Completing the three gnomes took considerable effort towards the end, after missing the first two deadlines in August and September. And my trip to Japan in October set me back even further. Upon my return, I dealt with a persistent cough that left me too drained to do much.
And when I felt better, I was busy playing golf and pickleball, leaving me little time to focus on the pieces. Eventually, I sat down and added several more layers of varnish before deciding they were good enough to gift the intended recipients. The completion was dated 1st November.
The final picture does not do justice to the gloss varnish that I have painstakingly applied. But the colors are so vibrant, I think I did a good job. Ahem.
During our trip to Kyoto and Osaka, although we deviated from our original itinerary, we ended up discovering and experiencing more. So much so that every night upon returning to the hotel, I was exhausted and did not catch up with any writing after Day Four.
I discovered a good therapy. As the rooms we stayed in had a long bath, and both hotels provided aromatherapy bath salts, I made full use of this. This simple indulgence helped soothe the body from the daily eight to 11 kilometres we put in.
On the fifth day of our trip, we departed from Kyoto with good memories for Osaka, taking the Kintetsu Line instead of the JR Haruka. Upon arriving in Osaka by train, we took the subway and made our way to the hotel. After checking in and wasting no time, we headed out to explore Osaka.
Another day of discovery! Osaka felt very different from Kyoto. With more people, noise, and traffic, it took a while to adjust. Welcome to the busy big city!
Kyoto Tower, Higashi Hongan-ji Temple, and a very crowded Kyoto Station. A weekend beer festival was set up in front of the temple. So chill!
Konnichiwa from the Land of the Rising Sun! We arrived at Kansai Airport this morning. The flight was not the best experience. There were three gate changes within an hour at the Satellite Building at KLIA. And although it was rescheduled to depart at 11:45 pm from 10:25 pm, the flight eventually took off at 12:12 am.
Twenty minutes after airborne, there was turbulence, but not too bad. However, my entertainment console sucked. The touchscreen had issues returning to the home icon, and the headphones worked only on one side. Sigh, how much worse can it get? Honestly, the start of this trip by MH is not Malaysian Hospitality at its best. Not living up to their tagline.
After the meal, I could feel a headache coming, ugh. I tried to sleep it off, and it was a restless phase. An hour before touchdown, I was awake. It wasn’t beauty or comfy sleep. Nonetheless, time flew by, and I must have slept, or did I?
My AppleWatch showed some unusual Vitals stats! I had only two hours of sleep and my blood oxygen level dropped to 91.6 %. It concluded that elevation could have caused such numbers to be recorded because I had set my watch to Airplane mode upon boarding. Such an amazing and clever device to be able to detect this.
After the delayed arrival, and like typical tour packages where Day One starts at the airport, our self-planned itinerary is no different, our adventure finally begins. Hahaha.
We made our way slowly from Kansai to Kyoto, and it was supposed to be effortless, yet we faced a bit of a challenge in terms of language. Google Translate was a savior when we needed it!
What a long day to kick off our October adventure!
Monday is not a typical day for an entry or a scheduled post, but I need to share. My Blundstones and I, plus hubby of course, are ready for another adventure tomorrow! It has been a short and quick planning for this. Anyway, our luggage is all set for our upcoming trip. Whee!
So where are we headed? Hah! Stay tuned to find out. We will be heading to KLIA this evening for our flight with Malaysia Airlines. Here’s wishing us happy travels and a safe journey ahead!
Today is our last day in Japan. How quickly a week went by. We had an incredibly fabulous time with great weather and mouth-watering food. Even the McDonald’s here tasted good! Hahaha.
A McDonald’s dinner
After the many shrines, temples, and landmarks, it was time to explore the city. However, we did not see much as shopping got the better of us!
Crazy crowd at the famed Shibuya Crossing
At Ginza, Shinjuku, and Shibuya areas, we spent two hours or more at each stop on our checklist: Don Quijote, GU, and Loft, to name but a few. I bought several knick-knacks to add to my wanderlust collection while the girls did a little better than me.
We leave Japan this evening with good memories of what we saw and ate and plans to return to this spectacular Land of the Rising Sun again.
Our first night in Tokyo was in the Asakusabashi district. The neighborhood was quiet with narrow streets, and it reminded me of the streets of Hanoi when we were there earlier in the year, but much cleaner. There’s not a spec of rubbish on the roads here.
We ventured out in search of food and stumbled upon a ramen shop. Ravenous after such a long day, we each ordered a bowl, unaware of the serving size. When the bowls of ramen came out, they left us speechless.
