Malaysia So Far

Hello my dear readers.

Yes, I have again gone for days without updating my wonderful travel blog. Shame on me, but aren't you used to it by now?

Anyway, we arrived in Kuala Lumpa, Malaysia safe and sound on Saturday night around 8.30 Malay time (approximately 11.30 Australia EST) and caught a cab to the hotel.

The 5-star hotel. Yes I feel the need to gloat about such a thing.

Sunday we hired a rental car and travelled to a city called Melaka without getting too lost. The GPS in this car is a lot different to the GPS that we had in Japan.

Firstly, it's all in English and secondly she doesn't like speaking to us.

So we made it to Melaka (in the pouring rain) and found the Hotel Puri where we stayed for the night.

This hotel, while being small, is the most wonderful place to stay. Very reasonably priced it has a small drink-stand type cafe in the lobby, encrypted wifi that reaches the third floor and that the staff will give you the password to for free, and a buffet style breakfast that is absolutely lovely.

After we'd settled in our room we took a little stroll around Chinatown and finally found clothes that would fit us.

May I note that we have actually had a bit of difficulty finding clothes and such as the Malay, Chinese and Japanese women are all the same in the respect that the majority and skinny, small footed people with significantly smaller boobs than us more voluptuous women.

So after a nice little stroll (with me looking like a gay lumberjack with my pants tucked in to my rain boots and a bright rainbow umbrella) we headed back to the hotel and had a nice cup of coffee and caught up on emails.

This is one time I should have updated the blog.

Upon going for another walk I proceeded to change out of my rather wet trousers and into my née "free size" shorts. Which led me to change from Gay Lumberjack to Pirate.

I'm making a list of fashion don'ts for Malaysia. It will be accented with photos of various outfits I have tested for public reactions. The Pirate outfit will be at the top of the list.

Anyway, we headed out for a walk and some dinner then promptly went back to the hotel for a relax in our room.

Monday came and soon enough we were on the road again, this time heading for Johor Bahru. We made it to the Thistle Hotel with little difficulty, where we were met and treated like nobility.

This hotel is actually very high end, so people on a budget might want to find somewhere else. Unlike the Hotel Puri the wifi costs RM20 for 24 hours. With the exchange rate what it is, that is about $8 AU. The rooms are a comfortable size and the buffet breakfast is to die for.

So after checking in we got a taxi out, into the city and went to City Square, which is a 4-story shopping complex. A bit of a look around, a bit of a shop and a facial (mum, not me) later we headed back to the hotel.

Now Tuesday was full of new experiences. We got up rather early and caught a taxi, then a bus to the Malaysian border and crossed into no-mans-land before heading to the Skngapore border by bus.

This is where we met a lovely couple named Garry and Wendy, who are sailing around the world on a yacht (that is a beautiful old-style vessel, just beautiful). If anyone is interested in reading about their adventures, their website is www.sobraon.com and is well worth a look.

Anyway, after finding our way through customs and immigration (which, really, is basically non-existent) we made our way via train and bus to the Singapore Zoo.

Now the hype around Singapore Zoo is that it's the best zoo in the world. Personally I think while it might be the best zoo in the world it is still just that, a zoo. Now don't get me wrong, I mean it was huge, and the free ranging orangutans were quite wonderful.

As was the Elephants of Asia show. Those pachyderms are extremely intelligent. Unfortunately, most photos are on mums phone as I used almost all my battery videoing the show.

Anyway, at the end of a long day strolling around the zoo, our feet were pretty tired. So what better way to rest them than to have Fish Therapy?

Now for those of you who don't know, Fish Therapy is where you place your feet in a large water tank and these special fish (known commonly as Doctor Fish) come along and scrape the dead skin off your feet.

The truth of the matter is that after about a minute or so it starts to feel like a strange massage, but before that I had a lot of trouble keeping my feet in the water. What the assistants advise is that you only put your heal in first to test it out. This works, but it doesn't make you any more prepared for when the fish really start.

Anyway, after about 10 minutes Fish Therapy, we caught a bus to Orchard Road, which is a road just lined with shops, and then to Chinatown.

Well, we'd forgotten it was close to Chinese New Year hadn't we? So while it was still light there was a crowd, but you could still walk comfortably through it. It was down one of these streets that I had some henna done on my hand.

However once it started to get dark everyone appeared out of the walls to celebrate and shop. Finding our way back to the train station was a bit harder than we thought.

