Day 2 - Second and last day in Tokyo, Japan

D2 - 20 September 2018

Yasukuni Shrine - Tokyo, Japan

We started our day by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine - a Shinto shrine to commemorate those who died in a war for the country. The shrine listed names, origins, birthdates, and places of death of almost 2.5 million people including various pet animals.

In front of Yasukuni Kaikan and detail maps of Yushukan Museum - Tokyo, Japan 

In the lobby of Yushukan Museum - Tokyo, Japan

We did not enter into the Yasukuni Shrine Sanshuden (assembly hall), but went straight towards direction of the Yasukuni Kaikan and Yushukan Museum. That also, we only entered inside the lobby and did not enter inside the museum. Just wanted to know how this historical place looked like.

A very wide zebra crossing towards Daimaru building near main Tokyo station, Japan

From there we went to the Tokyo main station to purchase the train tickets and to shop at Daimaru building as we would then have our lunch there. This time we had Japanese grilled eel for lunch :)

Japanese eel feast at Nihonbashi Isesada - Daimaru Tokyo, Japan

It was located at 12th floor. Nihonbashi Isesada served the Japanese grilled eel - be it a la carte order or set menu type. The above was what I got for my lunch. The portion was just nice. The variety of food was great.

How the seat looked like - Nihonbashi Isesada Tokyo, Japan

Sitting on tatami with hole below the table where you could rest your feet below suited everyone especially the elderly.

Food dummy displayed outside the restaurant - Nihonbashi Isesada Tokyo, Japan

Even though you did not know how to speak Japanese, you could see what you would be getting from the food dummy displayed outside the restaurant. That was also the way they attracted their customers with their food variety offered. You got exactly the food that looking like what you saw there!!! :D

With full stomach, we were ready to browse the next destination - the famous Senso-ji (Asakusa Kannon Temple) - the Tokyo's eldest temple, a must visit place for people visiting Tokyo for the very first time :) I went there thrice (once in each visit to Japan) and never got bored :D Because apart from praying, people went there to shop many Japanese products - especially souvenirs, and also to try some Japanese snacks like mochi, green tea, etc.

Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate) and Nakamise towards Senso-ji (Asakusa Kannon Temple) in Tokyo, Japan

The place was very crowded, even in raining day. Many people wore the Japanese traditional clothes (kimono). But don't be surprised if they were not Japanese. Like those ladies who were on the above photos (left bottom picture) - both of them were from Korea. Hahaha... The clothes were available for rent and it took a beautiful picture matching with the colorful place that we visited, very Japan type! :D

The main temple to worship the Kannon or Goddess of Mercy - Senso-ji in Tokyo, Japan

The main temple was to worship the Kannon or also called Goddess of Mercy (or Kwan Im for Chinese) who was believe to grant people's wishes and prayers. Many amulets were sold at the area - for good health, career, love, luck, study, happiness, and so on.

Unique architecture at Ometosando Hills - Tokyo, Japan

We went back to hotel afterwards. Soon after I went out to Omotesando-Hills - a shopping complex - reminiscing my last visit in Tokyo with my friends. It was not a good day to go out actually as it rained incessantly and heavily. Even with umbrella on hand, my pants were half wet. My shoes were fully soaked with water too but it did not stop me to walk all the way to the Nike outlet at Harajuku. I finally got my shoes there and happily went back to hotel by metro.

Plastic layer to cover your shopping bag when it rained in Japan

Before moving on, let me share something interesting from Japan. Well, the last time I visited Japan was eleven years ago, so pardon me if you might find this was a common thing. But for those who never visited Japan before or long time did not visit Japan, you might find it interesting that most shops there would provide plastic layer to cover your shopping bag when it was raining outside. See the above picture to see how it looked like. So when you carried it out in the street, your items would be kept dried all the time. What a thoughtful gesture done by Japanese, wasn't it?

We had dinner at an interesting ramen (Japanese noodle) place called Ichiran Ramen at Shimbashi area - not too far from Ginza, within walking distance. Tbh, I seldom ate at Japanese restaurant in Singapore. For me, Japanese food sounded expensive and tasted so so, and I did not have much interest on eating ramen too. However, this place gave me a different perspective of the existence of delicious Japanese noodle with a very interesting restaurant concept!!!

