Japan Spring 2009 - Day 3

half a year later I'm still stuck on this post!!! Japan spring =(

it's gonna be Japan winter 2009 soon !! Can't wait, I really need a break ler... anywhere will do, just wanna get away somewhere.

Ok so on to Japan day 3

Woke up to the motherly nakai-sans calling at the door. They do it so that we're ready and awake for the hot breakfast all freshly prepared at the breakfast area which only accomodates two or three families so that we may enjoy the exclusivity, relax and eat in the serene environment.

It's also the day that Doreen, Derick, Rose and myself would change room.... bo bien cuz apparently most Japanese only stay one night at a Ryokan and then other families may enjoy it after that as well? I'm confused if this is Japanese culture as that would mean money can't buy a longgggg stay at a ryoken can it?

The gorgeous view of the garden in the morning. We were to move to a smaller room upstairs which did not have a garden, but it was still pretty nonetheless.

 At breakfast:-

I love Japanese breakfasts.... esp at this ryokan. We weren't overstuffed as we were in the previous Ryokan. And I liked the food. 

Derick and I

Rice!! TOfu, pickles, veg, egg, and grilled fish.

The nakai-sans were veryyyy unscupulously polite and traditional. They stepped out of the room for a while and my brother, having finished his rice, went over to the rice bucket and scooped up more rice for himself. When the nakai-san came back and saw his refilled bowl (walau she's damn perceptive ok!!!) she bowed and apologized that he had to serve himself rice......

!!!!! young Japanese are sooooo not like that! but the traditional ones are just out of this world! Didn't think I'd ever see one

Forgot to mention.... there are several of these flower arrangements scattered about our room/toilet/dressing tables etc. See the impeccable service and attention to detail these people are capable of? It really is something!

After breakfast my mom and I (and the rest of the family in tow) went to a kimono rental shop to rent a kimono for the day.

of all colours, I chose pink....and ended up looking like a pink blob for the rest of the day.

pink blob

but look at my obi!!!!! it's damn nice right??? they did this with just one long piece of cloth and something that looked like a hair accessory (the green thing in the middle)

yeah they twisted, turned and folded the long obi so that it ended up like a pretty bow/flower

being very hiao in front of the mirror. of course we tried to get doreen to wear a kimono too but she staunchly refusedddd!!! nvm next time ill wear it with dana gan ~ nyehehehehe

While Derick and my dad and Rose went on their own to some far-off god forsaken fishing place (to fish of course), my mom,Doreen and I went to the Kiyomizu temple.

Again we grabbed at any chance of seeing a sakura tree. All the sakura there were in BUD ok!!! not opened yet. Imagine if the entire temple were surrounded with sakura? It'd be soooo beautiful.... or in the autumn when the leaves are out in their golden fiery splendour.

My mom chose this kimono

What more can I say la the whole Kyoto is pretty by itself, the temples dont need to say ady....beautiful

Doreen and I near the terrace

Mom and I.

We spotted a longggg line at the side before we entered into the veranda. We were thinking why on earth is there such a long line when the main attraction is the veranda area of the main hall (kiyomizu no butai) which is a beautiful wooden platform built on pillars that looked out at Kyoto ? Of course we were expecting to be looking out at a sea of sakura but no go la since all still in bud. =(

back to the main question... the long line.

Lawson also went to Kiyomizu .... a little while after our trip...then he told me that the long line is actually a queue to see the statue of the goddess of mercy and compassion, (kuan yin or Kannon in japan). They only open it up to public once every .... few decades???

wasted la T____T we were THISSS close and so ignorant of it.

nearby the terrace

Out at the veranda

 I just realized I can qualify for "World's driest lips"

This is what happens when you don't listen to mummy

Mom

you can see th verandah better here, there's an interestin story behind it

Nah I copy and pasted from some website

"

The Japanese language has an expression: "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu." The nearest English equivalent is "to take the plunge." Tradition in Old Japan held that if you jumped from the terrace and lived, a wish you had made would be granted. The practice is now illegal, but during the Edo Era (1603 to 1867) some 234 people made the 40 foot leap and about 200 of them lived. The main hall is dedicated to the goddess of mercy.

