home and cherry clafoutis

you started your journey early yesterday because you got a 10:40 flight to catch.  at 6am you are already on the subway/train to narita.  the heat already unbearable at 6am in tokyo, so you could imagine how hot will it get in the mid morning and noon,  you are glad that you could escape from the heat because by the time the heat soars up, you already on your journey home.  you used "takkyubin" service to forward your two big luggages to the airport, and so the journey becomes hassle free. 

and you have plenty of time to enjoy the breakfast served in the business lounge while watching the airplanes in action.

and you arrived home (finally!). it's good to be home after such a long time. love the summer weather here too, sunny but only 19C and so you are like enjoying the free air condition under the clear blue summer sky. perfect home coming gift.

your favorite summer fruit is now available, with 1 kg of cherry in the fridge, you use 500g to make cherry clafoutis today.

simple, easy and effortless dessert served with ice cream.

you went back to office to return all the belongings because today is your last day. you feel relief, it's strange to have such feeling after 6 years of service but you no longer looking back...

the.journey

this is how far your have flown and traveled the last seven weeks since the fifteen of may.



tokyo haneda airport



 it all started from tokyo... all the way across asian countries...

hakodate russian house



tokyo haneda to hakodate - 682km 

hokkaido university campus







hakodate to sapporo - 153km (by shinkansen)



urumqi bazaar





sapporo to urumqi via beijing - 4268 km

香妃墓 in kashi



urumqi to kashi and return - 1077 km * 2

beijing tiananmen square



urumqi to beijing - 2456 km 

the peak hong kong

beijing to hong kong - 1972 km



macau city center

hong kong to/from macau - by boat ( about 100km each way)

 

A famosa











hong kong to melaka via kuala lumpur - 2516km + 123km (road trip from klcc to melaka)



melaka to kuching via kuala lumpur - 123km (road trip from melaka to klcc) + 976km

tip of borneo

kuching to kota kinabalu - 805 km

central in hong kong island

kota kinabalu to hong kong - 1825 km

 hong kong to tokyo - 2893 km

and eventually from tokyo narita to amsterdam - 9300km

all in all, an exciting, delicious, sunny, hot, tiring but fun journey. quality family time, friendship rekindled, made new friends, explore places that i have never been before, and options for child adoption (in fact almost close to one) and a "home" that close to completion. most importantly God is with us throughout the journey, His protection and provision compliments the trip further.

and now it's the end of the asia adventure.  a final closing to the asia chapter and a new chapter is awaiting for me to write. it will only be an even better chapter of iife.

this is a schedule post and when this is posted i am still on my 9300km journey to my "home", where my heart belongs and where my honey will be awaiting for me.

!!the end!!

tamparuli

your eldest nephew came all the way from brunei to kota kinabalu to see you. together with him, your honey and your sister, you made a day trip to kudat.

you had an early start where your nephew picks you up with the four wheels drive and heading north east bound. on your way, you had a detour to tamparuli, a typical kadazan town as this place is famous for it's fried noodles.

crossing the river and you are at the small town, found the restaurant and placed your order.

hubby being a cantonese prefers soup noodles while the rest of us opt for the famous fried noodles.

the noodles arrived in its humble form, almost similar to mee tuaran which you're not really impressed. but the aroma of the egg noodles is irresistible. a first spoon of it, you were not disappointed. it doesn't has the look but the fact it taste so so good that you and your nephew shared another plate.

tamparuli is a very small and interesting town, it doest fit into the special project that you are working on at the moment.

from tamparuli, you continue your journey to the tip of borneo.

p/s: day trip on 20th june 2011

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your last full day in tokyo. it's insanely HOT!! so hot that you are struck by the heat and hide in the museum almost the entire afternoon. europe is hot too, so you probably get out the plane with the similiar weather/temperature welcoming you (minus the air condition)

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hydrangea.紫.陽.花

tokyo is full of flowers, yesterday you had a date with iris and today you visited hydrangea. ajisai matsuri あじさい祭り is on at the moment to commenmorate the viewing of hydrangea flowers.

this is the reason you love tokyo, flowers are planted and timed according to the season of the year so that you got to enjoy the parks and gardens with different colors throughout the year.

you wanted to visit a museum in roppongi but when you're at the platform you saw the station "toshimaen" at the opposite direction, while thinking and deciding you stepped into the train to roppongi and on the next station you step out and go to the other platform and head to "toshimaen" instead.

impromptu, spontaneous, complete change of destination in split second.

and you're glad for the decision as you're welcome by the hydrangea in different species and colors.  you just love it!

