Japan: Autumn - October 2015

My third time going to Japan. For somebody who doesn't like Japanese food and didn't really enjoy her previous tours to Japan, I sure ended there quite a lot! The good news is I came back from this trip with a better appreciation of Japan and don't mind going there again :)

This time round I went with friends. We decided to go on a budget trip. Total costs for 15 days (14 nights) was just around RM4.3k inclusive of tickets to Disneyland, Disneysea, Tokyo Tower and all other attractions. Cheap right? How do we keep the costs down? We flied Air Asia, brought almost all food from Malaysia, stay at cheap accommodation and buy public transportation passes. I think the main reason why I like this trip is because I get to eat Malaysian food :P Previous trips because I followed group tours I had to eat Japanese food :(

You need to be very fit if you wish to take their mass transit system. It is normal to walk around 10 km a day. Even if you just want to change train lines within the same station, you need to walk very far unlike in London. The places that you wish to visit are also mostly far from the stations. So if you are the type who only walk to your car, better join a tour instead of going to Japan yourself :P Another reason why I like this trip is because I get to experience their public transportation. It was so much fun. Really! You came back also healthier :)

 

Our itinerary was as follows:
29 October 2015     Kuala Lumpur - Tokyo
30 October 2015     Tokyo
31 October 2015     Tokyo
1 November 2015   Tokyo - Kawaguchiko - Tokyo
2 November 2015   Tokyo
3 November 2015   Tokyo
4 November 2015   Tokyo - Nagoya
5 November 2015   Nagoya
6 November 2015   Nagoya
7 November 2015   Nagoya - Osaka
8 November 2015   Osaka
9 November 2015   Osaka
10 November 2015 Osaka - Kyoto - Osaka
11 November 2015 Osaka - Kyoto - Osaka
12 November 2015 Osaka - Kuala Lumpur

We visited Disneyland and Disneysea. I am not really a fan of theme parks (but as always I sure ended up there quite often!) but for these two parks their night fireworks and laser shows made me like theme parks a bit :) So if you go there and like me don't really like to queue for rides, you must stay for the night shows. They are spectacular :)

We went to Lake Kawaguchi to take a look at Fuji Mountain. The day was grey but we were lucky to still be able to view the top part of the mountain while we were cruising on the lake :) Lake Kawaguchi is actually quite big. Make sure you do a research on where is the best place to see autumn leaves and Mount Fuji. We went to a wrong place so we did not get to see so many autumn leaves :( Another thing, if you wish to ride on a scenic train in Kyoto make sure when you board the train it is still daylight. Truly a waste of money if you board at night.

My favourite in this trip is the visit to Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. First time I get so close to dolphins, belugas, penguins and killer whales :) Do check out the pictures at #mks20151106. They are all super duper cute!

I've uploaded 837 photos on Instagram. You can access them here:
http://instagram.com/mkhasha.n.travels

Hashtag specific for this trip:
#mks2015Japan

Njoy!!

Japan: Winter - December 2013

 

Truth to tell I don't really like going for holidays during winter. I think it is so depressing when 5 p.m. feels like 8 p.m. However, since I like playing with snow I don't really have any choice do I? Unless of course you go to the fake snow house which I'm pretty sure I will like less than winter ;)

 

We went to Japan via China Airlines. This is the first time that I flew via this airline. The flights from Kuala Lumpur to Sapporo were quite pleasant. The meals on board were quite tasty. The flight attendants were polite and pretty. The inflight entertainment was satisfactory even though the selection of movies are quite limited. We had a short transit of two hours at Taipei International Airport. 

 

The flights from Sapporo to Kuala Lumpur were less enjoyable however with bland food served and the flight attendants were nowhere in sight. I know you can call them by pushing the button at your chair but I ended up walking to the back of the plane a few times to ask for some warm water. I don't know whether it is just me but I found that the flights home were extra dry and sucked the moisture out of me somehow :(

 

When we reached Sapporo International Airport we were quite alarmed when we saw that there was not even a speck of snow on the ground. I'm sure the Sapporo residents were quite happy with the sun shinning but for us who specifically flew to Japan to experience snow it was a bit disappointing. Luckily our disappointment was very short lived. The same night it was snowing and when we woke up the next morning the world was a winter wonderland :)

 

You can read my experience with show in my other posting here:

Snow Here Snow There Snow Everywhere!

