what you should concern about a pass

Hola!

Mungkin masih inget postingan gw tentang hakone trip yang berantakan?! Salah satu penyebabnya adalah karena gw salah planning buat beli pass dan berujung salah pesen hotel. Yup, sesimple itu.

Semula berawal dari ambisi gw (ya ya ya) untuk berkunjung ke mt fuji 5th station sama hakone area dalam 2 hari, tapi yg gw incer beli adalah hakone 2day pass *gubrak*

ikan pari makan rebung alias gak nyambung!

Kenapa gw mau ke 2 area itu?
Karena gw kepo beratss pingin liat

Kenapa gw incer hakone pass?
Karena harganya lebih murah

Deterence effectnya apa?
Gw pesen hotel di kawaguchi-go tapi belinya hakone pass. Fyi, kawaguchi-go masuk dalam area mt fuji, so pasti dijamin banget gak masuk dalam hakone area.. Hahaha, sungguh ngaco sodara-sodara :p

Dan sungguh gak berjodoh, gw nyadar salah planning pas banget H-1 sebelum keberangkatan.
Disaat hotel di hakone udah pada pinuh, yg tersisa cm 3 pilihan: hotelnya ratingnya kisaran 6,  harganya udah mahal pake banget, lokasinya gak stategis.
Bencana pun dimulai.

Kalo ditanya knapa gak ganti pass aja yg ngecover 2 area?
Karena lebih mahal!
Whadda lame yak?!

So, perhatikanlah dengan seksama (jangan senasib kayak gw :p)!! Ada 3 pass yang disediakan sama odyaku office, yaitu :
- hakone pass yang hanya mengcover hakone area
- fuji pass yang hanya mengcover mt fuji area (termasuk kawaguchi-go dan fuji-Q highland aka amusement park)
- fuji hakone pass yang mengcover kedua area diatas

Dinamakan pass, udah pasti karena lebih murah daripada bayar misah-misah. Pas tau kalo gw planningnya ngaco, gw coba itung2an kalo kudu bayar transport ke kawaguchi secara ketengan aka masing2/pisah2/sendiri2, dan hasil itungan memang terbukti malah jadi lebih mahal.

Setelah dirembukin ama temen gw, kami kekeuh gak mau ganti fuji hakone pass (balik ke alasan diatas).
Okelah pilihan sudah diambil, so skrg tinggal tanggung risiko aja karena luntang lantung gak punya bookingan hotel mengingat si kawaguchi udah dicancel :p

Moral of the story.. kudu sinkron antara baca rute vs reviu hotel !! *tepokjidat*

Makan di shinkansen? sah-sah aja kok

Guten Morgen... how ya doin?

Oke, kali ini gw mau share tips bepergian (pake shinkansen) supaya gak buang waktu.

Emang sih sgala yang ngelanggar aturan d jepun ujung2nya bakalan kena denda. Termasuk pas lagi naik shinkansen, misal salah rute/jurusan untuk antar kota, salah naik kereta (pemegang JR Pass naik nozomi), etc. Nah gimana kalo soal makan di shinkansen?!

Gw mengalami kebodohan di trip kemarin (karena bahasa kesalahan berasa nista banget :p). Gw kirain di shinkansen gak boleh bawa makanan dari luar, kudu beli on the spot (which i think it will be expensive). Dan ternyata asumsi itu salah besar sodara-sodara. Penumpang dibolehin banget makan slama perjalanan dan super afdol buat bawa makanan dari luar. So, kalian bisa hemat waktu banget.

Gw ngerasa bahwa trip hakone adalah satu-satunya perjalanan gw yang buang-buang waktu, @#%¿¡%@# 

Berawal dari tragedi kesiangan bangun, dari hotel gw langsung ke stasiun terdekat buat naik kereta ke arah hakone, dan pas nyampe hakonenya pake acara kudu keluar stasiun pun demi makan siang dan abis itu balik lagi ke platform, eerr wasting time deh!

btw inilah penampakan pass, hasil penukaran di booth JR information centre.

kanan atau kiri ?!

Hola!

Setiap gw mau travelling abroad, yang selalu jadi prioritas utama untuk gw siapin adalah mantengin rute perjalanan. Buat gw ini yang paling penting, tujuannya sih biar gak terlalu buang waktu dan juga meminimalisir risiko nyasar :D Lebih pentinglah daripada nyari rekomendasi tempat makan, haha.. (tumben amat)

Oh, kecuali pas kmarin ke blanda n paris, gw mengandalkan sang kakak sebagai tour guide lokal, hihi.. so, gw belum ngerti soal nyari jalan di paris dan blanda, karena tinggal ngekor aja,l :p

Buat gw fase krusial pas nyari jalan adalah, arah mana yang harus lo ambil begitu keluar dari exit  stasiun ataupun turun di bus stop. Kudu luruskah, belok kanankah atau malah ke kiri?!

