The Impromptu Holiday Series: In Which I Finally Met Bobby. Say Woot Woot!

Continuing from here and here, I was finally on my way to meet Bobby Chinn for dinner but alas, with a battery-less camera.

How sad.

Well, not really.

You see, I met a very kind food blogger by the name of Boo, who was invited for the dinner as well. She's the foodie expertie behind Masak-Masak. *click click to read her blog* She offered to take our pictures for us. See there's nice people in this world after all. Hee..

So not only did I get a very very nice picture taken *using a canggih-manggih camera* but OMG! I got featured in her blog as well. Masak-Masak wei! When Boo asked if it's okay to use the photo in her blog, I of course agreed because after all, I wouldn't have such a photo if it wasn't for her. However, all I was expecting was a little mention and a photo somewhere in the middle of the post. I wasn't expecting to find my face at the top of the entire post. O_O

*click on the picture to read her post*

Though, who cares about me, it's Bobby that everyone's looking at. Handsem kan? Ahahaha.. and there I was squeezed in between him and dear godma. *grins* Yes yes, the dinner invitation was for two and I so I asked if she could make it for dinner as well.

The dinner was at Al-Halabi Lounge at JW Marriott. It was my first time at a Middle Eastern restaurant and it was certainly an eye-opener for me. The deco and lighting were dark and intimate with the front part of the lounge filled with comfy sofa and lounge chairs. This is totally the 'hang-out' spot for Middle Eastern tourists where they can simply sit back, relax and enjoy a taste of home, or in this case, a puff of home with their shisha.

We were all sitted around a U-shaped table which in my opinion was not the best seating arrangement for such an event. It made the dinner a little impersonal. We ended up breaking into separate chat groups instead of interacting as a whole. Six of us on the left, which included food blogger, Kyspeaks and his fiance, Haze, were chatting among ourselves, while the other six at the other side of the U, were in their own little world. The other winner and his mom who were seated at the centre of the U were all shy and quiet throughout dinner.

Luckily Bobby's voice were loud enough to be heard by all when it came to 'story-telling' time. He shared with us his experience in the Middle East during his filming for World Cafe Asia, covering from Persian, Egyptian to Turkish and more.

Food was served after that. We got to tick our choice of starter and main course. Not bad for attentiveness I must say. Though I won't rate it in terms of taste since I have no prior knowledge regarding such cuisine. For that, you should head over to Masak-Masak or Kyspeaks. Not to mention all the food pictures they took with their canggih-manggih camera.

This post is sadly without enough pretty photos in it.

:(

After dinner, the PR team announced a mini autograph session. 'Mini' being there were only 10 of us in total excluding Bobby and the PR team themselves. Here's when it got interesting. You see, upon knowing I was heading down to meet Bobby, I tweeted...

In which he actually replied.

Say Woot Woot!!! x 1000000

Of course, it didn't end there.

And he replied again. *flail flail*

*flail somemore*

*ahem*

So... back to the dinner.

He was signing his cook book for me when the PR team mentioned that I came all the way from Penang to see him. He looked up, looked at me and said,

"Ah.. YOU!"

*blinks*

"Ah... Yes Me!"

Okay. I was silly and speechless there and then. Imagine that! A copywriter at a loss for words. How can wei?! Malu betul.

*sigh*

But who cares! I got a personalised message from Bobby!

"...all the way from one of my favourite cities for food."
- Best Wishes Always, Bobby Chinn, KL 20.10.10

*hearts hearts*

That's it! Must promo kau-kau now.

For those who love World Cafe Asia, make sure to catch Bobby's latest Middle East Special, every Monday, 10pm on TLC, Astro Channel 707. For those who have yet to catch the show at all, shame on you and please do! The show is now one hour long as oppose to the previous 30 minutes and the Middle East Special is a 4-episode special with tomorrow being the 3rd of the series. So make sure you switch on your television tomorrow and enjoy a Bobbylicious experience like me! :)

I am thankful. I am proud.

One year ago. On this exact date.
I was on the plane. Flying high.
Fulfilling a dream. Together with my best friend.

One year now. I look back.
I think about it. And a smile emerges.
Yet there's a little wetness in my eyes.
It's silly to want to smile and cry at the same time.
But it's also probably one of the most awesome feeling in the world.

I am thankful. I am proud.

***

And I want more.

A Japanese Summer: Chapter Six (ii)

"...In Kyoto, when you walk on the street,
every corner... every street, you will find Japan."

