Bon Odori~

17 July 2009，零九年七月十七日
Late at night，深夜
My own room，我的猫窝

本来人家真的以为真的没有人陪我去参加今年的盆踊り说，超失望的，我甚至还在 Facebook 和 MSN 写说不想自己一个人去的话就只能等明年了；非常出乎预料地 Alvin 突然 MSN 我问说想不想跟他一起去（别号 Master Alvin ，我老大 Ryan 的 Counter Strike 队友），不过条件是我必须要穿日本浴袍 （夏日版的和服）... 我是不太介意啦，不过就需要七早八早去买高一点儿的新鞋咯，不然我的浴袍对我这个矮妹来说真的是实在太长了啦

Was kind of disappointed because still failed to find anyone to join the upcoming Bon Odori with me, so I simply wrote things like I might ended up going alone or not attending at all in both Facebook and MSN… and viola~ Suddenly I get the MSN from Alvin (a.k.a. Master Alvin, my old time buddy Ryan’s Counter Strike clan mate) asking whether I would be interested to go with him. Yeah~ But, with one request, I MUST wear yukata (the summer version of formal thick kimono)… I would not really mind but… guess I had no choice but to go and hunt for platform shoes or something or else the yukata is going to be way too long for a short person like me

18 July 2009，零九年七月十八日
Early morning，大清早
My own room again，还是在我的猫窝

不知是否生理时钟早已习惯了工作天的作息时间呢，我竟然在六点就老早自动起身了，可悲的我... T___T 不过还好啦，我并不孤单~ Ryan 老大竟然也醒来了叻，原来他本来打算六点才起身去晨跑和拍拍照的，没想到早在五点就自然醒了，我就把握机会把 Alvin 的建议告诉他咯，其实我预料到老大一定会跟来的啦，有美美的可爱浴袍女孩让他拍个够叻~ 这对他这位酷爱照相的 DSLR 拥有者当然是个绝大的诱惑咯，很容易就找得到一票的好模特 ^^

老大原本是希望 Alvin 可以先到我家来接我再到他那儿去才正式启程的；不过当然机会很渺小咯，非常地不顺路，所以建议被驳回时很正常的 XD 反正我真的需要去买高鞋帮爱车洗澡和打蜡和稍为逛逛街，就约了老大多一会儿在 Tropicana City Mall 集合再载他过来牛车水一起等咯

Woke up at 6:00am as usual even though it’s weekend, guess I already used to the weekdays’ alarms and become such an instinct to get up from bed at that particular moment, poor me… T___T But all well, luckily I was not alone, my buddy Ryan was there on Facebook too, and he actually woke up at 5:00am instead of his desired 6:00am and was waiting there for the morning walk and photo shooting after the walk :p Told him about Alvin’s suggestion and I knew for sure he would say yes because of all the cute yukata girls out there that surely attract the guys attention :p Moreover this Ryan buddy is a DSLR owner too~ he could easily get lots of nice models on the field ^^

Ryan was hoping that Alvin could first fetch me from my place and then his to pick him up before we headed over to Shah Alam, but guess this would be kind of hard because Alvin stays in Bandar Utama, and guess what, Alvin strongly against it as expected XD So I was kind of like getting this old buddy to meet up with me at Tropicana City Mall instead because I’ll be there too for my shoes hunting, car wash & wax, and some shopping

18 July 2009，零九年七月十八日
10:30am – 2:00pm，早上八点半至下午两点
Tropicana City Mall

吔~ 成功以 LDP 衔接的那一段新路到达 Tropicana City Mall 了，发现这里如果不塞车的话真的比 SS2 的近很多呃。到步后首要任务当然是带着我的可爱的爱车去 B1 停车场找洗车中心为她好好洗白白和打蜡一下咯 ^^ 接着就赶快跑上奔下地寻找我那非常重要的厚底鞋了，不然待会儿的盆踊り我该怎么办？嗯... 不过看起来这勉强可以接受的黑色厚底鞋还是不太够高哦，不过无所谓啦，至少好过完全任由我的长长的裙摆拖地，我这种身高可真是需要不少代价和辅助才能穿好和服哦。说真的我有打算过要去选购布匹再找裁缝帮我缝制一件稍为短一些的新浴袍，不过还不肯定，迟些再说吧

