Maal Hijrah in White and From S to the O to the K to the O and back to S again...[Part-2]

First of all, I would like to wish Salam Maal Hijah 1431... dah menginjak ke tahun baru... semoga kita semua terus berada dalam keberkatan dan lindungan-Nya.. really hope for a better experiment and result and also Hanis Jr or Termimi Jr or both perhaps? :) This time, maal hijrah in white... i forgot about last year, rasanya tak snow on that day, but it was memorable because last year ada seorang nihonjin memeluk Islam. This year might be another 1 or 2 more will joining us all brothers and sisters. here are some pictures of our snow of 2009. Walaupun dah experienced it last year still jakun and excited as usual...

my love's foot steps...
yuki 2009...
love's coming...
maka kerja2 pembersihan pun bermula...hu..but it was fun!
souji...
jum play with soft yuki..., yuki yang turun fresh macam ni is the best one sebab so soft and supple (macam iklan pencuci muka plak..)
tak sempat nak buat snowman..going to the lab..
kawaii...
plain white yukiiii...
totemo totemo aishiteruuu
samuiii...
glad that the road has been cleared out...
our campus...
so soft...
let it snow..let it snow..let it snow...

I read again Part-1, and i noticed that i didnt write about what had we chat with NC, gosh.. imagined that i wrote it down already, dealing with lots of pictures and zillions of things to tell i guess that's the reason..hehe.. It was great.. in fact he is so easy going and seems more like an informal meeting... NC has known love back when he wasn't NC yet, at that time my love was one of the pegawai pengiring for UMT 2007 convocation and my love was in charge to assist him while he was in Terengganu. At that time our NC was still a staff at hmm..i forgot.. UKM? UPM? When we went into the room, suddenly i heard NC's voice, "Aah Termimi, pegawai pengiring tahun 2007 kan?" and they chatted for awhile..and the next question is, "Dah ada baby ke belum ni?" both of us geleng kepala and smiled. And surprisingly he said "Bagus la..well planned." Senyum lagi... :) and after that sesi soal jawab pun bermula... starting with my love and after that my turn. He gave a lot o advice to us, he just wanna make sure that things are on the right track. And he also said the tension is high for us because both of us are studying, he is definitely right about that. Some of the experienced he told us really make sense made me think... yosh! go for it! we can do it love! ahaha..tiba-tiba je bersemangat.... now it's story telling competition opps story telling time..

From Kagoshima, transit at Osaka Itami international airport again, but now it's not for a few hours but for 2 days ;) (excluded arrival day). Arrived Itami airport nearly 1 pm and headed to monorail station, just like when we were in Kagoshima, we dont have a single idea about this place. Our aim that time was to find our hotel. From the airplane we saw the view of Osaka town, so crowded, full of bulding and houses.. packed, and it is really2 big city... thougt of taking pictures tapi masa tu dah nak mendarat...

menuju ke monorail station, holding Osaka booklet which was very2 helpful..

