White Honeymoon...

It was the most wonderful honeymoon so far, feels like that was the real honeymoon that we should have had after our wedding... but belated honeymoon is totally acceptable. looking forward for yet another lovely honeymoon.. :).

Before i start this journey, i must mention about kuru-kuru nanti Dira tertunggu-tunggu.. hehe... and another thing... Cik Linda bersedia yer.. last time you can feel the journey of my marvellous autumn and i wanted you to feel this too... "kuru-kuru zao" "osusume desu" what does that mean? Japanese language has many forms of words and from one word you can get a lot of meaning out of it... so far we've only learn several forms, my love and i trying rally hard to remember it, sometime we got confused, but once you know how to change it using certain rule, it will be easier to convey what you wanna say. I'll give 2 examples (ishh ala2 kelas bahasa la plak..but i likeee)... the word go and come

go= ikimasu (polite form) itte (te form) itta (ta form) iku (dictionary form) ikanai (nai form)
lets make a sentence for each from

hirugohan ikimasu (i want to go for lunch)
hirugohan itte mo iidesuka? (can i go for lunch?.. usually te from is to request/permission)
hirugohan iku yo? (do you want to join me for lunch?) this is rather unformal normally used between family and friends...
but between professor or someone you should respect, it should be hirugohan ikimasenka?
hirugohan ikanai (i can't go for lunch) it's not that you didn't want to go but you have something else to do..

come= kimasu (polite form) kite (te form) kita (ta form) kuru (dictionary form) konai (nai form)
let say you are in a coffee shop yang sangat best
ashita mo kimasu (i will come again tomorrow) polite form
ashita kimasen (i dont want to come tomorrow) ashita kimasenka (come again tomorrow?)
ashita kiite kudasai (please come tomorrow)
ashita kuru (i will come tomorrow) (unformal way)
lepas tahu kuru tu terus teringat the song that i always humming.. kuru-kuru recycle mandai, dalam malay it would be "datang la ke kedai recycle" gosh i never know kuru is actuallya word.. haha...
ashita konai (i can't come tomorrow)

another one osusume desu means highly recommended, yes.. Zao Onsen osusume desu...

And the journey starts now... the actual plan was to go there on Sunday, so boleh la bersenang lenang balik on Monday coz it's a public holiday...maybe we can drop by somewhere on our way back. Little did i know.. that we need to plan super duper advance in booking a hotel, especially if it falls on holidays. Japanese go out and travel only on holidays, if last minute booking like this, wont give us a place at all. But there were rooms available on Monday, which means that we have to check out early in the morning and straight away to campus.. i'm fine with that (yerla sebab tersangat2 nak pergi) hendak seribu daya.. and my love gave a thought a bout that and he agrees...yeaayyyy... Sunday night from lab, i started to make some bento for tomorrow's trip. packed our stuffs... the funny thing was we just put our stuffs in 2 shopping bags and one back pack because we imagined the car park is just lose to the hotel, sangat malas nak pack proper in a luggage. Lagipun satu malam je... you'll see how it turn out to be later...

The next day, we depart around 8.45 am, almost the same route to Okama that we went last year, September. But Zao echoline was closed started last November due to heavy snow and we took the highway instead. Last year we had experience ski and snowboard. At that time we knew nothing about the destination, where we headed, where is zao etc.. hanya turut serta rombongan Sendai. We went to Eboshi. Orang lain semua dah terror ski and snowboard, my love and i knew nothing yet still excited. We surrendered on ski, it was difficult, truly difficult, snowboard is better but we are afraid to go down the hill and end up going back down with gondola haha... it was a funny moment. For this trip i just wanted to see Juhyo and play with the snow and no more ski or snowboard, so does my love since the rental is quite expensive. Falling down will result body-ache to the lab which must be so uncomfy. Keluar je dari Miyagi-ken, we saw snow on each side of the road. Yamagata ken is full with mountains, and in japanese mountain is called Yama, that's how Yamagata got it's name i guess (logically). Looking at the weather forecast, sometimes almost everyday is snowing at Yamagata, but the temperature slightly higher than Sendai..i wonder why.. maybe Sendai is near the sea so the cold wind causes the coldness (another guess from me :P).

snowy mountains... up ahead, entrance for Yamagata expressway...
full with sow, drop by at R n R, siap ada truck to clear up the snow,..my such a heavy snow over here...
white scenery...amazed..
exit at Sekizawa IC, still covered with snow... towards Zao Line, the entrance.. truly japan.. few more km to go... look at the ski/snowboard routes..banyaknyaaa....kalau snow dah terlalu banyak it gets dirty like that... especially on the road with lots of cars...