Queue at Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

This outlet was quite small, only had 18 seats. Therefore, long queue was expected. When I said 'queue', it was really queue!!! The outlet was located at basement and throughout the staircase from there to the street level, people occupied half of the staircase area queuing!!! While waiting, we were given up the order form and we had ample time to fill it up.

Form to fill up at Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

We filled mainly the first page to let the Chef know how we would our bowl of ramen taste like (the level of dashi/seasoning stock, richness of the soup, how much garlic we wanted to have, whether we wanted any green onion in it, with or without chashu (sliced pork), the spiciness level of the soup, and whether the noodle texture was hard, medium, or soft. As first timer, it was recommended to choose medium level to try. When you tasted it already, then next time you could decide how you want it to be. The second page was to be filled if you wanted to have extra things with your meal, such as: rice, pork, green onion, seaweed, garlic, and so on.

Ordering machine at Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

Before the entrance, there would be a machine for you to key in your order and do the payment at the same time. The direction how to use the machine was provided on top of the machine and the buttons were quite straight forward with picture next to it.

Light panel to inform the vacant seat before the entrance at Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

Just before the entrance door, you could find the above machine. It would inform you whether there were any available seat and where (green meant vacant). There was a staff there to assist you anyway. You could also purchase the dried-ramen box (5 portions of noodles per box at 2,000 yen) for takeaway or even bring it back to your home country.

Seats at Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

Dadadada..... The above was how you expect your dinner table looking like - cubicle layout! It was a table and chair for each person complete with water tap in each table, empty cup on top of it, new chopstick on the table, and string tied pen for additional order on second page provided in case you wanted to add something to your meal.

How it looked from the back at Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

It was an individual kind of dining experience so that you went there just to eat, and not for chit chatting with your fellow friends - just to make it a quick dining.

How my table looked like after my order came :) Ichiran Ramen Shimbashi - Tokyo, Japan

The Chef would walk around in the alley that separated the two sides of tables (in the middle), to deliver your ramen from the kitchen. Once your food was served, he would close the rolling bamboo in front of you so that you could enjoy the eating privacy with no one looked at you. Interesting, wasn't it??? :)

My happy face :)

And the best thing was, the ramen tasted delicious too!!! If one day I visited Japan again, I would come here and eat this noodle again!!! :)

On our way back to hotel, we stopped at Don Quijote Ginza or Don Don Donki in Singapore for another round of shopping. Tax free was applicable here for purchase above 5,400 yen. Many things were sold here and the place was too long for me.

Well, that was how our second and last day in Tokyo going by. The next day we would move to another town and more story would come in my next post. Keep reading!!! :)

Another trip to Japan with my loved ones :)

This trip was impromptu. He just asked me a question and I agreed to it immediately. Although I had been there twice before this, it would not stop me from going there again, because I wanted to spend my special day with my special ones :) So, with not much preparation (as someone planned and arranged everything for the trip), I finally went to Japan!!!

Day 1 - 19 September 2018

The flight took off from Jakarta by Garuda Indonesia at midnight. Therefore, I had to fly from Singapore to Jakarta in the afternoon at the same day.

We departed from Terminal 3 - special airport designated for Garuda Indonesia flight. It was my first time going through the Terminal 3 as usually I took other airlines from and to Jakarta. So before boarding, I roamed around the area like a tourist :D The airport was big and beautiful, but less crowded, perhaps it was too late at night. The shops were definitely better than the ones in other terminals.

Haneda VS Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan

We reached Haneda International Airport around 7.45 am Tokyo time. Again, it was my first time flying through this airport. Before that I always flew from Narita International Airport. Haneda was much nearer to Tokyo city compared from Narita (see the Google map above - Haneda in heart sign and Narita in location sign).

Twelve-stories high Uniqlo store at Ginza - Tokyo, Japan

From Haneda we took taxi to our hotel in Ginza area and it cost us 6,490 yen or approx. S$80 with currency of S$1 = 80 yen. We put our luggage to the hotel and started shopping. Hahaha.... I know it was too early to shop, but yes we did. Our first stop was the twelve-stories high Uniqlo store!!! With 5,000 sqm floor space, it was the second largest Uniqlo outlets in the world!!! In Japan, tourist could shop tax-free when they spent over 5,400 yen (otherwise you had to pay 8% tax for everything!)

