A new year is coming - review of the old one

The time just zoom past me again, and year 2010 is ending and year 2011 is coming. GOSH! I am aging faster than I thought. Haiz.... So, what have the family been progressing this whole year?  

My first son Faris, turned 23, second son Fahmi turned 22 and Sarah is 16 already.  All my babies have grown so quickly.  I actually missed them when they were children.

I've become a grandmother, my nieces Anis & Ain given birth to these cute babies, Zahra & Hamzah. These cuties will always remain as baby in our family.

Fahmi's graduation, Alhamdullillah...

My MIL surrounded by loved ones on Mother's Day.

Fahmi's Passing-Out-Parade with S'pore Police Force, welcome onboard.

My niece Tini, got engaged to her sweetheart, Fifi.

Congratulations to my SIL, Kak Enon on her son's marriage, Boboy & Tiara.

My eldest bro, Abg Aim turned 55, semoga dipanjangkan umur & dimurahkan rezeki.

10-10-10  Jai, my BIL solemnisation. Event of the year.

First visit to Japan with hubby to see autumn.

Wedding of my dear nephew, Mulyadi & Mariz.

Last kopek of 2010, count-down at our home with Sarah's & Fahmi's friends.

Not sure if all my new year resolutions for 2010, was carried out. So, I guess I shall not be making any new ones for 2011. The to-do list seems alot already. So, to you all out there, my best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

Frame of roses

I'm not working today and the day was spent re-doing my old frames.  These frames have been with me for more than 17 years. I know that some people may just throw them away after years of having them on their wall. However, I didn't want to see the frames go away, hence, giving them a brand new life by painting few coats of creamy-white on its natural wood colour.

Unfortunately, the original pictures had turned rather yellowish from age and have to be replaced with new pictures.  Oh dear.... I don't have any nice pictures right now, but I do have lots of fabric.  Perhaps, I should frame some of my fabric instead.  Typical me, most of my fabric are with roses, so here it goes...

Choosing and cutting the fabric was a breeze.  It was fun doing all these stuff and I  really enjoyed every moment of it.  As usual, whenever I'm making things I like to say to myself "I hope this turn out well....." and I will say it a lot and if it does, I will be a very happy person. That means I love what I do, and for that, I am so grateful.  Alhamdullillah....

Here they are ..... 17 year old frame make-over.

I love all of them and cant wait to hang them on my bedroom wall.

Cheers....

Japan trip

This is my first trip to Japan and a second one for my husband.  My worries and misconception of the complicated Japan transport system turns out to be rather straight forward. It's not as confusing as I had imagined.

Arrival
Our flight SQ634 touched down at Tokyo Haneida Airport, Terminal 1 on 31-October at 11:15pm, 45 minutes to midnight.  We managed to hop into the last shuttle service to our hotel at Terminal 2 just in time.  Due to the late arrival time, we checked ourselves at Excel Tokyu for one night which we booked from the internet.

The next morning at 6:30 am we checked-out from the hotel and flagged a taxi to Shinagawa train station.  Journey to the train station is only 20 minutes away by car, but the taxi cost us SGD77. Gosh! This is the most expensive taxi ride I ever took in my life.

Our first day We are heading to Mishima station by Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train.  We bought the 7:04am Kodama train and arrived Mishima at 7:54am. Japan train timings are so perfect that it really departed at 7:04 and arrived Mishima at 7:54 as scheduled.

Okada-San was already at the train platform when we arrived at Mishima.  He drove us to his place first to leave our luggage there.  Okada-San is my husband's ex-boss.  He live in Numazu, 20 minutes drive from Mishima station. Take a look at his lovely home. He has a small land just next to his house where he and his wife planted cauli flower and mandarin oranges.

Okada-San & Tomiko-San were such a wonderful host. They brought us for sight seeing around their place in Shuzuoka prefacture.  Our first stop was of course Mt Fuji.  The drive up to the mountain was awesome.  The pine trees and maple trees started to turn yellow already.  SubhanaAllah, indah nya cipta'an tuhan.  We arrived at the 5th station around 10:45am.  The wind was so strong and I was feeling extremely cold.  The temperature at the souvenir shop showed 6 deg Celsius. Oh my....