嗯... 接着还买了一枚超有性格的戒指，一个给爱车的吊饰，新的钱包，一套港剧（巾帼枭雄），还有一本藤井树的新书哦，他可是我喜欢的作家之一！午餐依然还是在士 林小吃解决，但不同的是我改变主意尝试了他们的特别套餐，一碟鸡排饭（有青葱，皮蛋，炸鸡排，当然还有饭~）加上一瓶 V-soy 豆奶才十零吉而已，我甚至还向那位大姐要求洒多一点辣粉呢~ 不愧是不怕辣，辣不怕，怕不辣的我~ 问题是... 太饱了... =___=

Yeah this time around I used LDP and the flyover at Jalan Damansara Lama instead, I think this one actually way easier and faster than the SS2 ones. First thing first, get my baby Myvi to the car wash located at B1 car park, time to give her a good wash and wax ^^ Next of course would be the shoes hunting operation or how and what I got to wear for the Bon Odori? Well at last I managed to get a pair of black platform shoes but guess the height was not really good enough too, but already way better than nothing. Sure is troublesome and hard for shortie like me to look nice in long yukata… Actually I thought of buying nice cloth and get tailor to sew another one with slightly shorter length too, but we’ll see how things go…

Next, bought a ring, bought a deco for my cute car, a new purse to replace the broken one, a set of Hong Kong TVB Drama (Rosy Business), and a latest book by Hiyawu (the Taiwanese novel writer I like). Again I had my lunch at ShiLin but this time around I ordered their special lunch set instead, featuring the fried chicken rice (got spring onions, century egg, fried chicken, and rice of course) and a bottle of V-soy soya milk for RM10, I requested for the lady to pour more spicy powder on the chicken, typical me~ but then… too full =___=

Rosy Business
巾帼枭雄


The latest novel from Hiyawu -- The End of Drifting
藤井树新书 -- 《流浪的終點》

The lunch promotion, from ShiLin
士林的午间套餐

老大在我餐后离开士林不久就到达了，没想到的是他竟然带了自己的巾帼枭雄 DVD 来借给我，惨了 @@ 不过既然我的那一套是数十分钟前才在那临近的商店买下的，老大就叫我不妨回到那里说家人也碰巧刚刚买了同一部港剧，试试看能否和他们换片咯；幸好先前和我交易的那位店员只是在店里吃饭盒而已，能够为我说说话，不然就真的太可惜了，希望那换来的新戏（碧血盐枭）不会令我失望咯

Ryan finally arrived after I left ShiLin, and what’s more… he already brought me the Rosy Business DVD to copy and watch @@ Since I just bought a copy from the nearby store so he suggested me to go back there and check if I could trade it for another drama, with the reason that my family just called and they said they bought the same drama too, thanks God the guy I dealt with was still there having his lunch and things went well. Hopefully the new drama I picked (Sweetness in the Salt) would be a nice one too

Sweetness in the Salt
碧血盐枭

回想起来其实我真的应该永远随身携带我的相机的，因为接下来的一站是我超爱的星巴克，我还在那儿喝了一杯香香的 Caramel Latte 呢，可惜没照片啊... 看看时间才不过下午一点半而已，Alvin 需在四点左右才会去牛车水载我们，现在回家真的是太早了（路程平均费时二十分钟），我和老大就只好随便打闹胡扯一番啦；后来又想到既然我已经打算要改变形象，就到了 Lower Ground 去买了一支定型喷雾，但愿新的发型不会太难看就好了...

逛呀逛就到了下午两点，怎么说都得去接我的爱车离开了吧，因为在牛车水哪还蛮难找车位的，再加上老大并不敢担保他能好好地从我哪儿回去他 Vista Kiara 的家，唯有与我共乘咯~

Now I think I should actually brought my camera along with me because the next destination was actually Starbucks @___@ had my Caramel Latte there. We had some chit-chat and laughter just to spend the time because it was only 1:30pm or so, and Alvin said he would only be there at NZX to fetch both of us at 4:00pm… and it’s only going to take me 20 minutes or so to get back to D’aman Crimson… I also thought of finding a hair spray to fix my hair since I would like to have a change of style, and finally bought one at the LG, not sure if I’ll look OK though

2:00pm hmmmm…. see you again Tropicana, time to retrieve my cute baby Myvi and back to my apartment area, Ryan carpool with me instead of driving because well we won’t have much parking lots at NZX and secondary, he not sure whether he know how to get back to his Vista Kiara from mine~

18 July 2009，零九年七月十八日
2:30pm – 4:00pm，下午两点半至四点
My apartment and NZX，牛车水再加上我自己的猫窝

因为稍微塞车的缘故，我们将近两点半才终于回到牛车水区域，泊好车后我就让老大一个人留在那儿自己拍照去了；自己当然就马上回家准备准备咯～其实... 要 “穿好” 浴袍真的不容易呃，就算是穿上了高高的厚底鞋之后裙脚依然还是太长了... 不过真的是没时间让我拖拉下去了，老大打电话来说 Alvin 就快要到达了，我只能认命地走过去牛车水集合...