As you could see from the photo above, the sky was bright blue and the weather was so hot despite the autumn season. The sun shone so bright and I did not expect it to be like that! Most of the clothes I brought from home was thicker ones, therefore it was a good excuse for me to purchase some summer clothes there in Japan hahaha... :P

Tenichi Ginza Honten 

We shopped there until we proceeded next for tempura lunch at Tenichi Ginza Honten - known as the best tempura place in Tokyo, visited by many world leaders such as: Bill Clinton, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jacques Chirac, Henry Kissinger, Kofi Annan, and so on. Their set lunch comprised of rice bowl with prawn, fish, asparagus, mushroom with shrimp tempura, miso soup, assorted pickles, and tea, which cost around 5,000 yen.

Sleek design of Ginza Six from top floor - Ginza, Tokyo

After lunch, we went back to our hotel and checked-in. It was free time so I decided not to waste it and went for shopping again (mostly window shopping) in the area hahaha.... :P

Laduree Tokyo Ginza - Japan

At 4 pm plus we met for afternoon high tea at Laduree Tokyo Ginza at Mitsukoshi department store. It was a luxury French style cafe famous mainly for its Macaron - a Meringue based round shape pastry-like-burger filled with different flavor of sugar paste. But it was also famous for its sweet and beautiful shapes pastries to be accompanied with tea and/ or coffee.

I did not usually go to such a high class place in my daily life so I was grateful for finally experiencing it there and thank you to you know who you were for the wonderful treat! :) I tried their famous Marie Antoinette tea - a mixture of rose and citrus flavor light black tea (1,231 yen incl. tax) together with the lovely Marie Antoinette Rose Framboise seasonal cake selection (1,566 yen incl. tax) - which I called "the wedding-cake-shape tart." :D It tasted sweet, sour, and full of fragrant inside the mouth.

When leaving the place, then I realized, something was missing. My shopping bag was not there! Tried recalling where I went - reversed all the things I did before the afternoon tea - I finally remembered that I hung it inside the toilet. I went into the cubicle again but it was not there anymore.

I remembered watching video from Facebook about how honest Japanese people could be, like whenever someone dropped their shopping bag on the street, people just left that shopping bag in the original position (without taking it home with them). Therefore, I was trying my luck by asking it to the Mitsukoshi department store's staff who stood up nearby the toilet area. Luckily she knew English and understood what my question was. She tried calling to few people asking about my missing bag.

She asked me what thing was inside, which brand or shop I bought it from, etc. I could not remember the shop name as I did not take any attention when purchasing it but luckily I kept the receipt inside my wallet. I showed it to her and she was again giving the required information towards the person she was talking with. After few phone calls, she finally told me that the bag was found by someone and I could collect it back at Information counter at level 1. Wow!!!! It was mind blowing!!! I was amazed with Japanese people, for their honesty and integrity!!! I never expected to get my shopping bag back but it did return back to me! Thank you to the staff who helped me and the person who passed the missing item back to the shopping center staff. Although I did not know your name, but your kindness would remain in my heart. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!

Shake Shack at Tokyo International Forum building - Tokyo, Japan

For dinner, we walked all the way to Tokyo International Forum building near the Yurakucho station and proceeded to Shake Shack - the burger joint from NYC. I had not had it before this so I was quite exciting to try!!! I read the review before going there and many would complain about the price. They felt it was not balance with the thing they received, in other words, expensive.

Well, it was pretty expensive though (a single ShackBurger - 710 yen, double - 1,010 yen, SmokeShack single - 910 yen (added with bacon and cherry pepper), Shack-cago Dog (pork) - 610 yen, regular Hot Dog (pork) - 490 yen, regular Fries - 440 yen, and one pitch of ShackMeister Ale beer - 2,800 yen (all prices were excluded 8% tax)), and it all looked pretty regular. However, the meat or beef, made of 100% ground Angus beef, was really thick and tasty. I enjoyed it thoroughly :)

Ginza view at night - Tokyo, Japan

After dinner we walked back. On the way, we stopped at Bic Camera Yurakucho - a big electronic retail store - to see their electronic appliances, before going back to hotel for rest. It was such a long day and my body needed rest. That was how my first day was rolling. Will continue soon... :)

Books read for the first half of the year 2018

Book quote (Pic source: Google.com)

Sorry it was a bit late to post this as I was busy and only today I had time to gather all titles I had read and put the list up here :)

