A Country Walk

After breakfast, I had about half an hour before the bus taking me down to the city centre arrived. Not to miss the opportunity, I took a stroll - luckily downhill - towards one of the village down there. It was a nice walk in the cool crisp but sunny morning.

It was a small country lane going up the hotel which I took. That lead me to a small village centre. A couple of hotels, many cute houses, some really nice restaurants and finally settled a couple bus stops down the hill to wait for my ride.

While walking, I cane across many of the town folks and they were ever so charming and nice. All of them, old, young and of course most of them pretty said bongiorno to me, clearly a foreigner. If they thought I wasn't, the camera I was carrying would surely give that away.

Very approachable. One of the English speaking lady - I think she was a kindergarten teacher even striked a conversation with me, asking if I was staying at the hotel up the hill. I said yes, and told her that I was here for the conference and congratulated me for being adventurous.

A welcomed change compared to some of the European who were clearly stuck up the moment they saw a foreigner. Definitely not here in Cademario and Lugano.

A few more snaps. Time was too tight for me to try some coffee, and soon enough the bus arrived. I was met on the bus by a couple of my colleagues. Time to head down to the conference I guess. But I should have at least half an hour to do a bit of a photowalk before the lecture starts. The weather looked gorgeous this morning.

Photos from the walk can be seen here.

Staying In

I actually reached home early tonight and the plan was to visit my Mum as she was due for an appointment at IJN tomorrow morning. But I found myself feeling tired and decided to stay in instead.

The appointment tomorrow would be at 8 in the morning. Anita would be going with my Mum and sister, and I will be doing the ferrying for the boys to school before I leave for work. This being a school holiday should make.my journey to Subang a bit more painless. But you could never know.

I was sure that my Mum would be apprehensive about what to expect tomorrow. Anita had been to IJN a few times when her Dad was admitted there previously. It was too late for me to reschedule my clinic tomorrow unfortunately. From what I gather, Mum may need to have more scans in the future, but tomorrow morning would be more of a consultation.

While I was at home. I took the time to sort out my photos from the last week. The Ezyroller outing was the main topic of discussion during dinner earlier. My father-in-law night want to come along the next time his grandchildren took the bike for a spin .....

New Flickr. Y No Pro?

I've been a Flickr member since Nov 2007, before converting into a Pro in 2009. I've never looked back ever since. I do host most of my photos on SmugMug though and I tried 500px and Picasa in the past. I've never trusted Facebook with my photos. I was keen on Google Plus but felt Flickr was still the clear winner.

So, I was glad to learn that Marissa Meyer made Flickr one of her main products when she took over Yahoo! Certainly Flickr is a good product, and the previous management neglected this diamond. So, which way did the new regime was taking Flickr?

I knew things were serious when the 3-months Pro account was given away before Xmas last year. I was waiting for them to implement a face-lift a lot earlier. So, when it finally came, I was actually very happy. Google probably caught wind of this change since they only updated their Plus experience only last. For the better.

I'm happy with the new interface. Definitely more modern. But the subscription model made me sit back. I felt that the company missed one important element here. Flickr was actually built on loyalty.

During the lean times, the user stood by the product. They wore their Pro badges with pride. I was one of them. By abolishing Pro - only allowing old timers to be grandfathered in if they have a recurring payment program - these hardcore band would wither away. I personally felt that the loyalty wasn't rewarded. In the days of social media, 6 years is a long time!

The jacked-up interface was a welcomed change. But I was hoping that there would be movement to recognise these Pro group of users who had stayed on through thick and thin. If there is one, I would sign up in a heartbeat. To have to pay extra just to have no advert is just plain lame.....

The Golden Pavilion

From Fushimi, we took a cab to Kyoto Station, followed by an underground ride to a station near our next destination. Next up, the Golden Pavilion. Or known locally as Rokuon-ji.

A bit of an anticlimax really after the splendour of Kiyomizu-dera. This place is more streamlined in terms of what you would expect to see. Not much to discover, and all you do was pay for the entrance ticket and follow the route. Not much room else to do as the crowd would be building up behind you. And it was already noon then, and the sun was pretty fierce for this time of the year. So, I just shuffled along with the rest of the party.

After the entrance, I was fascinated by the moth garden they had around the walkways. Well manicured as you would expect but I was sure that the attention to details to make sure that these moth thrive took plenty of effort as well. Before I knew it, I was already in front of this magnificent temple. With the reflection from the surrounding lake, it sure was a vista. Shame that we were reached there late morning as the light earlier in the day would have made the scene more photogenic.

Walking up the hill towards the entranceNice mossTicket in handWe spent around 20 minutes lingering around here before heading out towards the exit. More souvenir and then it was time to head back to the conference centre.

But before that, my Boss told me that by the exit, the would be a vendor who made the meanest wasabi peanut in town. And she was not kidding. It was a family business and they sold their wares on a simple table, but tasting was believing. The peanut got kick!!!!

They do the meanest wasabi peanut in the world here!A quick drink - this being a really warm morning, and then off we went again on a cab, back to the conference hall for lunch, followed by the afternoon lectures.

The slideshow of the visit can be seen here. Alternatively, you can catch the photos on my Flickr feed or direct from my host at SmugMug. More on my Kyoto trip here.

Fushimi Sldeshow