arrived around 10.15 am, stopped at a petrol station, masa tu dah halfway daki bukit, we started to get confused with the roads, i mentioned Ohira Hotel and the stuff went to the office and took out a map and showed the position of the hotel, a little up in the mountain, which our car cant afford to go, nasib baik tak redah pergi je huhu..we need to have 4WD, or put chains at the front tire which were sooo expensive. So i called the hotel and asked him to speak on behalf of me, because of my poor nihonggo..huhu..
yeayy Koyama-san came and pick us up with the hotel's van..but first we need to park our car..di bawah bukit nun.. just down the hill tapi jalan nak pergi tu sungguh bersimpang siur but we love the view though.. everything is white here..love it....macam tak percaya pun ada, feels like in the movie (terlebih hormon excited huhu...)
van penyelamat hehe..our cosy room..ala2 countryside, bilik ada dua jenis, wetern and japanese, we choose western...tak nak tido atas futon..had that experience last time at Naruko..small tv and normally countryside hotel will give okashi to customers..sangat berbeza dgn hotel di bandar metropolitan iteww...
view from our window...snow yang sangat tebal..yet not as cold as Sendai..niceeee
japanese okashi, this one is made from budou (grape) oishiii...
Ohira hotel..just a small cheap hotel, but we love it.. kat depan hotel tu pun snow dah penuh macam ni..siap pergi guling2 lagi..haha.. leaving some hand print...soo soft..sukaaa.. yang tak best..baju bulat itu..sila abaikan..just look at the scenery and not the person hehe =.="
i wanted to see this! Juhyo... but unfortunately on that day they takde illumination, it's ok, tak plan nak stay situ sampai malam pun nanti sejukkk...
Koyama-san yang baik hati send us to Zao Ropeway...and showed us the place to buy the ticket, that's where we headed, at the height of 1661 m, 2 times via cable car..seronok tengok orang main.. i did tease my love..jums main snowboard and he act like he doesn't hear what i'm saying :P just teasing darling..
at the ticket entrance, pantang nampak salji tebal..nak bergambar aje.. bought our ticket 2500 yen per person and coincidentally 1st cable car is about to move tapi sempat lagi suruh staff dia snap our pic..lovely..the first cable car took about 7 mins, sangat ramai tourist, terpaksa berhimpit2 huhu.
my love manage to snap these...bestnya tengok orang terror main...the view...did you see that high slope..sangat berani orang yang main kat situ..superb...we started to see snowy trees.. nice view...
first stop at the height of 1331 m, towards the 2nd cable car..slightly smaller, ramai je orang datang just like us, wanted to see Juhyo and the rest of them skiers and snowboarders... manage to snap some wonderful view here...
kirei na..rasa macam nak pergi guling2 terus..sabar2...just a little bit more Hanis-san, (Sa, macam ni ke snow tempat you di Edmonton nun.. mesti best kan tapi suhu sini -8 je, yours are -45, mesti lagi tebal...)besttt...
view from 2nd cable car..we're getting closer...wahh sugoii kireii Juhyo... kalau malam pasang lampu totally nampak snow monster..hehe..
keluar tu terus nampak Juhyo yang sangat banyak...most of the poeple bergambar kat bell tu, i pun sibuk bergambar jugak, bila tengok balik bar perasan, see that japs guy, siap posing tumpang sekaki...haha..funny... at the side full of snow monster ada red line and we didn't understand the kanji tapi tengok orang lain and other tourist selamba je masuk i started to call love and ajak dia masuk jugak..the view over there was totally superb!
my love with Juhyo up close and personal...
and me too..snow was so soft feels like lying down and sleep... :D
alamak terjatuh la plak...susah nak jalan dalam sangat..alang2 dah jatuh guling ajer la (alasan..), seronoknyaaa....tak nak bangun...(adik2 sila jangan tiru aksi terlampau ini...hehe)
more pictures of guling2...i didn't realize that my love kept taking my pictures, i invited him to join me but he insist..afraid it would be cold, i told him it was fun and it's not cold at all..yet he still insist, until he got stuck and i took the camera from him hehe..
my love's trail...pheww..soo thick..so i just step inside love's trail so tak perlu susah payak nak get out from that snow...a nice view..but we cant go over there unless we are equipped with trekking stuffs...
it was so much fun, penat...mengalahkan orang ski and snowboard plak.. i tried to make snowman but the snow was so soft and it was difficult to keep the round shape..
my love tried too..and failed, and he started to create his own game.. mini slide...kewl.. that was nice, i enjoyed it love!
wonderful view..masyaAllah...subhanallah..that's just how we can describe it.. and alhamdulillah for the opportunity, it was valuable for us..
