Thursday 26 February 2015

MY DAYS IN TOKYO

Narita Airport at night
Malam tu, kami naik Narita Access dari Narita Airport nk ke Kurumi Mansion. Harga 1000 yen. Faris n Farah half price. Mula2 susah jugak nak jumpa bus tu coz pekerja mereka pon x tau kewujudan bus tu. tp nasib ade sorang tu tau, dan bawa kami ke bus stop Narita Access. Mula2 kluar central exit C1  or south exit S3 dan kena naik dekat southwing platform 31 (platform ujung sekali). Ini dekat terminal 1 tau... kalau terminal2 lain plak caranya.  Duration: 1 hour plus. one thing about Narita airport, ia lebih jauh dari haneda. Bas ni bawak kite either to ginza or tokyo station (yaesu exit). Belik tiket dalam bas terus.

 Sebenarnya, ada banyak cara dari Narita nak ke central tokyo such as Narita Express (N'ex), skyliner, T-Cat dan mcm2 lah  tp narita access ni antara yg paling murah. tapi masa kami di sana. T-cat tengah buat promo 50%. So, instead of 3000 yen one way, dapat 1500 yen shj for adult. Skrg lagi best, 1000 yen aja (limited time). Tokyo Shuttle bus paling murah tp kena belik tiket kat tempat lain pulak. Tokyo Shuttle Bus shares platform dng Narita Access, platform 31.

Ini bas yang kami naik.  1000 yen 
 Airport limo ni stesennya sangat dekat dengan Kurumi
 Mansion iaitu Suitengumae Station. From Suitengumae,
 blh jalan kaki jer keKurumi,dalam 15 minit gitu la....
Kami x naik sebab malas nak menapak dari station ke kurumi. From Suitengumae,
x ada teksi nak ambik bawak ke kerumi coz too near. 
*Both photos were taken from:  
http://www.travelience.com/%E6%9C%AA%E5%88%86%E9%A1%9E/how-to-get-to-tokyo-from-narita-airport/

Tokyo shuttle bus. 900 yen

Platform 31: narita access n tokyo
shuttle bus share the same platform.
Disebabkan dah malam, lps tu bawak bag bagai,  kami pon naik cab untuk ke kurumi. Charge dalam 1000 yen per cab.

We stayed at Kurumi Mansion when in Tokyo. So far, it was the cheapest and fulfilled all my requirements for the stay. I paid approximately RM230 per night for a triple room complete with cooking facility in the room.

Pintu masuk Kurumi Mansion

Farah
Adjacent to kurumi mansion
Yang ni katil singlenya.. pintu tu ke bilik air. taken from
http://www.hotelscombined.com/Hotel/Kurumi_Mansion.htm. Busy sangat
 sampai  x sempat amik gambar bilik. Tp memang sebijik la gmbar ni dngn
bilik saya. Belah sini ada 2 katil lagi, meja, tv dan sofa.
Suitengumae Station, Hanzomon line
Since kami sampai malam, office dah tutup tp Mr Yasuo of  Kurumi Mansion dah tinggalkan nota dekat office dan kunci dalam bilik. So, payment i settle kan esok. Why did we choose Kurumi Mansion? 1st: it was the cheapest family room that i could find. 2nd: it had attached personal kitchen in the room (a must!). 3rd: ada washing room (yaayyy...boleh basuh baju) and it's free..... sabon pon provided. 4th: dekat dngan pasaraya Aeon, senang belik groceries untuk masak2.... Toilet agak kecik sikit tapi ok lah..bukan nak mandi lama2 sangat pon, sejukkk...Orang asia mcm kita ni x besar mana, so kira muat la tu... Towel provided tp sabun semua x ada. kena belik sendiri ya....

Setiap hari kami jalan tepi sungai ni untuk ke station metro.


Semasa di Tokyo, saya mmg msk hr2. Some people say u dont hve to cook during yr vacation holiday but to me, i enjoy cooking. 1st, i feel that finding decent halal food in Tokyo is quite challenging. 2nd: i dnt hve that much yen to spend on food at eating outlets. 3rd: x buang masa nk carik tmpt mkn... that's my personal opinion on the matter... but some people love to try different taste of cuisine from different parts of the world. So, ikot la...

kita selalu belik instant rice ni kan? If we buy at   Family Mart or 7e, the price is100 yen per pack but if we buy at Aeon Supermarket, 6 packets, baru 399 yen... Nampak x beza harga? (x tau la ape mslh gmbr ni...:(


 Sardin grg, cabbage, poached eggs with soy sauce and sup suhon n pucok..he..he... Jom makan! Tak tau knp gmbr ni x blh kecik...

