Birthday Windfall

I won the essay contest!

September 30th

I am 29 today!!

And what sort of crazy things do you do when you are 29? I went and registered myself for JLPT 2. CRAZY!!

Food I Missed While in Tokyo

Finally had them in Malaysia during my 2009 summer break.

1) Best egg-tart in town!



2) Durian. I love the slightly bitter and sweet taste of it.



3) Goreng pisang and cempedak goreng from Bangsar. My aunt's favourite too!



4) Hong Kong Dim Sum which is so outrageously expensive if I was to have it in Yokohama.



This prawn chee-cheong-fun was fantastic!



5) Sister's fried 'kuey teow' from McAllistar Road in Penang. It is special for it is garnished with crab meat. Yummy!



I had many more, like sweet-sour-spicy crab from Fatty Crab in Taman Megah, kon loh mee, nasi lemak, nasi briyani from Bangsar and etc. but I was too busy eating to take pictures of them :D

Malaysia food boleh!

The Most Expensive Mocha

Be warned, if you enter this shop in Shibuya, you must buy a cup of coffee at a minimum price of 800 Yen.















The shop sells cakes at a price of 500Yen but you cannot just have a cake without coffee. Price list is as shown:














Alas, my most expensive cup of mocha. Nice porcelain but still...

Chocolate Marble Cheesecake!

I have tried baking carrot cakes, chocolate brownies, chocolate cakes, blueberry cupcakes etc in Tokyo. Recently, I found this recipe on the internet and tried baking it too. Its really yummy!

Happy 2009 New Year!

I haven't been updating this blog eversince it became much easier to upload photos in FB. But I am back in this new year with new determination to keep this blog thriving.

A walk in the park (Yoyogikoen) when it was still autumn in 2008.















Then we stumbled on some wild roses.















At the end of the evening, we saw some Japanese teenagers hanging out near Meiji Jinggu wearing their flamboyant costumes.

O'hanami

Its my second spring in Tokyo and I am still so excited, like its my first. I went flowers viewing (hanami) this weekend-but turns out to be more of a Sakura viewing :)

Some dark and light pink Sakura at Tokyo Institute of Technology.















Festival and the nearby pond.















At the Imperial Palace Tokyo.














Close up on a full-blossom tree.















Me and Aishah can't help but take one with the pretty flowers.















The scene at Shinjuku Gyoen.

Austin Convention Center-APEC 2008

Posing at the entrance to the exhibition hall on the first day.















Hallway..















Giving my presentation














Room size- Huge














Dialogue/Poster Sessions















Far different from most conferences I have been to (only two before this), the only free meal given at the conference-Smoked Turkey Sandwich Lunch Box :D

Austin, Texas

Getting to the US is a lot of work. Different from 10-15 years ago-according to my dad going to the States was really easy. Preparation to go to Austin, Texas for the APEC 2008 conference, started with the visa application-required lots of documents, application fee of USD 100 and an interview at the US Embassy in Tokyo. The interview only lasted less than 1 minute. Going there, I had to undergo secondary security check when boarding the plane to Austin at Narita Airport and to Tokyo from Bergstrom Austin International Airport.

At Narita, had a Boiled-egg Shoyu Ramen. The alarm of rings to let you know your food is ready.






























Walked from my hotel to the Austin city center on the arrival day. Needed to stay awake until the actual sleeping time-to get rid of jet lag soonest possible.
















Texas State Capitol
















'Dillos'- Takes you around the city for free.






























Bob Bullock Museum














Austin by day-The tallest building is Frost Bank.


































Demonstration for no bank fees.















Flying back to Tokyo with UA.

Winter Vacation in Malaysia

Did a lot of shopping during the vacation. Malls were decorated with Christmas themed decorations. My personal favourite is the Little drummer boy at One Utama















Also, finally got to satisfy my craving for a Maryland chicken at the Cable Car.
Sorry no picture of food...














Met up with friends: Primary school friends- Hazel, Jarod and Immy

Scene in Nikko

Well, its autumn in Japan and soon will be winter. So me and my colleagues from the lab went to Nikko to search for the autumn leaves.
In the train, on the way on the way there, we got a glimpse to what is part of the Japan Alps (I think).



















Unfortunately, it was already snowing on the way up to the Yumoto . Hence, there were no more autumn leaves to be sighted.















Nevertheless, we turned our journey to waterfalls sighting instead. Starting from the highest point in Nikko:

Yudaki. 'Taki' means waterfall in Japanese language.



















Kodaki















Ryuzu Falls. Its a twin waterfall :)















There is actually another waterfall, known as the Kegon Falls, but I missed that.
Down in the Nikko town, we finally saw some autumn leaves as it was warmer there. Happy :D





























The Shinkyo Bridge or Bridge of Gods.















Nikko is also a World Heritage Site. Next trip there I will surely visit the Shogun Temple 'Toshogu' etc.