Reminiscing 2013 - kobe, okayama, shikoku part 2

* السلام عليکم *


 こんにちは q(^_~)p

From the brewery museum, we then went to Kurashiki city where we had some time to visit the famous canal and later had our lunch. Kurashiki canal was famous during the Edo period and is a busy district with lots of businesses there. For visitors, the canal provide boat rides and if you have limited budget like *cough* us *cough* you can just walk around and enjoy beautiful scenery. There are several museums showcasing arts but due to limited time, we just enjoy walking around.

Map of Kurashiki - from Google map

It was said that one of the famous dish in Kurashiki is Ebi-meishi, which is basically fried rice with prawn (aku masak sedap lagi haha) and we manage to enjoy the food before continuing our journey to the hotel. Enjoy the pictures

Old bank

old business district at Kurashiki

Sensei explain interesting item from local shop

this is actually some of the presents given to bride during wedding ceremony (macam hantaran la gitu)

searching for lunch

Ebi meshi

Ebi-meshi shop

The canal

old buildings in Kurashiki

continue with part 3

XOXO

Reminiscing 2013 - kobe, okayama, shikoku trip - part 1

* السلام عليکم * 

 こんにちは q(^_~)p

Since we are entering 2013 in about 3 weeks, I think this is the best time to start reminiscing this year's activities. In fact this is like backlog for the blog itself. I shall start from March 2013.. I joined my laboratory trip to Wakayama on 3-4 March and as usual, my labmates have prepared interesting trip. The yearly March trips are usually kind of farewell party for our seniors, in 2011 we went to Tottori, 2012 to Hyogo where I skied for my first time and this time we went to see some interesting places around Shikoku Island.

So, our trip this time started with visiting Sake brewery in Kobe. Yes, you heard me right, we went to Sake museum first thing in the morning. Even our sensei also laughed a lot since it is really weird to be drinking alcohol on the morning haha..

The museum showcase the method to produce good Sake -- owh before I forgot, Sake is a japanese alcohol made from fermented rice. old method include producing sake using manual hands and nowadays sake is brewed using machines.

Lets enjoy some pictures. Some of it are self explanatory, so here it is.

some of my labmates

Listening to the introduction -- of course I can hardly understand the explanation haha

it was said that if sake is currently being produced, the factory will hang this ball outside their door so people would understand that sake is currently brewed

barrels used for storage

place where staf stays and hangout

usually, washing rice are done early in the morning -- about 5am 

washing area

then they store the clean rice here

this pot is used to cook the rice

fermentation began from this room and they will cover the rice with gunny sack

mixing area

if I am not mistaken this is where they start processing the fermented rice to become sake

pressing machine to get liquid sake

and it is gathered in the holder shown by the uncle.

another museum

some of the sake (this type came from different factory as shown in the explanation above)

that's all for the first part, till next time, XOXO

so what happen for the last few months?

* السلام عليکم *

 こんにちは q(^_~)p

Sebab kita dah dalam bulan disember maka mungkin perlu flashback banyak benda. tahun ni alhamdulillah, banyak benda tercapai walaupun masa terhad. busy tak payah cerita. hampir tiada holiday for the past few months. both mama dan papa memang tahap tidur tak cukup, kerja bertimbun dan kurang rehat. kami dalam fasa 6 bulan extension. insyaAllah bulan Mac 2014 kami akan pulang balik ke mesia. 1 April dah mula lapor diri balik ke tempat kerja.

banyak benda nak diceritakan, mungkin kena plan betul2 dari mana nak cerita. tinggal lagi 27 hari menjelang 2014. kejap sangat kan tahun ni?

mama harap semua orang punya cita2 tahun ini tercapai. as for us, we did well.. alhamdulillah.

signing off

XOXO

muka baru

* السلام عليکم *



 こんにちは q(^_~)p


tukar angin sikit, bagi template baru.. semangat blogging baru.. lepas ni kita blog untuk catatan masa hadapan..

bye2 muka lama..

hello semangat baru

after a very long hiatus

* السلام عليکم *


 こんにちは q(^_~)p


agaknya ada tak lagi orang baca blog mama ni.. hai.. it's been very long time.. dah 4 bulan lebih kut tak berupdate blog.. untuk yang komen sebelum ni, nanti mama jawab ye..

ok, kasi bersih2 sawang kejap sebelum update dengan lebih lanjut..

anyway, i miss blogging a LOT!

see ya

Bila hujan

* السلام عليکم *


こんにちは q(^_~)p


wah, dah 2 bulan juga tak update blog.


Rindu.


Kyoto dah masuk summer. minggu depan insyaAllah Ramadhan bermula. Excited tapi dalam masa yang sama seriau. Makin dekat dengan tarikh akhir hantar tesis. Sempat siap ke tidak? Boleh ni boleh, jangan mengalah. Doa banyak2.. dan yakin pada diri.


