
Close yet so remote—

——

most of my friends think I would always visit big cities with all the luxurious and sparkling night life when visiting Japan; yet they’re wrong as many of places I’ve visited are rural areas where no Hyatt, Shangri-La, and other big chains of hospitality brands are planted — I will usually stay in local hotels, meet humble kind genuine Japanese who don’t speak English and are willing to converse with my broken Japanese, listen to stories that impress me of how all human beings are basically struggle in life

not all Japanese are like the one I met some time ago whose rich life has formed one prouder and less kind than I thought one was 😌

feeling so blessed in a remote area in Gobo — let’s work wonder tomorrow, good people 🙏🏼

False vs True

Learning
You can change some friends
And places, yet not your self
That is true and still.

——

My friend likes to edit her photos. One of her mobile phones has a camera feature called “Beautiful” that makes everyone much more beautiful than one’s natural condition. She tried the feature on me.

She is happy, I am definitely not.

Yet it is fun to see a different me.

😂

😂 brighter face, curly eyelashes — what’s more of me can be faker? 😂 my friend said “your neck skin” 😂 thank you for your short company, see you in January!

Talk to The Self

Learning, Poetic
One talk to the self.
Alone among cheering crowd.
Peaceful in the noise—

——

it was a beautiful night with myself among the crowd 💕

Wish

Learning, Poetic
What’s drying
Won’t relive.
It’s just flying
To meet a new home
Where soul sweetly greets,
Where heart warmly embraces.
I don’t want to mourn,
I close all doors,
I just want to doze off.
There’s no wish anymore.

——

dreams flying with the drying heart

drying grass and it’s beautiful – Hakone, Japan

Tokyo at A Glance

Learning, Poetic
Tokyo at a glance
Brings me a shadow of you
Longing for a home.

——

sightseeing 😍

(affordable) sushi so far is only nice in Japan 😊

made one once and will make it again someday 😍