Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Kinn n Japan - Tokyo again
2/1
(11.00a) It’s similar to HK’s CNY, except some chain store and chain restaurants open. So, I went to a temple nearby with Paulo and walked around Nakano area. There was a big queue in front of a city hall building. It seems like they are having a New Year short trip together. ^_^ very local lerh…
(4.00p) Paulo was having fever and had to take rest. And I went out by myself to Shijuku to have some random walk. Actually most of the department stores were open. I heard that they would have big sale from this 2 days, but obviously it’s not started yet :). Kinda meaningless walking and walking, trying to look for a headphone to replace my broken one T____T. Somehow I went to one of the food market section. Their sushi were in big sale!!!! Wao wao wao…. A box of long leg crab rice was selling 800yen only and a pretty nice sushi box (10+ pieces) were selling 580yen!!!! Yea… even cheaper than those lunch box stores :D I’ve bough dinner for me and Paulo + lunch for next day too… But then I remembered I would meet up YJ and Aya for whole day~~~ oops… maybe that’s too much then :P. but a big sushi for 2 was only 1500yen! How worthy was it!
(9.00p) Nothing much to do. Had a dinner and sort out some photos and work on the proposal a bit. Sleep sleep sleep~~~ and ready for the meeting next day!!! I’ve 5+ years haven’t seen them ^__^ woowo…. So exciting :)
3/1
(10.00a) Sorted out some photos taken during the trip, I started preparing to go out to meet YJ and Aya ^__^.
(11.30a) Meeting them in the JR station called Kichi Jo Ji (吉样寺). Taka, Aya’s brother and his gf, Heishi (hope that I it’s the correct spelling :)), Aya’s best friend and her bf (can’t remember their name lo) has come too~~~ woowowow… and we went for a walk for a while around the area.
I’ve bought a next year forecast for myself in the New Year day and forgot to ask for the meaning from the guesthouse in Kyoto. So I asked Aya about it and it seems that it will not be a easy year lerh… it said, I have to be patient and keep waiting and the solution of problems will be appearing eventually. On my love life, it will be someone comes up to block the real one. Just needs to be honest and do not care that much about that person who block the way, and it will be fine :D. It also said I will lost something that I can never find it back -_-…. And THE MOST IMPORTANT one it recommends me not to travel by myself but to travel with friends or lover next year! Otherwise, I will be in accident or what T_T okay… lover and friends, listen, go with me if I tell you I gonna go travel :D… etc etc…
Aya’s bought a pair of glasses from an optical shop. Surprisingly, the glasses there were actually not expensive at all and in quite good quality. Some okay nice frames including the lens, it’s around 6000yen. Of course it’s some more expensive ones but most of them are pretty reasonable price. I was thinking to buy a pair of sun glasses but finally didn’t buy it.
(1.30p) We then went to a curry shop and the curry there were very nice… it’s like 1000yen each and much much better than the one I’ve had last time in Osaka station! And the environment there was very nice too. very closy and friendly ^__^ + good food :D love it…
(2.30p) We went to Inokashira Park, quite famous part locally, for a walk and went to a shrine to make a wish (again). Yea.. they told me and YJ that we can go to the 工崎俊 museum quite close to the part while local people have to make an appointment to go there. Um.. and I decided not to go lu… everyone has been there anyway :)
(3.30p) We walked a bit around and then we went into a coffee shop to have tea :P haha… keep eating and eating… I’ve ordered a glass of ice-cream. I wanted to have ice-cream from the first day I arrived Japan and never had one. Haha… the one I’ve chosen was very very good. Sesame ice-cream + coffee jelly + some mesh beans + cream. Nice nice… ^_^ btw, Heishi was super nice! I don’t have enough cash and wanted to change some money from US dollars but the bank will not open these 2 days. She said she could change it with me first and she could do it later in the bank. :D soooooo happy lerh… feeling so good to have cash with me again!!!
(5.30p) We went to Shijuku together and had a walk in a department store. :) I thought it would be big sale around but seems that it’s not much on sale. There are a lot of shops selling their “lucky bag” which you don’t know what they put in but normally worth more than the money gum lo….
(8.30p) Went back and sort out some more photos… and think of a bit the proposal for Hans’ product. It’s such a peaceful relax day :)
4/1
(11.00a) Went to Yokohama today by myself:). It’s just 30mins train from Tokyo directly from Shijuku.
(11.45a) Yokohama is much nicer city than Tokyo to me. It’s much spacious and less crowded than Tokyo. Maybe partly because of the weather (sunny and much warmer) and also it’s by the sea (it’s just an add-points factor). Went to the information center and asked for directions and started my half day walking trip in Yokohama.
(12.30p) Anpaman Children Museum!!!!! Woooo… It’s such a great place for families to spend a half day. I can so much feel the happiness around. The whole thing, inc. the foods, the souvenirs, the entrance fee… probably earns a lot of money. Regarding the conversation with Paulo about fairness, I mean, you can tell people who made the museum have spent a lot of time and money to create something which makes a lot of families enjoy some time there. They should be paid some good money. Also people who invest money on the park has take the risk of not earning money from it and made a right decision to trust some good people who finished the project nicely. Of course they are earning much more than the people who sell breads and check tickets in the park. And eventually, the difference between them (in terms of wealthiness) is getting much bigger. But to be honest, it’s how the world moved forward. Maybe there is making some kind of unfairness but this idea itself isn’t the problem, ya? It might be some other ways to reduce the unfairness but I really can’t see the problem of some people earning more than some others. Anyway… nothing much gonna change anyway. haha… it’s a nice place to go.
