Friday Macha - Hanami in Early Spring

I love early spring. Not only it has a cooling and pleasant weather, it's also the peak of Hanami.

Hanami '花見' means flower viewing. Hana 花- flower; Mi 見- see. Many people commonly know Hanami as cherry blossom viewing. Cherry blossom is also known as sakura 桜. Just admire the picturesque scenery created by the cherry blossoms, whether from far or near. From far, the clusters of sakura trees look like clumps of pink or white clouds whereas from near, you can feel the personal touch of God's creation by having a close-up view on single blossoms.

My first Hanami was during my orientation programme in the Osaka Youth Hotel. My liaison person (an AFS volunteer who is in charge of my welfare and communication with AFS) brought me to my high school to meet up with my host family. Walking around 10 meters away from the hostel, I saw the sakura trees for the first time. It's not considered as cherry blossom viewing because honestly, I walked past the trees in the speed of light, only managing to capture a few pictures.

The second time I went for a real Hanami was thanks to the AFS tour around Osaka city. We had a mini dango picnic under the blooming cherry blossom trees, with the Osaka-jo (Osaka Castle) standing majestically behind them. Cherry blossoms are especially beautiful in combination with castles, temples and shrines.

My host family also brought me to a park nearby for Hanami. I was actually surprised to find the park crowded with families who were having picnic while admiring the beauty of cherry blossoms from a near distance. Some of them even  lied down and gazed dreamily at the flowers, lost in their own thoughts. I think the Japanese really appreciate the blessings of nature that it has become a tradition, part of their culture, to spend time with loved ones by enjoying nature together. And you'd be even surprised that the park was as clean as ever even after everyone had gone home. They actually cleaned up the junks, unlike those irresponsible people who can't even throw rubbish into nearby dustbins.

Popular spots for Hanami and admission fees:
Tokyo:

1. Shinjuku Gyoen (10 minute walk from Shinjuuku Station, 200￥)
2. Ueno Park (A few minutes walk from Ueno Station)
3. Sumida Park (A few minutes walk from Asakusa Station)
4. Meguro River (Near Nakameguro Station)

Osaka:

1. Osaka Castle Park
2. Kema Sakuranomiya Park (Near Sakuranomiya Station)

Kyoto:

1. Philosopher's Path (Between Gingakuji Golden Pavilion and Nanzenji Temple)
2. Maruyama Park (Next to Yasaka Shrine)
3. Arashiyama (Northwest of Central Kyoto)

Kanazawa:

1. Kenrokuen (15-minute bus ride from Kanazawa Station, 300￥)

Nagoya:

1. Yamazakigawa Riverside (10-minute walk from Mizuho Undojo Higashi Station)
2. Nagoya Castle (Short walk from Shiyakusho-mae Station, 500￥)
3. Tsurama Koen (Tsrama Station)

Fuji Five Lakes

1. Northern Shores of Kawaguchiko (10 to 25-minute bus ride from Kawaguchiko Station)
2. Chureito Pagoda (15 to 20-minute walk from Shimo-Yoshida Station)

Himeji:

1. Himeji Castle (15 to 20-minute walk from Himeji Station, 600￥)

Hiroshima:

1. Miyajima (45-minute ferry ride from Hiroshima Jetty near Hiroshima Station)

Fukuoka:

1. Fukuoka Castle (5 to 10-minute walk from Ohori Koen Station)
2. Uminonakamichi Seaside Park (Near JR Uminonakamichi Station, 400￥)

Hokkaido:

1. Matsumae Park (Matsumae Town)
2. Maruyama Park and Hokkaido Shrine (5-minute walk from Tosai Subway Maruyama Koen Station)

If you don't really have time to visit these places, don't worry too much. There are tons of sakura tress around Japan, even at the small streets in small towns. Or, just simply ask the locals for the nearest park which has sakura trees: "Hanami ni ikitai desu ga, sakura no hana ga atte moyori no kouen wa doko desu ka."

And yes!!! Spring is arriving!!! 

Hearts

Right now as I am typing as fast as I can, Valentines Day will be over in 4 minutes.

As usual, everyone posted about their Valentines Day; the coupled ones would go all lovey-dovey while the single people would either complain or boast about being forever alone like a boss.

How I spent my Valentines? Dress hunting with 2 dear friends. It was enjoyable when we had to run around searching for the right dress for each other and ourselves. In the end, one of us found the perfect dress and my, it is seriously beautiful!! And it wasn't really expensive judging from the good quality cloth used and the lovely design.

Here's a sweet song and MV by K.Will specially for all you lovely readers!! :) Valentines over now at my place, but Happy Valentines Day!!!



6 years and going on. And it will always be you.

Growing Love For Braids

I am in love with BRAIDS! HAIRSTYLES WITH BRAIDS!!!

Back in primary school days, my mum would sometimes either tie the normal, bamboo or braided (or is it plaid?) ponytail for me. I used to hate the braided one because I somehow associated it with the Chinese man braided ponytail during the olden days, those dynasties and all. It's like as if one could slap others with that kind of ponytail.

Who knew that a simple braid would go through evolution and create so many beautiful and unique hairstyles?

I've been watching a Youtuber by the username bebexo who uploads her own tutorials on hairstyles, fashion and make up. I especially love her hairstyle tutorials because she explains and shows the steps very clearly. Feel free to visit her Youtube channel yeah! :) She's got some wickedly awesome braided hairstyles!

