At last we didn’t cycle (and I was happy to save that Y300 or Y500) and we walked towards the left after coming out of the station because the map says so.

The map given at the Shijo Omiyo station was a little misleading; we planned to go to Tenryu-ji first but ended up at the Togetsukyo (Togetsu Bridge) which is also known as Moon Crossing Bridge.

I seriously have no idea why I put this bridge in the itinerary but many travel articles recommended this bridge, so I thought why not since it’s free?

Thankfully I did as the view from the bridge is spectacular. The water below the bridge is so crystal clear and I was seriously amazed. There were wooden boats and mandarin ducks swimming gracefully on the river.

I took many photos using my DSLR but not iPhone. The cold weather and freezing breeze discouraged me taking my gloves off despite the sun was out. I should have got the gloves that can transmit heat over the cloth so that can use iPhone without taking my gloves off. Huhu.

We walked to the other end of the bridge and then walked back. There are more to discover if walk further down like the Monkey Park and some temples. We didn’t due to time constraint. Plus we didn’t just walk across the bridge – we spent nearly 30 minutes there because Satkuru was busy photographing the scenery.

We just couldn’t help taking lots and lots and lots photos there. The reason is, we won’t be going back to this place again, and the weather was so fine that the photos turned out super great! So, let the shutter clicks away~ Haha!

Totally love each and every shoot that I took there. Definitely enjoyed taking photos there. Not wonder it’s on the “must visit” list on all travel sites!

From the map, it told us to turn right before getting onto the bridge and take the 2^nd right turn. However, there’s no second turn unless we walked all the way to the end which is the wrong road.

So we walked back to the first turn…

…and got ourselves lost in the housing area. @_@

At the junction of certain road, we saw a Japanese girl ran down towards us hurriedly, holding a big plastic bag. I told Satkuru that I’m going to ask her for direction but Satkuru asked me not to seeing that she’s in hurry. But I ignored him and asked her anyway.

To my pleasant surprise, she stopped and smiled at me. I pointed Tenryu-ji in the map asked nani? I meant to say Doko, but the word Nani came out. Argh. Even Satkuru laughed at me for saying nani!

But she understood what my question is and pointed us the direction – straight ahead, on the left side. I bowed and thanked her for her help. She bowed back and ran off.

We continued walking uphill – we had to walk uphill and that time we were thinking did we understand her when she spoke to us in Japanese? But judging from the body language, we should get what she meant, which is the straight road ahead and on our left.

Thankfully at the end of the road, we saw lots people walking towards the left and I assumed that the temples must be near!

The first year we celebrated together in 2009, I got him his favourite MU jersey with his name ‘tattooed’ at the back all the way from UK (thanks to my good friend Karen for her help). In 2010, we celebrated in Ferringhi Garden Restaurant where we dined in candlelight (uber romantic celebration). The best celebration would be in 2011 where bunch of us celebrated his birthday in CHINA. As for this year I chose to bring him uphill.

2 weeks prior to his birthday, I sent him an invite via Pingg.

As you can see, there weren’t much information written on the card. That’s because I decided to surprise him on the venue.

Today, I made him to drive to the venue by listening to instruction from GPS. However, because the GPS kept recalculating for ‘shorter’ route, I decided to shut the GPS off and made him to drive to Air Itam.

The smarty pants him was ‘guessing’ the venue like mad though I knew he already knew where we were heading. When we reached the bottom of Penang Hill, I told him to search for car park and since we were unwillingly to park our car by the roadside, he parked at the designated parking area.

Which we supposed to pay the parking attendant RM3, but surprisingly he said we don’t have to.

Happily we walked through the trail to the ticket booth and we were quite marveled to find this attractive looking trail. Too many ooh’s and ahh~ uttered here and there.

Seriously, we felt like we were in another country, visiting another country’s tourist attraction. LOL!

At the ticket booth, we were asked to present our IC which we were wondering why. Then only it dawned to us that Malaysian only pays RM8 for return train ticket while the foreigners would have to pay RM30 for the same ticket. It’s the same concept as the tourist attractions in Indonesia where the local there pays dirt cheap for entrance fees.

This is the first time taking the new train uphill for both of us. The train is new and sturdy and most important, it’s air-conditioned. Not forgetting it’s fast too!

After getting out from the train, I kept telling Satkuru to look for Strawberry Hills. But the thing is, David Brown’s Restaurant has expanded with a terrace overlooking the Penang Island and one can easily spot them right after coming out from the train station.

Grinning sheepishly I could only nod in acknowledgement when Satkuru asked me if this restaurant is the one.

We went up to the restaurant and my goodness, I was blown away with the building design and the garden landscape and the whole British concept.