some tourists aske us to take their pictures and in return, us..in the pictures..yeayy...
kimi hontou ni totemo aishiteruuu..^_^
marvelous!
my love got tired and laid down..hmm macam best jer..and i started to join him as well.. it was nice..with a marvelous view and fresh breeze..soo soothing...and we saw...
shooting stars!...hishh nonsense mana ada shooting star di siang hari and hanya dalam movie/novel je boleh tengok shooting star anytime they want hehe.. two rockets bertembung.. omoshiroi ne... we were thirsthy and went to have some coffee and rest for awhile inside the building... lots of people said it was such a lucky day because sometimes it's very hard to see juhyo due to bad weather and some tourist came from Kobe etc... i guess we're lucky too huh?
we notice ada long boots which we can wear for free..yeay..apa lagi terus grab baru best sket nak guling2 yang lebih overacting.. it's difficult to pose when you are wearing a thick jacket, yet still ada hati nak posing huhu...sekali lagi..sila abaikan..2nd attempt to make snowman...huu kachiwa,, last2 baling jerla haha..
cheeky jugak my love ni, he found a big snowball... tatau nama dia apa, throw it and kick it sampai hancur...lucky i manage to snap his cheeky act..
and after that my love made a new mini slide...yeayy...it was fun...ada je idea my love ni...
i tried it too..:D..lovely.. but just cant resist to take motto sasshin...
this juhyo is soo hard, dont ever try to punch it..you'll end up hurting you hand, wanna know how does it formed? just wind and snow...every year the same process will occur and juhyo were formed...
i love this picture a lot..seems like i'm in the middle of nowhere on the mountain, padahal kat depan bangunan tu jer..haha..nice capture my love...
the same tree only at different side...
all of a sudden the clouds came and Juhyo were invisible for a while, tourist yang datang masa ni quite dissapointed...we just played around some more... and it was clear again.. yeayy...
my love found another one, bigger..i am really eager to see what he will do with that..sebab berat sangat he just ended up throw it up and catch it again..haha...cuteee...
and me..always wanted to do jumping attempt which seems to be another failed attempts haha..terpaksa pegang cookie and elmo because when i jumped they covered my eyes/face...
several nice tourist willing to take our pictures...shinsetsu naa...
Juhyo mini cave... :)
same spot but at different angle..nicee...
last up close and personal with mr snowy..tanoshikatta desu...
this is the sopt to view Juhyo at night during illumination, it was cold...just like Sendai, we cant stand the cold breeze, lucky we didnt plan until night time..last picture before going down...
sayonara Juhyo...huhu.. :( on our way down nobody was inside the cable car... hahaha (gelak jahat..) cable car was ours so we can move around freely..
everything just froze here...
did u see that...i was expecting a kuma (bear) but of course it wasnt at this season they are hibernating themselves, my love said it was mr piggy, hurmm i have no idea what was that...
while waiting for Koyama-san came to fetch us..just when it started to melt, it froze to ice... sugoii, almost all building and houses has that kind of thing...look at the thickness of the snow.. phewww...
arrived at the hotel in surprised...terkejut nak masuk hotel, we saw Malaysia and my name.. that was written in katakana but slightly wrong, Hanis Rin instead of Hanis Binti..but who cares, do they put everybody's name or is it because of us the first one from Malaysia?..hmm..i really dont know, but everybody seems really nice and welcoming us...great!
went to the front desk and took our key, the lady showed us our dinner and breakfast room, ehh hontou ni? ada bilik khas lagi for dinner...my love and i were surprised, dapat layanan 5 star gitu.. ooohhh i likeee... there is a lake but it was frozen and a lot of snow and the door to the lake were all closed, dangerous i guess..but you know me..i love japanese lake and bridges... they are cutee...
our yukata..red is for women and blu for men, but i likee bluee one, takper red pun cute.. we prayed and rest, the dinner will start at 6 pm, yet we wanted to rest some more, suddenly, the phone rings..pick it up, it was the chef, inviting us for dinner, alamak...how? my love said jyuppun gurai (about 10 minutes, sungguh punctual) we put on our yukata and finish up our tea and it's already 6.10 pm..walking towards the door, heard a knock, wahh chef tu siap jempun depan pintu lagi..in case we didn't know way, padahal that lady at the counter already showed us the room. I forgot to mention on our way to Zao ropeway Koyama-san asked us where do we come from and is there any food that we cant eat, i almost forgot to mention about meat, and i told him, zenbu niku wa chotto dame desu (we can't accept all kinds of meat)
