As some of you may already know and I previously mentioned in my twitter/facebook/blog, I went for a trip to vancouver for my friends’ wedding since I was chosen as one of my friend’s groomsmen and at the same, I got myself a vacation from work so it’s all working out perfectly. I was hoping to meet up with LightingSabre + Chun who lives in Vancouver but unfortunately, I didn’t have time even though I was staying there for a week ^^;;. I know both the groom and the bride through this online gaming called FFXI and they both met each other through the same game ^^, unique and unusual, eh ? ^^. Anyways, enjoy the pictures ^^. Note that this post may NSFW (Not Safe For Work). Proceed at your own risk as you have been warned.

Bits and pieces of history about Vancouver International Airport

Vancouver International Airport (YVR) has been around since 1910 at least. It’s quite old. In comparison, Pearson Airport in Toronto was built 1937 (back then was called Malton Airport) according to Wikipedia.

I arrived around 9am in the morning and was starving because it was technically 12pm in Toronto so it’s lunch time for me. I went to the food court to get some food and coffee. Caffeine was needed to keep me awake since I didn’t get that much sleep.

Now, this is something very unusual that I found. Tim Hortons stores are all across Canada, however, each stores in a province are differ from one to the others. Tim Hortons in Toronto does not provide/use a cup holder while the ones in Vancouver do ^^.

Since I wouldn’t be picked until around 11am, I browsed around the Internet since YVR provides free wifi access. I checked my usual forum and found the detail for the groom’s stag party. It sounded like a lot of fun especially Phase 3 ^^

After I am done browsing the Internet, I strolled around to nearby stores at the airport. Vancouver has this fever called ‘Winter Olympic’ because everywhere I see is either selling winter Olympic merchandise or showing ads/banners about the upcoming Winter Olympics.

A random gift shop

A japanese restaurant called Hanami. It’s pretty pricey ^^;;

Sushi, sashimi, etc are on display. They look delicious.

A book store located right beside the japanese restaurant.

Want to change your style of clothing ? Why don’t you go with “Mountain Style” ^^?

A big statue just across the food court.

It seems to have a lot of historical and spiritual meaning.

The groom bought this Dutch-Wife (DW) doll to pull a prank on me because all of them knows that I am into Anime and other stuff. I was laughing so hard when I saw this lol.

They even wrote ‘I Love U Saku’ on it lol.

Arrived at the Grouse Mountain on the stag party day. Getting ready to do zip-lining soon.

Needed to purchase an admission ticket to go up.

Information about Grouse Mountain.

Buying our admission ticket. Adult ticket is $37.95 which is pretty pricey however, in comparison, CN Tower in Toronto costs $32.99 for the full-tower experience so the price is about right for this kind of attraction.

Unfortunately, we had to cancel our plan for zip lining because the maximum weight is 250 lbs while one of my friend is 275 lbs ^^;;.

The guy at the counter felt bad about us since we had to cancel our zip-lining plan and he gave us free admission tickets ^^

We were riding the skyride to the top and the view was really great. You can see pretty much the whole Vancouver from the top and it’s an experience that you can’t get in Toronto area.

The pictures are little bit blurry due to the dirty window and my own reflection ^^;;.

This is one of my favourite photos.

The staff, acted as a tour guide, explained to us about Grouse Mountain.

Fraser River

Vancouver in 1898 as seen from Grouse Mountain.

Since we didn’t get to do zip-lining, we hanged out at the local restaurant at the top of Grouse Mountain.

Saw this wolf when we were about go back from Grouse Mountain.

It refused to look at my camera ^^;;

There was a black one and it’s too far from where I was standing. My camera zoom cannot reach close enough ^^;;

‘

From Grouse Mountain, we went to this Samba Brazilian Steak House at 1122 Alberni St, Downtown Vancouver for dinner. I’ve never been to a Brazilian Steak House before but I can tell you that it was really great. The meat was really delicious and yummy. One of my friends told me that if the staffs speak Portuguese then you know that the taste is great and authentic.

I guess the same applies for a Japanese restaurant in this case because I know in Toronto, there are a lot of All-You-Can-Eat sushi restaurants owned by Chinese/Koreans where one would go for quantity instead of quality (like myself) ^^;;.

