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

Random Driving

I'm going to the Driving Test today.
Pray for me :D

WYD Trip Bonus 2 Days

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

After I've packed 90% of our belongings, we got up, bathed and went down for breakfast.
Today, we were going to have McDonald's famous PORK BURGERRR!!

Now, I know we've gotten ourselves the souvenirs,
but this morning, I decided to ask my Mum what she wanted from Spain.
*oh yeah. She also wanted a BRANDED handbag.
and a fan with Papa's face on it.

She instead gave my a website and told me to get her anything from there.
Thus, our great hunt for the 1.75 Euro fan and other souvenirs begun :D

We decided to go with Bibiana because our excursion group had already left for
the various places of Spain/Europe.

While walking the shops, I tried scouting for the "branded" handbags.
Also, I looked for the best souvenirs to get my beloved people at home.

Because we walked the streets at 9.50am, most of the shops weren't open
*I learnt then that the opening time was really 10am.

So while walking, my sister decided to take the photos
of the various interesting shops which caught her attention.

Among them:

The cheese shop filled with nothing but... cheese.

We thought about going in to get my cheese-loving Dad some o.o

But decided not to because we didn't know what cheese he liked :/
Oh yeah. Cheese there... is definitely cheaper than in Malaysia :D

And while walking, I spotted the shop which had the fan with Papa's face on it.
My Goodness! Awesome unique item :D :D :D

Oh yeah ♥
Yup, we entered various shops looking for stuff and then guess who we met out of the blue??
Richard and Adrian lol!!

And Adrian was complaining as ever on our "shopping".
We somehow ended up going to the shops together as a group of five :/
My sister bought the shirts there and I bought them fans.

Then we went to that shop above and I bought two fans there.
Somehow I still ended up buying fans o.o

HAH! I wanted the Papa's fan.
When I pointed to the display fan on the window,
the salesgirl checked the storage and said, "No more." :(

While we were leaving the shop, I was saying that it was really sad :(
And Richard said, "Then buy the display fan la." o.o

Oh, good idea! XD

So in I went and told the cashier,
"I want that one." (pointing to the fan.)
She took it down and punched in 3.50 Euros :D

And I was then the happiest person in the world 8D

The owner of the LAST fan that had Pope Benedict's face on it in Vatican colours :D

After that, we entered some branded shop and we looking around.
The bags were like... 20 Euros cheap o.o
I didn't know what Mum liked, so I didn't buy any there.
I'm fashion blind, too, btw.
So I don't know branded stuff well enough :(

At this point, we parted from the two boys and went on looking for the bag.
*Adrian was complaining, but we entered, they followed in and when we walked out,
they were both still in the shop, and Adrian was complaining to his brother...
**His bro was looking for a gift for their mum, awww so sweet XD

We searched that area, but we could not find the bag Mum wanted, so we gave up.
At 11.45am, we were supposed to check out.
We reached the hotel at 11.30am ohmigoodness.

Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to go and buy the McPork burger :'(
After we checked out, the bus arrived :/

My sister was DAMN pissed off at ME because of that ._.
Because I didn't let her to go to McDonalds up the street while I was checking out.
And even in the bus, we had to wait for two people
who went to McDonald's earlier to buy lunch.

And she was super pissed at me. *eyeroll*
I mean, I was dissappointed too, but I can't just let her leave like that!
Not when the one accompanying her was 2 years older that her.
Not when the bus would arrive any time soon.

So whatever.
In the bus, I made the most of my time:


Taking bus pics!

After that, we entered a tunnel... man that was the longest tunnel I've ever gone in with a bus o.o
Apparently, that tunnel linked from the road to the airport o.o

Now, at the airport, we got our bags plastic wrapped and trolley loaded.
And while waiting in queue to check in, I went camera happy :D :D


Bibi holding our passes.
Monica being slightly delighted that she may get to eat the McPork after all.

Sleeping on the job? D:

Gone!!

Sandra and Aunt Amy :D

What the ceiling looked like

Yeah, me and the hat.
Cause I ♥ hat

Proper pic of us.
Up at this point, it took about an hour to check in *grumbles*
And you know what?

Our lines of two ended up becoming one, so we didn't line up at the correct space.
Apparently, the line we were standing at was business class line RAWR.

So eventhough we were there first, we checked in last wtbeep!!
And my sister was upset because we were (again!) going to miss heading to McPork ._.
I had asked Adrian to get us each a burger though, if we wouldn't be able to see McDonald's.

And you know what?
After we were done, we walked briskly to the immigration.
And there sis and I had an argument which ended up with her fuming at me.

All because she had to be checked by the lady customs officer as the metal detectors went off
when she walked through it because of the metal key for the trolley bag which
was in the traveller's pouch.

If you had been checked by the custom's body checking, you'd know.
Cold war, but glad I am it happened on the way back -_____-

She was also upset (again!) because she wasn't allowed to go to McDonald's. Again.
*sigh*

We went Duty Free to see the bags, but no way was I going to spend so much
on some branded handbag =.=;

I think we could afford it between us, but I wasn't going to spend on something that Mum may not like.
So I ended up just buying chocolates at Duty Free for dad :/

After we entered the plane, we had to sit apart (seating problem, it's like that -____-)
After a lot of people entered, and then Adrian came and gave me the McPork to me O_O

I was 8D 8D 8D
And then he said,
"I only got one because some Aunty said that you both probably already eaten the lunch."