(1.30p) Lunch time~~~~ I sat in an area under the tallest building in Yokohama (quite an ugly one) and 2 western guys were juggling. A lot of people were looking but actually they weren’t playing that brilliant.
(2.00p) Yokohama Pier was amazing!!! The wooden architecture was entirely impressive! I had seen some photos about it before but still I was very impressed when I went there.
(4.00p) China Town + Yokohama Stadium + area around. To be honest, I like Yokohama much more than Tokyo. Well, the part of Tokyo I’ve been. (I quite like Kichi Jo Ji and Nakana but still Yokohama seem to be a bit nicer to me). I walked a bit around more and passed through Anpanman Museum again and went to buy something for Sui Hang… :) ya yea yea
(7.00p) I went to Shibuya by myself. I think it’s not my first time to be there but I had no memory to this place. I thought I would see a lot of people dressing up weirdly but turn out it was kinda normal and I feel that I was in Causeway Bay. I really find the area around shijuku quite boring really. Either buying or eating, and really nothing much to do.
(9.00p) Went back to Nakano and had Indian food with Paulo. It was nicer than the western food I’ve had here. At least the chicken was quite juicy and taste good.
(10.30p) sorted out photos and feeling a tiny bit illness.
5/1
(11.30a) Went to Tokyo Dome with Paulo. He is still on holiday until next week… lucky him… It is quite a nice area with a big rolling coaster on top of a shopping mall and a lot of attractions like free falling and stuff. We went into a Jump shop and found quite interesting toys there too :D suddenly really want to read One Piece a lot!!!!
(12.05p) Had lunch in American Restaurant which Paulo recommended. The food there was not good indeed but….. the DESSERT was absolutely amazing! I ordered a cup of dessert called “very chocolate” or something like that. It’s actually a baked brownie with ice-cream + cream + raspberry sauce on top. It’s just so delicious and made me super stuffed!!!! Really need a lot of exercise once I get back to HK!! Yoga tmr :)~~~
(14.00p) Akihabara. The very famous electronic street. We went into a video game shop and played a bit. I still want to try the Gundom game but it’s a bit expensive (500Yen) for 2 games lerh. Anyway after the game shop, he had another meeting and I just hang around by myself. I wanted to buy a headphone there but walked for almost an hour and couldn’t find any nice one or they are super expensive. I finally saw a Panasonic one and find it quite familiar. It’s quite an old model but I do like it. Thought for a long time and decided not to buy it. It probably cheaper in HK I thought.
(5.00p) D-Department is one of the places I planed to go in Tokyo. They collect old furniture and old design products and fix them and resell them. Unlike a lot of 2nd hand shops that they only trade the used stuff, they really take extremely care about the things they are selling. I quite like the idea but it would never work in HK I guess. I saw a headphone and wanted to buy it too… very simple and old style, 6600yen is affordable too. But I guess I really should save money. The only thing I’ve got from there is a magazine that I think it might be useful for reference for the meeting with Alex.
(6.45p) Left the D-Department. It’s actually a little bit outside the central part of Tokyo. I went to Harajuku afterwards. I leave the train and walked down the street. It’s just some more shopping in MK quality maybe a tiny bit nicer. I keep walking down the road and found that it is actually connected to the place I went last time nearby the MoMA Design shop. Walked a bit and still nothing really worth buying… Almost the time to meet up Eiji and Kauru for dinner.