With a scenery as such, you kind of expect a samurai to walk right pass you, and yet it will still feel so right. Lost in time. Back to the Edo era. Well, we did get the next closest thing, Geisha! *grins*

But remember it was still lunch from where we left off over here. And our Gion Tour was scheduled in the evening, so we were pretty much still on our own throughout the afternoon. Like the young travellers that we are, we hopped on the bus and headed towards Kyoto's most iconic architecture, Kiyomizu-Dera. *note: the slope*

It was a long walk up from where we got off the bus but a walk was always never just a walk when there's so much to see.

The first sighting of what's going to be breath-taking views one after another. *note: the stairs*

People-picture time!
It's always an exchange gesture between other tourists. Hahaha...

"Can you please take a picture of us?"

"No problem!"

*clicks*

"Can you do the same for us?"

*clicks*

"Thanks!"

*smiles*

Lookie at the houses behind, we're definitely at higher grounds.

*Note: more stairs!* It's all serious exercise wei!

If you read Kanji or Chinese, you'll know the big red word that reads (缘: yuán) which means "fate" or "predestined affinity". Heh.

So it's no surprise to find all types of charms for relationaship. ^^;;

Somewhere along our climb upwards, we met Usagi-sama. At least that's what I thought when I was there. Now that I'm blogging about it, I finally saw the word (えんむすび: enmusubi) on the mallet I'm holding. Went googled and turned out the word means "marriage". AHAHAHAHA... Such ignorance! That's the thing about knowing how to read the words but totally clueless about the meaning.

Finally. The famous scene you'll see on postcards, movies, etc.



Of course, it's necessary to stamp our faces there. LOL.

*stamped stamped*

Ah... listen to the crickets... listen to nature. Admire the view.
*hearts*



Break time! It's mid-summer wei, so dem hot! And we were running low on water supply. *dies*


Nothing like a refreshing bowl of... of... jelly stuff. HAHAHA. No, it's not memory that failed me. It's our ignorance. Had no idea what exactly we were eating, it's just that everyone there was enjoying it as well. So we figure we can't really go wrong with that. XD

On our way down, we met them. Them being Taiwan tourists. Haha. They had payed for a total Geisha make-over and was strolling the streets of Kyoto. Ah... oh well, we're budget travellers with no money to lavish on such get-up. *sigh*

After that we went on a crazy quest in search of the designated meet-up place for the Gion Tour. And the funniest thing was we knew we were in the right area and was asking a lady for direction. Poor lady was as clueless as us about the place. DOT. And all this while, we were standing next to building while asking her. HAHAHAHA. And and... guess who found the place in the end? ME! Me and my survival Japanese knowledge saw that big kanji word on top of the building and actually recognised it. I was pointing upwards "There! There!" and the lady was like "Ahh.... " and learnt something new together with us. Hahaha... it was a moment of "achievement" on our end. *grins*

Meet Tet. Sounds so Ang Mor right?
It's short for Tetsuya. Hahaha... works both ways. I like.

Me and Cubbie were the only two Asian looking gals in the group with another guy seemingly having a tinge of Asian blood in him but speaks very Ang Mor. Turned out he hailed from US. That explains the American slang. He was also the only one that actually talked to us... or to everyone else for that matter. Probably caused he was on a solo trip whereas everyone else seemed to be in pairs or groups. Everyone else just stuck with those close to them. Us included. Shy lah, shy lah. Both of us are just not so out-there enough. *sigh* (Out of topic: Cubbie... I don't remember the guy's name.)

Ah... wait! On to Tet-san. Tet asked us where we were from and we told him we're from Malaysia! And guess what... he started speaking Malay to us! Woot?!? *10 points to Tet for being such an awesome individual*

Us: Wow! You know how to speak Malay!

Tet: Ya... I used to work in Malaysia.

*Us in another "Woot?" moment*

Tet: Quite famous... big company. PERODUA!

*blinks*

Us: Perodua! That's a real big company! HAHAHA...

That's when we decided "Must take picture with Tet-san". MUST! Hahaha.. thick face also must ask someone help us take a picture. XD

See see! That's our group following Tet. Haha.


Hah! The river. The river!

*cough cough*

This is where they shot the movie "Memoirs of Geisha".

I WAS HERE.
No. I did not watch the movie.

