c l a r z z i q u e

–Hakone, Kyoto–

Had a nice sleep, of course, after a lovely hotspring session the night before. So lovely, that we had to take advantage of the facilities… and go again! It was open to everyone during the day (women only of course). So we tried to beat the crowd and got in there by 6:30am. Breakfast was at 7:30am, so its nice way to start the morning, nice hot bath

This was the view at 6am, the air was so fresh

We prepared ourselves for yet another, feast for breakfast! It will be last of our traditional ryokan experience.

We had breakfast in the comfort of our own room…

Doesn’t look as overwhelming as dinner, but trust me, it was FILLING. We still got fish, and also scallops in our miso soup, Proper, home made miso soup. It’s weird how, we always get served (powdered) miso soup in Sydney but in Japan its not popular in a meal set.

That was our last meal, of traditional Japanese food. It was quite enjoyable the time that we were at the ryokan.

We made our way to Tokyo now, which is around an hour and a bit away from Hakone. Thank god, it only took a bus and a train.

–Kyoto–

After settling our luggages in our next ryokan – Hirashin ryokan; which I found was o.k. it’s located in Shijo, it’s quite convenient just located between Kyoto station, and Gion, the historic town in Kyoto.

I was quite surprised at Kyoto, it was alot more built than I had imagined it to be. I thought the whole place was old, and traditional. However, there were quite alot of shrines and such on the main street.

Our first stop was, Kinkakuji shrine (or was it castle), the architecture is beautiful, especially how the outside of it is decorated with gold flakes. We went at a good hour, at sunset when the light just reflects on the gold, beautiful, beautiful.

On our way back to the hotel, as usual we were quite indecisive on what to eat, plus the fact that its hard to find food at a decent price in Kyoto (it’s quite expensive!) Fortunately, there is a Ramen shop just around the corner from our ryokan. Even if, by this time we were almost sick of having Ramen so often…

It was quite nice and good value I suppose, Y900ish, with a gyoza set.

And here is our ryokan room – it seems quite crowded here, because it is… it actually is for 5 people but instead of getting another room, we had asked if we could ’squeeze’ in. Japanese accommodation is quite flexible with that, they were easily convinced

This was roughly Y4300/night with no breakfast/dinner.

Downside of this place is; it smelt like straw, from the tatami mats? =/

It was sad to leave Tokyo Bay, simply because of the fun we had at Disneyland/sea, it was like a little escape from reality! We took our last look of Tokyo, and set off for another little escape, into traditional side of Japan. First stop, was to pay visit to Mt Fuji.

Originally we were 50/50 about going to see her, because it is winter still and people said it’s like taking a risk with weather and all to be able to see her or not. So initially going for a boat ride down Lake Ashi, a local friend had convinced us that our 2nd alternative to Lake Kawaguchiko would be worth it, as it is at the base of Mt Fuji, so it increased chances of seeing her.

One long train ride, and a bus ride later we finally found ourselves almost at the bottom of Mt fuji, It felt fairly close, that we were only divided by, well, a lake. We went to Natural Living centre on the (free) Retro Bus, to sit down for coffee and blueberry & vanilla soft serve (yumyum!).

As you can tell, Fuji is still a little shy hiding amongst the fog. I admit, I had to use some photoshopping to make her stand out better in this photo (which was taken with really quick shutter speed, high apperture etc.) But I did not touch the burn tool, honest.

The place itself was beautiful over viewing a lake, even in winter. I can imagine it in summer, alot prettier – what we saw on the brochures. It’s winter now so the lavender surrounding it, isn’t in bloom. I would totally recommend this viewing spot! Especially if you are going during warmer seasons.

Our next stop was for our traditional Japanese escape, Hakone – home to hotsprings and traditional ryokans!

We had to take several buses, just to get there and it took us about 2 hours or so from Kawaguchiko – yes quite a detour! Does not help when you are lugging suitcases too.

See what we came across? SNOW! It was really nice with the sun setting behind these bare naked trees Feels like I’m kinda in winter wonderland.

I’ve never ever set foot in snow before, sad eh? I’m still looking forward to the day when I witness snowing

We were a little late for dinner at the ryokan we were staying at in Hakone, Hoeiso ryokan. It is run by a lovely old couple, who took care of us during our overnight stay. The old lady, whom we refer to as the ‘bell lady’ (because she has bells hanging off her obi/belt, and we know when she is coming haha), is so lovely n adorable! Service, is great so would really recommend it!

We quickly changed into our yukata, we all looked forward to dinner – we expected a feast, and we love a feast!

Everything was sooo yummy! (a few little things tasted interesting to our taste buds, lol), other than that it was a piece of artwork to look at! couldn’t bare eating them! for Y19,000 a night we got baby abalone, crab claw etc in our meal. It was actually quite filling too.