(9.00p) Dinner with Eiji and Kauru. We had Kansai style Okonomiyaki (關西燒). The one I’ve had in the market called Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (or Hiroshima-yaki 廣島燒). They didn’t let me pay for the dinner and offer me a gift too T_____T such a pair of nice couple. Well, they are having some problem between but I do hope that they will be together again eventually. The problem was actually all about the changing environment and different expectations but I can tell they do still care about each other. Finger cross~
(11.50p) Keep on thinking to go back to HK these few days in Tokyo… didn’t really enjoy the time here to be honest. It was super good to meet up my old friends and having good food with them but still not entirely. Probably not the first time I so much feel I miss HK but it’s the most recent one thus most real one :D. Packing my stuff and prepare my last day morning trip and heading bed :)
6/1
(10:00a) I went to the famous fish market in Japan. Surprisingly the fish rice there was quite cheap. They are very delicious though. I think I will go there again when I come back to Tokyo next time. There is actually not much making me love or hate Tokyo but I guess it’s a place that I don’t mind to come again. I wouldn’t really pay to come again soon :)
(2.00p) Carried a lot of luggage and take the train by myself. The Shinjuku station is still confusing and too complicated to find the right way. Go go go go go go…. Going home soon :)
(6.00p) In the last minutes, I’ve decided to buy 2 travel magazines which just cost 2880yen altogether. I didn’t plan it but I just spent alllllll of my coins on my pocket and I have 1000yen left at the end! wao wao wao~~~~~~…
Finally come to the end of the trip, 2 of the wealthiest regions in the world, the 2 most materials countries. They are very different in terms of everything basically. People have different concepts of good and bad. They are having different lifestyles different way of spending money. In a way, ya, unfortunately, I think I do prefer the American way of living more. And, if it’s the choice of Japan and HK, I would definitely choose HK. :)
After this 7 months, I still haven’t much saving (probably still a bit more than I could save if I stay in HK) but I’ve earned so much different things that could never get from staying in HK. Hope that everything will be smooth in the coming year and it’s my new year from today :) Bye~ my lovely 2008~~~
(11.00a) It’s similar to HK’s CNY, except some chain store and chain restaurants open. So, I went to a temple nearby with Paulo and walked around Nakano area. There was a big queue in front of a city hall building. It seems like they are having a New Year short trip together. ^_^ very local lerh…
(4.00p) Paulo was having fever and had to take rest. And I went out by myself to Shijuku to have some random walk. Actually most of the department stores were open. I heard that they would have big sale from this 2 days, but obviously it’s not started yet :). Kinda meaningless walking and walking, trying to look for a headphone to replace my broken one T____T. Somehow I went to one of the food market section. Their sushi were in big sale!!!! Wao wao wao…. A box of long leg crab rice was selling 800yen only and a pretty nice sushi box (10+ pieces) were selling 580yen!!!! Yea… even cheaper than those lunch box stores :D I’ve bough dinner for me and Paulo + lunch for next day too… But then I remembered I would meet up YJ and Aya for whole day~~~ oops… maybe that’s too much then :P. but a big sushi for 2 was only 1500yen! How worthy was it!
(9.00p) Nothing much to do. Had a dinner and sort out some photos and work on the proposal a bit. Sleep sleep sleep~~~ and ready for the meeting next day!!! I’ve 5+ years haven’t seen them ^__^ woowo…. So exciting :)
3/1
(10.00a) Sorted out some photos taken during the trip, I started preparing to go out to meet YJ and Aya ^__^.
(11.30a) Meeting them in the JR station called Kichi Jo Ji (吉样寺). Taka, Aya’s brother and his gf, Heishi (hope that I it’s the correct spelling :)), Aya’s best friend and her bf (can’t remember their name lo) has come too~~~ woowowow… and we went for a walk for a while around the area.
I’ve bought a next year forecast for myself in the New Year day and forgot to ask for the meaning from the guesthouse in Kyoto. So I asked Aya about it and it seems that it will not be a easy year lerh… it said, I have to be patient and keep waiting and the solution of problems will be appearing eventually. On my love life, it will be someone comes up to block the real one. Just needs to be honest and do not care that much about that person who block the way, and it will be fine :D. It also said I will lost something that I can never find it back -_-…. And THE MOST IMPORTANT one it recommends me not to travel by myself but to travel with friends or lover next year! Otherwise, I will be in accident or what T_T okay… lover and friends, listen, go with me if I tell you I gonna go travel :D… etc etc…
Aya’s bought a pair of glasses from an optical shop. Surprisingly, the glasses there were actually not expensive at all and in quite good quality. Some okay nice frames including the lens, it’s around 6000yen. Of course it’s some more expensive ones but most of them are pretty reasonable price. I was thinking to buy a pair of sun glasses but finally didn’t buy it.
(1.30p) We then went to a curry shop and the curry there were very nice… it’s like 1000yen each and much much better than the one I’ve had last time in Osaka station! And the environment there was very nice too. very closy and friendly ^__^ + good food :D love it…
(2.30p) We went to Inokashira Park, quite famous part locally, for a walk and went to a shrine to make a wish (again). Yea.. they told me and YJ that we can go to the 工崎俊 museum quite close to the part while local people have to make an appointment to go there. Um.. and I decided not to go lu… everyone has been there anyway :)
(3.30p) We walked a bit around and then we went into a coffee shop to have tea :P haha… keep eating and eating… I’ve ordered a glass of ice-cream. I wanted to have ice-cream from the first day I arrived Japan and never had one. Haha… the one I’ve chosen was very very good. Sesame ice-cream + coffee jelly + some mesh beans + cream. Nice nice… ^_^ btw, Heishi was super nice! I don’t have enough cash and wanted to change some money from US dollars but the bank will not open these 2 days. She said she could change it with me first and she could do it later in the bank. :D soooooo happy lerh… feeling so good to have cash with me again!!!
(5.30p) We went to Shijuku together and had a walk in a department store. :) I thought it would be big sale around but seems that it’s not much on sale. There are a lot of shops selling their “lucky bag” which you don’t know what they put in but normally worth more than the money gum lo….
(8.30p) Went back and sort out some more photos… and think of a bit the proposal for Hans’ product. It’s such a peaceful relax day :)
4/1
(11.00a) Went to Yokohama today by myself:). It’s just 30mins train from Tokyo directly from Shijuku.
(11.45a) Yokohama is much nicer city than Tokyo to me. It’s much spacious and less crowded than Tokyo. Maybe partly because of the weather (sunny and much warmer) and also it’s by the sea (it’s just an add-points factor). Went to the information center and asked for directions and started my half day walking trip in Yokohama.