Sources disagree as to the date that Kiyomizu was founded. But all sources agree that it was before 800 A.D. That makes the temple over 1200 years old. Kiyomizu was periodically destroyed by fire and by conquering armies. The current structure dates to 1633 AD when it was rebuilt entirely.

The Jishu-jinja Shrine and the God of Love

The Jishu-jinja shrine at Kiyomizu is dedicated to Okuninushino-Mikoto, the Japanese god of love and match making. The shrine includes a pair of "love stones" that sit about 60 feet from each other. Visitors try to walk between the stones with their eyes closed. If they succeed they supposedly will find true love. Someone can help the walker, but that means they will need a go between with their future true love.

A statue of the god Okuninushino-Mikoto and his messenger (a rabbit) are at the shrine entrance behind Kiyomizu's main hall. The temple's Shinto "Love Shrine" is popular with Japanese lonely hearts

"

Otowa Falls

 Otowa Falls (known for the purity of its water; kiyomizu translates as "pure water")

Grab a scoop, catch the water falling in streams with it

And drink?

I really forgot what its for.... this is wht happens when you blog abt an event half as year later...

back of mom's head

Magnolia blossoms!! White, soft and they smell reallyyyyyyyyy good!!

That concluded the Kiyomizu trip. We thereafter sauntered down the busy streets winding down from the temple area. They're packed with souvenirs, food and what not. Mom, DOreen and I had some lunch, shopped for souvenirs (where I got some cute Japanese cloth bags) ... then we waited for the van to come and get us. 

Awesome goma soft ice cream! THis shop sells the best goma (black sesame) foods. There's a goma mochi like pancake with black sesame filling....they sorta toast it on both sides and the result??? Slightly crispy mochi pancake with warm sweet black sesame paste inside.....Never had anything like it! Soooo good

Back at the RYokan in the new room.....the ever attentive nakai-san came up with some hot tea and towels

More pics

This pic reminds me so much of the Meiji era where men were starting to embrace western style clothing!!!

being hiao

lot of props in the room

hiao summore

End of Day 3 

Neighbours

They're fighting again I can just hear it.

Yup I'm talking about the Korean family who lives right above me. Everytime they squabble I can hear the yelling and the scraping and the banging that goes on in the floor above.

Once when I came home, there was an ambulance parked near the security guard house. There were police at the foot of my block. For a moment my heart jumped to my throat, I thought something had happened to one of my family members.

As soon as I got up to my floor they were all at the door, peering at the stairs leading to the floor above us.

Apparently the Korean family had another loud argument, so loud that the Indian neighbour across from their door got so frightened and called up the police and ambulance. The Korean son had taken some money from his dad's wallet or something, his dad found out and gave the poor boy the whacking and scolding of his life. He's only 10-12 years old.

The fight was so raw and uncensored that the screaming even enticed the attention of  neighbours from ACROSS the road.

Such madness.

I've seen the korean husband and wife before. They came home in their car after grocery shopping. It was the wife that dragged all the heavy groceries into the lift, her face all lined and aged with stress no doubt from all the fighting.

The husband is a short pompous looking fart. I got out at my floor and he got out at the floor above mine. He couldnt even wait to pass through their apartment door before he yelled at his wife in korean.

Male chauvinist pig. What makes a guy think he has the right to raise his hand at a woman? Or his own child?

Japan Spring- Day 2

Day 2 starts off.......

this is when we came down to Kyoto from Arima Onsen.

Pictures from 2nd Day Arima Onsen. 

Breakfast.... we had thought to wake up at 8 to watch mochi pounding session.... but overslept and missed it. Not surprisingly =D

This Salmon seen above is cold. I thought it was a cold dish!!! Mana tau...

You see that string??? You have to PULL on it to activate the heat/steam. So the dish is heated up like that.

But I smartly ate everything cold. It was only halfway through the meal my dad discovered the heat up method =(

How would we know!!! Normally things are heated up in the kitchen!!!