After resting our tummy for a little bit, we had booked the open air hot spring to ourselves that night. Prior to the trip were iffy about bathing naked infront of each other – would create some akwardness later no? But, we did it anyways! in a manner that not much was clearly exposed haha… was funny

But, I have to say, the hotsprings would be my best experience in Japan, after a whole week of tiring travel, it was the best way to relax the tension in our bodies Yes we snuck a photo haha.

It’s enough for about 6 people in there, and just on the left side it overlooks a streaming river, and theres a mountain just next to it. Listening to the river streams at night (it was really cold, so it was great sitting in a giant hot outdoor bath ), and just absorbing the atmosphere is wonderfull

Ryokan garden at night, it’s sooo beautiful I’m so happy we got to see somee cherry blossoms in Japan!

—Disney Sea!—

To begin with, i lovelovelovelovelovelove Little Mermaid, it IS my all time favourite disney movie since I was a little girl. I love the whole idea of colourful talking sea creatures, and also pretty mermaids (though to be honest I don’t appreciate the scary ones you see in Harry Potter etc x_x). As a little girl, I suppose I enjoy a little fantasy/imagination

So you can imagine how disappointed I was when I didn’t come across anything little mermaid related at Disneyland, however I knew there had to be something at DisneySea (duh). And there was! at Mermaid Lagoon! It was my favourite part of the theme park (for obvious reasons), It was like a little girl’s dream come true just seeing Triton’s kingdom stand before me. And once you enter inside, it was another world of loveliness. Dark, colourful lights which recreated the underwater world. So beautiful!

And also, it was the MOST devastating day, as a photographer. Because the night before I had realize I forgot the Japanese adapter converter thingy at the previous hotel!! You don’t know how guilty and bad I felt for myself, and everyone else (who relied on that adapter to charge up their cameras, and yes everyone’s cameras were at 0% ;() So, fortunately, we still had SOMETHING to rely on… my Canon Ae-1 and Fuji Instax, yes its film, but it was better than nothing!

I’m sure I will go to Disney Sea again, even though, like Disneylands, queueing up for rides IS a PAIN.

We queued up 3hours for Journey to the Centre of the Earth ride, which went for only about 3mins, and didn’t found it that amazing. I was expecting alot more excitement and frightening drops, instead it was all about the ’special effects’ you encounter on the ride. In future, I’d gladly get a 2 day pass JUST for Disney Sea. I so wanted to go on Tower of Terror, which was about 4hours wait (this was around 10-11am), and later, fast passes had ran out.

I loved how a part of the theme park recreated venice or little italy, whichever it is with the gondola’s and canals.

We met meeko, the racoon from Pocahontas!

and the Incredibles!!

—Disneyland!—

We have been looking forward most to this part of the trip! Having been to HK Disneyland before, which was just so-so, I had higher expectations for Japan, since it was apparently better. It was to some point, it was definitely a bigger theme park, however I find alot of the facilities are a lil worn down But there is definitely more to see!

The major downside of the one in Japan, is o-m-g, the CROWD and the QUEUES! can’t stress how much I hate them, and how unorganized it is, with the whole fast pass system, it is better if you do actually get it cos u wait less time, but then if you didn’t get it you have to suffer in long queues. So it was really a pity we didn’t get to go on the popular rides such as space mountain.

We visited Minnie’s house.

And watched the daily flower car parade on the main street..

The disney castle looks sooo beautiful at night!

Thoroughly enjoyed the night light parade.

And thought the fireworks were a waste of time, you can’t get better fireworks than Sydney lol.

Overall, other than becoming sucked into Disney merchandising, be it souvenir or theme park food…. still enjoyed a long day in the cold, and still love love Disney no matter what.

As my friend said,

without Disney, we wouldn’t have a childhood! Thank god for Disney!

Next on my list, is Disney in California! it Has to be The Best right?

it’s our last day in Tokyo city before moving to Tokyo Bay for Disney land and Disney sea. So part of the day has been planned for Harajuku – the shopping street, with an early morning stroll to Meiji Jingu shrine that’s right next to the station.

Apparently, that is where you find the ‘weird’ fashion dressers, and people dressed in kimonos on a Sunday.

Absolutely loveeeeed the lighting there! (I keep seeing myself with my geeky camera backpack, and literally how geeky do I look?!)

