27/12
(10.00a) Going to Himeji this morning quite late coz I think it wouldn’t be much to do except to visit the castle and walk a bit around the area… :)(12.00n) Arriving Himeji Toyoko-Inn. It is quite cheap and good hotel. Very clean and professional, money worthy! I’ve seen it almost every main train station in Japan. Honestly, I will take this next time I come to Japan. And I think the single bed room can actually fit in 2 persons that make it even cheaper. :D
(12.30p) I walk to the Himeji Castle passed through a shopping street again. Basically all cities I’ve visited in Japan (except Tokyo) have a very long shopping street like this. The combination of shops is pretty much similar too. They all have more than on Mister Donut (the one in Osaka looks very dull tho) some shops selling mochi and Japanese snacks, balablbablala… The very unique one in Himeji is optical shops. There are a lot of optical shops around and I don’t see too many people wearing glasses around. It’s like the hair salon in Sayamaike. Seems to me they are more than enough. I had my lunch in a restaurant that I needa buy the ticket from the machine before go in… haha very unique cheap restaurant in Japan. They are all in Japanese and I’ve bought one which is not exactly the one I want :P but it’s okay, coz I’ve eaten my first udo in Japan now… even a cheap restaurant do the udon not too bad. Of cause it’s not very good, but at least the noodles were quite smooth. You know udon can be very bad sometimes.
(12.50p) Finally, I got into the famous Himeji castle. This most visited castle and one of Japan's "Three Famous Castles" is honestly quite disappointing. Well, I mean it is nice but as a castle, it looks like they were trying to save money when they build it. The outside was looking okay, but the inside was just totally undecorated, dark and very raw.
(1.50p) Already finished the castle visit and it’s not yet the check in time… So I walked around and found a very nice park there. There were 2 young guys playing base ball and really impressive. I never see a baseball match in real. The first time I feel the speed and the strength so closely!
(3.30p) I went into a 2nd hand shop there and try a few coats. It didn’t tag the price and I went to the counter and asked. I thought it could be quite expensive and I probably can’t afford. The sales put the coat onto a scale and told me it’s only 2200Yen! Funny that they count the price by weight!!!!! I remember I’ve seen it once before in another second hand shop. Yea… so, I tried everything that I can possibly fit in :D and bought another leather jacket, 1800Yen!!!! And a very simple bag for 590Yen, I’ve seen a similar one in SF selling like US$15! Such a satisfy shopping with only 5000Yen spent! Yooooho~~~
(4.30p) I found that when the sales put my camera into the counter, they break my filter! .\ /. So annoying… She should at least tell me she’s drop it or what!!!! Anyway, I went back to hotel and try to ask if they know any camera shops around but obviously they don’t know and told me I might find one in the main street -_-. I hang around a bit, bought a fish shape red bean cake. So nice :)
(7.00p)I got back to the room and search a bit on internet. haha internet is our best friend la… just not too far away on the opposite direction the staff shown me. There is a chain photos/camera shop. It cost me 3680Yen lerh T__T it hurts. But luckily they didn’t break my lens! And the staff was very good to help me to clean the lens a bit and now I m ready to take more photos lo… Before going back to Hotel I’ve bought my dinner from a Japanese burger shop. When I get back to Hotel, I found that it is a super tiny burger! It’s almost like just a third of the size in America! I’ve okay with it, but I really can’t imagine what would happen when American come and bought that burger, haha...
(7.30p) Online and Donald told me Garfy was just pass away today T_____T… kinda upset…
28/12
Time is just passing too fast… it’s already 28th and almost the end of the year! Every time I am having a long trip, I think it is probably the last long trip like this in the coming few years… (Actually my California trip was quite long too :D) The real last one should be the Greece + Amsterdam trip before I went back to HK. Well, after that, I actually went to France with Stef for a few times too and didn’t work for a while. Wao… it’s a few years ago from now… People must think I can earn a lot of money so that I can travel so much :P but indeed I actually spend very little every time (which is all I could spend tho). I will probably spend around US$2000 for this trip inc all hotel and transport. I am thinking somehow it’s good for me to visit Japan when the Yen is so expensive. I can’t carry anything more back to HK anyway… I can concentrate more on my sightseeing :). -_- hai lo, Japan without shopping lo…
Awaji Island, a nice place to go but better go only with a company I think...
(10.00a) It’s about an hour to take train + bus to Awaji Yumebutai from Himeji. The first time I use the locker in train station in Japan! :D Only 400Yen for a medium size one per day which’s big enough for me to put everything in.
