Farewell Winter, Hello Spring

Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius

Pietro Aretino

No matter how long the winter, Spring is sure to follow.

What better way to herald the arrival of Spring than by enjoying the beauty of plum blossoms - blooms that symbolises the end of winter and the beginning of a warm and fertile season.

Seeing the plum blossoms

I wait for the song of the warbler

Spring has come

Veiled in mist

Izumi Shikibu

And to follow-up the celebration of Spring with the delicate beauty of cherry blossoms.



Robin Williams said - Spring is a nature's way of saying "Let's Party!".  Crank that karaoke machine up! xD

The 1st Day Of 2012

and my first photo for 2012.

Did a 12K run under the sweltering heat decked in an almost all-black outfit this morning but enjoyed it nevertheless and did a 10K yesterday to say bye-bye to 2011. 

What better place to spend the morning of 2012? Zaini and I spent the 1st day of 2012 in Putrajaya. In the background is the Perdana Putra which houses the office complex of the Prime Minister of Malaysia. 

The roundabout where I was standing looked rather empty but as a matter of fact, the place was teeming with visitors; local and foreign alike.

And come earlier in the morning, this place would be filled with mountain bikers starting their morning rides. And a place for me to start my LSD runs in the weekend. No dogs to chase me here and low traffic; that and with great view of the Putrajaya lake makes it a good place to enjoy some fresh air.

Check out my posts on the other blog of mine for places to enjoy some fresh air in Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding area. ^^

How is your first day of 2012 so far? :)

Postcards To Home

Rather than sending them to others back home, we love sending postcards to ourselves from each city we visited when we are vacationing in Japan.

It's fun to look at the postcards and the stamps not to mention if there's any special postmark on it. ^^

This year, we have Hakodate, Yufuin, Dogo Onsen (Matsuyama), Nara, Enoshima, Kagawa added to our postcard collection.

And we have a new set of stamps added too.

Cute, right? *^-^*

Craving For Autumn Fruits

Mmmmm... being able to get our hands on these juicy fruits would be so, so lovely.

Sweet, fleshy Kaki or persimmon. It is interestingly called (to me,at least) pisang kaki in Malay. Pisang is Malay for banana, by the way.

 Budo or grapes. Sweet smelling and sweet tasting grapes. I sure miss these most.

 Crunchy, juicy Nashi or pears.

Sweet and crisp Ringo or apples.

 Wouldn't say no to a juicy Mikan or mandarin orange either.

Some of the fruits may no longer be in season when we arrive to Japan. I wonder what fruits can I indulge there? *^-^*

Too Much Japan Already?

We've really been indulging in Japanese food more often these past few months compared to months before. Heck, we somewhat stopped eating Japanese food after our trip last year.

Recently, it was lunch or dinner at Kampachi, Miyagi, repeat visits to Sushi Zen, Sukiya, Hokkaido Ichiba...

And on Saturday,

had a visit to HIS Travel Agency for our JR Pass

Stopped by Pavillion and of course we had to spend some time at Tokyo Street on Level 6 of the mall. I can totally fool myself and think that I'm on the floor where all the restaurants are in a Japanese mall. xD

Spent some $$$ buying stuff we had no idea we need at Daiso. Daiso is eviiiillllll.... LOL

Had a really nice lunch at Sukiya enjoying an all-you-can-eat meat for just RM29.80++. Shabu-shabu or sukiyaki anyone? We just concentrated on eating meat (lots of them) and almost ignored the vege bar. Hahaha

I bought some stuff at Uniqlo to wear during our vacation. Some good find there as the item I bought are almost similarly priced as those sold in Yen in Japan, like my RM79.90 fleece jacket that's on sale in Japan for 1,990 yen. (Current rate : 100yen = RM4.10)

Raimie had a new interest now. Origami! All thanks to a Taiwanese comic book based, Korean SBS TV Production animation called The Origami Warriors.