(12.30p) Anpaman Children Museum!!!!! Woooo… It’s such a great place for families to spend a half day. I can so much feel the happiness around. The whole thing, inc. the foods, the souvenirs, the entrance fee… probably earns a lot of money. Regarding the conversation with Paulo about fairness, I mean, you can tell people who made the museum have spent a lot of time and money to create something which makes a lot of families enjoy some time there. They should be paid some good money. Also people who invest money on the park has take the risk of not earning money from it and made a right decision to trust some good people who finished the project nicely. Of course they are earning much more than the people who sell breads and check tickets in the park. And eventually, the difference between them (in terms of wealthiness) is getting much bigger. But to be honest, it’s how the world moved forward. Maybe there is making some kind of unfairness but this idea itself isn’t the problem, ya? It might be some other ways to reduce the unfairness but I really can’t see the problem of some people earning more than some others. Anyway… nothing much gonna change anyway. haha… it’s a nice place to go.
(1.30p) Lunch time~~~~ I sat in an area under the tallest building in Yokohama (quite an ugly one) and 2 western guys were juggling. A lot of people were looking but actually they weren’t playing that brilliant.
(2.00p) Yokohama Pier was amazing!!! The wooden architecture was entirely impressive! I had seen some photos about it before but still I was very impressed when I went there.
(4.00p) China Town + Yokohama Stadium + area around. To be honest, I like Yokohama much more than Tokyo. Well, the part of Tokyo I’ve been. (I quite like Kichi Jo Ji and Nakana but still Yokohama seem to be a bit nicer to me). I walked a bit around more and passed through Anpanman Museum again and went to buy something for Sui Hang… :) ya yea yea
(7.00p) I went to Shibuya by myself. I think it’s not my first time to be there but I had no memory to this place. I thought I would see a lot of people dressing up weirdly but turn out it was kinda normal and I feel that I was in Causeway Bay. I really find the area around shijuku quite boring really. Either buying or eating, and really nothing much to do.
(9.00p) Went back to Nakano and had Indian food with Paulo. It was nicer than the western food I’ve had here. At least the chicken was quite juicy and taste good.
(10.30p) sorted out photos and feeling a tiny bit illness.
5/1
(11.30a) Went to Tokyo Dome with Paulo. He is still on holiday until next week… lucky him… It is quite a nice area with a big rolling coaster on top of a shopping mall and a lot of attractions like free falling and stuff. We went into a Jump shop and found quite interesting toys there too :D suddenly really want to read One Piece a lot!!!!
(12.05p) Had lunch in American Restaurant which Paulo recommended. The food there was not good indeed but….. the DESSERT was absolutely amazing! I ordered a cup of dessert called “very chocolate” or something like that. It’s actually a baked brownie with ice-cream + cream + raspberry sauce on top. It’s just so delicious and made me super stuffed!!!! Really need a lot of exercise once I get back to HK!! Yoga tmr :)~~~
(14.00p) Akihabara. The very famous electronic street. We went into a video game shop and played a bit. I still want to try the Gundom game but it’s a bit expensive (500Yen) for 2 games lerh. Anyway after the game shop, he had another meeting and I just hang around by myself. I wanted to buy a headphone there but walked for almost an hour and couldn’t find any nice one or they are super expensive. I finally saw a Panasonic one and find it quite familiar. It’s quite an old model but I do like it. Thought for a long time and decided not to buy it. It probably cheaper in HK I thought.
(5.00p) D-Department is one of the places I planed to go in Tokyo. They collect old furniture and old design products and fix them and resell them. Unlike a lot of 2nd hand shops that they only trade the used stuff, they really take extremely care about the things they are selling. I quite like the idea but it would never work in HK I guess. I saw a headphone and wanted to buy it too… very simple and old style, 6600yen is affordable too. But I guess I really should save money. The only thing I’ve got from there is a magazine that I think it might be useful for reference for the meeting with Alex.
(6.45p) Left the D-Department. It’s actually a little bit outside the central part of Tokyo. I went to Harajuku afterwards. I leave the train and walked down the street. It’s just some more shopping in MK quality maybe a tiny bit nicer. I keep walking down the road and found that it is actually connected to the place I went last time nearby the MoMA Design shop. Walked a bit and still nothing really worth buying… Almost the time to meet up Eiji and Kauru for dinner.
