I sort of celebrated my new year 2018 in Japan with my sister and a friend, Ali and I could say that the trip turned out a lil challenging but it has been fantastic! We went for the 8 days trip from 11-18th January, planning to discover the places in Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Osaka. Ali was the mastermind for the itinerary planning so he deserves all the credits for his effort and eagerness even months before the trip had actually happen.
Also, I've been pushing the progress of writing this post from one weekends to another because I have been too busy burying myself under piles of medical notes and thousand terms to memorize while procrastinating- which actually makes my life even more more miserable so I'd like to say sorry to myself and to my precious blog for not updating beautiful moments in my life routinely :(
Anyway...
Back to the story beforeIsuddenlywentintounnecessaryrants,
We decided that the highlights of our trip would be Universal Studio Osaka and ice skating at Mount Rokko, thus allocating 2 full days for those occasions respectively. I still can't get over the excitement we all had and already missing the entire moment we were there :')
Day 3- Osaka Amazing Pass
We bought the pass from a tourist information centre at Osaka Station for 2500 yen/1 day and the pass includes free access to several interesting places around Osaka. We tried our best to rush for every places but we only managed to tick off Tombori River Cruise, Osaka Castle, HEP5 and Umeda Sky Building.
Day 4- Mount Rokko Kobe
This is the one of the most exciting parts of this trip because I've always wanted to ice ski so badly and when this day came, I get to take ice skiing off my life bucket list. Basically, we had to pay around 2000 yen to ride on the train moving up the mountain and including a bus after which brought us to several other free access places along the way up such us Musical Box Museum and Snow Park. When we reached the skiing spot, we went to rent all the skiing equipments for around 3500 yen and immediately get changed to a proper outfit. Skiing was extremely fun but frustrating at first for a beginner. We kept stumbling and fell down the slope due to zero knowledge on the basic skills. Luckily, some Malaysian students and their French friends spotted us and were nice enough to assist on some of the important techniques of skiing so that at least we could ski down the slope and do the same routine over and over again. It was definitely the coolest thing I've done so far.
Day 5- Universal Studio Osaka, Japan.
The most anticipated day came out quite sunny and less freezing than any other days. We set out early to reach Osaka and reach there at the same time USS opened. As we have bought our ticket pass at the airport on our first day there, we skipped the queueing part and went straight for the thrills and fun. The difference between the Studio in Singapore and Japan is the additional Harry Potter World in Japan which is pretty cool for a lowkey Potter-head like me. It was also funny that almost all the characters there were talking in Japanese instead of English, even Hermione and the Spiderman !
Day 6- Fushimi Inari Taisha, Yasaka Shrine and Gion.
Our cultural visit continues until the 6th day as we visited some of the famous temple near Kyoto Area, took several marvellous photos, walked around Gion to taste the finest matcha ice cream and Udon in Osaka (which is the hardest to find because we had to make sure if it's really halal to eat).
Scenes at Fushimi Inari Taisha
Yasaka Shrine
Gion !
We considered our 7th day as the last moment we had in Japan due to early flight on the 8th, therefore we went all out to find some souvenirs for our family and friends and of course, good photos !
Unfortunately, the day started raining as soon as we left the house until the rest of our trip so you'll see a lot of our photos with raining coat and umbrella but despite that, we enjoyed the view and memories we had here.
Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
Nijo-Jo Castle
Kiyomizu-Dera
Day 8- Home !
We left early after Subuh prayer because the distance from Tambaguchi to Kansai International Airport is quite far by 2 hours and by the time we were there, we thought we had some spared time to walk around for more souvenirs but when the time came for us to get on board, the officers told us that we were late by 20 minutes. We rechecked our ticket and realized that the time has been changed. Luckily, AirAsiaX was nice enough to cater problematic kids like us so they made us run through the airport to reach the plane. Everything was so haywire and to make things worst, my Note 5 slipped out of my pocket and hit the floor. I didn't realize that until I saw my phone doing a triple rolls on the floor and the screen was in utter blank when I picked it up. I continued running and got on our seats in the plane to check that my phone has really passed away :(
Overall, I really enjoyed my Japan Trip although we didn't get to explore Tokyo and generally the eastern Japan because of our tight budget but we vowed to work hard and gain more money so we can come back to Japan in the future for more memories and new knowledge. The weather was so cold and I have started to miss my clear and smooth skin while we were there hahaha. Hoping to share more travel stories on this blog ! xo
