Hari Raya 2015 - Family Getaway

Just like last year, when Ram had to go through another cornea transplant on her left eye during Ramadhan, this year's Ramadhan had also been a trying period for her. So was it for me. Both of us had very bad flu and cough and it was tough coping. with the incessant coughs, weezings, and sniffles, pressure was impacted on her eye that some times it became painful for the eyes. But Alhamdulillah, with Allah's blessings, we persevered and managed to perform the necessary obligations, or at least most of them, with very high hope that all our efforts  and prayers are acceptable by Allah and we seek His guidance always.

Then came Syawal and Eid'l Fitri. There was the usual reciting the Eid takbir and doa from house-to-house of our neighbours starting from soon after Isya' prayers and ending at about 1.00am or so. There would be food in every house and most of us would just take a bite or two or otherwise it would be tough overfilling our tummies then. Children especially, my grandchildren included, would enjoy these visits, as apart from eating good food, they will receive raya packets as well. There were easily about 70 children that night. By strange coincidence, five of the houses we visited served pizza and the children enjoyed themselves.

The next day, after Eid prayers and family breakfast, we had the usual rendang with rice cakes and also glutinous rice (ketupat palas) for breakfast, we adjourned to Ram's elder sister's house in Shah Alam for lunch. Lunch was the sister's signature lontong and more rendang.

We decided, breaking from our traditional annual Eid routine, to get away as a family for the Eid holiday period. We chose a place called Kepyok to spend our time together (google 'Kepyok Malaysia' for details), a resort quite a ways from the city, about an hour drive out to a remote area where there are alot of greens and of course serenity.

We spent two nights there, all of us, 2 grandparents, 6 parents and 7 grandchildren. We had the whole resort to ourselves. The resort is owned by a local Malay, Zakaria and his Japanese wife, Yasmin Yoko, who happens to be a very good cook. Tessa, Sita and Yasmin Yoko, had prearranged the menu for all the meals throughout our stay. Yasmin was the main chef and she has a helper to help her in the kitchen, We were all allowed access to the kitchen, encouraged to make ourselves at home, cook ourselves or together with Yasmin if we need to. The children get to make their own pizza and they had much fun! So the meals were Japanese, which everyone of us love, barbecue and pizza, Japanese rice and curry, sushi, a lot of vegetables, fruits, sweets and cakes. Steamed sweet potatoes, red beans soup, featured as snacks together with other snacks which are always on the dining table. Beverages available anytime throughout. 

When not eating the children swim a lot, the pool is always so inviting,

even after a lot of pizza!

When not eating and or not swimming, the children would play with the fish in the pond built around the chalets, or chase after the house cat, ducks and other domestic animals, and run up and down the hill to the gazebo:

For relaxation they woulod play chongkak, board games, monopoly, the piano, or read in the library.

Time well spent, Alhamdulillah.

MKI Ramblings Unlimited

Teratak Senyum Simpul, PJ

The Beautiful Chrysanthemum Flowers

Sorakuen, a park in downtown Kobe beckons. There was an ongoing chrysanthemum flower exhibition and its an opportunity not to be missed by Ram. I had the opportunity to view a similar exhibition at the Akashi palace grounds several days earlier. The day was fine with mild weather and conducive for a walk around the park. This visit was made more interesting with the presence of a wedding couple, in traditional Japanese wedding gear, going around the park as well and taking pictures. We took the opportunity to take some pictures with the newlyweds with their permission. Omedetto guzaimasu.

With the Newlyweds....

The winning Chrysanthemum Entry - Ichiban

Some of the Chrysanthemum on display.....
Aren't they beautiful?

More of the beautiful Chrysanthemum....

We spent a good part of the morning walking around the park, typical Japanese with streams, a water pond, rock paths crossing the water streams, a tea house, etc.

Then it was time for lunch and the Ohtanis took us to a sushi restaurant in a suburbian shopping complex not too far away from their house. Medium sized restaurant serving only sushis, and very good ones too. They were also quite reasonably priced, cheaper than most of the restaurants we have been to!

This was a fulfilling day indeed......

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Kobe, Japan

A Short Trip to Kobe, continued 2

I was, some thirty years ago, working in Tokyo full time for almost three years and had frequented Kobe then. Kobe was then the HQ of the Contractor that was employed to build the ABF Fertilizer plant in Bintulu and they had their project office in Tokyo. I was assigned to this Tokyo office to monitor their  Engineering Design and Procurement activities. In the course of my work I had made friends with many Japanese staff, two of whom had become very close family friends. One is the Ohtanis who remained close till this day. The other was the late Kodama who passed away due to heart complications more than ten years ago.

Most of those working in the Tokyo Project Office were from Kobe and had returned to Kobe at the end of the project or at the end of their careers. Many of them are retired by now. Ohtani tried to arrange a get-together with some of these staff and only managed to get two of them to meet up. It was holiday period at this time and many of them were away.

