Big Bad Wolf Book Sale 2014

4th December 2014

I won a preview pass for The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale this year. Well, I think the organizer gave a lot of preview passes, so I had the chance to win that. Hahaha! Like previous years, I took half day leave to go to this book sale with my friend, Dila. Since this was a preview sale (one day before the actual sales begin), the crowd was less, and I could browse more leisurely. 

The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is held at MIECC, beside The Mines. Last year, we parked the car on the road side outside the MIECC, so this year, we already make up our mind to park inside MIECC, however, somehow we took a wrong turn and went into The Mines car park instead. Well, since we were hungry, we went to The Mines to have our lunches before proceeded to MIECC. (have to build up energy for the books lifting!)

Bonding Time With Family

Lately, the TNB electricity supply to my residential area was quite erratic, I have experienced power supply off a few times for the pass one month. Most of the time, the power supply would recover after a short period, but one time, it dragged until a few hours. 

I am a typical person who spend most of my time in front of the computer, so when the power supply was off, I felt so empty inside. But, I managed to spend some quality time with my family, everyone dropped their phones, computers and just talked. It's quite nice, temporarily offline and bond with family. 

Book Fairs on November 2014 & December 2014

Lately, there are many book fairs and from the information released to media, the prices are quite cheap. Read an article on The Star today promoting a book fair by Popular, from the article, it mentions that the books were priced at RM5, well, the price is cheaper than the normal Big Bad Wolf novels. I am quite tempted to go, but after coming back from a 11 days trip, I don't have the time, plus I got a preview pass for the Big Bad Wolf, so I think I will only go to the Big Bad Wolf. Ahhh, difficult choices. 

RM5 Fiesta by POPULAR

Venue:  Viva Expo Hall 1 & 2

Date:    21st November ~ 30th November 2014

Time:   10am – 10pm

an article promoting the RM5 Feast

The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale

Venue:  MIECC

Date:    5th December ~ 16th December 2014

Time:   7am from 5th December to 9pm 16th December (non stop)

Books that I hope to find:
Mitch Albom - The Time Keeper
books from Neil Gaiman
books from Terry Pratchett
& some non-fiction

preview pass of The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale

Moisturized During Winter

I never understood the need of body lotion, hand cream and lip balm when I was younger, but when I moved to a country with four seasons, I really appreciated the lotions. During the dry winter months, I would feel itchy all over. So, I applied the body lotion diligently. My record was one 400ml bottle lotion in a month. In Malaysia, even a small bottle body lotion would stay in my possession for years and the volume wouldn't change much. Hahaha!

A friend once told me to take short showers and cut down the use of shower gel to reduce the dryness, however I couldn't do it, during winter time, the long hot water bath was so soothing, so warm, so calming. So, I used up many bottles of body lotion and I didn't have any preferences. As long as it's not sticky, then it's fine for me. 

essentials during winter (body lotion, hand cream and lip balm)

Against the Odds: An Autobiography of James Dyson

For someone who have never use a vacuum cleaner before and never feel the need to get one, I read this autobiography from James Dyson, who is the famous inventor of dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner. 

I grew up without carpet in my house, so the cleaning method was always sweep and mop. When I got an apartment in Japan with carpet flooring, I just got myself a sticky roll to roll away all the dust, luckily I was in that apartment for only one year, I couldn't stand carpet flooring, I felt that it was too dusty and in my mind, anything that is not cleaned using water is not clean!

Kose Cosmeport Clear Turn White Sheet Mask

One thing I noticed in Japan was that the sheet masks are more varied than in Malaysia. Although some high end sheet masks are really expensive, most major brands came out with cheaper alternatives, like the Kose Cosmeport Clear Turn White Sheet Mask. For a box of 5, it normally cost 500 yen or less in some discount stores. It is quite affordable and the quality is good compared to the price. So, this is the sheet mask I bought when I was in Japan. 

Although I have acne prone skin, my skin is actually on the dry side. So, this moisturizing mask is quite useful for me. During the winter months when the heater is on most of the time, applying a sheet mask like this really soothes the skin. 

