Solo Trip Nagoya (August 2023) - Nagoya and Flight of Dreams

 

Ah, land of the rising sun, the beautiful sunrise that greeted me as we near our destination. My favourite country to travel to. It's an introvert's paradise. Red eye flight and all, I was looking forward to my 2 week's adventure here on my own.

Had a sub-par breakfast before the flight landed. 

Nagoya Airport was near the sea, and the landscape while we were landing was quite pretty. It looked a bit hazy too. It was in the middle of summer, and the weather was super hot! Interestingly, I cleared immigration super fast! Very different from when I was in Fukuoka earlier in April, that took almost 1.5 hours to clear. Here in Nagoya, I asked for the foreigner's queue as it wasn't clearly marked, and the line was quite short. I had my QR quote ready and everything, and nobody even asked why I was here alone. I guess I was already in their system and so clearance was not an issue :)

The first attraction I wanted to visit was at the Airport itself, but it doesn't open till 10am. I had cleared immigration by 9am. I was still full and didn't want to spend any money on breakfast or coffee, so I just wandered around the airport. I won't have the chance to visit the attraction on my way home cause my return flight was super early. I saw a Starbuck cafe nearby, and I just love those unique signboard they put out.

Here is another one of the same shop. It just makes the shop more unique, instead of just another uniform Starbuck.

While browsing some souvenir shop, I also got excited seeing this on sale. On my to-do list on this trip, was to visit a Komeda Coffee House for breakfast. Actually, I have three retro cafe on my to-do list that I wanted to visit. Komeda just happens to be one of them. The above is a confectionary of an Ogura Toast. I wanted to eat the real Ogura Toast, red bean paste with butter on a toast. That's the goal!

Anyway, at 10am, I headed to the first attraction, Flight of Dreams!

I am here because it's FREE. A Boeing Airplane Park and Museum right at the airport. I still have my luggage with me, so I went and found a locker to park my luggage first. Luckily the locker service was free too! 

The map showed 3 floor of attraction, but really, it was just one. The 2nd floor and 3rd floor was mainly a food court and cafe. Only the basement had all the exhibit and souvenir shop.

I thought I would be bored here, it was a very masculine exhibition after all. But thankfully there was a lot to see, and I learned a lot about the airport. Luckily there were English explanation available. 

There were also miniature planes and airport scale to look at.

But I guess the main attraction was this Boeing Plane parked there. And people were queueing up to go inside and see it. Everything was in Japanese for this part. And I really didn't want to waste my time queueing to go see a cockpit. So I skipped it. Come to think of it, this trip is a rather masculine trip. Besides Boeing Plane, I also visited Toyota, a Train Museum, and even played Japanese Chess with the local chess club, lol. More on those to come....

There was a Boeing Store next to the museum, and for the first time ever, I bought a souvenir on the very first day of my trip! That has never happened before, cause I'm always very stingy about spending money on souvenir. But I really love the mint box with the Boeing logo on it, and it was but now or never. It cost almost 8sgd too! The impromptu buy must be due to my lack of sleep from the red eye flight. Here's me below with my 'just woke up not enough sleep' taking a photo with the Boeing Plane. Time to head to town!

Solo Trip Nagoya (August 2023) - PG > SG > JP by SQ

Almost a month after my solo Taiwan trip, it was time to set off again for another solo trip! This time to Japan! And I have picked Nagoya as the destination cause I wanted to go somewhere new. Also, I got tickets to Ghibli Park, and it's in Nagoya! Woohoo! I wasn't as nervous about this trip as I did for my Taiwan trip. For one, I was staying through out my two weeks in Nagoya itself. There wasn't any train connection to do, and only 3 hotels to move around, all within the city. No sweat! Above is a photo I took before I set out for my trip. It's my Japanese books collection in Penang, lol. I wanted to make sure I didn't buy books I already have at home! Japanese books are now on my shopping list whenever I am in Japan. It's so much cheaper to buy it there, and even more so if I find them in 2nd hand book stores like BookOff!

First leg of my trip, flight from Penang to Singapore. I don't really mind transit flights at Singapore as I can meet up with my husband or go home for the night. I'm so glad my home in Singapore is near the airport! Unlike  my home in Penang. I guess I must have took the grab to the airport. And since it cost so much, I must have saved on food and eat my late lunch at the lounge, lol. 

This was going to be my last flight under Krisflyer Gold, and I am always grateful to have access to the lounge cause free food saves me money!