I definitely want to go here again when I visit Vancouver ^^

The day of the wedding is finally here. Being one of the groomsmen, I got to ride in a limo (never experience once in my life ^^;;).

We went to pick up the bride’s maids, groom and bride for a photoshoot.

This mural is used as the background for the photo session.

The wedding reception was held at the Grouse Mountain. At the same time, there was Mario’s Galaxy Gala held at the other part of the restaurant. Not sure what event was about though.

The dinner table at the wedding reception. Very nicely and neatly arranged ^^.

The main dinner table for the groom, bride, groom’s men and bride’s maid.

While I was waiting for the ceremony, took couple shots from Grouse Mountain.

I love this view ^^.

Another my favourite shot of Vancouver at night.

The groom knew how to treat the groom’s men. He bought us and bunch of friends a cigar for each of us. That was probably the 2nd time in my life, I’ve ever smoked a cigar. The first time was the day before the wedding ^^.

After the wedding, I had some free time so my friend took me to Yaohan Centre in Richmond. She needed to go to the Japanese book store there. I saw this poster at one of the store. I only know 2 of them. I believe top right is Shibasaki Kou and bottom left is Nakama Yukie . Does anyone know the other two ?

Kamen Rider ^^

We finally arrived at the Japanese book store

After we got back from Yaohan Centre, my friend cooked us an awesome dinner.

I felt so sleepy after I ate this and it was incredibly delicious. Well consider it took about 8 hours to slowly cook it so it’s worth the time.

After dinner, TJ, the groom, was supposed to have his bday next week but we decided to celebrate it then since all of us were here. lol30 ^^

Most of my friends are gamers by nature since all of us met through FFXI so we all are pretty geeky and nerdy, however, it’s about to get even more geekier because another friend of mine brought along Dungeon and Dragons (a fantasy role playing game).

I never played it before but it’s so much fun. Instead of the usual RPG that we play on consoles/computers, you are free to use your own imagination. For example, if you want to lay traps for the monsters using a rope or you want to spit at the monster to try to blind them, you can certainly do that by just simply rolling a dice and see if it actually works/hits.

]]> http://www.sakuafk.com/2009/10/18/vancouver-trip/feed/ 23 http://www.sakuafk.com/2009/08/01/anime-expo-2009-loot/ http://www.sakuafk.com/2009/08/01/anime-expo-2009-loot/#comments Sun, 02 Aug 2009 00:10:40 +0000 Saku http://www.sakuafk.com/?p=3551

I realized that I am little bit late posting my loot post from AX 2009 but hopefully you guys still find this post entertaining. It already has been a month since I got back from Anime Expo 2009 and time seems to go much faster than before ^^;; which is somewhat scary. To be honest, I did not buy a lot at Anime Expo because I knew I would have a lot of expenses when I moved to my new place. I thought I did not buy a lot but  Istill spent at least $300 for goodies. All the photos were taken at my new place as you already probably notice from the picture above; the floor is different because my old room was all tiles ^^. Note that this post is definitely NSFW due to bare ‘eyes’ showing from the dakimakura that I got.

I bought Dengeki G’s Festival April Issue from Kinokuniya booth at Anime Expo. I really love their booth because they were selling a lot of magazines like Dengeki. I don’t really read it but love the goodies that comes with the magazine as we all do ^^. Do you buy those magazines for the sake of the goodies that come along with it ? In this April issue, I got Estel Freecia mousepad (too bad it is not an oppai mouse pad ;p), a keychain and a dakimakura of Feena Fam Earthlight.

This dakimakura only has one side because the other side is just blank ^^ but it is still a nice loot for something that comes free with the magazine ^^. As for the texture of the dakimakura, it is not as soft as the one that usually cost us around $100 and has two sides (the normal one and the ero one).

My next loot is Dengeki G’s Comic Festival 2009 spring and the front cover shows Otome and Yume, two of my favourite characters from Da Capo II. Just like Dengeki G’s Festival, it also comes with a free dakimakura of Asakura Otome which is one of the main reasons I bought it.

The Asakura sisters are both just adorable. What’s your favourite characters from Da Capo II ? I am sure there are a lot of Circus’ fans out there ^^

I couldn’t get enough of Da Capo apparently since I bought another Dakimakura featuring Otome and an unknown character. Can anyone tell me who the girl on the left is ? The right girl must be Asakura Otome (correct me if I am wrong) but not sure who the girl on the left. I am guessing it’s one of the character in the eroge because I have never seen her in any of Da Capo series.