Harini hujan. Cuaca sendu sedan aje. Kepala mula la mengada-ngada seperti mahu disorong2 bantal. Bila setiap kali hujan, kami anak beranak akan berbondong2 la bawa barang muatan lebihan. Papa jadi stress kejap pagi tadi. Bajet nak sampai lab awal dia lepas hantar anak2.. sekali hujan (huhu.. ape nak buat kan papa) Bila hujan bermaksud kena pasang 2 biji payung di basikal, anak2 dipakaikan baju hujan.. Yang syukur sangat sebenarnya masa hujan ni cuaca jadi sejuk sikit, Alhamdulillah.


Mama keluar lewat dari papa. Biasa pun gitu. Terus berbasikal ke main campus nak naik shuttle bus. Sebab tak sanggup basah barang2 dalam beg jadi mama buat gini

Belah kiri buku yang tengah dibaca sekarang. Lama rasa tak pegang buku cerita.. selalu dok pakai apps aje. Dalam plastik tengah tu my new found love -- Moleskine. Selalu tengok tak tahu nak beli apa. Kali ni baru berani beli. Sebab ada tujuan. Kualiti kertas dia memang tak boleh lawan la. Cantik elok. sesuai untuk nota yang nak disimpan lama. Belah kanan sekali buku nota kerja harian. Buku ke 9 rasanya ni sepanjang 3 tahun pengajian. Ya, mama tulis semua benda. Setiap idea, setiap pembetulan, setiap calculation mama tulis. Sebab mama sendiri ada masalah suka benar lupa apa yang dibuat. Yang gambar rabbit kecil atas tu organizer. senang masuk handbag. Dalam pouch kanan atas kaler cream adalah alat tulis, yang belah kiri atas tu stickers and stamps.. hehe untuk suka suki..

hokkaido trip winter april 2013 -- otaru orgel museum

* السلام عليکم *

 こんにちは q(^_~)p

Earlier this month my parents came to Japan. We really had good time and we managed to go to Hokkaido this time! It was really a fun trip and actually was not planned earlier. There's so much to tell about the places that we went but I will start with this place first.

We went to Otaru on the second day of our trip. Otaru is located about 45 minutes (by train) away from Sapporo. Most buildings in Otaru are built by the westerners and were influenced by them. So we can see a lot of design similar to western buildings. In Otaru, we had the chance to went to Orgel Museum. Orgel or Music Box as an easy term to say is famous here in Otaru.

The music box are made locally and it is so interesting to see the mechanical works in the music box. Of course handcrafted music box are expensive, but there are some not so expensive items that can be brought as souvenir. The museum is free and open from 9:00am-6:00pm on weekdays and 9:00-7:00pm on weekends.

I did a keek video for you to enjoy my orgel. Guess the song! ;)

Apr 22, 2013 | My orgel (music box) bought in otaru, hokkaido :) siapa tahu lagu ni? by ahkak121 on Keek.com

So here are the pictures.

the clan

dont mind me.. too concentrate hehe

inside the museum

you can choose the songs that you like

the layout

bird's view

some of the expensive music box! gulp

gulp again!

us 

maybe if we listen to this a lot we can imagine we're in venice hahaha

parts inside a music box.. mind the photog behind haha

Playlists

One of my friends reveal her workout playlist.. And suddenly I realized I have too many songs.. Hahaha

Nevermind about that

Here is my workout or running songs playlist that usually accompany me :) some are fast beat and some are a bit motivational. Sometimes I just use shuffle to avoid bore..

Share what yours too.. Maybe we can exchange ideas for our playlists

want to or don't want to?

* السلام عليکم *

 こんにちは q(^_~)p


sometimes good genes are not enough, must work harder to get best result..

want to be smart? learn more
want to be fit? exercise more
want to be pretty? take all the supplements and drink lots of water :P maybe a visit or two to some good doctor (heh)
want to be rich? work harder and smarter, take all opportunities
want to be pious? pray more, be humble
want to be wiser? meet more people, go to lots of places (not for shopping)
want to be tested? be a mom! hahahahaha

life is not easy, true.. but blaming genes or something else just because you don't want to work for it is totally wrong

I'm currently in the midst of too many datelines.. will update all the recent trips we had (yeah! trips hahaha)

winter 2012-2013 --- kinkakuji

* السلام عليکم *


 こんにちは q(^_~)p

sebenarnya tiap2 tahun kami plan nak ambil gambar masa snow lebat kat kinkakuji.. ce bayang.. temple tu gold.. pastu diselaputi snow tebal.. fuuuhhh.. 2012 snow memang lebat dan tebal.. tapi entah tahun ni tak berapa tebal kat kyoto.. beria kami pi pagi tu sbb snow turun banyak.. tapi tak naik atas tanah la pulak.. tak ada rezeki.. tapi takpe, 2014 ada lagi kan? eh? hahhahhaha..

nak jadi cerita pulak, masa snow turun tu, hari ahad.. hah mantap sangat la kan.. naik bas zass terus p.. bukan jauh mana pun.. rumah --- kinkakuji dalam 1/2hr ja city bus tu..

so tahun ni tiap2 season kita cuba dapatkan gambar cantik2.. mana la nak tau ada rezeki leh print gantung kat rumah mesia nanti..

kinkakuji, kyoto

one for the album.. sejukkkk.. bintik2 tu snow.. cantik kan

peace yo

feeling winter sonata?

byk ikan koi dalam kolam tu..