Episode 95 - The Journey Continued

This picture was taken by me from within a ferris wheel cabin.

After departing from Niseko, we drove to Rusutsu. It was raining when we arrived at the amusement park at Rusutsu. Next to the amusement park is a hotel in which the Hong Kong tourist groups like to stay.

The amusement park entrance fee was not economic for a walk-in tourist.

I was with Gogo at the top of the ferris wheel when I took this photo. Looking out of the window of the cabin, we saw the roller coaster which Gogo wished to play earlier.

To Gogo's great disappointment, he was not permitted to board the roller coaster train as he was then 1 cm short in height to reach the minimum requirement for admission to play the game!

We had an enjoyable (perhaps not so for Gogo) afternoon at the amusement park. We then continued our journey to Lake Touya.

Episode 94 - Country House

Do you know what this house is?

I took this picture at a public car park near the Niseko Bridge, just before we left Niseko for Rusutsu.

This is in fact a washroom. Apart from its artistic outlook, the washroom is clean and automated.

Episode 93 - Shyly Grass

Chiu Yin and I visited the flower market yesterday.

Chiu Yin noticed that one of the flower shops was selling "Shyly Grasses". He just learned something about it in the school so he wished to keep one. I had no objection to this and Chiu Yin selected the tallest one (see photos above) among the grasses. It only costs $5. We tidied up the plant at home and put it in a beautiful pot.

The official name of the plant is mimosa pudica. In Hong Kong, we used to called it "Shyly Grass". It is so called because its leaves will fold up and its stems will drop down if we touch them (as in the 2nd photo) - it looks like a shyly child. The leaves and the stems will revive back to the original position in one or two minutes' time.

Some 30 years ago, the "Shyly Grass" was a kind of weeds which we could easily find in Hong Kong. However, with the development of the city, the plant can now only be located in the countryside or flower shops.

Chiu Yin has agreed to take up the responsibility to water the plant. I hope Chiu Yin can learn how to take care of a plant life himself.

Chiu Yin said he will draw a picture of the Shyly Grass later on. If so, I will post it in Chiu Yin's Gallery.

Episode 92 - Clivia: more flowers

Photo updated on 30/3

This is the new flowering position of the clivia.

As the plant is mature, the flowers are larger and more colourful than those of last year.

I believe that flower lovers will agree that the happiness you get from seeing your own plant blossoming is really invaluable.

Episode 91 - A Wonderful Morning at Prague

I visited Prague in December 1998.

I started my journey by train from Vienna and arrived at Prague in the late afternoon.

The weather was extremely bad on that day. It was dark, cold, wet and foggy. As I did not know the local language, it took me quite some time to arrive at the hotel. I felt annoyed and went to sleep early.

I woke up early in the next morning. I took a quick breakfast at the hotel and went outside to have a walk. To my surprise, the weather was completely different from that of the earlier day. The sky was a perfect blue without a cloud in sight.

My heart was filled with joy. I walked across the beautiful old city centre and reached the river bank. Looking across the Vltava river, I found that the Prague Castle on the other side had turned into gold under the morning sun.