We went to the counter and showed a waiter the Groupon deal I’ve bought, where he then asked us to sit anywhere we like. Since we reached there around 7.14~7.15pm, we opted to sit at the garden than the foyer to enjoy the cool breeze.

However, another waiter came to us and told us that he had reserved our seats which is at the foyer. Ah well, anywhere will do.

We placed our order. Satkuru went for garden salad for entree and lamb shoulder for main dish .

As for me, I took French onion soup and David Brown’s famous chicken and mushroom pie.

Both sets came with a bread with butter, bread and pudding dessert and a choice of tea or coffee – which we both chose tea.

As we enjoyed the view and busy taking photos of the surrounding, the food came one by one. We didn’t feel that the wait is long, however I overheard complain from the next table on why our food came earlier than theirs and theirs took forever. Lol. Maybe they didn’t know that we’ve ordered when they’re busy taking photos with their kids. Haha!

After the satisfying dinner, we lingered around the Strawberry Hill. We chatted, took lots photos and enjoyed the beautiful night view of Penang Island before heading down.

Ohya, the journey downhill is very much faster than the uphill. We didn’t even realise that we’ve already reached the bottom until the train driver got off the train. Haha!

And that sums up the Mr Boyfriend’s birthday celebration. I actually feel bad for not getting Satkuru a cake this year but then, he already had cheesecake last weekend and mille crepe on Monday and probably another cake with his family today (now). Better not to overdose him. Haha!

Happy Birthday Bee. Do close your eyes, make a wish and hope for all good things to come to you. <3 <3 <3

In our itinerary, I wrote that we’ll be heading to Karasuma with Hankyu Kyoto Line Ltd Exp for Y690, but in the board we found Karasuma with the fare (Y390). That time we didn’t have any idea on how to differentiate the trains from local, semi-express, express, rapid, limited, etc. We just looked at the board and paid whatever amount needed. So, I was quite happy to save Y300 per person here.

Unsure of which platform to go to, we asked the nice officer in charge and he told us which platform and which train to take. Very nice and helpful they are, always offering help with broad smile.  We thanked him and headed to the platform as per instructed by him (I can’t remember which now) and waited for the train to arrive.

When the train came, we went in and I found myself to be sitting at the PRIORITY SEATS. Actually, when I walked in, I didn’t know there are priority seats and quickly gestured Satkuru to follow me. Only after the train moved, Satkuru told me that and I told him no wonder the seats here were empty. I looked at the stickers above the seats and found that the priorities are the elders, pregnant women, handicapped and those with young kid(s). Since we were there early in the morning and it was the rush hour, I’m pretty sure we can secure the seats without any trouble – I told him.

And I was so right. We sat the entire journey and no sight of the ‘priorities’. There was a graceful elder woman in kimono but she sat on the seat in front of me, so there’s no need of me giving my seat to her. Keke.

Earlier I mentioned about being happy for saving Y300 in this ride, little did I know that the Y300 makes a difference in speed. I’m pretty sure we were in this train for nearly an hour because in my itinerary the limited express train would bring me to Kyoto in 40 minutes.

We reached finally and got off the train at Karasuma station together with few working people.  Following the map from the guesthouse, we exited at No. 25, turned left upon coming out of the building, passed 4 streets before turning left into the 5^th street (Samegai Street).

There, we walked further down, passing 2 smaller streets and found an old wooden, house in between 2car park lots.

We rang the old wooden house; it was 9ish in morning and that neighbourhood seems a little quiet so we weren’t sure if we were there too early.  After few minutes, the owner came out and we asked him if we could leave our luggage with him and came back later for check-in. He agreed but asked us to come in after 4pm as he said the guesthouse will be closed from noon to 4pm. We have no problem with that, so we bid goodbye and went out looking for breakfast.

Before that, we stopped by a convenience store to get essentials like mineral water and some snacks. Then we walked down and up Shijo Street, looking for cheap restaurant to have our breakfast.

Finally Satkuru spotted McDonalds and he suggested why not we have our breakfast here.

A little reluctant but too hungry to argue, I followed him into McDonalds outlet near Omiya Station south exit.

When we walked in, we were greeted with full of enthusiasm workers. We felt so welcome that I didn’t even bother how much the set cost because the service is so darn good! We looked at the Japanese menu and asked her if the meat is of beef or pork, and then she immediately turned the menu around and there it is, the English menu!

Ordering seems so easy here as we just point and order! Paying too as we paid according to the amount shown on the screen. It was one luxury breakfast as it costs us Y460 each but then we wouldn’t mind paying because of the service. I even went to the lady cashier asking her if she could fill in hot water into my flask and she asked in Japanese how much I would like her to fill with big smile before taking my flask away. The whole scenario was too happy and cheerful that I could remember it very well now.

