2016年11月18日金曜日

[Japan Travel Fair] Welcome to Yokohama

As most of you might already know, I'm very fond of traveling and one of my favorite place to go for is Japan (Tokyo in particular). I'm still trying to live my long term goal of visiting Japan at least once a year, covering all of Japan if possible! I usually plan for my own trips, reading all sorts of information and reviews online, creating my own itinerary etc; however all the planning can be tedious without a proper direction, and I tend to skip out places with lesser reviews/less popular even though there may be some sort of hidden gems that I didn't know off. 

Which is why I was very excited to attend the Japan Travel Fair last week (9th-13th November) organized by Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) held in One Utama Ground Floor - Highstreet. I was very hyped up after hearing this event; I mean, what can be better than getting to know different prefectures specialty and culture from Japan, while participating in mini games for more travel goodies and discounts?

  
The main stage where all activities are held. Each prefectures took turns explaining about what is good to visit, and how do they differentiate themselves from other prefectures. There's even wagashi (Japanese handmade sweets) demonstration and tasting session which my Japanese colleague took much interest in. 


Free Yukata experience available as well :), and you can get your photo taken and printed out for remembrance. 

What grabbed my attention in this fair was a small booth promoting the city of Yokohama. To be honest I have always left Yokohama out of my travel itinerary because I couldn't find much info about the area, and it is less popular as compared to the other Japan travel hot-spots.


Look who i found! Ash from the GG Twins was the MC for the fair :)
 

Yokohama locals who promote at the booth were very kind, and they have spent around 20minutes explaining to me about Yokohama. And wow I was amazed and feeling all the regrets for not visiting this awesome location sooner ><.

Yokohama is actually the second largest city in Japan by population (with over a 3 million!!??), and is also known as Japan's first port of call. To me, this is probably the best place to go for a one day visit while staying in Tokyo, as it is only 30minutes away from Tokyo. This port city is suitable for travelers of all age: there's historical building, different sorts of interesting museums, awesome sceneries and even amusement park! There's no need to worry about transportation, as the railway access is as good as Tokyo.

Just to name a few attractions from Yokohama that caught my attention:

Skyline view and Sceneries

Minato Mirai 21 is the central business district of Yokohama city, and for those who are fans of skyscrapers views, you can head over to the Landmark Tower (Sky Garden observatory) located 273m from the ground - you can even see Mount Fuji and Tokyo Sky Tree from the observation deck! Get all your cameras ready XD

I may not be so much of a nature lover, but I do love beautiful parks and gardens as well~ For those who love beautiful Japanese parks, the Sankeien Garden is definitely for you. The locals recommended visiting the garden on Spring (sakura) and Autumn (maple leaves) for the best view.

Family Fun Time

For those going with family and kids, there's the Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise which is one of the most visited amusement park in Japan with an impressive aquarium. The entrance fee for Sea Paradise park area is free, so you could have a nice stroll and family picnic at the park area. Entry fee is only required for the attractions of Aqua Resorts and the rides of Pleasure Land.

Besides the aquarium, family could also bring kids to Zoorasia, currently one of Japan's newest, largest and best kept zoos. What is so special about this zoo is that the animals are kept closest to their natural habitat, spreading out among seven ecological areas: Asian Tropical Forest, Subarctic Forest, Oceanian Grassland, Central Asian Highland, Japanese Countryside, Amazon Jungle and African Tropical Rainforest. 

For the bold and young

Yokohama Cosmo World!!! I'm a huge lover of theme parks so I was really excited when hearing about this. The Cosmo World amusement park has a handful of roller coaster rides, carnival attractions, and symbolizes by a large Ferris wheel that doubles as a clock. In the evening the park is illuminated, and adds to the night view of the city.  
 
Ladiesss~~~
Shopping is the best in Japan!!! Yokohama is filled with tons of shopping malls, like the Queen's Square, Landmark Plaza, World Porters, just to name a few. Motomachi shopping district 

After shopping, there's also Manyo Club, a spa and relaxation center, offering hot spring baths with water brought in daily by truck from the Izu Peninsula. Paid services include acupuncture, foot pressure therapy and various styles of massage. Other services include restaurants, internet access and relaxation rooms. 
  