Kose Cosmeport Clear Turn White Sheet Mask (moisturizing with the help of collagen)

Half Day Around USA

19th May 2012

After I moved to Oita, my friend SK brought me around the town to help me familiarize with the place and to tour some of the local attractions. Initially, we wanted to go to a place to see wisteria lane, however, we didn't know that the flowers were all gone, just left the green leaves on the vines, we missed the blooming time and we were only one week late. Haiz! 

wisteria lane minus the flower

Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Bought this book from The Big Bad Wolf sales. I am a fan of the TV series "Bones", so I read many novels from Kathy Reichs too. The main differences of the Dr. Brennan in the novels and the dramas were the novel Brennan was older, based in Canada, has a adult daughter, and an alcoholic.

Although I feel that the title of this book didn't match the story, the story is quite engaging. The main theme of this novel is about biker gangs fight and murder. Initially, the protagonist Dr. Brennan was investigating a case of a twins bikers. Both of them were killed in a explosion and since both were identical twins, the identification became difficult. Well, after some investigations by Dr. Brennan. She managed to identify the twins.

Dr. Pharm (Snail Essence Mask)

I got this mask as a free gift after visiting the Lotte Duty Free Shop. The packaging gives this mask a more expensive image, with a clean, simple silver colour cover. Unlike other korean mask I bought, the back cover is very simple, with only Korean and Japanese descriptions. So, the back cover didn't look so jammed with all sorts of information. I like the packaging.

Since I had only one sheet of this, I couldn't gauge how my face reacted to the mask. Like all the other masks, right after applying the mask, I felt the skin was smoother. However, the effect was not long lasting. 

front cover

Japan

Well, in my two years in Japan, although I didn't cover all the prefectures like my colleague, I managed to cover all the regions, it is no small feat, I think. From north to south of Japan, I can see that every places have their own unique points, language and culture. Even though I can understand a bit of Kyushu Japanese (Kumamoto-ben), the Osaka dialect and many other dialects baffled me. Luckily, most of the time I traveled with my friends who are very fluent in Japanese, so the trips normally went on smoothly. 

In my first day in Japan, I met with the 311 earthquakes, and it really scared the hell out of me, it was the first earthquake I experienced. Then, the second day, all the TV programs were about the meltdown of nuclear reactors. I didn't get a good start in Japan, however as days went by, I started to like the country, although it is a very natural disasters prone country, the safety feature is quite strong. I wouldn't say that all Japanese are good people, but most people are kind, crimes at very low level and I had no fear when I went out at the middle of the night. The public transport in Japan are very punctual, so people can actually rely on the public transport to go almost anywhere, except the remote area. I cherished and appreciated the two years experience there, working and traveling around, had my first taste of raw food, missing nasi lemak, etc. 

Now that I am back to my home, Malaysia, I can eat nasi lemak whenever I wanted to. lol!

regions in Japan (photo edited from wikipedia)

The places I have been to

• Hokkaido 北海道
• Tohoku 東北地方
• Kanto 関東
• Chubu 中部地方
• Kinki 近畿地方
• Chugoku 中国地方
• Shikoku 四国
• Kyushu 九州
• Okinawa 沖縄

Kawashiri Shrine Autumn Festival 河尻神宮秋季大祭

19th October 2011

Like Malaysia, Japan has many festivals. I came across this Kawashiri Shrine Autumn Festival when I was on my way home. When I was walking to the train station, I heard loud bangs and a lot of people were heading to the Kawashiri Shrine. It stirred my curiosity, so I walked there too. Apparently, an archer was riding on a horse and he shot an arrow to a diamond shaped target. When the archer managed to hit the target, the spectators laughed and applauded, the atmosphere was joyous. Well, that day was a working day, so I was actually surprised with the turnout, it was full of people, young and old. 

archer on a horse wearing traditional clothes

Suizenji Garden (水前寺公園)

20th March 2012

Suizenji Garden is one of the famous tourist spots in Kumamoto City. However, I was never tempted to go there until a taxi driver kept recommending Suizenji Garden to me after he knew that I lived in Kumamoto when I went for a business trip in Oita. So, on a windy day, I went to this garden. It is near the Suizenji Garden Tram Stop.  However, I went by car because a colleague brought me there. There's nothing special with the entrance, just a simple stone signage.

entrance to Suizenji Garden

Cafe 1986

26th July 2014

Me and a few friends were not able to meet up during Chinese New Year, so for the Hari Raya Holiday, we finally made a plan to meet up. Initially, we planned to go to Pavillion or One City, however decided to just choose a cafe nearer to home because we just needed a place to eat and talk. A friend suggested Cafe 1986, since no objection, Cafe 1986 it is. 