(11.00a) It’s a big area with an expensive hotel, a conference hall, a huge greenhouse, a big big park by the sea a open-air theater and a flower ground. Very green and not much to do. It’s more a place for family or couple to spend a day or 2 to relax. The most amazing thing there are few big areas cover with water and most of these areas are made with shells! Real ones! All are about the same size too! It’s definitely a place to go in Spring or summer btw, coz most of the places supposed to be covered with colourful flowers were nothing there. Walked and walk and walk and seems that I can never finish everything there. Btw, it’s an entrance fee for the huge green house + the seaside park. I was thinking not to get into them but seems that there is nothing else to do in that area. It could be a nice and romantic place to go if I wasn’t alone~~ It’s not bad, just that if I had at least bought my pen and paper there, I wouldn’t be bored as it was. :)
(2.15p) I decided to leave there and go to Water Temple. I thought it would be some obvious sign or direction around bcoz they are quite close on the map. I only knew the direction but didn’t have a map on hand :P so I keep walking and walking and walking for like 20mins and still haven’t seen any sign there. I went into a little tea house and asked the old lady for direction :D obviously she doesn’t know English and not very well in written Chinese too. Luckily they have a map there, and the only one in the shop. It’s still some walk from there but at least I was in a right direction :). Btw, coz I didn’t have enough coins and she doesn’t want to give me changes with my 5000Yen notes, she gave me a 50Yen off!!! :D woooooo…. Happy happy.
(3.00p) Finally, I arrived the Water Temple. It’s not a big temple but very unique one. It’s built under a rounded Lotus pool. The architecture just keeps you walking for a while (within the limited space) in a quiet path before getting into the main temple building. And the way you enter the temple is very symbolic. It’s like you walking into the Lotus pool to enter the temple. It’s an entrance fee of 400Yen but I didn’t have changes + it’s no staff there. So I decided to skip the fee :P and just quickly take a walk. Haha… I guess that’s the coolest part of Tendao Ando. He’s built probably the most unique Buddish temple and also probably one of the most famous contemporary Catholic Church in the world. And they were built before he’s getting famous!
(5.00p) Got back to the JR station and got back my heavy luggage and going to Kobe tonight! :) People in Kobe is quite different to the other cities in Japan I felt it once I arrived. Or maybe just because of the long holiday had just started? :D
(6.00p) The guest house is 5mins walk from station and quite easy to find. The Owner there was super nice and her daughter is quite pretty too. Her daughter speak quite good English indeed and we talked a bit. She actually not living there but a few stops away with her son. :D Her son is very cute too. You know the age around 6-7 is almost the cutiest age. :) Yep, she show me a map in town Kobe and another one for foreigner showing all around the city too. There’s a skiing center thing in Rokko. It looks a bit complicated to go there though, needa take train and change to bus and then change to cable car and another bus to go there. Since they don’t have Internet there, I asked her if I can get some more information and weather. A few minutes she bring a printout with all the information to me. The weather forecast was perfect but it is actually quite expensive to ski. The entrance fee 2000Yen which I thought is quite cheap and that’s why I thought I could go, is actually not include the equipment rental things. I have to pay for the buses + train + cable car + entrance fee + equipment probably over 10000 Yen to actually ski there -_-… um.. probably not I thought. But thanks for the information anyway :)
(7.00p) Walked to China Town in Kobe. Haha… sounds interesting to have a China Town in Japan, isn’t it just a bit too close to China… well anyway it’s quite a good walk to go there at night. Most of the China Towns around the world are mainly about food but probably not as much as the one in Kobe. ALLLLLLL shops here are only food, and food, and more food. Very Japanese Chinese food though. Although I m quite hungry, I have no reason to have food in China Town, ya? :D So I quickly finish the whole street. It’s a bit smaller than the one in London but still quite big. And I actually found a lot of Chinese food all around Kobe, which is much frequent than Tokyo and Osaka. And, there are quite a lot of Chinese Medicine Shops in Kobe too! which I never really see any in the other cities in JP.
(8.00p) I had my dinner in a BBQ beef rice restaurant, or course a comparatively cheap one. It’s only 690Yen :P and quite delicious. Just that it’s a bit too little beef. The beefs actually look like they are filling up the bowl but they are super thin cut ~_~. Anyway they taste quite good. One more thing, maybe just me, but I found the girls in Kobe are actually quite pretty. Obviously, they are much prettier than in Osaka and also much fashionable too. While the guys there were not too cool.
