Japan 2017: What I Did This Time

Bismillah,

It' been almost a month since I came back from my long escapade in Japan and South Korea. And then after that life was hectic again. Partly my fault because I purposely cramped everything after the trip; audits, personal appointments etc hehe

So here's a quick sneak peek of what I manage to do in my more than 2 weeks stay in Japan, And yes, I was broke as hell the moment I left Osaka for Incheon.

Karaoke!!! Well, Japan is the origin of Karaoke so I thought why not experience it there. There was a misunderstanding when I left this place, though. When I came, the girl at the counter told me it cost 500 yen for an hour plus one drink. I paid her 500 yen and got a receipt. But then when I was about to leave, another guy asked me to pay again but this time 500 yen for the room plus 400 yen for the drink. I argued for a few minutes that I've paid to his friend but since he insisted that payment should be made after I used he room, so I just paid again~ ceyh!

 Yushukan War Memorial Museum, located within the Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine started off as a place to give honour to the fallen samurai and later continued to be used to honour soldiers who died in modern wars. The Yushukan War Memorial Museum has exhibits back from the feudal lords era to the WWI and WWII and of course it gives you the story from the Japanese perspective. Not everything is translated into English, though. But my personal favourites are the poems written by the Samurai and also the letters sent by the soldiers to their beloved. Sebak sebak baca T_T

Owl Cafe in Asakusa, I was staying in Asakusa while in Tokyo and found that there were a few owl cafes there. The entrance fee are about the same so you can just  go to any that's convenient and with that you get a free drink inside. You can touch the owls and take pictures with them but for me, I actually prefer cat cafe since cats are more 'social' as in you can play with them or they might sit on your lap if you're likable to them. Owls don't do anything other than stare at you with their huge round eyes. Sometimes, I think they were glaring at me in hatred. Really can't understand them....

Fujiko F. Fujio and Ghibli Museum!!!!!!!!
I missed these two in my previous visit. Back then there weren't much info about the tickets so we missed the fact that it should be prebooked at least a month before the date you want.  For the Fujiko F. Fujio, I booked it through a tour agent called HIS but you can also book it through KLOOK or JAPANiCAN. The museum tells about the life of the manga artist and all his works. Now I know why even after all these years Doraemon is still relevant. It's because the creator is a very curious person and loved to read books. He incorporated all the knowledge gained through his readings in his manga and made sure that every series contain lessons for the readers.

As for Ghibli Museum, I don't think a non Ghibli anime fan can appreciate this place much since there aren't many information written on the history and all. Just exhibits of the original drawings and some of the old devices used to produced motion pictures. I saw the devices displayed in the Movie Museum in Oslo back in April but it was only the model so in Ghibli I saw how they actually work.

One Piece Kabuki! Kabuki is a classical Japanese theater that has some singing and dancing in it. The thing is, I can't find how long is the whole show and assumed it will be normal 2 hours show. Since I have to go to Kawaguchiko that night, so I booked a bus at 9 pm. Truth is the show was divided into 3 scenes; 1.5-2 hours for each scene with 30 mins intervals in between each. So the show was actually from 4 pm to 9.30 pm!!!! So I have to leave early huhuhu No wonder it was so expensive!

Anyway, I enjoyed the show very much! In a normal Kabuki (meaning to say a non-anime based Kabuki), foreigners will be given an audio device that gives English translation. But for One Piece there was none so I can't understand it 100% although I could actually grasp the main point of the story. The synchronization of the light effects was superb!

I got the Autumn that I'd wished forrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!

