Fuji Safari Park

It happened during the last Golden Week we spent together.

Unfortunately, we did not have a very happening getaway to Tokyo due to really bad weather striking the Kanto area. It was raining all day with extra ordinary thunderstorm. Too bad. If we knew this earlier, we would have been spending our golden week in the south, where there were so many matsuris (festivals) held under an extremely nice weather>,<

Oh well, the bright side was we can rest at home:)

It was supposed to be our road trip. The first day, we left Toyohashi, the weather was really nice, so we were convinced. 

We took the shin-tomei, the newly opened highway. I was thrilled all the way, passing by a highway which seems to me consisted by an endless tunnel. I felt like being in sci-fi movie.lols.

We left home so early. We left home under a brightly lit sky with fuzzy breeze, despite it being 5 in the morning.

It was supposed to be a fun and packed trip. Our first stop was the Fuji Safari Park. Oh well, I wasn't really looking forward to visit this place. But, it is located just on the way to Tokyo. So I said, what the hell, just go while we still could.

After a few persinggahan (excited nak stop because the highway was so new to us:D), we finally arrived at 10am. As we were queuing for tickets, the rain suddenly pouring. Lol. Nak patah balik?mana boleh..orang di belakang macam mana ler...lols.

Ok, we have to go on with the plan. We sit in the car for a while and had our breakfast. We were stunned by mikang pan (orange bun). Our first time having that. Also, we managed to find the awesome-est melon pan!

Mikang pan to Melon pan. Bought them during our stop at the Musical scores' symbol conceptual Hamamatsu RnR.

Only after the rain stopped, we started to queue to actually enter the safari.

Yes, we drove inside the safari. It's a drive through safari park. So convenient!! Only a few cars are allowed at certain time interval. So, you won't get stuck in the jam inside. Do not worry.hehe..we were the most front. yey!

Among the view I had and took via my humble phone. It was really exciting!!The animals passed by your car. Binatang yang macam jahat degil sangat adalah cheetah. Lols! Muka marah je..And I voted harimau as the comelest binatang in the safari:D

 I was at first thrilled by the fact, am gonna see lions live!! Tapi when we enter their territory, cehh..rambut lion-lion tu sereyes tak terurus:/ Tak macam dalam movie pun:/ Tapi harimau wa..kawaii sou:') Oh, besides them bear totemo kawaii :') and mereka ini walaupun agak gemok tapi rajin la juga jalan-jalan. lols.

Hubby said (as pengunjung kali ke-4), the animals are supposed to be moving more actively, but maybe it's their lunch time. Well, I agree, most the time they were eating. And maybe, because the rain they seems to be less moving around.

I guess, safari is better than zoo. Lols!

So, if I have kids later, I'd choose safari to expose them to animal kingdom ni. So that mummy and daddy could have a nice time too:D

For friends who are currently in Japan, please include Fuji Safari Park in your list yet-to-go:)

Oyster card!

Somebody asked me about how did I move around in London. I guess many of those who had been there would know this. We moved around via the subway and you can use bus as well.

A few tips we discovered during the trip:

1. If you planning on boarding the train for many times on one day, of course I recommend you to buy the day travel card. However, the day travel card could only be purchased after the peak hour, i.e 9.30 am. Just go to the ticket counter and ask. Day travel card is not so simple as you think. The charge is different by zones. So, it is much advisable for you to plan your trip the night before.

2. Buy oyster. When we first arrived in St. Pancras King's Cross station, we asked many questions regarding oyster (told by our auntie). After much calculations, it's better for you to get oyster as you'll save a few bucks. We did not use much of oyster because most of the time, we use day travel card. Only at the last day we were told we can use the oyster as a day travel card. We tried, but it did not work. lol. Then you guys should try it! Oh, the good thing, you can return your oyster card and get the balance and the cost of oyster card back!

Helping you get the picture how oyster and day travel card looks like. Yang mastercard tu bukanla nk tunjuk kredit..itu sarung oyster. lol XP

Beza Paris and London?

