Interesting and Crowded Malay Resturant

 We cross the border to eat.  B3 and wife joined.  Wife is complaining about the heat and refuses to take a short walk outside the mall.  It is very tough when she keeps saying she was lied to that we will take Grab to Aeon Tebrau.  I have a fluid plan.  The key objective is to explore JB Sentral thoroughly before venturing outside Sentral.  B3 wanted to try Haidilao.  He thinks it is cheap.  Mummy does not like the idea as he was very sick before eating steamboat.  Plus the Haidilao in JB is quite expensive.  We cross over from Komtar to check it out anyway.  There were other resturants.  One is a Malay Resturant which is well patronized.  All Malay patrons.  I saw the menu and like it.  So I asked if B3 and mummy game.  They both are.  However, the wait is 40 mins.  We decided to take a drink and wait.  40mins later there were still no seats.  We decided to wait outside.  We have our table about 2pm.  

We order the fish curry, beef rendang, prawn fritters and tahu tempeh.  Prawn fritters was delicious.  Of course, we were starving, so everything was good.  The beef tastes good but the texture is tough. The rice serving below is for 1 person and it is huge!!  We will definitely go back to eat there again!

Running nose and diarrhoea

 My sweetheart girl has running nose and diarrhoea since last weekend.  She is such a poor thing.  She has no appetite to eat.  Luckily her weight remains steady.  This is because she drank 3 to 4 bottles of milk.

My poor girl pooed this morning and during her afternoon nap.  So Yeye has a rough time cleaning up and washing her clothing and my own clothing as well.   The good thing is that she is not cranky and is still behaving well.  

She is a joyful girl and giggled happily when tickled.  She now can call mamah.  Today, her first word bowl.  She is developing fast.  Although I am tired when she made a mess due to the diarrhoea, I am still happy to look after her.  When she is not well, she will always look for me as I can comfort her.

By the way, I have caught her bug and now have diarrhoea too.

Backpacking Tour

 I am now looking at dream of backpacking when I first travel for work.  In Europe, I see a lot of young adult i.e. university students age travelling on backpack.  Now I am googling and found I could also take train all the way to Bangkok and further.  It seems interesting and I may set out for adventure.  The youtrip makes it easy to transfer money as long as there is internet.  Simba also have roaming at a reasonable price.  So I should start to get out of my comfort zone and live life!

Day Trip By Bus to JB Sentral

 Going to JB by public transport is easy.  Time taken is about the same as by road but less tiring.  Best of all , total cost is $0.99 for seniors.  The passport process is streamlined.  Now we can use the automated lane to go through immigration.  So it is quite fast.  In future, it will be even easier with RTS.  For now, I need to find out how to take public bus from JB Sentral to Aeon or Southkey Mall.  Taking Grab is pretty cost effective as well.

Going to JB Sentral is also travelling back in time and visiting the memory lane.  The City Square Mall is old and still the same.  I also like Meng Meng Charsiew and Ya Wang roast duck.  The coffeeshop like Oldtown and Hock Kee Kopitiam.  There is also KFC which my friend said tastes different and better.

Next will be to take public bus to KL...

Johore Bahru, a town to explore

 Johore is developing fast. There are new buildings, yet plenty of old remains. So it is really great to renew old memories and relive the good old days. :) The exchange makes it favourable to enjoy better food at a reasonable price, especially fish dishes.

The pasar malam is a great memory lane.  I enjoyed the crowd and old style traditional food.  I need to visit a few more time to finish trying out all the different type of food available.  

It is quite easy to travel there by bus. Plenty of retirees do take public transport, so it is pretty cool, although a little tiring. But driving was worse before the VEP. Now, it is okay because the confusion is not over yet.  So driving over takes from more than one hour to now about half an hour.  Returning is about the same.

 I really enjoy the charsiew at half the price of Singapore.  Fish is fresh and not fishy at all.  All the spots we go are shopping malls and I enjoy the kopitiam coffee and tea.

Reflections

 My young adult boys and I are not getting along well.  My boys are either critical, B1 or just plainly defiant, B2.  I am opinionated and also hate to be lied to.  Maybe, I was lied to but I suffered no fools and refused to accept excuses.  I may need to be more tolerant and forgiving of myself and my boys.  

Otherwise, I may live a lonely life.  So I have to change my ways.  I have to be grateful for what I have earned so far.  Another thing is I need to enjoy taking cheap vacation in JB.  

I just returned from JB after spending one night there.  I stayed in KSL and visited the pasar malam,  It is lots of memories of the good old days.  I am grateful to be able to spend time there.

Sigh!  I really think I must close both eyes...

We ate We sightsee We pick We shop We home

 In Hokkaido, we ate seafood or rather my family ate seafood as I am not a seafood fan.  They had sashimi, crab and I had grilled dried fish.  We also ate the vegetarian soba.  Lots of resturants are run by one person.  So the wait is long.  We have to queue for long time and wait for our food for long time.  So unlike the omo hawkers here.  Japan is slow food.  

Sightseeing lots of wonderful sights - seaviews, rocks formation, clear water, Yotei mountain, giant plants and insects.

2X Mosquito 

We pick fruits.  It is hard to get sweet fruits.  Most are already been picked.  Still it is fun to take pictures...

Beehive for pollinating the flowers

Peckman Pear

Apple

My harvest

Shopping is done by B3 and Wife.  B3 went to a supermarket and get all the cheese, milk powder and snacks.  We checked in all the groceries.