Oh ya, the breakfast set’s burger in Japan is different too. Instead of the usual bun, they replaced it with pancakes and you can see the prominent M logo on top of the pancakes. Both of us ordered the same set, bacon (pork) with egg cheese set and we savoured the burger to the last bite! The hashbrown is unusually crispy and delicious, far cry from our local McD’s hashbrown.

Why the difference? I want that type of hashbrown here in Malaysia too!

After satiated breakfast, we went around to look for Shijo-Omiya station which is the building actually across the Omiya Street. We didn’t know that’s the building and spent about 10 minutes walking up and down the Omiya station (Hankyu line) and eye-scanning the buildings around.

Finally Satkuru said, “It must be the building opposite there” and dragged me across the street.

Yes, it’s located underneath this building!

True enough, it is! We went to the station ticket machine and again looking at the Keifuku Arashiyama lines and its stations. A trip to Arashiyama costs Y200, but we got ourselves the Keijuku Dentestu One-Day Tickets for Arashiyama for Y500 since this ticket is good for unlimited travel on Keifuku Dentetsu Arashiyama lines for one day.  We’ll be using the same line 4 times today so we saved Y300 with this ticket!

The elder behind the counter passed us our tickets and also maps for Arashiyama. We gladly took it, went through the automatic ticket gates by showing the officer our ticket and got into this pink coloured tram with painted with cherry blossom. Few minutes later, the tram departed and our journey to the Western outskirts of Kyoto began.

The tram lines are all over the roads, streets and backyard of houses and buildings. A uniformed driver handles the tram’s speed and direction, often slow down when nearing the road where motorists and pedestrians stopped, and honks to the cars who took the opportunity to cross the tram line just before the tram comes.

In the tram, there are two long parallel benches mounted to the body of the tram, facing each other. As we sat on the front right side of the tram, we enjoyed the scenery at the right side of us. It was a little sunny and the sun came in from the left, shone a little at us.

Our tram stopped from station to station. Off and on, people would get up and down from the tram. As we only got down at the last station, so we enjoyed the view and observed people.

There weren’t much people using the tram. In front of us there were two mid-forties Japanese ladies with travel guidebook on their laps, discussing while pointing at the book, often giggling in between the discussion. Few seats from us were old couples, and a mother and son sitting further down from the two Japanese ladies.

Obviously I didn’t take photo of them. So shy mah! Haha!

Finally our tram stopped and excitedly we got down from the tram. I asked Satkuru to take a photo of me with the tram, which he did!

The tram is very pretty and I was convinced that this is the romantic tramway that I read about – well, I was convinced until now I found out it isn’t.

*bang wall!*

After lunch at Woodlands, we went from one shop to another asking for the bridal makeup package. The first shop was full, so we left after were shown the makeup package by the Indonesian worker. We then went to the second shop. However the owner told us that their makeup artist no longer works there. As for the third shop, the owner wasn’t in and all the workers were busy threading customers’ faces, so nobody was free to entertain us. The forth shop’s worker served us with super bored face. She didn’t sound energetic or passionate when explaining to us. Feeling dispirited, we left.

Then the mum brought us to a gold shop to show us how a Thali necklace would look like. I was told that a Thali necklace is made of a centre amulet and few pieces of ‘connectors’ joint to a chain. It said that the Thali has space (I supposed the connectors) for the relatives to add ‘charms/pendants’ to it as sign of welcoming the bride to the family during the wedding day.

Satkuru added that there are actually two types of Thali chain. One is the yellow string, another one is the gold chain. The thickness and length of the chain symbolizes status of the groom’s family. So the thicker and the longer the chain, the richer the family is.

I prefer thinner. Haha!

Most fascinating thing is when his mum told us on the Thali-making procedure. It’s not that one can just walk into the gold shop and buy one off the shelves. On a good date and time, the groom’s mother must go to the gold shop with 2 very happily married and prosperous women whereby the mum will pass to the goldsmith a small block of gold to be melted and made into the centre amulet which will be engraved with family logo/initials or something like that.

After that, we left for next destination, a saree shop. When we walked in, I knew that clothes aren’t that cheap as we patronized this shop last year in hunt for Punjabi suits.

Satkuru told me, Indian saree shop is normally long and is separated to few sections. As one walks deeper into the shop, the more expensive the sarees are. By the time he finished talking, we were at the end of the shop. I was like, whoa, how much these sarees would cost then?

The parents asked the worker to bring out the bridal sarees. He took out few and obviously those aren’t nice.

Suddenly the dad asked, Angeline, what colour do you like?

I told him, PURPLE!

He murmured, purple ah? Hmm with concerned face.

I was wondering why and Satkuru quickly added, “Because most purple saree aren’t nice.”

