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Sendai, Tohoku, Japan

This is the condensed version of my Alice Nine live report. 0_o I still can’t believe I saw them live. *_* It was exactly like what I saw on Youtube, only I could feel the energy and emotions. It didn’t feel like I was in the back at all. Of course, being one of the taller audience members helped (yay for platform boots!).

A brief intro to Alice Nine, whom everyone should check out: they formed in 2004 and have been steadily getting popular. Shou is on vocals, Hiroto on kamite (stage left) guitar, Tora on shimote (stage right) guitar, Saga on bass, and Nao (the leader) on drums. I guess they’re on the pop-rock end of visual kei, but they can definitely rock out. They like to incorporate different genres into their songs so there’s a bit of everything.

Back to the concert, the only thing that signaled the beginning was the lights. The background music was still playing when it happened. Everyone was clapping to Beck when Alice Nine rushed on and they clapped along too. ^^ Once they picked up their instruments, the energy inside the place went out the roof! I’ve got the memory of a goldfish so I can’t name all the songs that were played. I did recognize a lot because they came from Vandalize and Alpha (the most recent albums, which I’ve been listening to nonstop). They threw in some older tunes though. I struggled with the furitsuke (choreography), but Shou directed us with the more complex moves. He should create a J-rock workout video because man, I was sweating like crazy. How does he move all over the stage and sing his heart out? In leather pants and a fur-trimmed jacket! No wonder all J-rockers are skinny.

It’s really hard to choose my favorite songs. “Rainbows” had the most energy. There was lots of jumping, headbanging, and fist pumping; and Hiroto totally rocked out in the guitar solo. Then Saga came to the center with his bass. We knew he was going to do his signature bass lick, but the man was such a tease! Licking things is kind of gross in my mind, but that was such a turn-on. The sexiest song, however, was “Kiss twice, Kiss me deadly”. While it already had a sexy melody, the performance just made it almost X-rated. There was Shou moving his hips and licking his lips, Saga sticking his tongue out towards his base, and Shou x Saga and Shou x Hiroto fanservice. During “www.”, Hiroto does this thing where he runs his hand up and down the fret to make a scratching sound. It was so cool because I’ve never seen or heard anyone do that to a guitar before. For the lack of a better adjective, “the beautiful name” was beautiful. The intro featured Saga on keyboards and Shou singing English lyrics. We got to see his vocal prowess with that song and “Subaru.” His falsetto is amazing. During “Subaru”, Shou got everybody to bring out their lights (I didn’t bring/buy one ;_;). At the end, he made us repeat, “We are the world.” My mind immediately jumped to the song, “We Are the World”, which is the bane of all ALTs. I thought about how Alice Nine will make me not hate that song because the repetitiveness will make me think of “Subaru” instead. ^_^

Going in the order of their appearances on-stage for the encore, Nao had a killer drum solo. Then he was joined by Saga who made the bass guitar the sexiest thing known to man. Nao was so cute during his MCs. He started off by saying, “You know what? I ate gyutan (cow tongue…Sendai’s specialty) last night…enough for 7 people!” (I’m paraphrasing.) Then he said he was kidding because he’s on a diet, but his diet isn’t working. Nao, you don’t need to go on a diet! He confessed that he lied about his weight on his blog. I think he said that the number on there is how much he weighs after a live. XD He’s so adorable.

Next was “Saga-kun“. Shou teased him by saying he had a very “rock ‘n’ roll” appearance. That embarrassed Saga. It’s funny to see Saga go from sexy bass licker to the shy one. From what I could pick out from his MC, he told everyone that the heights and weights listed on their profiles aren’t accurate. I would hope so because otherwise, they’re only a few kilograms heavier than me but 10-20 cm taller.

“Tora-chan” had a cute MC. While playing, he is the epitome of cool rock star, throwing the “rock on” signs and giving mysterious glances. Then he starts his MC off by talking about a silly gesture Nao taught him. While saying, ” 乙でーす ” (”otsu de-su“), you put your hands in the shape of ” 乙 “. I’m not quite sure about the translation since ” 乙 ” can mean “quaint/odd”, “second”, or (in web slang) “Otsukaresama deshita“. In any case, the guys pointed out that it was going to appear on their DVD in the future. He got embarrassed. Tora also said that he doesn’t update his blog because he forgot his password. :p He got a bit serious when he was talking about his spinal disc hernia, which nearly paralyzed him after last year’s Sendai live. He’s glad he can come back to make good memories, and I’m glad to see that he’s alright.