More side dishes during breakfast. As usual, meals are huge esp for kaiseki types

Part of breakfast too. bamboo shoots/veg shavings and some noodles

Tamago! yummy.

Fruit and yoghurt 

Refreshing lime juice

Greedy me with swollen eyes

How on earth do japanese stay so slim!!!

ooo they even had Mua zhee (mochi in chopped peanuts and sugar) top right of the picture

So they expect us to eat everything including that big bowl of rice!

Lastly

Soup with tofu, mushrooms and pork balls heated up mini steamboat style.

After breakfast we packed up and left amidst all the friendly goodbyes from the staff. They were all so nice and friendly!!!

Stuffed our baggage into the hired van and slept all throughout the journey to Kyoto. Several hours it was!

We reached our destination, hiragiiya ryokan where we were shown to our rooms and unloaded our luggages. Our rooms were awesome! but more on that later  !!!

We immediately set off to trawl Kyoto for sakura. Since it was a little early for the season, we werent greeted by sakura petals blowing everywhere. Instead we saw a few sparse trees lining roads and rivers with small pink buds =(

Thank goodness the driver knew of some good places for flowers

The behind is peach blossoms!!. But it's like an entire garden of them right in Kyoto Imperial Palace. So gorgeous! We were right in the middle/end of the peach blossom/ plum blossom season. Everyone was out for a picnic/photo taking session with the plum and peach blossoms. 

Gorgeous flowers

 i loveeeeeeeeee the downy petals!!!

My mom

Yes, when we saw everyone else having a picnic under all the flowers we decided to have one too! Doreen/Derick and Rose went off to get some food and we spread it out on the grass.

Noodles, coke, sandwich, am not sure what else there was.

If only the sun wasn't so bright!!!

Finally a nice picture =D

After eating

At this point we were wondering if we could ever catch a glimpse of some early, full bloom sakura. Rose suddenly disappeared to look for some sakura and left us clueless as to where she was.

This was while waiting for her to return

she was gone for so long ok =(

But then she came back with good news! She found  two"weeping willow" cherry blossom trees =DDDD

Derick sulked in this picture so we made him take a second one SMILING

yeah erm... not much improvement either ahem

during the long walk to the sakura area, we came across a magnificent magnolia tree 

these huge soft flowers smell amazing! Sweet and soft fragrance.

(actually they smell like soap/perfume...the delicate kind)

HELLO THERE~~~ <3

sakura~ 

This weeping cherry sort is called shidarezakura. There are many other types of sakura of course. This is one of my favourites!

Gorgeousssssssss

Looks like a shower of pink sprays

Nothing beats being there to see it and to actually experience the atmosphere. The gentle swaying of sweeping branches laden with whitish pink, followed by a subtle breeze carrying forth petals from the flowers. It was magical I could almost attest to it!

obligatory family photo minus dana (muahahah sweet revenge)

Rose and I

Organizers for this Japan trip

Mom and a sulky derick

=D 

Couple appreciating the cherry blossoms  

While snapping this photo, a japanese couple (yes the same one above) walked past and commented "Indonesian tourists, most likely"  in Japanese.

I delighted in giving them a nice shock when I replied back that we're Malaysian in Japanese

mom and dad

Can't get enough of those flowers! Of course they are most gorgeous when they are out in full force in  Kyoto!

Imagine walking down a path lined with pink (Ok so I'm not the greatest fan of pink but this is an exception!)

Grabbing the sakura branches for a photo

Not sure if I was allowed to grab them like that to take a photo

But after we were done taking photos, the Japanese couple decided to follow suit and took photos at the exact spot and with the exact pose that we did HAHAHHAHAA

Quite funny since while people from around the world would want to copy the Japanese, these Japanese couple copied a bunch of Malaysian tourists.

Then again there's Tadashi who knows more about Malaysia than me -___-"

We walked around looking for a place to eat. Derick needed some meat ==D Ventured into some place nearby hiiragiya ryokan. There were small shops, Nishiki Food market, Isetan, takashimaya on one of the main roads.