Before I left for the place, I googled and searched Cafe 1984, and the top results were all related to George Orwell's 1984. Hahaha, I typed wrongly, it should be Cafe 1986. I guessed the Cafe 1986 came from the year the owner was born. Anyway, if the owner put named his cafe as Cafe 1984, I am pretty sure it won't show up in the first 10 or 20 pages in Google Search.

Dates

During the month of Ramadan, there were many advertisements on dates on the radio station. So, I kept hearing the name of the brand "Yusuf Taiyoob, Yusuf Taiyoob ....." everytime I tuned to the radio station. Well, after some time, I guessed the advertisement worked, when I saw the Yusuf Taiyoob dates in supermarket, I bought one packet. 

Normally, I only eat dates during Chinese New Year because that was the only time where my family bought many kinds of dates (red dates, black dates, etc) for praying. This Safina dates was very different in terms of taste, texture and size.

Pacemaker, As One and Champ (Korean Sports Movies)

I watched a Korean movie late at night yesterday, it was scheduled to be shown on TV at 12 o'clock midnight and initially I was going to give up because I was very sleepy, then before I switched off the TV, I became energized after watching the last few minutes of funny ghost show "Sini ada hantu". Since the sleepiness faded, I watched the "Pacemaker", a Korean movie about a marathon runner. 

Like any other sports movies, "Pacemaker" is a very inspirational movie. The protagonist Man Ho was a professional marathon runner that suffered a leg injury and became a delivery guy for a fried chicken shop. Then, Man Ho former coach came back to ask him to go back to the national team to be a pacemaker for a promising marathon runner. Since Man Ho couldn't let go his love for running, he agreed to that. However, initially his coach didn't tell him that his leg injuries were so bad that after the competition, there was high possibility that he couldn't run anymore. When Man Ho knew about that, he left to pursue his dream of actually complete a marathon race to end his career, not as a pacemaker. However, due to some circumstances, he went back to the national team to join the Olympic game as a pacemaker for his teammate. During the game, his estranged brother came to see him and this motivated him, he actually finished the full marathon.

A Short Trip to Daikanbo in Aso Kumamoto

20th March 2012

Google search the keyword 'Daikanbo' will show many beautiful lush green images of field and mountain. So imagine my surprise when I reached Daikanbo on a still chilly day in March 2012, what I saw was nothing but patches of black burned ground. It was so different from what I have imagined. At first, I thought a big wild wire had burnt out the whole area, then thanks to the information board, I learnt that the area was burnt on purpose to avoid reforestation to maintain the grass field. Well, at least I never suffered from any hazy conditions for my one year stay in Kumamoto City. So, no complaint here. 

In Aso, there is even a Fire Festival 火祭り every year where two big huge "火" characters were arranged in two peaks and burnt at night. It's something tourists can go to. However, in the Aso tourist website, it mentioned that although the Fire Festival is open for tourist, the open burning is not and they hoped that non related persons will not go and disrupt the operation.

A Short Trip To Taman Negara

12th to 14th October 2013

15th October 2013 was a public holiday. Initially, me and my friends were thinking on a 4-day trip in Taman Negara. However, after much considerations, we decided to just have a 3-day trip. Well, since we were not interested in camping out in the middle of jungle, 3 days in Taman Negara were more than enough. To simplify the trip planning, we just booked everything from NKS. We chose the cheapest package, around RM150.00 per person. It includes 2 nights hostel stay, meals, tour guide and the transportation in Taman Negara. 

First Day

On the 12th October morning (a fine Saturday), I met up with my friends for breakfast before departing. It will be a long ride to Taman Negara from Selangor. Then, we tried to pump fuel when we passed by Telok Panglima Garang. However, before we entered the first gas station, the worker there was waving to us, signalling us to leave, so we thought that the gas station was running out of RON95, so we left and drove to another gas station. The next gas station was quite empty too and a staff walked out to tell us that the area was experiencing power outage, so they couldn't sell us anything. Then, my friend got a call from the factory. The power outage affected the factory we worked too, so not only the production line was affected, even the system was all down, so even though there were many finished goods, none of the stuffs could be shipped out. Then, another friend got a call from his boss, asking him to access the situation. Both my friends answered that we were going for a holiday and out of town, not able to support. Coincidentally, my trip-mates this time were all company colleagues, luckily, all 12 came from different groups. Hahaha! Our bosses could find other members to help. 

