Next Stop: Japan (Part 4)

Okay, so for the last part of my post! :) We extended for 3 more nights after our actual trip, we paid for the extension from our own pocket, and we went to visit Mt. Fuji! The thing is while on the way to Mt. Fuji we saw the mountain, it was really nice, but when we got to the observation place, it was cloudy :( And we can't see the darn thing.

Mt. Fuji
Mt. Fuji covered with clouds

After Mt. Fuji, we went to Hakone, rode a cable car and a pirate ship cruise.


We then took a cab after the pirate ship cruise, we rode on it for 30minutes and we paid 4,000 Yen or P2,000! Really really expensive, we didn't have a choice because there was no other way to get to the Ryokan. It's a traditional Japanese Inn. We had our own Yukata and we slept on the floor.

The next day, we went back to Tokyo and rode the Shinkansen. According to Wikipedia, the speed is 300km/h! We rode the bus to Hakone for like 2 hours or so, and went back to Tokyo for what, 25-30 minutes :D It was really funny because I was trying to capture the train on my camera as video and as soon as I bring out the cam from my bag, the train already passed.


Then the last tour we had before heading home was the Kamakura Walking Tour. On the day it was supposed to snow, was the unfortunate day we had the tour! Since it wasn't cold enough, it didn't snow, but it rained. We kind of got wet, so it was really cold. I didn't pay much attention to the tour guide because I was really really really cold. So cold that when we went back to the hotel I was willing to shell out for Domino's pizza delivery that costs 2,000 Yen or P1,000 for just one pizza! Haha but we just ended up resting first, and eventually had the courage to go out and eat dinner.

Back in Tokyo, we went of course to Ginza, Shibuya and Harajuku :) Oh and of course, Daiso shopping! Wasn't able to buy much for myself, since it's pretty much all pasalubong and food stuff that can only be found in Japan like all the assorted Kitkat flavors. And there's not really much to buy since stuff are more expensive there except for brands that are really made in Japan like Uniqlo and Muji.

Although I went home with 2 bags filled mostly with, well, thick clothes, and goodies for everyone (and not much for me) I went home with a GREAT travel experience! :) It's something that you can't pack on your luggage bag ;)

I definitely want to go back to Japan!

Next Stop: Japan (Part 3)

Okay okay, so now back to the real story :) Packed our bags, left Manila last January 2. What a way to kick off the new year!

We stayed in Takanawa Tobu Hotel in Shinagawa, which was a few min walk from the train station! :) Funny on how when we got to the hotel, we were looking for the aircon switch and we requested for "cool air" hahahaha. When the only thing coming out is hot air because it's winter. I was actually surprised that it wasn't as hard to communicate in English as expected, I thought I'd have a hard time talking to people. Ian was even texting me the 101's on how to ask for water, when I usually just normally ask for water casually in English.

The train was ultra complicated, there were a lot of lines, it wasn't as simple as riding the one in HK but after a while it's something we got used to :) We had our own Suica card so we don't have to buy tickets every time. It's quiet on the train, people are prohibited to talk on the phone, so you don't hear chatter. The train's efficient and on time. (Oh and riding the Shinkansen or the bullet train, is another story)

We went to Disneyland and Disneysea, one day each. The only caveat on the Disney in Japan is everything, well almost everything is in Japanese. Sometimes the staff would have instructions before the ride, and we're like "What are they saying?" I've only been to Disney in Hong Kong just last year, and people were saying the one in HK is small, and after going to the one in Japan, it really is true. In HK, it's easy to remember the area, in Japan, you really need a map to navigate Disney.

Well, Disney is still Disney, and it brings out the kid inside of us :) Nevermind that Disneysea is really beside a body of water, and we're all freezing while waiting on line for some rides for more than an hour! Disneyland is more for kids, Disneysea had the rides for adults. Didn't get to ride Splash Mountain, I didn't wanna risk getting wet and getting sick.

After Disney, the rest were all tours. We had the city tour, visited the Tokyo Tower, Meiji Shrine, Imperial Palace, Asakusa Kannon Temple. We also had the Sumida River Cruise.

We also had the Nikko Kegon Tour, and the highlight of this tour is the Lake Chuzenji and the Kegon Waterfall. It didn't snow in Tokyo but this area had snow :) We were only ones left outside the tour bus because everyone else was freezing and boarded the bus, the tour guide figured that we didn't have snow in our country hahahaha, it was that obvious. According to the guide, the temp was 1.7 C. Plus add the wind chill factor, it was super cold.

Now for the rest of the Japan Experience, it will have to be the Part 4 of this blog entry, for now I'll just post some food stuff.

A. Different flavors of Kitkat
I tried soy sauce, apple, sesame, strawberry, strawberry cheesecake, soy, green tea, cookie, and red bean. We stop at every convenience store that we pass by because some flavors are just available in New Days, in Family Mart, etc. Green Tea is only available in the Airport, beside Starbucks, near McDonald's. So right after checking in your luggage, check out the Airport mall first. Look it up in the Airport map :)

B. Starbucks
They have good Lavander Earl Grey Tea Latte! Plus if you're like me and you collect Starbucks tumbler, and you forgot to buy the tumblers, the Starbucks in the Airport has the complete one! They had Kyoto, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, etc. I got a Japan 2009 tumbler and Shizuoka which had a Mt Fuji design. This one though, I didn't see in the airport, got it on the way to check out Mt. Fuji. They still give a free drink when you buy a tumbler.