I gave a considerably loud, “Ooo” before quickly added in, “I like green too, dark green” gleefully.

Immediately the mum told – cannot wear green during wedding. I was like WHY!

Her replied was according to the Indian custom, if bride wears green, many problems will ensue.

Then I looked around – there’s this mannequin wearing a nice navy blue saree with beige blouse; so I told out “uncle, this colour nice also right?”

He looked and then replied, “Angeline, you really like dark colour is it?” before he laughed.

I sheepishly said, “yes, teehee.”

Then he continued, “but then you’re fair. You should wear light pastel colour.”

“Oh ok, then I think the one beside the blue saree should be good on me” I pointed at the beige saree.

This time he agreed. He asked the worker if I could try the beige saree from the mannequin. He quickly went to the mannequin and removed the saree.

The mum helped in tying the beige saree. After all the tucking and the folding, I looked at the mirror – Hmm, not that appealing.

Then the worker brought out more and more sarees. One by one we rejected them. Those that passed the parents’ criteria, we put them aside, for comparison later. There’s one very beautiful saree with lots beads and sequins and Satkuru said NO to it. Reason, he said I’m already that short, afraid that I’ll become shorter because of the extra weight coming from the beads and sequins.

–“

So the worker had to recommend more. Haha!

I actually like few good looking sarees – but according to Satkuru, everyone especially the relatives will come in their best saree and would expect the bride to be in grander saree. Hence, we have to find those luxurious, grand looking saree.

I nodded.

Finally after nearly an hour of searching, we narrowed down to 2 sarees. As I stood still in front of mirror, the mum draped both saree cloths over my shoulder. From these two, I chose the one that compliments my skin the most.

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2012/03/wedding-sari-quest/feed/ 0 http://phingelicious.com/2012/03/10-photos/ http://phingelicious.com/2012/03/10-photos/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:27:48 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=3808 I feel like updating my blog today – supposed to write a foodie post but not so fit to do so. Suspect myself to be a victim of food poisoning as my tummy is in discomfort the whole day today! Argh. Hate it when I’m not feeling well. Grrr

Since I have no energy to write, I’m thinking why not post up photos! I went through my photo album earlier and found few great photos waiting to be published here. You may not find them great, but to me they are. So, keep your opinion to yourself. Wahaha!

Photo 1: Brown shoes.

Brought myself a new pair of shoes. Tomorrow will be a big day for me, so a lil shopping spree helps wonderfully.

Photo 2: Husky, the food picker!

My first dog, Husky! Loves rolling himself on the grass, this dog is such a food-picker! He only eats certain brands of dog food, and those brands aren’t cheap. Lol!

Photo 3: Hong Kong’s siew mai!

I’ve never visited Hong Kong – I heard great things about Hong Kong, almost holidaying there last year, transited many times before there but never step a foot out of the airport. When I had the chance to transit again in Hong Kong last year during my business trip, I decided to try their famous dimsum at the airport itself. And it didn’t disappoint me. It was HEAVENLY~~~

Photo 4: Spot the famous landmarks of Malaysia!

I took this photo on Air Asia’s plane from Penang to Kuala Lumpur. The sky was clear and the plane was descending, so my eyes caught the sight of our country’s famous landmarks and quickly took photo of it. Can you spot the twin tower and the KL tower in the photo?

Photo 5: Origami!

I made these goldfishes for CNY deco last year, and they’re still ‘swimming’ on my cubicle’s wall. Adorable aren’t they?

Photo 6: Fresh seafood served at E&O Sarkies’ Corner

Department quarterly dinner was held here somewhere in 2011 and I walloped plenty of their fresh seafood there. Went home with great satisfaction.

Photo 7: Lil Couz, Nephews and Nieces

These are my cousins, nephews and nieces, taken during CNY last year. We loveeeee them all and they love us too. I know, because they always ‘stick’ to us during family’s gathering.

Photo 8: Fujifilm!

Good friend’s instax. Great fan of instant film as you can see the photos instantly! Hope to own an Instax one day – especially the one with Hello Kitty, keke!

Photo 9: Simply Thai!

Had tomyam gong in a rather lavish Thai restaurant, Simply Thai in Shanghai. Boss’s treat!

Photo 10: There’s a rainbow behind every dark cloud.

One thing I love about driving to island for work is the rainbow! I spotted rainbow more than 5 times on the way to work last year itself and that’s quite frequent! Now that I’m taking bus to work, I rarely seen any rainbow anymore. Hope to spot one soon.

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2012/03/10-photos/feed/ 0 http://phingelicious.com/2012/02/first-cabin-midousuji-namba/ http://phingelicious.com/2012/02/first-cabin-midousuji-namba/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 12:44:24 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=3695 I came across this hotel when I was googling on capsule hotel in Japan. An article on world special lodging mentioned First Cabin and instantly I clicked on the link.