Aqualabel Special Gel Cream

I got a small bottle of free Aqualabel Special Gel Cream when I bought the Aqualabel Moist Perfect Milk UV SPF 28 PA++ in Guardian yesterday. Well, the packaging was too brief and I had no idea at all what this "special gel cream" was. Thanks to internet, apparently this is a 5 in 1 Collagen Gel Cream (lotion, essence, emulsion, cream and sleeping mask all jumbled into one).

So far all the Shiseido products that I used were made in Japan, this gel was made in Taiwan, my first. Well, when I opened the lid, the first thing I noticed was the smell, I like my skin care with no fragrance. However, the smell was not strong, after I tried it on my skin, the smell dissipated. This is something I can accept.

From the appearance of the gel, it looks watery. When I gently shakes the bottle, the gel moves like water. Mmmm, not really water, harder than water, but softer than jelly. It is more viscous than water. Although it's watery, it sticks to the finger, lol!

Well, I applied it on my cheeks yesterday night after all my usual skin care steps. Upon applying on the cheeks, I felt coolness on the applied area. I have a very sensitive acne prone skin, so I only applied it on my cheeks (less prone to acne for me). Since today is just the second day, no effect could be seen yet. I will use this gel for one week to see whether there are any effect on my face, if it breaks me out, I will use this on my neck area though! Hahaha!

Aqualabel Special Gel Cream (front)

Aqualabel Special Gel Cream (back)

Aqualabel Special Gel Cream (top view)

free Aqualabel Special Gel Cream after buying a Aqualabel product

Update 20th May 2015

Mmm, for me, this cream didn't do any miracles to my face, but it didn't break me out, plus point here. After a few times on the cheeks only, I applied the cream on my whole face, I felt that it was just sitting on the face, not really seeping into the skin, so I stopped using it on my face and just applied it on the neck until I finished the cream. It's ok, but quite expensive for the neck from the look of the retail price, hahaha!

I Like The Original Sweet, Full Fat Food Items

Nowadays, many health blogs and newspapers featured articles about the danger of sugar or on almost every food items. And a lot of people are starting to realise the need to consume less sugar or less. The food manufacturers were quick to address this issue, many came out with zero sugar or less sugar items. 

The zero sugar coke is in the market for a long time now, but I have never bought a zero sugar coke before because my interest in this so called healthier version of coke was killed off right after I had my first can of free zero sugar coke given during a promotional activity many years back. After I drank that, I felt like craving for more because to me, soft drink meant cold sweet fizzy drinks. Minus out the sweetness, it was like drinking a bland carbonated water only, I might as well as drink cold plain water. Save money and real healthy. I didn't buy soft drink much, but when I wanted to, I would buy the original sweet version coke. 

It's the same with zero alcohol beer, I don't really drink alcohol (by choice), but I feel there is no point to come out with zero alcohol beer. Well, maybe a child could legally drink the zero alcohol beer, but wouldn't it hooks the kid up with beer since young? It's like nurturing a future customer. 

Likewise for the zero fat yogurt, it's so difficult to find full fat yogurt in Malaysia, the supermarket shelves were stocked with low fat yogurts. So unbelievable. In Japan, it's very easy to get the non zero fat or non low fat version yogurt. I ate a lot of yogurt in Japan, often finished up a 450g tube in three days. Now, seeing all those low fat yogurt, I just stopped buying. 

One funny story about zero sugar coke, my mother bought a 1.5l zero sugar coke accidentally, since it was too troublesome to go back to the supermarket to change it, she decided just to drink it. However, she couldn't stand the blandness, so she actually cooked up a cup of syrup to add to the zero sugar coke to sweeten it.(・∀・). Ah, it's so nice to drink sweet cold cola!

Anyway, I believe in varieties and moderation, even something good will become toxic if eaten in exceedingly large quantity. Bon Appétit!

The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith

My first book on "THE NO.1 LADIES' DETECTIVE AGENCY". Well, this book was not Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle. But it gave me warmth and I felt happy reading it.

I had a three days training course in Cyberjaya from Tuesday. I hate traffic jams, so I left the house early and reached the training centre early in the morning. In fact, my car was the first car on the parking area. So, I sat in the car and read.