When I went to the lounge, the receptionist gave me a piece of paper and told me SQ passenger gets a special western food order today. Weeeee! Just so happens I have craving for some fish and chips. I happily checked my selection, and went to the food counter to place my order. While waiting for the food to be cooked, clumsy me actually dropped the piece of paper above in between some cracks at the counter..... I was thinking "there goes my fish and chips". When the chef came back with my order and asked for the paper, I sadly told him I dropped it in between the crack of the counter. I was prepared to go without my fish and chips, but luckily, he said nevermind, it was ok. And he let me have my fish and chips :)

Happy, I went and find a table to enjoy my western food! I was a bit sad that it was only one piece of fish, but it was delicious! And left me more room in my tummy to eat more food!

I was hoping they have the spicy curry chicken I had last time which was delicious. No luck. Only what looked like curry fish. Ok lah. I was hungry. So I loaded up on curry fish and some vegetables. Some sandwiches and some cakes. After this plate, I was full. But I still have a lot of time before my flight.

So I decided to have a slow tea time at the lounge. Made myself a nice cup of coffee, and loaded up more cakes, which was surprisingly nice. The food choices here is quite limited. But I find that whatever they do have is usually quite tasty :)

It was a beautiful day to fly. Taking off from Penang Airport, the view was just beautiful!

I could see all the islands, and also the Penang bridge. This is probably the first bridge since it's so straight? What an iconic view!

The view on top was just as lovely. With the setting sun changing into a soft orange among the clouds.

And finally reaching Singapore, with all the ships parked outside. This view always reminded me of that scene from Pirates of the Caribbean where Chow Yun-Fat says "Welcome to Singapore!". Iconic!

My connecting flight was almost 6 hours later, so I exit the airport to meet my husband for dinner. I wanted to eat my favourite KFC cause they have the gold spice flavoured chicken on sale for a limited time! 

Mission accomplished. Probably ate to much. Hope I still have room for lounge food later!

After wandering around Jewel, I went back in to the airport, and parked myself at the lounge again. For supper, I have my bowl of Singapore Laksa, chilled white wine, and took some TWG Tea with me for luck! And of course, filling up on my favourite tomato juice box! I read that tomato juice is the best drink you can drink on a plane, cause it's full of vitamins and helps you stay hydrated. I personally prefer vegetables to fruits, and tomato is one of my favourite vegetables. Off to Nagoya! Let's go!

Solo Sam Smith Concert 2023

2023 was a year I really spread my solo wings. For the very first time in my life, I attended a concert on my own. I hesitated a lot on whether to even go in the first place. Sam Smith was a singer that I really love. He was my go-to artist whenever I was stuck in a long flight to South America during my Daimler Days. His voice made everything ok for me. Even now, I sometimes still listen to him when I need to feel calm, or fall asleep, or when I am sad and want to feel sadder, lol. Some songs just makes me all tear up automatically, without even knowing why! Anyway, since I was going to be in Singapore in October anyway, I decided to buy the cheapest ticket to attend, even if I was going on my own. 

I was pretty excited the whole day about the concert. Sam Smith's latest album Unholy has gone totally insanely non-binary and well, unholy. I wasn't sure what to expect. I arrived early enough, and when I queued up to enter the concert hall, I sense the crowd was gonna be fun. Guys in lipsticks, girls in goth, people wearing devil headband. I think I'm going to have fun here. Weird as it may sound, this was the authentic me. Not some goody two shoe, but something very different inside. This concert was rated RA, adults only, so no kids were allowed.

Lots of merchandise was for sale. I was early, so I browsed, and well, just spend time wondering how to kill time before the concert starts. I've roughly research the concert format and knew there was going to be 3 segment to it. I've also know the playlist that was going to be performed. I don't own all his album. To be honest, I only own one single album I bought in Japan. And it didn't even have the song I wanted in it cause it was the Japanese version! The song was One Day at a Time. Ironic, right? But for this concert, I've listed to all the new songs from the Gloria album and I do love them. I love them even more today after attending the concert!

The concert hall. This was how far I was seated. I was practically sitting near the end of the hall! Strangely enough, the row I was sitting at, I had 3 other single ladies attending the concert with me. The lady to my right was even a Muslim with a hijab. I was so shocked, lol. 

When the concert started, and Sam Smith appeared, I knew I was going to be alright. I've never been someone who finds a big guy with a beard attractive, but when he appears, when he talks, when he sing, when he smiles, my heart just melted. He was a very charismatic artist. I was worried whether he would sound the same as in the album, cause I know some artist sounded horrible in their live show. Thankfully, he was pitch perfect for all his songs! 