we were brought to dinner room yang sangat luas, the chef turn on the gas for sukiyaki, rasa terharu sangat dengan layanan yang sangat istimewa,..thank you Ohira hotel.. the chef also said all the food are sea base no meet at all, plus veggies...healthy food patut la orang2 kat sini genki semuanyaa...
and the chef took our photo too...he said dah siap makan call the front desk, sambil makan boleh tengok tv lagi...my love and i were soo amazed...speechless, truly wonderful experience...
the foods wer superb... all of that are the appetizers and our main dish was sukiyaki..plus rice..sungguh banyak..my love did ask me...ish biar betul bayar macam ni siap dapat makanan and tip top service..huhu nanti dia charge extra..mana de duit na bayar, hmm..maybe not.. i did mention the package that i want, the cheapest one...
sukiyaki and yamagata tea...awesome!
love's attempt to eat escargot... hmm failed, rasa pahit, i memang awal2 lagi tak nak makan pun huhu...
after dinner we went back to the hotel and thanked the chef for the superb dinner totemo oishiikatta desu...baru rilek2 jap we receive a phone call, private onsen is ready at 8.30 pm and take the key at the front desk..mh my gosh..private onsen???!! great! just the two of us, usually onsen here is female and male so i never wanted to try, maluuu.. coz inside onsen we can't wear anything even a small towel or else other people will think that it is rude... and now that there is private onsen i can enjoy it with my love and it is an opportunity that we shouldn't put to waste. took the key and sempat posing in front of omiyage shop, almost every hotel in Japan will have omiyage shop, walau sekecil mana pun..it's a must, our onsen is on the right side
when we went inside...yet another shocking...open air onsen, soo classic, and kat tepi tu snow menimbun...my love and i looked at each other..seriously are we getting into that in this coldness?? after a thought..we should try it! bila lagi kan, and maybe it wont be that cold, and we went inside sebelum tu siram2 dulu dengan air onsen tu..celup kaki..mah aih panasnya..hilang terus sejuk..lepas bersiram sket we were ready to go inside, once we put our body... ahhh soo soothing...and calm...bestnyaaa....our first onsen experience...omoshiroi... tak sejuk pun, and it was lovely...we had 1 hour, but we only stayed there about 40 minutes, tangan pun dah kecut, maybe it's our first time kut... we're not used to it yet
look at the yuki...kat atas tu bumbung separuh je, masa dalam onsen tu risau jugak if suddenly yuki alhamdulillah really nice weather, tapi siap ada some yuki fall from the roof..hehe.. keluar je dr onsen our bosy feels so light and relieved, sangat lega and relax..we love that feeling.. i've never been to sauna, maybe ala2 sauna agaknya...wonderfulll moment with my love..
went back to the room, showered and had green tea..owhh so soothing and relaxing and had a wonderful sleep..sangat lena dibuai mimpi...
next morning like last night the chef came to invite us for breakfast..sugoii..right on time
we had another healthy food..and delicious too.. and finally my love and i tried nato, when we came here, we heard people say that japanese will like foreigners who can eat nato. We heard that it smells awful and the taste much worse than it smell...masa bukak tu berdebar jugak, i smelled, eh takder la smelly mana, tempe lagi smelly, put in sauce and mustard, mix it and tried it,..my..it was yummy...and the chef clapped in joy and surpirsed that we can accept their traditional smelly dish...haha..i think for those who can accept tempe can accept nato, tempe squezee padat2 nato ni satu2...healthy what...soy bean tuu..yummyyyy!
it was dark during dinner so we didn't know the view outside, masa makan tu siap dengar yuki fall down from the roof, just look at the snow..menggunung tinggi..and finally i can see the frozen lake...beautiful..even though frozen, kirei naa...hontou ni..
it was time to go home...at the front desk and in front of the hotel...huhu bye2 Ohira hotel, thanks a zillion for the precious experience ever...
gaya photographer professional to be hehe... i like..
my love and Koyama-san, he told us, in June there will be beautiful flowers on the mountain, insyaAllah ada rezeki and time we will definitely come again..and of course stayed at wonderful Ohira Hotel.. surprised tengok that car...dah baper hari la dia parking sini sampai penuh snow, mesti penat nak cleared up those yuki
bye2..zao onsen..till next time...

hontouni shiawase desu... :)