it's been grey and drizzling whole day, but it couldn't stop you from photography. plus you have your newly acquired nikor 35mm f1.8 lens to try out and so you just get excited by the different compositions and frames and shots.  it's definitely more versatile than the 50mm.  with this lens you get good close up shots of hydrangea and also able to get overview photos without much problem as long as your legs are willing to zoom in and out.

dear.iris.菖.蒲.園

it's good to be back to tokyo, even just for the last few days.

you went to JLH this morning, met up with your tokyo big family, still feel very at home even you are here for the last time.  lots of catch ups, chats and laughters with your life group members.

you want to slow down and so you went to meiji jingu inner garden where iris is blossoming in the meadow. you have seen this before at nezu museum but nothing is as spectacular this.

in reality, there are so many errands to run, you collected your luaggage from your ex-apartment, some last minute 100 yen shopping, repacking and others.

and there won't be much time that you can spend this way, between the errands to do.

but you still took some time to slow down a bit, sitting at the viewing platform for some moments to appreciate the breathtaking beauty of the lush meadow of iris, and breathe in some fresh green air.

hope you have a relaxing sunday too!

paradise.found

greetings from tokyo. i am glad to be back here and will enjoy my last few dys to the fullest. while I don't consider tokyo a paradise and it may be a seafood or shopping paradise but I am not referring to paradise of that sort. this is what I called a paradise....


a beach area about 35 min drive away from Kota Kinabalu. Despite of the stormy and rainy weather in the morning, you just seize the moment of the reasonably good afternoon sunshine at nexus beach resort.

As soon as you arrived, you are welcomed by the green pasture and ponds. A neatly manicured garden.

Gracious lotus, pretty paradise birds dominant the place.

at the wooden bridge, you almost thought you are at giverny - the birthplace of claude monet and his Japanese garden in giverny as you stand there and appreciating the beautiful lotus.

from the garden, you landed at the serene beach. a patch of beach almost all for yourselves. it's quiet, secluded and blessed with a long patch of powdery and clean sandy beach that is so soft and safe to walk on bare foot.

the sky is a little cloudy but perfectly fine for a afternoon sunbathing. you take turn to sunbathing, to ride on the rather mild waves.

atami.baien.statues

i am now in hong kong. flew in yesterday and just had my social obligation "yum cha" with my FIL.  hong kong is very pretty today, the sky is blue and the white cloud is puffy.  my hands are itchy again but i probably will not have time to do much shooting.

since i have not uploaded any photo of my recent borneo trip, so here are photos of some sculptures and statues at atami baien when i was there in search for the ume.

atami, the tokyonites playground and weekend heaven of beaches and hotspring.  i am still pondering if i should make a trip to ito (伊豆半島), small town in izu pennisula in the coming days before i fly back to the lowland.

kyu.furukawa.teien.旧.古.河.庭.園

it's hard to describe your feeling but today you are moving on again to the next destination.  you enjoyed borneo (both sarawak and sabah) so much that you refuse to go, but time is ticking (tick, dock, tick, dock ...) so today you will move on to the next destination.  you feel so blessed, you spent wonderful time with your families and friends... and needless to say, the additional 3kg weight on your body that you have to drag along...

while your next destination is not tokyo but you know you will eventually spend the last few days of your finale vacation in the land of the rising sun before heading back to the lowland and start new. yes, new because it's going to be a new beginning and you are excited for july!

for now, you are going to shift your attention out from borneo and refocus back to tokyo, a city that you love so much even though your time and season for tokyo/japan is almost up. and surely you are going to take a few more walks in the gardens and parks of tokyo like this one....

kyu furukawa mansion in  mid april and it's already warm as you stepped in to the garden. 

on your way to the garden, you came across this store that selling the spring taiyaki. well, why not get one to try?

so you place your order...

and your strawberry taiyaki in making....

you grab a bento in one of the supermarket and enjoy it at the park, alone but you are not lonely because you are out there in the green pastures and facing a pond...

when you are done with your bento, you took your taiyaki (たい焼き), well  literally "baked sea bream" and it's still warm and yummy....

while enjoying this view in front of you, it was hot during the mid afternoon sun as the temperature was soaring to the 20c....

spring is full of colors, sakura may have gone, but this vivid green, baby green under the sun is inspiring.

from the park, you approach furukawa mansion from a different side and this time you got the view of this elegant western building from a different perspective, if only those azaleas trees are blooming in colors... (imagine)

it has a very cultured and manicured french garden, lots of rose trees but not yet in season...

but surely the roses will pop up here...

azalea are not quite there yet, but some early ones already showing their true colors

and you leave the park by having another glimpse of this elegant house, you wonder who lived there and what is the story behind but there's no time to check it out, you will figure it out some days....

oh yes, now that you finished writing this, you are really looking forward to go back to tokyo again!!!