The planned meeting was at Awajima JR station on Monday, a public holiday and the third day we were in Kobe. Ohtani and I went by car to Awajima, a half an hour drive from the house, and met Maeda san and Tori san at the Railway Station. It so happened that there was a Chrysentemum exhibition at the grounds of Awajima Castle and the four of us proceed to view the exhibition. We had alot to catch up on. It has been thirty years. Viewing the exhibits was an excuse for us to be together. Did alot of talking and very little viewing, ha ha ha! Stopped at a kiosk where ochanimizu or Japanese green tea was served in the typical, colourful Japanese chawan or tea bowls. We sat at a corner of the rather large and decorated kiosk. The tea was long swallowed and gone and we had yet more stories to share amongst ourselves.

Tired of sitting down, we took a walk in the town and crossed the market place with stalls selling fresh seafood of all kinds. It was fascinating. There were some sea urchins or sea animals that I have not seen before. On display were varied staff from the tiniest of anchovies to the larger sized rayfish larger than a car!

Lunch was at a quaint little shop or restaurant, operated by a husband and wife team, serving only tamago yaki, roasted balls of egg in batter with a small piece of octopus meat as filling. This apparently was a specialty in this town. It is normally eaten after dipping it in sauce. It had a unique taste and I guess the sauce makes the difference. There were only five tables in this shop capable of seating only about a dozen people. While we were there I noticed many customers come in for takeaways. Each of us were served a dozen of the roasted balls, each ball slightly smaller than a golf ball and all of us finished up our shares washed down with ocha. We then went for coffee in another quaint little shop nearby. Over coffee we went through old photographs, with all of us having black hairs but have now turned all white!

Ram meanwhile was at home with Ayako. Ayako's friend, a former college mate and also room mate, came visiting on hearing Ram's presence and wanted to try English conversation. Ram showed them how to cook authentic Malaysian curry chicken. I think they had alot of fun cooking and also conversing, they in English and Ram trying it in Nihongo or Japanese language!

Dinner was chicken curry and rice with some salads. Ayako chan had also cooked something that was similar to the tamago yaki except that its the version with less egg. The tamago yaki had one whole egg yolk in each, making it rich in taste. Ayako's version was milder in taste and can be taken as it is without sauce and have no aftertaste. The real tamago yaki has to be taken with sauce to eliminate the rich egg aftertaste. Both were lovely anyway, and we could reminisce over it as we have tried it many years ago in Tokyo. While we enjoyed the food Ayako cooked, the Ohtanis were enjoying the chicken curry and Toshihiko had second helpings!

 



To be continued....

MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Kobe

A Short Trip to Kobe, continued

After breakfast on the 2nd day in Kobe we went in two cars to Awaji Island, some two hours drive from Suma-ku where the Ohtanis live. Awaji Island is connected at both ends to the mainland by wired hanging bridges. The longest bridge is Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (Pearl Bridge) which is 4 kilometers long with the longest suspended span being 2 kilometers. The stay cable on which the bridge's driveway is suspended on is slightly larger than 1 meter in diameter, made up of smaller wires of about 5mm diameter bundled up together, and each 5mm wire is made up of smaller wires of about 1mm bundled up together. This bridge is lighted up at night, different colours for different seasons. Awaji Island is well known for its large white onions which are quite sweet to taste. Its very nice taken with hot rice after it is lightly browned in olive oil over a slow fire. I was introduced to it at dinner that night and I loved it. We walked into one supermarket outlet and true to Awaji specialty, there were onions and more onions, either raw, cooked, or made into sweet cakes and the likes. They were lovely. Another unique attraction of Awaji is the swirling waters at each tide change (twice per day). To view this one have to take a boat ride to one edge of the island where the waters of the Pacific Ocean meets the waters of Awaji bay. Because of the different levels of the two waters at change of tides, the water swirls in a cyclonic formation and then it breaks. It was fascinating to view this wonder of the Almighty's creation. A truly magnificent phenomenon. We spent about two hours on the double decker sailing boat that was modernised with diesel engines!, viewing this swirling waters. It was a fun ride. Lunch was at a restaurant on the cliff at the edge of one end of the Island. It being a national holiday the place was crowded with people and we had to wait a while to obtain a table that can accomodate the five of us. Food served were mostly Japanese fusion and very tasty too. An ice cream vendor just outside this restaurant was just irresistable! Amongst the many flavours they do have, yes you guessed it, they have the onion flavoured ones. There were several view decks around the restaurant and the view? It was fantastic. One can see the Pacific Ocean and the meeting point of the ocean and Awaji bay. We took a slow walk around the park in the vicinity of the restaurant and to the car park. It was getting dark then and we headed home. Did not haveor the opportunity to view the coloured lightings of the Akashi bridge though. Perhaps it was still too early then. For dinner, the Ohtanis prepared some 'yaki imo' that is stone baked sweet potatoes for us. I used to enjoy yaki imo when I lived in Tokyo about thirty years ago and for tonight it was nostalgia. The imo that Ohtani prepared were lovely. Nice, soft and sweet. Main course for dinner was tempura, which Ram likes very much. We just could not have enough. It was lovely. To be continued...... MKI Ramblings Unlimited, Kobe