My Travel Partner is Wendy and it was a great trip with her. We both shares the same habits and I guess opposites attract. Not in that manner though. She nags alot and I'm not. We can wake up early, we don't eat raw, she's easy-going, she's a walking compass and I'm the person who keys in the "where to go". We complement each other in a way. Haha.
The airline which we took was SIA. On the way over to Narita, Japan, SIA was disappointing as the Krisair Entertainment was down - No movies for us!!!! As it was a red-eye flight, we just sleep in so to have the energy to walk around Toyko once we were there. The air-stewardess this time was not as great as expected. From my past experiences with SIA air-stewardess, they were very pretty, very friendly, very nice and very helpful! That was why I always take SIA, partly because it's a Singapore brand and of the very good before and after flight experiences. However, my last trip with them was somewhat bad. Maybe because my expectations from them were always high - due to that excellent service I'd received. The only thing that made up for the bad experience was my trip back to Singapore. The lady who attended to us, she was the only one who was patient with us, very friendly, ALWAYS wears a very big smile, and that made us felt very comfortable. I guess she was new, hence the very out-to-please service. I hope she'll keep it that way always.
For May 2010's trip, I did not plan my hotel rooms in advance and that worried Clifton for he was afraid that we'll end up sleeping in the streets. Relax lah bro... hehe. On the night before our trip to Japan, I told Wendy that I'd yet to book our hotel room for Tokyo. She said "Orh okay. No problem.". That surprised me as I was expecting her to panic or something. Haha. She trusted me too much lah. Anyway, I'd booked our room in Tokyo for the first night as we'll be hitting Osaka on our 2nd day - which I booked our hotel for Osaka on our 1st day in Tokyo. Clifton is going to have a heart attack reading this. Wonder how Master Lil feels.. hmmm. Or she still can't access to my blog.
06 May 2010 Narita Airport, 0700hr.
We reached Japan, smelt Japan's air! The feeling being back there was GREAT! I was very excited and happy to be back there! Since my first experience with Clifton gave me the confidence to wander around Japan and knowing where to go, what to do and such. After exchanging our JR pass, we quickly rush to ride our Narita Express train to Tokyo. We reached Tokyo and were waiting to switch to Shinjuku. There we hitted the peak period and were packed like sardines. I think we rode the FEMALE only carriage and surrounding us were teenagers, my backpack were pressed between my back and some stranger and I had to grip on my luggage tight. It was pretty fun in a way because there's nowhere to rely on for support except for my surrounding - human. So when the train moved, stopped, we were like leaning onto each other. haha. And we had to SQUEEZE our way out when we arrived at Shinjuku. There, we switched to the private subway to get to Shin-Shinjuku. It was actually a less than 10 minutes walk to JR Shinjuku but trying out the new hotel for the first time.. we just rode on the train first, clear off our baggage and then explore our area freely. Keeping in mind to avoid the Kabuki area, we familiarised ourself with our surrounding. How convenient was there were two minimarts nearby and Mac was just across the road. Heh.
Oh! The hotel which we were staying at was Rose Garden. It's quite cheap, about SGD50 per person per night, we took the room with a queen size bed since we'll be just sleeping in only. Even if the hotel is like 3stars but the place is unlike our Fragrance or Hotel 81. :P
07 May 2010 – Osaka
Tokyo to Osaka (3 hours)
We took the early ride to Osaka so not to waste a day. The journey from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka was about 3hours and we transit to Osaka.
That's where we were staying at. It was quite pricey but very convenient as it was just a few steps from JR Osaka. It cost about SGD103 per pax per night.