Earlier this year I realized I haven't experienced autumn after years and years of traveling and this was a good excuse to go back to Japan hehe At first the trip was supposed to be Tokyo-Fukuoka-Hiroshima-Osaka. I wanted to watch Sumo in Fukuoka but had to cancel last minute because I didn't get the tickets. It was already the last legs of the Fukuoka tournament, so the ticket was selling fast. So I decided to just enjoy the autumn leaves in Tokyo, Kawaguchiko and Kyoto and I regret it not! I just can't get enough of the beautiful shades of colours. I seriously thought the autumn pictures were the results of photo editing. No! The colours were best seen by naked eyes and no pictures in the world could ever do justice to the real beauty! T_T *EMO*

Surprisingly, I went on a shopping spree in Gotemba... I had everything planned that day but then it rained that morning. At first, I thought of going to Gotemba while I wait for the rain to stop. But I end up spending the whole day there hahaha it was such a great place to shop! Seb baek iman ku teguh but yeah I actually finished quite a sum of money there. I decided to cancel all the other plans after considering the traveling time to each of the attractions. So I saved them for the next trip... I know Japan is that one country that I'll keep coming back to hehehe

Fuji-san striking his greatest glory on my last day in Kawaguchiko! My roommate and I were just discussing how mysterious the mountain could be due to its peak low rate of visibility throughout the year. Only the lucky ones could get a glimpse of it. It's typically normal to hear someone who had been to areas where Fuji-san is visible many times but never once saw it. I saw it everyday when I was there but not as clear as this one. I was having breakfast when I saw the peak from the common room window. I ate my food pretty quickly than usual and rushed to the bridge which was about 5 minutes walk from my hostel. Took a good amount of pictures and then I just stood there on the bridge; absorbing the beauty.  It was only visible for about 20 minutes because as I walked back to my hostel, the peak was already almost fully covered by clouds. I guess Fuji-san was bidding me his goodbye and reminding me that I should come back to conquer its peak! I WILL!!!!!

Samurai Class! I cancelled everything in Fukuoka and Hiroshima 3 weeks before the actual date and I had no idea what to do in Osaka. At first I thought of going to BigBang concert in Osaka Kyocera Dome. But then the ticket was RM700 and you'll be assigned to random seats which will be at the topmost tier and GD will only be as big as an ant from there... So I rather not! I rather pay by the thousands if that means I can touch GD's leg! hahaha So I found this short Samurai Experience class in Osaka and registered myself. It's only for about 1,5 hours but it was really fun! We get to learn the history, the basic moves and even performed. I  even killed a ninja!!!!!!!!!!!! \(^^)/

And yes I purposely chose Kenshin's robe hehehe Battosai!

My first Wagyu beef eva!
We had it in Gyon, Naritaya Restaurant. It was full in the afternoon so I made a reservation during dinner. So now I know why Wagyu is so special, it surely taste something that's out of this world!!!! The smooth texture and it literally melt inside my mouth as I chewed. The meat was not marinated with anything but it tasted so sweet. In my next trip, I'm going to reserve more money to enjoy more of this... yum yum!

Toei Eigamura; Kyoto Studio Park. This a smaller scale of the Edo Theme Park but it was enjoyable too! They have lots of shows so make sure to check the schedule firsthand when you get the park pamphlet. In this pic we are posing with the Samurais. They were fighting on the streets and it was so awesome! We went on a weekday so the good side was there were less people but the downside was, there were fewer shows compared to if you go during the weekend. There were a lot of special need kids in the park too at that time, and I was fighting back tears as we stroll around. I don't know whether it is just me, but can you see the purity in the faces of people with special needs? It shines through them and you can clearly see the sincerity in their smile. I always thought, maybe they don't have a perfect physic or mental, but what we lack is the perfect heart that they have, that pure heart...

I went back to Arashiyama and was stunned by how different and how beautiful it look in Autumn! Everything was so colourful and of course it was really crowded compare to when I came back in 2015. This time we get to rent a boat and we just put down our cameras during most of the ride and enjoy the surrounding

USJ!
I stopped going to theme parks since Paris Disneyland. Theme parks no longer give me that much of excitement except if they have this awesome parades with my favourite characters. But USJ was definitely something else. I really enjoyed the Harry Potter ride and this Roller Coaster really got me all excited that I actually can ride it 10 more times! Hahaha But JF was not feeling well on that day so I just went with her flow. It was raining quite heavily when we rode it. I thought it was really awesome for rides to continue running in the rain. There were speakers in front of us and on our seat, close to our ears so the music was blasting in our ears as we go. That was so fun!

