Hate Fact #1

If I had known how little it was [to you],
I would've never done it [in the first place].
Since it's "tiny" enough [that there's no need to argue about it],
Then it just means I've wasted my half Saturday.

So thanks a lot [for telling me this when it's too late].

[So useless].

36th 盆踊り (Bon Odori) 2012

After much wrestling with the photo editing programs
(PHOTOSCAPE & PHOTOSHOP ughhhh),

I'm finally ready to blog about this EXCITING EVENTTT!!
And I haven't blogged in a long while, haha XD

Before that, read what Wikipedia has to say about Bon Odori :D
Bon Odori explanation - but jump right to the bottom to 'in Malaysia'

Here was the leaflet that a college friend of mine showed me - electronically, I mean.


Source: dslrfanclub


So, he told me that he was going early, since there would not be a parking lot,
and you'd have to park far far away :/

Knowing my family members (yeah, I went with them :3) I guessed we'd be late.
Yup, we were hahaha XD XD

It was difficult to find parking, zzzz.
But we managed to park, not too far, and not too near :x

Anyways, once we were inside, we were given door gifts. (or maybe they're Entrance Gifts? :O)
lol


Yeah, I only took the pic when I arrived home :)
Nice right? XD

Somewhere near the real entrance to the trackfield :D

Yeah, it was THAT dark XD

Then, we had to stop for a toilet rest.
(Out of habit :/)
But while near the mobile toilet stalls...

Cam-happy time!! :D


1. Mum and Kak Suvari :D


2. Mum & Yours Truly :D
I'm SOOO HAPPPPPPPPYYYYYYY!!!!
(peace yo.)

After that, I tried to be sneaky (I was kinda sneaky the whole time, though) in order to take the
cute 浴衣 (yukata) pictures XD

Definition of yukata: Summer Kimono.
It is made up of a thin fabric so that the wearer would not sweat. I think.
Summer is summer, after all -___-;;

Oh, and did I mention that there were TONS of girls (young, teenage, adolescent and adult)
wearing 浴衣??

Enjoy these -sneaky- picture first DX


Yeah, kinda blurr.
 My first sneaky picture XD

And then, I started snapping random shops/stalls that were set up,
especially just for this event!!






Sake stall!! :D
I only know this by the 'Wine' sign :/
Later, I find out that the second kanji means 'sake' XD


Feeling hot? Fancy some 氷 (koori/ice)?

Of course, once my Mum saw this, it was the first shop we visited.
And I complained. Where's my scallop? (I forgot it's Japanese name T__T)








The first stall anyone would see when they enter XD


They actually have a mini-conveyer belt you know.
And it was packed. We shouldn't have taken too much of this DX

 But ah well, the Salmon was nice♥

 

 Jellyfish♥!!!

After having 9 plates (RM45), we left to see other stalls.
That was when Mum spotted Sakae Sushi.



 Seriously, Mum? XD

No, we did not go in.
I wasn't interested in sushi anymore. hah!


What's in the middle? -winks-

So the next thing we did (Mum, Kak Suvari and I) was to join the 盆踊り (Bon Odori dance)!!
Sorry, no pics of us dancing. I just found one pic, that showed me. It's down below. Can you spot me?
:3

Assuming you only read the part about Malaysia's 盆踊り in wikipedia, I'll tell you a little bit of info...
that in different regions in Japan, there are different dances.
Each of these dances are related to the type of work prominent in that area (in the olden days, I think).
So they have many types of different dances.
 They will have the main stage, where the professional dancers will dance in a circle,
and the public will follow suit around the stage.

Back to 盆踊り!
I pulled Kak Suvari (coz she did not bring her phone XD) towards the stage, where people
were already dancing.


The professional dancers on the stage.
They were dancing around the drums.
(I don't know the name of the drum troupe in Japanese.)


Then, we followed the crowd.


In my terms? This is called FLASH MOB!!! Whooopppeeeee~~~
It was SUPER FUN!

Remember the Entrance Gift Fan? We used it to dance too XD XD
I can't remember the steps, but it was really simple to follow. And repetitive :3

During the 2nd song, I noticed that we started at the edge of the area... but now it was
the middle of the public dance area XD

After the 3rd song, the three of us realized that we were not at the original spot
where we started dancing. So we had to walk back through a semi-circle to find Dad XD

Some pics of other people dancing!