(9.00p) Dinner with Eiji and Kauru. We had Kansai style Okonomiyaki (關西燒). The one I’ve had in the market called Hiroshima Okonomiyaki (or Hiroshima-yaki 廣島燒). They didn’t let me pay for the dinner and offer me a gift too T_____T such a pair of nice couple. Well, they are having some problem between but I do hope that they will be together again eventually. The problem was actually all about the changing environment and different expectations but I can tell they do still care about each other. Finger cross~
(11.50p) Keep on thinking to go back to HK these few days in Tokyo… didn’t really enjoy the time here to be honest. It was super good to meet up my old friends and having good food with them but still not entirely. Probably not the first time I so much feel I miss HK but it’s the most recent one thus most real one :D. Packing my stuff and prepare my last day morning trip and heading bed :)
6/1
(10:00a) I went to the famous fish market in Japan. Surprisingly the fish rice there was quite cheap. They are very delicious though. I think I will go there again when I come back to Tokyo next time. There is actually not much making me love or hate Tokyo but I guess it’s a place that I don’t mind to come again. I wouldn’t really pay to come again soon :)
(2.00p) Carried a lot of luggage and take the train by myself. The Shinjuku station is still confusing and too complicated to find the right way. Go go go go go go…. Going home soon :)
(6.00p) In the last minutes, I’ve decided to buy 2 travel magazines which just cost 2880yen altogether. I didn’t plan it but I just spent alllllll of my coins on my pocket and I have 1000yen left at the end! wao wao wao~~~~~~…
Finally come to the end of the trip, 2 of the wealthiest regions in the world, the 2 most materials countries. They are very different in terms of everything basically. People have different concepts of good and bad. They are having different lifestyles different way of spending money. In a way, ya, unfortunately, I think I do prefer the American way of living more. And, if it’s the choice of Japan and HK, I would definitely choose HK. :)
After this 7 months, I still haven’t much saving (probably still a bit more than I could save if I stay in HK) but I’ve earned so much different things that could never get from staying in HK. Hope that everything will be smooth in the coming year and it’s my new year from today :) Bye~ my lovely 2008~~~
Kinn n Japan - Kyoto
30/12
(8.30a) Take a train to Kyoto. It’s only 30mins from Osaka to Kyoto. Everyone told me and also the travel books say Kyoto is a city full of traditional buildings and old temples. The first impression for me is, the architecture of the station is so contemporary, pretty cool~ :D
(10.00a) Changed to subway for 3 stops and I was arriving the guest house.
(11.00a) Settled down everything and had a little rest, I started my bicycle trip lo :) It was quite exciting to ride around the little streets between those little old houses… The first temple I went to which is quite close to the guesthouse was closed though. -_- and then I head to one of quite famous temples in Kyoto called Kiyomizu-dera Temple (清水寺).
(12.00a) On the way I passed through the most famous Nishiki Food Market. It was extremely crowded! It’s like the flower market during Chinese New Year in HK. So so so many people tried to stuff into the market from outside. The sell fish, fresh meat, a lot of traditional Japanese foods and New Year food too! It was one shop specialize on selling eggs and the Japanese egg cake. You know the one they use for sushi but of course not the very yellowie one you see in cheap cheap Japanese restaurants. Everything are very expensive there though. I’ve seen a extremely ridiculous one which is a pack of red beans. I think it’s about 500g, they sell it 1500Yen!!! I was like… huh?! A pack of red bean should be 50 Yen, no? I’ve bought a piece of Tofu sushi, they stuffed octopus inside :D very tasty and it cost 130 Yen. And then I’ve bought a piece of fish cake for 250 Yen. To be honest, I prefer those from HK lo… they made it a little too sweet lerh. Ah, it remind me now, the best fish cake I’ve had in Japan is one they stuffed bbq eel with a bit of sauce inside. It was very delicious. Will try to find it next time when I have enough cash :D. Btw, even it was so crowded and they almost sell everything wet and dry in the market, I can still find my shoes very clean after going there. Very impressive ^_^…
(1.30p) Arrived the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It’s built by the mountain with a lot of trees. The environment was super nice. It cost 600Yen or something, so I didn’t get into it :P. haha very budget Kyoto tour I m having. I just keep on riding around the area and found a lot of girls wearing Kimono and walk around. It’s quite interesting that there are quite a lot of Kimono rental shops around that area.
(3.00p) I keep riding and riding around and passed a few more temples. A funny thing is, on this street, there are like hundreds of people, but the next one you can almost find no one and super quiet too. I tried to ride into all those streets without people. Haha made a turn when I see people ahead… It’s just too many temples and old buildings in the city. I guess it would be much nicer to have a company to walk around to be honest. It’s actually a lot of nice ceramics around too, but they are all quite expensive. The cheapest one I like was a little cup cost 2800Yen . Those a little bit nicer and irregular shape ones are at least 5000-6000 Yen, which I can’t really afford ~~… maybe someday… I mean, will be someday. I wanted to learn ceramics too… ya… will be someday.
(3.30p) Found a bakery in a street called 古川町商店街and bought a piece of amazingly delicious bread! Crispy outside and soft inside, Black sugar taste with red beans and some black beans:P:P.
(4.00p) Went to Jusco! And they accept credit cards!!! Went back to my room quite early today and took a nap. My body was pretty tired after the skiing day :D
(8.00p) I went out and buy some more food for dinner… 2 pieces of dai gun and and 1 piece of something I don’t even know its name. Did some works and finished the cover for Little Diggtak ^_^
31/12
(9.00a) had a nice breakfast in the guesthouse and it was quite nice. Interesting that Japanese use to put crème in coffee. It seems that they never thought of putting milk. Anyway, it wasn’t a bad coffee.