I think for the transportation, Paris jauh murah lagi.lol XP 

I guess price of transportation might be one of the cons for London;)

How I finally find my 'sacred space'.

When I first arrived in my current department, I have difficulties finding the space for solat.

As expected. I know. My husband kept pushing me to ask my supervisor to provide a decent space for me.

Of course I was skeptical to ask as I think that may sound like..demanding?

But I did asked him. He knew that I will come and eventually ask for that. He told me I can pray anywhere. 

Unfortunately, I think he was the only one who understands my situation.

So, for the first week, I solat nearby my own desk.

Unfortunately, my room at that time is their filing room. On top of that, my desk was located in front of my big boss's room. I shall remind you that he is the vice chancellor and the head of the department. Therefore, he is quite famous and always received a visitor. So, I always think it was not appropriate to pray in the middle of passing visitors. Apart from that, if my boss is not around, people will be so shock when they found me performing my prayer as they open the door. Sigh..I take, they did not know much about muslim.

So, I ask my muslim friend if I can pray at their praying space in their department.

One of my friend, an Indonesian, is more than delightful to let me pray.

So, I come at praying time, although I found it tiring to run there at every praying time and have to notice her in prior. I felt like I put her in so much trouble.

Then, another friend, a man, showed me his praying space. It was at an emergency staircase. I tried once, and I did not feel comfortable either. The fact that I am a female usually was the reason. In addition to that, maybe I was not used to the situation where you have to pray at any place but a mosque or surau. I think those two reasons contributed strongly to my uneasiness when the prayer time comes.

Since first discussion my husband kept telling me go to the roof top. But I was again, skeptical. He always pushes me to be strong, independent. I know he intended good.

After trying so many ways, I finally listened to him. So, I climbed the stairs to the 7th floor.

The floor just consisted of one room, keeping the PCR machine. Only few people occasionally access the room. Next to it, is a wide, clean space (because no people going there) enough for me to pray comfortably.

What else can I say, except Alhamdulillah...

My praying space on the roof top. 

Only after a few months I got used to solat merata-rata situation. In fact it makes me feel proud to be a muslim, and have the nerve to perform prayer at anywhere I like. It has indeed built the confidence in me.

So, if you have to pray outside, and the people are staring at you, just stare back and smile:) 

Good luck for those who will be joining me as a foreign muslim students anywhere you will, especially to my dear friend, Paie. Looking forward to meeting you in this bumi sakura:D

Road trip

I love love love road trip!!

Maybe I got used to it since my late dad loves to bring us on road tip when I was a child.

So, when he passed, and I became more independent, having a road trip is one thing that I missed.

However, when I was in Malaysia, the excitement of going for road trip was sort of inhibited by the fear of possibility of nature calls:/ 

Now, I'm here, I feel an extreme relief!!

The RnR are indeed beyond my imagination. It's like requesting for betis, tapi dapat semua organ badan walaupun tak perlu pun tak apa. lols.

Take Shin-Tomei Hamamatsu RnR toilet for example. hehe..from left top; the toilet rows from the outside. Oh, and there was not just one row. Next is the facility inside each of the cubicle. All toilets are equipped with washlet. Basically, you don't have to have contact with the toilet bowl at all. There's a lot more buttons besides the washlet's. Next; the powder room and dressing room (looks like fitting room complete with slipper-they are not in the picture). Next is the entrance of the toilet. If salah masuk, tak tahula lagi. lols.
Below picture from left; my husband checking out the touchscreen directory. Next, is the wash sink with movement sensor (kesimpulannye, you will not need to have contact with anything in the toilet!).Next is the food court. You can expect the 5 star cleanliness here. 

Actually, ada lagi yang lagi superb dari ini. hehe..(I macam dah jadi RnR investigator:p)

This one is in Shin-Tomei (newly open highway as an alternative to the Tomei highway).

For those from Shizuoka prefecture, and familiar with Tomei highway, I recommend you to try Shin-Tomei.