 Going round the circle....



 Put your hands up!! ;D


 Oh, I like this very muchhhh!!!
ホント好きです!!



People watching at the stands.
(Which I'm glad I wasn't doing, else I can't appreciate it XD)


Dancing... (Put your hands up #2!!)



Going 'round again! :D


Rowing the boat? XD




Random dancing pic XD

Geh, you can't really see the dance in the pictures, huh?
(Sorry, I did not touch a DSLR or camera for a long time + too excited, so
timing is all out) DX

But not to worry, here's a Youtube video of 1.5 minutes long that you can enjoy.
(Yeah, iPhone video mode woohoo!!!)

 Enjoy!



Well, after dancing, we decided we wanted to eat BBQ meat♥...
Unfortunately, Mum led the way all the way to the dessert stalls DX

Where we bought only snacks. There, I mean.


Yeah, -edible- souvenirs, bought by Dad and Mum.
No, they can't ignore good chocolate XD
When Mum finished, she came out with 3 plastic bags full DX









Cream Puffs, anyone?
Knowing I can get this in Midvalley, I decided to only pass it by.


Ah, Aeon (Jusco) is here too.
But that is to be expected DX
The stall next to it... is where we got our 'main course'.
(Or half of a main course, which included the earlier sushi :)


I actually took this so that, I'll be able to decipher what it says... one day :D
I only know that the second Kanji (高) means 'expensive'/'high'. 

And I'm kinda regretting I didn't study Katakana.
There's a lot of signs using Katakana!!! D;



Kak Suvari with her Sparkling Orange XD


Truly, we bought fishballs and sausages here.
I only took this pic for the Kanji. keh keh XD

After that, we sat on the ground (where it was cooler, and facing the stage)
and enjoyed the half of the main course.

While that, I decided to take some pics of the food and the surroundings! :D


My 2nd stick of fish balls :D


Surroundings #1: A group of yukata-wearing kids♥

 
Surrounding #2: I realized I was just watching Japanese families at a Bon Odori -jawdrops-
I tried -eavesdropping- to listen to Japanese pronounciations.
But sadly, I can't catch words, just sounds TnT




 Surrondings #3: Their yukata colour combination is so cuteee!! :D

 By this time, I had already finished my food and was now craving for some...

アイスクリーム!!

(Ice-Cream)

So, to fulfill my promise of buying dessert for everyone,
Kak Suvari and I walked to the other end of shops to buy some アイス:D

Here was where I bought RM30 worth of ice-creams 8D


Yeah, everything was RM6 in this stall.
 I bought 5 tubs, eventhough there was only 4 of us at this event DX
(白氷/shirokoori is being greedy DX)

If that wasn't enough, I even bought you-need-to-consume-now-ice-cream because
it can be readily eaten DX

Here it is:



Well, there was more of it.
I already ate some XD


Kak Suvari's Green Tea ice.

I'll call these 'ice' cause they are sort-of ice-cream without the cream :/
But it's not just ice cause the taste of the tea and chocolate was there. Ahh, I don't know its name D:


Yeah, I'm a super happy 女の子 (young woman)!

The アイスクリーム of my parents:


Matcha (Green Tea) and Vanilla for Dad
(ZOMGOSH!! So DAMN NICE!!)


Mint for Mum:
爽やか!! (Refreshing!!)

All of them was solid and PACKED with flavour.
Definitely worth that RM6! :D

After we finished our ice-creams, it was time to leave ;(


Well, they left before us XD

As we exited from the Matsushita Sports Complex,
I saw a stall which read something like:

 Nihon no Omakage

Not sure about the last word (even the pronounciation), I thought it was 'souvenirs' or something.
Rightly so. I bought a headband for RM10 XD



It reads, "Nippon"/"Nihon".
Which mean "Japan" XD

The shopkeeper tried to ask me which school I went... but I didn't feel like telling him,
so I ignored him lol.

And he suddenly shouted, "Only Japan, no Malaysia!" in Japanese.
I understood the whole thing, so I silently smiled to myself.

Japanese language learning pays off!! ahahaha XD

We arrived at 7.30pm, and we left at around 9.45pm. I think.
I wasn't paying attention to the 時間 [time].