I may be into Da Capo especially Asakura sisters but I still remember who my favourite character of all time is. I bought this Fate/stay nights Saber Portraits which contains a lot of nice pictures of Saber. My previous Saber gallery post contains a lot of images from this art book.

As I was lurking around at Kinokuniya booth, I saw this nice visual collection of StrikerS with Subaru stand-pop inside. I could not resist and it sure didn’t take me long before grabbing it.

And of course , when I was about to go to the cashier, I saw another StrikerS Visual Collection with Nanoha stand-pop. Does anyone know if there is one that comes with Fate stand-pop or even Signum? ^^;;

This is the free goodies that  I got when  I was at the dealer room at Anime Expo. Most of the stuff came from Manga Gamer booth and every time, I went inside, they were giving these free items. The BlazBlue one, I got it from the Aksys booth.

All the loots above is something that can be purchased quite easily especially if you happen to have Kinokuniya book store in your area (T.T we need one in Canada). Below loots are something that worth more in my opinion even though they only cost like $12-$20 but I doubt I will ever have a chance to get these again.

Yuka Kayura, one of the illustrator of Da Capo II eroge and the creator of Asakura Otome, was giving out a drawn sketch for $20 each at Manga Gamer booth as I already mentioned during my AX 2009 Day 3 coverage.

I asked her for Asakura Otome sketch since she is one of my favourite characters in DC II. I was given a number and told to come back within one hour to pick it up.

After I picked up my Otome sketch, I asked her for Asakura Yume sketch and was told to come after 3 hours to pick it up because she was getting busier with other request. Both sketches were personally signed by her and I was so friggin happy ^^. They both are priceless loots in front of my eyes and $20 for an original sketch is more than worth it ^^

My last loot from Anime Expo 2009 is an Afro Samurai sketch ($12) by Takashi Okazaki with his signature. I had to wait for at least 1 hour before it was my turn to get his signature. It’s definitely another priceless loot in addition to my Asakuras’ sketches.

Below is my total expenses break down for this trip. I have to say that it has been quite a pricey trip for me especially the hotel part since I didn’t share a room with anyone and even though if I did, I don’t think they can handle my snoring lol.

Opening day of Anime Expo had finally arrived. The time had come and I had been waiting for this day. My apology if I made it sounding so dramatic (too much) but I had been looking forward to it for a long time as far as I can remember since I got into anime conventions. I woke up around 7:30am and left my hotel at 8am since the registration opened at 9am. Even though, I was one hour early, as I was expected, the line was already quite long. I wish I didn’t oversleep yesterday so I could get my badge and didn’t get stuck waiting. The picture above may not be related but that’s how I imagined myself yelling ‘YEAHHHHHHHHHHH’ to let out my excitement for Anime Expo.

My oh my, the line-up was crazy and I thought Anime North was bad enough but Anime Expo was a lot worse. It was at least 3-4 times worse than Anime North. Waiting in the line-up was quite boring since I went to Anime Expo alone with any friends from back home. Maybe next year if I have a chance to go to AX again, I will try to drag some friends with me and come up with better planning.

The majority of people in the line-up didn’t cosplay so sadly I didn’t take any pictures of cosplayers. In addition, everyone seemed to be busy either playing PSP/DS or listening to some musics on their Ipods so I couldn’t randomly start a conversation with someone ^^;;. For con-goers out there, when you are at anime conventions, do you usually start random conversations with the person beside you while waiting in the line?

Around 9am, the line finally started moving and it was really fast. While I was walking toward the registration booth, I took a snapshot of this girl’s handbag. I don’t think Louis Vuitton is exactly appropriate for anime conventions but I am not one to judge and to each his/her own ^^.

After looking at her bag, I glanced over to  her friends’ shoes. I questioned myself as of why they wore high heels. Wouldn’t skecher shoes a lot more comfortable to wear at Anime convention which was a place that required to be walking around a lot. A question popped in my head for my readers who are females (hopefully I do have some female readers ^^;;). Do you wear high heels at anime convention (assuming you don’t cosplay as a character that needs to wear high heels?

