I haven’t updating much on my blog, but it doesn’t mean I’ve been forgetting about myself.
Today, I went to gym and spent time with Choco.
I need stamina to play with Choco. hahaha
Category: Beauty
Training School
So cute of him to go in himself!
Choco knows he can go out if he goes in this bag!!!
I’m glad that he enjoys going out with me.
Choco and I attended a briefing for Training School: Familina Garden, Minami Aoyama.
We decided to take lessons and Choco would have four school mates.
We will start our class next week.
I bought a crate at my regular pet shop, Green Dog Tokyo Midtown Roppongi Store for him because he would need it there and other places.
He likes it.
He was totally relaxing by lying down inside of it at the shop.
It was a busy morning so I went to spa to unwind my body while he is taking a nap.
Healing Sunday
I pampered myself; I went to spa for body, facial and hair.
Mom stayed home with Choco-chan while I’m at spa.
He has been playing with two of us so he must be so tired.
He took a nap and Mom sent me this video; he always cheers me up.
Happy Saturday
I had a bad week at work.
I’m glad that I applied for a trial lesson for boxing fitness programme at B-Monster Ginza this morning.
We boxercise in dark.
The loud EDM kept me going; otherwise, I won’t be able to finish the whole programme.
Well, technically I took a break in between so I may not able to say a WHOLE programme, but I could still stand when we finished the lesson.
It was fun!
I was seriously considering to become a member, but currently, the membership is full so I couldn’t.
I will check other studio.
After boxercise, I went to lunch at Din Tai Fung Ginza at Kirarito Ginza.
I love their dim sum.
I also enjoyed their famous Taiwanese Mango Shaved Ice!
I hope I didn’t cancelled out my exercise with these lunch. hahaha
At evening, I took Choco-chan for a walk for the first time.
He is small so he can get enough exercise at home, but it would be nice to get fresh air and fun.
We went to the Light and Mist Digital Art @ Tokyo Midtown Roppongi.
It is beautiful.
I hope Choco-chan also enjoyed the evening.
AntiGravity @ Yoyogi Uehara
I tried Aerial Hammock Yoga at AntiGravity, Yoyogi Uehara, Tokyo.
It’s my first time to try Yoga and also Hammock Yoga.
It was fun to be upside down to take a Spider-Man’s pose. LOL
Nail to Office
During summer, I want to wear bright colour, but I think pastel colors are not suitable for the office.
I frequently wear dark and bright grey
Manuka Doctor Face Mask
I was sitting at the window of the bus during the tour; therefore, I got tanned.
I need to do quick repair and opened this Manuka Doctor Face Mask that my friend gave me.
I knew some people use honey for facial mask so this should be good because using MANUKA!
I applied for 15 mins to cool down my skin.
Trip to Northern Japan’s Three Greatest Summer Festival (Day 2)
It’s cloudy today.
I went for morning Onsen (hot spring).
There is a Rotenburo (open-air bath) to overlook ocean.
I had Japanese breakfast.
These look old fashioned but food is very delicious.
I enjoy their food very much; very local and very fresh.
Their Onsen is nice and food is delicious.
It sands in front of ocean to enjoy ocean view from a room.
I departed Aomori for Morioka, Iwate.
Yes, the station that I arrived by Shinkansen yesterday.
I look at Iwate-yama (Mt. Iwate) again, the same mountain that I was looking yesterday.
We returned to Aomori Station, Iwate to watch Sansa Odori (Sansa Dance).
Sansa Odori is a combination of odori (dance), taiko (Japanese drum) and flute (Japanese flute).
This dance is dancing for appreciation and celebration of Kamisama (Gods) defeating Oni (evils).
There is a rock with Oni no Te (Evil’s Hand Print).
Evils promised not to return again by making a hand print.
This myth is the origin of name of Iwate Prefecture: Stone Hand Prefecture.
There are many groups and style of Sansa Odori.
The actual performance will be at night, however, to increase the awareness of Sansa Odori, many groups performance during day time at few places such as in front of Morioka Station, Malios, etc.
We went up to the observation room of Malios to overlook Morioka City, Iwate.
We departed for Akita for the last Summer Festival of the tour: Akita Kanto Matsuri (direct translation is Akita Lantern Bamboo Festival).
