京都でのクリスマス

Merry Christmas, everyone! It was a gloomy day here in Osaka, the weather was a very cloudy and it was raining for almost the whole day in Kyoto. We left Osaka pretty late and only arrived in Kyoto by 11am. We should have left earlier as Kyoto's attractions are spread all over the town and it takes sometimes to travel between one place to another. First, we went to Nijo Castle. It was the easiest place to reach, as it's practically next door to subway station. The castle is so pretty and the garden is soooooo nice. Despite the super cold freezing weather, I enjoyed the place thoroughly.





From there, we visited the Kinkaku-ji temple. It's a buddhist temple, which covered using gold leaf. It was set in another great example of Japanese garden.



About 15 minutes walk away from there, we visited Ryoan-ji temple. It was so peaceful and I loved the zen arrangement in the garden. By the time we finished there, it was already 5pm and it was time for us to get back to Osaka. Arggh... Next time, I will spend more days in here. So many things to do and see.



We took the JR express train to Osaka and we did some shopping in the Osaka station area. I love the Japanese shopping malls like Hankyu, Takashimaya, and Hanshin. Shopping was sooo good, I wanna buy everything. Plus the christmas decorations were amazing and beautiful.

奈良市

Today, we decided to take a train to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan. It took about an hour train ride from Osaka. The trains were amazingly clean and spotless. The attendant will bow as they enter and leave the carriage. And it was super on time, it always arrive one minute early and leave exactly on the scheduled time. Awesome!

I had with me the Nara guides and maps, but we ventured into the tourist information centre anyway. We found out that we could get a free tour guide and we took up the offer. Our tour guide was Fumio, he's a tourism student who is going to graduate next year. He took us around the Nara park. I love this place, everything is so conveniently located within one huge beautiful park and the deers were so cute and friendly. Just make sure, you don't pile up senbei (deer biscuits) too much on your bag. They will definitely ransacked it well.







Since our guide has been so nice to us. We asked him to bring us to a Kansai specialty food joint and we would pay for his lunch. He took us to this okonomiyaki place. It was really good... First time I saw the okonomiyaki cooked in front of me. Tasted good...

ANAと大阪市

Arriving in Japan, the custom searched my whole luggage. Damn.. it must be because I told them my parents live in Indonesia and I just came from visiting them. My partner didn't get thorough search though. I also just realized, I had no Yen currency. All of my money were in travelers cheque and the airport foreign exchange didn't accept them. Crap.. So I only had about 12000 yen between both of us to last us until Osaka. We arrived in Narita, so we had to take a bus to Haneda for the domestic flight. It took about an hour or so, which we used to catch up on our sleep.

We were booked in business class for the domestic flights, as it was not too expensive. The business class lounge, however, was pretty crap. No food, only pretzel peanuts kind of snacks. The drinks were so so, only instant coffees, teas, some soft drinks, and this super weird seaweed juice. It taste yuck... but I guess it makes your skin beautiful between flights :P



The flight was okay for a short haul domestic. We were served sandwiches in a box. Normally, I would be pretty upset if I pay business class and get sandwich, but the sandwich was soooooooo good. It's really gourmet sandwich. It was a simple but nice food. The flight attendants were very polite and there were so many amenities for such a short flights. We even got our own slippers with a carry case.



In Osaka airport, we managed to find our bus and get ourself to Osaka station. Finding the hotel was very tricky, we had the map but I was pretty lost. I normally have a good sense of directions, but Japanese streets are so confusing. Took us 15-20 minutes lugging our heavy luggage through Osaka streets before we found our hotels. By the time we were there, I was just exhausted and tired. We had to wait an hour for our room to be ready. We use this time to relax in the hotel lounge. When the room was ready, we spent pretty much the rest of the day sleeping. We only went out at 8 to explore the surroundings and had dinner in the famous Japanese institution, Yoshinoya! It taste bloody fantastic. Took some pictures and off back to the hotel for the hectic day tomorrow.

シンガポール航空 A380

From Kuala Lumpur, my bf and me flew to Singapore with Malaysia Airlines. I have never been a fan of MAS, but it's such a short trip and we got good deals with them anyway. Another friend, who tagged along for the KL trip had to fly another airlines because he was late to grab the cheap fares. The flight was okay, the plane was rather old and the seat colors were horrendous. It reminded me of the smarties chocolates. Too bad, I didn't get to take pictures of the plane interior. It was totally stupid.