Sebelum jalan ke jepang, gw sempet baca beberapa reviu yang intinya bilang: somehow di jepang lo pasti akan nemuin keadaan dimana lo harus bertanya jalan sama warga setempat. Harus. Daripada dibikin nyasar ama google map :p

Disinilah ada tips menarik yang gw temuin. Kalau ada yang lagi nerangin jalan, percayakanlah pada arah tangannya. Yoii, arah tangan. Bingung?!

Jepang terkenal sebagai negara yang menjunjung tinggi nasionalisme, sampei-sampei yang beneran fasih berbahasa inggris itu tidaklah banyak. Jadi, ketika lagi nerangin jalan dengan arah tangan ke kanan bisa aja yang diomongin malah turn left. Dan sebaliknya. Doeng! Hal itu udah gw tes dan memang benar terbukti, hihi

So temans, sekali lagi... ikuti arah tangannya, ok?!

jepang, yang tertinggal @@

Japan itinerary (part 3)

Hi!!

This is the last chapter of my japan itinerary.

Actually i've been listed some 'place to visit' in tokyo.. but oh well, what can i do anyway?! ..so little time, to much to do..

Day 7 - Kawasaki

Our first day to strolling around in tokyo..yeay!!
But our first destination is in kawasaki area,  fujiko f. fujio museum! We gonna visit the blue cat machine, doraemon!! :)

So..this is what you gotta do, if you willing to visit this place:
1st >>
Buy the ticket at lawson ticket machines. Only at lawson, ok. The most important issue: the menu is in japanese aka kanji *gosh* you have to solve this problem.
2nd >>
Buy the ticket before its arrival date (min. H-1). This ticket sold out really fast in a day. So make sure you able to get the correct date and time as you wish for, for example 10am-12pm, 14pm-16pm, and so on.
3rd >>
It's quite a long journey to get there. You've to spare 2 hours (maximum) for your trip from tokyo to the museum (includes queueing the doraemon shuttle bus).

They have garden and cafe on the roof top, and gift shop on the first floor. Imho, they only have a few doraemon miniature there.

After having our lunch in kawasaki station, we're heading to harajuku and shibuya. We went to daiso store at takeshita street and after that we went to tokyu hand in shibuya, near the intersection.

Walking around shibuya area is really tiring. Ooh and we didn't had a chance to take a pic with hachiko statue :p we decided to go to starbucks, the one that facing the shibuya intersection. Luckily, we found an empty seat there :)

It's almost midnight, when our friend picked us up at shibuya. Then we heading to our next
destinations: tokyo tower, tokyo skytree and odaiba. I really want to see and take a pic with gundam in odaiba, but hey..i couldn't find it, i only saw the liberty statue miniature.

It's already 2am when we reached sakura ikebukuro and i spend almost 2 hours to packed my bags, coz i have to check out that morning (check out time is 10am).

Day 8 - Tokyo

I'm really sad, coz this gonna be my last day walking around the city. I decided to dedicate this day to buy some souvenirs (and other stuff too) for friends and family. In the morning, i'm planning to go to shinjuku, shin-okubo, ginza and asakusa.. but the fact is: i just went to shinjuku and asakusa. Mission not accomplised. Period.

Asakusa. This is one of the oldest shrine in tokyo. This shrine is lovely :)  They also have shopping area near by called nakamise street. Most tourists came here to buy some souvenirs. It may not be the cheapest, but quite affordable, i must say.

After we finished some shopping, we had kfc for our lunch and then went to the airport.

Too bad i didn't get a chance to visit don quijote (donki) in shin-okubo. If you're trying to find some pocky or kitkat in japanese flavours (green tea, wasabi, sakura, etc) you have to go there. Many people said that the price is cheaper than any other store and they have many flavours too.

Fyi..if you're looking for tokyo banana, you can buy it at haneda airport.

I realized that i skipped many places in tokyo / osaka / kyoto, but over all i'm happy with this trip 

Japan Itinerary (part 2)

Aloha!

Day 4 & 5 - kyoto :

We arrived at kyoto station in the afternoon, then heading directly to Sakara Kyoto in higashiyama prefecture to put our luggage. If you are looking for a quiet surrounding, higashiyama will fit you perfectly.

The nearest restaurant from our hotel is Mcdonalds! Since we're super bored with this option, we start to looking for another resto. Luckily my friend found an udon store near our hotel in shinjo area, this place is recommended by foursquare :D it's delicious and have similar taste with marugame udon in indo.

The next day, we choose to start our journey with trip to fushimi inari shrine. Fushimi inari was crowded at that time (and i guess it will be the same in every single day). We follow the route to finish our lap. This is one of my favourite place in kyoto,  it's stunning!!