We reached Akita City.
This road named Akita Kanto Odori will be the street for the performance.
Again, we took early dinner, this time at Akita Castle Hotel.
Hotel banquet rooms became huge buffet dinner place for tourists.
It was like a zoo. hahaha
After dinner, I took a photo with a famous guy in Akita: Namahage.
He looks fierce, but a nice guy.
He scares away evils to being good lucks!
We went to the street to watch the performance.
This is again originated from Lantern Festival; many of us are Buddhist.
It’s an amazing festival with sound of taiko, fue and Kanto (Lanterns on Bamboos).
A person to hold Kanto extends bamboo and it bents greatly with weight of lanterns, making difficult to hold it.
Furthermore, they balance it on their palm, forehead, shoulder and hip.
They start from small.
They are small, but already a great performer!
I enjoy it very much.
About at 9 pm, we left Akita for Oshuku Onsen (Oshuku Hot Spring).
We reached Hotel Mori no Kaze Oshuku at 11 pm.
I found our supper, onigiri (rice balls) in our room; however, I’m still full from dinner.
We quickly went to take a bath because a public bath, Onsen, will close at 25 o’clock.
It was nice.
There is a Rotenburo (open-air bath) and special lemon bath to remove our tiredness.
Oyasuminasai (Good Night)
Nail for Summer Festival
Neon Orange and Baby Pink for Summer Festival Spirit!
Trip to Bulgaria and Romania (Day 4)
Today is the main day of this trip: Rose Festival.
We are scheduled to leave hotel for Kazanlak at 6:45 am; as such, I took a quick breakfast at 5:30 am then Sayonara Plovdiv.
Bulgaria has rich soil so the country’s self efficiency is high.
Bulgaria imports food only during winter.
I can see many farms at the road side.
Kazanlak is famous for production of poppy, lavender and rose.
This is lavender farm, looks nice in purple.
The type of Rose suited for extracting rose oil is Damask Rose.
Bulgarian believes Damask Rose was brought by Thracians.
On the other hand, some claim Damask Rose was brought by Turkish/Ottoman.
This theory is also supported because production of rose oil was industrialized during Ottoman Empire.
Rose requires rich soil, enough sunshine and balanced humidity.
Due to above requirements, roses are commonly planted at winery grape yards to alert soil condition.
To produce 1kg of rose oil, it requires 3,000 roses; 1 drop requires 120 roses.
Once rose oil was traded equally as gold.
No wonder it’s precious.
Rose is national flower of Bulgaria.
This morning, we departed early for rose picking.
It is better to pick roses early morning to keep better/stronger fragrance.
Rose oil is commonly used as one of ingredients for major brands’ perfume to keep lasting fragrance.
Rose oil is also used as an ingredient for cosmetics because of its performance: anti-aging, antibacterial effects, moisturizing and even good for applying insect bites.
It is also used for supplement: kidney stone, constipation, etc.
When we consume rose jam, we need to be easy with it; it might force you to go to toilet often! hahaha
I bought rose oil, hand cream, jam and lokum for myself.
I can enjoy rose picking, shopping and even watching Bulgarian Folk Dance at Ethnographic Complex Damascena, Kazanlak.
Bulgarian Folk Dance and songs.
We moved to the Rose Festival Parade.
This parade started in 1903.
The total population of Kazanlak is about 50,000, but over 100 buses of tourists visit the town for Rose Festival.
They are Queen of Rose.
This parade is heart warming because it is obviously hand-made by local community.
At last, all of us (local people and tourists) dance together.
We had BBQ for lunch,
Drinks are included. Yeah!
After lunch, we visited Shipka Memorial Church, also known as Memorial Temple of the Birth of Christ.
On the way to Veliko Turnovo, we stopped by at one of parking areas to try pure water buffalo yogurt with local honey.
Both yogurt and honey are so rich and delicious that I would recommend to try it.
We arrived Veliko Turnovo and checked in at Hotel Meridian Bolyarski.
It has a tremendous view.
We had dinner at hotel restaurant.
We also enjoyed live music while eating and chatting.
We had a good time at our table.
After dinner, we went for a short walk; this town is very peaceful.
It’s been a long day.
I soaked my body to rose bath to unwind my tired body.
Good night.
sonokotchi 