September

Every year, September is a time of celebration for us since we have 4 people in the family celebrating their birthdays! My niece Sophie, Po Po, my Kor and dear hubby Peter. It was even more "yit lau" this year given Kor, Dai Sou and the kids were back in KL. We all got together for a dim sum luncheon the day Kor arrived with family from Singapore, before flying off to honeymooning in Bhutan that very evening. 

Mom had a simple dinner at her FAVOURITE restaurant on her actual bay and was showered with special gifts. Peter on the other hand had a quiet celebration this year since he was feeling under the weather for weeks. Here are some pictures to share.

The clan (minus Peter). Happy Birthday September babies!

Mummy feeling ecstatic receiving a bouquet of flowers from a dear friend 

Mummy & Daddy - not looking a bit of their age!

Mummy loving her new toy toooooooo much!!

With love from all of us *hearts*

Home cooked food but with al fresco candle lit dining :)

Photo collage gift I made for dear hubby

Off to the Land of the Rising Sun! (Part 8 - Final)

This will be my final posting on our adventures in Japan. It was our 11th day in Japan, and the mood was relatively somber, knowing we will be heading home soon. Still, there's much to see for the rest of the day, and no time must be wasted. We ventured out to explore Lake Shikotsu - the other prominent feature of the Shikotsu-Toya National Park, which was also formed by the collapse of earth after a volcano eruption.  

7 August 2013: Lake Shikotsu & Chitose

Morning drive to Lake Shikotsu.
So Quiet and serene, we could get off the car for photo op right in the middle of the road!

Yup, it was a clear and sunny day!

Clear waters

Views surrounding Lake Shikotsu

There's a short trail where you can hike.

And then it was lunch. There was a whole lot to choose from in this restaurant. We just could not resist!

That's a super large bowl of ramen noodles for Y1800 (RM60) 

And this was what we ordered - the actual thing. Ramen in hearty miso broth. Yums! 

And this was one of the tastiest Salmon we've had in Japan. The whole fish wasn't big (size similar to our ikan kembung). It was grilled with salt. Perfectly done - soft on the inside, crunchy on its skin 

After lunch, we headed back to Chitose town as we were scheduled to catch our flight back to Tokyo from the Chitose Airport. We still had a few hours to kill so we decided to visit some manufacturing factories (there are several factories in Chitose, opened to public). If you are familiar with Japanese snacks, Calbee is one of the biggest and famous for its french fries Jagabee. I was introduced with Jagabee by my Hong Kong colleagues when I was working in HK. It was really good! So of course I had to visit the factory.
But we were unlucky, as the factory was closed for visit when we arrived :(  

Plan B - we decided to visit another one of Japan's famous beer company - Kirin.

Founded in 1885, today Kirin is a multi billion corporation that not only holds beverage production but is also in fields such as restaurants, real estate, logistics, health and many more.

We joined the local factory tour - Japanese language available only

At the end of the tour, free tastings were available. 

This was our tour guide. She spoke only in Japanese and she had the sweetest and most pleasant presentation. Though we could not understand 99% of what she was saying, we were most impressed with her smiling and gentle expression throughout the 1.5hours experience. Here, she is showing us how to serve a perfect pint. This is indeed service with a smile!!!

A short stop at Salmon Park before heading to airport

Some soft cream at Salmon Park, a couple of quick meals and a night in Tokyo Airport... we headed for home.

Farewell Japan. We will miss you dearly....

WE WILL BE BACK!! :)

Off to the Land of the Rising Sun! (Part 7)

6 August 2013 was another day of wholesome adventure! We ventured out to the volcanic craters by foot, and boy, it was a looooooong walk indeed!! Still in the region of Shikotsu-Toya National Park, we started the day early and drove to Mount Usu (or some call it Mt. Usuzan), an active volcano which last erupted in year 2000. Apparently, Mount Usu has erupted 4 times in the last 100 years.

Driving in this part of Japan is really strange, I tell you. It can get very foggy, roads barely visible on one side of the mountain and as you exit to the other side, the sun is scorching hot and you get clear skies! The 2 pictures above was taken before and after crossing an underground tunnel. Thank goodness we're staying on the sunny side :)

Before heading to see the craters by foot, we went on the Usuzan Ropeway which brings us close to the volcano summit. The station observation deck also offers great views of Lake Toya and Showa Shinzan (picture on top left). Showa Shinzan stands next to Mt. Usu and is one of Japan's youngest mountains. Between 1943 and 1945, an earthquake erupted and the mountain rose from a flat wheat field to its current height of 290m. 

Observation deck - on the right is Showa Shinzan and on the left is part of Lake Toya

Journey begins here. Must eat some corn for energy first. Hehe!

All I had were these worthy slippers for a long track ahead!

At the start, the path was paved with hundreds (and I really mean by the hundreds) of steps. It felt endless...

First view point along the way. Ginnuma Crater was formed after Usuzan's eruption in 1977. It's the largest crater measuring 350m in diameters.

After the fleet of steps, it was uphill all the way and we were walking on high temperature grounds

Better views of the crater

Some creepy crawly "friends" we met along the way

I was tempted to try these berries but am so afraid it might be poisonous!

Views from the top

Mount Usu and Lake Toya 

Views on the other side

Heading back...

... and that's where we need to be

Rewarding ourselves after a long, hot walk! Hokkaido Ice Cream. The locals call it soft cream instead.
Indeed soft and nice. Yums :)

We saw some sunflower fields along the way and we stopped randomly.

My first time seeing so many sunflowers! And Mt. Usu as the backdrop - beautiful!

As it was almost the end of our trip, our wallets were also running on low too! Hehe. So we decided to have instant ramen for lunch. We found a spot, sitting under large trees with a view overlooking Lake Toya. Something simple yet special

Next we went to the water edges of Lake Toya. Waters were crystal clear, clean and cooling. What a relaxing dip to cool off our hot, tired feet!

Lake Toya is a volcanic caldera lake with approximately 10kms in diameter. This lake never ices during winter and is the second most transparent lake in Japan. No wonder the waters were crystal clear! The island in the middle is called Nakano-shima.

Off to the fruit orchard next. Here we paid Y850 (about RM30) per person and you can pick and eat as much as you can. Japanese cherries, plums, apples and grapes were in season.

Japanese cherries are really sweet and have that fragrant taste to it. It's colour is tomato-like. Definitely looks and taste different from those that you get from Australia or the States.

Peter went "ga-ga" seeing so many plums! He's a real fan of these. It doesn't seem ripe looking at its colours, but it IS ripe. Very sweet and fragrant too.

Ladders were provided! Comes in handy for people my height. Hehe.

The "si-tao chai" (owner's son). The helps the family to man the 7 acre orchard. Friendly chap who tries very hard to tell us about his orchard with his limited English. Would you believe, he is married with a son. Only 27 years old! 

One for the road...

We called it a day and bid farewell to the sunny side of town... and headed back to the "unknown" again.