Chronicles of Narnia II

After buying my small little silicon cupcake moulds, it was possible to bake stuff other than bread and cookies at Tat-chan's place.. But limited on my resources, it was kinda difficult to bake without my essentials.. Such as baking powder, baking soda and etc.. So I made tarts! No baking soda needed, plus, Tat-chan had a stash of baking powder in his cabinet! So I cooked some custards, decorated with some stuff I have such as 粒餡 bean paste, canned mangoes, premium blueberry jam which Nozomi-chan gave.. And it formed the topping for my little tarts! :D

We proceeded to watch Chronicles of Narnia, and to save cost, we got our drinks from the supermarket.. Not forgetting the chips too!

Guess wat we found? A new autocashier machine! People can serve themselves if the queues are too long! So here, we scan our goods and pay by cards.. Isn't that amazing?

As you can see at the bottom, there are plastic bag for bagging the groceries on our own.. Needs integrity of the people for this to work though..

Movie was over, and I'm so disappointed with Narnia 2... The prince was handsome, too handsome for 'Queen Susan' though.. And the lion came too late.. Ridiculous.. Why would he wait and hide so long for Narnians to die before surfacing to safe everyone? Bleahz.. But Japan filmed Hana Yori Danko, which is 'Liu Xing Hua Yuan'.. And I love Rei!! Plus, they found a handsome guy for this show!!! Dunno who he is though..

Tat-chan brought me for dinner after sending me home and collecting some stuff from his friend.. I dozed off while waiting though.. And here we have my first time Yakiniku.. I could have sworn I regretted trying this only now.. But I'm not surprised... Cuz its so expensive.. 和牛, also known as Japanese beef, a grade lower than the famous Kobe beef, but its still really good..

I'm so glad Tat-chan intro-ed this to me! The beef is soft, tender so good...

The best part? The たれwhich we dip the meat in after cooking our meat on the grill provided.. Its different from Korean BBQ cuz it uses a wire mesh and the fats of the meat drops into the fire below.. Kind of like our Charcoal BBQ, but it uses fire and its indoor...

There is also my first Bim Bim Ba.. dun really like it though since I'm not that much a fan of Kimchi.. So I dun think its as good as Yakiniku..Yakiniku is still one of the best stuff I ate in Japan.. So be sure to try it the next time you have a chance to go Japan!! I think Singapore has it too.. not sure where though..

Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 4: The Silver Kurashiki

Main article: The Silver Chair
Completed in the spring of 1951 and published in 1953, The Silver Chair is the first book without the Pevensie children. Instead, Aslan calls Eustace back to Narnia together with his classmate Jill Pole. There they are given four clues to find Prince Rilian, Caspian's son, who had been kidnapped ten years earlier. Eustace and Jill, with the help of Puddleglum the Marsh-wiggle and many others, face great danger before finding Rilian.

Click on either the picture or the Sign to see each entry!




Sign 1:Along えびす通り(Ebisu Doori) of Kurashiki












Sign 2:アクセサリー 苑 (Accessorie en) and ギャラリーサイジ (Gallery Saiji)













Sign 3:美観地区 (Bi-kan-chi-ku) (Beauty site area)

















Sign 4:The Ivy Square





















Exit Sign: Going Back to Fukuyama



Back to: Chronicles of 豚姉妹　Just to help you navigate my entries

Exit Sign

Yes.. I know.. I'm damn lame.. But it makes sense doesn't it? Exit sign.. Nonetheless, this is the route the 豚姉妹 took to get back to the JR station. The way we came from was quite different though.. We made a round around somewhere else..

This was a building within Ivy Square. We took a photo from the outside since the gate was close. It was interesting to watch it from the outside though. It looked dark and mysterious.
And a little walk furthur, we saw this quaint little garden.. It looked almost like an island on its own.. ain't that cool?
And after exiting Ivy square, we passed by an interesting 旅館(ryo-kan).
Its like a traditional Japanese style hotel.. So the staff inside were wearing Kimonos.. And the meals were eaten by kneeling down.. 痛いな。。 (I-ta-i-na) Which means painful..


Like I mentioned. These infrastructures are really unique to 倉敷　(ku-ra-shi-ki).　Small grey square tiles glued side by side..
This is what we called 牡丹花. In Japanese, its called ボタン (Bo-tan).. In English.. Peony..


As you can see the photo is getting darker.. Indications of time to head home.. We were getting closer to the station.. So no worries there...

Just a snap with the gate of a temple.. you can see its closed... Time to return to 福山！













BACK TO Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 4: The Silver Kurashiki

Sign 4:The Ivy Square

This is more or less the last part of Kurashiki that I visited. Its called Ivy Square.

Once a cotton cloth mill, this historic red brick building was renovated, and is now Ivy Square. The open square is encased by a two-story red brick building with beautiful ivy climbing the walls.

This is my top favourite spot in 倉敷.

Its the place where the East meets the west. So this entry has alot of photos!!!!

At the entrance of Ivy square is a candle making counter.. You can make your candle in any shape or pattern you like.

I found this well, which was carved from a stone entirely. So I tried to imitate　貞子.. Hope she wun hunt me tonight.

And This is Ivy Square itself with the Ivies crawling all over the building and red wall...
This part reminds me of our very own Raffles hotel though...
Here is the beer garden and at night there is beer buffet with food.. I think its like 2700 yen.. About SGD$40?

