The Ritz-Carlton, Kyoto

*pic taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

the exclusive 4 floors Ritz-Carlton hotel, situated just by the famous Kamo River. This river is one of the most visited spot for tourists and locals alike. The Ritz Carlton just opened in 2014 and both Monkey & JS decided we must check into it just to....hmmm check it out? :)))

the architect design depicts the edo period of Japan with the iconic roof. Each room has a huge window to overlook the mountains and river.

Zen water and stone features greeted us upon arrival.

We must say this is one of the top-notch service we have received by far during the last trip to Japan in February....the moment our taxi's doors were opened, the beautiful lady in elegant kimono greeted us with an even more beautiful smile.

She requested for our last name, and ushered us towards the corridor with cascading water feature. The sound was so soothing and inviting. Lady in Kimono then proce Lady in Kimono  eded with some introduction of the property to us.

*Pic taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

She brought us into the hall with creme colored chairs. The interior design here just reminded me of Armani Casa. Especially with the material used on the chairs and vertical wooden panels.

*pic taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

the site that Ritz-Carlton was built is a long strip of land facing the Higashiyama mountain and river. Hence the architect creatively worked with that he had to incorporate all the elements of water, earth and zen-ness...plus the usage of materials that represent the Edo period of Japan.

From the taxi straight to our room by Lady in Kimono. oh wow what a smooth check-in...I remembered as she walked past the concierge another tall good looking staff handed her a small folder. So those were our documents....then I noticed she has got a transparent earpiece attached to her.

sou des neh...so when she asked for our reservation name, she was also announcing it to her team members.

We were then seated on this area over looking the Kamo River...Can u see the Higashiyama mountains??? The skyline is the typical Kyoto buildings. There aren't that many tall buildings here. I can't remember how many times we've been to Kyoto but each visits never fail to mesmerise us.

As at 2015, most of the attractions are under massive restoration works. I guess they are preparing for the big O....Olympic that is in 2020. Oh well, we've been to all the major UNESCO sites, so I guess it's OK since we are here for some gastronomy adventure hehehehe

The 600 sq ft room is divided into 2 from the entrance. The long corridor with all the minibar amenities you needed. The other side is the shower, lavatory and walk in closet.

Monkey was bz snooping around the room already....
Wahhh this is very nice!!!! I like!!!

I was so impressed with the cypress wood used on the floorboard of the shower. The tiles on the walls were 3D shapes of sakura flowers. Down lights cast shadows and they looked like butterflies to me :))) I lurve butterflies~~~

The lacquered box with enamel mother of pearl on the amenities box inside the bathroom. When I opened it, all the toiletries were inside. :)))

The lil cupboard that stores all our snacks, coffee pods and various tea bags.

they thought of everything don't they?

early morning lifesaver - Nespresso machine

All japanese hotels be it resorts or business hotels have got one in their rooms. That includes Ryokan. I guess Nespresso is everywhere now compared to 5 years ago :)))

While Monkey was so bz snooping around, Lady in Kimono proceeded with a simple tea ceremony. Then she proceeded with the check-in process. Inside the small folder she took from her colleague earlier, there was a mini scanner the size of a 15cm ruler which scanned our passports.

ohhhh that's very Double O Seven.
Just one signature and we were done with our check-ins....inside our room :))))

She then left us to enjoy our tea and the stunning view.....there's even a mini bonsai in our room!!!

We've got 2 huge beds to ourselves!!! woohoooo. and it's so soft and comfy. A long day lounge sofa was rather inviting too...for an afternoon nap....but JS the hyperman who couldn't sit still, wanted to venture outta the hotel already.

please....i wanna nap nap for a while~~~
JS -_-

Before the whining can stop, our bags have been delivered into our walk-in closet. and really there's isn't much time to nap and Monkey got pulled from her lazy chair to venturing in the beautiful city of Kyoto. He wanted to snap some beautiful pics of the Golden Pavilion.

Monkey was still buying time....
"Hey look JS, there's a cute gadget next to your bed....let's play with it."
JS -_-" NO!!! we are goin out now!!!!

So as we arrived at the lobby, Lady in Kimono was surprised and enquired where would we want to go...
JS: "Kinkakuji, the golden Pavilion."
Lady in Kimono: "Oh that's very beautiful and I am sure you will have beautiful pictures." *pointing to JS's massive equipments.

JS was beaming with smiles...coz that's exactly what he's gonna do in a short while.
Lady in Kimono: "Would you like a taxi? It looks like it will rain and how many umbrellas would you need?"

JS is an iron man...he doesn't need any umbrellas, only Monkey the soft toufu *according to him* needs one. >.< Lady in Kimono was walking with us towards the entrance and chatting amicably with us.

Once we arrived...a taxi was already waiting with its door opened. Another tall and good looking doorman was standing with an umbrella.

WAHHHH speaking of efficiency. So I guess as Lady in Kimono was talking to us, all the informations were relayed to her team. Gosh JS I felt my privacy has been infringed!!!! hahaha just kidding. Every guests would want such special and efficient treatment.

*The above pics were all taken from The Ritz-Carlton website*

To further enhance our experience here, there's even a full fledge Pierre Herme boutique downstairs!!! GAHHH I cannot believe it we will be served pastries the next morning from Pierre Herme!!! this is too much!!!

after  all the hardwork or carrying JS's equipments around for him to snap some nice pics. We came back in time to get ready for our kaiseki dinner at a 400 years old restaurant. Will blog about it soon.