My final verdict:
I AM SO GOING AGAIN 
NEXT YEARRRR!!
But this time, I'm going with my friends.
I'd bring my family... if no one comes with me :x

And I'm glad that I actually went XD
yes, it is expensive and all, but I think it would be cheaper if we don't consume
unnecessary foods from famous brands (please don't come after me, xxx and yyy).

I'd rather be eating an obento instead of fishballs and sushi.
(cause even outside restaurant sells those :/)

But ice-creams are a must!
And then, we shall have our own after-party... what do you think? ;)

Final pic:


My two cherished souvenirs 8D

Hey HO!

'Sup peeps?

Popping in just to let you know that I'm alive.
And kicking.

Still kicking. rofl. Update, I guess :?
Great, after nearly a month of absence, I have no idea where to start :(
I guess I'll start with this:


Dad's Birthday Cake! :D
Yesh, I made it myself :x
It was Supreme Cheesecake XD
(this cake actually has a name lol)

My uncle, a cake taster (actually he really is a food taster), said that the ratio of cheese to chocolate could improve...
and that was his ONLY comment :D
There was too much crust, too little cheese :x

Other than that,
the taste of the cheese and chocolate and everything was just right! :D
WHOOPEE !!! :D


This is my sushi.
That I make for my breakfast (one to 2 days :x)

Yeah, apparently I've become an expert sushi roller too rofl.

On another note, I've started a few things already:

1. Working.
Yes, I'm working, part-time.
As (don't laugh) and English (tuition) teacher :)

To some (very hyper Std 6, talkative F1, normal F4 and serious F5) students.

Learning English just as I'm teaching it haha XD
But it's a good experience :D

I remember stating in this blog that I wanted to teach the Myanmarese English.
I guess this is "training" for me to be more professional, huh? :)

2. Playing Plants vs Zombies
Unfortunately, it's just too addictive D:
Very hard to keep -any- available hands off it :/

Unfortunately so, since the zombies have the same opinion on brains :/
As the Peashooters have the same opinion on zombies...
and my mouse have the same opinion on the Peashooters...
Gah, the never ending cycle! D:



DON'T be fooled.
Just cause my level's 1-7 doesn't mean I'm a noob, kay?

This would be my 3rd round playing the whole Adventure set ==
(yes, I've seen the Zomboss twice now, sigh)
Now I'm just collecting the plants for my Zen Garden :)

I have these plants now, currently.

And a wee bit more of Marigolds :/
Not that they're worth showing anyways.

I know, there's still a lot to go D:
But, at least it's still better than an empty table haha XD

ohkay... *gamer mode off*

3. Alpha Course.
uhh... some really spiritual stuff here :D
All about the Lord.

No, seriously.
I'm kinda happy that I joined this course to deepen my faith and know the Lord more.
Since last year, I was kinda off track :x

Now I think I'm back on track again :D
Let's hope my spiritual defence lasts in the spiritual warfare!
*Armour mode on*

Only problem is:
I'll need to find a new group to attend, or I know I'll break DX

4. DrawSomething
Oh yeah, I totally have this one rofl. Here's a pic that I drew :x

==
Actually, I might just send this picture tomorrow.
I don't have the intention to sleep so late today
(since there's a lecture tomorrow -on a Saturday, so definitely no fun-):

I guess that's all.
Together with all the in-between work, of course :)
And college lol.

After that...
The End :D

Malacca Trip - Warning: Long Post Ahead

Hey guys!

It's been awhile (frankly, I shouldn't even be here) :P

The exams are soon to arrive, and I have yet to revise

(I'll revise soon, though) :D

And I have a ridiculous amount of pictures in my iPhone 4....

(256 items ==)

So here I am! :D

Without wasting much time,
here are the promised pictures.
(I'm going to use them to narrate the said events.)

*Note:
Thus post may look like a vacation;
but in fact, this wasn't true.
We were in Malacca because a distant relative passed away,
and we went there to pay our last respects to him.

And now... the real fun begins!

Saturday, 21st January 2012

On the road pics.
Headed to Malacca :D

Passing by this random apartment...

Another shot of this rofl

And one and a half hour more,
we have reached our destination!

"Selamat Datang Ke Melaka" :D

Here are some of the landmarks that we passed by:

Melacca Zoo!
I was here once :D
A long long long time ago.

