5D4N Osaka, Japan: Day III.

Update: You can now find the other days here: Day I, Day II, Day IV, Day V and first ONSEN experience!

So, if you were reading on my Part II, you would know that the three of us stayed at one room for a night, tatami style. It means on the floor like traditinal Japanese style. I also mentioned that we had a private onsen at our balcony for our usage. 

Last night we all went  to the public onsen and this morning we decided to take turns to use the one in our balcony. 

It was our last onsen for this trip because days ahead are all in the city and city no onsen. Duh..

My view when I woke up at 530am. The sun is so bright you know. Really Land of the Rising Sun ah.

Our balcony overlooking Japan's largest lake, Lake Biwa.

After spending some time soaking one last time in those mountain-hot-water while enjoying the view of the lake, we had yet another fine dine breakfast. I finished everything that was served. Something about soaking in onsen that makes you hungry. Or maybe it's just me.

Today, we head to Kyoto Prefecture. Itinerary for the day is mainly of shrines. Japanese people take very seriously of the gods they worship. I don't know their names or history because I'm just not good with remembering names. Even for humans. So, the first place we went was nearer to the mountains so the weather was cooling, which was just perfect for touristy activities. We took this tram up and walked up a little.

This kind of place can only be taken with panorama mode. It is believed that when you stand in the middle of the big circle in front of the temple with your both arms lifted, you receive power from the gods. Kuramadera Temple.

We went to a few more temples up there and once all that was done, we went to check out a public onsen place. Yes, there is a minimal fee if you would like to have a taste of what it feels like, or if the hotel you're staying do not have onsen. After that, we made our way to lunch. THIS IS THE BEST LUNCH FOR THIS TRIP. It's so unique and beautiful you will go crazy if you're there. Yeah, it almost blew my mind when I was there. I couldn't believe that I was gonna have this kind of experience.

Lunch at Hirobun, by the river.

Restaurants built on top of the river waterfall. People are sitting directly on top of streams of waterfall while having their lunch. This is one of the most exclusive kind of meal in my life. So special. My photos doesn't really do the justice. I don't think video can even show you how real and superb it is. 

The 'lunch' is separated into two sections. First, you will have the appetizer while looking at these gorgeous mini waterfall. What is the appetizer you may ask?

These restaurants are only open when it's not winter. Imagine that time was summer but it was super freezing cold. Coming from a place where it's hot all year long, this place became my favorite place to be immediately. Ahhh I wanna go back there!

I tried to be somewhat 'artistic' with a family shot of this young couple with their baby girl. I tried. The baby girl is just too adorable lahhh!

Patiently waiting for our turns to enjoy the appetizer. 

Finally it was our turn. We being Asians very kan cheong and excited. So, as you can see, all we've got for our appetizer are just this. A small cup with their Japanese style dipping sauce/cold soup, with some wasabi and some chopped spring onion. We mixed all that inside the cup and wait for our food to come. And I meant wait and attack. Yeah. Fun and must really concentrate if not your food will say bye bye to you and no more food for you. I kid you not.

Very quickly after we sat down, our appetizer came out from these bamboo tubes. Somen noodles. Somen noodles are white Japanese noodles made with wheat flour. They are usually served cold. They came quite fast okay. So, when it comes, you quickly use your chopstick and scoop them up and put it in the cup and eat. Okay, click this to watch the short video my Japanese friend posted. Then, you'll get the idea of how it works. Super fun and super yummy. I always thought cold noodles are weird but that changed me totally.

After the appetizer, oh wait I haven't told you guys how we will know if the somen is finished and no longer flowing through our tubes. If the red somen came out, that's the signal. Means appetizer over and time to move on to the higher ground and have the main course.

Not only does the ambiance gets a perfect score, the food also scores 10 out of 10. Of course the price also pricey. In RM, it definitely be in three digits. BUT I THINK IT'S WORTH IT! I would go again if I ever visit Kyoto Prefecture.