The picture doesn’t quite show the sheer size of this
How do we manage all that ramen, four bowls at a go? Typically, we’d order two to three portions during meals for sharing. But we didn’t think that sharing bowls of ramen was doable with us sitting at the counter. Oh well. I could only eat half of my choice, as it was too much. I couldn’t even slurp loudly like the lady seated next to me at the long counter!
Comatosed from the gastronomic feast, we decided to call it a night after such a long day of traveling. Furthermore, we have a packed itinerary the next day.
Our hotel had a compact but practical room layout and was comfortable. We stayed only a night because the next day, we checked out and headed towards Mt Fuji.
I love my Blundstone boots, and this is my second pair. Like the first pair, this pair had a change of sole. Hydrolysis occurred on the soles, disintegrating them to smithereens as the boots were left unused for a long time.
Despite this change, the current pair of boots are still comfortable. I would wear them daily if I had the chance. However, the weather at home is not suitable for such footwear. So, I only wear my Blundstone when I am off for a holiday at a cold climate destination; hence the motto “Have boots will travel.”
Where are we off to this time? Tokyo, Japan! Whee. Tokyo reminds me of my college days, dinosaur years back when I had to layover at Narita International Airport for my flight for a few hours before continuing the journey. But technically, I cannot say I have visited Tokyo because I never left the airport to see the city. Back then, there were no Blundstones as well. No Blundstones, no travel. Hahaha.
I look forward to experiencing the city during this holiday. There will be a lot of walking, but I’m not worried because I have my comfortable Blundstone boots! We fly tomorrow morning. Happy travels to us!
It was the third day of our golf escapade. After breakfast, we left Forest City for The Els Club Desaru Coast for our third game. The drive was not too long, and we arrived early.
We found the golf club a tad plain. There was no grandeur in the architecture of the clubhouse. Maybe it’s meant to be like this?
As we arrived early, we could tee off earlier than our allotted tee-off time. Big mistake! There was a four-ball flight in front of us that was so slow and a two-ball flight behind us that was too fast! Ugh. And it started to drizzle. Sigh. The wind picked up, and my hands were cold. It was not the best experience playing at the Ocean course of The Els Club.
To our angst, the sand bunkers were flooded and looked like mini ponds on the fairways and beside the greens! Not nice. Hubby lost a ball in the flooded sand bunker. It was mildly shocking that maintenance was not up to par for an award-winning golf course. We’re not talking about one or two sand bunkers but several throughout the Ocean course.
Golfing on the Ocean course is supposed to be easy, but it was not in the best conditions to live up to it. Sadly, it was a forgettable round for us. I wonder if the outcome would have been different had we teed off at 12.30 pm instead of two hours earlier? Hmm.
There was some consolation when we checked into Four Points by Sheraton. The room was spacious and very comfortable. Dinner was equally comforting. The generous tray of Briyani rice and meat fulfilled the urge for carbo after two nights of dinner choices without rice. We have one more game tomorrow, and hopefully, the trip will end on a better note.
The Els Club, dinner and a huge green side bunker that was flooded
Towards the end of last week, we drove to the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia with the girls to escape the hustle and bustle of our daily lives. It was not a golfing trip but an escapade to catch the sea breeze and eat local fare and fresh seafood. The drive was pleasant, without much heavy traffic, and we arrived on time.
A colorful display of all things old and older
The resort we stayed at, Adena Beach Resort, was a pleasant discovery and was not too crowded because it was a Thursday. We thoroughly enjoyed the warm sea breeze and the beach with its soft sand. The weather was perfect to build a sandcastle, and we did. We found some left-behind tools, which made it easy, and we had so much fun building and seeing our sandcastle come to fruition.
Our sandcastle with a moat
Mealtimes, we ate a lot of spicy food, not our usual choices but very flavorful. In terms of activity, there wasn’t much to do besides chilling and eating. After all, this was a chill-and-do-nothing trip.
The busy tablecloth added more zing to our colorful and spicy meal!
But, the next day, we decided to visit the Kemaman Zoo. At the zoo, the thrill for me this time was seeing the pair of Malayan Tapir. The enclosure for the pair did not have high fencing, only a moat separating them from us. It was quite a sight to see. The biggest thrill was when both tapirs decided to walk into the moat and swim towards us! So cool.
Strange but interesting animal
This East Coast trip is not just about food and tapirs. We discovered several jellyfish washed up on the beach on the third day. These creatures look very alien, being out of their comfort zone. Thank goodness, we did not swim in the sea, as there were signages warning of the jellyfish danger.
Aliens?!
The short trip ended with a glorious grilled seafood dinner on the final night. Sumptuous and fresh, the delicious spread was a fitting cap to end the East Coast escapade. I look forward to our next escapade again!
Angieneering 
Remarks