 

 

For this trip (12-18 December 2013) we joined a Muslim tour organised by Ramza Travel & Tours Agency Sdn Bhd. The tour price was RM6700 per person (twin sharing). The Japanese local agent Zero Planning was very good. They made sure that we have an area to perform our prayers and even provide prayer mats and attire for the women. This is the first time that I went to a non-Muslim countries that have qiblah direction at the hotel rooms. Zero Planning also bought new cutleries for us. They even have a small prayer room and ablution area at their new office in Sapporo. Amazing and well done!

 

During our six nights there we stayed at three onsen hotels and two normal hotels. Frankly I would rather stay at normal hotels throughout since almost all tour members did not actually go to the onsen anyway. Note: Onsen is a hot spring or a resort that has developed around a hot spring. One of the local's favourite activities most especially during winter is dipping themselves in the therapeutic hot spring. The activity requires the participants to be totally naked.

 

I think it is quite safe to generalise that almost all Muslim women will not go to a public onsen wearing just their birthday suit. They may however go to a private one. So maybe this fact is something that Zero Planning might consider when they arrange bookings for hotels in the future for Muslim tours. If they insist on onsen hotels, make sure there is a private onsen available and let the tour participants know in advance how much is the cost for a private session. Alternatively just stay at a normal hotel close to shopping areas ;) 

 

I never really like Japanese food so I found that the food throughout the trip were quite bland. It was quite weird to eat rice for breakfast initially but at the end of the trip I quite like it. Love their breakfast dish of fried huge anchovy and fish :)

Since they are a green tea drinking society and I am the sweet tea kind of person I couldn't even enjoy their hot drinks. Their coffee was also extremely bitter that I have to put a lot of milk and sugar just to neutralise its bitterness.

Despite everything I do enjoy the trip because I get to experience many kind of snow and snowing styles. Shopping there was also quite a pleasure most especially for the shopaholics. Too bad I've already repented. My motto now is "Live Life Simply". So no more lugging stuff from overseas for me ;p

Will I come back to visit Japan in near future? Highly unlikely as this was my second trip to Japan already. The first time was to visit Tokyo during sakura season. A beautiful season in Japan.

I've uploaded 407 photos of the trip for your viewing pleasure. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

Njoy!!

Japan: Spring - April 2008

 

We went to Japan for the sole purpose of getting up-close and personal with Japan's famous cherry blossoms. Fortunately we were not totally dissappointed. Ueno Park, the famous place in Tokyo to view thousands of cherry trees in blossom splendours, when we reached there.. almost all the trees except for a few have turned green! No flowers. Just leaves :(

 

Luckily at Hakone Peace Park they were still flowering. So we did manage to catch a few "Kodak Moments" :)

 

 

Since we went in spring, we didn't expect to see snow.. but we were pleasantly surprised that there were some leftovers at Mount Fuji lower station. We didn't get to go to the 5th Station cause the road was closed.

 

Frankly speaking, there was nothing particularly outstanding in this trip that I'm actually having a tough time recalling the details. Maybe two myths were busted during this trip:

 

Myth 1: All Japanese people are slim (except sumo wrestles of course!) cause they worked hard and eat fish. Well I found a few chubby people during this trip.. ;p

 

Myth 2: Everywhere in Japan are very very clean. Well.. our first hotel was not very clean. The room and the dining area can benefit from a thorough cleaning if you ask me..

 

This was a very short and basic tour by Reliance Travel. The tour run from 16-21 April 2008. 6 days 4 nights. Tour price was RM4.7k per person. Unfortunately, the hotels and meals provided were pretty mediocre. I suppose I was just unlucky. I'm sure other people experiences were much better. It's just that when I left the country, I simply don't have any lingering feeling of ever wanting to come back.

 

Hemm.. maybe Hokkaido can make me change my mind. I was told by many people that Hokkaido is like heaven on earth! We will see..

 

If you're interested, I've uploaded 228 photos of Japan. You can access them at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/mkhasha.n.travels/. Go to the photo albums.

 

Njoy!!