*fails*


This shot is for the guys. Japanese girls in yukata set in old town Kyoto, giggling away. Now say thank you. XD



Welcome to Gion. A district of Kyoto, Japan.
It's also one of the most exclusive and well-known geisha districts in Japan.

"The geisha in the Gion district do not refer to themselves as geisha; instead, Gion geisha use the local term geiko. While the term geisha means "artist" or "person of the arts", the more direct term geiko means essentially "a child of the arts" or "a woman of art."" - explanation pinjam-ed from wikipedia XD


Geiko School. Yes. There is a school exclusively for this. In fact, nowadays it's like going to college. Students are required to finish their conventional studies in school (up to high school)before signing up for a Geisha School.


"Support your favourite geisha." ^^;;

Each fan has a specific geisha's name written. And it is an unwritten rule that once you pick your geisha, she will be the one to serve you from then on. And you are not to find another other than her. It's somewhat a means of respect to the geisha.

Geisha's accessories. Expensive stuff. And the only maker in town.

I can go on and on about Geisha but I'm worried about the credibility of what I know. So why don't you head over to Google and discover them on your own. *smiles* You'll find some really really interesting stuff.

Mr Moon finally making an appearance.
And the tour was coming to an end.




Tet-san's "closing speech". Hehehe... and if you listen closely enough to catch what he is saying you'll hear that quote I wrote up there in the beginning of the post. I am thankful I managed to record that part. Touching memories.

Took this mesmerising shot on the bridge while we were on our way back to our hotel. YES! It's another loooooong walk again. See that bridge over the other side, that's the one we walked pass in the afternoon and now we're walking on this one to head back. No wonder I looked thin and tanned after my two-week-trip. Hahaha... god knows how many kilometres we walked each day. ^^;;;

I think somewhere along the way, we gave up and took the train. Hahaha...

And come on lah, after all that exercise... it's no wonder we're hungry! So we headed over to McDs located just at the corner of the street from our hotel and experienced Japanese McDs!

Ebi-Filet! HAHAHA... it's Prawn Burger wei!

Excuse the messy and exhausted me.

Anyway, Japanese McDs passed with flying colours! We loved it so much, we went back there again for breakfast. HAHAHA... but that's another post to come. *yawns*

Next: *god knows when* Ferry rides, gigantic Tori gate, juicy Oysters!

A Japanese Summer: Chapter One (i)

Alright. Finally... *note to self: need to change a fresh new song to this page now* YES YES. The post has finally arrived. Before I begin, please allow me to grumble a little first. After all, a month's absence from blogging really itches my fingers to type type type and I can assure you I can probably go on rambling pointlessly and end the post with, well nothing. In fact, I haven't even got into what I wanted to grumble about YET!

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD. FUN PART AT THE BOTTOM. SCROLL.

If you're not one to read, please skip the following paragraphs and scroll till you see "ramble ends here" sign because that's where the fun part starts. *waves to those who really plan to skip the following* See you again down there!

***** ramble begins here *****

To those who continue on with my ramblings, thank you you kind kind souls. The Ramble of The Day... *drums roll*

PHOTO EDITING

Probably one of the most tedious process make common after the invention of digital camera.

Yup, no longer are we constrained by the rolls of film we buy nor the amount of negatives we have to developed. Oh yes, even with the limited disk space inside your camera, you'll find a way to transfer them out to little pendrives using public computers oh so thoughtfully provided by almost every hotel in Japan. *nods* Thus, you return home with over 1,000 photos. GREAT!

Now, editing photos ain't that bad but there's the "edit to be developed" and "edit to be shared on the internet" kind of photos. And it's not just about resizing photos you "edit to be developed" into smaller files to be posted on the net because you tend to blog about photos you don't want to be developed. Am I confusing you?

You see, there's a set of what me and Cubbie call "the people picture" meaning photos with us in the picture where beautiful backgrounds show where we were in the shot. It's a kiasu thing that says "I've been there!" loud and clear. Those are the photos to be developed so grandpa and grandma can see them *obviously viewing my photos through the computer ain't an option in this case* and those are photos that mummy dearest can show to friends and relatives whenever they come visiting. My mama is proud of my little achievements in life. Or maybe I see them small, she sees them BIG. It's a mama thing I believe. Or maybe it's just my mama. As annoying as her slightly boastfulness might be, I secretly am proud of myself too, simply because she's proud of me. Awww....

Alright alright. Save all the emo talk another. See! Told you I can ramble long and wide if I want to.