(9.30a) Saw some emails and worked a bit for POP/Pixi
(11.00a) Why are those works taking so long to finish?!?!?!!? Ahhhhh… anyway… went to Arashiyama for one little temple. It’s 7 stops by JR from Kyoto. Btw, I called Aya finally this morning. :) We gonna meet up on 3rd Jan just knew that her family is actually not in Tokyo but she will make a trip to Tokyo as a tourist with YJ :D… Haven’t seen them for sooooooo long!!!! Miss them very much.. and she told me, YJ is arriving JP today ^__^ yeahey~
(11.30a) Arrived the main temple in that area and didn’t go in again :D budget trip ma… haha… It’s a nice area to walk around even not getting into any temple, Somehow, although there are quite a lot of people around, it’s still quite a silent place, and very beautiful. It’s quite cold and windy today, even that’s sunshine. I finished walking around the main area, and heading to the little temple called Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple (愛宕念仏寺). It’s pretty small and doesn’t even shows in my Kyoto map. On the way I passed through a path full of bamboo on the side. A big big bamboo area, it’s just bamboo and more bamboo after 5 mins walks. The sky start getting dark and raining ~_~ and it becomes even colder.
(1.30p) Passed by a leather shop, I pop in and have a look. The designer told me he designed everything in that little workshop. The wallet I quite like was hand made too… and of course the nice stuff cost money which I can’t afford :) I gave him a smile and shouting to him in my heart, “good job! You are talented, work hard, mate! You are getting there.” Yea, I would buy something from him next time when I have money and if he’s still there.
(2.00p) It’s raining and start a bit snowing too… I still haven’t got there… It takes longer than I thought. It’s a bus to go there indeed, but budget travelers walk :D
(2.30p) I found it super worthy after that long walk in snowy rain and a 300Yen entrance fee. Don’t know how to explain. See photos :D They are just so cool! Yea… cool to me :D I love this temple sooo much! It’s small, quiet and very few tourists going but super interesting. :D At least to me, I’ve been in so many big temples since I was young. Japanese ones smell better but other than that, they are the same as the ones in China, even in HK. But this little one is just unique… :D
(3.30p) Tried not to spend anything for lunch today but still spent 110Yen for a bun from convenience store. I got back to the guesthouse and had my yogurt as lunch. it’s quite a good yogurt. Somehow, I don’t know how they do it, but Japanese foods, even yogurt, are much fine and mild taste.
(4.00p) I was quite stuffed but I remember the bakery yesterday and couldn’t stop myself to go there again :D
(4.30p) The bread was a bit cold but still tasty :) and then I was in a rush to go that very famous Fushimi-inari-taisha Shrine (伏見稲荷大社). Why I go there because I remember I’ve seen a programme about this Shrine when I was really young, probably 6-7 years old. And I still remember it!! :D See, this kinda promotions really work ga and last for over 20 years ga! But I didn’t spend any money there bor :P dead poor ghost. It’s the most people visiting shrine in western Japan during the New Year. I’ve seen a lot of counters are preparing food and stuff for the even tonight already. Very exciting!! If it’s a bit closer, I would go there for New Year. I thought it’s quite close but it took me 45 mins by bike to get there! I couldn’t ride too fast in the city, but it’s still quite far.
(6.00p) Getting really cold and I went back to the guesthouse to sort out some stuff… gonna go to a closer one at night.:)
(11.00p) Went out to a Shrine nearby called 八板神社 for New Year. I ride a bike from the guesthouse and it’s super cold even I wore 5 layers clothes! It’s so so so many people when I reach about 500 meter from the Shrine. The police just block people in different sections and let people go into it section by section. I was waiting in front of the Shrine for 45 mins and didn’t know what’s going on and what’s gonna happen. I didn’t even know why people are queuing there. I was expecting something to happen like count down to stuff… so, keep waiting and waiting…. And New Year had passed, and no one even do a count down. Only a few foreigners were shouting happy New Year~ and that’s it. -_- Super disappointing and boring! Since I was expecting to buy something eat from the Shrine, I didn’t have my dinner. Super cold and hungry ~_~ But I was trapped in the block of people, couldn’t go anywhere T__T. About 15mins later, the police let us passing through the road and we walked up the Shrine. It’s actually not much happening there still… some counters sell food and stuff. The queue was still going. In not too far away, and we arrive the temple. And then I knew that what I was queuing for finally. Well, I made a wish and went to buy something eat… walked a little bit around. It’s actually quite boring to go to this kinda thing by myself. Had some food and start having stomachache >_<… And the first biggest decision I’ve made in 2009 was I decided to eat something from McDonald’s! Yea, it helps a bit to fill myself up… around 1.20a, I head back to my guesthouse.
1/1
(11.00a) A homemade Japanese New Year breakfast this morning :D how exciting!!! I do love everything she made ^__^. Another great thing is I met some new friends in the house!! The girl (oops, what’s her name?), the landlady’s nephew, she speak perfect English and Mandarin with me. Again, she found my European ascent cool :p. I never expected to speak Mandarin with someone here in Japan. She’s studied 1 year in China, 1 year in US and she is working in Japanese embassy in Canada! She looks like she’s just graduated and quite a bit younger than me. Another 2 guys from America, Nathan from Boston and Andrew from Washington, they both came to Japan to study Japanese for 1 year. It’s quite fun to talk to them while having the nice Japanese breakfast :D.
(12.40p) Left the house and decided to walk to the JR station to save the 210Yen! It’s such a nice day, sunny and not as cold as yesterday. Spent about 15mins to walk to the station thinking of the good time in the morning :).