Arriving in Singapore, I was greeted by my god brother who ushered me for dinner in Tampines. My gosh... Everywhere you could see were just people people and more people. People were crazy for christmas shopping. I almost thought we have landed in Tokyo until the humid weather reminded us, we are not quite there yet.

Dinner was a quick affair with no fuss and we were back in airport in no time for our red eye flight to Tokyo. We entered the immigration pretty much at last minute, as we had to say good bye to my god brother. I will miss him terribly for the next 2 weeks :P...





The flight was uneventful, pretty standard Singapore Airlines service, fantastic hardware and service. We were seated in the upper deck and I love the storage bin next to me. The plane was much quieter than the 77W that I took few weeks back. The 77W must be one of the noisier planes out there. There were so much vibrations and noises as it took off. As the flight neared Japan however, the turbulence was scary. I could feel we dropped few hundred meters in just seconds. The wings flexed to the max as I saw the sun rises over the Sea of Japan.

クアラルンプール

Wooohooo... I'm in Kuala Lumpur now. The streets are full of Christmas decorations. I love everything about this place. The Pavilion is so fantastic. Great new malls, heaps of great shops, too bad, I can't afford them just yet. Yesterday, I met my friend and we were off to have a spa. Funny thing, he got a weird gay masseuse who stared at him as he got undressed. LOL...





Today, we spent much of the day in the hotel, inside the club lounge, ransacking the canapes and free drinks. I got an upgrade from the standard room into the grand deluxe due to my platinum status with IC hotels group. Then we had lunch at Madam Kwan, the food was so yummy. I ordered the delicious Nasi Bojari, yuuuummmmm.....



The weather though, being typical Malaysia, drive me a little crazy. In Indonesia, at least, I don't have to walk. Yes, you hear that.. no walking. I have drivers that drive me to anywhere. Oh well.. I would definitely be back to this place very soon, hopefully. I need another spa trip. Plus I haven't got the chance to meet heaps of my Malaysian friends during this trip.

I will be off to fly to Tokyo tomorrow evening with Singapore Airlines A380, so exciting, can't wait...

マジック・キングダム

Oh my god... Disneyland is gearing up for me. I can't wait to visit them in Tokyo in just 2 weeks.



PS: Thanks, IEL.. :)

インドネシア交通課

Bah... another day another drama. Can't we have a more relaxing and calm day.


My sister was driving her bf's car and the registration apparently have expired a month ago. The police noticed it and stopped my sister. She has to pay bribes about 500,000 rupiah (AUD72.50) or let the car be seized by the police. She hit the panic button and called everyone, her bf, my mom, my dad, myself, and other people. I got there as soon as I can with a cab. I didn't dare to drive in here, the traffic simply horrendous, not to mention the car is manual.

When I arrived at the scene, her bf's people already there and my dad arrived soon thereafter. We just pulled all the connections we have, forensic people, head of traffic police division, and some other insiders. Within 5 minutes, we were good to go and got away with only paying 100,000 rupiah (AUD14.50). Amazing Indonesia!

日本旅行の予定表

My little prized joy has finally put together. After weeks of stress and painful moments, a little bit of relieved is on the way. My itinerary has finally put together inside my green Hermes diary. The cat bookmarks has finally smiled and say "You're good to go".

I feel sad for leaving soon without doing anything for my family. I don't even know if I deserve such holiday.

Just 2 more days before I can say "Malaysia Boleh" and 5 days before I can see the sunrise at the land of the rising sun.

ジレンマ

Another day, another dilemma. Sometimes, I wonder if I should tell my dad to correct his mistakes over dealings with my sister. Should I have saved my sister's future before it's too late. Both of them have been a strong opposition and tried to argue with anything they can. I, for one, have been the victims of their strong words against my mom and our principle. I wonder, if they ever seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Or maybe, they have seen it, but it's so small only one of us can survive.

I wonder, if one day mom is gone, will they have a bloodbath just to chase the inheritance? I wonder, what has my mom said in her will in regards to such matter. If sadness and pain clouds my yesterday, anger and anguish took over today.

Today, my sister supposed to bake some cookies. She's been doing nothing for a whole day. Only before dinner, that she starts to prepare. My mom wasn't happy, she was upset and scolded her. My sister barked at her said that she has lots of things to do today. What things? The only thing I have seen is her in front of the TV for the whole day or hiding in her room the rest of the time.

