will i am's delayed diary

Similar to my last trip to Hokkaido, the adventure began in Furano, a two-hour drive away from Chitose. Amazingly we made no highway oasis stops. Got into town just in time for lunch. Parked at Furano Marche and went looking for food. Mostly just snacks there, so we walked across the road to Furano Marche II and found a black curry omu rice restaurant that looked really good. The black curry was delicious, and omelette was so light and fluffy. Interestingly, that dish is paired with a bottle of  local milk. Bro ordered the hamburg, and that came with an interesting sauce that's bursting with the flavour of cooking wine. Farm Tomita was the first POI on my list. A few years back, I had visited this flower farm with KH. This time round, the tulips had wilted, but they had planted a field with several types of poppies, and carpet bugle. School kids were also all over the place, and the boys were so playful with each other that I started getting yaoi fantasies in my head

It's never easy task planning a family trip especially when my sister has her kids to consider, my brother is working in Singapore, and I have my own work commitments. Our last trip together was in 2012 to Hong Kong. In order to make things work, my sister took the lead and declared that she would be ditching her kids and hubby. Just the four of us. That made travel arrangements a lot easier. Secured our tickets three months before our flight period in late May. Another summer in Hokkaido for me, which was low season ( cheaper flights, cheaper lodging ). Temperatures are still generally pleasant, but flowers aren't in full bloom yet. On the day of departure, my brother flew in from Singapore and he practically camped at KLIA2 for half a day ( since he was there early, he helped me collect the TravelRecommends WiFi hotspot ). Mum, Sis and I took a cab from home after dinner. I was hoping for my usual cab driver's Estima, but for some reason, he sent his brother instead a

One more day and I'd be off on my second trip to Hokkaido, Japan. Pretty excited because it had been a long time since our last family road trip. A little anxious too because I'm the designated driver and tour guide! Quite stressful deciding on the itinerary ( that's why I always push the job to KH haha ). Bro would be meeting us at KLIA2, so mum took the initiative to get some lemang  and rendang from the Bazar Ramadhan for him. He's usually not in KL during the Raya season, so he misses all the good Malay cuisine. But these days, there's usually more misses than hits in the quality of food from these food bazaars. Good to see that MPSJ started a cooking oil recycling campaign this year. A proper container is prepared for food vendors to dispose of their cooking oil. No more pouring into the drains.

Near the end of May, 10MDC TEP Lilian Ong was in town to spread her wisdom again. Went to Aloft KL Sentral for the event. That day, KH was part of the ageLOC superstars, showcasing how DuoPack helped him to firm up his complexion. Took him ages to find a flashy outfit for the catwalk. Suprised that KH doesn't have stage fright. After the event, we went for dinner at Peranakan Place , NuSentral. Then it was coffee at Quartet . We waited for the barista to finish his buka puasa meal before we ordered. Spent a little bit more time together before my trip to Hokkaido in a couple of days.

Suzy was in town selling software instead of hardware this time. Her new company put her up in The Majestic Hotel. Really nice. My first time there really. Walked in the rain from Pasar Seni LRT station to meet her there. Her request was simple ( or not so simple ): "I want a good Maggi goreng for dinner". I fired up my GRAB app to get a ride, but before it got through I killed the app. The door man hailed us a cab instead. Directed the taxi driver to Pelita Nasi Kandar at Jalan Ampang. Thankfully the traffic was clear in that direction although the rain often screws things up. Suzy got her Maggi goreng fix, and I had a thosai. She updated me on her new job, things going on at home, and of course her love life. Suddenly I got a call-- it was a GRAB driver! LOL. Guess killing the app didn't kill my request. Cham . Another discussion we had was on the conspiracy that KH was avoiding her. In the past few months, every time Suzy was in town, KH would surely be in Singa

Got a shock when I heard that Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur was already open. Those PRC developers really work fast. I parked my car at Suria KLCC and walked over there with mum one Sunday afternoon after church. The anchor tenant is Robinsons. As befitting the 'Four Seasons lifestyle' the department store was even more 'atas' than their The Gardens Mall branch. Reminded me very much of Robinsons at Orchard Street, Singapore. 3Es -- Elegant, Expensive, Empty. Haha. There's a Starbucks Reserve on the ground floor, and some interesting food options on the lower ground. Designer shops aplenty with very Instagrammable interiors. For pastry and coffee, there's Decadent. There's also Atlas Gourmet Market, selling imported cold cuts and cured meats. If you're looking for pizza, dine at Atlas Bistro. Fleur by RLD is a florist. For something easier on the purse, there's also Malaysia Boleh!, a smaller alternative to Lot 10's Hutong. One can actually f