(1.56p) Got on the train, heading back to Tokyo :). Gonna be a doing nothing day, and I decided to take no photo today! And to set 1st Jan as a “No Photos Day”. These years, people are spending too much time to take pictures that they might not even have time to look at again. We spent too much time to look at the screen of the cameras instead of looking around the world and probably missed a lot of good moment around us and also forget to enjoy ourselves. Haha, lets take a break in the new year day! :)
(4.30p) it’s quite a nice journey. The train passed through a lot of places that’s raining, snowing, very sunny, a bit cloudy and finally very nice and cloudless sunset when we almost arrived Tokyo. :) Such a good doing-nothing day!
(8.30a) Take a train to Kyoto. It’s only 30mins from Osaka to Kyoto. Everyone told me and also the travel books say Kyoto is a city full of traditional buildings and old temples. The first impression for me is, the architecture of the station is so contemporary, pretty cool~ :D
(10.00a) Changed to subway for 3 stops and I was arriving the guest house.
(11.00a) Settled down everything and had a little rest, I started my bicycle trip lo :) It was quite exciting to ride around the little streets between those little old houses… The first temple I went to which is quite close to the guesthouse was closed though. -_- and then I head to one of quite famous temples in Kyoto called Kiyomizu-dera Temple (清水寺).
(12.00a) On the way I passed through the most famous Nishiki Food Market. It was extremely crowded! It’s like the flower market during Chinese New Year in HK. So so so many people tried to stuff into the market from outside. The sell fish, fresh meat, a lot of traditional Japanese foods and New Year food too! It was one shop specialize on selling eggs and the Japanese egg cake. You know the one they use for sushi but of course not the very yellowie one you see in cheap cheap Japanese restaurants. Everything are very expensive there though. I’ve seen a extremely ridiculous one which is a pack of red beans. I think it’s about 500g, they sell it 1500Yen!!! I was like… huh?! A pack of red bean should be 50 Yen, no? I’ve bought a piece of Tofu sushi, they stuffed octopus inside :D very tasty and it cost 130 Yen. And then I’ve bought a piece of fish cake for 250 Yen. To be honest, I prefer those from HK lo… they made it a little too sweet lerh. Ah, it remind me now, the best fish cake I’ve had in Japan is one they stuffed bbq eel with a bit of sauce inside. It was very delicious. Will try to find it next time when I have enough cash :D. Btw, even it was so crowded and they almost sell everything wet and dry in the market, I can still find my shoes very clean after going there. Very impressive ^_^…
(1.30p) Arrived the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. It’s built by the mountain with a lot of trees. The environment was super nice. It cost 600Yen or something, so I didn’t get into it :P. haha very budget Kyoto tour I m having. I just keep on riding around the area and found a lot of girls wearing Kimono and walk around. It’s quite interesting that there are quite a lot of Kimono rental shops around that area.
(3.00p) I keep riding and riding around and passed a few more temples. A funny thing is, on this street, there are like hundreds of people, but the next one you can almost find no one and super quiet too. I tried to ride into all those streets without people. Haha made a turn when I see people ahead… It’s just too many temples and old buildings in the city. I guess it would be much nicer to have a company to walk around to be honest. It’s actually a lot of nice ceramics around too, but they are all quite expensive. The cheapest one I like was a little cup cost 2800Yen . Those a little bit nicer and irregular shape ones are at least 5000-6000 Yen, which I can’t really afford ~~… maybe someday… I mean, will be someday. I wanted to learn ceramics too… ya… will be someday.
(3.30p) Found a bakery in a street called 古川町商店街and bought a piece of amazingly delicious bread! Crispy outside and soft inside, Black sugar taste with red beans and some black beans:P:P.
(4.00p) Went to Jusco! And they accept credit cards!!! Went back to my room quite early today and took a nap. My body was pretty tired after the skiing day :D
(8.00p) I went out and buy some more food for dinner… 2 pieces of dai gun and and 1 piece of something I don’t even know its name. Did some works and finished the cover for Little Diggtak ^_^
31/12
(9.00a) had a nice breakfast in the guesthouse and it was quite nice. Interesting that Japanese use to put crème in coffee. It seems that they never thought of putting milk. Anyway, it wasn’t a bad coffee.
(9.30a) Saw some emails and worked a bit for POP/Pixi
(11.00a) Why are those works taking so long to finish?!?!?!!? Ahhhhh… anyway… went to Arashiyama for one little temple. It’s 7 stops by JR from Kyoto. Btw, I called Aya finally this morning. :) We gonna meet up on 3rd Jan just knew that her family is actually not in Tokyo but she will make a trip to Tokyo as a tourist with YJ :D… Haven’t seen them for sooooooo long!!!! Miss them very much.. and she told me, YJ is arriving JP today ^__^ yeahey~
(11.30a) Arrived the main temple in that area and didn’t go in again :D budget trip ma… haha… It’s a nice area to walk around even not getting into any temple, Somehow, although there are quite a lot of people around, it’s still quite a silent place, and very beautiful. It’s quite cold and windy today, even that’s sunshine. I finished walking around the main area, and heading to the little temple called Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple (愛宕念仏寺). It’s pretty small and doesn’t even shows in my Kyoto map. On the way I passed through a path full of bamboo on the side. A big big bamboo area, it’s just bamboo and more bamboo after 5 mins walks. The sky start getting dark and raining ~_~ and it becomes even colder.