The website shows a night stay starting from Y4,800 per person but luckily we managed to secure a cheaper rate at Y3650 per person from Booking.com. Without much hesitation, we placed booking for our first night stay in Japan.

When the day finally came, we took exit 13 from Osaka Namba (Nankai-Namba) station as mentioned on the First Cabin’s website. Thankfully I saved the map of our guesthouses in my phone, else we had to dig our bag to take out the printed maps.

We took the left turn and walked towards the crossroad. Unsure of our direction at that time, we asked a Japanese lady for her help. She had a look at the map and then looked up at the buildings around us. Tho she spoke in Japanese, I can tell that she said that she wasn’t sure of the location but she felt it’s in this direction – her hand pointed straight road across the busy road as she spoke. She even asked us to keep left and the hotel is on the left side.

So we did what she said. After thanking her for her kind time in assisting us, we crossed the road, walked straight and kept looking at our left. As we walked towards the end of the road, fear arose as we thought we’ve misinterpreted her. That’s when we spotted the First Cabin’s signboard.

The building looks new and classy. We walked in and to our surprised there are only two lifts on 1^st floor (1^st floor is the ground floor in Japan). There’s a sign on the left indicating the levels and the tenants of the buildings. We searched for First Cabin. It’s on 4th floor.

We went up the lift and when the lift door opened at 4^th floor, two receptionists greeted us with broad smiles from the reception table. We did our check-in and paid 7665 yen in total for two pax per night inclusive of the 5% VAT. Then the male and female receptionist explained to Satkuru and me respectively on our cabin number and also our bathroom floor. My cabin is located on 4^th floor but female’s bathroom located on 3^rd floor and the male’s bathroom located on 6^th floor while his cabin is on 5^th floor if I’m not wrong. After explaining, they gave us our keys and card to access our room.

My adrenaline was pumping like mad that time as I was so excited to see my cabin! But before we parted, we agreed on the time to meet the next morning and bid each other goodnight.

I scanned my card and the door opened. With my red luggage bag behind me, I went to look for my cabin, number 459. There are numbers and signs written on the wall, and I obediently followed the direction. I turned left and found myself surrounded by cabins on both sides. I walked further down and apparently my cabin is located at the end of the corridor, right beside the room with a ‘Telephone’ sign.

I pulled the curtain open and there is it – my cosy cabin. I pulled my luggage into the cabin and without wasting any time, I took out my camera and started snapping around.

A TV at the end of the bed; main light, air-cond, TV switches, power socket as well as headphone strategically placed on the wall is within an arm reach when you lie on the bed.

Right beside the bed, there’s a round table with a humidifier, tissue box and a paper vase filled with complimentary toothbrush, face towel, plastic comb, and slippers. Oh ya, there’s a locker drawer underneath the bed which I didn’t know until Satkuru told me. Hmm.

On the bed, there are pajamas (what they called, cabin wear) and a big towel.

Wearing the cabin’s slippers, off to the bathroom with the Cabin’s toothbrush, towel, and cabin wear. One doesn’t have to bring other toiletries to the bathroom if stays here because they are all provided.

As for the cabin, there’s no door lock as there’s no door. So to seal the cabin, you got to pull the curtain to the other end and align it to the magnetic strip at the side until you hear a ‘tap’ sound. Two tap sounds in fact.

Following the sign, I was about to walk down the stairs when I spotted a rack with only one pillow left. The rack has a sign – something like ‘Feel free to take’ and I immediately grabbed one and put it in my cabin. Then I continued my walk down the stairs to the bathroom.

There’s a chat/relax are’ too but I didn’t go and check them out as it was already late.

There’s a spa beside the bathroom, but the spa was closed that time. It was already near midnight when I went to the bathroom, so I quickly put my slippers at the shoe rack provided. Inside there are rows of dressing tables with large mirrors (the vanity area) on my left and white racks with baskets (the dressing area) on my right. The place looks clean and tidy and bright!

Disclaimer: I took these pictures using my iPhone when there wasn’t anyone around. It was 12.30 am that time!

Ohya, there was a Japanese girl drying her hair at the vanity area when I entered at that time.

Seeing this, I felt sense of familiarity and I know this is the communal bathroom, not the cubicle type. Luckily I’ve been to onsen before, else I would feel super darn shy and in culture shock.

Communal bath rule number 1: No swimming suit and undergarment in the hot pool. Not even towel, only small/face towel is allowed.

Communal bath rule number 2: You have to bath first before getting into the hot pool.

From my understanding, this is to prevent temperature shock on your skin when you enter the pool. The temperature of the hot pool is nearly 40 degree Celsius (if I’m not wrong) and that’s why you need to shower with similar water temperature first before entering.

