Ignorance

I know I'm kiasu, but more comments please! The world works like this : more demand <-> more production. =) but I guess I'm not in demand.. sighs.. >.<

Sorry.. One paragraph gone somewhere.. ^^;
Now, 2nd Japan-Malaysia Culture Shock : Ignorance. Now, I'm not generalising. Not all Japanese are ignorant. In fact, Japanese people are one of the most literate and learned people in the world, and read the most books and newspapers on average. So what do I mean by ignorance?

Let's start with Level 1: Beginner Yes, coconutWah, this is the first time i see Coconut Milk!

Malaysian: What? Coconut Milk?? HAR? What did you say?
Japanese: Coconut Milk lar.. You donno meh?? the one you put in dessert and it become very sweet 1 lor!
Malaysian: HAR? I know lar Coconut Milk. Where? I don't see any.
Japanese: Neh, Inside lar! You blind arH?
Malaysian: Walau. That is Coconut Juice lar. Adui!

This is how you make Coconut Milk (Santan)

And that's what Coconut Milk (Santan) looks like

Japanese: Walau.. You don't cheat me lar.. Coconut Milk come out from Coconut 1 ler.. and is Liquid 1. I know 1. Don't play play! ^^

Level 2 : Intermediate

Chilli

辛い.."Karai" What does this word mean? In my dictionary, it's translated as 'hot', 'spicy', 'peppery'.. But what does it really mean to a Japanese? Well, i imagine if you asked them, they would say 'curry?' or 'wasabi?'.. But for us, Hot and Spicy means so much more. Why do I prefer Malaysian food over Japanese food? One word : Spice. Give me one example of a Japanese food cooked with more than 5 spices and I'll admit defeat. But it's a fact : Japanese people just don't cook Spicy food.

Okay, that's all for tonight.. almost midnight.. will add Expert tmrw.. hehe

Made In Malaysia

Yes, I'm stealing Super Blogger's Post Title.. So wat?? XD
well, unfortunately, the Japanese students in my college aren't as rich as Nagaoka College of Technology's students XD so only two of my friends followed me back to Malaysia for the summer holidays.
And I hope more would follow... with their Baito-dai lolz.. but the next time I'm not offering free accomodation ^^

Let's start with a little dessert..

That's us posing behind a feast of Bak Kut Teh if u don't notice =)
"Dessert?" u must be wondering.. well, u must first understand that there are NO, i repeat NO kopitiams or mamaks in Japan. If you ever got home-sick over something like that, u'll have to get by with Yoshinoya and Ramen-Ya's.

Culture Shock No.1 Food Culture
What is Japanese food? Ramen, Chinese noodles in miso soup, salted soup, soya sauce soup. well, in short, Chinese noodles in MSG soup XD wat else? tempura, fried.. err.. everything? try deep frying a capsicum soaked in flour.. that's tempura.. no, i'm not joking. ^^ sushi, i have nothing against sushi, thank you. i dont mind 3 meals all sushi.. no, i dont even mind the wasabi. hmm let's move to the south islands of japan.. takoyaki, baby octopuses inside this ball of flour.. yes, this is special, i admit.. and wat else? teppanyaki.. to be honest, i've never even seen that in Kantou.. and i really admire ppl who can still eat it after observing the amount of oil poured on the teppan and the vegetable being molested by all that oil on the teppan.. yes, it's that gross. then we have the monja-yaki and okonomiyaki.. oiiiiiiiii wat the heck is with all that yaki yaki?? FYI, yaki means fry in japanese.. u call that HEALTHY japanese food?? ^^; hmm i forgot.. there's also Japanese curry, first came in as English(UK) curry, which is sweet and fruity.. uhuh.. now i know why they have such weird tastebuds for curry ^^

Let me tell you a secret about why Japanese are so 'healthy' and slim compared to foreigners. It's not because their food is healthier, as the international Japanese food business claims, but because they eat one of the smallest portions of food compared to most countries..
Now, let's compare Malaysia and Japan.. Before I mention meal portions, first of all is the 'amount of meals', which I have added as a poll on my blog. In Malaysia, a lot of ppl have breakfast, coffee break, lunch, tea break, dinner, and supper. that's a total of 6 meals a day.. While in Japan, they dont even have a proper translation for supper or tea break, altho there is coffee break (a gairaigo however, which means foreign assimilated words).

Here's a little Malaysian supper.. This is a Roti Tisu.. no, i'm not kidding.. it's just too big to shape into a cone tower.. For those who do not know what a Roti Tisu is, let me give you a hint.. it's an indian dish.. but it's not available in India XD Please visit Malaysia for more info! lol

Now there are so many other differences in the food culture of Malaysia and Japan. Another of these examples is PIZZA. In Japan, the pizza crust is around 0.2 cms thick.. in Malaysia it's at least 1 cm thick. 1.5 to 2 cms for stuff-crusted, not to mention.