We stayed at Hotel Plaza Osaka, quite big hotel, a 2 star hotel near Juso Station. From monorail take a stop at Hotarugaike and transfer to hankyu line to Juso Station. Sampai situ ada 2 exit, and we have to take west exit (according to the map which i got from the internet, right after reservation). We used with the calmness and the politeness as well as cleanliness of Sendai City. Tapi bila sampai Osaka ni..everybody is moving really fast, siap berlari pun ada... some train have to change at some station and they wont wait for you so you have to run..luckily we are not included in that case. Since the city is bigger of course its get busier with lots of people. Right after exit, have no idea nak tuju ke mana.. tengok map tapi tak faham... huhu.. confusing, by the way, talk about clean...mentang2 dah biasa tengok bersih2 ni nampak la plastik2 and puntung rokok kat atas jalan near the station, spontaneously, terus cakap..ee kotornya..padahal kalau nak banding from our hometown jauh lagi bersih... sekejap je those trashes will be there because nanti akan ada somebody will pick it up and throw it away, kalau kat sendai ni ramai je volunteer, bawa plastic bag and kutip sampah yang mereka nampak, it's like a habit, they just like their area to be clean, bila dah almost everybody do that of course la tempat pun jadi bersih. panjang pulak ulasan huhu...ok..enough.. sedang kami melilau2 mencari our hotel.. suddenly we heard a voice, a lady, dengan baik hatinya tanya nak pergi mana.. haa tang ni we never experienced it in Sendai hehe... so we showed her the map and she said in japanese.. massugu, hidari, takai biru... (straight, left and u can find a big building. The reason why we choose this hotel was it's cheap and it says in the web that it's a big building and my love said it will be easier to notice..tapi bila sampai semua bangunan pun tinggi..mana la nak cam huu...terselindung rupanya, at that area sangat banyak hotel and motel tapi inside web tak terjumpa la pulak, maybe because i search it in english instead of Japanese, mana nak faham with all those kanji. We arrived at the hotel at 2 pm, just nice to check in, dapat bilik tingkat 13, semidouble room. Guna kunci biasa je bukan kad pun yerla hotel biasa je hehe.. siap kena drop in key kalau nak kelaur, because ada kes org duplicate kunci tu... fresh up, solat and i invited my love to go out dont want to waste those precious time... at first let me list out all those places that i wanna go in this short trip...
1. Osaka Castle
2. Osaka Aquarium
3. Universal Studios Japan (USJ)
4. Kyoto (Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji and Rock Garden
Osaka city is connected with 3 other big cities which are Kyoto, Nara and Kobe, wish i could go all of the other city but with the time that we have we can only go to Kyoto. Saya memujuk merayu my love for this trip haha..over pulak bunyinya.. i list out the places and showed them to my love, when i mentioned universal studio.. dia langsung tak ambil pusing, apa la yang best kat situ? (tak dapat pergi universal studio US nun japan pun ok what), Osaka castle? ish tak best la pergi tempat macam tu (walhal that castle was one of the famous trademark in Japan), tapi bila sampai trun osaka aquarium and at that website it mentioned one of the biggest aquarium in the world baru dia hmm. macam menarik je... so i asked love, nak pergi mana petang ni, Aquarium or castle, and my love said aquarium so of we go... walk to Juso station, took a train to umeda and took subway.

Turun station dah nampak signboard and we saw a big ferris wheel, this time it is ferries wheel sebab sangat besar, tapi tak naik pun takut..hehe..

we were a bit jakun coz tak pernah tengok ferris wheel kat kl...tu huhu... walking towards the entrance.. kat sini still ada saki baki autumn..seronokk.. and we dont even have to wear long john or wool inside the jacket since it was a bit warmer compared to sendai
the entrance, nearby tu ada suntory museum tapi tak pergi pun, (thanks Dira, dpt idea from ur blog to snap gambar ticket sebelum masuk hehe...).. we went inside the blue building..a fee of 2000 yen per person, lets see does it really worth it?
lepas gate ticket terus sampai kat ring of life tapi takde la "se-vouge" aquaria tu bergerak2 lagi kan.. we barely have any experience at aquaria though..hu..
start with japanese forest and fishes, after that we saw sealion, tapi dalam cermin je..hu..
mr pingu...kesian they had fake snow..small ice like abc falling down from above, (my dearie Aishah, do u still remeber pingu? a very cute cartoon yang tak bercakap..kalau cakap pun tak faham haha..tapi sgt enjoy)
mr dolphin..wahh..nice shot love..ala2 cahaya ilahi gitu haha..
and then arrived at a very big aquarium... besar kan sting ray tu..did u notice the fish at it's back siap duduk kuak lentang lagi..huhu..
whoaaa...ookii...and then all those small fishy followed, pengikut setia the one under it's belly (erk..belly ke..? hu) tak sedar pun bila my live snap because khusyuk sangat tgk and i pointed it to show it to love "love, love..tengok tuuu.." sambil menunjukkan jari ke arah ikan tersebut (BM darjah 3 haha..tipu je)
gara2 tak boleh ambil gambar up close and personal, dengan replika pun jadi la..siap pakai krismas punya aksesori...cute tak? (perasan.. T_T)
mr octopus, starfish..and weid sunfish..first time tengok tak pernah tahu kewujudan sunfish tu, inilah rupa mr carbby jepun, siap ada duri2 lagi..demo oishiii...hontou ni..
anchovies and sardines...
dengan mr shark plak..
it's time to go home..onaka ga sukimashita, but cant resit to take a picture with all those lighting...
fishes in the sea of light..hehe..