I think we should stop purchasing anything from Japan or eating Japanese food for now and wait till we get to Japan. heh heh

It's Halloween Time!

Any plans trick-or-treating tonight with the kids? Or painting the town red in your costumes? Then again, Japanese doesn't need Halloween to go out in costumes if you take into account those cosplayers. ;)

From what I observed, stores in Japan sure embraced the Halloween wholeheartedly with all the Halloween merchandise being sold.

Even Ultraman isn't spared, as can be seen at the M78 shop (official Ultraman shop).

Almost There! Keeping The Boy Occupied

We are guilty of letting our son have a go at his Nintendo DSi every time we are on long train journeys in Japan. That's the only way to keep him from the need to run around or bother other commuters. Raimie can be such a nosy boy when nobody is paying attention to him. Though once you, a stranger talked to him, he'll clam up and hide behind his Mom!

But he is still not allowed to play it while we were put sight-seeing or while walking around! Only on trains or while in long queues so that he won't get too bored or fidgety. I totally wonder why some parents let their children be occupied with whatever handheld games they have while walking around. It's better to sightsee or just be aware of the crowd than being engrossed in your own world, right?

I wish he would want to read books once in a while, but oh well. No such luck yet!

What's your secret to keeping your child/children happy while on a vacation?

Cheap Eats

I think if you are not that particular about what you eat, eating for below RM15.00 (350yen) per  person per meal is extremely doable. You can enjoy ramen and curry rice at about 300-400yen. (No ramen or curry rice for us though!) Of course it is easier to find cheap stuff when one has no issues on what to avoid.

Yoshinoya's beef bowl and curry rice will only set you back for about 280-330yen.

Or if you have eat like a bird, just like our son, an onigiri (rice ball) cost less than 200yen a piece.

A cheap bento place. Everything on sale for less than 250yen a pack. Cheap, no frills meal to keep the hunger pangs away if you somehow blow your budget. xD

Ekiben (bento sold at train stations) can be rather expensive with an average price of 1,000yen per box but konbini (convenience store) or supermarkets bento can be quite cheap. Buying them later at night (say around 9.00pm) you can get discounts off them too. But you may have to fight for them with the "obachan" next to you!

Set meals can be affordable too, with outlets offering set meals at less than 1,000yen.

There are many cheap eats restaurants out there as those in Japan can attest to. Us visitors to be more adventurous and venture out to look for them and not be afraid to poke around and ask questions. Unless of course, you totally don't mind eating at posh places and hotel restaurants while you are vacationing in Japan, that is (or you are travelling with a tour group and all meals are already taken care of).

Why would you want to eat instant noodles brought over from home there in Japan when you can eat other stuff there?

What's your favourite affordable eatery in Japan? Share, please!

There Are Many Ways To Flush

I wrote this remembering with a chuckle colleagues experience using a Japanese hi-tech toilet at the now defunct Ninja Jones Restaurant at MidValley Northpoint. They were so excited using the toilet but a few of them whispered to me that they couldn't find the handle to flush.

But of course, plenty of posh toilets in Malaysia don't need you to do anything after finishing your "business" other than stand up and it'll automatically flush for you, right? But just in case you are in Japan, you can't find the handle and the foreign words on buttons scares you and you don't want to fiddle around in case you press a wrong button; here's some photos of them here.

There are flush buttons and all those awesome buttons to cleanse your *ehem* private areas. Be careful not to spray yourself wet! LOL

Some music or sound to cover embarrassing noise you might emit? No problem. Some toilets can cover those noises for you!

Now, no matter what you do. Once you finished your business, don't forget to flush and flush properly! I'm quite baffled on why some people seems to  conveniently forgot to do it at public toilets, even at the office.  That's no good, people. :(

And you know, every time I sit on the cold toilet seat, I'll be missing the warm toilets seats in Japan. ;p

Cosmos

Cosmos flower, the classic flower of Autumn. I read somewhere that the kanji of Cosmos is written as the "autumn cherry blossom".