(9.00p) Passed through a few video game shops and went into one. They have the Gundam game set there. I finally see it 1 or 2 years after it released. Very impressive indeed! The screen is round and fill up the all the space inside!! I only look at people playing and already feel that coolness. On my way back to the guest house, within that 25mins walk, almost all of the shops I passed by are either café or restaurants! There are some karaoke too. I went to another video game shop which is very close to the station. Seems that all the new games come with cards now. They all looks interesting too :D but of course they are not included in my budget trip~~
29/12
(10.00p) Went out quite late in the morning coz I felt that I have not much to do in the city. I am not feeling more infamous galleries and museums. I start with the closest spot in my area called Kitano. That’s an area foreigners used to live in. They kept all the old houses and become a tourist spot somehow. They might be quite interesting to local Japanese coz it’s actually so much different from most parts in Japan. Well, but to me, they are just some old western houses and not beautiful at all. I went into one of the houses anyway coz it’s free :P and saw some tourist information there. I saw the one about Nokko and the skiing park is there tooooo. Haha… such a temptation~ 3 seconds, I spent 3 seconds and I decided to leave Kobe and go to Rokko! Well, to go up the mountain, even not going to the skiing park, it would be much more interesting than staying in Kobe city I thought.
(11.00p) Goooooo from Kobe! Rokko is actually just 2 shops away. I then went on the bus to the cable car station. Surprisingly, it’s only 200Yen (I thought it’s 790Yen). When I went to the cable car station, I asked for the way to the ski park lo~~ and the staff show me the ticket including the entrance fee was only 2780Yen!! Haha 1/2 second and I decided to go for my first ski in my life lo~~ I knew it’s a 5000Yen equipment rental fee, but that’s why I go to the other countries to experience different things… I so much want to ski for long time, and indeed 5000Yen for ski is not that much, ya? It’s probably a double as I remember when I went to Switzerland.
(12.00p) The cable car is located kinda under of the mountain but it’s already quite cold~~ I started worry a bit lerh…
(12.30p) Arrived the ski park!!! So exciting!!! Wooohooo~~~ okokay enter the park and have a look frist~ wao… snow snow snow~~~~ yea… go and rent the gears! Is it actually includes the entrance fee?? Who cares~~ Started feeling hungry, oops… I have had some milk and bread this morning! I can’t be hungry so quickly I thought! Um… I can’t be bother now~~~~ googoggo~~~ get change and have my first ski ever! ^__^….
(12.55p) The first time was quite scary indeed, coz I have no idea about skiing indeed :P it’s all about how to stop and balance I guess… but I didn’t know how to stop at all lerh ~_~… gogogo… it’s going much faster than I thought, oh… and I fell very beautifully :D and I got up and finish the second half. It’s basically the same theory as ice skating but the things under my feet are much longer. Yea… that’s my first ski (1.00p). And I went on the queue to take the little cable car up the hill and try again… But when I pass through the counter, the guy (looks like a gal) asked me if I have the ticket. I was like huh? It’s another ticket for the cable car??!?! Ding nei!!! Tricky huh, Japanese .\ /. Okay… I went to the ticket office. To take the cable cost 150Yen once! Or 1500Yen for 12 times! Or 3000Yen a day!!! Or 2000Yen for 3 hours. Oh… of course I’ve chosen the 3 hrs one. I’ve rented the gear already and I probably wouldn’t leave there too late. But I felt that I had used up my energy while I was doing my calculation. I didn’t want to waste any of my 3 hours on eating so I walked up the hill… haha… seems that it’s only a few idiots do this. It’s not too far indeed, but uphill lo… The queue to buy food ticket was so long and that’s quite expensive too -_- so I decided to buy a bread instead hopefully I could survive until I get back to Kobe~~ ho ho ho… Yea~ the second time, I aimed not to fall! But, I fell again in the middle. This time was a bit ugly coz when I tried to get up, my legs were crashing each other and the thing jumped off. Haha anyway, done, and go to get the ticket. Another 2000Yen~~~ “happy money happy spend” ~ haha… So, the third time, yohooooooo~~~ I did it (1.30p)! Haha yea~~~~
It takes about 2-3mins to take the cable from bottom to top, and it’s quite boring indeed. I looked at how people ski and try to learn from them. And another thing I do to kill the time was….. dun dun dun dun~~~ to clean up the snow on top of the bars. It’s not that easy actually, coz they are not totally flat and it takes a bit time to do it. Yea, but cool, that kill some times~~ So in the rest of the time I kept falling, and skiing, skiing and falling… ^__^ It’s such a good day ^__^.