C. Royce Ice Cream
Okay, Royce Ice Cream is found in convenience stores and is the same price as street ice cream! I bought Green Tea ice cream in cone for 300 Yen and Royce Ice Cream in Family Mart for 315 Yen! Times .5 so around P150 for each.

D. Yoshinoya and Pepper Lunch
When we first got there, we were so hungry and saw Yoshinoya right away, since we didn't want to look around anymore, we ate in Yoshinoya. I don't really mind since I get to taste the authentic Yoshinoya beef bowl in Japan! :) After a few days, we passed by Pepper Lunch. And it looked like Yoshinoya, the table/set-up.

Here in Manila, Pepper Lunch is in Powerplant, Rockwell and people line up for it. In Tokyo, it looked like a hole in the wall resto, nothing fancy. In terms of prices, well everything is expensive in Japan!

E. Mcdonald's is so expensive. I checked when I went to eat yesterday, our McChicken sandwich meal is P103. In Japan, it's 620 Yen or around P310! I didn't bother to eat in Mcdonald's while in Tokyo hahaha, I just got coffee once, that's it :)

F. Ate Takoyaki (Octopus balls!), Tempura, Fresh Sushi, Katsu Curry, Katsudon, Eat all you can Yakiniku, Eat all you can Wagyu! Wasn't able to go to Tsukiji :( Writing this post literally made me hungry!

Next Stop: Japan (Part 2)

Okay so before I move on with the stories, I'll write about this first... I tried to Google what to bring etc for spending winter in Japan but I wasn't really able to find anything online like do I have to buy boots, etc. What stuff I can bring and just buy there? Those 101's for the first time travelers to spend winter in Japan for girls! :)

1. Fur boots - not really needed, you can wear rubber shoes and thick socks BUT it helps a lot since it's ultra comfy and I wore mine the entire time. I used Bearpaw boots, and they're half the price of Ugg boots. In case you're in Japan already, one of my teammates decided to ditch her leather boots and buy a new one, look for ABC Mart(there's one in Ginza and Harajuku). We first tried to look for shoes in Ginza, and the prices of shoes normally are around 20,000 yen or P10,000! We saw boots some also in Harajuku, cheap price, but we didn't check if the lining is made of sheepskin or wool. The one that she got from ABC Mart are Vans with wool lining for around P2,000. In case you opt for rubber shoes, just make sure that its ultra comfy, so you don't hurt your feet. Oh, and last, about the boots, there's a question online wear socks inside the fur boots, or not, my vote, wear socks :) Not the thick socks, just the normal sneakers socks, so it doesn't get smelly. You don't really need to wear socks because it's warm but just for hygeine purposes.

2. Thermals (thermal leggings and tops) - I've asked everyone this, do I need them or not? I got mixed answers, yes no yes no. So to personally answer this, you can get away without spending thousands of pesos on thermals in Marks and Spencer or Debenhams. I just bought one thermal long sleeves and I didn't wear it everyday. On some days, just layers of long sleeves, shirt, sweater. On the days I wore thermal long sleeves, it felt like it's a substitute for the thick long sleeves, so yes, it's probably effective but you can substitute it with something else. But for under the jeans, thermal leggings or cotton leggings are needed. I think you can buy cheaper thermal leggings in Greenhills, I dunno if it's actually thermal or just thick cotton leggings but it works! (Thanks Jonah!) In Uniqlo in Japan, the thermal tops cost around P500, and we found them in Harajuku branch, the Uniqlo in the train stations are sold out on their thermal tops, but they have the thermal bottoms.

3. Ear muffs and gloves - Ear muffs for 700 yen (P350) and gloves for the same price that are really of good quality, we got from Muji! I brought gloves but the ones I got in Muji are more effective since the gloves had the 3M 40gm insulation for a cheap price. I already have ear muffs (Thanks Noelle!) but some of my teammates didn't bring, so they all bought there :)

4. Coats - I borrowed a wool coat and a cotton/polyester coat, if you can get a wool coat that's long, just right above your knees, that would be great! :) The wool coat I brought is short, and the other coat is longer, so I'm always torn on what to wear, but I swap them everyday.

Next Stop: Japan (Part 1)

I just got back last Sunday from Japan! :) Started 2009 with a bang, and a hole in my pocket hahahaha. Jan 2-11 with my team, first 6days all expenses paid. I have soooo much to blog about the trip! The food, the different flavors of Kitkat (apple, green tea, sesame, red bean, etc), how effin expensive everything is, how fat we all looked in pictures because of the weather, how friggin cold it was, oh but despite the cold, it was sooo much fun. It's one of those places you'll really fall in love with. Man, but everything was REALLY expensive. Anyway, more more stories to come. I haven't had the time since when we were there we rarely had sleep, 5-6 hours daily, and we got back Sunday night, had to go back to work the next Monday morning. For the meantime, I'll try to upload the pics now in Multiply and Facebook (if I manage to finish it tonight!) I actually took more than 1,000 pictures HAHAHAHA, but of course I'm not gonna post everything online and it's not going to be Rica and the Imperial Palace, Rica and the Tempura resto, Rica and her Katsudon. It's gonna be just a little bit of me, although I always have that solo shot haha :)