***** ramble ends here *****

Here's where it begins. For those who came directly from the top. Hi there again! Shame on you. How can you read my blog without "reading" it. Tsk tsk tsk.

Saturday, 2 Aug 2008: And so we flew from Penang to Singapore and then we had a stop over at Bangkok before we finally head off to Japan. All that to save that extra money to spend later on during the trip. For a return air ticket priced at RM2610, Singapore Airlines Economy Class, I got no complains except the uncomfortable flight back home. *frowns at that thought*

Sunday, 3 Aug 2008: Yup, we arrived early in morning the next day. So early that YY overslept and was not there at the airport to pick us up. *panick panick 100%* Our first challenge in Japan. Two Malaysian gals hanging around the airport. Collected our rental phone and called, called and called. Uwaah!!!! To leave or not to leave the airport? How lah how lah? Tell me what will you have done in our place? We walk down to the train station collect our 14-Day Japan Rail Pass aka Our Super Pass which gave us unlimited access to all trains under the Japan Railways for the said 14 days. Cool right? Except the fact that we paid about RM1.4k for the pass! Hah! And I tell you that RM1,400 is still waaaaay cheaper than all the trains and shinkansen you'll be sitting throughout a 14-day trip in Japan. Worth every cent I tell you.

So we took a ride on the Narita Express down to Seibu Station and met up with YY there instead. Hah. Lucky us for our detailed planning. Always a Plan B in case A didn't happened. Sankyuu Cubbie for all that research *huggles*

Met YY, lots of huggles between Cubbie and YY, old school friends. So warm and fuzzy. You can tell how happy YY was to see a fellow Malaysian, a fellow old time friend and me, a new friend found. ^^

YY lives in Tokorozawa, Saitama. Downtown Tokyo where rent is cheaper and thus is a popular "bedroom community" where working Tokyo folks make this place their home, coming back to rest after a hard day at work. Prope Street is a colourful arcade street just outside the train station. YY's place is about 25 minutes walk from the station and thus throughout our 14 days in Japan, walking along Prope Street had became a norm for us. We go Prope Prope out as early as 5.30am in the morning when the shops are still closed and we came Prope Prope back through the rain as late as well, almost midnight.

Our First Meal in Japan. It's silly I tell you. Simply silly. Our first meal in Japan was... CHINESE! *smack herself on the head* What were we thinking? Well, actually I think we weren't, at least not with our brain, our growling stomach got the best of us. Notice how BIG the portion of everything is? Ya, food in Japan is dem expensive but it's also dem BIG. I almost never finish my bowl of rice, a big taboo back home. *sticks tongue out*

OMG. I just posted a very clear picture of myself. Rules have to be bent for dear Japan no? How can I go on "A Japanese Summer" without a single picture of me! That will never do.

The sunset view of the little alley heading to YY's place. Yup, that's a "longkang" lah I know but I must say it's the prettiest longkang view I've ever seen.

A series of event happened after that, one which involved missing a concert I so longed to attend which I rather not mention. Otherwise, it was a night with as much disappointments as there was anticipation for what was awaiting us the next 13 days in Japan.

Next: A Day Out in Tokyo

Hiyashi on TV!

Remember my attempt for my 15 minutes of fame HERE?

Hah! It happened!

Well, not exactly 15 minutes. *sheepish smile* Gosh, I think barely made pass 15 seconds worth of fame but it happened! I watched with my hands over my eyes. Yup, the type where the fingers are all spread out with gaps all over, the "paiseh but still wanna see" kind. I was soooo worried I made a fool out of myself there. But I guess TV3 are full of kind-hearted souls that edited what I think are the good sides of us many hopefuls. Nothing dramatically bad or embarassing for any of us I must say. Maa maa deshio.

And my mom keep on saying "You're on TV!"

Heh.

Yup. It might not be 15 minutes nor am I sure if I made it pass 15 seconds, expressing what I thought after the audition like that but I can proudly put it down in my list of things I have done in attempt to show my existance to world.

Gotten my name on the newspaper before, got my face up on tv, got my thoughts up on the Internet. Hmmm... next up, my voice on radio?

DREAM BIG in small ways.

It works!

********

ps: No clip yet. Doubt there will be. Promise I'll post if I have the clip.

pps: No harm promoting something you were so eagered to be an ambassador for in the first place. So here it is, linkie to webbie. My Aussie Adventure. Watch it. Every Sunday, 7.30pm on TV3! *winks* Too bad I'm not the one hosting it for ya! XD