Anyways, what kind of Aunty is that, right?! damn :'(

**and my mum told me to be CERTAIN and never say things like;
"assume, probably, maybe."
Those words had to be taken off my dictionary while in Spain o.o

and I said, "We haven't had anything. You checked in before us and after I checked in,
we were too late to have anything. I wished you bought two burgers instead of one :("

So I paid him 5 Euros (uh-huh, yeah. Price of McPork was around 4,95 Euros or smtg)
and passed the burger to the back, where my sis was.

And then I took plane photos! 8D
Because I was sitting next to the window, HURRAYYY!!

Boarding or leaving the aeroplane, I wonder? :o

FLYINGGGG!!! :D

This is what it looks like, if you're travelling near night time :)


Somewhere here, my (happy) sister handed me the McPork, lol
I honestly thought she was going to finish everything.
***sister's comment: I was nicely eating the burger, and then I turned my head to
the passenger sitting next to me: guess who it was? A Muslim O_O
****My comment: AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Idk if that's normal or not, but Malaysian muslims do not tolerate someone eating pork next to them.
It's almost like they cannot stand the pork's "dirty" smell :/

No, I didn't take the real burger pic.
It was already half eaten.

Ahhh... the pic looks extremely wonderful, right?
Yes, it was.
McPork was actually McChicken with strips of bacon.
There was CBO and beef version.
Adrian didn't know what we wanted, so he bought the chicken one.

Psh, if I had known, I'd get him to buy one chicken one beef :D
but I didn't, so meh. :/

It tasted mostly like McChicken burger (cause only 2 strips of bacon was left after my sis ate)
But when I got the bacon, it was goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood :)

Awhile later, dinner came :D

See the brown oval thing on the left?
That is the world's hardest bread.
I took that and hit my head with it. Goodness, it hurt!!!
*Bibi did the same and she said, "Owww!" XD
**I ate it, of course :D I wanna be the world's hardest human being :D XD

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

At 4am, Madrid time, my eyes were... =_=
We had reached Amman.

In the airport, I sat in front of a guy who conforted his son who was crying.
He was a good dad. Seriously.

And I thought to myself, isn't God like that?
When you cry and feel so very sad or scared, you look for Him (I do)
and He lifts you up, puts you on His lap, and comforts you.
He hugs you and tells you it's alright.
And then you feel calmer, happier and contented.

Actually, I was watching the father for a while thinking this.
and he was comforting his son and he knew I was watching him too.
I mean, I was sitting just opposite him lol!

When you see something beautiful like that,
it gets you thinking what kind of God He really is.

Someone that loves you soooo much;
is willing to forgive you for your mistakes/misdeeds,
does not hold grudges against you,
who is always there for you in ways you cannot explain.

The kind of fatherly love humans cannot give.
It's mind blowing.

I was thinking that I'd like a picture of them both.
But I was too shy to ask :/
I'd NOT let someone else take my pic if I was in the same situation.
So with that, I just let that image burn in my memories.

Anyways, after a while, his wife came and told him that their gate was boarding.
So he said goodbye to me and left with his son.
oh :o
I said goodbye too lol.
Then started camhappy with my sister:

Sister with someone's glasses.

We got bored sitting, and I didn't want to fall asleep sitting (that's really bad :/)
so we walked.

Kitkat!!

After we boarded the gate, we exchange stories with Adrian and went on the plane.
The Malaysian astronaut was there on the same flight o.o
Nah, I don't remember his name -_____-;;
I don't think it's worth remembering, but for your sake, I'll Google it.

Sheikh Muszaphar, without the title of Datuk or something :/

Oh, there were people who asked for a photograph or something.
Well, I'm not so proud of him, so I didn't really care :x
If it was the Pope though... *screaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammms* lol
Once we touched down KLIA, we got through immigration, and picked up our bags.
I called my parents and told them we've touched down lol

And that's how we got home.
Mum was kinda disappointed that I could not relate stories to her of Spain.
Well, now she could with all of these blog posts :D

Right now, enjoy this video my sis complied together lol.




So my testimony of WYD:
Well, I'm kinda surpised that there had been no bad incidents that came about
while two teenage underage girls left Malaysia for Spain...
which was in another country, another timezone,
with no family other than themselves (and back home)

Which means, that...
if you go with God,
He will take care of you all the way
until the journey truly ends.

In the end, it was the little things in the world that brought me closer
to realizing how awesome God is:
The storm in Cuantro Vientos,
In the train stations, with the (suspected) pickpocket
in the train station, the Canadian guy who gave me a Canadian badge
eventhough my sis gave him his flag
the South African guy who gave us bracelets eventhough we both had the same type of souvenirs.
The Arabian father and his son in the airport.

Also, I realized how real the Church, its stands, issues that was discussed was seriously real.
*like premarital sex, abortions, pornography, same-sex marriage.

Although I didn't really go through a conversion experience,
and on the surface I felt like I shouldn't have gone for WYD,
it doesn't make a difference that I was probably sent there for a very good reason.
Otherwise I would have never made it there.

In other aspects:
I realized, if I really give my 100% with God backing me,
I could do anything and go anywhere :o
Which helped me to mature... a wee bit more, I guess haha XD

Now, how about the next WYD in Rio de Janeiro?
Like Daniel said: If God invites me, then I'll go :D
Yup yup :)

PS. You think the Catholic youth's faith is weak?
Think again.

Everywhere they go, they sing and dance. yes, even in train stations.
That's how alive their faith is :D