After strolling around fushimi inari area, we went to sagano-arashiyamaa bamboo grove. Eventhough this place is just a path surounded by bamboo on both side, still..this is a lovely spot :)

I always wanted to ride a bike in japan, and it's good to know that we're able to go to sagano-arashiyama bamboo grove in 2 option, on foot or cycling. Ofcourse, we choose the 2nd option :) It's been a long time since i ride a bike, so i guess i made a zig zag route trying to control the bike, lol. It's kinda hard to ride a bike on bamboo grove, simply because there's too many padestrian. Inside the bamboo grove area, there is a parking space for bikes. So we keep our bike there and start walking to tenryuji temple. This is a place to enjoy both autumn foliage and hanami.. the view is nice!

The highlight of this trip were fushimi inari shrine and cycling, for sure.

After we finish our ride, we're heading to kyoto station. Actually we're planning to had dinner there, but unfortunately it's really hard to find halal resto in this station. We gave up.
We went to gion area, hoping that we able to meet mcdonals *gosh!*.

Imho, it will be easier to reach gion by train than by bus. The distance is nearer from the station. But, since we took a bus, so we have to walking around (again) to find gion (and mcdonalds). Finally!! we're in gion, but we didn't met any maiko. So we changed our routes, to get some dinner and go home.

Day 6 - Kyoto
This is our last day in Kyoto. We're planning to visit Kiyomizudera and Kinkakuji pavillion. I always monitor japan guide to find some info about kiyomizudera's renovation. When i reached there, the renovation is still ongoing. I really enjoy kiyomizudera, it's a superb area! There are many souvenir shops in this area.

After having our lunch near kinkakuji bus stop, we went to kinkakuji pavillion. Basically, kinkajuki is just a park with a pond and a golden pavillion. Really??? That's it :D it' kinda sad to know the truth, isn't it?!

Now..it's time to go to the capital city! Busiest city in japan, Tokyo. At night, we're heading to tokyo by shinkansen and our journey in tokyo will start tomorrow!

Japan Itenerary (part 1)

Guten morgen..

Today i would like share my itenerary with you guys :)

I went to japan by air asia, we arrived at haneda airport on 11 pm. Our friends pick us up at the airport, then we headed directly to nikko. We arrived at nikko around 2am. what a day, huh ?!

Day 1 - Nikko
In the morning we went to toshogu shrine, waterfall near that area (sorry i didn't remember the name. Was that yutaki or kegon waterfall?!). We had our lunch at udon store near the waterfall. And the udon is really yummy :) after that we went to shinkyo bridge, before headed to tokyo.

In tokyo, we stay at sakura ikebukuro hotel. This hotel is on the yamanote line (JR ikebukuro) and we can reach the hotel on foot because it's quite near. It's a moslem friendly hotel, which is a plus for us.

Day 2 - Hakone

Since we're going to leave kanto and heading to kansai on our 3rd day, we decided to bring along a suitcase with us.

Many bloggers review that JR stations provide lots of lockers. The thing is, most lockers get full really fast. I had to walk around for almost 10 minutes in hakone station, trying to find an empty ones. Luckily my friend saw medium size locker was empty, so that we able to put our luggage there.

ps. I'm not gonna provide you with direction to hakone area. You can google it and find many blog review about it :p

There are some things that i have to remind you. If you are a JR pass holder, you able to access hakone station with your pass. Just buy the 'hakone 2 days pass' from odyaku office in hakone station.

When you reach hakone area, you have 2 option to start your journey:

1st option: heading to gora check point by train, to take the tram.
If you take this option, all you have to do is change the platform

OR

2nd option: heading to moto hakone check point by bus, to take the cruise.

There are many brochures in the station which will reccomend you to take 2nd option. 

Just like any other bloggers, I will suggest you to take the 1st option. 

FYI, 1st option will be more crowded than 2nd option, somehow it's not a big deal anyway since the scenery is more beautiful :)

At that time i completely forgot about that issue, and you know how it ends. I take the 2nd option. I consider my hakone trip is so so. Lets just skip it, lol.

Day 3 & 4 - Osaka

From akihabara we headed to osaka by shinkansen.
(yes, clumsy i know! We got back to tokyo again!) It takes 3 hours to get there. We only stay for a night, so after put our luggage at Osaka Hana Hostel, we went to osaka castle 

(ps. this castle is closed at 5pm >> i hope this info will help you to manage your itinerary).

After that, we headed to dotonbori, baby! Dinner time is comin'. If you have any difficulties to find glicoman, just walk to shinsaibashi gate, you'll find the glicoman easily.

On our 2nd day, we went to shitennoji temple and mitsui park outlet. Shitennoji is ok, but i realized that i prefer shrine to temple. Maybe because of those torii gates and bright orange color.

In mitsui park outlet..our favourite store is nike. 

Man! The price is insanely affordable, way cheaper than nike sale in indo. If you are a nike freak, then you should come.

Ok, for the last 2 cities will be reviewed on the next post. Adios!!

Business Chain Hotel

Aloha!

