Sighting seeing in Ueno and Hakone

from left: my aunt, her friend`s son, her friend, me and my mum @ Ueno Park, it is hanami season which means pple sit on groundsheet under the sakura trees and picnic. ha! no, we didnt do that. jus kept taking photos. ha!

The next day, we took a 2hr train ride and then change to ride for 1 hr on a bus to Hakone, near Mt Fuji, a very beautiful place, air is very fresh though i didnt expect to get bussick on the way round n round up the mountain.... *blue in the face*

Was enjoying the scenery despite being a shopping centre-lover rather than a nature-lover. This is the place Lihan wanted to come last year; I kept dissuading her because I thought it might be too far and boring. Gosh i am so wrong! Every few minutes, I will think of Lihan and guilt will wash over me. Decided that will bring Lihan here and explore every inche of Hakone to make up to her ;P

This picture is meaningful to me, cos we are in this forest full of cedar trees, it was planted hundreds of years ago for Kings to `escape` from the heat. (My english is deterioriating from lack of usage...hee) Was reminded of psalm 92:12-13 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.First time i see cedar trees leh! *excited* strangely, it is pretty cool while we were walking among the trees, i am not sure how but the trees can sort of regulate the temperature.

This is the beautiful Lake Ashi. Weather was perfect! This is Benjamin, who is a year older than me. He is my aunt`s friend`s son and i got to know him better through these day trips. He is under JET program and he teaches English in Iwazaki (3 hrs away from Tokyo by bus? i think). He is also a Christian and he plays for church. It was great to meet him, we even did the same major in NUS! Small world huh! Anyway my aunt introduced us to each other, so that we can help take care of each other, being fellow countrymen, hmm.. distance is not a problem? Ha! But it was great to see another Singaporean in foreign land.