Despite the long line-up, it moved quite fast and within half an hour, I was about to get my badge. I like to give AX2009 staffs two thumbs up on how organize their registration booths were. They prepared bunch of computers where people scanned their pre-registered receipt to confirm their identity then printed it out and ready to be picked up on the booth accordingly.

In addition to AX badge, I was given a strap to hang the badge which was very usefull than having a clip-on type like I had at Anime North. AX didn’t have just one mascot but there were 2 (or 4 if you count the stuff animals) but I still like Anime North mascot for some reasons ^^. In addition to my name, I got my screenname/nickname on my badge so it’s pretty cool.

It’s pleasant to see that Anime Expo is fully supported by Governor of California, Arnold Schawrzenegger. He wrote a short greeting to everyone who gathered for the 19th annual Anime Expo and the greeting was put in the AX booklet which was given to me when I got my badge along with AX plastic bag. I wonder if our premier in Ontario will ever do something similar for Anime North for example ^^;;. Question for my readers, does your local government authorities involve in anime/otaku related activities in your area ?

After I got my badge, I went straight for another line up for Morning Musume concert ticket. The line might look shorter but it actually took me 1 hour to get to the ticket booth. It really sucked and such a time waster waiting in lines ^^;;.

Right after I got my ticket, I was going to check the exhibitors/dealers room but saw the long line up, I decided to just go directly to Morning Musume panel. It’s unfortunate that we were not allowed to take any photos during the panel, but of course, there was always someone dare enough to do it with a risk of getting kick-out from the room like the short clip below.

Another short clip of Morning Musume members going back to their hotel.

The Morning Musume panel was around 1 hour and in my humble opinion, there were not much interesting discussions going on other than hearing “I love you, <insert Morning Musume members>” ^^;. After the panel ended, we were given a ticket for autograph session and so much of my luck, I was sitting in the middle row so I couldn’t get a ticket because it’s limited to 500 tickets only. In addition, even though you have a ticket, it didn’t mean that you were guaranteed an autograph. There goes my plan to get their autographs -_-;;

To cure my disappoinment, I went to exhibitors/dealers room. Thankfully, there were no more line ups.

I visited Atlus booth to check out what games they have.

I saw this PS3 game called Demon’s Souls. It looks like an action adventure oriented game like Oblivion. Not something that I would get usually but it looked kinda cool. The game will be released on October 6, 2009. If you like Oblivion, chance is you will enjoy this game. Check out the cinematic teaser trailer below.

Not far from Demons’ Souls , Atlus was showing their upcoming release of Persona which was a remake of Persona in PSone and a recent release, Devil Survivor. Both games are for PSP. Check out opening movie for Persona below and Devil Survivor trailer on Atlus’ Official Website. I like the music from Persona OP movie. It’s quite catchy ^^.

Moving on the next game from Atlus, it is Neo Steam The Shattered Continent which is a free online mmorpg. It looks like just any other free mmorpgs out there and it’s slashing/swinging your weapons to kill monsters to finish a quest. It lacks a story line or characters development in my opinion. I haven’t found any mmorpg that is better than FFXI in term of story and that’s a reason why I look forward to FFXIV ^^. Check out OP movie and a game trailer below.

After I was done with Atlus’ booth, I went to its nearest neighbour which was NIS America. NIS America is well-know for localization of many japanese rpgs such Ar Tonelico, Atelier Iris, Makai Kingdom, Disgaea and many more. They were also selling bunch of game goodies like small figures from their games and their booth was quite crowded every day.

Too bad , they don’t sell these posters below. I want them so bad >.<.

After NIS booth, I went to Arc’s booth which is well-known for producing Guilty Gear 2d fighting game. There were so many people and took me quite an effort to take a picture of Blaz Blue gameplay. Does any play game this game ? I am not what the hype is with this game aside from cute characters ^^;; and cool OSTs. Check out its trailer below.

Unfortunately, the exhibitors/dealers room closed at 6pm and I was forced to leave by the securities and staffs. It’s quite disappointing for me that they closed so early since I was hoping to explore it more but oh well, there would be another chance the next day. I didn’t go back to my hotel directly but decide to stay around and looked for some cute cosplayers ^^.