After makan, more shrines nearby to visit. Kibune shrine, Kamigamo shrine and Shimogamo shrine (World Heritage site). A lot of walking but in those kind of temperature, I don't mind walking everywhere. In almost every shrine in Japan, you will see these small wooden rectangles where people write their wishes on and hang it. Wishes like 'I want to marry a good husband' and 'I want to stay pretty always', as translated by our tour guide.

Yet, another 'artistic' shot tried at the Kibune Shrine. I think if put black and white sure nice d but I too lazy to edit. Hah.

Shrines gone modern. Now with social media channels. Not bad.

On the way to the city, we made a quick stop to the 'mosque'. Not the typical building kind of mosque you see in Malaysia. 

Then, we were brought to our hotel for check-in. Hotel Granvia Kyoto. The hotel is huge. Like really huge and the place is most strategic already. Connected to the train/subway (I can't remember) station and walking distance to the shopping malls. 

I love the rooms. My room was superb! Everything was just two thumbs up. Just when I thought I could jump on the bed and take a quick nap, we had to run downstairs to meet with our sponsors and some of the local agents. Like a mini workshop and then dinner after that.

Their walkway to another building also super grand.

One hour of feeling like a VIP. People taking turns to see us and talk to us about their products/services. Super cool.

After dinner, Mr Nagaoka suggested that we take a walk around Kyoto and he even volunteered to bring us to the happening place at Kyoto. And walked to the happening place we did. I think the place is called Kiyamachi.

It was really nice to walk the streets of Kyoto at night, about 8-9pm. Everyone was just walking along minding their own business. I remembered at one point, I even skyped with my sister and Koay. Yay to free wifi at one of their happening area. 

We had supper at one of their famous local restaurants. Something like Kim Gary where. Everything also ada. We enjoyed our desserts and then took a taxi back to Hotel Granvia Kyoto. One of the best hotel I've ever stayed for sure. Love it. Too bad only for one night. 

So, there you have it my day three in this foreign land.

Two more days to go! I can do this!

Off On Monday.

What makes a Public Holiday a better one?

When it falls on a Monday!

Hello everybodyyyy. 

So good to be back here with ample of time to do nothing and blog. So, MITM Fair is finally over. Such relief although it was so much fun.

I may whine and complain once in a while about how tiring it is and stuff but at the end of the day, it's still worth it.

I may have talked to like 15 sets of people (be it families, couples or singles) and only managed to close one sale for Club Med, my heart still celebrates with joy. Funny hor? Spent so much time and effort talking and convincing people that it's really a good promotion (with flight ticket!) and people still will walk away and miss out that chance. All it needs was one sales and that was enough for me.

I have people asking me if I earn commission during this fair according to the number of pax I get. Nope, no commission. No benefits. No free trips to Club Med. No special gift etc. 

I just genuinely like this holiday product a lot that when I convince people, I share with them my experience. Yes, it is a more expensive kind of holiday but IT IS an ALL INCLUSIVE HOLIDAY. The food is amazing with unlimited beverages (whether alcoholic or not). 

One of the most worth-it package during this fair was Club Med Maldives, inclusive of flight tickets. I always tell people that if you have the budget, you should go. It's only about RM6500 for one adult at LAGOON SUITE, flying with MAS. Normal price is easily RM8,000-RM9,000 for just the resort stay and NO flight tickets. 

Earlier this year, I went to KL for the MATTA Fair and couples who came usually will straight get Club Med Maldives. I think because they know how cheap it is after the discounts. For Club Med standard that is. I kid you not. Go there no need spend extra money and you will enjoy yourself till like mad wei.

Anyways, I truly find that joy when I made it happen for people to go for holidays. 

So, it may be tiring and I may have hurt my throat by constantly talking loudly (very noisy during fair!) and may have dozed off a few times while driving home from SPICE, in the end it's all okay and good. 

I love what I do. I love the industry I'm in. It's meaningful.

My pay may not be as high if compared to me taking up a job in the finance industry (especially with my first class honours degree) but I'm happy and happy girls are the prettiest :)

Oh and no I wasn't trying to show off. If anything, I want you to do what you love and not what pays you well.

Draft.

Wahhhhhhh.

