I think I should write down something about my sojourn in Japan, more beneficial than frittering away an ample time of hanging about our humble abode during jolly nippy winter with nothing to do. I spend most of my days sitting on a foldaway sofa which I call “a bi-functional fitting” as it can be used for more than one function, not only as a seat but you can also unfold it for a single bed. The good thing is, it fits two of us because we are not too huge for the size. If we want to save the space, we can just fold it back to sofa. That thing takes most of the space of our tiny little house if it spreads out into a mattress that we have to cross it over by stepping our foot on it to reach the toilet. Can you imagine how small our humble abode is? It’s so small! I should have hid that sofa somewhere because it's like calling me to take forty winks especially during winter. There's no space left for it.

This time we don’t go anywhere except around the city of Okayama where my hubby is still studying at full stretch. Traveling in Japan requires a lot of money; the cost of living here is very high so if you really want to have a trip in the region of Japan, make sure your pocket full of cash. 100 yen equals to 3 ringgit Malaysia.

Recently, we legged it to Undokuen in Okayama city of Japan, it’s a recreation ground for the local residents to stretch their legs, or do any recreational activities. It only takes about ten minutes cycling from our house. A special path is provided along the road for cyclists to traverse from one place to another place. Cycling is what they prefer rather than driving, they don’t have to be worried as the facilities are efficient thus makes their life easier. It seems such an ordinary view to see a bunch of cyclists waiting for a green light to cross over the road. What a healthy life they have! Machines for purchasing sorts of drinks are seen anywhere, Japan will never leave you dehydrated.

As my feet put a step on the sidewalk, my eyes cannot stop exploring the beautiful scenery. I couldn't believe my eyes, I took my breath away. I got a bit annoyed while throwing a deep gaze to my hubby and said, “It’s so beautiful, you said all the leaves had fallen down, are you kidding me dear!”. The autumn leaves were not yet fading away. Recalling the beautiful scene for several times gave me an idea to come up with this poem.


This poem depicts the gorgeous scene I experienced which made me wonder how and why a fall leaf changes color from a summer to invite the coming of winter. Where do the yellows, red, brown and oranges come from? I am just extremely contented to experience this period because it does not last long. This period called FALL.

I found out from a few articles about FALL that when summer finishes and autumn arrives, the days become shorter and dry. This is how the trees "know" to instigate preparing and get ready for winter. During this season, light and water for photosynthesis are not enough to cater the need of the trees. The trees will have a break or a rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to stop the cycle of making food. As a result, the green chlorophyll goes away from the leaves. As the bright green withers away, that is when we start to see yellow and orange colors. Why we can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll. This is what make the stunning colors we take pleasure in the FALL.

I won’t let go the chance of basking in the beauty of the FALL so I dropped by every few seconds of walking every time we felt like snapping our camera. We found too many spectacular spots to capture our moment together; it felt like we were still in the mood of honeymoon. The wintry atmosphere pulled us to stick like glues, hugging and holding hands while meandering along the park. There’s only one word to represent my amazement, and the word is Subhanallah. An utter incredulity! If this is called world, what’s more in heaven! Here are some shots we took.