words i live by

Came across this quote by Desmond Tutu, a nobel prize winner for Peace in 1984:

'If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.'

This quote resonates with my principle and acts as a reminder to me: never forget to speak up at moments of injustice, and be the voice of the victims.

the joy of giving

Earlier this month, my 3-months internship in a legal firm has ended. On my last day, I gave out handmade cards and self-baked cookies for my colleagues as appreciation. I enjoy receiving cards and letters, therefore, I often give out self-made cards and letters to people around me. I feel that there is always something special about self-made cards, because they are one of a kind. You can never find another similar card being sold in the market. Besides, you get to express yourself in the card itself. Words which may be awkward to say such as 'you are a great superior', 'I am thankful to have you as my colleague' and more can be easily conveyed through cards. On top of that, cards are imperishable and can be treasured; when one is feeling sad or discouraged, reading cards received in the past can definitely make one's day! 

Here are some pictures of the cards I drew/ painted, baked cookies as well as my colleagues and I on my final day at work:-

 all these floral prints are inspired by posts on Pinterest 

chocolate chip cookies

sui generis (the neon sign) is a Latin phrase that means one of a kind, unique // a pretty popular Intellectual Property term in Law which my boss has decided to put at the entrance of the office

Previously, after graduating from my A-Levels course in Sunway College, I have also painted cards and baked cookies for my teachers. I figured I should just include the pictures of them in this post since they fulfil the title of this post as well heh.

cards painted for my teachers, really grateful for all the effort they put into teaching me, marking my self-practiced essays and answering my never ending questions // It must be hard to have a student like me, but I really appreciate your guidance :)

In a nutshell, I would like to say that being able to give out things to people, regardless of its value, will definitely make one's day. Not only are you spreading happiness to the people around you by expressing how thankful you are for their presence in your life, you will also feel delighted when you see the smiles on their faces when they receive the gifts. Try it out for yourselves in the future!

shinhotaka ropeway in japan (PART II)

DAY 4: SHINHOTAKA ROPEWAY @ TAKAYAMA, GIFU PREFECTURE

One of the main highlights of our Japan trip is the Shinhotaka Ropeway. The double-decker cable car took us above the clouds, 2156m above sea level. On the observation deck at the top of the mountain, we were gifted with a panoramic view of the Northern Japan Alps covered by snow. It was a truly stupendous sight, especially on the day we visited itself, the sky was clear and blue, which accentuates the white snow on the mountain tops. On the way up, I could see pine trees grown over the mountains being covered by white blankets of snow and feel the cold air sting my cheeks, the only thing I could not feel was my completely frozen toes due to the cold weather which was approximately -11 to -14 degree celcius. It was numbed to the point where walking became a chore and I had to sit by the heater to warm our feet. 

me seizing every opportunity to sit by the heater to warm up due to the extremely cold weather

halfway up on the cable car

altitude detected by the Snapchat app at the top of the mountains 

I was actually frozen to the bone before this picture but my aunt assured me that it is definitely worth braving the cold for this

and I have to admit that she was right, I'm glad I listened to her hehe (thank you ah yi! love you)

taken by iPhone 8plus

not a family photo bc my brother is not in! :-(

After spending about 45 minutes on the observation deck, we decided to have lunch at a small cafeteria on the way down the mountain as we were starving and could eat a horse anytime. The food was not quite good, as expected, but it came just in time to fill us up. 

I had vegetarian curry rice whereas my mum and cousin had tempura with udon noodles

We then headed off to the onsen (hot spring) after we were fuelled up. The onsen place we went to was just 15-20 minutes drive from the Shinhotaka Ropeway. They had both the indoor onsen as well as the outdoor onsen catered for the various preference by visitors. It was my first experience, entering an onsen in Japan and I had to admit that I was a lil embarrassed by the fact that clothes are not allowed in the onsen pool. Fortunately, by the time we reached the place, it was nearing the closing hours thus, not many people were there. I first tried out the indoor onsen and only managed to stay in for about 15 minutes before I felt really sultry as there was no air ventilation at all. I prefer the outdoor onsen as we were not only granted with the magnificent view of mountains covered with snow and it was way less steamy compared to the indoor one.

successfully snapped a picture of the outdoor onsen with snowy pine trees on the mountains

couldn't resist to take a picture of the mountains before we head back home

After returning from the onsen, we stayed home for a while and then get prepared to go out, again, for dinner. In Takayama, most restaurants are small and it is not an easy task to find a suitable restaurant which has a place to serve all 7 of us at once. Besides, it was pretty late when we were out, thus, most restaurants were already full. We ended up in one of the restaurants along the main street and had a feast that night. 

 fresh sashimi which consists of tuna, white cod fish, salmon, prawns, and some other fish I couldn't recognise heh

 seafood soup with fish and various types of Japanese mushrooms

alright, here comes the time where I will be introducing the best Japanese snack ever!

my cousin sister was the one who first heard about this snack and had been wanting to try before we even landed in Japan. And for the first time ever, she was right about something! We became addicted to this snack which is called 大福 in Japanese. It is sort of like a mochi except that it has fresh fruits as fillings. 

The ones we had as seen in the picture were the strawberry and persimmon 大福

my cousin brother and I stopped by at the local convenient store and got this matcha ice cream. I was surprised by the rich matcha taste despite the fact that it was really cheap and affordable

This sums up one whole day of ours spent at the Shinhotaka Ropeway and onsen. We stayed up a little longer that night despite the fact that we were worn up by our full day of travelling as it was our last night at Takayama, Gifu Prefecture. We will be heading off to Shirakawa-go after this, so stay tuned for more exciting posts in Japan!