You find alot of these in shrines, a way of cleansing yourself before praying. Rinse both hands and your mouth. The water was lovely, cold and refreshing

Loved the atmosphere at meiji jingu, it wasn’t overly crowded on a Sunday morning. I would recommend going there, if you wanted to spot out the weird dressers, kimono wearers, and most significantly to witness a traditional Japanese wedding. There were about 3 weddings taking place during the hour that we were there. It was like celebrations in public, everyone would make way for the bride and groom, while taking photos of them as well. And, maybe, check the groom out… – what a friend or 2 did

Not sure what these are called, but they are basically wishes written on a plank of wood. I’ve been wanting to do one of these all trip but didn’t get around to For one, I don’t know how many wishes I can fit on 1 board.. so I kept delaying it.. and yeah never got the chance. Oh, its not free either, costs Y500, so I guess its worth while to fit as much as u can on there

Maybe I should’ve done what the person above did Wish for BIG $$$$$$$ and all wishes will come true? haha, that has to be the funniest wish on wood i’ve seen all trip.

A friend of a friend had recommended this gyoza house, called ‘gyozarou’. Took some time finding it, since we only knew the street/section that it was located and not the address. We had gotten pro at asking for directions by then. Luckily it was actually rather well known, so you can’t miss it. Not with the long queue outside!

You get a choice of 2 different pan friend gyozas or 2 different steamed gyozas, i think it was around Y260 for a plate of 6. And you can order some side dishes as well. But we chose to just try all the dumplings and leave our tummies for something else later.

Personally, it wasn’t anything special, I’ve had better in Sydney, believe it or not. Either way its quite like Chinese dumplings so yeah… but hey we had gyoza in  Japan!

We then made our way to Ginza, which is pretty much for high end shopping (maybe next time, I’ll go there prepared to spend big ). Our visit there wasn’t intended for shopping, rather for another themed cafe, Princess Heart. As you can tell, it’s a princess themed cafe. We entered into the waiting room that was nicely embellished with dimmed chandeliers, and was guided to our table by a ‘maid’. In the centre was a strawberry white chocolate fountain, as well as a tree with beautiful fairy lights. Really worked the atmosphere! I enjoyed the tunes they had playing – Disney songs, very fairytale like, even if it was in Japanese =/

Some mocktails we ordered… (the menu was in Japanese, so we had to either recognize the katakana ourselves, or get them to read/try decipher for us)

Apple flavoured mocktail

Fried Chicken

Overall review; I would prolly recommend this place instead of Alcatraz, mainly because the place is nicer and the food is more decent. But just be warned there isn’t any english menus. It’s a nice place to go with girlfriends Can’t remember how much we paid each but it was under Y2000 each i think.

Cool Yamaha building across the road, in Ginza

We tried to squeeze in another destination, at Odaiba Palette town, but to our disappointment it was closed by the time we got there We were looking forward to a ride in the big ferris wheel! Next time

If you’re young and hip, you can’t Not know of Shibuya! Been looking forward to checking out this popular landmark, the big neon lights, giant lcd screens, big crossing etc.etc. However, the day has been slightly delayed for me since my sister came up with travel sickness ;( so I was stuck in the ryokan with her until midday. Thought I’d miss out on the whole day, but luckily not. All I missed is another trip to Ichiran ramen, which is like ‘everything to me’, literally. (You don’t know how badly I crave ramen right now).

Either way, got to Shibuya in time to meet with the girls and had a late lunch – Katsu don with egg ( i think), i love set menus in Japan haha, quite good value.

After shopping around for several hours, we set off to find Alcatraz bar, where we had made reservations for dinner at. It’s a themed cafe, with a Psychiatric hospital theme to be specific. Themed cafes in Japan are biigg, and this is the original themed cafe. Had heard some good reviews so we gave it a shot.

It was hard to find, we thought it’d be down some small alleyway, (guessing from other people’s photos/videos), instead it was actually on lvl 2 of a buiilding.

The decor was interesting, freakish and all. I was creeped out just waiting in the waiting room actually, cos this creepy japanese voice started singing Happy Birthday songs ;(

All cocktails for Y500! Yes can you tell they have quite interesting drinks? We ordered them all Even if some of them look a little extreme… like the one below…

Yes that is what you think it is, (don’t worry nothing dirty happens beyond this point). We thought it was just a dildo (hopefully clean!!) for decor with the drink. Instead it turned out to have multiple uses, it was a vibrator, dildo, and surprisingly works well as a drink blender…. haha.

Overall review of the place: The place is certainly interesting, but wasn’t as fun as I’d expect it to be. MAYBE it was because we were quite early… got there around 6pm and the entertainment hasn’t started. But foodwise, it was just average.. we ordered a dish called something Hormones, and it turned out to be pieces of fat stir fried with cabbage. That’s enough of a freak out for girls.

But anyway, you’d only go there for the atmosphere/environment really cos other than that, nothing special. We were able to do a la carte instead of doing their Y3600 all you can eat/drink buffet special. So we ended up just paying around Y1700 each.

