United Arab Emirates - Mac 2010

 Once upon a time in Dubai....

Dubai Metro - We're going to the World's tallest building

Burj Khalifa

Its a wall..

inside a mall...

A building next to the Burj

Wow~

Dancing Fountain 

Dubai Aquarium inside the Mall

Nippon (5): Omiyage - Tokyo Banana

Besides flavoured Kit Kats, Tokyo Banana is also an excellent souvenir for family and friends if you have visited Japan. Its special, its cute and its from Tokyo! LOL~

Tokyo Banana is not an actual banana. Its a banana-shaped sponge cake with banana-flavoured custard cream. Each cake is individually wrapped and comes with a small banana-shaped plastic tray and a packet of oxygen absorber.

Tokyo Banana & Flavoured Kit-Kats

Each Tokyo Banana is individually wrapped.  

20th Anniversary Special 

Tokyo Banana 20th Anniversary Special Gift: Handphone Strap

I like the Tokyo Banana Caramel Custard flavour, too. They have Tokyo Banana Tree now!!

Nippon (4): Japan's Flavoured Kit Kat

Strawberry, Matcha (powdered green tea) and Sakura Matcha

I think this is Nihonbashi Special Edition 

Winter Special Edition

The Matcha Kit-Kat is now available in some Japan-themed stores in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, eg. Aeon. Oishii~

Nippon (3): Umbrella Lock & Weather Forecast

An Umbrella Lock 

The umbrella lock is something special that is not available in my country. I have also seen a machine(?) that will wrap your umbrella with plastic bags before you enter the shop to prevent rain water from dripping all over. Staff or security guards will hand you plastic bags for your wet umbrellas before you enter the shop. ;) Arigatou gozaimasu.

Note the "transparent" umbrella (second umbrella from left). We don't have that in Malaysia, too! I was told those are "emergency" umbrellas that you buy in convenience stores if you forgot to bring your own or if it suddenly rains. Can anyone please verify? ^^ I bought one, but it can't fit into my luggage :(

The weather forecast in Japan is super accurate and I heard those who live in Japan will always refer to the weather forecast before leaving the house so they will know what to wear/bring.

P/S: I LOVE that "Beep..Beep..Beep..Tuuuuttt" sound on the radio to indicate every hour. :D 

Nippon Obsession (2): Posta Collect Gotochi Postcards

Nippon Obsession (1): Chibi Maruko-chan's Stamp

Chibi Maruko-chan's Family on stamp :)

Chibi Maruko is one of my favourite Japanese cartoon. Its shown on TV in Malaysia and I have the comic books (translated to Bahasa Malaysia). Chibi Maruko-chan is more realistic compared to some other cartoons because it shows the daily life of Maruko, her family and friends. 

Nippon Obsession (Intro)

Japan/Nippon/日本/Jepun/Jepang - The Land of the Rising Sun! I'm in love with this country since the first day of my first visit. That was back in March 2010. I have happy and sad memories in this particular country, lots of smiles and laughter, followed by continuous tears of sorrow. It took me several months to recover from the grief. :(

I'm amazed with the culture, discipline, food, art, hospitality, technology, etc. etc. of Japan and its people. They queue in line while waiting for public transport, not knocking into each other while walking even in the busiest stations during the rush hour, trains and buses are clean and punctual, how they recovered from the Tohoku Earthquake.

I'm learning some simple Japanese language now, I can read and write hiragana now. I plan to travel across Japan one day, from Okinawa to Hokkaido. :D

Konnichiwa.

Watashi wa Lee desu. Malaysia kara kimashita.

Douzo yourishiku onegai shimasu.

The Queen of Fruits - Mangosteen

After introducing the King of Fruits in my previous post, now it's time for the Queen. I'll try to introduce as many Malaysia's tropical fruits as I can in this blog. ;)

• Mangosteen (山竹 in Chinese Language)
• Known as manggis in Bahasa Malaysia [Malaysia's National Language])
• Also known as the Queen of Fruits because of its 'cooling' properties (compared to the durian which is 'heaty')
• Sweet, slightly sour, juicy

Mangosteens

Another photo...

Yummy~ 

Roses at Rose Garden, Balboa Park, San Diego (3)

This will be the final post for the roses in Balboa Park, San Diego.

Pumpkin Patch

Easter Basket

Lovestruck

Easy Does It

Pink Flamingo

Julia Child

Cherry Parfait
 

Sun Flare