As I'd booked just our first night, I asked the receptionist whether can we extend our stay to another 3 days and to get a room with 2 single beds since our first night's room was a queen size bad. The price she quoted was quite high and very different from the price I got online. So I asked whether was she able to charge me at the rate I got it online? Her initial response was no and there was some communication problem because she speaks little English. I then told her I'd do it online then since it couldn't be done. She asked me to wait and checked with her manager I guessed, returned to us and told us they'd charged us at the internet rate with 2 single beds. However, that would apply to our 2nd night onwards for the 2 single beds since there's no available rooms for the 1st night except for the one I'd booked online. We were okay with that and were very happy!! :D
Room for the first night.
Can't remember where did we go on our first day in Osaka..
08 May 2010 – Koyasan
Osaka – Shin Imamiya – Hashimoto – Koyasan (2hrs 30 mins)
To get to Koyasan, you'll need to ride JR Osaka to JR Shin Imamiya. There we bought a one way pass which covered the cost of cable car and bus which runs around Koyasan at a special price, specially for tourist. As there were still plenty of time for our train to arrive, we went out to find food. Our favourite - Onigiri!! Yums!!
JR Shin Imamiya and Subway Shin-Imamiya are just directly opposite from each other.
From Subway Shin Imamiya, we have to wait for the train to bring us to Hashimoto. Perhaps due to the low traffic, the frequency between each train was quite low.
We took a cable car from Subway Hashimoto all the way up to Koyasan (Koyasan is an alpine basin located about 1,000m above sea level, surrounded by mountain peaks on all sides.).
There was a bus waiting to fetch the visitors from Koyasan to the town. It's interesting to find schools there, police station and some residential housings.
Kōya, Wakayama
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Location of Koya in Wakayama Prefecture.Kōya (高野町, Kōya-chō) is a town located on a plateau atop Mt. Koya in Ito District, Wakayama, Japan. The town is known as the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism.
As of October 1, 2010, the town has an estimated population of 3,879 and a density of 28.30 persons per km². The total area is 137.08 km².
Our first stop was
Yesss!!! The Mausolea of the Tokugawas!
Arriving at the main gate.
That's the wood carvings on the top of the main gate.
The house of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Tokugawa Ieyasu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康, January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
Just beside is the house of Tokugawa Hidetada.
Tokugawa Hidetada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tokugawa Hidetada (徳川 秀忠, May 2, 1579—March 14, 1632) was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623.
We were lucky to still be able to catch Sakura in May since the blooming period is around February ~ March.
Streets of Koya
Kongobuji Temple - Headquarters Temple
Kongōbu-ji
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(金剛峯寺) is the ecclesiastic head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, located on Mount Kōya (高野山, Kōya-san), Wakayama prefecture, Japan. Its name means Temple of the Diamond Mountain. It is part of the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range" UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The temple was first constructed as Seigan-ji Temple in 1593 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi on the death of his mother, rebuilt in 1861, and given its present name in 1869. It contains many sliding screen doors painted by Kanō Tanyū (1602-1674) and members of Kyoto's Kanō school.
You'll noticed that 99% of the shrine and temples have this:
It is for visitors to cleanse themselves before entering the temple/shrine. Most of the locals would wash their hands and their mouths with the water. For us, we just wash our hands.
Walking up to the temple's gate.
The interiors. I took more photos but decided to skip putting it here so not to bored you.
Next stop: Daimon: The Great Gate
Daimon measures 21.4 meters by 7.9 meters and stands 25.1 meters tall. The statues inside are called the Kongo-Rikishi (Gaurdian Deities) and watch over the main entrance to Koyasan. These magnificent statues were created by Uncho and Koui during the Edo period.
Standing tall and magnificent.
The temperature - COOLING!! SHIOK!
In total, we'd visited Tokugawake Reidai, Kongobuji Temple, Daimon and Okunoin.
From Wiki, it is stated as Okunoin is the mausoleum of Kobodaishi - founded Koyasan as the religious retreat in 816, surrounded by an immense graveyard (largest in Japan). There you'll find the Monument of Maedas of Kaga, Date Masamune, Toyotomi and Oda Nobunaga.
You'll find that almost all of the temples, shrines and castles have gardens. Even for the cemetery.
