Japan Trip (Part 3)

Ghibli museum

I am working in animation industry. And i love animation.. i love Ghibli's movie... Most of us familiar with their works such as Totoro, princess Mononoke, Spirited away, Ponyo, Howl moving castle. Anyway if you dont know about Ghibli's you can google it hehehhe... 

Visiting Ghibli Museum has been in my bucket list for years.. So when i visited Japan, that was the first place that i really want to visit. Buying The museum ticket is not as easy as i thought would be.. I have to buy it from LAWSON (is convenient store such as 7E in Japan). You can find Lawson everywhere.. in the airport, train station, side of the road.. everywhere..what you have to do when you arrived in Japan, you should get the Ghibli museum ticket first, because sometime you cant get the exact date and time like you want. Even better if you have friend or family (just like what we did) to buy for you a month before or 3 weeks before the date.

Here are tips to buy ghibli museum ticket in LAWSON :

1. go to LAWSON store (offcourse... --___--".)

2. go to the small machine inside the store.. it looks like atm but its ticketing machine

3. if you dont read Japanese just like me.. you just can stare the machine without buying it because everything written in Japanese.. so.. you will cry and go back home.. bye..

Hahahahahha... sorry just kidding...

what you can do is.. go to the shop keeper.. said "sumimasen" which means excuse me..

then you can ask them to buy Ghibli museum ticket and pointed at the machine.. and bow a bit... 

speak english slowly and highlight on the word "ticket" and "ghibli museum" and pointed at the ticket... then tell him the date.. speak slowly because most of them doesnt really speak english.. but, they're very helpful and friendly. and dont forget to say "arigatoGozaimas" which means thanku when its done and... smileeeeee... 

-You can only buy the ticket a month before the date that you want to enter

-there are plenty time available to go inside the museum (you can only enter the museum on the time that available in your ticket) 

10.00 am,12;00 pm, 2 pm, 4 pm. The museum will be closed at 6 pm.. If you go inside the museum at 10.00 am, you can be inside untill 6 pm no problem.. But i don't think you really need that much time to stroll around the museum.. 

- the ticket cost 1000 yen per person

                      here are how the ticket looks like from lawson. (but this ticket has been used)

How to Get there?
You can go by train to Mitaka station... If you confused about Japan train, i was always referring to this site  http://www.hyperdia.com/en/ you can choose if you only want to use JR pass as well.. Its very convenient so you know what train to take,the time schedule for the train to be departed and arrival time also being mention.  Outside the train station, you can find the ghibli museum bus station. The bus color is yellow, and you can see this sign

Totoro bus stop sign

Dont worry the bus is very striking and you will know that one will go to Ghibli museum, and for this bus, unfortunately Jr pass Cant be used. You have to pay 320 yen Return.. you can pay in the machine next to bus stop (unfortunately i didnt take the picture) or you can pay inside the bus.

Then when we arrived.....

Magical environment.....

Enterance

How it looks from the outside

Can you spot the cat?

Maybe You're wondering is that's all?? no.. actually inside the building there are more things such as museum how the process of the animation, souvenir shop, Big neko bus for kids, funky stair, and they have mini theater showing short movie.. I really love the short that they were showing that day... it was about a sumo mouse.. i don't know where i can watch it again outside the museum.. it was really interesting. You will get piece of their film cut as a ticket inside the mini theater which is lovely.. that you can bring it home as a good souvenir

film strip as a ticket what a lovely way to recycle as well..

after strolling around the museum and got tired.. we saw their cafe.. but it was quite full so we were sharinga table with one friendly and lovely tourist from china and we had a good time there .

Outside the cafe

always order salmon and dont hesitate to tell the waiter about your diet restriction, Japanese are very helpful and take it seriously about it

we had a fun talk that night with fani solo traveler from china... i hope we can visit you someday

sorry for bad picture, it was dark and we were just using our phone

  

Japan trip (part 2) Harajuku

Tokyo was rainy that day.. we went to Harajuku for sight seeing.. i heard that many people like to dressed up here.. but unfortunately we cant see any one really dressed up like how i saw in magazine or those anime style high school girls even tough it was on weekend i wonder why.. maybe because it was too cold and rainy.. or maybe its not a trend anymore..

it was a rainy day in Harajuku all you can see are umbrellas

There are plenty crepe stall that you can find here.. we tried one.. but the taste pretty standard in my opinion 

We can find plenty interesting store as well here.. Some vintage store, make up store, daiso (where i stopped and got some hand warmer and gloves.. have to admit we were still adjusting from tropical to rainy winter) 

Then we decided to stop by in coffee shop and get our self warm hehehe... 

Well wasn't really a good day to stroll around in the rain.. so after being charged with warm coffee, we decided to find the train station and go back to my husband's cousin place. But on the way back.. we smell something really nice that our tummy could not resist.. 

We found Turkish kebab.. Kebab box.. 

here are the location of it.. 

The staff was super friendly.. when they found out that my husband is Malaysian, they start to sing 1 Malaysia song.. I forgot to take a picture when we were there.. i didnt take a picture of the food as well but luckily, i recorded them when they sing 1 Malaysia song heheheh...

Japan Trip (Part 1)

Asalamualaikum.. I havent update this blog for ages.. hahhaha... I didnt know what to do with this blog last time.. then.. I was thinking, why dont i just share my traveling experience here.. so someone can refer to this blog when they want to travel.. Because when i did some research for traveling, especially for the hotels,places and halal food, blogs really do help me.. So this is my turn to help someone else who might stumble on my blog while researching about their trip...

so.. i will share to you reader.. from my experience.. i hope you enjoy this..