This was our final look at the big Shibuya crossing! with the big screens in the bg, and the crowd! (It was a saturday night btw, so it was rather hectic)

Tokyo, was the part of the trip which my friend and I planned. So, it was our turn to be tour guides! Our first ride on the bullet train, which wasn’t so ‘fast’ as we had expected. I later found out that bullet trains, included in the JR pass (Hikari), are the slowest bullet trains. sad, no wonder… but we did see the faster ones zoom by… just a pity that we weren’t in them!

‘Please do it at home’.

The bentos we got to last the 2ish hour trip Osaka -> Kyoto, they looked too good to eat!

We stayed near Ueno in Tokyo, which was where one of the best ramen was found- Ichiran! I knew people who love it to bits, and I was certainly looking forward to it. We entered the cosy little shop to find vending machines – ah yes its a big thing in Japan – vending machines. I was expecting a few choices of Ramen,  but they only had one for Y750 and you can add on extras such as egg etc.

So we sat down, and found a multiple choice like question sheet on the table with a free packet of Ramen (woohoo).

We were able to customize the ramen to our taste – which is awesome! Hardness of the noodle, to the heavyness of the soup base.

I got it with Red pepper, and egg as a dish. It was truly D-I-V-I-N-E. I could probably do with another bowl, if I didn’t choose to leave my tummy for later street snacks. And I’m sad that, this whole trip I only got to go there once ;( Which leaves me craving for it so much now…

After our pig-out session on Ramen, we took the subway to Asakusa, which is more of a touristy town – main street lined with shops that date back 100 or so years?

It is also the place where you find this iconic big red lantern at the gates of Sensoji Temple. We spent a good few hours there enjoying sampling street food and souvenir shopping.

Later that night, we set off to Roppongi – Roppongi Hills tower, its observation deck to get a good look of Tokyo city. It’s s beautiful. Just love how the Tokyo Tower (Eiffel tower rip off) stands out amongst all the city lights.

It was difficult to find a decent place to eat that wouldn’t blow our budget (since Roppongi hills itself is like one of those high class suburbs). So we went back to Minowa (where we stayed), and settled for Mc D’s since it was getting late. First bite of Teriyaki Chicken burger, and to be honest – I don’t like it, haha. Teriyaki and burgers just don’t work for my taste buds.

After a long day, finally got to go back to the ryokan (japanese inn). We stayed at Andon Ryokan, modern japanese inn can you tell? It had interesting interior. This was just the corridor, didn’t take a photo of the room itself (which was really cosy and just enough for 3 people sleeping on 3 mats).

Oyasumi!

After checking into our next hotel in town, Hotel Kinki (which I absolutely recommend, for its price and facilities), we made our way for Himeji castle, one of the more popular ‘historical’ tourist attractions in Osaka.

But before we started on the trek, a good meal is a must! There were alot of little shops leading up to Himeji Castle, and this was the more popular one. (Can’t remember what its called but it was linked with a Souvenir food shop). Ordered some handmade soba noodles, and it was d-i-v-i-n-e. Was a little more pricey than what you would find in Osaka (Around Y900), but I guess its understandable since its located at a hot tourist spot.

Just across the road was, Himeji Castle, standing tall above the castle walls.

It’s winter in Japan, and its different/weird how trees are green, but the grass becomes a dry, dull, yellow colour.

I absolutely love how it is built on top of those stones-rocks (whatever its called), adds character to its architecture.

It was quite a walk up there, followed by the 5 levels of steep stairs just to get to the top of the castle.

Lower levels of the castle was used to store weaponry. I love the colour/texture of the wooden walls.

At the highest level of the castle, was a shrine,and of course a good view of the city.

about 2hours later, we made our way next door, to the gardens (which I forgot the name of ). It was quite nice, and I imagine it would be nicer if the cherry blossoms or maple trees were in bloom. Nevertheless, we still managed to get a few sightings of cherry blossoms.

I loveeee how light plays on the leaves of these trees. You have to look from a lower angle to see this.

Plum blossoms in bloom.

On our stroll back to the station, we got distracted by the sight of yummy mochi desserts! we couldn’t resist not having any – we are in Japan afterall!. Mochi and red bean in green tea soup, ice cream and tea. Y600 for the set.

There were many nice little handmade souvenir shops that we came across.

Recognize this big fella?, Yep, its the giant crab in Dotomburri, a popular meeting point for food in Osaka.

We had some grilled spider grab claws (sold just under the giant grab), Y500 for 2.

Then we went for some takoyaki, okinomyaki and yaki soba

Posing with the icon of Osaka, till this day, I’m not even sure why this guy is so popular, anyone care to tell?

That was our last night in Osaka before Tokyo, we absolutely loved Dotomburri, and can’t wait to go again before we depart.