Food
What's traveling without good food :) There are many places to hunt for awesome food, like the Shin Yokohama Ramen museum (known as the world's first food themed amusement park). You could try out all the different ramen flavors because all stores offers mini ramen with super small portion for taste. 

There's actually so much more to Yokohama that I don't think I could cover in one single blog post; but for now Yokohama is definitely in my top list the next time I'm going back to Tokyo. If you want to understand more about the Kawaii (cute) and artsy aspects of Yokohama, do visit Kurumi's Blog here .

Thanks to Yokohama tourism, I got to dress up in Hakama during the fair too~


YAYYYY~ I still prefer the hakama I owned, but this one looks awesome as well! In Yokohama, there's Hakama rental service where you could rent one of these outfit and spend the day walking around in Hakama.
 


With the beautiful model from Amber Chia Academy. Am feeling like a potato standing with her haha.
 




Love the selfies taken that day >< But I do wish to put on some hair accessories to match with the outfit. 

To end my blog post, I wanna express my thanks to the Yokohama tourism staffs for their time explaining to be the specialty and culture of Yokohama, I really learn a lot during that short period of time; and of course friends whom I met during the fair for bringing me around for freebies. Won't you guys give Yokohama a try when visiting Japan? 

#haikara_yokohama #japantravel

2016年6月1日水曜日

DC Restaurant review

While typing this I've already booked another fine dining session with Stephanie for tomorrow's dinner at Bistro a Table. Going back there for the second time because that's how much I love that place, stay tuned for my blog post!
 
So this dinner was around few weeks ago I can't remember, and I have always wanted to try DC Restaurant because the ads keep popping up on my newsfeed and I've been reading good reviews about it. We booked our session at 7.30pm, and the dinner ended around near 10pm - quite a long wait in between each courses.
 
We went there right after work, and was too early so we decided to go grab a cup of tea at a nearby cafe. Forgotten the name of the cafe but the foods there looks great as well, especially the pizza! 
 

We went up on 7.30pm sharp. Greeted by the usherer, waiters and Darren himself! Recognized hiim right away because I've been reading many blog reviews with his picture in them lolol.
 
On the table: Antipasti of marinated local baby octopus - italian green olives - Bresoala air dried beef with peperoncino
I'm a huge fan of olives so yup! Loving these as usual. I remembered having something similar to these before, probably at my cousin's son birthday party - they got the entire fine dining crew to set up a fine dining party at their house. 


Chef's daily Amuse Bouche :D
Seriously forgotten what this dish was called, the name was way too long for me to remember. There's an oyster though~ The one in the middle is smoked salmon, and the one on the left should be Kakiage (fried vegetables) with caviar.


1st course: Wagyu oxtail ravioli with sea cucumber - with a light mushroom consomme  


2nd course: Wholesome - Britanny Blue lobster ; crab congee ; salted egg hollandaise : fresh bamboo shoot : Nasturrium flowers : Lobster essence
 
 
3rd course: Cold Capelini with botan ebi and abalone
Wasn't supposed to be abalone, original menu was to have Uni (sea urchin) and I was really looking forward to that sobssss. But the chef (Darren) came to us and said to replace it with some nice abalone, so well! Can't help it :)
 

4th Course: Seared foie gras with PX(Pedro Ximenez) Hibiscus; Macadamia; Beetroot; Cured Akami blue fin tuna

This was my ultimate favourite!! And it was pretty tragic when I totally forgot to take a picture of it LOL. Took a bite of it right after this selfie and still regretting till now.
 

Main Entree: Chilean Sea Bass with miso glaze - French white asparagus; Umeboshi Maltaise sauce; Grilled aus blue mussels; Pea Celeriac bamboo shoot ragout; oyster essence

Love love love the sea bass~ 
 

Stephanie's Main Entree: AOP French Anjou Pigeon - slow roasted and served medium rare: Mille Feuille of black truffle shavings & white asparagus: Lamb sweet breads: Puy Lentilles puree: Pigeon essence


Some lemon shaved ice to clean our palatte.
 