Untuk trip jepang kemarin sejujur-jujurnya gw mulai 'eyeing' hotel kira-kira sebulan setelah beli tiket. Dan disitulah gw menemukan budget, business chain hotel called toyoko inn. Sebenernya di jepang banyak business chain hotel, tapi memang variasi harganya beragam. Kerennya toyoko inn, di tiap kota sepertinya slalu punya branch yang deketan sama jalur utama perkeretaan. Misal aja di tokyo, dia punya beberapa branch yang letaknya lumayan deket sama jalur jr - yamanote line aka jalur melingkar akses tengah kota. Hotel di area yamanote ini pastinya jadi hotel inceran, karena lokasinya strategis. Jadi gak heran kalo harganya lebih mahal dibandingin area asakusa. Misalnya.. akihabara, shinjuku, shibuya, ueno, meguro, harajuku, kanda, shinagawa, tokyo station, etc. Begitu pula halnya di osaka, branchnya ada di namba area, di kyoto ada branch area shijo karasuma. Ambillah 2 branch itu kalau kalian berniat stay di toyoko inn.

Waktu di kyoto dan osaka, gw ambil hotel non toyoko inn yang sebenernya dari stasiun kereta itu jaraknya deket banget. Sayangnya, issue line utama dan bukan line utama ini kurang gw pertimbangkan realitanya pada saat pilih hotel.
Jadilah gw pilih hotel yang lokasinya bukan di line utama, dan hal ini menyebabkan gw kudu transit sekali buat ganti line. Gw gak terlalu perhatiin bahwa walopun cuma transit sekali, walopun hotelnya berjarak deket sama stasiun..tetep aja capek harus pindah-pindah line, ditambah ketika lo kudu bawa koper. Pe-er! So..trip kali ini menyadarkan gw, kudu dipertimbangin hal-hal kayak gitu..kudu sadar ama umur #eeehhhh

Salah satu pertimbangan pro non toyoko inn (pada saat itu) adalah si toyoko inn ini kamarnya kecil bingit dan ga punya private kitchen area. Sebenernya sih kecil adalah size rata-rata kamar hotel di jepang. Tapi tenang, walopun dia gak punya private kitchen area, they provide free breakfast for the guest (ala kadarnya sih, tapi tetep aja lumayan :D).

Tapih bagaimanapun juga, sejak nemu websitenya ni hotel gw tetep semangat buat bikin member card, :lol: *anakyanganeh* Promo mereka beda-beda sihh..di tahun ini promonya adalah disc 10% kalau nunjukin member card pas check in. Selain di jepang, toyoko inn juga bisa ditemuin di seoul tepatnya di dongdaemun, 24 hours shopping area!!

Gw dan temen nyobain stay di toyoko inn di 2 kota yaitu nikko (lupa branchnya) dan tokyo (kanda-akihabara). Untuk toyoko inn akihabara, kami naik free shuttle yang disediain pihak hotel karena memang lokasinya yang mayan jauh kalo pake acara jalan kaki. Dan reviu kalo kasurnya toyoko inn keras itu benar adanya. Kalo gw sih emang suka kasur macem begituh, jadi tidur pun rasanya damai-damai sadjah.

Selama stay di tokyo, jangan harapkan ada saluran tv yang free pakai bahasa inggris. Semua pakai bahasa jepang, even film korea pun didubbing.

Btw...since it almost midnight, it's time for me to say good night peeps!! Nice dream.

seminggu di jepang tidaklah cukup!

Greeting from jakarta....

Judul yang gw pilih tampaknya usah cukup menggambarkan yah? :lol:

Jadi percayalah padaku temans, seminggu itu tidak cukup. Tapi..seminggu juga gak papa sih sebenernya, dengan harapan next time bakal balik lagi 😈

Seminggu kemarin (tepatnya 8 hari) gw dapet rute: nikko-hakone-osaka-kyoto-tokyo. Padat merayap yakk :D nara, nagoya, yokohama, hiroshima, tateyamakurobe, shirakawa-go, sapporo etc gak sempet didatengin.. imho, tampaknya 2 minggu adalah waktu yang ideal buat liburan di jepang. Tinggal dipertimbangin aja kapan saatnya keluar tokyo dan sekitar tokyo.

Terkadang masalah bulan kunjungan pilihan juga menentukan..misal aja shirakawa-go itu bagusnya didatengin pas musim salju aka winter (desember-februari), sedangkan tateyamakurobe bagusnya didatengin pertengahan spring (april-juni), kalau mau ke jepang bertepatan sama hanami aka sakuraan bagusnya dateng pas awal spring (maret-april).

Trip kali ini gw malah milih november pas autumn, karena gw amat sangat ingin melihat autumn foliage di negara 4 musim. To witnessed colorful  maple tree is a mood booster for me.

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

Another Japan Story

Alohaaaa....

This is what i do when i really wanna share some stories.. i keep talking or writing all the time, lol

Kali banyak yang penasaran sesusah apa sih naik kereta di jepang? Beneran seribet itukah? Bakalan sering kesasar? Jawaban gw adalah tidak!