A word of caution to so-inclined travelers: Homosexuality is actually completely illegal in Singapore, though the authorities usually turn a blind eye on the scene. However heterosexual public displays of affection are frowned upon and homosexual displays even more so, so please be considerate as they are a rather… conservative people.

But do not despair for there are also bars and clubs that claim to be gay-friendly and some of these are listed in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide, though I recommend doing your own research.

So on to Wednesday, which was full of traveling around Johor Bahru and attempts at seeing the sights.

For anyone looking at going to the Johor Bahru Sultans Museum, I'd put the trip off until after February 2012 as they have closed for renovations until then, so the workers said.

That, basically entailed looking around the shopping malls, all the girly things that you all really aren't interested in.

After this we went to the Dango Bay Marina to meet up with Garry and Wendy for drinks and then dinner.

Apparently the service workers and deck-hands aren't used to Garry and Wendy having guests on the yacht, so when we came along, me in a long skirts and v-neck, and according to Wendy they stared a little.

I know they did when we came off the yacht as one of them sat up and raced to the other side of the boat to get a better look.

In any case, dinner was wonderful and afterwards we went back to our hotel to pack.

Then Thursday which was the first day of the Lunar New Year. We drove all the way back to Kuala Lumpur… and then the car broke down on the highway.

I know. Don't ask me what happened to the car. I don't know.

Luckily a really nice guy stopped, took a look at the engine, made a call to the car company, put up a hazard sign a couple of meters behind us and started directing traffic.

Eventually we had about 5 cars just parked in the side of the highway.

We finally made it to the hotel and relaxed.

About 5pm we went out to Petaling Street in Chinatown, which is where all the rip off designer brands are sold on the streets. Mum looked at a "Prada" bag that would have cost her around $80 AU.

Yeah, Prada my arse.

Anyway, after shopping and getting lost on the way back to the hotel we had a beautiful rest in the gorgeous 5-star beds and are now ready to head off again.

Until next update!!
MRK

Since Thursday-ish

Hello dear readers,

Another three days have come and gone and, once again, the Writer of the Blog has put off updating for far too long. Procrastination seems to be her strong point.

But since there are still 2 hours until Kuala Lumpa, and the Writer of the Blog has seen this part of The Lord of the Rings so many times (you know, the part with the flames and the Shadow and the "you shall not pass!" thing? Yeah, that bit), she figured she should update and stop drooling over Merry and Aragon.

Yes, the Writer of the Blog does have strange tastes in men, and she quite enjoys them, thank you very much. Aragon is a pretty, pretty man.

Anyway, where shall she begin? Ah, yes, Wednesday. So what happened Wednesday (which is a hard word to type on an iPhone, believe it or not)? Well he Writer of the Blog and her decided that they would go back to Harajuku, just or a day of shopping, which came with mixed results.

Mostly, the clothes/shoes/whatever didn't fit for, as you all know, the Writer of the Blog isn't exactly a blubber-less lady and is in no way petite or delicate, much unlike a lot of Japanese women. Who all have rather small feet.

And an increasing interest in tails.

Don't look at the Writer of the Blog like that. She was just as surprised as you even when, just like you, she had seen it coming.

So that was Wednesday. Again, and again many apologies, the Writer of the Blog's iPhone is unable to upload photos from however many thousands of miles up in the air. So until a decent wifi point is reached, photos will be absent once again.

Thursday, however, was a different kettle of fish. And I must stop using third person language as it is starting to hurt my brain... As is the fact that the between-Ager across the plane from us is constantly opening an shutting is window and therefor ruining the Writer of the Blog's viewing of Lord of the Rings.

Oops, I did it again. But it does sound better, does it not? Ah well, it is a nice thing to be able to do once in a while, the name of which escapes the tongue at the moment.

Anyway, on to Thursday. We travelled to Ueno and did a bit of looking around. Of course, we took a bit of a... Detour of sorts.

We started off looking for the museums and took the train to Ueno Station, which is, on the Ginza line G16.

Once we got off the train we looked at the map and saw that the place that we wanted to go was, apparently, on the other side of the main freeway. So we decided to hop back on the train and return back to G15. Once there, we got directions and walked the busy market streets.

And found ourselves back at G16. Puzzling? We thought so too.

