Jue and Man in Tokyo

Well, it's been more than a week since Jue and Man arrived in Tokyo.

Due to some traffic problem encountered by Che Lee on his way back from grocery shopping, Jue and Man had to wait for about an hour in Narita airport before we arrived there. I quickly assisted them with phone rental and changing their exchange order to get JR Rail Pass.

Side note - we had been receiving visitors daily since Thursday, 20 March 2008, which was public holiday in both Japan and Malaysia - for being Spring Equinox day and Maulidur Rasul respectively. Hubby had been invited to give a Maulidur Rasul related ceramah in Ichikawa Ono (more about this could be read at HE's blog). In early Thursday morning, there were Kak Yan and Tuan Syed Nahar from Aoyama who joined us to be picked up by Rosli to go to Ichikawa Ono. When we returned, there was Hafiz from Iwate waiting to meet hubby. Friday noon we received Faizal and his wife Aishah-chan, a Nihonjin Muslim revert. Friday evening, Fary came with her mom and her brother's mother-in-law. It was amazing to learn that Fary's mom actually knows hubby's family members while her besan knows my mother. What a small world, eh?

Anyway, back to Jue and Man. They came bearing us lots of goodies - Malaysian stuff that would cost a small fortune here in Tokyo. They even brought us a packet of Ramly burger, woohoo. The burger sold at halal shops here doesn't taste as good and they get 'benyek' very easily. Jue even brought Acuvue monthly disposable lenses for me - which is not available in Japan. Here they either sell the daily or 2-weekly variations. Apart from that, I finally got my hands on Sophie Kinsella's "Shopaholic and Baby" as well as Sis Zabrina's "Life is an Open Secret" - thanks so much Kit dearie!. And not forgetting Pokcik and Kak Mai who sent us some traditional kuih (I have no idea what it is called - but Pokcik said it comes from Kedah), dodol and jeruk. Honest-to-goodness miscellaneous jeruk all the way from Penang which made me cried out in delight the instant I saw it. Hehehe. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, okay, back to Jue, Man and their little cutie Husna (who was born a month after Huzaifah, but could now pass for someone a year older than Huzaifah due to her bigger size and ability to talk). In the past week, they have

• made lots of changes to their over-ambitious earlier schedule, making it more feasible.
• been to Imperial Palace, Roppongi, Akihabara on Day 1 (I have to miss a meeting with blogger Lina at blogger Kak Ani's place since hubby could not play tourist guide for that day, having other mosque-related commitments.)
• spent a day in Universal Studio Japan, Osaka on Day 2 without taking too many photos since Man forgot to recharge the camera's battery the previous night
• been to Yokohama on Day 3 but scrapped earlier plan to visit Hakkeijima Sea Paradise on the same day. Bought 1 Day Ticket (450 yen) for Minato Mirai subway line, covered Yokohama eki area, Minato Mirai 21, Chinatown, Yamashita Koen, missed the opening hour of Anpanman Museum, rode the Cosmo Clock (a big feat for Jue who normally suffers aeroacrophobia or 'gayat' as Malays call it) in Cosmo World, and were treated to several sing-a-song-while-preparing-orders sessions as they enjoyed their "Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip" and "German-chokolatekake" (while I devoured my "Romancing the Cheesecake") in Cold Stone Creamery.
• been to Shinjuku Gyoen for ohanami, Oriental Bazaar in Harajuku, took a second trip to Akihabara and dined in Malaychan in Ikebukuro on Day 3.
• had some 'escapade' episode at Tokyo eki on Day 4 when they realized at the last minute that they have boarded the wrong train to go to Maihama, where Disneyland is situated.
• gone to take a peek at Jom Makan (Malaysian Kitchen franchise in Tokyo) in Daikanyama, only to find it already closed for the day after an exhausting day in Disneyland. I know it is probably not patriotic of me to say this - but after my one experience in Jom Makan, personally I wouldn't recommend it to others to go there... (Chances are, despite not being an accomplished cook, I could serve more authentic and better tasting Malaysian food at home...)
• been to Kyoto on Day 5, but only achieved half of their earlier-set ojectives. Disappointed to realize that some part of Ginkakuji was on construction after they have already purchased the ticket there and had to give Gion a miss because their daughter Husna was not feeling well by the time they were boarding the shinkansen back to Tokyo.
• shopped till they almost dropped in Kichijoji, and experienced panaromic view of Tokyo at night in Tochou (Tokyo Twin Tower) in Shinjuku on Day 6. Passed by Ginza for the second time (the first time on Day 3) and Jue had resolved to have a stroll in Ginza at least once before they return to Malaysia

It's been an interesting week. They are in Karuizawa today, to enjoy some time in snow and maybe do more shopping too in the nearby outlet.

While they were in Tokyo on Day 3 & 4, they have been very generous to let hubby and I used their JR Rail passes for 2 days , and we in turn had taken the opportunity to have a touch-n-go tour around Kansai on Wednesday followed by a day tour in Hiroshima/Miyajima on Thursday. Thanks to Jue and Man, hubby and I had our first shinkansen experience - and not just once, we boarded 5 different shinkansens all in all.

Yes, while it was tiring to travel with two knapsacks and two kids (and one of them an extremely active 2 1/2 year old toddler who could get really cranky at times), hubby and I had heaps of fun too. Many thanks to Ghazali and Fiza for their warm welcome when we stayed overnight at their place in Higashi Hiroshima.