The way home is tough because we have a 6 hours layover.  We were stuck at Pudong old terminal and forgot to check which gate we are supposed to be in.  Finally, we went to gate 135.  There are only duty free and a few resturants in Pudong.

We landed in Changi Airport at 450am.  Mummy feels nauseous and we had to rest in airport for a bit before taking the cab.

Memories of Hokkaido

 

Hokkaido Experience

 The flights we took transit in Pudong, Shanghai.  The red eye flights took a toll on all of us.  We were tired and nauseous. Pudong to New Chitose is about 3 hours.  We took a train to Otaru.  Otaru is a small town.  We spent 4 nights and rent a car to go to the farm for fruit picking.  After fuit picking we drove along the seaside and imbibed the wonderful ocean view.  Stopped at several old ports to take pictures.

The food is mostly seafood.  So I have beers, coffee, peanuts and potato chips instead. I actually gained 2 kilos.  The best hotel we stayed in was Ki Niseko in Kutchan.  The hotel is right beside the ski lift and has wonderful view of the Yotei mountain.

Our last stop is Sapporo where we did a bit of shopping.  Mostly buying cheese and snacks by B3.

Hokkaido seems a lot more expensive than Nagano and the exchange rate to yen has went up by 9% making everything a lot more expensive.

Hokkaido

 My eldest found a good deal on airtickets.  So we are going to Hokkaido.  The airfare is less than $500!!  But hotels are still expensive.  We will have to pay $2,000 for 8 hotel nights for 3. But I am looking forward to the trip.  Fall time is harvest season.  So we will look for farms to pick fruits and spend the day there.  Lot of nature in Hokkaido, my kind of holiday.  

We are happy to go for short holidays and live life.

Enjoy Cooking

 Cooking is an enjoyable pastime.  Experimenting is fun when the end product is enjoyed by the people who consumed it.  With life normal, it is back to eating out and looking for different food at different places or hawker centers.  

I missed cooking.  I love to barbeque for my boys when they were growing up.  Then, my wife make me go cooking class with her.  I now can do baking and also cooking from internet and recipe book is so easy once I took the cooking lessons.

I missed cooking and thinking of inviting some friends over to taste my cooking.

B3 Gets Upset

 Last Sunday, we had a family dinner with our 3 boys.  I asked B3 to help in cleaning some of the dishes.  He got upset and reminds me of him clearing the garbage every night.  Now he is sulking and refuses to clear the garbage.  I had been reminding him to set up the new garbage bag properly but he refuses.  He just put in a fresh garbage bag into the container without pulling the edges over.

I feel unappreciated when I pick him up or send him to the train stations everyday.  Make his meals or buy for him.  These little things are taken for granted.  Small little chores are a gigantic deal for him.  Sigh!

What I ate in Tokyo

 

Blueberries, Peaches and Grapes

 

Hakuba Ski Resort in Summer

 

Rainy Day in the Park

 

Nagano, A Beautiful Place

 Back for our Japan Trip for a week.  Time to collect my experience.  This is the first time I drove in a vacation.  The rental car was Alphard as we had 5 adults and a baby with loads of luggage.  We landed in Narita and then took a ride from the rental company to pickup our car.  We were given a tiny van.  So my wife decides to upgrade.  It was a good decision to drive the Alphard.  Plenty of room especially with a baby.

B3 planned the trip to Nagano.  We went to parks, Kamikochi, Peach farm, Blueberries farm and taste the best Tonkatsu in Japan.  I really enjoyed this trip and wonder why I did not drive whenever I went for vacations with the family.  I love Nagano!!  This air is clean, the stores are like in Canada big boxes and resturants are individual buildings with carparks lots.  It is exactly like living in Canada/US.  I am feeling like back home in Canada.  The produces in the supermarkets are fresh and price is low compared to Singapore.  The meats are very fresh and processed for ease of use.  Best of all prices are extremely low!  I am very excited  if I can live here for long long time!

Tokyo is the same, lucky my family book the hotel in the same neighbourhood as where I usually stay for work i.e. Akasaka.  So I am quite happy to visit all the resturants I used to go.

Yes, this trip was fabulous.

Japan Here I Come

 It's been a long time since I traveled.  Today, we will be flying off to Japan.  Now the yen is weak vs Singapore.  So the trip will be less costly than before.  B3 wanted this trip for his school holiday.  He has planned the itinerary.  I am totally not involved other than driving the vehicle to Nagano and then to Tokyo.  Our granddaughter and daughter-in-law are coming along too.  So it will be a big family trip.  Unfortunately, B1 cannot make it. 

It is nice to get a change in scenery.

So Nice to See our Baby Girl Growing Up

We just received a video of our granddaughter.  She is wearing her pink shoes and is cruising well.  A couple of scary moments where she almost lost her balance.  She recovers her balance and continues to cruise.  It is quite thrilling to see our little girl growing up.

I loved to watch videos of her.  She is so happy.  She loved to eat our food, bath time is great joy and play in the swimming pool.

Next Sunday Nagano, Here we Come

 We are going to Nagano next Sunday!  We have not booked our hotel yet.  Now, we have to book our hotel and van.  We will need to confirm everything before we leave.  I am flexible.  But my wife is picky and has loads of requirements for hotels.  Must have good reviews, clean toilets, near amenities, near public transport yadee yada.

Me?  Best price wins:)