Good arrangement *sly smile*

I'm proud of this shot!!!

Inside the katsudon place we ate at

At the food market where we bought some Japanese snacks to bring back

The lantern spells "Yakitori" and hangs outside a small eatery

I have no idea what this is, but I like how this picture turned out!

The lighting is pretty and the stick divider is a nice touch

Then we returned to the Ryokan for dinner

Our room! (mine, doreen derick and Rose's). So huge isn't it? It's one of the party rooms apparently

The bathroom.... I didnt take a photo of it... cuz it was dark and i was scared HAHHAHAHA

It basically consisted of an ofuro and shower, and wooden stools to sit on while you wash yourself. The clean, fresh scent of pine and sandalwood was very strong I remember.... plus our shower gel/shampoo etc was made up of those things.

Another thing I noticed of these Ryokans.... there are fresh flowers everyday. In many forms of ikebana (flower arrangement). I loved how detailed and meticulous everything was in the Ryokan.

Derick playing his gameboy. The paper shutters beyond him and the table actually slide open to reveal a large wide screen TV.

Yes, this and the garden is also a part of our living space. =D

Beautiful!

This is the Nakai-san (attendant) who attended to us the whole trip. She's really nice/cultured/well-mannered

In this photo, she is setting out our dinner. Mom and dad join us in our room for dinner. It's strange to eat in the same room you sleep but it's normal in Japan? Doreen loved it too I'm sure =p

Seated for dinner.

Our menu for the meal... as before, the entire list is served to each and every one of us

 And so the parade of food begins:-

Pea soup, peach cocktail, yubu (i forgot the rest)

Some sashimi

some more seafood

grilled seafood

soup and rice

can't remember!

Fruits

Again... I almost exploded after eating.

Me and derick with one of the flower arrangements in the room

The Nakais setting out our futons. We get to watch this time!

Fluffy futons!!!

Sooooooooooo nice and fluffy I love it!

Doreen again flew onto her futon after they were done. The pillows too were nice and plump. Love how everything is nice, downy and cloud-like!

Mom and I in our yukata provided by the Ryokan. You can wear this to lounge about and sleep?

and the overcoat.... hmm i forgot what it's called

In the garden with our geta

After this Doreen, derick and i just hung around, transferring pictures and watching movies on Doreen's laptop

End of Day 2 

Japan Spring 2009 Day 1

I know I only just finished blogging about last year's Japan trip. But I wanted to write about this spring's Japan trip so I'm gonna hold off the Canada entry til after this~

My family and I planned to see the sakura this year. Rose was supposed to organize it, but things didn't go as planned so I had to ask Tadashi for help booking the Ryokan and stuff. He pulled through amazingly amidst all my panic.

The morning I was supposed to fly off to Japan I had the last minute nerves, you know the anxious feeling you get "What if the ryokan is not booked where are we gonna stay....Is my Visa properly done, what if I'm sent home after the long flight there??"

ya la paranoid ok! At the Japanese immigration, they stopped a woman travelling from Malaysia because she didn't have a Japanese visa (seeeee I'm not paranoid for nothing!!!)

So the trip was 4 nights and 5 days long (for me, my dad and rose) to Kyoto. Mom and siblings left  a day early as the small kids had exams (HHAHAHAHAHA). I flew to Osaka airport from Singapore and met my family there in the airport (they landed an hour earlier). From there we took a van to Taketoritei Maruyama, Arima Onsen.... prob about 2-3 hours drive from Osaka airport as the place is in Kobe. I chose this place because they have private hot springs!!! Don't have to go to the public onsens and see everyones privates! And I can take towels into the bath with me =D

The itinierary:-

Turns out we were too early to see sakura T____T. BUT we were able to see the plum blossoms which normally come out before the sakura.

It took us a nice long hike up and down pebble paths and longkangs (just because they were easier to walk in ok!!)... on high heeled boots....

when we FINALLY reached the place i dropped my humongous camera bag in a corner and went picture crazy.