I have no time whatsoever to continue updating on my Japan trip. I only have time to quickly type these words and it's off I go. The title 5D4N Japan: Day III is categorized as a draft in my inbox. Wah sad.

MITM Fair 2014 happening on Saturday and Sunday and it's driving everyone up the walls. 

That aside, please do come to visit us at SPICE this weekend. So many good holiday deals I myself wanna get and go on holiday.

Find me if you need to know anything! If I can help, for sure I will help all the way :)

Up Up Here We Go.

It was supposed to be a quick session of fun tennis at Ben's but he didn't book the court. Apparently, he saw the manager walked past him and he smiled at him and that's all he did. YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL HIM YOU WANT TO BOOK THE COURT BRO. Hah. Who wasn't kidding, Ben? *winks*

Anyways, we had a meeting on Sunday and since no captain ball, we wanted to do something instead of going home and laze. 

While lunching with the bunch, Koay looked up and saw that Penang Hill was covered with thick mist and looks really cool and randomly say that maybe he should go up there while we have our meeting. Of course, that sparked something and from there we started discussing buying scones at Tesco or any bakery shop and have like a cooling picnic up there AFTER our meeting. 

Koay supposed to go get the scones. He wanted to get already then at one moment everyone was like giving signals that maybe they won't go already. So, I told him no need to get it since it might be just both of us and we're not big fans of scones anyway. 

After meeting, suddenly everyone else can. Too bad no scones. Hah.

Spontaneous trips like that really make me happy. And happy girls are the prettiest :)

It was cooling, fun and filled with so much laughter. It was one of the best spontaneous trips that we had. Many more to come :)

Bring your student cards and Mykad. It was only RM4 for student and Mykad and RM8 for adults with Mykad. Both ways.

Winter has got to be my favourite season so far.

The many shots because Gary refused to come intake. 

When in a cold place, buy a packet of kacang kuda and enjoy it.

Who wasn't kidding, Ben?

Kacang kuda lover he is.

And Sarah's lover also. Heh.

Benjiii and his selfie moment.

"There are shortcuts to joy. Gathering is one of them"

5D4N Osaka, Japan: Day II.

Update: You can now find the other days here: Day I, Day III, Day IV, Day V and first ONSEN experience!

Day two rise and shine at 630am. Malaysia time it was 530am. Sacrificed my sleep for more onsen because we bid farewell to Hotel Rosa Blanca after breakfast. BEST ONSEN EVER. You people should know by now how much I treasure my sleep. If not, go read this first! Anytime I can get more sleep I would so when I actually sacrifice it for onsen, it's like so obvious how much I love onsen more than sleep. Although I had to be naked. More on that next time.

So, Mie Prefecture was covered and next, we headed towards Shiga Prefecture, which was about 1 and half hours away (I think!). Our first destination was to Port Otsu, where we went for a 90 minutes cruise along Lake Biwa (Japan's largest lake). 

 We got there early so we just sat down by the lake and check Facebook/update Instagram. 

Michigan is the name of the baby that we were on.

It's not as big as Star Cruise kind of cruise, but it's gorgeous!

The entire place was empty and only we were allowed to go through. Other visitors had to use the other area. Felt so VIP-ed then.

Japanese Beef Curry and Seafood Pasta.

After having our lunch, we were brought around the ship/boat and were given short history and stuff about Michigan. Oh, that was Mike having the time of his life with his sandwich and he's from Michigan. So, he was overly excited about being in Michigan, the ship/boat. Mike is doing his internship with the Tourism Department of Shiga Prefecture, that's why he joined us for the day. He's 23 years old, too tall and he has the cutest black puppy in the world. Haha.

One thing I love about Michigan is this red wheel thing is the one moving it and watching it turns and do its thing is quite a nice feeling. Then, it was windy to walk outside but not too windy until your hair is all over the place and stuff. So, that was pretty nice.

After goofing around and getting to know more about this cruise, it was time for us to sit down and relax. Live performances that involves the participation of the audience without us having to  go on stage, I like. Super relaxing and entertaining!

So, we covered cruise in the morning and next will be up the hills. Up to the cooling hills where there is no such thing as sweating. Ahhh I love that.