Oooohhh... very cold.

Our next stop was Shiraito Waterfall.  This waterfall is a beauty. The water here is from Mount Fuji, flowing down via the Kaotou river.

From the fall, we drove to Hakone passing by some lakes.  We stopped for a while at Lake Yamanakako for a short rest. Weather was perfect, cool and sunny.

We later proceeded to Mt. Hakone, Owakudani Valley where much of the area is an active volcanic zone with some steam vents and bubbling pools.  Here we can purchase eggs, cooked in the naturally hot water, which shells are blackened by the suphur.  According to Okada San, the Japanese believed that eating one egg can prolong one's life by seven years.  I guess, one egg is enough for me.  Oh yes, Owakudani has good views of Mt. Fuji as well.

After walking the whole day, this was what happened to my shoes. The old Timberland has finally given-up on me. Oh dear... not here in Japan ....

Lucky me, it happened after we finished the sight-seeing. So, I was granted a permission to go shopping after our dinner. Tadddaaa.... new shoes!

Our first day ended with Tempura dinner with the host and not forgetting, a new pair of shoes for me. Yey....

Our second day :

We checked out from our hotel in Mishima at 7:30am.  Okada San came to send us to the train station where we continued our journey to Kyoto.  We took Shinkansen Kodoma at 8:26am to Hamamatsu and transfered to Hikari train direct to Kyoto station.  We reached the old capital of Japan at 10:48am.  Locating our hotel is not that diffucult as it's just across the road from the station. Thank you Sano-San (my husband's present boss) for recommending us this hotel.  We left our luggage in the hotel as check-in time is at 3:00 pm.  That afternoon we went for a half-day city tour which we had booked from the internet.  The tour started at 1:15 and ended at 5:15pm.  The main reason people go to Kyoto is because of its history.  It was the capital of Japan for more than ten centuries until 1886. Countless historically priceless structures survived in the city today, including 200 Shinto shrines and 1500 Buddhist temples and over 60 beautiful gardens. However, the highlight of our visit is not the temples or shrines but the beauty of their autumn leaves, called Koyo.  Unfortunately, the autumn leaves has not changed its colour yet.  All the temples and shrines we visited has no Koyo, it's as green as what we see in our own Japanese Garden back in Jurong.  I was very disappointed :(  To be honest, we did not enjoy the tour at all. We made a wrong choice and as a result, Yen 11000 went into the drain!!!!!

Look at the temple below, nice? I dont like it ... sorry... Anyway, this is one of the temples that we visited. In total we visited four of them, oh NO....

After the boring and disappointing tour, we went to Takashimaya for window shopping.  Gosh! everything is horrendously expensive .... and yet the Japanese shops like mad.

The day ended with a cup of hot chocolate at Coffee Bean next to our hotel.

Our third day :

Today is a free & easy day for us. No rushing for train schedules. Finally, we managed to have a proper breakfast at Mc Donald before starting our day. After breakfast, we went to the tourist information center at Kyoto station and was suggested to buy 1-day pass for unlimited ride on their city bus & trains. With tickets and map in our hands, we set off. First we went to Arashiyama, it's a pleasant touristy district at the outskirts of Kyoto.  Its landmark is the wooden Togetsukyo Bridge with forested Mount Arashiyama as backdrop.  This area is best explored on foot, which we did.  We strolled by the river and walked along the street where they have many shops and cafes. It's a very relaxing sightseeing.

In the afternoon, we took a bus to Ohara, a rural town nestled in the mountains of northern Kyoto, about one & half hour journey from Kyoto Station.  Ohara is particularly popular in mid November during the autumn leaf season.  I'm trying my luck again, but got another disappointment, still no autumn leaf yet.  However, the scenery is spectacular ...

After the long relaxing day out, we returned to our spacious hotel room to retire. I however, continued penning down this journey and occasionally chatting away with friends in FB.