We headed to Wakayama for dinner. Stumbled upon this ramen shop and we were conversing in Chinese. The owner of the ramen shop suddenly talked to us in mandarin! His parents were from China and migrate to Japan, hence he was born in Japan. He's able to speak fluent Japanese, half of Chinese (he'd still add in some Japanese expression while trying to reply in Chinese). His wife is also the same and they did not manage to inject their Chinese roots into their kids. Their names were also changed to Japanese name while keeping their surnames. He was really happy to see fellow Chinese, we chatted while eating his yummy ramen and took a photo before leaving. :)
Back to the hotel, we were given new key and were informed that they had moved our luggage into the new room. WOW!
![](”http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa255/fling_moron/20100506%20Japan%20with%20Wendy/2010050821-GranviaTV.jpg")
What impress us most was this:
Wendy had left and forgotten about her drink in the fridge from the previous room.. To find it being brought over to our new room! I mean, they could just throw it away or leave it there or something right? It reminded me of Grand Hyatt Singapore, where excellent service was provided, left a lasting impression on us. :)
09 May 2010 - Horyuji Temple & Nara
From Osaka, we head off to Horyuji Temple first as it's way off from Nara.
Taking a quick photo shoot in the train.
Hōryū-ji
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hōryū-ji (法隆寺, lit. Temple of the Flourishing Law) is a Buddhist temple in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its full name is Hōryū Gakumonji (法隆学問寺), or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, the complex serving as seminary and monastery both.
The temple's pagoda is widely acknowledged to be one of the oldest wooden buildings existing in the world, underscoring Hōryū-ji's place as one of the most celebrated temples in Japan.[1][2] In 1993, Hōryū-ji was inscribed together with Hokki-ji as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name Buddhist Monuments in the Hōryū-ji Area. The Japanese government lists several of its structures, sculptures and artifacts as National Treasures.
It seems that the schools in Japan would always send their students on excursions to the temples, shrines and museums. Which is good, to understand and learn more about their cultures, history, etc.
Taking a group photo.
Streets of Nara.
We were feeling hungry and decided to head off to the nearest cafe for lunch. The waitresses do not speak English at all and I tried ordering in Japanese, which worked! Thankfully! One of the waitresses was really cool and I wanted to take a photo with her initially... I was too shy and did not in the end.
Wendy's Katsu Don.
My Curry Udon.
They looked the same as what was served in Singapore right? I tell you, the taste was different! The curry wasn't watery, udon was very QQ and it tasted right! Slurp slurp! Now I wish I can return to that same cafe for that udon and katsu don!! YUMMY!!!!
Wendy told me that while we were enjoying our meals, the waitresses were standing by the side watching us eat. =.="
They seemed fascinated with us. haha.
Off to Nara... land of deers. Actually, Nara is well-known for their deer feeding. There're alot of vendors selling biscuits for tourists and visitors to buy and feed the deers. The deers would just laze around there and with their watchful eyes, they'll lookout for people with biscuits, walk over and be fed. The roads would be littered with deer shit and I heard that it was actually "cai" to step on them. Like our Chinese believe - if you step on dog shit or a bird shit on you, it's means "cai" or wealth!
Todaiji is a temple of grand proportions: it has the largest wooden building and largest Buddha statue in all of Japan.
It was very crowded on the day we were there. A lot of students and tourists - locals and overseas.
While waiting for Wendy to buy her "fu sheng", I saw this very cute kid and quickly stole a photo shot. :P
Back to deer feeding.. if you feed a deer, more will come. Just like this..
Another random photo.
10 May 2010 - Kyoto
Somehow my trip to Kyoto was always accompanied by rain.
Ever watched the show "Memoirs of a Geisha"? Yes.. it's filmed here and we were there, to climb up the hill.
The breathtaking view from the top of the hill.
Wendy posing with the security guard\.