Inside the bathing area, I went to the first stall and placed my towel on top of the divider. I know I should put them on the hook near the sauna area but I was too shy to walk across with another girl showering there. I looked at the water faucet and adjusted to the pre-determined temperature mode of 40 degree Celsius.

If you notice the brand of the toiletries provided there, they are all by Shisedo and the quality is real good. I washed my hair with the hair shampoo and the hair conditioner provided. Normally if I were to use the provided hair shampoo in other countries (or even in our country), my hair would be tangled like mad. But this one leaves my hair smooth and silky.

After washing, I went into the pool and dipped myself. It was so, so, so relaxing. However, I spent about 10 minutes in the pool only and it was getting late and I needed to wake up at 6.30am later.

So I got out of the pool, put on the cabin wear, put on the facial stuff provided by the Cabin (they’re all good so you don’t have to worry about using them) and blew dry my hair. Then off to bed I went.

The bed is comfy and but the temperature in the cabin annoys me a little. Even though I’ve turned the air fan switch to maximum, I still felt stuffy and would prefer the temperature to be lower. Nevertheless, I fell asleep too as I was too tired from the 7 hours flight earlier. However about 10 minutes later, I heard a cell-phone rang and a girl answered it, which followed by a big bang and soft sobbing. Slightly annoyed but shocked, I was too tired to bother much about it and thus continued sleeping.

Speaking about the noise, one got to be discreet in moving around as the cabin is not entirely sealed up. I felt bad taking out my plastic bags and walking around as the crumbling and squeaking were quite hearable.

At 6.30am, the cabin’s alarm went off. It was a soft ringing, but loud enough to wake you up from your deep sleep. I went to shower, packed my stuff and then checked out from First Cabin. For my first night in Japan, this place is indeed a great experience and a total first class sleep for the price I paid.

As we were getting to Kyoto, it’s only dawn to us that First Cabin is located above Subway Namba station.

Then only we were thinking if we could make this trip as dirt cheap as we did for our previous trip. Slim chance, as the cheapest accommodation we could find would cost us at least RM100 per person, not per room! Not to mention a bowl of noodles would cost us RM20-RM30.

Then the proposal came in. With wedding budget coming in our way, we really thought a lot and wondering if we did the right choice of going to Osaka.

While we were still thinking, we proceed with lots reading, itinerary drafting, accommodation booking, visa application at the Japanese embassy, and keeping a close eye on the Yen currency against Ringgit.

The moment Yen dropped, we immediately took out our savings and changed into Yen. During the itinerary drafting, I drafted too on the amount of money we’ll be using for our trip. I calculated that we’ll be using about RM3000 per person, with little souvenir back home. We both know we can’t afford to change more as we need to keep some for the wedding.

Well, the thinking stopped the moment we changed our money. Of course, we started thinking again when I fell sick the weekend before flying. I felt sick during Chinese New Year and it dragged until then. In fact it dragged until now, as I’m writing this post. *cough cough*

On 7th February we boarded flight D7 3056 to Kansai International Airport at 2.45pm. Thankfully, my sick subsided but I armed myself with lots medications in my bag. We didn’t pre-book our seat for our flight to Osaka and to our pleasant surprise, we got the whole row to ourselves!

Satkuru filled up the disembarkation and embarkation form for both of us.

I gladly stretched my legs over to the next seat. The journey was smooth; Satkuru fell asleep while I indulged in Travel 3Sixty magazine.

We did pre-book our meal, but we opted to have them for dinner. However halfway flying, our tummies growled and we decided to have tea time!

The blueberry muffin wasn’t that great, and I forced it down my throat because I didn’t want to waste any food. *__*

When our flight captain announced that we will be arriving 25 minutes earlier than expected, we were ecstatic. From the plane’s window, beautiful neon and warm lights can be seen clearly and I couldn’t help but to admire the lovely sight.

Finally we landed and boarded the sky bus to the main terminal. As I walked towards the immigration, I was feeling jittery as my previous experience at the immigration counter wasn’t that smooth.

I recognized the officer whom was having a hard time getting my fingerprints the last trip and was pleased to know that the line I queued at didn’t go to him, lol!

My turn came and I calmly passed my passport and embarkation form to the officer. Then he asked me to place both index fingers on the machine.

First time, the machine rejected me. The officer stood up, asking me to try again as he observed the way I placed my fingers.

Again, my fingerprints rejected.

He mentioned something and naturally I showed him both palms. He had a close look at my fingers and then went back to his seat. He then asked me to press the machine again – this time, looking at his computer.

Surprising, no buzz went off and I somehow believe that he manually approved my unclear fingerprints. He handled over my passport and I thanked him profusely for his kind act.