What else makes me think of autumn? This too...

Persimmon

Mention Cosmos to my Son and I know his first thought of Cosmos would be, what else? Ultraman Cosmos!

He'll be meeting all those Ultra Heroes soon, as his 9th birthday treat. :)

The Things I Did To Celebrate My Birthday

A break from my posts about Japan.

The Wednesday, Sep 21st this year started swell for me; what with being inundated with wishes on this blog, FB and from friends and colleagues.

Thanks you all! You peeps really made my day. And I had a nice celebration this year too.

Celebration started a few days early on Sunday with an early morning road race.Yup, I entered a 10K race for my birthday. ^^

Never forget to smile for the camera even when you are exhausted from the run! xD

I can now officially enter some races under the Women Senior Category, instead of Women Open. Nothing made you feel young and sprightly than being called a "Veteran" you know. （ ´,_ゝ`)

I'm supposed to run another race (it's a charity run) this Sunday to celebrate me getting older but I don't think I can make it. :(

That Sunday afternoon was also spent over at my Sis' house. My niece shares the same birthday as me and my brother-in-law's (the Daddy) birthday is on Sep 22. Plenty of celebration. 

On Wednesday, at the office, I had already informed colleagues that I have no intention to celebrate, eat out  since I don't eat heavy lunch or even cut cake. But the ladies surprised me by buying this:

And this:

My Boss even gave me a present though it was nice, the mention of "Age Defying" on the label of the expensive creams is kinda.... making me feel old. q(;^;)p

Zaini took us out and we had dinner at Tony Roma's. I was craving for some protein and eating those succulent ribs there sure hit the spot. Yum!

Today, on Zaini's birthday; we are spending the morning over at Japan Embassy, applying our visa. Then, it's off for a 3D2N "staycation" at a nearby hotel. 

See you when I see you! *^-^*

It's My Birthday!

Happy birthday to me!

Last year on this date, I was in Sendai, Japan. The year before that, we spent the day visiting the Railway Museum located near JR Omiya Station. This year, I'm working on my birthday. It's by choice actually. I'd rather save up my annual leave for the upcoming trip in three month's time. Anyway, both Zaini and I will be taking the day off on Zaini's birthday on Sep 23rd.

When You Set The Fun Button On!

When you choose to have fun and not be critical of the places and situation you are in, chances are that trip will be fun. 

Even when one gets on "boring" kiddie rides like these:

My point is - why go anywhere or do anything if one decide to be critical and negative. Life should be enjoyed to the fullest. Forget about talking crap about places or what others are doing. We should set our mind for good and positive things instead of wallowing in negativity.

Be silly once in a while and have fun!

By the way, in case you are wondering - those photos were taken at Hanayashiki Amusement Park. I have lots more photos at the park that I should share here. I'm just waiting for the right "story" to come up to go together with them. *^^*

How Deep Are We Underground?

Sometimes, you enter a rather nondescript looking station like the one in the photo to board a train. Instead of going down just a flight of stairs, you saw a seemingly endless downward tunnel.

You keep on going down by the stairs or the escalators and after a while, you start to wonder how deep are you exactly underground.

And you start to marvel how they managed to dig so deep underground for the station and track and yet life goes on above ground.

We are not even halfway up yet! Won't be seeing the sunlight yet until you take a few more escalators up. o.O

Going up, uP and UP! And keep to left when you are on one. ^^

Thinking about these maze in the belly of Tokyo somehow reminded me of my own hometown in Raub, Pahang. In its heyday of mining in the early of 20th century; Raub was the "Malayan Capital of Gold". Using shaft mining and operated by the Royal Australian Gold Mine; these tunnel snaked through under the town. No building in the town centre of Raub can be more than 4-storey high because of these tunnel. The tunnels were blasted closed by the British during the Japanese Occupation in the WWII.

A controversial  mining is set to work full force in Raub using the "carbon in leach" method using sodium cyanide to get gold from old mines that used traditional mining methods previously.