My mom's pretty here right??? =D

Plum blossoms have a really really sweet smell and are shaped like small rounded buds.

Aren't they pretty? like a froth of pink bubbles. I'm quite proud of this shot too! Still learning how to use my camera.

There's the pink variety and the white ones

My photo taking skills not bad ok!!  nyek~

The area was quite high up overlooking the town. Arima Onsen itself is full of slopes and hilly paths

Gorgeous!!!

Mom and dad

taken with flash.... came out differently even with the harsh sunlight

yeah we took a LOT of photos to compensate for all that walking/hiking uphill just to see the plum blossoms!

more blossoms against the blue sky shots. Was super hot and sunny that day without a cloud in the sky.

the next few shots are us with the cameras....all trying hard to take nice shots

me with my canon 400D

Derick with my oh so awesome blinged camera... canon of course

Doreen gan with her 40D

Mom with my camera.

Taken with Rose's Nikon

mother and daughter hiao

HAHAAHHA

hot and sweaty and bothered with the bright sunlight.... and that the sunlight was not falling at the right places. You know when the background is nice you'd also need some nice sunlight positioning to make a nice photo?

The sunlight wasn't shining right that day T_________T

We got a Japanese passerby to take a photo for all of us.... I wonder why I didn't take out my tripod... after all I already lugged it all the way =(

Derick washing his hands/mouth at a nearby shrine.

Then we walked down to look for lunch. Had lunch at a small restaurant.

And let me tell you it was so good I forgot about taking a picture til I finished eating!

Kurimu soda (cream soda) was the bomb !! like the Lime and Vanilla popsicle I used to have when I was younger.... but nicer! So refreshing after the hot and sticky trek.

The tempura ebi was yummy too! While tempura is normally crispy, this one had more egg in it and it turned out so well!  

Therefore the picture of the shell only instead of the whole thing before I greedily devoured it.

 These orchids were so pretty they looked fake!

These too! but they were 100% real. I know cuz I felt them up =D

Walked around summore, went into souvenir shops and bought a few souvenirs, and Japanese snacks to try. Then we spotted this!

woo hoo! free hot springs to soak your tired feet in

we had to buy some cheap towels nearby to wipe off after we were done

was so darn hot!!! my feet felt like they were gonna explode

aren't these dogs cute!!! we spotted them twice while walking around arima onsen

me exhausted and waiting for the bus to take us back to the inn.

got into a bus full of old people. I think that Arima Onsen is where people go to when the retire... predominantly silver haired people!

Back at takotoritei:-

They served us plum tea and mochi

the plum tea had gold stuff in it. Was so gross !! Sour but ... gross... I dunno la! ahahahha it's just strange

mom gobbling the snack.

After which we were led off to pick the yukata of our choice. To use in the inn of course, not to take away unfortunately.

Mom on the cart before being wheeled off to the lift. HAHAHAHA

Parents' room

Which had its own onsen. The silver hot spring.

and a kotatsu! which I never tried in the end

Pretty Japanese lady explaining how the onsen, dinner and breakfast works.

I just realized how strange that sounds... how dinner and breakfast and the onsen works? dont u just go and eat and splash into the hot springs? In Japan I guess things are a little more meticulous and orderly.

our room! And here's how it works... in the daytime the tables and seats are set out like this. Then when you go off for dinner, the employees will come shuffling in to put the table and seats away and set out your futons side by side.

dressed to go to the hot springs

omg... doreen gan is my height....almost! omg !!!

next to the silver and gold springs

Arima Onsen has two kinds of springs: One is called "Kinsen" because the water is colored yellow-brown from its iron and salt. The other is "Ginsen," which contain radium and carbonate. The water of Ginsen is colorless.

one of them is supposed to be good for backs too but i forgot which 

mom and doreen sitting beside the springs after a soak. Strange la it's an open onsen. Half of it is covered the rest is open air. Behind the onsen in a forest of bamboo i think. Mom was a bit paranoid someone would be watching hahahaha

blood circulation kicked in after a (Very HOT) soak in both the silver and gold baths. relaxing too

at dinner with our yukata.