(1.30p) Passed by a leather shop, I pop in and have a look. The designer told me he designed everything in that little workshop. The wallet I quite like was hand made too… and of course the nice stuff cost money which I can’t afford :) I gave him a smile and shouting to him in my heart, “good job! You are talented, work hard, mate! You are getting there.” Yea, I would buy something from him next time when I have money and if he’s still there.
(2.00p) It’s raining and start a bit snowing too… I still haven’t got there… It takes longer than I thought. It’s a bus to go there indeed, but budget travelers walk :D
(2.30p) I found it super worthy after that long walk in snowy rain and a 300Yen entrance fee. Don’t know how to explain. See photos :D They are just so cool! Yea… cool to me :D I love this temple sooo much! It’s small, quiet and very few tourists going but super interesting. :D At least to me, I’ve been in so many big temples since I was young. Japanese ones smell better but other than that, they are the same as the ones in China, even in HK. But this little one is just unique… :D
(3.30p) Tried not to spend anything for lunch today but still spent 110Yen for a bun from convenience store. I got back to the guesthouse and had my yogurt as lunch. it’s quite a good yogurt. Somehow, I don’t know how they do it, but Japanese foods, even yogurt, are much fine and mild taste.
(4.00p) I was quite stuffed but I remember the bakery yesterday and couldn’t stop myself to go there again :D
(4.30p) The bread was a bit cold but still tasty :) and then I was in a rush to go that very famous Fushimi-inari-taisha Shrine (伏見稲荷大社). Why I go there because I remember I’ve seen a programme about this Shrine when I was really young, probably 6-7 years old. And I still remember it!! :D See, this kinda promotions really work ga and last for over 20 years ga! But I didn’t spend any money there bor :P dead poor ghost. It’s the most people visiting shrine in western Japan during the New Year. I’ve seen a lot of counters are preparing food and stuff for the even tonight already. Very exciting!! If it’s a bit closer, I would go there for New Year. I thought it’s quite close but it took me 45 mins by bike to get there! I couldn’t ride too fast in the city, but it’s still quite far.
(6.00p) Getting really cold and I went back to the guesthouse to sort out some stuff… gonna go to a closer one at night.:)
(11.00p) Went out to a Shrine nearby called 八板神社 for New Year. I ride a bike from the guesthouse and it’s super cold even I wore 5 layers clothes! It’s so so so many people when I reach about 500 meter from the Shrine. The police just block people in different sections and let people go into it section by section. I was waiting in front of the Shrine for 45 mins and didn’t know what’s going on and what’s gonna happen. I didn’t even know why people are queuing there. I was expecting something to happen like count down to stuff… so, keep waiting and waiting…. And New Year had passed, and no one even do a count down. Only a few foreigners were shouting happy New Year~ and that’s it. -_- Super disappointing and boring! Since I was expecting to buy something eat from the Shrine, I didn’t have my dinner. Super cold and hungry ~_~ But I was trapped in the block of people, couldn’t go anywhere T__T. About 15mins later, the police let us passing through the road and we walked up the Shrine. It’s actually not much happening there still… some counters sell food and stuff. The queue was still going. In not too far away, and we arrive the temple. And then I knew that what I was queuing for finally. Well, I made a wish and went to buy something eat… walked a little bit around. It’s actually quite boring to go to this kinda thing by myself. Had some food and start having stomachache >_<… And the first biggest decision I’ve made in 2009 was I decided to eat something from McDonald’s! Yea, it helps a bit to fill myself up… around 1.20a, I head back to my guesthouse.
1/1
(11.00a) A homemade Japanese New Year breakfast this morning :D how exciting!!! I do love everything she made ^__^. Another great thing is I met some new friends in the house!! The girl (oops, what’s her name?), the landlady’s nephew, she speak perfect English and Mandarin with me. Again, she found my European ascent cool :p. I never expected to speak Mandarin with someone here in Japan. She’s studied 1 year in China, 1 year in US and she is working in Japanese embassy in Canada! She looks like she’s just graduated and quite a bit younger than me. Another 2 guys from America, Nathan from Boston and Andrew from Washington, they both came to Japan to study Japanese for 1 year. It’s quite fun to talk to them while having the nice Japanese breakfast :D.
(12.40p) Left the house and decided to walk to the JR station to save the 210Yen! It’s such a nice day, sunny and not as cold as yesterday. Spent about 15mins to walk to the station thinking of the good time in the morning :).
(1.56p) Got on the train, heading back to Tokyo :). Gonna be a doing nothing day, and I decided to take no photo today! And to set 1st Jan as a “No Photos Day”. These years, people are spending too much time to take pictures that they might not even have time to look at again. We spent too much time to look at the screen of the cameras instead of looking around the world and probably missed a lot of good moment around us and also forget to enjoy ourselves. Haha, lets take a break in the new year day! :)
(4.30p) it’s quite a nice journey. The train passed through a lot of places that’s raining, snowing, very sunny, a bit cloudy and finally very nice and cloudless sunset when we almost arrived Tokyo. :) Such a good doing-nothing day!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Kinn n Japan - Himeji & Awaji Island & Kobe
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… ^__^….
(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… ^__^….
Kinn n Japan - Osaka
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.
(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.
Kinn n Japan - Hakone
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 ^__^
(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 ^__^
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