My dad and sister were also arguing with me during lunch. Both of them were not happy with the way my mom cleaning up their mess. Hallo.... who starts the mess in the first place? Both of them are so lazy, always always, put stuff everywhere and collects dust. When they are told to clean up, they never going to do. The answer? Later.. Of course, one year later when I return home, the mess is still there.


So, as you can see, we have 2 sides in the house.

• The mother and son side: The angelic side, very clean, tidy, pro hard work, and care about people around us.
• The father and daughter side: The evil side, very messy, pro easy ways, lazy, and only care about their bums.

To be honest, I don't try to make us look good. But the reality seems to be heading that way.

私たちの悩みはつきない。

Before one trouble is resolved, another brewing just around the corner. This time, it's my cousin and her parents. At the moment, she dated a local guy and protestant. I have no problem with that, however, Indonesian chinese catholic families are very well known to be extremely conservative. Her mother has strongly opposed to her date. Hence, they are going out underground, without the knowledge of the family.

This morning, my aunt called me to seek help. She wants me to help her break the relationship. She doesn't believe in interracial and/or interfaith couples. I felt squeezed in the middle. As an outsider, I do believe that relationship between people from different background can work and the proof? Well.. I'm definitely one who has interracial and interfaith relationship and we have been  dating and living together for more than 3 years. Longer than any of my cousins' or sister's relationship.

As much as the parents want to protect the children, it is best to have the kids experience mistakes and trivial in life on their own. They will be a much better and stronger person that way. Parents have given a lot in their life, but when it's time to grow up, they should stay aside and be there when the kids need to. After all, it's the happiness of the children that matters.

殺してやる！ぶっ殺して、踏み潰してやる！くそったれ！死ね !！

Sick sick sick... sick of my sister... She disgust me...

*rant mode ON*

• At the moment, she has no job, no effort to find one as well. She graduated for a year already, yet she just watched TV everyday at home.
• She want to sell cakes and cookies, yet she has no effort, no consideration and independence. She tried to bake some and who cleaned up the mess? My maid.
• She thinks she always right, she always bad mouthed others. Halloo...? look inside you, then see why others treat you that way.
• She gets angry if she get critique or bad feedbacks over her work. Customers are king, the sellers are slave. *knock knock knock* seems that the brain and logic is having a permanent holiday
• When we try to give her supports, ideas, and even capital, she gets upset. You don't get upset on the bank manager for offering you loan, right?
• She is sooo lazy, she doesn't wanna help clean up the house. If guest rings the bell, she just fixed her eyes on TV pretending not to hear anything. Once we had to fix water pipe in her room and she had to pack the stuff in the room. Who packed it up? My maid and my aunt. Then she gets angry and upset for having her stuff in the box and no one knows where it was.
• She has a bastard boyfriend, I told her to leave it, but she doesn't want to... Good luck to her then for having a boyfriend who call his girlfriend "whore"! The boyfriend is control freak, gets angry if she picked up the phone too slow or not doing things his way.
• And worst thing is... my dad supports her all the way, stupid dad, blinded by love to her daughter. He doesn't see the cruel reality. I feel pity for my mom. Luckily, my mom does not giving her support anymore. Good on you, mom!

Ah well... enough for the day... *rant mode OFF*

スラバヤのスキャンダル

Sometimes, I'm wondering what's wrong with our family back here in Indonesia. Many of them are just involved in one scandal after another. Money and money is often the source of the problem. I feel so sad for my parents, they have to work so hard and they often become the victim of "blackmail" by my relatives.

Everytime I'm going home to visit them, I could see their hair is whiter, their face is getting tired, yet their workload is still the same. Their face is visibly more wrinkled and the stress took tolls on their health. Sometimes, tears wanted to flow freely, but I just have to be strong. I have to thank them for their hard work, for their dedication, and love. I may not always agree with them, but I will still respect them for what they have done for me.



If only, my sister has such thought on her mind. She currently dates a bastard who knows nothing about care and love. He often calls my sister a whore and such a control freak. He gets angry if my sister picked up the phone too slow or not doing things according to his way. Luckily (or maybe not), he has yet to play physical to my sister. No one else know such occurrences happened as he always put a well mannered man attitude in front of everyone else.