In this detective story, there were no speedy car chase, violence, high tech spying technology, science of deduction. In this series, the lady detective, Mma Ramotswe and her assistant Mma Makutsi didn't handle huge big cases, but they did help their customers. I like the way the office habit was portrayed in the story, a hot cup of tea every morning, every occasions, sad or happy. Well, coffee or tea are playing a big part in office politics anywhere, I think.

Sun Dried Mango

A colleague of mine just returned from Philippine for a short holiday back home and he brought us some dried mango as souvenirs. Well, I like the dried mango and I think it's delicious. When I was chewing the dried mango, I happened to remember that there's a mango tree near my house and the fruits were plentiful. However, most of fruits were left to rot because the mango was quite sourish. So, I thought that maybe I could make dried mango with the not so in demand mangoes.

After making up my mind, I googled around for the methods to make dried mango. Most recipes called for food dehydrator. Well, I don't have that gadget and I won't buy one just for the sake of trying, so I opted for sun dried method. Well, sun dried is one of the methods to prolong the life of food. However, compared to food dehydrator, sun dried method will take longer period and exposed to the environment (dust, and maybe a fly or two). After researching online, I gave up because it is too much work. 

Eric by Terry Pratchett

Today is a public holiday and my wish to sleep late was squashed by a phone call from the company at 6.30 a.m. After I woke up, I had trouble to go back to sleep and it was too early to do anything. So, I read. I chose a book by Terry Pratchett that I bought from The Big Bad Wolf sales last year. 

Well, this's my first Terry Pratchett and I love this book! It's very funny, plus the font is big and not long winded, I finished this up in 3 hours, had breakfast in the middle ♥.

The story is about a boy, Eric (a demonologist) who wanted to summon a demon to fulfil his three wishes, to rule the world, to meet the most beautiful woman ever lived and to live forever. Instead of a demon, he summoned a wizard instead and not just any wizard, but the most incompetent wizard in the universe (the words used in the back cover of the book)! Well, this is my first discworld novel, so I am not so familiar with the settings and characters in the book, I enjoyed it and I am thinking to find other discworld novels.

Bee Hoon Kueh

I like Bee Hoon Kueh, everytime my mom cooked it, I would have eaten three to four bowls of it. It is a comfort food for me. Apart from nasi lemak and spicy food, Bee Hoon Kueh was one of the food I craved in Japan. 

One time, I was craving for it so hard that I actually cycled out to supermarket to buy flour. After I went home with the ingredient that I remembered that I didn't know how to cook Bee Hoon Kueh. So, thanks to skype, I called my mom and she told me how to cook it. 

Ingredients:

Flour, salt, dried anchovies for the soup stock. 

(I added prawn too because I had it with me that time, and prawn really didn't go well with Bee Hoon Kueh)

flour, salt and soup stock

Discounted Food Items Near Expiry Date

In Japan, it's easy to find near expiry food items being heavily discounted in supermarket. I bought many food stuffs on discount there and I don't mind the expiry date. To me, as long as the colour and taste remain the same, it is safe to eat although it is over the expiry date. (Well, at least this is what my friend in food industry told me)

The items near expiry date I bought include meat, bento, bread, fish, dairy products and even tofu! Sometimes, I would even eat the tofu one or two days after the expiry date, as long as the tofu didn't smell bad.

I was staying alone in Japan then, so I had difficulty to finish up the salt, sugar, miso paste before the expiry date, I continued to consume all the items after the expiry date. I think it is absurd to set a expiry date on salt though, sugar does become less sweet after awhile (my feeling), while miso paste is a fermented stuff, it couldn't get any worse, right? I did dispose my cooking oil after I realised it's over the expiry date, I was worried about the oil getting rancid.

For meat products, the supermarket would start to offer discount 2 days before the expiry date. Hmmm, I wonder how they determined the expiry date of meat!

pork 50% discount (半額=50% discount)

Mind Boggling Stuffs I Bought From Japan

Well, it's normal to buy stuffs during travel. I would buy things that I normally wouldn't buy when I was in a foreign land and I bought a lot of things that don't even make sense of myself. I bought a lot of accessories in Japan, the problem is I don't wear accessories, I don't even use key chain, I only use a ring to hold all my keys. Now, all of these accessories are wrapped in a plastic bag and kept under my bed, I will occasionally take it  out to admire before putting it back. Hahaha!

