Yayoi kusama exhibition at National Gallery

Took half day from work to check out Yayoi kusama artworks at the National Gallery. What attracted me to go is the fact that her artworks are kindda eccentric and different from the usual art and it’s more fun.

I find this to be quite hypnotizing ....a bit giddy from staring at it too long.

Doesn’t it put u in a trance...? Like your eyes playing tricks on you?

Her famous pumpkins...

We went into this small room and it’s looks like we enter a mirror fun house...

There is so little time to take picture and enjoy yourself coz the queue is crazy long and you have to keep moving....

The main highlight of this room was this....

Where you peek into a box and gets astonished by the mirror reflections of hundreds of spotted pumpkins...

Sadly, we are only given 5 seconds to take a picture and have to move on....it’s crazy! This is art! Not a factory conveyor belt ok!

Next, we have to queue up and go into another room....

Upon entering the room, I can see many small round lights in different colors changing every few seconds...this time, we were only given 10 seconds in this room so I began snapping my picture ASAP....

The colours are v nice and feel like you are in another world....however short lived....

Bye...I have to leave so soon and can’t even fully enjoy the atmosphere of this magical art installation....

More amazing displays of lights....luckily there are no time limits for this...

Haha....

Next is the colourful spotty room....

Giant colourful sporty flower 

More colorful pictures from her.... 

Lastly we came to this room with many iron balls on the floor...

We are not allowed to squat or kneel in this room....can only stand and walk....so weird right? Coz the moment I kneel on the floor and take a picture with the balls, the museum ppl will come over and scold us...crazy...I mean we r not even touching the balls or anything....

Managed to take this while standing and holding my camera at waist level....

Seriously, I do like the artworks from Yayoi kusama as they are so colourful and fun to look at...but the museum experience ruins the fun of it..maybe National Gallery can come up with a better way to manage the crowd and let ppl enjoy the artworks instead of shoving them in a conveyor belt manner or imposing some strange rules...

Hokkaido trip: Otaru & Sapporo Day 7-8

Check into route inn sapporo ekimae kitaguchi hotel in Sapporo. Meet Ponta the points system mascot! I like it’s belly button...haha

The hotel is conveniently located just outside the entrance of the train station and within walking distance to seven-eleven, Lawson, family Mart..etc.

The next day we went Otaru, located just about 30 mins train ride from Sapporo station. Lotsa yummy food there, and we tried Kitaro ice cream, Letao cheese ice cream etc...till I get quite saturated with ice cream. 

I went to the music box museum and next to it was also a smaller music box museum selling Totoro stuffs...everything looks so cute. It such a money bleeding place....

Wanted to get this but it’s too big to fit into our luggages. So many temptations...haha

The iconic Otaru canal...

Lunch was this kaisendon Hitsumabushi style...cheap and nice!

Found this super cute mochi at Lawson. It has a snow skin mooncake texture with red bean fillings.

Hokkaido trip: lake toya & Chitose airport Day 5-6

After checking out of JR inn Asahikawa, we went to this sunflower field. Sadly, most of the sunflowers are not fully bloom yet....

Nevertheless, we still find some good photo spots...haha...sun is looking gloomy today

Next, we made a quick stop at Usuzan ropeway. 

Taking the cable car all the way to top of the hill...

View of Lake Toya on top of the hill

Volcanic fumes are visible....active volcanic site.

Checking into our onsen resort hotel, Lake View Toya Nonokaze Hotel. It’s a v nice hotel, service was excellent. Would love the come back again some day....

Waiting for the nighttime fireworks to start in our room. 

Had a v good view of the fireworks display from our room. 

After checking out, we head to Mitsui outlet park for shopping time!

After that, we return the car at Chitose airport and check into chitose airport hotel. It’s a hotel located inside the airport. Btw, Chitose airport itself is an attraction. There are so many things to see and do and eat! 

I check out the hello kitty cafe there and tried the cute looking sundae.

Looks too cute to be eaten!

There is also a Doraemon cafe and theme park.


There is also a Royce chocolate factory there. Would recommend spending at least 3-4 hrs exploring the airport if there is time.

Hokkaido trip: Biei-Asahikawa day4

Breakfast was buffet style in the hotel. The spread was quite sumptuous. 

Stayed at Resort North Country Furano. Located in a quiet isolated part of Furano but within 5 mins drive to city area. Quite convenient. Just outside the window is the forest area. Feel quite nice eating breakfast and surrounded by nature all around. 

Next stop at Biei was this park called Shineinookatenbo with lotsa sunflowers.

It’s like a sunflower paradise! The rain has gone and the sun shone fiercely that day....

Stop for a light snack at this cute little wooden cafe.

Matcha latte with ice cream. 

More countryside scenery....

Next park we visited is this Zerubu Hills place. 

The flowers were beautiful under the hot burning sun...

It’s quite a small park so we only spent about 15mins there taking pictures before moving onto Asahikawa. Saw quite a lot of ppl cycling around Biei but it’s not a good choice as weather was too hot and the place was too hilly to ride a bike. Most ppl end up pushing their bikes most of the time...so glad I din chose to bike around Biei.....

Next we head towards Asahikawa ramen village for lunch. Tried santouka ramen, and it was really delicious as compared to SG. However, I was sweating non stop while eating my ramen coz it’s too hot and the place was non aircon...guess I have sweat buckets that day...don’t remember Hokkaido being that hot 11 years ago....must be due to global warming...

Check into JR inn Asahikawa hotel later. V nice hotel that is new and v convenient as it’s connected to a shopping mall