真的有够羞死人的，一路上都有不少人在看着我指指点点，还记得甚至有三个少男看着我说：“ohayou~ konnichiwa~ sumimasen~ arigatou~” 等 =___= 更惨的是老大竟然还准备好了他的 DSLR 在入口处等着我要拍照了… 我只能不停地祈祷希望那个 Alvin 会早点到把我们接走啦，人们一定都当我傻了，无端端的穿和服干吗？还好叻， Alvin 终于到了，当然是马上冲上车啦不然还等什么嘛，谢谢你！

Back to NZX around 2:30pm due to the jam on LDP, left Ryan there alone but he would be fine with his DSLR~ not sure if he took any photos there when I was gone getting ready in my apartment. Ehrm… had quite some hard time “fixing” the yukata because it still kinda too long although I already wearing the new platform shoes… But then since Alvin called Ryan saying he’ll arrive soon enough, I had no choice but to walk over to NZX…

So many people starring at me, so embarrassing @@ I remember got a gang of three guys even looked at me and said “ohayou~ konnichiwa~ sumimasen~ arigatou~” etc =___= What’s worse… Ryan even used his DSLR and kept shooting when I was walking towards him… I could only keep praying that Alvin would be there earlier… Really uneasy with people looking at me as if I was insane or something for wearing yukata @@ And luckily yeah there he was at last, thanks!!!

I walking towards Ryan, in NZX
在牛车水那儿快步走向老大


This would be one of Ryan's best IF I didn't move
due to the strong wind there
对不起阿老大，这本来是你的佳作的，
风太大... 不小心动了


Ryan took this to emphasize my yukata's thousand cranes design
老大要衬托出我浴袍的千鹤设计


Kept hoping that Alvin would arrived earlier
很焦急地等 Alvin 的车

18 July 2009，零九年七月十八日
Around 5:00pm – 8:10pm，将近下午五点至晚间八点十分
Shah Alam Matsushita，沙亚南 Matsushita

我们一路随着工作人员的指挥把车子泊得好远呃，我需要一边走一边拉着我长长的裙摆才不至于老是拖地，不过还蛮好玩的哦，风一吹我那轻轻的袖子就不停地飘阿飘~ ... 不过真的很难为情啦，虽然身穿浴袍的美眉真的不算少，都是我一身的鲜红惹的祸咯，人们总是老远就发现我了，蛮多人过来要求和我一起合照的；不过看起来我令他们失望了，应该很丑吧，我根本就不上镜也不懂得该如何对镜头微笑，对不起哦各位...

嗯... 总的来说呢我们就是不断地到处寻找和服少女的倩影来照相，吃吃小食喝喝啤酒，更不忘了趁机寻觅失去联络已久的老同学们，How Zan 就是在我于观众看台前忙着追打 Ryan 和 Alvin 时抓到我的（当然有合照一番咯）；可惜我们就算去到了马六甲多媒体大学的 EMiNA 的“地盘”也无法见到当初大学里的一众学长姐，说是“地盘”其实并不为过，谁叫他们还带了一个大大的旗帜安放在地上呢？Legolase, Apple, Masami, Thye Shin, Jin 等等，你们在哪，还好吗？会否他们其实也是在会场里而我们却无缘碰面呢？走着走着整个会场好像是越来越多沙尘了，我们就只好晚间八点就早早离开回家了

是时候来到这长篇大论的尾声了，其余的就交给照片吧~ 真的很希望明年可以找到多几位女生和我一起身穿浴袍去参加盆踊り... 想要拥有多一件真正属于自己的浴袍，想买一些应景的道具 （纸扇，纸伞，甚至是武士刀），更希望自己终于可以真正地笑出来，不再只是一个光有华服的死气娃娃 @___@ 期待来年的盆踊り