The next day...USJ...ampun pakai jacket sama...takper tak kotor pun hehe..

special train,...with USJ decoration...kewll... turun dr train ada city walk to USJ, feels like jalan2 kat somewhere else outside japan gitu..haha.. did u notice that blue king kong...

at the entrance..
another view at the entrance..nak jugak letak gambar bermotifkan peace trademark org nihon bergambar ni hehe..
kat depan tu ada hard rock osaka..bukan cafe pun tapi boutique baju, tak beli pun mahal la..huhu...
right after masuk entrance nampak, globe yang berasap2 itu..cun2..i like...
bergambar with my love adalah saat2 yang selalu dinantikan.. i saw this man bawa kamera with several lenses, dengan tak malunya pergi "sumimasen shassin tottemo iidesuka? (excuse me, boleh tlg ambil gambar?) and wallah the picture was perfect! memang photographer berkaliber... yer la bosan tau asyik ambil gambar sorang2 hhuhu..
beli ticket, 5800 yen per person, our ticket and map guide inside USJ, masuk je terus jumpa snowman! and satu lagi tu apa eh woody woodpecker eh? lupa... suasana yang sangat happening memandangkan its winter time so lagu2 yang berkumandang pun adalah lagu2 seperti Frank sinatra let it snow..let it snow.. come fly with me..lets fly away...santa baby and also japanese song, audio yang superb berjalan pun rasa macam nak pusing and lompat2 macam dalam kartun or movie (haha..sounds childish? nahh sometime u have to let go that kid feeling in you.. that will make u a happy go lucky person.....tabun)
our first stop..4-D show, now showing Shrek..tengah beratur, my love with 4-d specs..nasib baik sempat snap sebelum diberi warning jagan ambil gambar, masa ni introduction and then we entered a room, kerusi semua gergerak seolah2 naik kuda or carriage, rasa jatuh, tercampak keluar etc...donkey bersin pun terpercik kat muka..haha..so funny, sangat seronok..
after watching shrek, ada et, but the queue was so long and we skipped, my love said this is totally fun, and he said he would never have thought to come to this kinda of place.. hehe i like too...wow..gigantic christmas tree...with lots of pressies and big teddy too..
spiderman! we headed there but the game was not really fun for us, pening..banyak sangat pusing and naik bangunan totally rasa that you are flying with mr spiderman..uhu...it was raining and walking with an umbrella is a bit difficult, so we went to one of the souvenir shop, mula2 nak beli baju but it was expensive, found a very cute cap, seswai untuk waktu hujan sebegini hehe, totally cheaper than t-shirt...(yang murah aja menjadi pilihan hati haha..bajet2..)
cute tak..my love with elmo hood...
and me...of course cookie monster..me love cookie...but not as greedy as cookie monster tau..the funny part was..masa nak beli hood ni..i hold elmo and cookie and suddenly my love said "sayang pilih yang lain la yang biru ni mata dia tak betul la.." haha cutenyaaa....cookie monster memang mata dia macam ni..juling sket hehe..my love tak pernah tengok sesame street masa kecik.. mesti tgk ultraman dgn suria perkasa hitam and gaban je ni huhu..
and then we went to...Jurassic park! this place was the best! rasa macam kena campak dari heli or plane hhu...dah la tak boleh nak pegang handle because we were holding our cap yang chumil iteww.. and badan dah memang terangkat dari seat..mula2 masuk queue dah nampak poeple buy a transparent raincoat which cost about 400 yen. we thought dalam bangunan so we just ignored it, rupa-rupanya both but mostly ala2 dalam jungle gitu..and then masuk bangunan..naik tinggi sangat jumpa dinosaur keluar api..haha..and then kena campak dalam sungai..huhu..