Everyone's wishes to God.
Foxes, regarded as the messengers, are often found in Inari Shrines.
It was drizzling by the time we were making our way down from the hill and heavy rain bestow upon us when we were at another shrine.
Live update on the bus' current location.
The bus timetable. Interesting enough, the bus would arrive on time no matter what and the people would stand in line to board the bus. Unlike here, people would wait in all directions and try to board the bus by pushing or cutting the line.
11 May 2010 - Hiroshima
This time, I was smart enough to write down the address of every hotels (in Hiroshima and Nagasaki because those were new areas) in Japanese so that the taxi driver could understand them perfectly.
The working men in Japan wore suits no matter their positions unless they are designers, musicians...
The main transportation in Hiroshima. We bought the 2 day full pass from the hotel we were staying at. I felt the pace getting slower as we head further south of Japan. People also looked different.
Posing with the reluctant students. haha. I still prefer the group of energetic students whom I took photo with on my first trip to Japan. :P
Hiroshima Peace Memorial, which used to be Hiroshima Commercial Museum in 1915.
We were there when a man came to us and offered to talk about stories of the Abomb. Wendy was skeptical initially as she was worried that he would ask for some sort of payment for his services. We were glad that we did not turn down his kind offer as he provided us some insight on the story, and from there we learnt that he was one of the surviving victims of Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima. They volunteer their time to educate the younger generations and tourists on the effect of Abomb.
Imagine this river used to be littered with bodies after the bomb was dropped..
Not sure if you'd heard of this story "Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes". I remembered hearing it when I was young, about folding a thousand paper cranes to get your wish granted. Never did I learn of how the story originated from until my trip to Hiroshima.
We went to the museum, rented the audio guide and learnt more of what happened, the aftermath and effects. Some artifacts were restored and were on display. It was a very solemn affair and the effect of atomic bomb was unthinkable. Those stories they'd collected from the survivors (which most were not around anymore), we can think about it but we definitely can't feel what happened to them. Those pain.
The hotel we were staying in. The guy over the counter happened to work in Singapore for a few months before returning to Japan because it was too stressful.
Comes with the blinds.
Our Mac breakfast! Heh.
12 May 2010 - Miyajima
We are heading to Miyajima, taking the ferry for the first time - exciting! The ferry will take not only passengers but automobiles as well. It was very windy there because we were at the dock and it was VERY cold. I was still shivering inside eventhough I was wearing my jacket AND sitting inside the ferry instead of going out.
Streets of Miyajima. There're residential houses there. Kind of like our Pulau ubin but looked more presentable and more human flow.
The Shrine Gate was supposed to look like it was floating on the water but it was low tide when we were there, so you get to see its foundation. The tide went even lower by the end of the day.
Start of our hike up the Mt Misen, standing tall at 535m, which is the higest point on the island.
Not even halfway through the hike! The whole hike took us around 2~2.5hours. We'd forgotten to buy bottled drinks so Wendy was feeling thirsty throughout the whole hike.
View from the highest peak. :)
After a foot hike up, we took the ropeway down a level before the cable car (below) brought us all the way down.
We travelled to Hakata since we were ahead of our schedule, to try our luck with the hotel where Speed was having a concert there. The frontdesk do not speak English and gave us a brochure. We gathered that we could find out more through the hotline provided. Called and it was in Japanese. We got the guy from the Hiroshima frontdesk (since he was the only one who speaks English) to translate the call for us. We did not manage to buy the concert ticket as we were not locals there. It sux. Sometimes I wish buying tickets there were as easy as buying tickets in Singapore - through Sistic.
13 May 2010 – Nagasaki + Dejima
Funny to say, ever since I touched History during my Secondary school days, I have always wanted to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki because these cities were hit by the abomb.
The hotel we were staying at in Nagasaki. It was a Portuguese influenced hotel.
Check out the elevators!
Cool huh? :)
Our room was qutie spacious.