After the markets and such we explored the Tokyo National Museum, which the Writer of the Blog recommends for everyone who is traveling to Tokyo. It is surprisingly uncommon knowledge that the Writer of the Blog has a great love for knowledge and learning, especially independent learning, so museums and cultural exhibits are a favorite hobby.

Though I still refuse to stick my hand down the fake mutton bird hold in the Hobart Museum, no matter what my beloved says is or is not down there.

Fortunately, many things were allowed to be photographed, as long as the flash was off.

For as we all know, dear readers, additional lighting and flash photography will eventually fade paintings and fabric, such as old bridal kimono. Troublesome indeed, ne?

And, of course, there were some pieces that were not allowed to be photographed as the owner did not wish them to be, blah blah, etc. ad naseum.

A word for the wise on this subject; all joking aside, should the item in like-minded museums be marked with a do-not-photograph label or symbol, please respect this.

Also, I know many scrolls are long, especially in Asian museums, but check every tag.

The Writer of the Blog herself almost took a lovely photo of a long scroll, but luckily stopped to check the label at the end of the extremely long scroll only to find that it had a do-not-photograph symbol on the tag.

Also, if you see people photographing things that are not to be photographed, perchance it would be a nice idea to help out the museum staff by calmly and politely pointing out the symbol.

If they tell you in no uncertain way to mind your own business, walk away. At least you tried, right?

But here I am giving moral advice. Anyway, on with the story.

Friday was a trip to Shibuya, which was a rather successful shopping trip. For example, the Writer of the Blog now owns a pair of red knee-high Alice in Wonderland socks.

Anyway, my mother picked up about $90 worth of traditional Japanese fabric. Yeah, I know, don't ask.

Aaaand that brings us to today. Spending ages in an airport (2.5 hours before the flight, to be exact) is a tiring experience. 7 or 8 hours on a plane is also tiring.

So until next time, dear readers.
Ciao.

MRK

Since Monday...ish.

Hello everyone! What a glorious few days it has been.

Monday was spent looking around Nippori Fabric Street, which included a rather strange store called Tomato, where my mother spent some time and money on Traditional Japanese fabrics. I think it was time well spent, though I will always curse the Japanese for having such tiny feet for I found the most GORGEOUS shoes; thin-styled school shoes in a red tartan fabric. I was completely heartbroken when I was told that they only came in one size, and that it was 3 sizes below my own.

Allow me a moment to reflect on my loss and console myself... There, all done.

While shopping for fabric in this crafty little suburb we ran into some fellow Australians, who promptly told us about the Tokyo International Quilt Show that is going on at the Tokyo Dome until Friday. Naturally my mother had to go and I got some good footage and photos from it, so they are going on the edited version of my vlog once I get home to Australia and am able to perform such media surgery.

Anyway, after this we went and took the trains (which I navigated myself dear readers, aren't you proud?) and waited at Shin-Matsudo station for Noriko, the assistant teacher of Japanese last year at my school.

We all got there early of course, so we all headed off early as well.

(May I devulge for a moment to point out that everyone wears boots or high-heels here? No, I'm serious.)

Anyway, we all headed off to Matsudo Station and walked around there for a bit before Noriko got a call from her mother who insisted that we go to her house for coffee and then out for tea. We all agreed, naturally, and then kept looking around. Nori took us to the second hand clothing shop that her friend's mother runs and we found some rather nice things there. I got a jumper. It's very warm.

So, back of the topic of the day's events, we finally made it to Noriko's house after being put on a bus with the name of the stop and left, sitting at the bus stop for a while waiting for someone to show up (it was the correct stop, thank goodness) and following Noriko's mother home, while trying to figure out what she was saying.

(The blog writer willingly admits that she is in no way fluent in Japanese, and intends to re-take Japanese Pre-Tertiary this year to reinforce her knowledge and hopefully make it more useful and easier to remember).

After a while Nori returned home on her bike as she had taken it to get to the train station and wasn't willing to leave it there overnight, considering she needed it to get to her dentist appointment at 7.

While at Noriko's house it is safe to say that her mother and my mother bonded. Over patchwork. Don't ask me how, they just did. They don't even speak each others languages.

Eventually we headed out for Chinese, where Nori left us for a while. We headed back when we'd finished eating and Nori made a rather dramatic entrance while exclaiming "It's raining a lot outside". Poor dear rode her bike to and from the dentist.

Anyway, many a memory was shared that night, and many a gift given. And many a bellydancing dvd watched, strangely enough.