every attraction mesti ada souvenir shop..selepas abis ride the exit is via this shop, tak terpedaya dengan souvenir2 yang mahal itu hehe..and then..
we stole mr T-rex's egg..shh..nanti dibaham dgn t-rex..kat sini beli gambar yang dia candid before we fall down...
mula2 just nak ambil dekat screen tapi kantoi plak..dia punya staff nampak huhu..so we went to ask for the price, nasib baik berpatuttan and a bit cheaper from the other souvenir apa salahnya untuk kenangan..nam ambil sendiri tak boleh..huhu..there were two photos in the folder, one is this and another one is zoomed at us..
memang totally screamed out..my love ni..senyum plak...chumil je..
p/s: yang ni takder kaitan, baru nak letak...last time masa pergi disney sea, Indiana Jones ride..best gak yang ni!
cheese...my love did peace posing...wow...
that's where we were sort of throwed out to run form the big t-rex..memang basah kuyup huhu..
and then we managed to arrive in time for waterworld show, gambar ni was taken selepas show...masa show nak start we were running to catch up with the show..
ramainya audience, nasib baik tak duduk depan, nanti kena sembur dengan air...
it's like watching action movie live in front of you totally superb... tembak2 jatuh bangunan, and then datang the evil one and the audience semua boo at them lepas tu kena sembur dengan air dengan meriahnya hehe..tengah syok2 tengok suddenly ada airplane melayang masuk, my love sgt frust sebab tak sempat ambil gambar
the plane..yang dah selamat mendarat...lepas tu kena bom..kebabo!...even though we didn't understand the storyline but we did enjoy all those action...
all the casts...and suddenly ada sorang pelakon tambahan..mr elmo hehe..
and then ke tempat cik nab..naper cik nab? sebab dia suka snoopy...tak main pun game kat sini sebab it involves water nanti basah kuyup lagi huhu..
jurucakap produk snoopy..hehe
snoopy fountain and snoopy splash! looks fun but we were wet enough...
tak sempa nak bergambar dengan snoopy..huhu...dah tutup..takperla ambil dengan replika ni pun jadi la..
lepas tu pergi jaws..seblum masuk queue..pergi tengok what's inside mr jaws punya mouth hehe..
tunggu giliran ambil gambar
"jangok" sungguh mr jaws ni..because it's christmas..so dia pun kena dress up according to festive season..hehe..but this ride wasnt that fun, jaws duk nganga mulut jer ingtkan nak goyang2 boat..hehe tapi kalau dia langgar2 boat sounds scary jugak kan..
and then we went to wizard of oz...
cute je my love lama sangat pakai sampai rambut pun dah penyek..ehee..macam artis pun ada..
jumpa scarecrow and tinman..ada 2 shows but we were late da tutup..they didn't do so much show for today...
wanted to see wicked...huhu takde rezeki..
my love posing at kereta..zaman dulu, masa elvis tengah femes..maybe, haha...don't trust me that's juts my lucky guess... lepas tu jalan2 kat area rollercoaster...looks scary ..tak berani naik
kalau dengar people screaming je..we know that it came from that...the one that's above my head..
our last show for the day..terminator..tapi biasa je, 2-3D not 4D like shrek, ingat nak tengok animation tapi dah penat, so we headed back lagipun next show lama jugak kena tunggu..
last picture of the day..mini magical parade, kalau nk tengok ni kena bayar extra and we have to be there until night time..soo tired...pulang dengan rang gumbira hehe..