No idea, sorry.
Random, antique-looking landmark that deserves a shot :D

Mainly this was caught while we were
waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
See? I think Malacca's more advanced than KL.
Their LED billboards still worked :/

Kings, as in, the Bakery, Kings?
Nope, just a hotel :D

Honestly, I've never seen a building that has

a cone emcompassed in a square/rectangular block :/

And this building was...

Melaka Mall!
We were driving through the road, so no.
We didn't stop by to enter the Mall ._.
Maybe we shouldn't have anyways.

Random shot of another landmark

This is one of the oldest cars I have ever seen
(Excluding other car brands that I may have seen but not known)
- no, I don't know what I'm talking about :'(

After some turns away,
here we are! :D

Single storey Portuguese house :o

We were in the Portuguse Settlement! :D

Ok, from here onwards,

we were with the surviving wife and family.

We prayed, sang hymns and basically conversed with our grand-uncle.

No, no photos.

What, the mood was sad and there's no way we could pull out our cameras

(iPhones for us Mum, Dad and myself; Mon brought her DSLR)

to snap pics.

That would be totally disrespectful! D:

So afterwards,  we found ourselves a hotel to spend the night in;

the next day, we went to attend Mass in a chapel

(CHAPEL. So sad. You'd think there'd be a proper CHURCH in the Settlement) ==;

Before going to have breakfast in a coffee shop :D
Get ready for some mouth watering pictures! :D

 

Yummeh!
(I don't know the name, sorry)

Milo Ice that tasted like...
well, Milo Ice rofl

This was SO AWESOME!
Crispy on the outside and soft in the middle;
with a faint sweetness on the side :9

In KL, this dish has bean sprouts.
In Malacca... well, minus that :/

Wantan Noodles :9
It was lovely.

My sis's Roti Telur

I don't know what it tasted like lol.

Generally, I avoided eggs, so... 

The lovely couple who brought us here :)

They so sweet :D

Roti Canai
This was awesome with the dahl 8D

In fact, it is the second best Roti Canai I've eaten; 

second only to my house's roti canai XD
It was so crispy and soft 8D

Another Roti Canai shot! :D

One would think that we are serious tourists, 

from some Western/East coutry that is not located in Southeast Asia -__-

It's not like Malacca food is different from KL,

But... we were just... so happy.
To eat Malaccan food.
If that makes sense :/

So, where can you find awesome food like this?

This place.
It's near the Portugese Settlement.

So if you are in the area, go Google Map it.

I'm sure it's there somewhere :D

After that, we went to take a nice drive around town;

and it was the first time I've actually seen a plantation...

so... why must it be a papaya plantation?! ==
The fruit that has to be cut twice every week ==

It was literally smack in the middle of the city,
in someone's backyard rofl

And then we went to see the fishing docks.

Which was near the mouth of the river.

The dock (which looked like a shack)

The boats lying by the side

The view from inside the boats dock-shack.

Real fishing village :o

The view from the other side of the dock-shack
Yeah, there were many docks built by the edge of the river.

The houses facing the sea

*drools*

I so like! <3

Another river shot!
Now you can see clearly what's it like :D

Random cat that was there lol

Oh so many boats! :D

Like this shot of muh sis.
Like an oil painting :o
Or some painting :D

The random cat again

Then we were on ze road again.

Heading towards... iForgot.

Somewhere.

And just to show you, all the old houses are...

Single storey.
Most of them, anyways.

The old apartments.

Later then, we headed to the Portuguese's Settlement's waterfront! :D

Don't be fooled into thinking that this is a beach rofl.

This is not a beach. 

This is a waterfront... you'll understand.

Okay, I think I'm mis-leading you a little...

See?
All rocks, no sand :(
This is a water front:
The rocks (I suppose) is for breaking the waves.

I was actually waking here rofl XD

So yeah :D

 

Yeah, that's a waterfront!

We parked quite far from this corridor, so I was actually walking and snapping :)
The place was SUPER windy :D
If you played with the water, it would be so coooooold *brr*

 

 I like the perspective of this :D

The mouth of the river.

No, don't ask why the colour is like that.

I have absoutely no answer at all for you.

I kinda like this pic,

There's blue, red, green and brown.
All in one pic :D

Another perspective photo! :D

While walking back, I thought of how old the place was.

