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!!