Our fourth day :We checked-out from the hotel at 8:00am and headed to the next city, Nagoya. We took Shinkansen Nozomi train at 9:32am and arrived Nagoya city at 10:09am. And as usual, we left our luggage at the hotel first before exploring the city.  Again, arigato gozaimasu Sano-San, this hotel is near to the station too.  Like in Kyoto, we bought the 1-day pass for the unlimited ride on city buses & trains.  First, we took the subway to Honjin which is only two stop away from Nagoya station.  After about 10 minutes walk from exit 3, we saw a row of shophouses with a Turkey flag hanging outside one of the shops.  Alhamdullillah .... we knew, the mosque which we were looking for must be around there.  We had a quick yummy lunch at the cafe before proceeding to the mosque for zuhur.



This is Nagoya Mosque.



Second stop was Noritake museum & garden, the country's most prestigious fine china and tableware producer.  When we arrived there, my husband was so fascinated with the magnificent garden while I'm more interested in the museum & craft centre.  So, to avoid conflict of interest, we went on our separate ways, he walked in the garden and I walked in the museum.

The Noritake building consists of four floors. First floor is the showroom and tableware shop. Second floor is the painting and workshop where we can see how the decorative work being done such as painting and firing.  Third & fourth floor are the museum where they showcased their valuable early works of Old Noritake. Before leaving, we had a cup of tea at the sprawling garden served with their fine tableware. Oooh.....lalla...

 

Not far away from Noritake is Toyota Automobile museum. We spent a couple of hours there, as a matter of fact, we were asked to leave as they are closing for the day.  The museum features a handsome collection of antique cars of several European makes besides Toyota and other Japanese cars.

Our fifth day :Highlight of today's trip is Takayama, a very laid back village under UNESCO heritage.  Takayama is a city in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture, which has retained a traditional touch especially in its beautifully preserved old town.  There were no fancy retail malls and western influence, only small traditional wooden shophouses to serve the locals. To get there, we had to hop on the only line, Hida Wide View from Nagoya station.  This train is driven by diesel, not electricity like other trains.  Our train departed from Nagoya station at 8:33am and we arrived at almost 11:00am.  The two over hours journey is awesome as we just sat back and enjoy the picturesque scenery of Japan countryside.  I saw an abundant of trees with yellow & red leaves.  Finally .... let the pictures do the talking .... coz I have no words to describe the beauty of autumn in Takayama. SubhanAllah...

Our last day :

Hooray..... today we will be flying back home, to our children and to our bed.  I cant wait to be home ....

We bid farewell to our last hotel in Japan at 7:30am.  Dragged our luggage to the station and quickly queued for Shinkasen Hikari train ticket to Shinagawa.  We were supposed to take the 8:33am departure, unfortunately it was sold-out, the next one is 9:23am, and it was sold-out too. So, we finally settled with Shinkansen Nozomi, departing at 8:40am and arriving Shinagawa at 10:16am. I'm guessing it was a Saturday, which is the weekend and many Japanese are travelling up north to Tokyo for shopping.  Okada-San is meeting us at Shinagawa to spend the last day with us in Tokyo.  He travelled from Mishima by Shinkansen Kodoma train as it is the best mode of transportation in Japan. We left our luggage, lappie and shopping bags in the locker at the train station before exploring the city. First, we bought a half-day HATO city tour which bring us around the city centre in the afternoon. Tour starts at 1:15pm, so we have about 3 hours free time. We took the opportunity to visit Yoyogi Mosque and asked Okada-San to take us there.  Apparently, there are eight mosques in Tokyo and Yoyogi mosque is the biggest.  It was built in 1938 and was demolished in 1986.  However, it was rebuilt again and opened since June 2000. 