The idea of Shin-Tomei came when Tomei highway was always congested with cars especially during peak of holidays. So, they are trying to overcame this by offering alternatives road, not to just cure the congestion in Tomei, but also providing a better highway road for the users. 

The new shin-tomei is designed to have less steep and corner angle, thus reducing the risk of accidents.

Tomei highway is well-known for it's magnificent view of the ocean as well as Fuji Mountain along the road.

Shin-Tomei maybe missed the ocean, but it provided the same jaw-dropping view of Fuji Mountain.

As the first timer, you might be thrilled by the seemingly endless tunnel along the Shin-Tomei highway.

This highway providing an alternative road across the mountains!!

Ok, I should stop giving reports about the roads. Excuse my road-trip craze.hehe

Malaysia pun boleh buat RnR macam ni satu hari nanti. I hope Malaysian are soon ready to be more focus on things that matter most. Soon I hope.

Happyokai and Reminder

The word happyokai, according to my understanding, could be used for many things, as long as it means to launch yourself for something, or to introduce yourself to people in the same area. More to let people know that you are there. 

Anyways, I managed to finally have my happyokai. Proud of myself to be one of the earliest to be given the opportunity, albeit it was a local conference. Provided that I am now in Nihon, when I said local, all language used was Nihongo. I did not benefit much from the whole program due to language barrier. Sedikit kesal di situ.

However, there are a few sessions given in English by surgeons from U.S and Europe. Okla tu, daripada tak ada. It's not like I am so much interested and can absorb all if there were. lols:P

My happyokai:) My first time exposing myself to the senior researchers/scientist of the same area. Totally new experience for me doing the Japanese style presentation. Tanoshikatta.

What I want to share with you today is about one plenary talk session given by Prof. Gordon Sato.

Global warming was the least I would think of to be hearing at a 'stomatology' conference.

So, Prof. Sato is now 84 year old. His health was not at the peak. He was easily got tired by walking from one point to another. However, his brain was so much well functioning. 

His talk was introduced by a video of him when he was in Africa. He was there, initiating and even sponsoring the project of planting thousand and thousands of mangrove tree. 

Since he is specialized in hormones-related study, he used his knowledge to develop a method to easily grow mangrove in a remote area of Africa in which most of the inhabitants are poor.

His idea is to help these people providing the source of food for themselves. You must be wondering how mangrove tree could help them providing?

These people depend a lot on animals like goat and cows as the source for dairy, transportation, etc.

However, before Prof. Sato arrived, they had a hard time feeding themselves, let alone the animals.

So, the idea of his project is to help them providing the the food to animal which later get the cycle going.

At the end of the video, his words had touched me deep.

He was saying, we learn science, not just for ourselves. We learn it to give back to the world. To make the world to a better place. People who learn science must be able/ try to see things in a wider vision, but all must at the direction of helping our nation. He said, look at him. He is now 84 year old. He was already too old when he realized that. He is too old to act more than what he did. 

He remembered the days when he was so ambitious. Because he grew up in poor environment, made him so ambitious. He wanted to learn science to help other poor people. So, I think this is a good morale value to teach our children. We cannot just ask them the 'job' they wanted to do when they grow up. We should ask who they want to be when the time comes. So, one day, they can feel a sense of completion. Sense of satisfaction. InshaAllah, with consistent reminder from us, the parents.

It is not too late for you and me, to plant the same idea in our mind. Stop having the thought of doing you current job just for you. Your truly also have to start thinking my life's big goal. I pray that my arrival on this very earth meant good for the nation. Ameen...

Come back (lah sangat...)

Tsk..it's been a long time since I actually 'write' something in here.
Besides being infected by the instagram+twitter virus, I was a little bit busy with work. Now, the huge task has finished, hence the comeback:)
To be honest to you, I kind of fallen in love with instagram. Partly because it is quick and..other than that, I love the filter!who doesn't right?! :D
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Ok, I guess I'm having writer's block:p
Till then, tata :D

Fruit tart..

......is my recent creation :'D

Oishii sou <3

Hobi sejak kecil

Hobi sejak kecil saya..

is playing with dolls<3