One thing I don't really understand, why people needa pay so much for the lessons?? Maybe people would find me stupid to take lesson to learn surfing too :P... but the thing is, even if you don't know how to ski, you would move forward and go down the hill anyway while if you don't learn surfing you can't even stand. Worst come to worst, even if you can't stop, you just fall and that's it. And the main thing is, you fall anyway even you take the lessons. Well, maybe if I have money I would take a lesson too :P...
(4.40p) Returned everything and left the park. Maybe the temperature is quite low but I do think it’s because I didn’t really eat for whole day and I felt super cold. I’ve bought a can of hot coffee from a machine which helps a lot.
(6.15p) Went back to Kobe and got my luggage. Gonna stay in the cheap hotel in Osaka tonight.
Very tasty milk dessert
(7.00p) Had a dinner in a restaurant I passed by near the station. 650Yen a full set of katsu meal~~ It’s okay la, at least to fill up my stomach ^_^.
(8.00p) Wanted to go out around at night but pretty tired. Chill a bit in hotel~~ Heading Kyoto tomorrow morning! :)
30/12
(12.03a) Got a email from the Guesthouse, saying I had booked the room but didn’t show up :O I totally miscount the date! Shit~~~ luckily they don’t charge me extra and the landlady there was super nice just worried about if I’ve got on any problem during my trip… ^__^….
25/12
(12.37p) Got on a trip to Shin-Osaka. It stops on every stops it pass by, making the supposed to be 2.5 hrs trip today 3.5 hrs -_-… Now I see why google map asked me to get back to Shin-Yokohama and take a train from there. It probably save me 30mins in total but I’m with all my luggage with me. I was just too lazy to move after I found it on the train. Anyway… it’s a good time for a nap and write some blog on my way. :D
(3.53p) Arrived Shin-Osaka, needa change to Osaka, and then to a small station to the hostel today.
(4.30p) The tourist information centre was very good. Luckily I’ve dropped by, otherwise I would have bought two 3-day travel ticket (for 5000Yen!). That’s for all subways and trams which doesn’t included in JR system. But indeed JR can bring me to most of the places I need to go anyway :D… So much feeling I have got back to a city. The interesting thing is Osaka is kinda quite different from Tokyo, even the direction people walk and stand on escalator are different. I do feel the people in Osaka are not sticking with the rules too tightly, and not as stressful as in Tokyo.
(5.00p) Finally arrived the hotel. It is a 2800Yen/night hotel!!!! Hahaha… super budget… one half of the hostel in Hakone if you remember!!! Haha… it is pretty old and not extremely clean. Haha… what can you expect to pay for 2800Yen/night in Japan tho. It’s kinda recommendable, to my friends who don’t have money like me. They have a new wing on another side maybe I can check check if there’s any chance I may come here again :D Indeed the hotel is located in an interesting area and super convenience to access from station.
(6.30p) I had had a little walk from hotel to Namba, one of the center in south Osaka. I passed through a local area which has a lot of interesting small restaurants and some chess shops. A lot of people young or old, were sitting there and playing chess!!!!!! I also passed through an area called Nippombashi DEN-DEN town. It’s a lot of electric stuff, toy shops and comic shops there!!!! I tried to ask leo if he needs anything but he didn’t reply me msn -_-… anyway I can’t carry much back to HK… haha.
(8.00p) Walked into a gay shop by mistake on my way to the station. It’s in a corner of a random street… haha open my eye wide lerh… The dido are bigger than my arm! Wah… how does it work??? And a lot of funny underwear and stuff which I never seen them even in London’s soho. Haha…
(9.00p) Couldn’t’ find a curry rice shop! And get back to hotel and buy some light food from convenience store~~~~ 400Yen, including the milk (140Y) for breakfast… super budget!!! :D
And, this is how I had my Christmas day in 2008.
26/12
(9.00a) Went out a bit late :P coz of my laziness :P and write a bit on blog.
(9.45a) Thought I’d forgotten to lock the room door and got back to Hotel on my way to Sayamaike(狭山池).
(10.04a) Went out from the hotel again and got on the train to Osaka Prefectural Sayamaike Museum (大阪府立狭山池博物館).
(11.30a) Didn’t expect to take so long to get there but truly worth going!!! The architecture is soooooo nice… can’t really show it from picture. All the information there are in Japanese but I can still understand the history of how they build the place! It is soooooo amazing how they keep part of the old gate and put it into the Museum!!!! I really think “civil” might be an interesting subject to study in Uni after seeing this museum!