Around 8pm, I had to call it a day since my legs were killing me and I barely could walk anymore ^^;;. That summed up my AX Day 1 coverage. Thanks for reading and I hope you guys enjoying it.

It is hard to believe that Toronto Airport was packed at 4am and everyone looks like going to US since the line up at American Airlines check in counter was long and slow. I found it funny that I managed to start a conversation about Naruto and Inuyasha with the US custom officer ,who examined my passport , when he asked my reasons to go to US. That’s probably the most painless US custom ever. The plane took off on time at 6:50am.

It arrived at Dallas International Airpot around 9am local time. I ‘ve never been to Dallas Airport but this airport is huge. It’s really convenience to go from one terminal to the other terminals using Skylink.

I wonder why we don’t have something similar to Sky Link at Pearson Airport, Toronto. As far as I know it costs more for an airline to land at Canadian airports compare to US airports. Local flights within Canada is always more expensive than theo nes within US.

Skylink route which covers Terminal A, B, C, D and E. Each terminal is divided into 2 sections. You can walk from one section to the other if you prefer.

Took couple pictures from inside the monorail on my way to Terminal D. I know I said that this airport is huge earlier but from couple pictures that I took while riding the Skylink, you can see how big the airport is.

Enjoying my starbucks Green Tea Latte while waiting for my next flight.

Plane was getting ready to depart for LA.

We almost arrived in LA. I was able to see houses and arrived around 11:15 am LA time.

On my way to pick my luggage.

Got into a cab to go to Hotel Figuoera where I was staying. I paid $55 + $5 tip for the cab. Such a rip off if it’s converted to CAD$ ^^;;. For those who live in LA, is it normal to pay $60 for a cab from LA airport to downtown ? Is there another way I can get to downtown and viceversa without paying $60 ?

Getting near to LA Convention Center as I can see a huge Anime Expo 2009 banner displayed.

As soon as I arrived, I checked in and went to my room to put all my luggage. The hotel is quite unique and it has mexican style of decoration.

I brought my sub notebook (Lenovo Ideapad s10) with me and it happened to fit perfectly inside my camera bag. It’s too bad that the hotel does not have wireless internet for free but then $7.99/day for wifi was not so bad at all. Internet becomes so important and it’s a necessity for me such that I probably will die if I don’t have internet ^^;;. Does anyone feel the same way ?

I took a quick break then left to find some food for lunch before I starved to death. They don’t provide food anymore on the airplanes and you have to buy them >.>

I started walking to the nearest plaza to get some food. Luckily, the receptionist told me that there was a plaza nearby when I checked in and gave me a surrounding area map. 2 thumbs up for the hotel service ^^.

Not much of choices at the plaza and took my chance with Panda Express. It’s similar to Manchu Wok but tasted better ^^. I ordered Orange Chicken and Beijing Chicken with Fried Rice.The price is decent and I believe it was somewhere around $8 for the whole meal. I felt full and happy after ^^.

After lunch, I walked around in nearby area and see what kind of places in the area before going to Little Tokyo. It’s mostly filled with skyscrapers.

Waiting for a bus to go to Little Tokyo. Kinda excited to see what kind of place Little Tokyo is as we don’t really have a Japan town in Toronto. Guess how much the bus costed me ? it was $0.25. I was surprised that it was so cheap compare to what we pay here in Toronto.

I was not sure if it is because a weekday but Little Tokyo looked pretty quiet too many. It didn’t look like there were much activities there. I saw this Japanese American National Museum but I didn’t enter since I needed to go back and picked up my AX badge.

I found a small plaza as I wandered around and saw couple japanese restaurants there.

Saw this Hello Kitty store which recently opens.

After an hour or so I decided to go back to my hotel to get some nap time before I had to pick up my badge. That day, only those who had pre-registered could pick-up their badge.

The hotel I was staying was called Hotel Figueroa which was 5 minutes walk from LA convention centre. From the outside, the hotel may look like it’s about to collapse but inside it’s quite nice and clean.

I took a nap and overslept so I missed out the badge pick-up time ^^;;. It was between 3 to 8pm and I woke up around 7:55 lol. I got up and ran to the convention centre. For some reasons, I still had the luxury to take some pictures ^^;;.