I got the below accessories, brooches and key chains in a shop in Kobe, it was having sales! I think every simple piece cost 500 yen, since it looks cute and not so expensive (I was earning in Japanese yen then), I bought all that! 

accessories

Shiseido Aqualabel Prefect Protect Milk UV (Blue) & Moist Protect Milk UV (Red)

After I had a very bad sunburn from just one day of snowboarding, I realised the importance of applying sunscreen. My first sunscreen was from Nivea (can be used on both face and body), it was not expensive too, however, I had to stop using that on my face because my eyes were irritated by the sunscreen, everytime I applied the Nivea sunscreen, I would have itchy eyes. So, I went shopping for another sunscreen. Since I was using Shiseido products on my face prior to that and it was ok, I decided to get a Shiseisdo sunscreen, I didn't go for the expensive one though, I bought a drugstore Shiseido sunscreen, a Aqualabel Prefect Protect Milk UV SPF 50+ PA+++.

Initially, I felt it was too heavy for me, however after around a week, I got used to the texture. After that, I got another sunscreen from the same line, a Aqualabel Moist Perfect Milk UV SPF 28 PA++. The Moist Perfect Milk has a lower SPF and PA, but it is more runny and for the same price, 5ml more! The Perfect Protect Milk has higher viscosity than the Moist Perfect Milk too. So, before applying the Perfect Protect Milk, there is an instruction to shake well before use "よく振ってから、お使いください". (There are metal balls inside the bottle)

Now I am using both interchangeably, and the Perfect Protect Milk is almost finish. I think I will buy the same sunscreens after I clear up these 2 bottles. 

Aqualabel Protect Milk UV

Make A Gif From Video Using VLC & PhotoScape

I am quite free today, so I decided to learn how to make a Gif from video. I have installed Photoscape in my computer already, however Photoscape can only make Gifs from pictures. So, I googled around, netizens provide a lot of ideas and tips. There are many online editors that are able to convert video file to Gif file directly, however I am afraid that those free editors are malware. Finally, I found out that VLC player can convert video file to multiple screenshots. I didn't have VLC player, so I downloaded and installed it in my computer. 

*I have confidence on VLC player because many people I know are using it.

my first Gif on wind up tin robot!

There are 2 options to screenshot in VLC

1. one screenshot at a time
2. multiple screenshots as the video file is running

Souvenirs from Japan

There are many things to buy in Japan as souvenir. However, most of the time, I would stick to food items because it is cheaper and easier to distribute to colleagues. Due to the 'omiyage 御土産' tradition, most Japanese people will buy souvenir for colleagues, I ate a lot of omiyage during my two years working in Japan. Well, I also bought packets of souvenirs during my travel for my colleagues. (contribute back!)

*omiyage = something like local produce

Due to that omiyage tradition too, one can find many nicely packed cookies or sweets (菓子) in beautiful boxes in the shops in tourist attractions. Normally, it came in 30 pieces per box. The one I bought range from 5 pieces to 40 pieces. One box normally costs around 1050 yen. From 1st April 2014, the sales tax will increase from 5% to 8%, so it would probably costs 1080 yen per box or the retailers will absorb the cost themselves, which I think is very unlikely!

Below photo shows some normal souvenirs. Normally, one can find similar products like below photo, boxes of cookies wrapped in cute packaging related to the place one is visiting. In Kumamoto, the normal (not so expensive and affordable with high quantity) souvenirs are cookies wrapped in packaging with Kumamon photo. This is the type people normally buy to give to colleagues. 

souvenir from Kumamoto (utilises Kumamon)

Travel

I like to read on the backpackers on-line forum and one of the discussions is about travel companions. A lot of people agreed that there's no bad travel companions, just incompatible travel companions. Well, that is so true.

There are all kinds of travellers out there, some are into relax mode, some just want to go shopping, some are budget travellers, some of them need rice for every meals, some don't eat beef (like me!), some are vegetarian, some want to go to all the tourist attractions in a very short span of time, etc.

Well, I have never travel alone. For all of my trips, the minimum headcount was two, the maximum was ten. I had only separated with my travel companions for maybe half a day when we had different targets during a long trip. And I had been the planner for a few of the trips. I wouldn't say that all the trips went without a glitch, but it all ended well. 

Postcard

I was not the kind of person who would send out postcard during travel, however, my travel mates love to send postcards. So, I sent out a few postcards too, mainly to myself and my parents. Nowadays, when looking back at these postcards, reminiscence back the journeys, I feel calm.

