Shireen was on an official trip to Tokyo last November – took 2 days leave, stayed at a friend’s place and came to see me a day before she went back home. She’d been in Asakusa before, so I didn’t get to be much of a tourist guide. I brought her to our house though, insisted on it in fact, because I’d cooked some ayam masak merah with acar just for her. After more than a week of eating Japanese food, Shireen seemed to really appreciate Malaysian food. And she got to meet Huzaifah in person too.
Fee Cheng visited Tokyo last month – not on any working trip, but strictly for holiday. She used up her Enrich points to get free MAS ticket to Tokyo and stayed with her ex-room-mate in UM, a Japanese-Chinese who’s now married to a Japanese and has decided to make Japan her home. Fee Cheng’s friend arranged quite a schedule for her while she’s in Tokyo, so she had to arrange to meet me a few days before we actually met.
It was good meeting the girls and having girl talk just like the old days. We used to work in the same ministry back in KL, but since then Shireen has been promoted and got a transfer to another ministry while Fee Cheng is currently on study leave. She decided that she needed a break from the working atmosphere and now is pursuing her (second) Masters degree in UM.
Sharing some interest in Japan, both Fee Cheng and I applied for Mambusho scholarship when we were in the same office. We used to have breakfast and lunch together all the time, including treating ourselves to Japanese cuisine once in a while. Sometimes, we even watched Japanese drama together (using PC/laptop) during long lunch break on Fridays. It’s been long since we last met though – “masa last kita jumpa, you belum kahwin pun, sekarang dah nak masuk anak dua dah,” was how Fee Cheng described it.
Hubby was sporting enough to bring Huzaifah to Kaminarimon just so Fee Cheng got to meet him in person and took some photos together. And then he left Fee Cheng and I for some girlfriends time, taking Huzaifah with him back home.
I got to be more of a tourist guide for Fee Cheng since she didn’t get to roam as much as she wanted the first time she came to Asakusa. Assisted her in buying some rice crackers (senbei) and Japanese candy, and then treated her for a tempura snack in Tenya.
Tenya, being a chain restaurant is a far cry from the likes of Kiku Zakura or Spring Hatsuhana where we used to dine in KL. Fee Cheng did not complain, but I apologized anyway for not taking her to a nicer restaurant. Anyway, the tempura in Tenya was as delicious as always, and what mattered more was that we finally got to eat tempura together in Tokyo, and that’s something we used to dream about a couple of years ago. Of course, the restaurant in our dream was a finer one – with dimmer lights, cosier chairs, top-quality ceramic dishes, and better ambience. But Tenya was all I could afford – and thankfully, Fee Cheng didn’t mind one bit (partly I think, because she got to enjoy the finer restaurant anyway whenever she dined out with her yuppie friend, who seldom eats at home).
Fee Cheng said at first she was unsure whether or not to let me know that she would be coming – and I immediately told her that if I were to learn later that she had been visiting Tokyo without my knowledge, I would be very upset and she would never hear the end of it, ever. Fee Cheng said she thought so too, that was why she made it a point to meet up with me while she’s in Tokyo. Heheheh…
Today, I just learned that yet another friend will be coming for a short course in Tokyo. Amy and I were quite close back during our DPA days and I couldn’t wait to meet up with her (if possible). From our exchange over Yahoo Messenger, she seemed rather anxious although excited about this coming trip. It will be her first encounter with winter – and she’s far from keen to experience freezing temperature. But then again, there’s always a first time for everything, kan?
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