Sebenernya kalo udah terlatih sama mrt singapore, dunia perkeretaan di jepang tidaklah begitu memusingkan. Yang bikin pusing adalah karena kadung ngeliat map pabelieut! mungkin hal inilah yang bikin ilfil :p kalo gw ngeliatnya sebagai challenge. Challenge diri lo sendiri sanggup apa gak bertahan hilir mudik dunia perkeretaan di jepang :D Rekor jalur paling ribet sudah pasti dipegang oleh kota Tokyo! Blum lagi kalo stasiunnya adalah transit station yang jadi persimpangan berbagai jalur. Nyari gate pun rasanya bikin betis gempor. Tapi menurut gw sih proses nyari jalan yang benar ini seruuu!

Dikarenakan singapore negaranya kecil, jadilah jalur mrtnya simple. Kalo korea pastinya lebih banyak jalur dibanding singapore tapi masih setipe, so imho masih bisa dibilang simple. Nah kalo jepang, selain areanya lebih luas, banyak stasiun yang gabung antara jalur subway metro dan JR, ditambah lagi provider rute pun beda-beda.

Buat JR pass holder, gw masih ada sambungan dikit nih. Kalo masuk/keluar gate, kalian kudu liwat di gate khusus JR. Cari aja yang ada plang ijo-putih tulisan JR. Umumnya yang orang-orang cari begitu masuk stasiun kereta adalah nama stasiun tujuan/nama line si kereta inceran. Tapi di jepang, jangan lakukan itu. Pertama-tama yang harus dicari adalah gate masuk JR. Setelah ngeliwatin gate ini, barulah kalian bisa akses line yang dituju.

Alhamdulillah Allah bless me and my friend, so we didn't get lost there :D walopun sebenernya deg-degan juga gegara pas ngintip plang stasiun yang nongol cuma huruf keriting, haha

Pemerintah jepang ini oke banget. Menurut gw JR pass merupakan salah satu promo yang mereka tawarkan untuk turis mancanegara. Bikin JR pass khusus untuk non japanese dan cuma bisa dibeli di luar jepang. Hal ini sangat mempermudah turis yang suka malas buang waktu mondar mandir buat beli tiket (kayak gw). Pasalnya di jepang mayoritas tempat bisa dijangkau sama JR lines. Selama kalian punya JR pass, terserah deh tinggal seliweran keluar masuk JR gates for free gak perlu tiket apa-apa lagi, pesen sesuka hati berapa pun banyaknya tiket shinkansen pp dalam 1 hari.. kalopun mau itung-itungan, cukup pastikan bahwa minimal biaya yang bakal lo keluarin adalah ¥29.100 aka seharga beli JR pass (sekitar 3.3 juta dalam rupiah).

Misal dalam seminggu pergi ke :
tokyo-kyoto : 1.2 juta
Kyoto-osaka : 200 ribu
Osaka-tokyo : 1.4 juta
Tokyo-hakone-tokyo : 300 ribu
Keliling tokyo (2 hari) : 200 ribu

Nah dapet deh 3.3 juta untuk seminggu. Gak rugi deh pokoknya beli JR pass. Efektif & Efisien :D

Untuk beberapa spot keren macem ginza, roppongi, asakusa memang tidak dijangkau oleh jr lines..jadi kudu bayar lagi buat nyambung naik subway..tapi tenang, selalu ada stasiun jr terdekat yang bisa akses ke subway tujuan, bayarnya gak bakalan mahal kok :)

So..just enjoy the adventure guys !!

A city named Kyoto

Hii.. this is what i promise you 

Hiroshima..next time i will!

- Kyoto -

Konniciwa..

Sejak jaman garuda indonesia promo 3 taun lalu, sebenernya gw dah ngincer tiket jepang :lol:
Tapi sayangnya waktu itu gw gak beli karena masih dalam masa kering abis balik dari blanda. Setahun kemudian malah absurd beli tiket ke korea. Jadilah jepang terpending sampai nemu tiket promo dari maskapai apapun. Ya ya ya..modal jalan-jalan gw yang paling utama adalah tiket promo :lol:

Jepang. Negara ini punya kota yang jadi inceran banyak orang buat liburan, Kyoto! Di kota inilah ada 1 shrine yang amat sangat gw idam-idamkan untuk dikunjungi. Tak lain adalah *wait for it*

Fushimi Inari yang terkenal dengan jajaran torii gates hasil sumbangan orang-orang yang jumlahnya mencapai ratusan :)

Pas jaman memoir of geisha tayang di bioskop, gw gak ngeh kalo torii yang diliwatin itu adalah fushimi inari. *dasar yaahh!* Gw kepincut, seperti biasa lagi cari gambar tsakep buat desktop eh ga sengaja nemu fushimi inari. Those torii gates are awesome!!!