As we saw this very interesting Edo period point of interest on our way to our hotel, we decided to check out Dejima.
Dejima used to an artificial fan-shaped mini island used primarily for direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world.
Demonstrations on how weights were carried out.
Wendy in one of the rooms.
14 May 2010 – Nagasaki
We were staying near the docks, there was a mini mart within walking distance and a very cute café on the 2nd level of a building just across the road. So, we decided to try out the place and had our breakfast there. Scenery was great and the food was fantastic!
We visited the 26 Martyrs of Japan. They were pierced through with spears while crucifix on crosses individually on orders of Hideyoshi Toyotomi.
There was a chapel behind which we visited. There were stories and a painted mural (if I did not remember wrongly) on the wall to tell the story.
Road less travelled.
The Peace Memorial in Nagasaki.
15 May 2010 – Back to Tokyo
I’d learnt that Hiroshima and Nagasaki are small towns, which can be explored in 2 days’ time. If you are ahead of schedule, you can visit the neighbouring towns as well. Last December, I’d discovered a really cool place in Nagasaki which I’d missed. It was a mini Dutch town! Yessss… I’ll keep that place in mind.
It was an 8 hour journey from Nagasaki to Tokyo with 3 transits. From Nagasaki to Hakata to Shin Osaka to Tokyo. So we woke up very early to catch the 4am ride.
Ever since my first step in Japan, I have always wanted to climb Mt Fuji and look at Japan from Tokyo Tower partly because of the drama "Love Revolution" which made me want to walk the same route Makino took.
I was surprised to find many people queuing up to buy tickets to get into Tokyo Tower. We queued for awhile and I realised that we have to buy TWO tickets because 1 ticket is for the first level and the second is for the top level - which you have to wait for an hour to get up. I guess because of the weight the support can hold. WOW. So we gave up and decided to have dinner. That was where we had our first "fight". Since the first day, I was the one planning and arranging where to go and where to eat, okay, partly was because it's Wendy's first time to Japan. So from Tokyo Tower, I asked her whether she had any place in mind. Her answer was always the same "I anything, you choose.". I was kind of pissed because I'm already out of ideas and really wish she would do the planning and the "Oh, I feel like having dinner in any restaurant in Tokyo/Shinjuku/etc". Something for a change.
I was pretty pissed and I can't remember what did I reply her that night and she kept quiet. After trying to talk to her, then I learnt that the reply I gave was the same as the person whom she was betrayed said to her. We tried to trace back our steps and found this ramen stall, walked in and yes, it was very SHIOK because Wendy was feeling very cold - her nose turned blue/black ok! So the hot soup from the ramen was very comforting.
YUMMY!!!!!!
16 May 2010 - Tokyo
I brought Wendy to the same restaurant I went to have dinner alone on my first trip to Japan. It was in Takashimaya, Shinjuku. We did some window shopping there. The HMV had closed down!! It was supposed to be a level below the restaurant but I couldn't find it.
Anyway, we were walking back to our hotel from Shinjuku and saw this street performer. She had a really good voice and attracted a lot of listeners. It was common to find at least 5 street performers in Shinjuku.
18 May 2010 - Tokyo DisneyLand
Sadly, it was our last day in Japan and I do not wish to return to Singapore. I was seriously considering going AWOL since I could stay up to 90 days in Japan. And those thoughts started crawling its way into my head - I could always find a job there and work in Japan. (Actually I can only remember this.)
We started our trip early so to be able to try ALL the rides there. It was fun and addictive!
It was May = Easter!!
Everyone's favourite - Cinderella's Castle
Snack time!
Spotted the mom taking a photo for her girl and I quickly ran over and asked her mom if we could take a picture with her. Her mom gladly helped us. :)
Phew... this post took me 3 days to complete. And caused me quite a bit of problem.. Not sure was it because of this crappy lappy or what. =.="
Anyway enjoy!!!!
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