Yufuyin

Yesterday we took this bus up the winding roads of Yufuyin - land of the hot springs .. It is currently autumn hence, the mountains are painted with a most wonderous red, yellow and orange. As we reached near the top of the mountain, we saw many stalls selling handicrafts. The place had this authentic feel as all the stalls were filled with beautiful decor of japanese foodstuff, jewellery, thai handicrafts, totoro and jazzy tunes.

The original place that we booked had to be substituted with another at the eleventh hour as the person had placed a wrong reservation. The change of plans took us to this family style onsen hotel where we sought shelter for the night. Had 2 tries at the onsen, as we were the only guests for that night, we could actually have private use of the onsens (which were indoors and thus felt like a bigger bathtub, only that these are filled with minerals). Had a sumptuous dinner prepared by the obasan. It was only outshone by the feast we saw on the TV when the boyband V6 toured a certain onsen hotel *bleah*

It was a sleepy town where most shops close by 7pm. Hence, the night was spent playing weiqi which I only managed to win a record 14 of the opponent's seeds.

The nest morning, we spent some time touring the remaining village and this became the highlight of the day. Passed by a shop and saw this cute kitten who came over to be stroked and cuddled by us. It was a stray who seemed to be fated with da. Hence, we actually decided to adopt it. Thereafter, we went to go cat grocery shopping and prepared for the arrival of the new member. Met Da's best friend (this Spanish guy) who became the cat's nanny for the afternoon. As the kitty is still very young.. we had to bottle feed it and start toilet training. It all felt a lot like raising a child as we went through the heating of milk, the feeding and the cuddling. Not an easy task I say. Thank goodness for the nanny!

Anyway, we haven't decided on a name for the kitty but I guess the interim name shall be Ebitda.. (haha, at first his rmmate and Spanish fren thought it's some kind of prawn ... ) What do you think ?

By the way, this is a magnified photo. In actual fact, it is only as big as a palm. Guess how small it is! Compared to the giant of a cat the neighbour has (an astounding 8kg and bigger than the dog) , I guess Ebitda might face some esteem issues but in the meanwhile, it shall enjoy our super ultra tender loving care. Welcome to the family!

*By the way, this is a sudden trip, only decide I was going 3days before the trip and got the tix 2 days before... hence, sorry for the lack of updates man...It was a lightning kinda of trip. Anyway, if you are going to Japan anytime and are not flying SIA, try not to take Thai Airways. For the same price, MAS is better.