(1.00p) Before leaving the area, I walked a little bit around and tried to find something eat. It was so many hair salon around that area… more an restaurant and convenience store! Haha… you know how often you see convenience store in Japan? And more salon than that!
(2.30p) Somehow during my trip, only the morning part are impressive and getting boring in the afternoon. I arrived the Bay area and found that there are some usual tourist stuff around there… Ferris wheel, some shopping facilities some so-so galleries + museums, and expensive. Yea… just walked around and didn’t do much and left. -_-
(4.00p) Went to the Universal Studio as the tourist information recommended haha… Very universal stuff lo… with a bit Japanese touch (luckily) which make it a bit less American… I had some octopus balls and bought a lat from Starbucks. Probably the milk they use is different, which make it better than HK, UK and US ones. I have to say the Starbucks in America is more like water and tasteless while Peet’s coffee is the best I’ve ever try in US.
(6.00p) Walked a bit the shopping mall and bought a gift for Tracy :D lucky you… almost bought nothing in Japan for anyone.
(7.15p) Had a curry pork rice with fire eggs in Tennoji station for dinner:). Very typical Japanese curry, mild and sweet, a bit too sweet indeed but okay la… Um… I think I can have the rest of my meal pretty much in convenience store after this. The only thing I still wanna try is Udon and the Japanese style burger and not that necessary really.
(9.00p) Back to hotel uploaded some photos and already time to sleep~ haha… this is how I had my boxing day in 2008.
22/12
(8.30a) Heading Hakone, I’ve taken the train from Sendai and changed in Tokyo. I’ve almost taken the slow train from Tokyo to Odawara. Just before it was about to depart, I got off the train and went the to Shinkansen ticket office. The 1hr40mins train instantly become 25mins!
(10.30a) At Odawara station, I was trying to get on the train but the staff there asked me to take the bus instead. And the biggest mistake I’ve had in the trip was that, I forgot to buy the Hakone Pass before got on the bus -_-… it cost in 100Yen.
(12.00n) Arrived the Hot spring hotel :) It is totally out of the main area in Hakone and pretty old hotel. The staffs are very traditional, it means it’s almost over polite to everyone. I mean it’s very good. It’s a bit too early to check in and I went to a station 15mins by bus from the hotel (wasted another 370Yen) and bought the day pass, after leaving everything in the reception.
(1.00p) Let me have a deep breathe and announce, the “Best of the Best Art Museum of the Year” (it was De Young before I came to this one) and the “Most Money Worthy Museum of the Year” is… The Hakone Open-Air Museum!!! It’s so incredibly amazing! There are so many different sculptures and cool art pieces spread around the open area of hill. I was like hanging in a big park with a lot of masterpiece surrounding me. I was already very excited after I spent about an hour to finish half of the Museum (I thought it was half). There are another 4 individual exhibition halls. The first 2 I’ve seen were just okay. Most of the descriptions are in Japanese only or I have to rent the recorder in English. I saw one of the exhibition halls called Picasso. I thought it was only the name of they have one piece of his works there, which a lot of museum do. But when I step into the hall, all the ceramics, sculptures and some paintings there are form him! A lot of them are very interesting and I never seen most of them even on books! I didn’t know he’s done so many ceramics!! Really keep my eyes wide opened~~ After that I went into a tower like sculpture there. It’s a cylinder wrap with church glass window like all around! It was so nice to look around from the top!!! The environment, the quantity and quality of works plus the little surprise from Picasso, it becomes my “Best of the Best Museum of the Year”! 2008 is such a good year :)
It's supposed to fill with 2 persons romantically, in such a relax afternoon~
(5.00p) Back to hotel and check myself in. Have taken a rest and went to the Japanese bath (hot spring). :) It was very foggy there… almost see nothing in the bath room.
(6.30p) I swear it is the best Japanese meal I have ever had! The whole set of dinner, all dishes just make me cry from my heart. It was just too good to have each dish. I think it could cost me more than the total I spent to stay in this hotel if I want to have a decent Japanese full set of meal like this in HK. Super worthy stay honestly!!!
(8.00p) The private bath (which needs to reserve, and half hour only each day) was a bit disappointed. There’re 3 type of private bath. I’ve chosen the open hot spring one. It was a bit tricky, just like toilet size room made of bamboo outside the building and it’s no wall on one side. They put some kinda plants in front of the open end. And ya, that’s it. But when I take it, it’s quite good feeling actually. Haha… I’m sure there are some nicer hotspring resorts around (obviously much more expensive) anyway… the dinner is already worth money I’ve spent. With a limited budget and want to have a resort experience, it is doubtlessly one of the best choice ^__^
23/12
(6.00a) Woke up early to have a yoga this morning :). I’ve had quite a while haven’t do yoga in the morning. Feeling quite good to start a day like this.