I seriously need to post more frequently. In my blog timeline, I'm only at mid-May, and it's now mid-September! And to make matters worse, I slacked off at some point and I'm trying to remember details from four months back. Wakaka. Anyway, this is going to be a very brief post. Mum had some association meeting and potluck, so she cooked up a pot of braised pork belly with eggs. Once I sent her ( and the pork belly ) to the venue, I went off to March Azalea Cafe to do my own thing. As usual, the owner was there in a dri-fit top and he greeted me with a smile. Got myself a cup of iced coffee and started to work on my backlog of posts and photos. So yes, this is a backlog post about clearing backlogs. Obviously I didn't do enough, else I would't be in this predicament four months down the road. Hahaha.

My family trip to Hokkaido was coming up in a couple of weeks, and I was the designated driver for the trip. In order for me to drive legally in Japan and rent a car, I needed to produce an international driving license (Geneva Convention). So I woke up early on a Wednesday morning to get it settled at JPJ Petaling Jaya. Wednesdays are the statistical off-peak business days for government offices in Malaysia. The office opened at 7:45 AM. I arrived 5 minutes before that, and there was already a queue at the door. There were actually two sections. The main building was for road tax matters, and licensing was at the adjacent building. It was much quieter at the other building. For some strange reason, a lady swapped her earlier number with mine. The process was so quick that the officer nearly sent me off without collecting payment. Hopped onto the LRT and still managed to get to work on time. Was feeling as sleepy as the LRT celebrity Sleepy Samuel on the Kelana Jaya Line LRT

Right on the heels of my mum's birthday was Mother's Day. Brought her jalan-jalan at One Utama after church. Not my first choice due to the size of the mall and regular parking kerfuffles. Guess its better to clock more steps on my pedometer since mum and I had a sinful buffet dinner at Latest Recipe , Le Meridien Putrajaya the night before. The spread was quite good actually. Anyway, back to Sunday-- picked Amber as our lunch venue because we rarely ever have Chinese Muslim cuisine. Shared a bowl of tomato broth beef ramen and big plate of chili oil chicken. Quite satisfying, but for some reason, their business ain't that good. Did our usual round of shopping and by 4:00 PM my feet were screaming for relief. Right outside Isetan was Jardin Coffee and Tea , a new addition to the cafe scene. The flat white was decent, and I kinda liked their croissant. And they even gave out carnations to all the mums. Massimo was having an event at the old wing. By going thro

I woke up to a new Malaysia. So surprised that the incumbent BN government didn't pull out all the stops to cling on to power. Much gratitude for that. Everyone was in a state of euphoria. Pakatan Harapan was finally going to form the federal government. However, there were still a lot of rumours fying around, and some drama regarding the swearing-in of Tun M as the new prime minister. Mum and I went out to OUG for breakfast. Barisan Nasional's loss after sixty years in power was on every lip. Coffee shop talk was livelier than usual. Met up with ex-manager who was in town to vote, and of course the main topic of our conversation was GE14. That evening, mum and I went to AEON Equine Park for some grocery shopping, then had dinner at Jack and Steve Grill . We shared a platter of pork ribs, pork chop, and pork belly. Came with a side of mash and an iced pineapple juice. Not bad. Back home, we watched the swearing in of Tun M as Malaysia's 7th prime minister ( he's a

The 14th General Elections (GE14) was called on the 9th of May, a Thursday. The BN government declared it a public holiday, so there was no issue of local voters having to take time off. For outstation voters, it was another matter. For the first time, my polling station was actually in Selangor, at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seksyen 4 Bandar Kinrara. I managed to change my address in the electoral roll before it was gazetted. Previously, I voted in the Seputeh, a federal constituency. A neighbour tumpang -ed mum and I to the polling station. We arrived at around 8:30 AM, and the crowd was already building. Managed to find parking away from the school area, at the BK5 commercial area. Mild campaigning was going on opposite the stay, mostly providing service to check the electoral roll. Before entering voting, one had to endure to queues. The first was the queue to enter the polling station. The polling agents at the entrance would direct voters to the different polling stations.