We went down to get our luggage and then went to look for JR office to get our ticket. We were walking towards the escalator when Satkuru suddenly spotted this Rent-a-mobile booth at the airport. As we were deliberating on to get a mobile phone for 800 yen a day, we were approached by an airport police (he showed us his badge) where he politely asked for our passports for ‘survey’.

Knowing that we didn’t do any wrong, we gave him our passports and he jotted down our names and passport numbers. Then he thanked us for our cooperation. After he left we were still discussing if to get a mobile phone. Didn’t know why we didn’t and we continued looking for the JR office.

I stopped by to ask at the information counter but was given a rather cold answer. I wanted to press on more but Satkuru told me judging from his body language he will only give the same answer therefore no point asking. So we took the escalator up to level 2, headed out and embraced the super cold weather.

We went to the building opposite the airport and saw many ticket machines. We paused and looked at the big map above the ticket machines. Then I looked on the right and saw the Nankai Rapi:t signboard. I remembered writing something about Nankai in the itinerary so I immediately took out our itinerary.

Thankfully the Japanese embassy forced us to prepare a very thorough itinerary, it really saved our time in determining what train to take. Satkuru went to the counter and bought 2 Nankai train tickets for 890 yen each.

Then we went to look for the JR office. The office is situated right in front of us, but we weren’t sure if that’s the place to go so we asked the lady officer opposite the JR office. She pointed Satkuru to the JR office which we immediately went in there.

There was already a line in front of the counters when we entered, but the officers are fast and efficient that we didn’t have to wait long. We purchased 2 JR One Day Kansai Area Passes to be activated on the last day of our trip. The officer asked for our passports before asking us to sign some document and telling us the price, 4000 yen in total. He placed a blue tray in front of us, which naturally we placed our bills on the tray. He asked us to keep the passes and use it only on 15^th February. He also told us rather than putting the ticket into the slot machines; we were required to show the pass to the officer standing at the side only. Thanking him, we dragged our luggage out of the JR office.

Satkuru asked, “So… all the tickets we should be getting, we got them already right?”

I nodded my head and off we went through the slot machine with our Nankai train ticket we purchased earlier. We went down the stairs and there were two trains waiting on both sides. Unsure on which trains to take, we peeped at the carriage seats before deciding to walk into the left one.

At the end of the carriage, there’s a compartment for luggage and we placed our bulky luggage there.

Even inside the train, I was telling Satkuru if we were in the correct train. His argument was this train looks like our KLIA Expressway train, and the other one looks like subway train. Since the ticket we purchased from the station shows the word Nankai Rapi:t, so we should be in the correct train.

But we were wrong. Halfway, we were asked by a pretty conductor on our tickets. We showed her our ticket but were told that that’s not the limited express ticket. Funny thing is, she looked at me and spoke in Japanese which I showed her my puzzled face. She then realised that I’m not Japanese and quickly changed to English. Her English is very good and she explained to us that we need to show her another ticket which is bigger in size. We told her we didn’t have that and she gave us two options. She asked politely if we would want to get to another train at the next station or pay 1000 yen to continue on this ride.

I was so prepared to get down and board the other train, but Satkuru said it was getting late and we needed to get to the hotel as soon as possible. So, he directly replied, we’re gonna pay.

She replied Thank you and gave us two additional tickets which we held on dearly for the rest of our ride. Lol!

Our ride took us to Nankai-Namba station and my goodness, after getting from the train only I realised we sat in such an awesome looking train! It really looks like one of the bots in Transformer with that beautiful midnight blue paint. I asked Satkuru to take photo of me with the train but that cow said, ‘we’re late already. Faster walk!’

Gah!

Or more to my friend’s boots peeled.

I borrowed my friend’s boots and wore it for my Japan trip. I have my own boots that I bought from China, but the bottom padding came off so I thought why not wear my friend’s since hers looks durable and warmer.

Little did I know the skin cracked while I boarded plane heading to Kuala Lumpur. Freaked out, I quickly informed my friend on this and she being such a sweet person told me not to worry about that and enjoy my holiday.

Obviously I got super tension and quickly put Vaseline on the surface to lessen the crack.

Well, it did work but not for long. It began to peel a little after reaching Kansai International Airport. Initially I bear with the peeling as it wasn’t that much.

Then one big patch came off and revealed the inner material which is lighter in colour. I realised people did take a glimpse on my boots but I ignored them and acted dumb.

By day 4, the peeling became worst prolly due to the extreme weather and the amount of walking that we did and I decided that’s it – time to get a new pair.

I told Satkuru this and he was so happy to hear that. He told that I should do that long time ago but judging from our itinerary, we didn’t have any extra time for shopping until day 4.