Around Tokyo ...We took the subway train from Yoyogi back to Hamamatsucho to catch the HATO bus.  The subway train were very crowded. It was fun just watching people…most people were either listening to music from mp3 players, playing with their hand phones or sleeping. One guy tried to combine two of these things: playing with the hand phone and falling asleep. It was so funny watching him trying to stay awake :-)

The tour guide who came with the HATO bus can speak good English and he told us quite a lot about the history of the city and Japan as we drove along.  Our first stop - the Tokyo Tower.  The tower was built back in 1958 and I guess the Japanese wanted to show the world that they could build tall building too :-) The tower stands at a height of 333 meters (which makes it taller than the Eiffel tower) and there are observation decks at 150 meters and 250 meters. Tickets to the observation deck at 150 meters were included in the ticket and we got a pretty nice view of Tokyo from there. The view is one thing…I guess we were most impressed by the welcome we got at the tower. A bunch of smiling women in colourful uniforms let us in and they also operated the elevator.

The bus tour continued past the National Diet building (maybe not the best name for the parliament building) on the way to the Imperial Palace Plaza. We had a short stop at the latter but the Imperial Palace is only open to the public twice a year - at New Year and on the Emperor’s birthday. 

Next was the Senso-ji temple (also know as Asakusa Kannon temple) - one of Japan’s oldest temples.  We did not follow the group into the temple as we have enough temple visits in Kyoto already.

From the bus, we can see Tokyo's busy shopping streets.  I love the pedestrian crossings in the big intersections …not only can you cross from one side to the other. You can also cross diagonally and this makes the whole intersection into a chaos for a brief moment…but then everything falls back in order again. And I guess this is typical for Japan: chaos and order hand in hand. Order is I guess a keyword for Japan. It seems like everything works and there seems to be guidelines to keep everything going without interruption.  It’s amazing to see a society with that many people working that well.

At the end of the tour we were 'dumped' at Ginza. It was not a big problem for us because Okada-San knows the way around. We took the subway train back to Hamamatsucho to collect our luggage before transfering to the monorail that bring us to the final destination in Japan, Haneida Airport.

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Oh... yes, following are subjects that deserves a few lines :)
When we got to the hotel we discovered that we had gotten a toilet that was a bit advanced. Apart from the flushing there was also a spray/bidet function. I thought maybe this was only for hotels but we found these kinds of toilets more or less everywhere. So I guess the advice is to be aware which button you press when you are using the toilet :-). And it was so nice to go into the toilet at e.g. a mall or McDonalds and find a toilet that was clean and functioning. Some of the fast food chains even had the toilet paper folded like they do at hotels …how cool is that?? :-)

A bit more about chaos and order…in many places there are signs on the pavement signalling that there is no smoking there and requesting people not to litter. Well, it seems like people are reading and obeying. It is surprisingly clean in Japan and that is quite amazing considering the number of people that are moving around. What was also amazing was the scarcity of garbage bins…and if you find one it is not just a matter of throwing your garbage away…you have to recycle of course! Many places in Japan you will also see raised/patterned yellow pavement block. I think this is guidelines for blind people and it gives indication as to where they should be careful, where they have to turn etc.

Tokyo is also vending machine heaven. No matter where you go you can buy stuff from vending machines….it is first of all drinks (soft drinks, energy drinks and coffee shots) but there were also machines selling snacks and cigarettes.

My ConclusionWhen we came to Tokyo I was not sure what to expect. I had read and heard that it was expensive, that people didn’t speak English etc. But as usual we managed to get around on our own without much complications.  We found a huge city with more than 12 million people that actually seems to work far better than many other smaller cities that we have visited. People were polite, seemed to have respect for each other, the city is clean (very clean), it feels safe etc. Okada-San even mentioned that if we got lost we should ask the police for directions because they didn’t have much to do anyway.  Tokyo might not have world famous attractions like London, Paris etc but it was still great fun to travel around in the city and watch people.  I guess what amazes me the most about Japan is how far they have come since the end of World War 2. After the war ended they rebuilt more or less everything and they were able to become leaders in many areas.

So what will I remember from the trip? Well, I think the grass village in Takayama will stay with me for a long time :-) But I will also remember things like seeing the Tokyo mosque, traveling on the Shinkansen, seeing people line-up infront of the train doors to make boarding efficient, etc....

We had a great trip to Japan but as usual it is not enough with only one week to see a whole country. But we did get a taste of it and hope that we could visit Japan again some day. 

S a y o n a r a....