Kalau ditanya perasaannya kayak apa *halah*
Happy yang pasti :D pake banget, tapi keki at the same time.. karena yang dateng ruame bingitss mak! Mo poto damai aja sulit, haha.. nasib berkunjung ke spot favorit yaa begitulah, ikhlaskan sadjah 😆

Sebenernya gegara mase masaya di IG, masih banyak shrine yang pingin gw kunjungi.. walo dikata yang namanya shrine sama aja, tapi visualisasi foto shrine-shrine ini terlanjur melekat! *tsah* Tapi memang karena waktu terbatas, jadilah shrine yang gak happening-happening amat gagal dikunjungi.

Kyoto ini memang kota tujuan utama gw dan terbukti menjadi kota favorit kalo dibandingin antara tokyo-osaka-kyoto. Kyoto itu gak se hectic tokyo atau osaka tpi tempat wisatanya banyak dan  bagooss! Yang tradisional ada dimari. Dunia per-greentea-an pun lumayan deket dari sini.

On the next post, i will upload some pics.

Stay tune peeps!

the JR experience

Hi guys!

buat kalian yang mau berlibur ke jepang, mungkin masih maju mundur (cantik..cantik..cantik! 😅) buat beli JR pass. ehm, so today...allow me to share my opinion with you :)

Butuh atau gak butuhnya JR pass dah pasti tergantung rute yang lo targetin waktu sightseeing di jepang.
Misal..lo hanya punya 4 hari di jepang tepatnya tokyo, nah untuk ini mending gak pake JR pass deh, suica or subway pass will be enough.
Misal..lo bakal tinggal di jepang 8 hari dan berencana ke keluar area tokyo kayak hiroshima, nagoya, osaka, kyoto, nah ini bakalan cakep banget kalo pake JR pass.

JR pass ini adalah nyawa kedua setelah passport (incase you're a JR pass holder). Kenapa? Karena tanpa JR pass lo gak akan diperbolehin keluar/masuk JR gate (dan otomatis jg gak bisa naik JR trains). Sekalinya kartu JR pass ilang, mereka gak akan ganti dengan kartu baru, sistemnya hangus.
Penampakan JR pass bisa ditengok disini.

Cara aktivasinya adalah seperti ini :
Pertama, belilah JR pass di travel agent yang memang jualan (contohnya jalan tour untuk wilayah jakarta). Kalopun lo tinggal di luar jakarta, gak masalah karena mereka bisa kirimin ke kota tujuan di indonesia. Nantinya lo bakal dapetin bukti pembelian yang bentuknya mirip ama nota/invoice. Keep it and bring it to japan!

Kedua, tukarkan nota/invoice di information  counter JR yang melayani penukaran nota/invoice tersebut dengan JR pass card, misal di airport, stasiun JR besar kayak shinjuku, tokyo, ikebukuro, dll (bisa cek di web JR). Perlu diinget, nukerin card ini bukan di counter JR untuk pemesanan tiket yaaa, tapi di information counter (bentuknya kayak booth kecil).

Setelah penukaran card, JR pass mulai bisa digunakan. JR pass ini punya masa berlaku yang beda-beda, minimal untuk penggunaan 7 hari. Hari pertama dihitung sejak hari aktivasi aka hari penukaran nota/invoice ke kartu.

Jangan lupa buat cek ricek jenis shinkansen yang lo naikin. Pengguna JR pass itu cuma bisa naik shinkansen for free untuk hikari atau kodama. Kalau nozomi, JR pass holder harus bayar lagi 😧 karena nozomi ini merupakan jenis shinkansen tercepat. Jadi, dia dari stasiun keberangkatan langsung ke stasiun tujuan (non stop). Risiko kalau sampei salah naik shinkansen adalah lo bakal dikenain charge extra.

Selama di jepang jangan kuatir bakal ketinggalan kereta, lo bisa cek jadwalnya di www.hyperdia.com. Buanyak banget yang rekomend web ini buat cek jam, rute & harga. Gw termasuk salah satu pengguna dan imho web ini sangatlah membantu.

Fyi, di hyperdia ada rincian komponen harga shinkansen..jadi sebenernya harga shinkansen yang selangit itu terdiri dari 2 komponen yaitu ticket and seat reservation. Yakk betul, kalo mau dapet seat kudu bayar sodara-sodara. Enaknya sih nanti bakal duduk di gerbong reserved seat, bukan yang non reserved. Jadi gak usah pusing nyari kursi kosong.