I must extend yet another apology (added to the many I have already sent) to my dearest beloved, who waited a few hours for me to be online while I was caught up with Noriko and her mother before finally giving in to sleep and heading to bed. I ask any readers to take a moment to send him and his team good luck at this year's Pedder Fishing Competition. ... ... ... ... Thank you.

Tuesday, after navigating trains (again, done by me) we finally made it to the Tokyo Dome for the Tokyo International Quilt Show which was... tiring. A great majority of the quilts were hand stitched and many held grand details with tiny stitches and wonderous pictures within it. I will, of course, post photos once my iPhone starts liking the internet connection again.

The Tokyo Dome itself is huge. There were hundreds of quilts and hundreds of stalls, all selling unique and overpriced things. Le sigh.

So that's all I'll say on that subject. By the way, did you know that there are two stations near the Tokyo Dome, one JR Train station and one subway station? No? Neither did I.

And finally to today, which happens to be Wednesday, my mother and I returned for a bit of retail therapy in Harajuku. Again, no photos. My apologies. Harajuku is a wonderous place and ideal for shopping... should you have a trendy fashion sense which I, unfortunately, don't. In fact, my whole mindset tends to lean towards the slightly darker, spookier side of life.

And I was not dissappointed by the multitude of punk-rock/grunge shops that seem to inhabit small spaces in Harajuku. In fact, my mother and I found a floor in a department store devoted to the spookier side of life, with an equal dedication to the Sweet Lolita fashion. My heart skips a beat just thinking of it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to pay $100 odd for the puffy black and red miniskirt that I was drooling over, so I am going to try and see if I can find a photo of an item resembling it and get it made in Malaysia for, if my mother remembers correctly and it hasn't changed that much, is actually rather cheap.

Anyway, eventually the shopping must end. And I actually came back with something. Good stuff.

And this, dear readers, is the end of the blog. Apologies for the lack of photos and/or media evidence. There will be a lot of it once I negotiate communication between the wifi and my iPhone.

Much love and dark, bat-patterned kisses.
MRK

First Week In Japan

Hi all.

As some of you might know, I've been in Japan for the last week. It's been quite an experience so far.

Unfortunately, there hasn't been much video-shooting this first week (as in, none at all) so there won't be any interesting vlogging from the first week, but there are a lot of photos.

So where to start?

Well, first of all, it's winter here, so it's freezing and driving through the snow is a daunting experience.



But apart from that, it's a beautiful country with lots of mountains, including Mount Fuji, which we happened to pass.



Sunday after driving for ages, we finally stopped at a small town called Yaizu for the night. Nice place, very small.

Monday we set out very early... And got stuck in traffic for 5 hours due to a traffic accident. Everyone ended up leaving their cars/trucks/buses in favor of walking back 15 minutes to the trucks stop to get food.

So when we started again it was about 1.30pm. We drove and drove and drove and drove to get to Wakayama, where we promptly crashed at one of the only hotels still open at 11.45pm.

On Tuesday, after a wonderful rest, we set out and looked around Hashimoto city for a while, where we found the most gorgeous little cake and sweets shop.

The girl there was so incredibly helpful. And the chocolate cake was delicious. So we headed off to the police station -which doubles as an information centre - and asked about accommodation near where my host family lives. The staff there called and booked us a room at Nakagawa Ryokan, a small Ryokan near the train station to Mount Koya. We spent 3 days in this charming little Ryokan. I loved it so much.


Upon arrival Mr. Nakagawa showed us the mother's temple at the base of Mount Koya. It was extremely beautiful and, even though I'd been there before, it moved me to see the monks and the statues I'd seen two years prior in such weather. It was truly breath-taking.

After we had seen the sights and been shown the way to the supermarkets and other such useful places we settled into the Ryokan and got ready to go and see my host family, who I stayed with for a couple of days in 2008.

I could go on about them forever, but I wont. Instead, I will quickly recap and summarize the three days spent with them.

Day 1: Still Tuesday
Well, really it was night 1 but anyway...
First night seeing them. Very emotional. Mum and I got lost several times on the way to Machiko's house, so eventually we had to meet her at Gusto and follow her to her house.
She cooked a fabulous meal and we all exchanged some gifts. She gave me a beautiful hair accessory that I've been wearing a lot since.
Noboru came home around 8 and he was introduced to mum (and vice versa).