Ghazali picked us up from Higashi Hiroshima eki at around 11.00 p.m., long past his normal sleeping time. Fiza insisted on us having late night supper (dinner was more like it) and when we woke up the next day, not only had she prepared breakfast, she also made extra nasi goreng and sandwiches for our bento. On top of that, both Huzaifah and Humaidi were presented with a t-shirt each (Huzaifah insisted on wearing his new t-shirt for 2 consecutive days and refused to take it off despite my many pleas). May Allah bless them for their generosity...

Like us, Ghazali and Fiza are returning to Malaysia in September, so we look forward to strengthening the silaturrahim that began here when we go back home, insya Allah.

Tokyo DisneySea

I am too lazy to write a proper entry, so I'll just let the photos speak for themselves...

Minggu murah rezeki...

The week started well, with an invitation for a housewarming kenduri in Miyazakidai, an hour away from Asakusa. Hubby and I didn't sleep the whole night, as we waited for the Malaysian twelfth election's results. It was a long busy night - attending to numerous phone calls, instant messages, surfing the net, getting and feeding information. And what a night to remember... Finally the persons I endorsed for won their respective seats even without my personal vote. Heh.

Hubby and I were so tired in the morning after, so yes, the invitation for a small feast of nasi tomato, ayam masak merah, ayam masak kicap, kari daging and kek pisang was certainly most welcomed. Never mind the long trip - Huzaifah and Humaidi hadn't been out for quite some time due to my worry in exposing them to pollens, so yes, it was good to have a family trip somewhere without having to prepare nasi goreng in advance for a change.

Tuesday saw me receiving a parcel from Malaysia containing 2 batik blouses and 1 long batik sarong suitable to be used for solat. Thank you my dear old friend. That was very nice of you and please don't hesitate to let me know if you would like to get you some suitable souvenir from Japan in exchange, okay?

Wednesday, March12th, was hubby's birthday. A quiet day - we didn't even celebrate it with a cake, and I didn't get anything for him yet. The year before last, it was a Lego model of Ferrari, and last year it was a huge (and quite expensive) remote-controlled Ferrari. No, we still can't afford the real thing, so I thought of getting him a little something later as a belated birthday present. Poor guy checked my blog on his birthday, perhaps expecting some loving wishes - and found none. I do love you more with each passing day, and sorry for my lack of effort in making the day more memorable apart from cooking bifstik (not proper beef steak, mind you, mine is the version meant to be eaten together with rice, as 'lauk') and ehem, being a little naughty. He he.

Thursday saw me assisting Kak Ita, a tourist guide, handling a group of Malaysians visiting Tokyo for the first time. I had some reservations at first whether or not to join Kak Ita, but hubby encouraged me to go ahead and help. Kak Ita after all was not very familiar with Tokyo Big Sight or Meg@Web, so she said it might help to have someone more familiar with these two places around.

So I played tourist guide for a day - a big difference from playing tourist, of course. For once, I had to answer lots of question on what to eat ("tempura is made from veggies and seafood, not meat", "ebi furai is fried prawn in breadcrumbs", "the Turkish restaurant in Nagoya and Indian restaurant in Kanda that you went to serve halal food although they also serve liquor in the premise","anman is Japanese version of pau kacang"), became instructor of Nihonggo crash course on important phrases ("takasugi, iranai", "hokani iro/saizu arimasuka", "toire wa doko desuka", " e ikitai, oshiete kudasai", "ima doko desuka", "denwa bango oshiete moratte ii desuka") and had to consult friends here and there to ask for information on behalf of others (and in the process found out trivial stuff like in Tokyo, apart from the Ueno eki branch, there is another Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi) No, I kid you not, someone actually wanted to know how to ask for a girl's phone number in Nihonggo. In fact the guy actually hit on two kawaii Nihonjin girls, using Kak Ita as simultaneous interpreter, which got the girls giggling all the way from Daiba to Shimbashi on Yurikamome line. A Malay kakak asked him - "nak cakap apa kalau pun dapat phone number?", to which he confidently answered, "tahulah orang nak ayat macamana". Ha ha.

Anyway, at the end of the day, the leader of the group asked me if I would like to join them again for a trip to DisneySea on Saturday. I quietly explained that apart from having to ask for hubby's permission first, I also felt that it might not be fair to ask him to spend another day home alone with the two kids . I thought that might discourage them from pursuing the matter, but the next thing I knew, the leader announced to the group that he would like to invite this "kakak yang tolong guide kita hari ini dan suami sama" to join the trip to DisneySea and for the group to help sponsor both of us. And to my surprise - they agreed. Just like that. Yeayyy... Okay, so Ihave to play tourist guide for another day, but given that I've never been to Tokyo DisneySea before and have been planning to go before returning to Malaysia, to be offered an "all-expenses paid for" trip was really cool.

And as if all these cool stuff were not enough, today I just found out that I got an A+ for the subject I took last semester, alhamdulillah. "International Journalism" was among the classes I enjoyed tremendously, and I thought my final report might deserve an A, so A+ came as a very nice surprise. No, I am not a straight As student, but along the way I've learned that I do well in courses listed under "International Society" and "Human Capital and Organization" groups. Now, if only I'd realized it sooner I would have taken more subjects under these two groups than those listed under "International Relations" group...

And to those who might wonder how did I fare in my PTK exam in December - alhamdulillah, I passed with Aras 3, for both kompetensi umum and kompetensi khusus. Although I am glad that I do not have to repeat the papers, I'm still unsure whether the result is an apt measurement of my real competence as a PTD officer. Oh well...

Will update more on Tokyo DisneySea later, insya Allah.