My Mum's Handmade Pizza (The Crust is bought at the Supermarket) =)

For those of you Malaysians who actually like Japanese Pizza or Japanese Italian food, just let me say this : What kind of pizza has more topping than flour?!?!? and more oil than pasta ^^;

One more thing I really can't accept about Japanese food is this:

This is Kangkung Fried Chinese Style.. now, if anyone, ANYONE has ever seen a japanese dish like this, please tell me. We eat this much vegetable at least every day (unless you don't eat at home) compared to Japanese, who maybe have a small bowl of cabbage salad (i love it actually) everyday, and some tsukemono (pickled vegetables) a day.. so tell me, which is healthier?

okay, I'll leave this much for you guys to think about for today.. Well, after the trip back to Malaysia with my friends, I've realized a lot of differences in Japanese and Malaysian cultures that I've not taken the time to notice before.. and I've also realized I'm MADE IN MALAYSIA XD

P.S. KFC Malaysia Ltd. RoCkS!!!

Ski Trip Break

I'm going to the Ski Trip in Nagano today, so I won't be updating this blog for a while. Sorry! and Chiao~

3rd Quarter of trip Part 2

Couldn't take any more space on the first post...
So, after that, we went up by train again to Naka-furano, the place we wanted to go for the lavenders..It's supposed to be quite a small city.. But this overhead bridge looks rather classy, eh?
This is a small lavender farm(or park).. Still some flowers in bloom.. But the whole area on top was green(or barren?), without any more lavenders.

After that, we walked further up to the lavender farm we were supposed to visit, Tomita Farm. And I quickly bought the lavender soft (I realized that the Japanese don't call it ice cream.. they call it soft.. well, it is true it's not ice and it's soft.. heh).

Darn, this lavender soft is really nice!! I want more >.< But compared to the last time I had my lavender soft, this time wasn't that nice coz there was no smell of lavender around.. This is an ice cream you've got to try if you haven't! Nothing beats this one(not even durian soft!).
There were different lavenders here.. white and purple mix.. quite nice.. like the lavender and vanilla mix soft.. arghhhh I can't get my mind of the lavender soft.. NOOOO!!
Here's a part of the farm which was in bloom.. The other parts were mostly green(or barren?)..

After that, we took a train up again to Asahikawa.. and found a sushi shop around 30 to 40 minutes walk from the station..
Notice the difference in the plate designs? some had white lines on the outer part and some don't.. We didn't realize that until we were almost finished.. For me, I usually only eat around 5 plates.. This time I had around 7 or 8, coz the sushi in Hokkaido tastes great.. But the real victim of this little trick was Calvin, who ate around 11 plates I think.. his bill was over 2000 yen! haha.. serves him right! wakkakaka.. But worth it lar, can eat such delicious sushi.. sigh.. I hungry d.. >.< The next day, we went to the Asahiyama Zoo around 40 minutes from Asahikawa Station by bus..
First of all were flamingoes..
And swans and ducks..
And monkeys..
Penguins..
Reminds me of Happy Feet.. haha..
Seal..
Proud Tiger..
The Mighty Lion with an attitude.. (cute attitude in this case)
The Sun Bear of Hokkaido.. Does he look dead or what?
Polar Bears.. Doesn't look white to me.. Lack of snow?
Reindeer.. I think..
Giraffe.. Okay, at least he's taller than Calvin, right?

Actually, most of the animals were not that active when we were there.. And we didn't see most of the feeding too(they call it mogu mogu time..don't ask me why).. I took videos of the penguin feeding, but they're gone.. maybe on Calvin's computer..

After that, for dinner, Calvin and I ate Shouyu Ramen (Soy Sauce Ramen).

Nice! Quite nice!

Okay, so that's all for this time.. will update later on Hakodate.. Actually, I planned to post on some of the visits in more detail, but I don't think I want to anymore.. haha.. sorry, but if you want to see the photos, just tell me.. I'll try to make it interesting..

Third Quarter of Hokkaido Trip

Sorry for the long wait, guys. Was busy watching Jigoku Shoujo, an anime which is quite interesting. Will talk a bit about that later. For now, let's continue with Hokkaido..

Actually, this is going to be quite a boring post.. That's one of the reasons I didn't really want to update on this. But if I don't update, that Calvin bising bising pula.