During Hiroto’s intro/solo in “Dead School Screaming”, he played “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine. I didn’t expect it, but when I finally figured it out, I was ready to squeal. In his MC, Hiroto teased Tora about the gesture, and then he teased Shou for wanting to be as cool as Date Masamune. My love for Hiroto has gone up exponentially because he moves around non-stop and just gives it his all in his solos. He’s starting to look/act like a younger version of Hyde from L’Arc~en~Ciel.

Finally, we have Shou, who couldn’t figure out which way Tora’s gesture went. He kept asking us, “Tanoshiikatta?” (Are you having fun?), but I couldn’t understand at first. His word of the night was “happy” (yes, in English), which described the mood and the band’s feelings. You could tell he was being honest because he smiled almost the whole time. Call me a delusional fangirl, but I am sure that he saw me a couple times. When he’d get the crowd pumped up, he would ask the back to jump or wave their arms and look out into the crowd. I would always jump/raise my arms/throw the “rock on” sign at those times, and he always stopped when he looked in my direction.

Anyway, the encore had two favorites of the night. “Shunkashuutou” was a catchy, feel-good song. I could feel the positive energy radiating throughout the room. My absolute favorite was the last song, “Waterfall”. Shou had lost his voice somewhere in the middle of it, but he gave it his all. It was gorgeous, especially the a capella part. There were tears in my eyes. Afterwards, they threw a bunch of stuff out, including their hoodies. Hiroto tried to throw a water bottle to the back, but it hit the ceiling instead. His second attempt was better. He, Nao, and Tora have really strong arms because their stuff fell around me. Saga and Hiroto stripped off their shirts. They tried to get Nao to do it, which excited the fans. However, Nao was too embarrassed so he only slipped an arm out. The man is adorable.

I was going to talk about my adventures the next day, but they seem rather anti-climactic. I’ll just elaborate in the photos (when I get them up).

from: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/maverickranger/6/1240386420/tpod.html

HCMC, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

We reached Sai Gon by the Mekong Express bus. The trip from Phnom Penh to HCMC took about 6 hours, but the ride was actually quite short. We spent some of the time at a restaurant stop where we had Banh Mi Cari Ga (Curry Chicken with Bread). We spent a lot of the time at the border waiting for the Vietnamese immigration authorities to call our names to pass.

On our way into the city, I traded seats with Victor so he can see Sai Gon through the window. It was a lot for him to take in. He commented that he already wants to come back.

The bus dropped us off at Duong (street) Pham Ngu Lao. It’s pretty much an area full of backpackers from all over the world, that and Duong De Tham.

It seems every time we arrive in a new city there’s a slight feeling of disorientation. Nevertheless, we managed to exchange money. 100 US Dollars amounts to 1.8 million Vietnamese Dong. In other words, a fairly thick wad of cash in your wallet.

Oh, and to cross the street here was a truly risky adventure. We learned never to take a step back or hesitate because the drivers are looking to ride around you. The most predictable thing for them is that we are moving forward.

We found a place to eat, Pearl Garden, where we pigged out on steak and fries, sticky rice, Sai Gon Beer, and Sinh To Dua (Coconut Shake).

Next stop was the apartment we’d stay in for the night, which was very graciously offered to us by Victor’s dad’s cousin, Chu Trung. I should mention that Xe Om drivers (motorcycle taxi) hassled us a lot for their help getting us places. Rather than giving them the satisfaction, Victor and I took our big backpacks and trekked the whole way to Duong Le Thanh Ton for the Miss Ao Dai apartments. It took quite awhile to get there and we were soaking in sweat, completely beat, by the time we got there.