(8.30a) A big big breakfast in the morning! Yummyumyum~~
(9.00a) Wrote a bit my blog before leaving~~~~
(10.00a) Went out and found it pretty cold today. Luckily I’ve missed the bus and having enough time to go back and change. Otherwise, I must catch a cold today! It is a bit sunshine today but actually feeling even colder than the snowing day in Towada.
(11.00a) Walked around the area by the lake Ashi. It was a nice walk in a path surrounded by super tall tress. It was a few spots to see the Fuji Mountain. they are actually some of the best places to see Fuji mountain. But the weather today were not even good enough to see the mountain :) The clouds blocked the view. The mountain has come out for a few minutes and disappear again~~
(12.30p) A lot of snack free-tasting + the big breakfast in the morning just keep me stuff for whole day. I’ve eaten a famous black egg in the port. Well… it’s just the same as normal eggs. Obviously those lovely eggs from the Hope Range are much better than these.
(2.00p) It was damn freezing even under sunshine especially when I was up the hill in Owakudani. It’s were the hotspring eggs originally came from. They are actually not that great, but it’s something when you go there you wouldn’t mind to spend 500Yen to buy 5 of them. And they has to be in a bags of 5. I still have 3 on my bag now ~_~.
(3.00p) Went to the main station in Hakone-Yumoto where the entrance of Hakone area. It took me an hour to get there, to buy the Hakone Pass for the coming 2 days. Since they don’t normally do next day ticket, I just give it a try from the bigger station. Hopefully people are not as stupid as the smaller stations. The information centre still told me I have to buy tomorrow morning. It was quite a busy tourist area in Hakone-Yumoto. A lot of souvenir shops there. Some more food tasting :D I pass by the ticket office on my way back to hotel, and I had my last try there. The guy said no at the beginning too, but when I try my best to descript my situation to him (surprising he understand what I mean even he doesn’t really understand English!!!), and the sold the ticket to me :) and I saved 370Yen by spending almost 3 hours travel in the same area.
(6.30p) Dinner time again~~ It is even better than yesterday. All ingredients are obviously more expensive than those yesterday. I saw the girl next to me are eating the same set I’ve eaten yesterday :D Taste-wise, some dishes are stronger and some are much mild & pure. Such a nice contrast! I love it!!! The first time in my life I’ve had the long leg crab. The first time in my live I’ve eaten such an expensive piece of tuna. Those tuna sashimi I’ve eaten before that made me misunderstood tuna, please, never come back to me :D
(8.00p) writing this blog for this week :)
(10.00p) Private bath
(11.00p) Drawing time, if I still awake.
24/12
(8.00a) Didn’t wake up too early today, went to the breakfast hall at 8 and found that it is a buffet breakfast today. A bit disappointed but then I decided to go a quick bath before eating :D.
(8.30a) The breakfast wasn’t bad at all, although that’s a buffet. There are quite a lot of Japanese traditional foods and obviously they would force you to have some rice. I do like the one yesterday much more tho. Anyway, it’s a big breakfast that enough for me until dinner time :D.
(10.00a) Check out the room and it’s the end of the luxury part of the trip~~ oooo….. It’s such a great experience though. I told myself I would bring mama here when I earn enough money :D. Gonna move to the hotel for one more night in Hakone.
(11.30a) The hostel is pretty easy to find but it still took me like an hour and half. -_- There were sooooo many local tourist, the time they get on and off the bus were probably a double as usual time. It’s like a third of the price as the hotel but it’s still very nice… They have a proper outdoor Japanese bath and also an indoor one too. The room was quite big too, probably one third of the room last night but still big enough. The most important thing is, the staff speak English and I could use internet at my room!!!!!!!! :D
(12.00n) The staff recommended me to go to a place called Otome-toge, saying I can see Fuji Mountain from there. The day before, the view on the lake and on the mountain was almost totally blocked by clouds :).
(1.00p) When I just stepped down the bus, I was totally stocked. The Mount. Fuji was just right in front of me! It’s huge and very close! The sky was much clearer than the day before but somehow, a thick cloud was form right on top of Fuji Mountain and covered its head -_-. Really don’t know why it is so difficult to have a proper look on it .\ /. But I was quite happy already. At least I was very closed. And I still have one chance next day coz I will go on a bit hiking in the morning. And the staff told me I can see Mountain Fuji from there too.