Mains: Aus lamb saddle (South Australia) crusted with porcini and Sansho pepper - slow roasted medallion (medium rare) ; glazed rainbow carrots ; Truffled potato croquettes ; sauce Bordelaise ; Crispy Kale + supplement: 50gms Ernest Soulard Muscovy Duck foie gras

MY ANOTHER ULTIMATE FAVOURITE!!! The Foie Gras here is soooo good, totally winning the game ~ Not regretting getting the extra suplement :)
 



Stephanie's Mains: DC Seafood Medley - Hokkaido Scallops: Pan seared fish of the day: Grilled local slipper lobsters: Vegetable vinaigrettes: Topped with a sea urchin emulsion

 
DC 1st Desserts: Creme fraiche sorbet with wild flower honey & honey comb crunch
This tasted average to me, feels like those from MilkCow.


DC 2nd Desserts: Coconut dessert: soft Yuba soybean skin ; pistachio pudding ; sticky rice with mungbean and macadamia ; fresh coconut ice cream

This is my favourite desserts!!!! I love coconut desserts to begin with, and I love the pistachio and mungbean too~


 Selfie while waiting. Waited in average 20-30minutes for each course lol.


Thanks a lot for the company Stephanie!
 


OOTD: Knitted cream blouse with velvet brown knee length skirt :)
 



2016年5月29日日曜日

Final Love Live 2016 (Live Viewing at GSC Mid Valley)

Still having the FEEELS while typing this T___T. I admit I'm not quite a Love Live (LL) fan at first (my sis was the one started to play the game, and introduced the game to me but I refused to play hahaha). And one day I just started playing, and here I am, a complete LL fan LOL. I quite like some of the songs, and even performed them several times with my band (full band and acoustic). My first cosplay was even Eli from LL!!!~ Seriously can't believe it...
 
Here's some of my cosplay photos from last year's Comic Fiesta 2015 (December), cosplaying Eli - First Live DVD cover version. Please be nice to me, considering this is the first cosplay of my life hahaha. Posting CF photos here because I won't have time to blog about CF lolol. Aoi cosplayed Nozomi, the same version as me, while Sayoko cosplayed Maki school uniform version. Aoi and I will probably be having a LL photoshoot soon yay!!! I definitely wanna get it done by this year :D
 







 
My favourite group photo at Comic Fiesta:
 
 
Forwarding time to the 1st of April 2016, where I'm preparing myself for Final Love Live concert T_____T. LL means a lot to me as I've seen how it grows every time, and I even cosplayed Eli (that shows how much I love the character). For the live viewing concert, I've decided to use up the nail seal (stickers) that I bought from Tokyo which I initially wanted to just keep and not use them.
 
I've thought of the designs for each and every nail, making sure that the colors matches each characters well :) I'm pretty proud of the results!

 
 

 
I'm soooo happy that GSC Mid Valley's management managed to bring LL live screening to Malaysia! A huge thank you to Chee Ren for helping us buying the tickets, and even exchanging the goodies with strangers just to help us get our favourite characters, really appreciate that~
 
Also a big thank you to AIO, for helping me to buy the S size live tshirt + wrist band :D The quantity were soooo limited and it would be impossible for me to get them myself.
 
Changed the tshirt in a nearby toilet, and ready to go!! YAY!~
#OOTD: LL Final Live T-shirt, black fluffy skirt, red checkered blouse as waist wrap, my favourite studded wedged boots.
 
 
Here am I!!!! I'm quite surprised that they changed the posters into LL posters. I love my wrist band soooo much!!!
 

 
Concert starts at 3pm (I took a half day leave for this concert), so we were chilling around taking selfies with the banners and billboards.
 

 

 
Our goodie bags + Aoi's Nozomi towel~
 



 
Me + my favourite Ayase Eli~ 

 
Waiting in the cinema with buddies~
 

 
Love the whole concert a lot!!!! Appreciate how Namjo still tries to perform even though her knees were injured >< Thank you very much to all seiyuus!!
 
We thought the billboard were gone after the concert, but it was hidden at a corner so we went back for more pictures, and more LOL.
 


 
I love the tshirt design from the back too!
 

 
Nozo x Eli - OTP?
 

 
My final best solo full body shot with all LL first batch members~
 


 
Quite envy both Aoi and AIO because they bought the awesome live goods and I don't have them. So I took this picture with my DIY LL nails hahaha:
 

 
Love Live is FOREVER!!! 今が最高!!!