It was about 20-30 minutes from Port Otsu (if I'm not mistaken) and our second Tour Guide, Ms Michiko-san did such a great job telling us about the location, stories and stuff. Her map is the best d. 

Welcome to Kansai, everybody! :)

Arrived safely! They advised us to bring a cardigan/sweater to go to this temple because it will be cold. I didn't have any with me at that moment so it didn't matter. Turns our we don't need them at all. The weather was cooling and perfect to my skin. PERFECTO.

Mike kinda have an obsession of photo-bombing anything and anyone. 

Enryakuji Temple.

To get to this majestic-full-of-historic-moments' temple, we walked for a little bit but its okay because the view was amazing. It's a lot like going up to the Penang Hill, but I think this hill is a lot bigger.

So, we covered sea lake and hill on day two and it was time for check-in to our lovely hotel for the day, Biwako Ryousuitei where I felt like a total VIP. 

We checked in, dropped our luggages and off we went out again. This time for hotel inspection. Five hotels in total. Good thing it was all located very nearby and we didn't spend too much time in the bus. It was quite a rushed inspection because it was getting really late. The actual plan was for us to check-in at Biwako Ryokusuitei go for onsen and then dinner and then onsen again. But that didn't happen of course.

We got back to the hotel and it was time for us to say goodbye to Mike and his boss. I don't know boss name because he rarely speaks to us. I think one of the difficult thing in Japan is the language. Next time I go I need to bring a translator with me. So yeah, that was Shiga Prefecture on day two and it was amazing :)

We got into our hotel room (three of us shared for that night) and lo and behold, we have our personal onsen overlooking the largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. THANK YOU GOD!

Although we have our own onsen, we still went to the public one at night after dinner because it's fun like that :)

Okay, not much time to goof around. We quickly change into our yukata and went downstairs to our VIP room for a fine dine dinner. I love wearing yukata on my goodness. So tempted to get one home but then it's so hot in Penang that it'll just end up in the cupboard anyways.

Not used to sitting on the floor at such a long time for dinner. Girls supposed to sit with their legs to one side. We did that for the first 5 minutes and then it's crossed legs all the way. Very impolite especially with the yukata on but we were so hungry and tired that we judt did it anyways. Our Japanese friends just laughed at us. Hah.

My first time tasting raw sea urchin. I didn't like it. The texture is fine but the taste is just very er.. fruity? And I hate fruits? So, maybe you guys will like it. Apparently, it's really expensive here. Another thing which I find hard to eat; raw seabass. I mean come on. We make sure it's 110% cooked here, whether grilled or in steamboat and then they serve it raw there wor. I took one and stopped. Tak boleh lah ni. Raw prawns all still can. I don't know why raw fish I cannot. Other than salmon, trout and tuna of course. These are exceptional ones.

Oh! And we had shabu-shabu. Totally different from how Malaysians eat them. Our shabu-shabu is sweet and very flavorful right? Theirs is different and so much more healthier. It's only hot water. You put your raw vegetables and slices of beef in there and when it's cooked, you take it up and dip it in a brown sauce and that's it. I thought it was quite bland to eat with rice, but that's how they do it. I ended up having a lot of wasabi with it. Haha.

One of the common room service in Japan when you;re staying in a Japanese-style-room with tatami mats is that when you leave your room for dinner, they will come in and set the beds for you. No need to remind them or let them know that you going out also. Their service is seriously best d. Have I mentioned that their beds are super comfy also? 

Beds only NOT! Toilet also so syiok. It's always nice to sit on a hot/warm toilet seats, especially when you're travelling or in a cold room or anywhere cool lah. It's veryyyy relaxing. No kidding.

To all the lazy people out there, I found a solution to poop more times and feeling good while doing it! I think it's called a bidet and I think you can get them installed in your toilets from Coway. No need English words also you will know exactly what each button will do when you press on them. Wahhhh I love this so much at one point I sat there quite long. Hah.

The end for hari kedua.

I realized trying to finish all five days in Japan in words is super tiring mentally.

Quite sad that it's over. I need another holiday soon. Heh.