I have to say I was really excited about spending New Year’s Eve in Sai Gon. The moment I got to the hotel, I wanted to get ready. However, things got ugly for me pretty quick. Something about what I ate gave me the worst nausea ever. Weirdest thing was that Victor and I ate the same things. I tried to sleep it off after takings some tums and other stomach medicine. I woke up a couple of hours later and rushed to the bathroom where I had my head over the toilet bowl for several minutes.

So much for New Year’s Eve in Sai Gon. I slept through the night.

We woke up early this morning to re-pack all of our items, walk around the city to take photos, and eat. We ate at Pho 24 and had our first real Cafe Sua Da (Vietnamese Iced Coffee). Then we picked up some baked goods to take on our plane ride to Hue.

Now we’re waiting for the driver to pick us up and take us to Tan Son Nhat airport. We’ll be in Hue just after lunch time. Then we have to get situated at a hotel. I’ve stayed at the Bamboo Hotel in Hue before so I hope that they will have a room available for Victor and I. We’ll keep you updated!

Til then.

Love,
Angie & Vivi

from: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/victorandangie/1/1262301974/tpod.html

Beijing, China

Happy New Years Everyone!

I have a few days to catch up on…Tuesday Abby and I walked around a bit doing random shopping and some errands Abby needed to take care of. Then we went to Taipan Spa for our 90 minute foot massage. The spa was really nice, we were guided to our room where we each had a really comfy chair and were brought tea and juice. They started soaking our feet and had us sit on a stool and we had an awesome back and neck massage, and then we sat back in our chairs for the best foot and leg massage I have ever had. When the massage was done, we still had the room for a bit and could order food and drinks as part of the experience. We had a kind of pork sandwich, curry vegetables with noodles, a sandwich and fresh juice squeezed right before they served it. It was an awesome experience and the cheapest massage I have ever had – 90 minutes for $16!! It’s strange because some things here are about the same price as US and then some, like the massage, are drastically cheaper.
Wednesday was a really nice and sunny day, we went to a tea shop and I got some really nice and Jasmine tea (nice tea was actually kind of expensive). We walked around a bit and then went to a coffee shop for lunch and to just sit and read for a bit, it was a really cute place and nice to just sit in the sunshine. We went to dinner at Pete’s Tex-Mex grill, it was kind of funny but the food was actually pretty tasty. Abby couldn’t stop talking about the flurries there so we shared an oreo-mint one for dessert and it was really good.
Thursday we got up early for our guided tour of the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs. We took a cab to the China Culture Club where we boarded a tour bus. Our guide was this cute Chinese girl, Iris, who did a really good job of explaining the history behind what we were seeing. She was so passionate and proud of her culture and people, it was really neat to see. The ride was about an hour and a half, when we got to the wall the group split up. Abby and I were the only ones that climbed the stairs up to the wall, the others took a cable car. It was about 40 minutes walking up stairs, we were huffing and puffing the whole way. It was also really cold! My toes were numb after the first 10 minutes, but it got better after a while. The view from the wall was just amazing, and to look either way you can see the wall winding along the mountains. It’s just incredible to think how they built this by hand and how the guards basically lived on the tower, through all kinds of weather. It was really cool to be there, standing on this thing that is so old and has so much significance, one of the man-made wonders of the world.
After about 2 hours of exploring the wall, we all met back at the bus and went to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We sat at two big tables and ate a family-style authentic Chinese lunch. It was really good, all kinds of dishes and unlimited green tea of course. The group on the tour had people from all over, a few Americans, a family from Sweden, a couple of girls from Turkey and a French guy. We got back on the bus for the hour ride on steep mountain roads and through villages to the Ming Tombs. The history behind the tombs is interesting, especially what the Chinese believed about death. Seeing the area around the tombs was neat, but nothing amazing, I think we were just so cold at that point that Abby and I were ready to be done. We never really warmed up from being on the wall, so being outside for just a few minutes made us feel frozen again. On our way back we drove past Olympic Village, that was really cool to see, especially the bird’s nest (now made into a ski resort for the winter!).
Abby and I were just so cold and tired from our day, that we went across the street to a bar and had a couple of drinks, came back to her place and ordered Indian and watched a movie. Sad to say but we fell asleep before midnight!
All in all it was a great new years

from: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/rachkrikke/2/1262337072/tpod.html