If you look at this picture, you will realise that there is something special in the background... Towering above the red wall... Its Sakuras!!!

If you ignore my hedious face, you will see some suffering turtles on the rock... Apparently the water is too cold for the poor turtles...

Don't ask me how the top turtle got on to the other. Its either someone played a prank on them, or the turtle was sleep climbing.. They look sad though.. :S

This setting is so nice!!! Except that there are other people in the picture.. If you notice the stairs in the background.. But nonethless, the red bricks really accentuates the European air in this palce...
I found this picture really special because of the weather cock on the top left corber if you noticed.. How often do you see a weathercock in the East? Well, at least I didn't..
Just love the windows... Makes me feel as though I'm at some secret garden cottage.. Remember when you were young and there were books like The Secret Garden? Was it by Enid Blyton or Someone else?
This is actually the entrance to the art museum of Ivy Square.. As you can see in the background, we have flags and a taxi! Wearing caps is actually part of Taxi driver's uniform here.. Take a close look at the driver's head..

Secret stairs to... Erm.... I have no idea where... But 亜貴子ちゃんwas worried someone would come and scold us.. So We had to take quick snaps of this place..

This is a bunch of cute statues outside the souvenir shop outside Ivy square... I thought this was really cute cuz I looked like one of them... -_-

I posted this photo to explain something about 桜 to my blog readers.. If you notice, there are leaves on this Sakura tree.. This is a sign of the Sakuras withering.. So the flowers would wither and the tree would be green..


Last photo before I exit Kurashiki Ivy Square! 亜貴子ちゃんwas commenting my body is so long she had problems fitting my bpdy into the frame of her camera.. Haha.. I shall take that as a compliment 褒め言葉

(Ho-me-ko-to-ba)..

Time to walk back to the 倉敷JR station!

BACK TO Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 4: The Silver Kurashiki
Next Sign:Exit Sign, Going Back to Fukuyama

Sign 3:美観地区 (Bi-kan-chi-ku) (Beauty site area)

Sign 3 was the 美観地区...
It was kinda like a little area with a canal and traditional buildings surrounding it..
As I mentioned.. The buildings are traditional. These infrastructure are quite distinctive to 倉敷Kurashiki. Look at the square brinks below the while wall lined together.. When you see structures like this, its likely that the designer is from kurashiki...
This is the 倉敷川(Kurashiki kawa)canal that flows to the famous river of 岡山県Okayama Prefecture called the 高梁川(Takahashi Kawa) Takahashi River... Thx to Akiko-chan's efforts, this photos shows the 'sam-pan' in the background..

This building is actually the wall surrounding another one of the art museums in Kurashiki. This place is seriously packed with art museums!!



This is きびだんご.. The produce of 岡山県. If you recall an entry in February, dearest Akiko-chan actually bought me something from 岡山県.. ITs this brand.. This is the shop selling the speciality good of the okayama prefecture...
This is a cafe in a really 'lok-kok' house.. Actually, its not 'lok-kok', but its just built in this way to have a European feel to the building.. I wonder how they managed to grow the creepers all over the house though...
After so much walking and shopping, it was about 4pm, but we had to reserve our stomachs for the BBQ dinner.. So we had deserts instead!!! We wach ordered a 抹茶ぜんさいset.. Mine is smaller cuz I wanted to save money and reserve my stomach for dinner.. But this was like 350 yen? About $4.80.. The price is like eating at Ajisen dining.. So its not so bad.. Akiko's was about 400 yen, so not too far in temrs of price for a bigger one.. Well, every yen contributes to my savings ok?
After our tea time break, I had a picture at the bridge crossing over 倉敷川(kurashiki kawa).. I think I seriously got fat.. Cuz for this photo.. I was big enough to cover a women behind me entirely!!!
Sakuras would fall during this period since their bloom can only last for 2 weeks.. And one of the sakura petals landed on my hair!

BACK TO Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 4: The Silver Kurashiki
Sign 4:The Ivy Square

Sign 2:アクセサリー 苑 (Accessorie en) and ギャラリーサイジ (Gallery Saiji)

Our next mission was shopping at this shop called 苑(en)




















This shop specializes in making souvenirs out of preserved plants and flowers. Kurashiki has alot of different plants that are available only in specific seasons. The one I'm holding is a type of Ivy... After walking at 苑、we found a bigger shop called Gallery Saiji.. We spent quite at amount at 苑. Akiko-chan bought me a pair of earrings preserved from a type of flower called Camellia. 夏椿(Natsu-Tsubaki)


I'm not showing my earrings!! Hahaha.. I have been wearing it though.. Let's see who can spot me wearing those earrings in subsequent entries.. The flower is on this tree.. So I'm sure you can find it..

I bought a brooch and a pair of earrings for mummy and sister... Akiko-chan and I shared a gift for her お母さん.. It was an アジサイ(Ajisai) Hydrangea. Its really nice... In Chronicles of 豚姉妹 part XYZ, you will get to see them.. :D


These are the preserved flower goods from the shop.. Since each of these were hand selected from nature, there are no two exact same pieces... Isn't that special?




This is... Erm.... Erm... Ok.. I really dunno what is this.. 恥ずかしい (Paiseh)

BACK TO Chronicles of 豚姉妹 Part 4: The Silver Kurashiki
Next Sign:美観地区 (Bi-kan-chi-ku) (Beauty site area)