Below please find the list of the book I read for the first half of the year 2018:

January 2018

January 2018: 
1. The Mummy Bloggers - Holly Wainwright

2. Something Like Happy - Eva Woods

3. Into the Water - Paula Hawkins

4. Harmless Like You - Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

February 2018

February 2018:

1. Little Fires Everywhere - Celeste Ng

2. It's Always the Husband - Michele Campbell

March 2018

March 2018:

1. Embracing Each Moment - Anam Thubten

2. Singapore Siu Dai 3 - Felix Cheong

3. Milk and Honey - Rupi Kaur

4. Si Cacing dan Kotoran Kesayangannya 2 - Ajahn Brahm

5. The Path - A Guide To Happiness - Khenpo Sherab Zangpo

April 2018

April 2018:
1. Introducing Tibetan Buddhism - Samuel Geoffrey

2. Tales for Transforming Adversity - Khenpo Sodargye

May 2018

May 2018:

1. Always Present - The Luminous Wisdom of Jigme Phuntsok

2. Passu Diary - Chablop Passang Tshering

3. An Ocean of Blessings - Heart Teachings of Drubwang Penor Rinpoche

4. The Zahir - Paulo Coelho

5. Still Me - Jojo Moyes

June 2018

June 2018:

1. The Sun and Her Flowers - Rupi Kaur

Well, I had no idea how I could read 19 books for the first half of the year since I spent most of my time traveling around. And if you notice, lately I read more books on Buddhism. I just felt good reading about Buddha Dhamma as it was written by many wise Lama, Khenpo, and Rinpoche. I felt that I need to be reminded all the time about Buddha's teaching while at the same time trying to do my best in practicing it daily, since I did not have any spiritual teacher in real life.

There would be less books read for the second half of the year, again due to more traveling haha... but I would do my best spending my time with reading while I could. Hope all of you continue your reading passion as well. Keep going guys!!! :)

Travelling with parents tale - Welcome back!!!

Welcome back!!! (Pic source: Google.com)

We were back in Malaysia!!! But only starting from today, three of us shared a room, just like before. It's been a year since the last time we came to this same hotel. Even the Manager had well recognized me and knew my name upon my arrival! What a good memory he had! :) Too good until I couldn't run away from him - will tell you the story soon, lol! :P

We were given a room at the most back and at the toppest floor (total of 4 storey high) since I requested a room with window and with no noise. We stayed at the room after lunch and after such an early flight (I had to wake up very early this morning), I wanted to take a nap. But my dad, like usual, was watching TV with such a loud noise. Ugghhhhh...... I regretted not bringing the ear plugs to stop the noise. Since I was very tired, eventually I fell asleep but soon I was awaken by nightmare :(

Irritated by the TV sound!!! (Pic source: Google.com)

So I got up and went inside toilet. Hmm... I found my peace there. The air suction sound could cover the noise from TV sound outside. So I sat on toilet bowl for a while. But soon, someone knocked my door and grrrrrr..... I had to go out and lose my peace.

When I went out from toilet, TV had been turned off. And soon, it's my dad's turn to sleep. I decided to put on earpiece and listened to music from my phone, browsing and chatting. But this time, my mom had been awoken from her nap - quite energetic, or perhaps her revenge time - she was watching those videos sent around virally, complete with the music all blasted with full volume from her mobile phone, disturbing my dad's nap. Lol!!! 

"They were really meant for each other after almost 50 years of marriage together," I told myself inside my heart. Because even with such noise, my dad was still able to sleep peacefully right next to her, and he was even snoring so loud... ^^"

Durian season - Penang, Malaysia

When he got up, they said they wanted to buy fruits. I said, we had durian in the fridge. The day before, we packed fresh durian to a vacuum-packed plastic container from Penang, as I had ordered and drunk a glass of beer mindlessly while waiting for the rest to come for dinner. (We couldn't mix durian and alcohol on the same day as it would give a very bad reaction to the body). And we brought it all the way here and stored in the minibar chiller. And by right, durian was not allowed in many areas starting from airport, taxi, mrt or train station, mall, even hotel as the smell was pungent and strong, not everyone could accept it.