I guess that's all for now... Till we meet again Japan (^^)

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Oct 2017: Taiwan (^^) Part 2

Bismillah...

On my second day, I decided to go to Yanmingshan. The weather looked promising that morning, but it started to rain the moment I reached Qingtiangang Grassland tourist center.

Taiwan has a lot of beautiful national parks scattered all over the country and Yangmingshan is one of the largest and it's just less than an hour away from Taipei. Since I'm not so much of the city type traveler nor am I the food hunter type, so it's predictable isn't it that I would go to the most accessible hiking trail from the city.

I board the MRT heading towards the Jiantan station and from there you can pick which bus you want to ride based on where you want to stop at the National Park. I'd been looking at the Guide to Taipei website and also the Official Yangmingshan website before I arrive but was quite indecisive on which place to visit since there are too many choices.

At first I wanted to go to Qintiangang and then from there to Xiaoyoukeng by bus and hike to Lengshuikeng. But the weather was so bad that I decided to head back to Taipei after I completed the Qingtiangang circuit.

I didn't know that I need to change bus in Lengshuikeng to go to Qingtiangang so I just stayed on the bus while everybody alighted hahaha luckily there was an Indonesian family who spoke excellent Mandarin. They've been working there for years. They explained to me that I need to change bus and show the ticket given by the first bus' driver to the new bus' driver,

It was really foggy when I arrived and as I walk the trail, the visibility was only around 2m. I can't see the people walking in front at all. I can only hear their voices! 

Actually, if you google this place, it will give you a lot of very beautiful scenery images. But since it was all foggy, rained like cats and dogs plus strong wind, my experience was rather eerie and I was walking alone. Near the end of this trail, I met with a group of Taiwanese. I actually heard one of them singing as I walk but since the fog was too thick I couldn't see where they were.

The guy who was singing actually spoke good English. All of them were from Tao Yuan and were there in Taipei to spend their National Day holiday. As we walk towards the end of the trail together, this guy told me all of the other sites in Yangmingshan that I should try if I have enough time. I said, "I might come tomorrow if it's sunny." and yes I did!

Damaged by the wind

The first thing that I did when I woke up the next morning was peek from behind the curtain to see whether if it was raining outside. It was sunny!!! I quickly jumped out of bed, head towards the shower, quickly don my hiking attire, grabbed some buns at 7E and off to the MRT station. When I arrived at Jiantan around 9am, there were already long lines at the bus stop. I was actually very surprised to see the crowd was mostly consist of elderly! I've seen elderly hike in South Korea and Japan, but not as many as in Taiwan! Terus azam aku untuk tidak kalah dengan usia semakin berkobar kobar....

I decided to do the trail that I didn't get to do the day before. I took the bus to Yangmingshan station and from there took another bus to Xiaoyoukeng. Since the crowd was too overwhelming that day, there were a lot of changes with the bus system. On normal days, you board the bus with the route that passes the station that you want to stop at. But that day, you have to find which bus that goes directly to the station you want. I was actually impressed that they took the initiative to efficiently manage the overwhelming crowd. I've never seen that done at home. I mean, to suddenly change the bus system on busy days....

I only strolled for a few minutes in Xiaoyoukeng since the area is not too big. I then started climbing the path to the peak of Mount Qixing.

The tourist center was busy attending to tourists when I arrived, so I just took this picture to decide which trail to take based on the distance and estimated duration. It was really convenient. There were clear sign post along the way so you will not get lost. 

The hike to Lengshuikeng was long but easy. I think everybody can do it. It started with this grassy area, and then the arrow bamboo trail and then the rocky peaks.