So, after visiting the last place in Nara, we went to the Nara Family Mall near Yamato-Saidaiji station and scouted around. Initially we walked into the Kintetsu department store but the price of the shoes there really put me off.

It then drew to me that we were looking at branded shoes and hence the high price. So I dragged Satkuru out to the AEON store which is situated in the Nara Family Mall too.

As we walked towards AEON, we spotted rows and rows of shoes on our left and I stopped to check out the price. The price is affordable plus there are varieties of shoes to choose from, so I signaled Satkuru in.

I spotted 1000yen boots and proudly showed Satkuru that I managed to find a cheaper shoes! Both Satkuru and I were already deciding on which boots to get when I was thinking when I will be using this boots again. I told Satkuru my concern and he agreed. We put back the boots and went to look for covered shoes or sport shoes.

I was walking past by the counter when I saw the Nike was on display with price tag Y3980. Mind did quick calculation and realised it was few bucks cheaper. I showed Satkuru this and he immediately said he wanted one too. Haha!

So I asked for assistant on getting the right size. Apparently in Japan, the shoes sizes are in CM, not the usual US or UK size. Since I wear size 5, I asked for 23cm size. The lady who assisted me is very friendly and always smiling. She came back with broad smile, kneed beside me (I was sitting on the sofa that time) and passed me the shoes which I tried and it fitted. But to be on safe side, I asked for 24cm.

24cm is loose for me and it almost came off when I walk. So I told her I want the 23cm and Satkuru paid for it.

I found something interesting at the cashier counter. Like usual, the cashier scanned the barcode attached to the shoes and then the amount displayed on the cash machine. Satkuru placed a Y10000 note on the blue tray which the cashier gave back Y6020.

Then the cashier took a rag and wiped the shoe soles and the white edge clean before putting them into a silver plastic bag.

This really impressed me as I’ve never seen anyone wipes the sole back in Malaysia. The Japanese are really attentive.

Since I plan to wear the shoes that instant, I asked the smiling lady to remove the barcode. She spoke in very fast and fluent Japanese which I couldn’t really catch but luckily, Satkuru remembers his Japanese lesson well and caught the word ‘hasami’ in her sentences. He immediately replied ‘hai’ and she cut off the barcode string using scissors attached to her lanyard.

Then the lady spoke again in another long Japanese sentence which I got lost again. Suddenly Satkuru turned to me and told me she asked if I want to keep the boots and let her throw the boots on my behalf. I replied ‘iie’ and she acknowledged.

I was amazed that Satkuru could understand the Japanese lady well. He said the lady mentioned few phrases that he learnt years ago, therefore able to catch what she meant. I patted my dear Satkuru on his back for his good memory.

As we walked out, I asked him what happened to him getting his Nike shoes. He said he did check with the lady earlier but according to her the largest size they have is 30cm (size 11). He concluded that he could easily find his size in States, European country or in Australia, but not in Japan. I laughed and consoled him by saying that we’ll get his Nike soon.

Throughout the rest of the trip I fondly call my Nike as Ni-ke, lol.

In fact, I’ve just reached Penang today. Boy am I so relieved to see price tag without two zeros – though 100yen doesn’t equals to RM1 but RM4! Not to mention that the price starts from 100yen, so each buying costs at least RM4. @_@

Yet, this trip is one of my finest and most explorable backpacking (or more to trolley-pulling) trips I’ve ever been to and I can assure you that both my legs are in terrible pain now. We totally walked until we dropped; and we ate like no tomorrow – to gain back energy after walking in cold. Yes, it was so cold (less than 10 degree Celsius in the day and negative at night) and it rained on 13th and 14th! Thankfully, the rain wasn’t heavy (more to drizzle) and that didn’t really dampen our exploration spirit, lol!

Many have asked me for this fabulous trip itinerary – I would have given a full one with all the accommodation and the subway/train stations plus its price, but I guess it’s better to reveal them out as I blog on. One thing for sure, we brought with us 149900 yen in total (for 2 pax), and this morning we have only two pieces of 1000 yen left.

So here you go – our itinerary for 8 days 8 nights Osaka-Kyoto-Nara-Himeji trip.

This is not the original itinerary that we brought to Japan, but the updated itinerary of the places we went or stumbled upon to. We went with the flow since it’s just two of us and guess what, we ended at somewhere else and seeing something else! BIG LOL right? – I know.

Oh ya, the total stated above are the total of entrance fees and two passes (Osaka Unlimited Pass and JR 1 day Kansai Pass), not the entire expenses. Do bear in mind on that.

Correction: There’s a mistake in the above photo. For the itinerary on 14th Feb, I wrote Universal Studio Japan Y6200 (RM200 with Pass). It’s supposed to be – (RM200 OFF with Pass). Sorry for the typo mistake.