When I got the registration booth, it was already closed ^^;;. I missed it by 10 minutes. ORZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

On my way back from the convention centre, I passed this place called Staples Center (which is located right beside the hotel I was staying). Staples Center is the home arena for LA Lakers, LA Clippers , LA Kings and LA Sparks. In addition, if you guys follow the recent news about Michael Jackson, Staples Center is the place where public memorial service will be held for Michael Jackson on July 7th.

Just as I was about to cross the street to my hotel, I saw these huge posters of FFXIII on the hotel’s building. They look awesome ^^. Are you looking forward and excited about FFXIII or it is too much overhype? Personally, I am more looking forward to FFXIV than FFXIII.

I arrived the hotel around 8:30 pm , took a shower then prepared my gears (my  trusty Nikon D40 DSLR, Canon Ixus 860 IS backup digital camera and Sony HRD-CX100 handycam)  for tomorrow. After making sure that they all are ready, I went to bed.

AX 2009 Day 1 post will follow soon ^^.

My parent and my sister flew to Canada from Indonesia to visit me so it’s nice to see them again. The last time I saw time was last year when I went back home. They come to visit me at least once a year, although, sometimes, I visit them instead. Since they have been to Toronto, Canada for couple times, we kinda ran out of place to visit ,however, after some discussions ( more like they left it up to me ), we decided to pay a visit to Niagara Falls for the xth time.

Having a car is really convenient and flexible because instead of taking a bus to go there, I just drive down there instead ^^.  We left quite early on Saturday morning around 9pm and before entering the highway, we made a stop at McDonalds for breakfast (mmm delicious) and 12-pack of bottle of water.

If you ever planning to visit Niagara falls,  I would recommend to stay at one of the hotels near the falls along Fallsview Blvd as you can see on the map above. Above is one of the hotels, Embassy Suites, which is located on Fallsview Blvd. Note that you are booking for a falls view room, it will be more expensive than a city view room.

Sheraton Fallsview was the hotel where we were staying for one night. They have really nice rooms and queen size beds so if you are going with you friends and family, you should be able to fit 5-6 people. The parking was reasonably priced as it was $20 and you can go in and out as many as you want during your stay.

The hotel entrance.

The lobby of the hotel looks elegant and luxurious (it came with the price tag I guess ^^;;).

The view from outside the hotel where we were staying is awesome. At the time like this, I wish I have a fish-eye lens for wide angle purpose ^^;; (one day hopefully).

The white dots in above pictures are actually sea gulls ^^. I guess they love hanging out by the falls.

It looked there were a party going on the boat because I heard them singing very loudly. Party = Alcohol. I wish they invite me ^^;;

During spring, there are not many tourist in comparison to summer. As you can see, it was not as crowded as I expected it would be. I also noticed quite a few camera enthusiasts carrying a DSLR camera ^^.

The bridge in the picture above is called a Rainbow bridge. I don’t think I need to explain it why it’s called a ‘Rainbow Bridge’. The bridge connects US and Canada. I personally think that the view of the falls from Canada side is better than the US side ^^.

For lunch, we went to this restaurant called Falls Minor dining lounge. My roommate recommends it to me before we left to Niagara Falls. There is nothing that I love more than home-made food and this restaurant definitely fits in that category.

We all ordered an ice tea for drink and they served it with this unique glass/cup. It looks like something that you usually use to put jams in side (can’t remember what it is called ^^;;). The taste is average but I love it because it’s not to so sweet.

My mom and sister shared a plate and they ordered 4 pieces of chicken which came with 2 sides. They chose fries and caesar salad. Do no think that the fries are the one from those frozen ones sold at a supermarket. This is  home-made fries. There is a distinctive taste between home-made one and the frozen one IMHO.

Meanwhile, I ordered 3 pieces of chicken with fries and baked beans on the sides. The baked beans were delicious ^^. Overall , it was a great trip and I enjoyed the time with my family. I am looking forward to go to Niagara Falls again and stop by at Falls Manor. The food is friggin awesome.

Since my sister does not mind to have her picture posted in my blog so there she is in ‘narcistic’ mode. Even though I went to Niagara Falls with my family, I still brought a figure with me and my Saber Lion nendo ^^ so look forward to my next photoshoot post. Here is a little bit of preview. When I was taking pictures, I got some people watching me with the usual weird look on their face ^^;;.