Just imagine, 500 years ago, my ancestors actually docked their ships here and 

took over this land of Malacca.

The sea wasn't blue or clear:

but it did carry uncountable ships that sailed its water...

This place was just so full of history OMGosh.

I meant to focus on the cannon, but it was too far away XD

After we had spent enough time here, we left to spend the afternoon at the relative's house again,

then it was seriously time to leave.

So we drove around town,
with me pestering to see the famous A' Famosa.
Before that, my Dad brought us to see the church Mum and Dad got married in, I think.
(If it ain't my Mum and Dad, it my late Grandfather and Grandmother).

And the church was closed;
with a banner outside written:

PLEASE RESPECT OUR CHURCH.

Wahlao. What did who do until like that?!

This place is right next to the Church.

And the residential area for one of the Theseira family...
before it was sold off :'(
I feel sad that this land does not belong to us anymore.
It's just... too sad :(

Random Beca shot :D

Shops closed for CNY :o

Old, old, old, shops.

The truth was:
The place heading to the A' Famosa was jam-packed with cars.
(with it being a Sunday and all...)
So Dad refused to follow the crowd.
We left for home instead.

On the road pics:

I am hoping my Chinese friends can tell me what this is...

This I saw in the hotel brochure;

but we didn't go in there to eat.

rofl.

Man-made fountain.

This blue building told us that we are going to reach the border soon.

Frankly, Dad wasn't enthusiastic about visiting all the other places that
Malacca regarded as tourist spots.
He did a detour for the Malacca Batik or something,
but we never got down from the car.

We just detoured and then detoured back home ._.
*sigh*

And then my Mum suggested we go to Port Dickson to catch the sunset on the beach.
We cheered and then our cheer died.

At first, my Dad wasn't enthusiastic of the idea:
He was saying how the beach wasn't clean and bla bla bla.

But when he reached Seremban, he turned into Port Dickson! :D

Just 31km more....

We're SO CLOSEE!!!

Random road pic lol

Soon, we reached the town.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention:

GONG XI FA CAI!

I know it's late and all, but I believe...

Better late than never! :D

Chinese temple shot

Hindu temple shot

Before long, we were in...

PORT DICKSON!! :D

Oh wait. Not another waterfront! D:

It took us a while to realize that we actually wanted to go to
Pantai - Pantai Peranginan rofl

2 states in 2 days.

What a hectic life pfft.

Soon though, we were at the right place! :D

Sunset on the beach *in awe*

Yeah, it was that bright.

Cam-happy with family :D

 

Not sure what's going on, but yeah :D

Afterwards, sis and I asked our parents to model like romantic lovers on the beach XD

Here was the result:

psh, slippers spoilt the view ==

They may look romantic and all, but if you were witnessing this, you'd be laughing.


Mum was commenting on how stiff Dad was in front of the camera
(not that any of us have anything against it. That's just who Dad is)

and telling him what he should do.

It was hilarious rofl !!

Slippers in the sand!
This shot is <3

Another sunset shot!

See how clean the public beach was:

That's how clean it was.
And yeah, there were only a little bit of people there, on the eve of CNY lol

Later, we decided to eat Ikan Bakar in Port Dickson! :D

So we went here:

Still in the parking lot

The view from the parking lot :o

Yeah, uh... the sea WAS black ;x

Name of the place: Medan Ikan Bakar.

I just love it when it was getting darker and darker...

This is how people order:

Choose, weight, send to the kitchen to roast.

The result? YUMMY!! :D

Can't seem to get enough of this picture.

While the food there was just simply awesome, the waiting time was awesome too.
It took almost an hour and a half for our food to arrive.

And during that time, I didn't know what to do.
My parents were playing their iPhones.
My sister was doing her homework.
I... My iPhone died.

So I began eating the Pistachio nuts and watching TV that they had.

Source

The program was interesting, but somewhere in the middle, someone so smart
had requested for the channel to be changed. Into sports. SPORTS.

rawr.
I was pushed back to Square One.
Nothing to do.
So, here's what I did.

I began taking the shells of the Pistachio nuts from the pile and finding their pair shells.
Yeah, really crazy.

Thank goodness the food came a few minutes after that XD
Or I would've lost my marbles rofl.

The food was awesome (I said that already didn't I? lol)

Then we went home.

The End