Wrapped durian with plastic, put in plastic container, then vacuum-packed it to avoid the smell to spread out

We opened the window wide and ignored all that restriction. We opened the packages and started enjoying it happily. Once finished, I packed the seeds together, wrapped inside the plastic bag, went out from the hotel downstairs through the staircases (not lift), and threw the rubbish outdoor, in front of the supermarket nearby. I came back, took lift, came inside the room, then went out again near lift to take some water. While waiting for the lift and while filling up the water bottle, the receptionist staff and housekeeping staff were there watching me. I just acted blur and smiled to them, went back to room and soon I felt sleepy and took a nap again. Lol!

While taking a nap, suddenly the room phone was ringing. Half sleep, I could sense the question marks from my parents' heads, like who's on earth would call us. No one else knew we stayed here. My mom picked it up and after that, she passed the phone to me. It turned out that the hotel Manager who remembered my name was calling, looking for me, and asking if we ate durian inside the room. Lol!!!  Still acting blur I asked why? Hahahahaha.... 

Not everyone loves it!!! Either you love it or hate it! (Pic source: Google.com)

He said the smell was so strong that they could even smell it from downstairs. Hahaha... Even when our room was at the most back and toppest floor, the durian smell could still travel to the first floor. And you know what? When he called, an hour had already passed since the time we ate. I really couldn't lie or say no. He made a call to inform us that there was a hotel policy that durian was not allowed inside the room and thank God there was no fine for such act. Some hotel might give nasty treatment for having durian inside the room as they would have hard times to chase the smell out from the building.

Oh my!! I felt very ashamed after that. I immediately opened the room's window so wide to let the smell going out for some time. I felt blushed on my both cheeks. How to face him later?? He even knew my name!!! Lol!!! I felt as if I made such huge mistake in the world!! Oh man!!!

Blushing all over ^^" (Pic source: Google.com)

When going downstairs for dinner, he was there with his colleague. I looked at him and with my right hand next to my ear, I showed a hand-sign meaning 'I'm sorry, please forgive me. Won't do it again next time.' Luckily he was really kind. He was just laughing, did not know what and how to react. Just laugh. Perhaps smile and laughter were the best medicines for every situation, especially the awkward ones. Hahahahaha... Yeah, I was forgiven. And luckily no fine and was not asked to leave. Lol.

Full Time Traveller

Wander lust - Rimareyka.writes

Every time I meet someone new, they always ask me this question, "What's your occupation?" or "What do you do in life?" as if the answer will determine and judge on who I am, what kind of person, how much I earn, and all sorts of things that will derive from it.

It's been two years since the last time I worked and in the beginning, I would tell them that I wasn't working. And when applying visa, I'd simply fill the blank up with a word "housewife," although I couldn't really be called one as the time spent at home was almost equal with the time spent outside home and/ or home country (around 55% only).

My heavens on earth - Rimareyka.writes 

Below is the summary of my trips abroad so far this year:

1. 31 January - 26 February: Melbourne (Australia)
Family time - Celebrated Chinese New Year (Dog year)

2. 7-11 March: Jakarta (Indonesia)
Visit hometown

3. 6-30 April: Colombo - Adam's Peak/ Sripada - Anuradhapura- Dambulla - Sigiriya - Kandy - Nuwara Eliya - Ella - Galle - Unawatuna - Negombo (Srilanka)
Buddhist Pilgrimage plus celebrating Sinhalese New Year and Vesak Day

Live with no regrets (Pic source: Google.com)

4. 1-5 May: Batam - Bangka (Indonesia)
Family time - Prayed 100th year Popo (Grandma)

5. 31 May - 14 June: Regal Princess Cruise: Copenhagen (Denmark) - Oslo (Norway) - Berlin (Germany) - Tallinn (Estonia) - St. Petersburg (Russia) - Helsinki (Finland) - Stockholm (Sweden) - Freetown Christina

6. 8-18 July: Kolkata (India)
Visit friends and watch World Cup Final :P

7. 30 July - 4 August: Pematang Siantar - Lake Toba - Samosir Island (Indonesia)
Visit Bale Batoba

8. 4 August til present: Penang - Ipoh - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Health screening - accompany parents

Flying horse - Rimareyka.writes

And it's already August now!!! I'm still that white horse with flying wings that keep traveling around the world.

Some trip was planned but many were decided on the last minute basis. And back to the question that people often ask me earlier, I think I can confirm now telling them that I'm a full-time traveller :P:P:P