This is actually the second peak. It was so windy up there that my scarf almost got blown off by the wind! I quickly tied both end to the back of my neck to keep it secure. Kalo tudung betul-betul terbang nda tau la macam mana mau turun...Free hair???

Taipei view from atop Mt Qixing

It was such a satisfying hike I did that day. I really love it when all the sweats is paid off by great scenery. I was not that tired at the end of the trail but yes I was extremely hungry. Knowing that most restaurants are closed from 2.30 to 5.00 pm, I went straight to a renowned seafood Sushi in Taipei and I ate my heart out! hahaha

Jakun aku dengan ordering sistem yang tiada human interaction ni hahaha (^^)

Hurm, since I've only been to Taipei, I think I'm obliged to go back and explore the rest of this country...

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Oct 2017: Taipei (^^)

Bismillah...

My Taipei trip still feels like a dream to me. I've been obsessed with G-Dragon since BigBang's MADE album and truth be told I was there to catch his final concert for the ACT III: M.O.T.T.E solo tour. But... The ticket sale started on the night we went camping in Melangkap.. The post below~ And it was sold out within 7 minutes!

So I proceeded with the trip but with no plans at all. I was clueless when I didn't get ticket. My traveler's instinct was completely shrouded by the frustration and the only thing that was arranged was my accommodation and the only info that I have about Taipei was how to get to my hostel from the airport. I tried to do a research, but like I said, my traveler's instinct was completely shrouded~

I arrived very late at night and took a bus from Tao Yuan to the Taipei Main Station; bus fare TND 125. And then from there I took a taxi that cost me around TND 140. I was given a self-check in instruction by the hostel but unfortunately I didn't watch the video. I felt guilty for calling up the staff at that hour but they were very helpful throughout my stay.

My first impression that night; Taiwan trip will be a short memorable one

During arrival, a very friendly Malaysian Chinese guy approached me and asked me whether I was alone. When I said yes, he said I shouldn't be worried because Taiwan is very safe and he started telling what are the things I should try during my short stay. And later, I was very impressed by the politeness of the airport staffs and also the friendly taxi driver. 

I woke up quite late the next morning and of course with nothing in mind. I already knew some of the places that are doable on a daytrip but back home I just couldn't connect the transportation between the points that I wanted to go to. I found it is always easier to connect the dots once you've arrived at the country itself.

At 9am, I forced myself to get up from bed, take a shower and off to Pingxi!

The pic above is my EasyPay card that I bought at the 7E just next to my hostel. I was surprised to see how fancy the designs were and they actually had a GD limited edition too! But it's all sold out~ Damn~

This one cost me TND 150 without any credit inside. The normal card cost around TND 100 which is also with no credit inside. So I don't mind paying more as this is a very cute souvenir as well. The good thing about using this is, you can get discounts on the public transport! I bought TND 500 on the first day and I only topped it up on the last day because my credit was a bit short for the airport bus.

To me the public transport in Taiwan is very efficient and I had no problem moving about from one place to another. The only thing that I didn't figure out was when to touch my EasyPay on the scanner. Sometimes it was when you board the bus but sometimes when you alight the bus. So when there was no one infront of me for me to emulate, I occasionally get a "NO!!!!" from the bus driver when I wanted to scan my card hahaha 

Don't be deceived by the empty alleys in my pictures. Pingxi was jampacked with tourists when I was there and these pictures were quickly taken as it was cleared from crowds. It was only a matter of seconds for it to be swarmed with people again after that.

I love how the old fashioned buildings are very well maintained. For a moment it felt like I was walking in a chinese kungfu movie set. However, there weren't so many food stalls and restaurants in this area. Most of them were souvenir shops and also those selling lanterns. It was hard for me to decide which lantern shop to go, but I'd mistakenly chosen si pacik nda-berapa-banyak-ambil-gambar hurm~ Although I actually observed the paci2 first when they were with their customers on the railway. But the paling-rajin-ambil-gambar pacik took so long on the railway that I couldn't wait to see which shop he will go back to.