Perlu diingat sodara-sodara..biasanya pas nyampe jepang kendala tersulit yang harus dihadapi adalah bahasa. Di trip gw kmarin, bencana berawal pas mau trip ke hakone area. Waktu ke counter reservation, gw cuma bilang: hakone station please. Secara gw awam sama dunia per-JR-an, gw kira bakalan dikasih tiket shinkansen. Ternyata oh ternyata dikasih tiket JR local train aja gitu yaaa dan mase milihin kereta ini karena merupakan jadwal terdekat dari request gw. But the truth is...it takes 60 minutes to reach hakone (coz they stop at every station) while shinkansen takes 30 minutes to get there. Man, what a day! Sejak itu gw selalu mention kodama or hikari pas reservasi :D

Pernah juga gw ketinggalan shinkansen ke osaka karena salah platform 😨 jadilah gw kudu mundur 30 menit nungguin shinkansen slanjutnya. Kalo hal ini terjadi sama kalian, tenang aja karena as a JR pass holder, gak perlu bayar apapun. It's for free! Yeay!!

Btw...karena udah kepanjangan, bakal gw sambung yah di posting selanjutnya.

Adios people!

Japan Trip

Konniciwa...

I just got back from japan 2 days ago.. 

well i must say that i'm (quite) not satisfied with this trip.
Curious why did i say that peeps? Simply because i had both limited time and bad time management.

In a day, we only went to 2 or 3 places max, count it 4 when dinner time is comin'.

It really sad that i already planned to go to ginza, 5th station mt fuji, hiroshima, etc but unfortunately i didn't make it

Anyway....The highlight of this trip is the big crowded station and shinkansen experience!
Tokyo station is super crazy! Like, seriously!! You can get dizzy, i can tell ya!
Many people walking around really fast, and not to mention that it's super crowded too.. i guess it a bit similar with shibuya intersection, but this station is the underground version, lol

For shinkansen, they called it as super express train. As a jr pass holder you can take hikari and kodama, but not nozomi, the fastest among all. When you're already sit in shinkansen you won't feel the speed. But as you can imagine, it goes really smooth! Once you're outside you'll realized how fast a shinkansen can goes.

During this trip, i've been :

Taking the wrong platform and the shikansen leave us just like that! Luckily we only waited for 30 minutes!

Having seat reserved for express train, in stead of shinkansen. This train takes longer time to arrived in the destination station (ofcourse! Which i hate it!)   And i didn't change the ticket, although i can do it for free! Can you imagine that??

Having a cloudy day when i reach hakone area and not able to saw mt fuji. I knew it gonna happened but i didn't change the plan! Low response, you know..  regret always came late. Period.

Having limited time to do sightseeing in tokyo! Gosh, actually i already stay there for 2 days. But you know what?! 2 days was not enough to explore tokyo. trust me...for sure 

But..

Honestly.. i really enjoy this trip.. because it's JAPAN baby!!

I like the weather, culture, nature, safety, transportation, etc..but not the food! It's really hard to find halal food here, 'coz pork and wine everywhere (as you can predicted).

The weather was really nice.. it's a bit windy but still ok!

I met some woman wearing yukata/kimono in major train/station or at tourism places. Stunning!

I really enjoy seeing torii gates, shrines everywhere, almost in every cities i guess!

It's ok to walk by your self in the middle of the night or early morning like 2 am! No kidding man! But i didn't try to do so 

Transportation is superb! I find that japan's transportation is more friendly than paris 

As a huge fan of fushimi inari, i enjoy my self walking under those torii gates, wow! Gorgeous!

Funny fact, my travel mate have this application called meipai and we made some uber cute video there  owh, seeing that video over again made me realized how i enjoyed and missed japan at the same time!

Actually i tried my best not to stay at business chain hotel all the time..
Yup, 100% right! I'm talking about toyoko inn 
but you know, other hotel may cost more expensive. Some of toyoko inn branches have (quite) strategic location, pretty near to JR stations, affordable and other reasonable reasons.. so, basically it will help you to save your energy!

Last thing... are you ready????

Shopping timeee!

I realized i did lots of shoppin' esp for clothes  sooo happyy!

Uniqlo and GU stores in japan held many sale and ofcourse the price is way cheaper than indo.

When you go to osaka, i suggest you to go to mitsui osaka park..it's an outlet, branded one (similar with gotemba in hakone area).. it was quite far from shin-osaka station but worthed to visit, esp nike outlet.. it's really cheap! Quite a deal. Basically, you can also find mitsui outlet near tokyo, in yokohama area.

So..

i hope i'll get the chance to visit this lovely country again, to explore different places/areas.

Amien.

mutasi oh mutasi

Adios peeps!

Minggu kemarin, tidur gw damai2 aja, mimpi aneh ato serem juga nggak..dan tiba2 di suatu sore yang cerah ini datanglah 1 hal yang paling gw takutkan! Dipindahin ke bagian legal. Doeng!

As u know syarat utama masuk legal adalah anak kuliahan hukum. That's me! Tapi sebagai anak hukum, gw justru takut kalo ampe ditempatin di legal. Find it wierd? Absoulutely! *woi ngapein juga lo kuliah hukum!*

I hope I can be a better person yah. Amin.

ferry trip to singapore

Today I went to singapore by ferry from 'batam center' harbour.

Before this trip i've been departed to another islands by ferry. On my first trip I went to bali and my second trip I went to sumatra. But the difference was on my previous trip I go by car with my family.