We followed the signs and parked the car quite further away from the entrance, I had to grab the side of my yukata so that the bottom part won’t get too close with the ground, but was fun too due to the light weight, my sleeves kept flying whenever the wind blew~… was so embarrassed still, although there were people wearing yukata too but my red satin one was really too obvious, anyone could notice me from afar… quite some people approached me for photos but I guess I disappointed them and won't look nice because I knew since day one that I ain’t photogenic and I couldn’t really smile when I face cameras, sorry ya guys…

Hmm… basically we were there for yukata girls hunting, food eating, beer drinking, and friends hunting, How Zan caught me when I was chasing after Ryan and Alvin near the seats area, too bad we couldn’t see any seniors at the MMU Melaka’s EMiNA “territory”, ehrm ya decided to call it “territory” due to the bunting they placed there… Where were you all, Legolase, Apple, Masami, Thye Shin, Jin etc? Could it be they were there but just that we failed to bump into each other? Sigh… since the whole area was getting dusty so we decided to leave earlier at 8:00pm

Guess that’s all for the text, time for photos~ Now I wish I could get more girls to wear yukata with me and attend Bon Odori together, would like to get a new yukata, and I want to have some props too, let it be paper fan, paper umbrella, or even katana XD Really hope that I can have better smiles and all, really would like to be more capable instead of a stiff doll @___@ Can’t wait for the next one~

Walking from car park to Matsushita
正在前往 Matsushita 场地


Ryan and his DSLR
老大和他的 DSLR


My long sleeves keep flying~
我长长的袖子随风飘呀飘~


Ryan bro's all ready for yukata hunting~
老大已准备就绪，拍照去~


She's photographers' favorite ^^
她是摄影爱好者的宠妃哦


I also took a few of her photos ^^
我也跟着照一照~


Smiling, posing with the umbrella~
执伞回眸一笑


From me too ^^
也是我拍的 ^^


Ryan asked me to go over and take picture with her,
photo provided by Lim (Ryan's housemate)
老大要我过去合影，这是老大的室友照的


Half body photo, provided by Lim
半身像，还是老大的室友照的


With the lady from a Japanese souvenir shop
我和一间日本进口纪念品店的工作人员


Photo by Alvin, Ryan said he would like to try different angles
老大说要尝试不同的角度，这是 Alvin 照的


This was what taken by Ryan, I was reading the flyer I guess
老大照的，我应该是在看着传单


Smack Ryan hard!!!
我打，我打，我大大力地打！


Their jokes made me laugh instead of smile =___=
笑话让我笑得真不顾形象 =___=


With How Zan, long time no see
我和好久不见的 How Zan


Actually why they get Doraemon involved there?
这干叮当何事？


Im the devil with cute devil horns
我是魔女，看我的角


... sweat, what happened to my horns?
... 汗， 这么快就歪歪斜斜了啦？


Owww... always get slanted in just few minutes time
搞错阿... 你看我的角...


Annoyed, but nothing I could do...
我气!!! 又很无辜很无奈... 哎


I love this photo, thanks Ryan
很喜欢这一张，谢谢哦老大


Ryan took this for Alvin, but... what about he himself?
Alvin，老大照的... 惨了，没人帮老大照...


I love her yukata design and the obi ^^
超喜欢她的和服


Cute Japanese baby
可爱的小小日本娃娃


Cute cute baby and her mother
日本娃娃和日本妈妈


All ready for the opening ceremony
聚精会神地准备拍下开幕典礼


The drum performance
开始击鼓了


Drum drum
我敲敲


The dancers started to walk onto the stage
舞蹈者们也慢慢地走了上台


The yukata girls all placed their fans this way
和服少女们都把扇子这样放呢


The dance was going to begin
舞蹈要开始了


And my horns dropped again
我的角又掉了 =___=


Forget about photos, just focus on performances will do
不照了，看表演看表演


With Ryan's girl friend's (Yuan Leng) friends
跟 “大嫂” Leng Leng 的朋友照的


Cheers~
干杯~


I was studying the dance moves
我记得好像是在研究舞步


My shinny horns~
我的角会发亮的~


Ryan wanted to try a night view version
老大要来个晚间暗一点的版本


Could it be all the photographers also like this?
摄影爱好者都是这样的吗？


May I borrow your katana?︿︿
借我你的刀玩玩 ^^


The swordie -- Nyuk Cheng
刀客 -- 仪卿


This sure brought back the MMU memories
这是我们大学的回忆哦


OK that's enough, let's get back home
够了叻，回家吧