Sepanjang di tokyo, main mode of transportation was train. We used our icoca card yg belik di Airport Kansai.  Kami banyak naik metro masa kat Tokyo. Metro paling dekat dengan Kurumi is Suitengumae Station (Hanzomon line) dan lagi satu Monzen Nakacho station (Tozai Line).  Dua2 ni under Tokyo Metro. Ada 2 jenis line yang dominan kat Tokyo, one is Tokyo Metro Line and the other one is Toei Line. Boleh belik 1/2/3 days metro tickets atau boleh aja belik asing2 kalau rasa kita x utilise sebanyak harga pass. Rangkaian keretapi kat tokyo ni memang berselirat. Ada banyak, bayangkan subways kat London, haa... up sikit dari tu ya... in fact up bnyk...hehe... but trust me, once u're there, u can understand the system in no time. Berselirat but very systematic. Kami jugak naik other private lines lika Yamanote, Keiyo Line and Rinkai line.


Masa nak balik ke Kansai, kami nak naik flight semula di Narita. Kali ni dah pandai, so malas nak naik bus, naik train from Suitengumae, tukar di Oshiage naik Narita/Sky Access line. Dalam 1 jam sampai airport. 1300 yen, faris farah 1/2 price. Farah dok hilangkan tiket waktu ni... adoila budak ni... dah la nak cpt p airport... nasib baik la station master baik, die kasik lepas. Kalu x, kena byr double plok... Itula, bila kita nak pegang, die mo pegang sendiri....lepas tu bising, katanya jatuh terselit celah escalator,,,ntah betol ntah tidak budak ni....

Whatever it is, even though we have hyperdia to help us navigate the journey/route,  I still  feel asking the station master is the best option to save yourself from getting lost. Sometimes, they even have the faster and cheaper route for us. It happened to us a few times. Route station master lagi pantas dan murah. and sometimes, the trains and routes look pretty similar.. so,tnya aja station master, kompom betol.  Kami hanya silap 2x masa di Jepun.. itu kes bodoh sombong x mo tnya station master ler tu...huhuhu... kesilapan kecil aja mcm silap direction  naik train and naik local train instead of express train.

Sampai sini aje coretan saya...lps ni kita sambong dngn tmpt2 yg kmi p masa di Tokyo... till then...

Wednesday 11 February 2015

GION AREA & 1st TIME EXP ON PEACH AIRLINE

Hari ke-4 kat Kyoto ni, kami nak checkout dan gerak ke Tokyo pula. Sebenarnya banyak tempat x p lagik kat area Kyoto dan Osaka ni..tp ape nak buat...lain kalikla kite datang lagik yer...
Cadangnya nak checkout awal dan p Kyoto Imperial Palace. Tp biasalah..bila dah dengan budak2 ni..dah terlewat la plok checkoutnya.... So, x jadik la p Imperial Palace, kami p Gion area. X lama pon kat sana, jalan2 kejap..tngkp2 gambar, dah kena p airport.

Sebelum ni memang plan nak belik JR pass untuk ke Tokyo dan kawasan2 lain. Tp, bila dipikir balik duit x berapa nak ada...rm900 x 3 dah rm2700. farah setengah harga... dan rm3150... adoila dapat tiket mo p Europe tu...hihihi... So, i checked a few local budget airlines dan akhirnya kami tersangkot dengan Peach. Peach Aviation ni merupakan Japan's budget airline yg berpangkalan di Kansai. Bnyk tempat boleh p dr sini termasok Hokkaido, Seoul dan hong Kong.  Kat bawah i will give review about Peach ya. Tambang kami hari tu rm900++ for 4 pax return tix dah termasuk 20kg baggage allowance (bought separately).

My mistake was buying return tickets from Osaka. I should have bought my tickets back to Malaysia from Tokyo so that i didn't have to return to Osaka for the flight home. My bad, ape nak buat..dah belik kan...

X apelah, dah sudah... Jom lah kite tengok2 area Gion yang sempat kami jalan2. On the last day, kami belik Kyoto bus pass berharga 500 yen. Faris n Farah 250 yen. Bleh naik sampai lebam. Kami belik pass coz kami nak ke Kyoto Station dulu hantar barang, pas tu baru ke Gion. And back to Kyoto Central.