In Japan, to send a postcard to a domestic address, one just need to buy a 50 yen stamp. To send out a normal postcard to another country, the stamp needed is a 70 yen stamp. Stamp is very easy to get in Japan, just go into any post-office (some even open on Sunday) or convenience store and ask for 'kitte' or 'sutanpu'. The funny thing is I always said the wrong word, instead of 'kitte', I would ask for 50yen or 70yen 'kippu', then the convenience store staff would look confuse and he or she would ask around, somehow, someone would be able to guess what I want, hahaha! 

*kitte = 切手 (stamp in Japanese)

*sutampu = the way stamp is pronounced in Japan

*kippu = 切符 (ticket in Japanese)

Japan Pension: Lump Sum Withdrawer Payments

I worked in Japan for two years and I paid taxes and from the salary, pension was deducted as well. Since I am back to Malaysia, I wanted to claim back the money deducted for the pension earlier. So, I applied for it and got back 80% of the total amount, 20% was taken out by the Japanese government as tax. To get back the 20%, one needs to have a friend or acquaintance in Japan who is willing to go to the local tax office to settle the procedures. 

*Local tax office - the tax office in the city 市 / district 区 where you paid resident tax before. So, let's say I stayed in Kumamoto Shi before and I have a friend in Hokkaido, he or she will have to go all the way south from Hokkaido to Kumamoto Shi to settle all the paperworks for me. So, unless the amount is very big, normally people will just let go of the 20%. It is just not worth the trouble. 

Simple Steps To Draw A Bear

I still remember when I was in primary school, a Malay Language teacher taught us how to draw a bear using a very simple method. I am never good at arty stuffs, so from that time onwards, I drew bear just like the way she taught me years ago. It came with a song, somehow I couldn't recall the whole song, just remember there were many "bulat" in the lyrics. 

*bulat (Malay) = circle

Simple steps to draw a not so cute bear

“Go Green” with Near New Banknotes for Chinese New Year

To me, Chinese New Year is the time for family gathering, not the food, not the angpow and certainly not the holiday. Last year, I was in Japan during Chinese New Year because my stint in Japan would end on March, since it was just about two months time before I could go home for good,  I decided not to go home during CNY, it was a big mistake, I ended up crying when I watched all those CNY advertisements (especially the advertisements by Bernas and Petronas) and I felt so sad! Anyway, now I am at home, I can have a gathering with all my family members this year for Chinese New Year. Yeah! 

From July 2013, Bank Negara started the drive and encourage the public to use near new banknotes for angpow during Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Chinese New Year. Apparently, Bank Negara will print around 750 million pieces of RM1 and RM5 banknotes for the festivals, but 70% of it will be deposited back into the bank without any transaction or payment. Wow, the most interesting fact is printing that 500 million pieces of banknotes will consume more than 80 tonnes of ink and 2 million kWh of electricity which is enough to power 7,500 Malaysian homes for a month! (source: BNM)

總舖師 (The Moveable Feast)

總舖師 (The moveable feast) is a Taiwanese comedy about food. This movie has another name, direct translate as "Zone Pro Site". lol! Mmmm, it doesn't accurately reflects the true pronunciation of 總舖師 in Hokkien. Anyway, it is a very good comedy, I laughed from the beginning till the end.

Poster taken from douban

Quartet and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Just finished watching 'Quartet', a movie whose the leading actors and actresses were not young people. And the plot focused entirely in a retirement home. In this movie, the residents in the retirement home tried to raise money from an annual gala to keep the home going. Well, at the end, they succeeded, of course!

I watched another movie revolves around retirement home too , 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'. It's about retirees who couldn't afford to retire in United Kingdom and were lured by an advertisement to retire in India. The cost is lower in India, so, these retirees just sign up and flew to India.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke

Happy New Year, today is the first day of 2014, initially I planned to binge watch Korean dramas, but I changed my mind, instead of watching TV, I would read a book. I chose fairy tales! The book was "The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories". I bought this book because Neil Gaiman was one of the persons in the acknowledgements and partly due to the illustrations. 

It's a collections of short stories about fairies. In this book, the fairies were huge, most of the times taller than normal human beings, very different from my imagination of fairy, in my imagination, fairy is around the size of Thumbelina. The tones of the stories are quite dark and touches a bit on ladies power!