Canary Garden Country Club

This is the Canary Garden Country Club in Chiba. Being peak season, this was one of very few courses avaiulable for golf in Autumn. The cost of green fees is also horrendous, JPY21,600 without lunch ! With highway toll fees and fuel, a round of golf comes up to an atrocious S$400!

The course is long but not fantastic. It has a quite friendly layout and not many blind holes. The fairways are also fairly wide.

Couples in the Park

Yesterday was at a park in Shunjuku with the family. Many couples were spotted so I went clicking away discreeetly, pretending to pan around for Chloe. Here's the interesting pics:

She's laughing now, let's see who has the last laugh.....

There's a hotel nearby....

Don't tell anyone I showed you....or else...

I hope I gave her the right answers...

I wonder why he brought a change of clothes...

I swear the I saw the water rippled..



Now how do I get her to remove the blanket??

You better say its good!

Now, are you ready? Wait, let me call my mum first....

Is that a spider?

Believe me...Stare long enough and the colour changes.

Ms S

Dinner was with Ms S. She is a CA, or better known as cabin attendant in Japan. Very fun and outgoing personality, is all I can say. Some of my photography circle friends would say this is not bird photography or birding....or is it not? Perhaps a longer lens is needed...

Korea !

This is Calbee Tang or Calbee soup with seaweed. Last week, Wed-Fri was spent in South Korea for work, so it was Korean food all the way, except one pasta lunch. Even the Frutti Di Mare was garlic loaded...

Koreans are really into soups, ginseng and all. All these soups are supposedly nourishing.....Wonder why Koreans need so much nourishment...Must be the bloody cold winter..

Also tried an interesting dish, live prawns cooked on rock salt. Fantastic dish, comparable to Singapore's Drunken Prawns at the popular Seafood joints..The shrimps jump all over the place, and the tricky part is the restaurant provided a few live prawns in a bucket for those more adventurous who like sashimi, (Live and raw!). I had 2 myself but had to pick them prawn head off myself ....awwww....

Pictured above is Korean fish sashimi, cartilege and all. The cartilege has to be eaten ! Anyway I enjoyed the grilled version much more....cartilege or not.

Golf Weekend

Last weekend was a long weekend, which included 2 rounds of golf. First round was at Glen Oaks, in Chiba prefecture. It is one of the top 50 courses in Japan, and was designed by Michael Poret. Score was 91 (47/44) with 6 pars. Course condition was superb, event he rough was well kept and provided a consistent feel. Putting totaled 32. Feels like my iron game is coming back.

Monday was at Taiheiyo Club Narita Course. This course is narrow and tight. Long hitters beware ! Score here was 52/44 with 8 pars. There was a total of 4 OBs from the driver...resulting in 8 strokes of OB penalty..With 2 triple bogeys, not a bad score. Putting totaled 31. Parred all the par 3 holes, my iron game really is back !

All in all a great weekend.

箱根 (Hakone)

Time to test the M3's road behaviour under speed. I managed to screech the tires of the M3 round the corners at Hakone area. It is a very predictable sort of mild understeer and when I power up, it turned into some oversteer. Nothing hairy or frightening at all...The chassis is very well balanced and gave very good feedback.




We spent 2 days at Hakone, in Kanagawa prefecture. Hakone is very famous for hot springs (onsen) and we stayed a night at the Dai Hakone Hotel, which is a Prince Hotel Group golf course resort hotel. The big lake in Hakone area is Ashinoko. It has a beautiful 18 hole course, but I did not play.

This is one view of Ashinoko. At foreground is the map of the surrounding mountains. The tallest mountain in that area is Kamiyama （神山）。

The roads around Hakone are superb. There are various Skyline （スカイライン）toll roads, the Ashinoko Skyline, Hakone Skyline and the Hakone Turnpike. All these roads are for pure enjoyment of driving or riding. Many people bring their sports cars and bikes to simply enjoy the roads. 　There are also the road hoggers and tourist buses.

This is a pit stop at one of the viewing points on the route. There were several cars I could chase on this trip. First was white E36 BMW, it had a carbon hood and roll cage inside but it wasn't an M3 for sure. Then it was a Toyota Mark II Tourer.

In Autumn, Hakone area is famous for the golden brown pampas. 　They turn into a nice hue of golden brown in the evening sun.

I spotted two groups of enthusiasts on this trip. First was a Nissan Silvia Varietta (convertible) group. Second was an Alfa Romeo group with 7 metallic green Alfa GTVs (yes all same colour) and a few Alfa 147 GTAs. On the way home, I ran into a Merc CL65 AMG, which went like a bullet, I chased it for a awhile, but the driver was really in a hurry, moving through the cars dangerously, so I stopped pursuing it. I later realised that the CL65 has a 612hp V12 unit with 1,000Nm of torque. It can run circles round my M3.

Our favourite soba shop in Hakone, "Shinshou" （辛勝） is the shop on the right. It is situated just right in front of Lake Ashi.

The famous pampas grass in autumn.

Next morning, we went to Owakudani, the area around a crater created in the last eruption of Mount Hakone 3000 years ago. Sulfurous fumes, hot springs and hot rivers can be experienced on a walk around the area. Eggs, boiled in the naturally hot waters, are said to prolong one's life by seven years and are readily available for sale.

The eggs turn black after its cooked (hard boiled) in the 80deg sulphuric water.

The black eggs cost $1 each and sold only in packs of fives. Even if it doesn't add 7 years to your life, it sure adds plenty to someone's bank account as most visitors buy a pack to try.

K & N

The K & N kit finally arrived and I fitted it last weekend! This kit has been tested by K & N to give up to 18hp more than stock on the dyno (power at the wheels).

Last weekend I fitted the K & N Air Intake kit onto the M3. It took about 1.5hrs to get the job done, which includes removing the old air intake and some parts.

First the air flow sensor has to be removed followed by the HID (High INtensity Discharge) unit.

Next the air filter box is removed, revealing the altenator. The HID unit can now be re-installed.

Next the separation plate goes in. This is a K & N unit.

Finnaly plug the air flow sensor in and put on the supplied sticker and walla...

I took it out for a test drive after warming up the engine and noticed the greater ease of revving up the engine and sense of tourque (pulling power) is perceptibly stronger. The engine is also more responsive. The drive to Yamanashi also proved that the horse power has definitely increased, although I can't really tell for sure if its 10hp or 20hp. It felt more like 10-15hp, especially at mid range revs.