The prices are all the same in every shop, so I guess it's the service that they provide that distinguishes them. Tips: Observe for paci paling-rajin-ambil-gambar

Each of the colour represent something. They will give you an A4 cardboard describing what they mean and the choice of combination. I thought a monochrome lantern was rather boring so I opted for the 4 colour lantern which cost me TND 200. The monochrome was TD 100.

These bamboos were hanged at the train station

I took the Pingxi line train to get to Ruifang where I can get the bus to Jiufen. Actually, there is a train that connects Pingxi with Jiufen. However it was not the best option for me at that time because the travel time of that train is around 5 hours while it will only take around 15-20 minutes by bus from Ruifang. The train was really full from the start and worsened when more tourists board the train in Shifen. My face was literally pressed on the window! To be honest, it was not comfortable but I felt lucky that I decided to stand next to the window instead of standing at the aisle. I was really surprised to see how scenic the journey was. There were hills, gorges and waterfall along the way. But I didn't take any picture because it was so crowded that I couldn't even slip my hand into my pocket to reach for my phone (^^") And ya, I loved it when we passed Shifen too; shoppers were waving at us outside and ya I waved back lol

 I waited for about half an hour for the bus to Jiufen in Ruifang. And when I got there, the crowd was even worse. It was like everybody that was in Pingxi and Shifen also planned to end the day in Jiufen. The old town was brightly lit with lights and lanterns so it made this place look very happening. There were a lot of street food but I didn't try any because it was either the seafood is placed exactly next to non-halal food or the line was too long that I don't think I can wait.

At the end of my day in Jiufen I met a very friendly Korean girl named Leya and we waited for the bus together and sat next to each other on the bus. We exchange emails and I hope I can see her during my next trip to Seoul (^^) Yes! I'm going back to Seoul, InshaAllah...

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Trip Kak Long: Melangkap Campsite Aug 17

Bismillah...

During our trip to Sipadan, we decided to have at least a monthly activity. So to keep the momentum up, I quickly suggested a camping trip to somewhere in Kota Belud, which was about an hour drive from KK. I saw bff RM posted her hiking and camping pics on IG and asked about the details. It was nearby and very cheap, so why not?

I made a booking with the campsite right away and confirmed the hiking (which was organized by another party) about a week before our camping date. There were 3 packages and it was very hard for us to choose. But, it was raining throughout the week and we were left only with one accessible hiking trail so we end up doing the '4 in 1' package.

For the second time, we started with dramas. I can't find chicken wings to marinate the night before!!! I searched in all supermarkets around Putatan which usually have fresh chicken wings but there were NONE when I needed them the most. We were late the next day because I had to rush to Tamu to get some. The good side of it, the chicken wings in Tamu were so0o0o0 big!

AS had to back off at the last minute because he had food poisoning and to make matters worse; the bridge that connects the main road to where our hike starts was badly damaged and the village's cell tower was struck by lightning the night before and we can't contact our guide that morning.

At first, we were really clueless of how to get ourselves to the other side. NN approached one of the worker that was repairing the bridge and he let us through! Surprisingly, the bridge was already 'straightened' that evening after we finished hiking. But I thought it was scarier that evening when we had to slowly slide our feet on the steel slab thingy with nothing to hold on. At least when it was  tilted, we have the handrails to hold on to.

Our next challenge was to find our hiking guide. EVJ and I went to a villager's house to ask and this pakcik was kind enough to bring EVJ to where the guide's HQ was located with his motorcycle. Fortunately, the guide was also looking for us. The guide and EVJ passed each other not long after this pic was taken so EVJ went back to us and we rode the guide's 4WD to the starting point.