So, where were we? Sapporo right? We stayed at Hokudai(Hokkaido University) for 3 nights. I've posted up the pictures for the first day. Where did we go the second day? Going by our friend's suggestion, we planned to go to the Hokkaido Historical Village. The place is about 30 to 40 minutes(bad memory) from Sapporo by train.

When we reached there and got the map, we realized that it was not just the historical village there. There were lots of museums and 触れ合い(touching,as translated from my dictionary) centres. And the paths were mostly through the jungle, with distances of over 2 kms.. First stop was this tower.


Sapporo's 100 year commemorative tower. 百年記念塔.

Second stop was the Historical Museum of Hokkaido.


In front of it was this little statue.. cute? no, I don't think so.. but it's interesting coz when you clap your hands near it, you'll be able to hear a bird's cry. I tried, and there was a subtle sound like a bird's cry.. but sorry, no video..

The first thing in the museum was this little attempt to bring back the stone ages.
Not to mention, mammoths too..
Which bear is more likely to bite? *wink*
Japanese version of the voodoo doll.
Ancient Ainu(the natives of Hokkaido) clothing.
The general interior of an Ainu hut(house?)
If you're interested in hunting seals... they have as many spearheads as you have fishing hooks..
Some old rusted swords
Does this remind you of the Vikings? Be grateful these Ainu were not as vile!
Anyone for Bear worship? "Oh, Mighty Bear, lend me your ClAwS!"
These photos show how Hokkaido was stained by the foolishness that is called Civilization over the decades.
After that, a long walk around the place for the whole afternoon before reaching the Historical Village. I will not be posting the pictures of those boring adventures, except this..
Notice the leaves turning orange and red? That's the sign of autumn! Tanoshimi!

So, we reached the Historical Village.. Lots of buildings.. Including Western buildings.. From a conversation with an old lady in one of the houses, we got the information that the village was rebuilt from the ruins of the flood in Asahikawa a long time ago. Geographically, Asahikawa is actually very far from Sapporo. The flood actually carried off the whole town down somewhere far from Asahikawa, and they used the materials from the ruins to rebuilt the Historical Village.

There were a lot of old building including a Post Office and a barber shop and grocery stores.. But I won't be putting them up coz they're just not interesting to put up. There was also a railroad in the middle of the path, like tram tracks.. Actually, a horse pulled the car and brought the tourists around. We didn't try this (costs money of course). And I'm not putting up the picture of the horse either, coz it looked so pitiful.. sighs..

This is a sort of farmhouse or some kind of structure that Calvin mentioned looked something like those Dutch(Holland) farmhouses. Since the weather was cloudy until then, Calvin began fussing on getting a good picture of the building and the blue sky background. Okay, I admit I was trying to get a good shot too, but I'm not a camwhore, at least. =P

And a bit further up was a farm, and there was also this apple farm.. (Did I mention Calvin seems to be an apple fan freak?)

Hmm..... who's that?? Seems like they're stealing some apples..
Uh Oh! Caught red handed(literally)! Too bad couldn't get Calvin's face.. If not can blackmail him and make him confess about his girlfriend.. >.< And a fishing village..The place wasn't near the sea, although the real village was near the sea.. So, they built a lake beside the model so that it "felt" like the sea.
Here's a preview of the Historical Urinal. That's all for the Historical Village.

For dinner, we went to an Indian Restaurant, Taj Mahal.
First dish, Tandoori Chicken! Nyum Nyum..
And Naan! There are no Roti Canais in Japan, btw. Only Naans.. Boring~
And Nasi Briyani with curry! woohooo!

Okay that's all for Sapporo. The next morning, we took the train up to Furano.. The plan was to see the lavenders of course.. But when we reached there and went to ask at the Tourist Information counter, we were told that the lavender season was almost, if not already, over..But of course we still had lots of time, so we went around the city on this rental bicycle.
I like the keychain. ^^
With the bicycle, we went up some hills and reached this cheese factory(or park).
Got Milk?
Yes, we got milk, and a small cheese cake too.The milk was fresh and thick, unlike the ones sold at supermarkets.. And the cheese cake was very nice too!
And this is supposed to be Cheese Ice Cream.. right.. just the flavor, anyways..
This is the bridge we crossed to get to the place.. The statue's cute.. One of the reasons I stopped to take the picture.. heh..
After that, we went to a Wine Factory on the other side of the city..
100 years capsule.. these wine will be kept for 100 years.. high quality.. >.< Wine with a touch of lavender taste.. I drank a small cup of sample, but didn't taste much like lavender.. too bad.. If it did, I would've bought it straight away.. heh..

After that, we went to a nearby Grape Factory. Nothing much there, but there was a pony and a donkey there..
Calvin said they were both male (I'm gender blind when it comes to animals). Gay? ^^;