I bought the ticket on may 2014 and travel in march 2015 (which is almost a year before the trip) There was promotion from Airasia. We bought the ticket 760rm/ per person Kuala Lumpur- Nagoya. that 760 include the luggage 20 kg returns and foods return as well. But unfortunately (or could be fortunately depends on your Point of view heheh) The flight to Nagoya was being cancelled and re direct it to Osaka- Kansai Airport. Luckily i can cancelled the hotel that i booked for Nagoya... So the tips when you bought the ticket long time before the traveling date is to find a hotel reservation  that you can cancelled.


And if you plan to go around Japan, i suggested you to buy JR pass.. its really...REALLY value for the money and experience if you want to ride Shinkasen from one city to another city. But if you just stay in one city, you don't have to buy it. Oiya.... about this Jr pass, you can buy this only if you are tourist in Japan. This Pass being available to attract more tourist to Japan. You can get 7 days pass like mine, 14 days or 21 days depend on your travel plan. I bought mine in
http://www.japan-rail-pass.com/?currency-code=USD&ap=b6021as&gclid=Cj0KEQjw-OCqBRDXmIWvveLE3_cBEiQAZWfImXNPR2tSNS0p38zCyfG2KyEvknn_Z6PbExKH9wyHXU8aAuBX8P8HAQ
They send it to Malaysia within 3 days with Fed ex.. with reasonable shipping cost. This ticket, has expiry date, i suggest to buy the ticket 2 weeks before the trip. I spend about 879 rm for this pass (depend on the currency.. and this is including shipping cost to Malaysia)


1st day-28 febuary 2015

Arrived in Kansai airport around 11 pm.. everything is closed... We plan to get our first train to Yokohama. The JR counter open around 5.30 am (you have to go to JR office to activate your JR pass and reserved seat without any additional charges)

So... we were stranded in the airport?? OO NOO..
well it wasnt that bad, since that my husband is a chatty person, he manage to find a friend and talked the whole night with him, a Malaysian who used to study in Japan. We got nice story and learn to differentiate what Onigiri that we can eat and what we Cant eat.. (technically we just choose the fish). We mistakenly bought pork Onigiri at first. :(
My husband ask the shop keeper in Lawson (it looks like 7 e that you can find it everywhere and 24 hours) He bought 2 and he gave one for me.. his onigiri was Salmon roe inside.. so, i open mind,, then... hmm.. doesnt looks like fish, then i throw it away.. Sorry Mr Pork Onigiri.. hiks.. but you're Haram for me.. Due to language barrier and everything is written in Japanese, we learned that when you buy things.. Just said 'NIKU DAME' means no meat.. Buta niku is Pork so careful about it if you dont eat pork just like me hehehe...

??? UPDATED FROM THE LAST POST.. now im not sure is it pork or mentaiko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentaiko

*sorry guys.. recent update.. now im not sure.. because my friend told me now it wasnt pork... it was mentaiko or marinated roe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentaiko.. i cant read this.. i was just assuming.. and wasnt sure.. so.. please.. if you know what is this, let me know ;) because i dont want to give false information...

well i end up just eating Mamme (instant noddle) that i brought with me. You can ask hot water freely in Lawson

good traveling tips, If you're really worry about the food, bring some easy food from home like serundeng, sambal teri then you can buy rice in convenient store like Lawson or family mart.

at 5.30

after praying and a bit of napped in the prayer room (Kansai airport has very convenient prayer room for muslim ) we went to the JR pass office to exchange our jr pass.. and you can booked a seat as well for Shinkasen.

                                      this is the JR office in Kansai airport open 5.30 am

then you will get this JR pass that you just have to show it on the gate before you enter the JR station.
the Ticket has expiry date, your name and your passport data and it cant be used by other person.
i bought the 7 days pass which means it will be expired in 7 days. It expired on 12am midnight. So if you're train departed before 12 am it still counted

off we go to Yokohama where my husband cousin's live and we were spending 2 night there.

                                                            me inside the Shinkasen

New hobby

I had fin creating accessories with my mom when I went back home..
Here are somr of my creations. . If you have same interest making the accessories probably we can share tips and tricks hihihi

Masak-Masak yuk....

Assalamualaikum,

Kali ini saya akan sharing recipe andalan saya yaitu........

                        
    Bulgogi

Apa sih sebenernya bulgogi itu?

Bulgogi makanan khas Korea berupa daging sapi yang rasanya rada2 manis gitu...

 Trus masaknya gimana??

Hoo... mudah saja membuantnya.. mari mengikuti resep saya dibawah ini...


Bahan2 yang diperlukan...

 - 150 grams daging sapi yg sudah dipotong potong halus

*kalau susah motong nya, bekukan dulu daging nya. Pada saat beku, lebih mudah dipotong halus-halus, tapi saya beli yang udah potongan kaya gini

-1/2 bawang bombay yg udah dipotong potong kecil2

- 3 sdm gula pasir

-3 sdm kecap asin

-4 sdm sesame oil (minyak wijen)

- Dan untuk taburanWijen (white sesame) yang sudah disangrai/digoreng tanpa minyak

Cara membuatnya....

1. Mix semua bahan kecuali wijen untuk taburan di dalam sebuah container plastik. 

2. Campur hingga rata

3. Biarkan selama minimal 1 jam. Tapi saya biasanya mendiamkan nya di dalam kulkas semalaman.

4. Panaskan wajan tanpa minyak di atas kompor.

5. Masukan  bahan yang sudah didiamkan tadi ke dalam wajan.

6. Masak hingga harum bau nya

7. Hidangkan dan taburi wijen di atas nya

Mudah bukan?? 

Selamat mencoba