Stardust

Another novel by Neil Gaiman. Hehe!

Stardust

Just finished the novel today while walking home, I wanted to know the ending. This story was quite of sweet and sad.

The story start with a wall, one side was faire land and another was the village. A market or fair will be held once every 8 years at the wall. People from the faire land will cross over to be at the market. This was the place where Dunstan Thorn met a girl with pointed ears and violet eyes who man a glass flowers store. After Dunstan encounter with the girl, he married a fellow villager. Before his daughter was born, his child with the violet eyed girl was sent to him through the wall, named Tristran Thorn. So, the boy grew up. 

The Reef & Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts

The book cover

From Wikipedia, "Nora Roberts was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. As of 2011, her novels had spent a combined 861 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, including 176 weeks in the number-one spot. Over 400 million copies of her books are in print, including 12 million copies sold in 2005 alone." What an impressive number, her stories must be very good.

So when I came across this book, I bought it, it has been awhile since I last read a romance novel. I couldn't stop reading once I started. The stories were engaging and make you want more. I like both of the stories.

Winter Holiday in Tohoku Region - 31st Dec 2011 (Tazawako 田沢湖)

Woke up early today for ski. The guest house owner sent us to the shop where we could rent ski wear. We also bought the lift coupon from him because it was cheaper than to buy at the ski resort. This was my first snowboarding session. My friend said that it was cooler to snowboard than to ski. First, I wanted to take a beginner lesson, however, there were no instructor for snowboard that morning, so my friend decided to become our couch although she herself only played once. She said that we only had to learn how to start and stop. Plus, she said if we couldn't control and fall down, it's ok because the snow was so soft. She was right on that. I felt that my legs were so tired with the shoes. So heavy. 

At first, I kept fall down. Even if I could move for a distance, I would become scare if the speed was too high, I would fall down myself. Luckily, another friend of mine was a novice too, so we had each other back.  We would fall and got up, but we always met each other along the way. After snowboarding and fall, and repeat again, me and my friend made it to the middle of the slope where we had lunch. My other friends had a few rounds up and down already.

Winter Holiday in Tohoku Region - 30th Dec 2011 (Morioka盛岡)

Woke up early for apple onsen. After that, had to give up breakfast from the hotel because we needed to catch a 6.57am bus to Morioka 盛岡. The snow was so heavy and we were worried that the bus would be cancelled. What a relief when we saw that bus. I slept all the way until Morioka because I woke up too early and the scene from the bus window was nothing actually, just white snow. One of the specialty of Morioka is Wanko Soba. Since our appointment was on 11am, and there was no any tourist spots near the Morioka Station, we just loitered around the station. The snow was soft. However, the wind was so strong, and the only feeling I felt was 'so freezing cold'!

around Morioka Station 盛岡駅の近く

Around Kumamoto City in One Day 31/03/2012

My welcome passport (given after register to the city council) for the Kumamoto City attractions was expiring. So, I decided to wake up one Saturday morning (the last day of the pass) to go to all these places. Coincidently, the one day pass I bought expiry date was that day.

One day Pass for Kumamoto City Tram and  Bus

Welcome Passport (Kumamoto)

 Kengunmachi 健軍町

the final stop for the city tram