Friday, December 30, 2016

Japan Trip - Episode 1

On November, finally I was given a chance to have a short holiday in Japan with my Hubby and MIL. Bercuti di Japan hooyeah. The plan started just 3 months earlier when MAS was having a sale and I managed to get the ticket to Osaka for RM900++ two way. I know that probably we can get cheaper with Air Asia (minus all the little treasure in flight like food and entertainment and luggage and slightly good sleep) but I would prefer to have it all in with MAS. #Jangankecam

Within these 3 months, I did all the survey and planned all the good places we can go to. I even planned to visit ski resort (yeah snow!) and compressed all the place i could visit in one day until I know that I am pregnant 1 months before the trip. Nevertheless, I still am positive I can do it all during the visit. 

We took night flight to Osaka, not really sure whether they have day flight but I would prefer to sleep during the 7 hours flight. we departed at 12 am. My MIL was so excited with the trip that she grinned all the way to the plane. I waited for our late supper before go to sleep by busying myself with the in flight entertainment and goes straight to sleep after supper. Unfortunately, I have a fever that night, I guess the pregnancy is taking its toll on me. I did not have enough sleep that night. 

I like it in Japan. when I was going through Customs check, the customs officer actually said "Terima Kasih" to me. Wayyyy different with my experience during Customs check in UK. Macam lah semua orang nak sangat pergi sane. Whatever.

When we arrived at around 6 am, we straight away search for the famous prayer room on the 3rd Floor. While searching, one Japanese police officer actually come to us for a brief check. Although we should be scared because Malaysian always afraid of police, we did not, the officer was so friendly and funny we actually had a good laugh. He spoke broken English and so do us. He then showed us the way to the prayer room.


Prayer Room on the 3rd Floor

We had our Subuh prayer there in the big and comfy prayer room and move to find the JR exchange counter. We change our JR pass that we bought back in Malaysia (from http://www.his.com.my/). You can buy it from any websites online but it such a hassle and much more better to buy it from HIS travel agent. We bought it for a price of RM 1,164.00 per person (depends on currency exchange rate). I did it all the buying through email and then request them to courier the Pass to my office. We exchange the our pass with JR pass that is valid for 7 days. Then we straight away walk to the nearby counter to buy Osaka Amazing Pass - 1 Day pass for 2,800 yen for one person.

JR pass

Osaka Amazing Pass

We then took the Shinkansen to Osaka using our JR pass (note that without the JR pass the cost of shinkansen is around 3,500 yen per person (~RM 133)). The trip took around 1 hour.

With Osaka Amazing Pass, all the ride train and bus in Osaka is FOC. Our first stop is the Osaka Museum of House and Living. The entrance is free with the Pass. I really thought that the museum is an actual village but it is actually an indoor village on the 8th floor. Quite a small place but have a lot of houses and you can pay around 300 yen to wear their kimono. All three of us did not missed the chance to tried the kimono and walk around in the area and pretend that we are Japanese along the way.


Osaka Museum of House and Living

Next we went to ride on HEP Five Ferris Wheel located on the top of HEP 5 shopping complex. It was tiring, I was breathless as I still have my fever. We decided to depart to Tokyo and check in.


HEP Five Ferris Wheel

We book the shinkansen seat from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo, the cost should be 14,340 Yen per person (~RM 550) but free with JR pass. We arrived in Tokyo around 8 pm. From Tokyo we took train to our apartment that we book using Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.com/). We only spend around RM 1,800 for 8 nights stay in Japan. Of course you can get cheaper but by sacrificing comfort which I cannot do. 

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