Yay!!! I finally found a few braided hairstyles for Orientation Ball!!

Dying Love For Kpop

I don’t think I've told you why I began to lost interest in Kpop. Well, maybe still a fan but not too fanatic like how I used to be. I am still an Inspirit, Elf, Beauty and KissMe. 

Truth to be told, I was let down by the Kpop idols during their performances in KBS Gayo Daejun 2012. Thank God that the event had sound system malfunction; hence we could see who the real idols are. Idols are said to have the ability to live up to their status. But most of them failed to show that ability. I’m not going to mention their names for the sake of their fans. I’m sorry to say but some of them don’t even have good vocals, just that normal singing which everyone else can do the same. Or they weren't even putting in effort to sing well, which is even worse because clearly, idols are supposed to work hard to meet expectations.

Since I am an Elf, I’ll share my disappointment with you. Super Junior, which won tons of awards, was the most miserable group to perform. Seriously, I didn’t see any effort from the members. Their performance was so lifeless, only to be saved by Kyuhyun and Kangin. Even Yesung or Ryeowook didn’t make full use of their vocal talent. Donghae only relied on the faulty sound system, wasn’t much of a help either. Either they are giving up or SM Entertainment loves screwing up with too much techno music. I’d rather have SHINee win those awards instead.

Kudos to the real idols – SHINee, K.Will, Ailee, Hyorin, Nell, 2AM, TVXQ and CNBlue. Now, these are people who showed good professionalism by putting in so much effort to prove that they have got impressive vocals and live performing ability. The rest of the ‘idols’ only relied on the sound system. Lip sync, we call it. Only this time, it was faulty lip sync.

There was a huge debate going on among the Kpop netizens. One side argued about the disappointing performances while the other side defended their favourite groups by giving excuses such as the idols were on tight schedules and had not enough rest or the companies weren't paying much attention on them, so they were bored. Wow!! Simply wow! If that is the case, why are they even called idols? Yeah yeah yeah, they are after all humans who have limited ability to do their best. Yet, the problem is, they weren't even trying! 

Take a good example of SHINee and TVXQ. SHINee’s Sherlock is one of the songs with the toughest choreography and requires the strongest vocals. So how did SHINee manage to bring the stage down with an explosive Sherlock performance? TVXQ is still shadowed by their breakup with JYJ. Nevertheless, they focused well on their career and performance. Not even a single excuse used to take a break and slack.

If my idols are not even trying for the sake of their fans, why should I even try to go crazy about them? Before you start labeling me a traitor, as a fan, I prefer telling the truth and criticizing my idols’ mistakes instead of defending them by giving them more excuses to slack even more.

My Chinese New Year

A typical welcome to Chinese New Year (CNY) in my life in Malaysia is usually started with the loud fire crackers and fireworks around my neighborhood at midnight, followed by a little bit of rolling in bed the next morning, then some last minute CNY clothing before a stressful journey to my popo's place.

I have 2 grandmothers. One of them is staying with me and I call her nenek which means grandmother, in Malay language. She's a pure Chinese by the way. My other grandmother stays with my uncle and I call her popo which means grandmother, in Chinese language. She is also a pure Chinese. A journey with nenek, especially during CNY is always stressful because she would be forcing everyone to follow very, very, very old yet forgotten weird traditions and nonsensical beliefs. Too nonsensical that most of the times, nenek drives us up the wall. And today, like any other first day of CNY, my father and I listened patiently to my mother trying her best to stand whatever nonsense coming out from nenek's mouth.

Thank God, the stressful journey was short and hopefully, will be that way. Most of my relatives have gathered at popo's house, entertained either by my nephew Aidan or by KBS channel. It was lively and merry but not as much as during our complete gathering once. Some of my relatives are still in Australia, Singapore and went visiting elsewhere. But still, one has to be thankful to Him for each family member is still breathing in His care.

Popo didn't cook her delicious vegetarian dish this year because she's too tired. So my uncle bought vegetarian food instead. Somehow, there was a miscommunication and I thought that I couldn't eat the food (which I could actually!!!). Sigh. I was staring longingly at the roasted vegetarian chicken, wondering what did I do wrong to not being able to savour my favourite dish. I think I'll attack the vegetarian shop nearby to heal my broken heart.

My cousin who recently came back from her vacation in Seoul gave me some nice souvenirs. Do check out her lovely blog Reaching Out, Reaching Up on her Seoul trip, makeup product reviews and more.

Every year I remind myself that CNY is not about the red packets and food. It's all about spending time with loved ones, just like any other festive seasons. I remember I used to look forward to receiving bursting red packets when I was little. As my cousins and I grow older, we find that those red packets aren't bursting anymore. At first, I was filled with disappointment. Then, I took a good look at each of my elder relatives to have a moment of realization. Within 10 months while I was in Japan, so much has happened in my family that sometimes, things are beyond recognizable. One thing led to another that now, everyone looks so old, tired and run-down. And there I was, being selfish, thoughtless and ignorant to problems my relatives had and have. Overwhelmed with regrets, I learnt that money is not everything, neither it is the meaning of Chinese New Year. Family is everything. God's precious gift to us.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!!

p/s: Like my braided ponytail or whatever you call it? ;)

CNY wish from my husband. I feel the love.