It took us all so darn long to get into those yukatas! we were wrapping them up wrongly and tying the obis into weird knots! In the end we had to ask for help from the receptionist and a lady, skilled at kimono dressing, came up to our rooms to help wrap us into the yukatas.

doing the kawaii pose while waiting for dinner to be served

this is ony crazy long list for dinner ok. It's not that this is a menu where we choose what we want to eat... it's a menu where everything on this list is served to you! 

strawberry wine. on a mini cart. So cute right??? and so delicious! Strawberry wine is the best wine ever!

And I love the eye for detail here.

see??? everything is so perfectly placed. This is Kaiseki.... healthy food... REALLY healthy food

sometimes abit too healthy =D

sashimi served with loads of greens. I thought it was weird at first but i fell in love with it after that. Now when I  buy sashimi, i buy alfalfa sprouts to go with them. 

tempura... served with salt??

beef.... which I threw over to Derick to eat since he was having difficulty with the healthy food. He only eats pork cutlets when we go for Japanese... never the raw stuff.

And you dump it into the pot to cook =D so cool *raves more about japan*

and more strawberry wine

am not sure why they served the rice last... and I'm not sure what that bowl beside the rice bowl contains... slimy stuff... I wonder if it's natto all blended into a paste to trick us into eating it... it didnt taste bad...it was just slimy

at this point i was about to burst

family in yukatas

The japanese girls love to put their hair into huge buns at the top of their heads. While theirs are nice and neat and plump, mine is just messy!! It's a mystery how they always look so good!

Back in the room.... futons laid out all ready for us to sleep. Doreen flew onto her soft downy comforter.

I shouldnt be worried that it'll be cold during winter, because there are heaters in the room. I loveeee these futons!!! So nice and fluffy!

Doreen and rose.

By this time we were all soooo sleeepy... it was already around 10-11 ish. But mom and I made another trip to the onsen while my dad soaked in their room.

Gold springs

That's all for day one!

On the flight home

On the flight back home to KL, I trudged my way through the narrow aisles .... as ungraceful as ever with two bags in tow. When I finally got to my seat, I found out that the passenger sitting beside me was a little girl of no more than 9-10 years old. 

3 things occured to me.... firstly, that I may probably hit her with my trolley bag while hoisting it into the overhead compartment.... secondly, she was travelling alone (I confirmed this later when some of the crew members escorted her out of the plane to the immigration)....and thirdly the little kid was occupying the aisle seat while I occupied the window seat.

This little girl quietly got out of her seat without me even asking her so that I could dump my handbag onto my seat and fling my trolley bag up onto the oh so out-of-reach overhead compartments.

I was thinking then that this girl had nice manners. Then as I proceeded to sit down, I asked her if she would like to switch seats so she could have the window seat (which is what is considered a prime seat for many people like my younger siblings). Instead of mumbling an "ok" or "no" with shy, downcast eyes (or maybe in some cases, snottier replies!), she looked me straight in the eye, beamed and said "It's ok".

I don't know why but I was pleasantly taken aback by that wide smile. Certainly didn't expect it. When the flight attendants handed out the health declaration forms to us, the kid took out a neat, black planner with her passport details, ticket and handwritten travel checklist  all nicely tucked into the folds and pockets in the organizer. She then slowly and meticulously filled out the form. I on the other hand, scrounged around haphazardly in my bag for a pen, the ticket stub and my passport which were scattered among other items in my bag.

During the flight she took out a book to read... Daddy Long Legs.. which brought back memories of Enid Blyton's weird and wonderful tales that I used to devour. The little girl had on a face mask, was neat, organized, well-mannered, really cute, and precocious on top of everything.

Despite all that I was reminded of her age when the plane went through some bad turbulence and her hands, one of which was clutching her book, grabbed at both her armrests... she was obviously scared though she didn't utter a word or a single cry.

Looking at this little girl, my maternal instincts started raging and I realize that I do want to have children. And now I'm hoping that I might have a daughter that's just like her.