We didn't go to Osaka Jyo..memang tak sempat, and maybe have to cut down at kyoto too.. the nex day bangun pagi, light breakfast at room and off we go to Kyoto. Asalnya dapat plan from Juso to Umeda and after that take another train to Kyoto..lepas tu tergerak nak tanya staff kat Juso station tu..he said naik je Juso ni nanti sampai at one station...karasuma and from there we can take subway to central station of kyoto... and the he gave a pamphlet to us.. and i noticed last stop is Kawaramachi... and we can access to Kiyomizudera..eh?? macam senang la plak, tak perlu transit langsung! ini sudah bagus..nasib baik tak naik train ke umeda yang sangat besar and crowded tu.. so we decided to stop at Kawaramachi instead of Karasuma, nasib baik harga tiket sama so takde problem kalau nak turun situ..sampai2 je staion tu, one of the wxit is through Depato Takashimaya (depato=depatment store) barang2 mahal2 semua...kalau supa (supemarket) baru la murah, dalam depato ni semua barang2 branded je..tak mampu... hu..

dah sampai..we took limited rapid..so tak sampai half an hour pun..by local train..seronok..masa sampai depato pun tak buka lagi semua org beratur and berpusu2 masuk once it was opened, berposing dengan replika makanan yang bermacam jenis..chumils...
alhamdulillah it was easy, since it is a place of tourist so banyak information, we took a bus to kiyomizudera, on the way nampak ni...teater zaman dulu, rasanya yang berbedak putih pakai kimono yang cantik2 tu..tatau la ada drama apa, we just snapped it masa bus ni stop at traffic light, sangat klasik..truly japan...
kiyomizudera ni terletak kat area gion, where there are geisha an maiko, maiko ni dress up macm geisha, kerja dia hantar barang... dalam hati i did prayed bestnya kalau boleh jumpa maiko, lifetime chance..kiyomizudera atas bukit so kena daki sket tapi tak rasa penat sangat since mata disajikan dengan pemandangan kedai yang jual bermacam souvenirs.. (Qila..u were right, banyak kokeshi yang chumil2 kat sini modern2 semuanya not klasik macam kat sendai) kalau ikutkan hati macam2 nak beli tapi bajet pun terhad, lagipun tak plan for any shopping duit banyak habis for transport, hotel, food etc...maybe some other time kalau ada rezeki kami untuk ke sini lagi...to visit other places in kyoto or near osaka like nara and kobe..
dah sampai...yerla alang2 dah sampai gion ni baik singgah ke kiyomizudera ni..bangunan lama yang klasik mencerminkan tradisi jepun..eceh ada bakat tak nak jadik ambassador kui2 koya...
kat kyoto ni banyak sangat world heritage places which invloves cultural, and one of it is this place, masih ada saki baki autumn..red momiji (maple)... hari ni pun still hujan terbantut jugak our journey for today tapi nasib baik sempat jalan2 kat gion ni..
tak tahu la apa ni..pagoda agaknya hehe..classic..soo japan...macam tengok kat tv..
another view at the entrance..
masuk2 erus nampak 2 ladys ni they are visitors too but dressed up nicely wearing a complete kimono...semua pun nak bergambar dengan dia..including me..baru la nampak macam visit japan hehe..tak tahu sangat about this place maybe it was once a castle turned to shrine.. see the picture above yang ada air mengalir tu..that's how they got the name kiyomizudera, fresh waters from the mountain..ramainya beratur nak minum air tu..
ada rock love..ramai girls and guys especially yang datang school trip beli sort of lucky charm and prayed to get pasangan yang diimpikan..hehe..menyelami budaya jepun..they dont really have a religion but they do trust about this kind of thing...most japanese dont come and pray here..they just come to enjoy the scenery (Mori-san told me about this thing, but there are still a few of them yang masih religious which associates with buddha..)
lepas tu jumpa lagi dengan photographer..of course not the same one yang dekat USJ tu, but this guy bring camera with big bags containing bermacam jenis lense..so as usual, asked him to take picture of us, siap suggest lagi suruh posing kat mana..he took 2 picture of us..
this second spot..he said that this the famous spot and one of the good spot at kiyomizudera, memnang pun..berduyun orang mabil gambar kat sini..sangat packed, sebab boleh nampak balcony the other side as well as pemandangam bangunan ka bandar..
dah nak balik...ada pond..memang trademark jepun..cuma nak sngat tengok rock garden... another symbolic of japanese...tengah jalan2 turun bukit, i noticed 2 ladies..wahh nampak macam maiko je..they were asking one shope about direction..apa lagi i ran and called my love... love..sini love..
wahh macam tak percaya umpa maiko...seronokkk...sungguh lengkap dengan aksesori... kagum2... not even me malah japanese pun suddenly came and wanna take pictures too..lepas tu maiko cepat2 lari ke pintu belakang nanti lambat pulak delivery tu..hu..
we tried to go to another place to see rock garden and kinkakuji, silver castle, i wanted to see gold castle but it was quite far and kinkakuji is nearer sadly it was raining heavily, lupa nak bawa payung and tempat tu pulak tengah renovate add one more the entrace fee is quite expensive huu untuk mengubat hati duka lara we went for lunch..at a very classic restaurant.. masa tengah tengok menu kat luar the stuff came and we said that we cant eat any meat luckily almost all their menu are veggie and seafood, it seems like they are used with tourist yang tak makan meat like us, yeayy..tak sabar nak makan
the yummy food...my love had soba with fish, soba plak ada 3 jenis green tea soba, normal soba and i forgot the other one and my love choosed yang biasa i had seafood tempura with rice and sup tauhu...look at love enjoying his meal totally delicious..my love siap cakap.. kenapa kat sendai tak jumpa/tak ada kedai ni..hu..yup i agree..bestnya kalau ada..hu..
dah kenyang..sorosoro shitsureishimasu..hehe..macam makan dinner kat rumah someone plak.. since it was raining and no place to go..it is really limited to walk in weather like this so my love ajak jalan2 kat the mall near train station there was a very big mall Tanimachi ke apa nama lupa la..hu..masuk sekejap kat takashimaya depato tu,..fuh memang mahal..ala2 satu level dengan Mitsukoshi kat sendai ni..
the shops also looks classic, last time on tv we saw a couple of tv host went to try food at one restaurant with that moo2 picture..lengkap dengan nama bagi setiap bahagian badan dia looks like the same so we assumed that we had arrived at the same shop so apa lagi snap2 hehe..

Hountou ni tsukareta..memang penat, but had a wonderful holiday with my love.. back to sendai, back to all those work again..yosh.. keep up the good spirit... we really hope for a smooth study.. insyaAllah... pray for all of our success k dearies...ganbatte ne!