I don't have pictures of the trail but THE TRAIL WAS AWESOME!!!!! I highly recommend you to try it. It's easy, you don't have to train or be fit to be able to do it. The special thing about it is the surprising encounters along the way. We were told there will be caves along the way so in my mind it might be the ordinary caves like those I went into before. But actually these caves were big boulders that have narrow openings underneath them; big enough to fit an adult. The first one had water flowing in it, but we were able to keep ourselves dry because we were walking on rocks. But there was no way to stay dry at the second one, we had to squat walk under the boulder with the water at neck level and at the end of this one were 2 small waterfalls! The third one was the narrowest of all that we were crawling inside. The largest was the last one.

Happy faces post hiking!

Showing off our certificates

We had lunch at the last waterfall where there was a nice hut with a table and benches made of bamboo. We spent an hour dipping at the waterfall and also sliding down a rock slab. Hehe we actually saw this kid splashing water on the slab and later sliding down on it. Jealous pulak!

I don't have pics of us setting up the tent

It was a wise decision to set up our tents after the hike since it rained while we were hiking. If we did, our tents might have been wet when we got back. We were busied setting up our stuffs that we don't have pictures. Most of that night's moments were recorded in short videos on IG.

We divided our tasks beforehand; siap ada AJK! We had chicken, prawn and lamb bbq that night and they tasted soooo good because it was left for so long. And we also had carbonara spaghetti because that was the easiest one I could think of. We were already tired that night so we just star gaze and chat after dinner.

Our breakfast prepared by by AJK breakfast! A huge and delicious one indeed~

DC, our AJK Game, brought a different game for this trip and below is a picture during briefing. We look so attentive, don't we?

In this game, each of the player will be given roles based on the card that they picked. Two of the players will be the Werewolves and the rest will either be villagers or special beings with powers. The Werewolves will pick who they want to kill while all the others close their eyes. And then when everybody open their eyes, they have to decide who are the two wolves.

It was so funny playing with them. Ada roh2 yang tak tenang... sudah kena bunuh pon mengganggu permainan hahahaha

Another dip in the river before we head back home. Akinabalu hidden behind those clouds

Counting weeks until the next one, inshaAllah!

The contact for Melangkap Polumpung Campsite

012-871 5576 (Whatsapp)

Although you can just walk-in but it's better to book in advance especially if you have stuffs that you want to rent from them like the canopy or bbq set.

For the guide, NariouCraft and Eco Tourism-  014-572 0134

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Trip Kak Long: Sipadan Jul 2017

Bismillah,

After 3 years, I finally went back to Sipadan with a new bunch of friends. It was not that difficult to arrange the trip since I'm already familiar with the flow and I'm so happy that these peeps were such a sport that we had a great laugh throughout the trip.

It was just the same as my previous trips to Sipadan; arrived Friday night, 3 dives on Saturday and snorkeling on Sunday since we took the last flight on Sunday night. I still want to put this on my blog because it was such a great trip that we straight away planned a camping trip in August.

O ya, we applied the RM 1 penalty to anyone who initiated conversation about work and this worked well! This proves that we are actually still able to connect with each other without talking about work fuuuhhhh....

When we arrived that morning

Luckily we took this picture quickly during registration upon arrival. DC and LH had a really bad motion sickness after our first dive and we had to wait for them to get a little better before we continue our next dive.

When they got better... Pink again~

UNO Spin

AJ insisted for DC to bring this game over and it definitely added more fun to this trip! We were, perhaps, the noisiest group that weekend. None of us knew how to play it that we spent about 20 minutes to figure it out and once we did, all of us switched on our competitive mode except for AJ! Hahaha 

On our last day

The current was very strong on both days. On the last day, I was pushed to the bottom of the boat and was stuck there for a few seconds. I tried to kick myself away from the boat and had to do it a few times before I succeed. I was already thinking of releasing my life jacket since I was running out of breath. Luckily during that last kick, one of the DM saw me struggling and pulled me away from there. 

Back to Semporna safely

 Manage to safeguard my skin to minimal damage hehe thank you Korean beauty products! Z treated us with scrumptious seafood before our departure; like the most delicious ever! All of them took the picture of the restaurant's signboard because it was so good, they wanted to come again.

(^^)v

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