(2.30p) Waited the bus for over 40 mins -_- and cold.
(3.00p) I feel lucky that I decided to go to Otome-toge :D It was only a few people there and only me took a bus there. Everyone else were driving. When I arrive Gora, it’s still a lot of tourist there. The Hakone Art Museum was incredibly crowd. I went to Gora park instead. The park was very empty! Almost no people were there… It was a ceramic house and I went into it. They have a class for experience ceramic making! And I looked at those some other students made, I went to the counter at once and want to learn (although it’s like 4000Yen each). There are a few finishing to chosen. Obviously, the student only do the shape and the instructor there will do the colour and finishing coz they look like they are very sophisticated. It must be complicated to get the surface finish as it is. But the staff told me the class of the day were all finished :). And even I take the class the day after, they only send out the work in 2 months time within Japan only :):)…. Ah………. And then I went to their greenhouse there. Japanese can really impress you on everything even it’s just a greenhouse. The plants there are so decent and nicely taken care of.
(4.00p) Went to buy dinner :D and then went back to the hostel. Used a bit internet, chill out a bit and try to finish some work for POP/PIXI…
(6.30p) Dinner
(8.00p) Some more works
(11.00p) Sleep early at night for the hiking in the morning :)
25/12
(6.00a) Woke up at 6! and take a early baht… seems that I m taking bath too much lately… my skin start getting a bit dry.
(7.30a) Nice nice weather today… I felt that I would see Fuji today!! :D. I decided to wear my green shoes as its last trip… haha… at least it has a last mission before I throw it away and I would remember it all in my life because of the memorable hiking trip ^__^. The road was not as comfy as I thought. It was quite wet, muddy, snippy and uphill. Luckily I changed to this pair of shoes. I walked for 30mins and didn’t see anyone until I saw 2 old ladies walked very slowly in front of me. It seems that I shouldn’t have felt the way difficult at all
And then few mins later a man with a kid just finished the trip and in the opposite way, downhill. Haha… I can’t even feel tired, go on go on… Finally I were on top of the hill. I almost forgot my purpose on the first sight of Mountain Fuji!!!! Obviously I get back a bit and take a picture for it and go on one of the best view of Fuji. The sky was very clear today! And I took quite a few pictures, feeling very satisfied and I can finish my JP trip already :D. Super windy and cold up there… only spent like 20 mins there and walk down the hill lo… There were 11 people I’ve meet in the whole hiking trip including the very old lady in the shop on top of the hill. She’s just so old. I think she lives there probably the rest of her life and won’t get down the hill.
(10.15a) Already got back to hostel :D took a shower and head to Osaka today. Seems that it will take the whole day on train and bus… but I m okay with it coz I’ve done enough today. :D
(11.00a) Leaving Hakone… hope that I will come back some time ^__^
19/12(9.00a) Had a super quite breakfast with Eiji... he is kinda stress out to buy his gift for his friends in London... He is going home for Xmas tmr and still needa work today afternoon. Well... it's the way asian do.. ^_^ get use to it Eiji...~~~
(11.00a) Decided not to go to Asakasa with Eiji again.. instead, go to take the earlier train to Sendai :) Tokyo is really easy to travel even you dont know Japanese at all... just jump on the metro or JR.. you can go wherever you want within Japan almost, especially if you can read Chinese.
(2.18p) Arriving Sendai ^__^ Nice weather~~~ yea~~~ It was a nice journey. The train passed by a lot of old style Japanese buildings... they built the house very close to the nature and they work very well with the environment. Very much feeling they are part of the nature.
(2.30p) Obviously Sendai is a tourist spot. There were soooooo incredibly a lot of souvenir shops selling local snacks and the famous OX tong :D~~
(4.00p) The hostel is quite easy to find actually but with my heavy bag… it’s like a mission to complete really.
(5.00p) Had my first raman in Japan! Miso raman ^__^ delicious~~ it is the Japanese food I thought I would have eaten all the time in Japan~~~
(6.00p) Chill a bit in the room and walked out to town. Quite a nice 30 mins walk to town… passed through some interesting streets. And saw the people mountain people sea on the main street. Maybe similar to the xmas lights in HK haha… doesn’t sounds very interesting to say in this way :P But ya, that’s different style… all the tress on the 1km streets were warp by thousands of light. Sounds much better like this… yea~
(7.00p) Found an interesting building on the street and walked into it. It’s kinda a city hall thing showing some free exhibitions and stuff, a big art library, a mini traditional Japanese music show. And you can see it’s where all the local people would hang around. We should have more buildings like this in HK. But first thing is to make more people finding this kinda art buildings are important to them… egg first or chicken first?