Rated RA, he did went full diva on us. With all his changes of costume. I didn't really care much for that. It was just very French for me, but really a big deal. What I enjoyed most was the music. And since I was there alone, I could scream and shout and dance as much as I want. I didn't care. I was 47! I was gonna live my life! And oh what fun I had on my own that night. It was a natural high that I haven't felt for a long time. I was so glad I went with my gut feel and attended this concert even though I was scared of doing so.  Bottom line, nobody really cares what you do or how you behave in a concert. You do you girl!

RA indeed, he went as far as stripping down to his underwear, with plastered nipples and all. Muslim lady beside me was busy video recording the whole show! I was too busy having fun to use my phone much. What a different world concert is nowadays. Everyone was busy taking photos and videos. I guess since I was so far away, all the photos I took would be crap anyway, so I spend more time actually enjoying the concern instead! I love the above performance because he was actually performing Human Nature by Madonna. He was nothing closed to the diva herself, but I was glad he did this number all the same. Human Nature was one of my favourite song and video from Madonna. 

The closing song of Unholy saw him dress up as the Devil himself. Why is any Muslim even allowed in this concert hall? Or even Christian? Lol. If you do listen to the album Gloria, the song Gloria itself is beautifully written and sang like a church chores. The wordings of it was also extremely beautiful. But my favourite song to dance to that night was actually "Lose You". The lyric was beautiful, and the music was just so British Disco Era. I danced non-stop to that song. I danced a lot that night. It was a super memorable night for me. 

To sum it up, I'm just gonna attend any concert I want to. With the death of Chester from Linkin Park and not being able to see them perform ever again has taught me that some things should not be delayed. Even if you are scared, just take small steps towards what you want to do. So far, the result has been astonishing.  2023 was the year I finally lived a more authentic life than I have before. And it was extremely free-ing. It's now 2024, and so far, it has been great. The fear is still there, but I realised that the more I am prepared for it by researching and having some backup plans, usually things turned out ok, if not better. I learned to love myself more. Heck, I've even managed to achieve a target weight today that I've been trying for years to do so but failed. I can't really be totally free yet, like Sam Smith's song, let's take it "One Day At A Time ".  I don't know when I can be totally free. I wonder how I would live my life then. In a way, I'm looking forward to it. I have so much I want to explore and to do. 

Dance on Cordy!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Taiwan Shopping Souvenirs

Last entry on Taiwan solo trip, things I bought from there. Above are some confectionery, mainly Sun Biscuit. I do love the butter sun biscuit. The yam cake, not so much. I mainly gave them away from friends and relatives. 

Having my sub biscuit for breakfast or tea.

Stuff I got from carrefour and Dihua Street. From left to right: mixed nuts and dried fruits, peanut malt powder, and mixed grain rice. I have a habit of buying rice from every country I go to. Even though I've transitioning slowly to low carb diet, I still buy rice on my every trip, cause I do love eating them. 

The mixed nuts and dried fruits are for my breakfast usage and goes well with my overnight oats. I've already finished them. 

The peanut malt drink wasn't what I was expecting. I was trying to get a mixed nut drink that I love that I had from a Korean store in Singapore. Guess this wasn't it. I gave the rest to my mother-in-law.

The rice was fantastic! Already finished!

Look at how beautiful they are. I love rice!

Got these fruit tea from Dihua Street. Gave most away, but I love drinking them cold. They taste like Ribena, but without all the sugar.  The main flavour is rosella. I wonder if drinking too much of it is healthy. I try not to drink it too often. It's kinda sour in taste.

Individual pack.

So beautiful!

Natural Ribena.

My tea collection from my trip. The coffee was surprisingly good! Good coffee to me means, not bitter, and not sweet, hahahaha. I just realise how oxymoron that read as I type it out. The TWG is from Singapore Airport Lounge. I usually fill up on them whenever I am passing thru.

And lastly, some cute stickers I got for my journal/planner. They bring me so much joy that I can't help keep buying them even though I always tell myself I have enough to last a few years!.

And that ends my post on my solo trip to Taiwan! Next post, Nagoya Solo Trip! I realise I am travelling more than I blog. But it's ok. Blogging is for the love of blogging. And travelling is for myself. There is no KPI to keep! Even though now that I am not working, I try to catch up on all my backlog. I doubt I will ever completely catch up though. But let's take it one post at a time. What is important is, as long as this blog is here, my memories are kept here, and I can always come back and relive them :)