So today is my first time to travel by myself. It only takes 60 minutes to get there.

Things you have to notice when you'll take a ferry, as follows :

- ferry companies, departing schedule and harbour

There are many ferry companies in batam that provide this service, for example batam fast, sindo ferry, etc. You have to make sure their company name, which harbour used for departing and their schedule.

I try batam fast, because there are many money changers that sell their tickets. It is an open ticket, so your departure depends on your check in time in the harbour.

When I arrived in batam center harbour, I have to check in on their counter to get the quickest departure time. At that time, there are some promo, if you buy round trip tiket (btm-sg-btm) on the spot you'll get :
- 30 % discount with showing your citilink ticket or bca debit card
- 20 % discount with showing your garuda ticket

This ship have 2 deck, upper deck (open air/ w.o. air conditioner) and lower deck (with air conditioner) >> depends on the boat type. You can choose when you board on the ship. Their schedule is pretty on time, so make sure you wait in their lounge/waiting room before its boarding time.

- queueing

My fellow indonesian, we have to realized that we have serious issue in queueing!
We need to queque (almost) every single day.
If you never travel by ship/cruise before, allow me to remind you that similar procedures required when you'll going abroad by plane. We have to queue when we'll check in on ferry's counter then another queque when the baggage checking and the longest queque is on the immigration.

I can say that queueing in batam center is quite frustating, especially when you'll do the ferry's check in. In this phase, we have to queque for almost 15 minutes! One person can go in a group (w.o limitation) so I suggest you NOT to queueing behind this person. The officers are only 3 persons and they have to fill in our immigration cards. The company provide specific lines to queque (for check in only or walk in customer). In my opinion, when the queque are crowded, its regulation doesn't exist anymore.

Basically similar procedures applied in singapore, but i think it is more effective there.

- Last thing. If you go on a group, make sure that your travel buddies are ON TIME!

I think that's important too :D

Happy weekends everyone.


Cheers

ketika berkaca pada orang lain

Hi peps..how ya doin?

Kalau tinggal di negara berkembang macem Indo, pasti familiar sama yang namanya pkl aka pedagang kaki lima.

Tiap pagi, gw pasti melewati pkl yang ada di deket rumah. Saking seringnya liwat, gw kadang suka iseng merhatiin mereka. Mereka ini adalah sepasang suami istri yang suka ngejaga lapaknya barengan, dan sebenernya tinggalnya pun gak jauh dari situ.

Terkadang pas jam pulang kerja, gw sering kali papasan sama sang bapak, pas nanya mau kemana dijawablah kalau sang bapak mau solat magrib ke masjid. Entah ya, kali gw yang lebay? Tapi gw salut banget deh sama bapaknya, tetap mementingkan ibadah dibanding bisnisnya. Yup, bisnis. Kalo dibandingin sama gw, tampak cemenlah saiyah karena suka nunda shalat hanya karena alasan 'nanggung kerjaan belum selesai'.

Di lain hari, gw ngeliat bapaknya lagi pegang kertas plus  pulpen dan pas gw lirik lagi ngapain ternyata lagi catet itung2an yang gw duga adalah pemasukan atau pengeluaran ybs pada hari itu. Hal kecil sih, tapi scene ini nempel terus di gw.

Secara kita sadari atau tidak sadari, orang lain bisa mengajarkan atau menyadarkan kita akan banyak hal. Sang Bapak mengingatkan gw betapa pentingnya lo harus mendahulukan shalat diatas kerjaan rutin harian, sang bapak juga mengingatkan gw bahwa sudah seharusnya gw berhemat! Secara yaa nyarinya butuh perjuangan, tapi ngabisinnya (bisa) segampang balikin telapak tangan *tsah

Thanks ya Pak, sudah mengingatkan gw.. Didoakan bapak dan keluarga slalu mendapatkan yang terbaik :)

*postingan ini ditujukan bagi diri sendiri*
*self reminder*

lovely country : japan!

Holla peps!


For the last couple weeks i've been doing some searching about Japan. Why? Because i'm gonna go there on November 2014, woohoo! How cool is that?! :p

Actually i wanna go there since 2012, but at that time i choose korea instead of japan.

Start from today till early March, some airplane have a promotions.. They give free seat for international route (from IDR 0) and the good news is this afternoon i've bought it for USD 420 - round way trip.

Well, i can not say that it was extremely cheap, but as a flashpackers it quite a good deal.

2 years ago i got promo ticket to seoul from my fave airplane, it only cost me USD 350 - round way trip.


I know.. I know.. it's still 8 months to go!

But, you know what? I already looking for the accomodation, i decided to stay at toyoko inn. This is the biggest bussiness hotel chain in japan!

I also make 8 days itinerary in tokyo - kyoto - osaka :)

When the day comes, i hope everything will works well, amien.

it's gonna be super fun, yoo!