(8.30p) Found a square with a lot of Japanese food and a ice-skating site in the middle. Successfully stop myself buying anything from there by convincing myself to have them tomorrow :D!!! wao~~~~ and tomorrow will have a bike with me. It would be much easier to access the site again.
(9.00p) Back to the hostel and sort out some photos and stuff.
20/12
(8.00a) Rent the bike from the hostel cost 1000Yen. Ride a bike around the city.
(8.30a) Passed by a coffee shop, the old man was preparing the shop and the coffee beans… look like he’s taking care of his baby! :D
(9.15a) Miyagi Museum. Nothing looks interesting, didn’t get in.
(10.00a) Site of Sendai Castle. It was a nice ride all the way to the site, uphill :D, a lot of trees and not too far. Basically the whole city is quite small. It’s a site where the Sendai Castle was. Nothing much left now, and they’ve built a temple for that. But it’s nice to look at the whole city from there.
(11.30a) It was a big exhibition in Sendai City Museum but quite expensive :P didn’t get in finally.
(12.00n) Ride to another side of the city and found the Zuihoden Mausoloum. It was a temple and again, needa paid like 1000Yen entrance fee and didn’t get in :D
(1.00p) 1.5 set lunch!!! The famous ox tong lunch set. 1200Yen~~~~ Super nice!!! Somehow they put something to take out a lot of typical ox tong weird taste (I don’t hate that taste actually). I love it! The texture was super soft and the taste was mild. Somehow I’ve found most of the Japanese food have mild taste. It’s just simply a BBQ ox tong + rice but already super satisfy for whole day. Happy can be very simple, especially me :D
(2.30p) City walk~~ Tried the Mister Donut! Super good!! Again the texture was nice and a mild taste. That’s very much different from American ones.
(4.00p) Back to hostel and take a nap~~~~
(6.00p) Dinner at the hostel. I’ve bought a sashimi salmon and some seaweed. Pretty nice :D and cheap..
(8.00p) Went out again to the night food market square and had a 廣島燒~~~ super stuffed!!!!
(10.00p) Hang a bit around and went back to Hostel)
I m sure I’ve missed quite a few temple or whatever tourist spot but I have had a comfortable bike riding day… :)
21/12
Gonna take 3 hours to Towada today and back to Sendai at night. So I’ve woke up quite early
(8.00p) Walked to the station from hostel. When I almost arrive the station, I found that I forgot the JR pass with me -_- and missed the train.
He is very Japanese Japanese, init?
(9.00p) Take the train hour later to Hachinohe (八戶). Change a train to三沢. It was north from Sendai, very country side and start snowing when I arrived三沢. The train station to Towada (十和田) was super old and small :D but very cool to me…
(12.30p) Arrived the Towada Art Center finally. It was quite confusing map from the station and it was snowing on the way… ~_~ Luckily I asked direction from a hotel I passed by, otherwise I must have lost. I’ve seen an installation from “ball dim por por” was building just opposite to the art centre. The Architecture of the art centre was incredibly cool! It’s a combination of few boxes like exhibition room. All of the artworks are spread around and inside the building. I’ve seen some of the artists’ works and they are all cool! One of the totally unforgettable artwork is a room with a table and 2 chairs, all painted in white. And you climb upon the table and look at the hole on top of the ceiling it was a totally different world up there… like a fairy tails environment. It’s one of the best art galleries in the world I m sure.
(3.00p) Walked back to the station and passed by a temple, a super old one. Look like it is breaking down :D, pretty cool though.
(3.30p) Had a lunch in a chain Japanese food restaurant. The steam egg was very very very delicious!
(4.30p) The snow was getting heavier on my way from the restaurant to the station. A long journey back to Sendai, feeling even longer than the way come to Towada. Probably because it was quite dark already… nothing much to see and seems to be never finish.
(7.30p) Walked around the Loft in Sendai and found quite a lot of interesting products there. It was some fake beard for guys like me don’t have much beard and wanted to look cool. And you can see the packaging and instore promotion materials are pretty cool.
(9.00p) Couldn’t find the oyster I saw yesterday, I’ve bought a sashimi rice bowl from supermarket instead. It was pretty good too :D.