It's so soothing to come home to the hotel with the sound of water cascading...Now I want this at home :))))

The next morning, hobbits were all admiring the beautiful Higashiyama mountains from the room. We are really spoilt for this luxury stay. :))))) JS himself declared nothing less than the Ritz-Carlton now unless some Relais & Chateau ryokan...

-_-" think he's more spoilt than me.

For more information:
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/Kyoto/Default.htm

Trickeedeee Trishaw Ride, Malacca

Malacca just brought back so much memories

lurve this lil town

occasionally the 3 of us incl Berr make trips down

more specifically MAKAN TRIP

usually we'll walk around the city

coz by walking u get to see more

esp the local life

and JS will get to photograph more subjects

however that particular afternoon, Monkey was complaining

*well not very unusual at all T_T*

and so we hailed one right in the middle of the narrow street

who was midway refilling air into his tyres/wheelie

at a wheelie workshop

guess I was so tired coz Monkey just landed her bum into the trishaw

even before the peddler could say yes/no

and to the horror of the chinese workshop boy who was midway refilling/pumping air

onto the wheeliesssss

O_O

hmmmm well if I sit on it u will get better measurement of air pressure in the tyre

kekekekekekekkekek

lalalalalalalalalala

I wondered why they deco trishaws these day

with loud music and weird looking flowers which are foreign to msia

I mean put lar local flowers

and more weird colorful stuffs that will confuse ppl with traffic lights

and then we arrived at Majestic Hotel
and Pak Cik even managed to pose for us...kekekke

gawd the trishaw was so crowded with decos u can't even see lovely Monkey there!!!!

we were so touristy and he thought we must been Singaporean or wat...
"dari mana?"
"hehehehe :P:P:P:P dari KL pak cik"

*slaps forehead*

Land of Nyonyas and Babas *by JS* Part 1/3

It was the weekend of May day and Monkey and JS had already planned a trip to Nyonya and Baba land. The plan was to depart at 10am and arrive at 11.30am and then head to Aunty Lee Nyonya restaurant for lunch before we start our walkabout around the historical town where Zheng He and Hang Li Poh used to tread.

According to historical records Admiral Zheng He made 7 trips on the treasured fleet in the early 1400s to this part of the world. He reached as far west as Sri Lanka, India and the east coast of Africa and as south as Indonesia where today he is still worshipped by the Chinese and there you will find a chinese temple dedicated to him. Strange though cos Zheng He was a Muslim!!

Back to the 21st century......as we approached the sg besi toll, OMG...look at the F***ing traffic. Yes, it was a start of a nightmare!!

chocker block at sg besi toll

crawling traffic along the NS highway.....that's what i call "the speed that kills"

The usual 1.5 hours journey took 4.5 hours but the driver for the day was still cool as a cucumber.......

On arrival at the Majestic Hotel, we couldn't wait to check in then quickly go for lunch. We couldn't make it to Aunty Lee cos they close at 2pm. In addition, the restaurant only have 6 tables. WTF. So we are in Nyonya land but no nyonya food!!

Reluctantly we headed out on foot and came across a coffee shop style hawker centre.

The aroma of the fry Kway Teoh and Satay was so damn tempting especially when we were so dead hungry!! so we sat down and ordered what our eyes saw......was the stomach hungry or was it the eyes that was hungry?? haha.

we were so late and kway teoh stall ran out of kway teoh so we settled for mee.

This is Melaka style pork satay. The sauce has smashed pineapples in it. Pork and pineapple are perfect partners.

The Melaka wan tan mee is pretty bland and has a clean after taste, Not everybody's "cup of tea"......or rather "bowl of mee".

Sui kow and wanton to accompany the wan tan mee.

and barley lime to cool off.

That was a sumptous meal of variety i guess and somehow we were still feeling .......errrrrrrrrr, hungry!!

So we continue to walk towards the town. Forgot to mention that Monkey grew up partially in Melaka and has got Portuguese blood running in her!! So i had a local tour guide bringing me around town and that was a somewhat comfortable feeling actually :)

Then we stumbled upon this stall along Jalan Bunga Raya.

Monkey : this is the most famous popiah seller in the whole of Melaka.

JS : really??!! why are they so famous??

Monkey : look at the queue at this time of the day!!! Don't think you get this in KUL.

JS : then what are we waiting for?? lets go for it.

Monkey then queued up and was given a "queue" number when she ordered!!!

Monkey : uncle, how long to wait??

Uncle : come back in 30mins!!

JS : o_O WTF!!

So monkey said lets go for some cool stuff first and we headed down Jln Bunga Raya to this very old fashion ice cafe which was Monkey's fav ........strange name.

Yes, they only serve ice kacang, chendol, etc. Having Chendol is a must when you are in Nyonya land.

The palm sugar has such great length.

what's this?? ice cream soda with a scope of vanilla ice cream....as the name suggest, it's ice cream soda lar.....ice cream and ice cream soda....get it!! you don't get this anywhere anymore.

After the ice stuff , its back to the popiah........

Look at the queue.....it's got longer!!!

Anyway we collected our popiah and couldn't wait to sink our teeth into the nice juicy filling.

JS took the first bite........and yes, there was pork scratching and that gave a nice texture in comparison to the soft filling.

They are also very generous with the filling.

One hell of an amazing popiah and i affirm it's one of the best i have had and eating it by the roadside made it even tastier!

For those of you who are interested, it's call Popiah Bunga Raya and it's outside Madam King's departmental store and they only open from 1.30pm to 9pm....strange opening hours!!

Incidently you will find the best O chien in Melaka along this street at night!

Then it was time for us to march on through the old town and finally arrived at Christ Church which is the town centre.

Watch this space for part 2 outta 3 parts series.