Ni Kyoto Bus. Semua tempat blh p naik bas. Yang ni laluan untuk
OKU. Driver akan letak dan angkat kayu tu after OKU naik. 
Saki baki autumn kat Gion

Deretan kedai
Deretan kedai lama

Kami sempat p ada satu temple ni betol2  kat tpi jalan di Gion. Nama temple ni Yasaka Shrine. Dulu2 dikenali sebagai Gion shrine. Memang x plan nak ke sini, tp dah depan mata, masuk ajelah. Ramai jugak org datang sembahyang hari tu... Jom tengok sekitar shrine.








Yasaka Shrine facing the main road 


Nk p sembahyang ler tu...




X sempat lama kat Gion, kami terpaksa balik ke Kyoto Sentral sebab nak naik haruka ke airport. tengok kat Hyperdia, cuma ada satu trip Haruka aje ke Kansai International ptg tu...Dalam pukul 3. Selepas tu, dah pukul 5, mcm dah lewat, coz flight pukul 7.

Farah @ Kyoto Station
 My review about Peach. Servisnya lebih kurang AA aje. No frill budget airline. Everything pon kena bayar. Passengers can bring carry-on luggage yg x lebih daripada 10kg dan satu lg handbag/laptop bag. Kalu di Kansai, naik dekat terminal 2. Dari Aeroplaza (dekat dengan Nikko Kansai), naik free shuttle bus about 10 minutes to terminal 2. Semua servis Peach kat terminal 2.

Proses masuk luggage cepat. Sebelum masukkan luggage, kite print boarding pass dulu. x ada online check in ya. Kena check in kat kiosk, tp sangat cpt...jngn risau. Paling lewat setengah jam for domestic route. Seat allocation memang kami x belik. Dah memang mentally ready to sit far away from each other. Dah bagi tau anak2 pon. Lagipon flight 1 jam aja. Malasla nak belik seat yang berharga lebih kurang rm8 tu. Tp;, alhamdulillah, pegi balik memang kami duduk sama anak beranak...he..he... selamat selamat.... Makanan boleh pre-book atau beli on-board. kami x belik ape2 pon...

Peach ni, walaupon allocation luggage u 20kg, tp u kena isik semua dalam 1 bag. meaning to say, 20kg in a bag. Sblm masuk ke balai menunggu, kena timbang dulu bag, x boleh lebih 10kg ya,... ada weighing scale disediakan...he..he...

Hari tu flight delay dalam 20 minit. Biasalah tu kan.. no hal.. kami lepak kat lounge sambil makan2 bekalan..he..he...

Taking off and landing very smooth sailing. In fact, masa balik Kansai, x terasa pon dah cecah bumi... Ehhh.. dah landing rupanya....he..he...

Nak ke terminal 2 kena naik shuttle bus ya. 

Nampak x kiosk  purple2 tu... ? Kat situlah u all check in. 

Boleh tunggu sambil membelik souvenirs. 

Delay 20 minit. So, tunggu di sini....
Seat mcm AA. Saiz pon lebih kurang...
he..he...
Peach Airline
Kansai Airport
 Overall, I am satisfied with the service. Shall i recommend it to others? Affirmatively, yes! There were hiccups here and there but those were tolerable hiccups...standardlah kan..nama pon bajet airline...

The majestic Mount Fuji: Captured from Peach on the way back to Kansai from Tokyo. Itupon nasib baik
 pilot bg tahu....he..he...

P/S: Baru dapat email dari Peach, mereka sekarang dah bukak route from Narita to Hokaido.... Aishhh... bila nk p ni...?


Sunday 1 February 2015

MT ROKKO SNOW PARK

Day 3 (10 Dec 2014)

Hari ni kami p Mt Rokko Snow Park. Trip yg ni sbnrnya last minute decision. Bdk2 nk sngt main snow, so i had to cancel my trip to Osaka city centre coz nk ke Mt Rokko.  Mt Rokko ni sbnrnya di area Kobe. Lg satu stop nk smpai Sannomiya  St. (kobe).

I still used my hankyu pass to get to Rokko. In fact, going  to Rokko was the main reason i bought the pass. Actually the pass's name is Hankyu- Hanshin Odakake pass where u will get 2 days hankyu hanshin pass and a set round trip to rokko snow park (bus + cable car) and entry ticket to rokko park for the price of 3600 yen (dlm rm100).  I think it was a good bargain coz entry to snow park itself was 2000 yen (rm70). So, with the pass, u get 2 days train pass n snow park set.  Actually bus yg di mount rokko tu kite blh naik turun sesuka hati for the duration of 1 day. So, sngt jimat sebenarnya dr byr asing2.