Day 2: Wednesday
We all went to Koya-San (Mount Koya) in the SNOW!! There was so much SNOW!! We walked and bused around to see the different temples and such. We were allowed inside one, but we weren't allowed to take photos.

On the way out of that particular temple though, Mum and I almost got buried in snow that fell from the roof. Rather dangerous, but well worth the risk. Don't worry; no one was hurt in the writing of this blog. But honestly, the snow was beautiful, even on the graves. I was so glad to return that I didn't really give much thought to walking through the snow in converses. Not a smart move but hey, I got a new pair of snow/rain boots out of the ordeal so all is well.

(NOTE: from now on you will have to excuse me being vague, for this is the third time I've written this section; the first 2 times didn't save. Would you believe it's taken me 3 days to write this thing?)

Day 3: Thursday
Last day with Machiko and her family. During the day Machiko, Izuki, mum and I went to Wakayama-Jo (Wakayama Castle). It was beautiful and full of interesting artifacts. Unfortunately, said artifacts were not allowed to be photographed, so out of respect for the people running the castle, I will not be posting my blurry ninja-photos here.

The photos were taken for someone who holds an interest in weaponry, but should one wish to see them (and I know aforementioned party personally) one might email the blog-writer with a request to see said photos.

Afterwards, once mum and I were back at the Ryokan, we were greeted by Mr. Nakagawa, who took us to see a small memorial gallery, then escorted and abandoned us at the local hot-spring facility.

Again, no photos as the place was chock full of naked women. You understand.

[insert witty comment about lesbian paradise here].

After soaking ourselves, we ventured back to Machiko's house for another home cooked meal. This was about the time that I discovered that the Japanese don't eat raw vegetables. Well, except for cabbage at breakfast. Ew.

Anyway, sooner than expected we had to depart. 'Twas a sad affair, with both my mothers crying. Then we headed back for our last night at the Ryokan.

So, come Friday morning we were up and roaring to set out by 8. We got lost due to my bad programming of the GPS, then finally found our way to the highway. A few hours travel, a quick pit stop and a few more hours travel landed us in Nagoya, the industrial hub of Japan.

This was where we found underground shopping... And that my new snow/rain boots rub the skin off my calves if my socks don't come up to my knees.

And that Vitamin E cream on said rubbing burns like a bitch.

5 minutes of tear inducing burning pain later and we booked into our hotel. The rooms are tiny, but really, it's just for sleeping in.

And the lobby offers free wifi and breakfast, so no complaint can be made. Also, most staff speak at least a little bit of English. Between their mediocre English and my terrible Japanese, we work things out.

Saturday was driving until we got to Natsumi's house. Natsumi is the student that stayed with us for a month in 2009.

And actually, the GPS apparently doesn't like finding peoples houses via landline number, so a very nice man in some rather odd pants reprogrammed it for us. Eventually we reached Natsumi's house and had a wonderful lunch with her family.

After this, we all set out to go to Harajuku, which I didn't get any footage of. Fortunately, our very first stop was at a purikura (photo booth) place.

Dinner was a rather large treat; Ramen. Yes, I know what you're thinking, and no I'm not going to make a Naruto/Naruto Shippuden reference.

Believe it.

Okay, I lied. But really, ramen is pretty damn tasty. Don't knock it 'till you've tried it.

After Harajuku we went back to the hotel and said our goodnights.

Sunday was, unknowingly, our last day with Natsumi. It was spent well though, I do believe. After dropping the car off at the local Toyota Rental place we all went to the Edo-Jo site, which is the site Edo Castle was at before it burnt down. Apparently they were too lazy to rebuild it. Figures.

After Edo-Jo we all went to the bustling market place in Asakusa. There they have heaps of strange and wonderful things, including fruit on a stick in soft toffee. Which is delicious, just so you know.

After Asakusa, we came back to the hotel and planned out the approach for going to Nippori and seeing Noriko-sensei. This was about the time that Natsumi began speaking to her mother about seeing us of an afternoon... And was reminded that she has University entrance exams coming up, which are extremely difficult I am lead to believe.

So this turned into another tear filled goodbye with Natsumi crying into both mum's and my shoulders. Sometimes you'd think I was the big sister. Which I assure you, I'm not.

And I think that brings us up to date. This post will be up by morning I do hope. So, finally, I am done. I will post today's events with tomorrow's events tomorrow.

Thanks to you if you've stuck around this long, and my apologies that this blog wasn't up earlier.