Kick-start our day 3 @ Japan
Gembira sngat dak Farah nk p main snow
Dari Kyoto, perjalanan mengambil masa dlm 1 jam nak sampai Rokko station. Dari Saiin, tukar train at Katsura. From Katsura, tukar di Juso untuk teros ke Rokko.
Waiting for our connecting train @
Katsura
Naik tren sama2 dngn abg2
nk p sekolah la...

Sampai di Rokko, kita exit dn berjln ke bus stop. Landmark: KFC. Dr situ kita tunggu bus untuk ke Rokko Cable Car. Perjalanan x lama, about 5 to 10 minutes gitu.

Rokko Station di waktu pagi
Sempat singgah kedai 100 yen kat Rokko
Station. Farah borong mcm2
termasuk headphone 100 yen. Elok plak
tu. Smpai sekarang die guna bila
main tab.
This way to the bus stop
Nampak x KFC tu?
Landmark nk ke bus stop
Tunggu bas kat sini
Dalam Odekake set tu, ade tiket2 ni. Jangan hilang ya... Satu untuk pergi
(green) dan satu lagi untuk balik (red)

Sampai cable car, kita naik pulak cable car. X tunggu lma pon... about 8 minutes ja tunggu. Sblm tu kmi dok tngkp2 gmbr kat area cable car.

Rokko Cable car
Beratur nak tunjuk tiket
Inside the cable car
Ni rupa cable car
Dah sampai station...
Tiket Cable car (return) dan Sanjo Bus (bus semasa di Peak)
Sampai kat peak, kami naik bas lagi. Bas ni unlimited ride for a day... naikla sepnjng hr kat peak tu..freeeeee sbb ada pass. Tp kmi naik untuk ke Snow park aja... ade jugak yg naik turun kt area musical box museum.

Setelah naik tren, bas, cable car and another bus...sampai la kami kat Rokko Snow Park. tiket x perlu byr, kite p kaunter untuk sewa2 ja... basically, semua benda blh disewa disini. Dari baju hinggalah ke peralatan.  Kami cuma sewa sledge aja 2 bijik.

Main entrance to the Snow Park
Tu 2 bijik sledge. 1 merah, 1 biru
Shhhhhhh... sebenarnya since it was only December, snow pon mmg x brape nk ada kat Rokko ni... Snow yg bdk2 ni main adalah snow palsu aka snow buatan... kikiki... x sampai hati nk bg tahu dak faris farah yg ini snow buatan coz mereka mmg naively thought yg semua tu real. Muka berseri2... what they don't know, won't hurt them, right?  But Farah did ask, "tp knp x ada snow jatuh dr langit mcm kt Myeongdong tu, ma? X pa thn dpn kite p Myeongdong." Ishhh, banyak tanya bdk ni.... die dok tngk running man ler tu yg tau 1st snow fall kt Myeongdong... Adoila...


Berikut harga pada menu kat kaunter tiket:

Entrance.                   Adults       2000¥.     Children 1000¥. (free with Odekake set)

Ski and clothes.       Adults        4500¥.      Children 3500¥.

Snowboard.             Adults       5500¥.      Children 4500¥.

Ski set only           2500¥

Snow boots           500 ¥

Sledge                  500 ¥

Does not include 1,000¥ deposit .


Jom tengok ape budak2 ni buat...


Do u wann build a snowman?
Ready, go!

Tergolek2 dah Faris
Smoking area

Rombongan kanak2 sek
rendah pon ada ni ha..
The other side of the park
Lunch time
Lepas lunch, kami ke ski area pula... X main pon. Faris and I naik ski lif 1 round.





Yg ni 300¥ rasanya sekali naik..eh... dah lupa la plak... ke 100¥? lupa la...


Pukul 4.30 kami siap2 nak turun ke bawah dah. Lama jugak lepak sini. Bezanya di sini, kita boleh lepak sampai malam pon x apa. No time limit. Kalau kat Genting ke Mines ke boleh dok 45 minit jer. X sempat sejok ponggong... Sampai kat cable car, kami singgah Rokko lookout point nak tengok Bandaraya Kobe dari sana.


Kobe from Rokko 
Is it worth going to the park ? If u ask me, my personal answer would be..."seeing the happy faces of my 2 children rolling in the 'snow' , my answer would definately be a resounding yes! They kept talking about the snow trip all day. feeling satisfied and accomplished.... and if only they knew... hahaha... :)

The busy Umeda station

OVERNIGHT AT THE BERBER DESERT CAMP

Selepas lunch, kami teruskan lagi perjalanan yang panjang sampai lah petang.  Look at the view.. Magnificent!  We crossed the High Atlas Mou...

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