"I want to make memories all over the world."

Hi Travellers !!

Ini adalah kedua kalinya saya berkunjung ke Jepang. Entah mengapa Jepang punya daya tarik tersendiri buat saya. Kali ini  saya mempunyai pengalaman yang extraordinary. Dimulai dari saya harus meinggalkan Kuala Lumpur Airport tanpa koper. Buat kamu yang rencana naik Air Asia low cost ke Jepang harus memperhatikan beberapa hal di bawah ini :
1. Check in minimal 1 jam sebelum flight
2. Karena low cost sehingga Air Asia berangkat dari bandara KLIA2. Nah hati-hati kalau kamu tipe orang yang santai. Karena jarak dari imigrasi ke gate pesawat kamu cukup jauh. Butuh waktu sekitar 25 menit untuk jalan santai karena ada berbagai macam pemeriksaan.
3. Perhatikan koper kamu bisa masuk kabin atau tidak. Perhatikan juga tiket low cost kamu sudah termasuk bagasi atau belum? Karena jika belum termasuk bagasi kamu harus antri di bagian tambahan bagasi.

Pengalaman saya ini terjadi karena saya membeli tiket tidak memakai bagasi dan kemudian saya harus mengantri di line bagasi tambahan namun saat 30 menit lagi sebelum flight ternyata koper saya sudah tidak bisa lagi untuk di bawa ke pesawat. Mereka mengatakan semua koper penumpang sudah di masukan dan saya sudah terlambat. Alhasil, saya hanya membawa barang - barang seadanya untuk pergi ke Jepang :((

Btw, di luar pengalaman buruk saya. I really really had a great time in Japan. I visited Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and Kobe. There was amazing places and makes me fall in love especially in Kobe.

Saya mendarat di Bandara Kansai International Airport sekitar pukul 11 malam. Pada malam itu sudah tidak ada transportasi kereta. Jadi pilihan penumpang antara stay a night di Airport atau pergi ke suatu tempat menggunakan bus malam. Saya memilih pergi ke Kyoto pada malam itu menggunakan bus malam. Perjalanan antara Kansai International menuju Kyoto ditempuh sekitar 2.5 jam dan sampailah saya di hotel yang sudah saya booked untuk istirahat.

Hari kedua di Japan, saya menghabiskan waktu ke Nara. Perjalanan dari Kyoto ke Nara cukup singkat sekitar 20 - 30 menit menggunakan kereta. Di Nara kamu bisa lihat banyak sekali rusa - rusa liar yang tidak segan segan untuk mendekati kalian atau meminta makan dari tangan kalian. Kalian bisa membeli makanan rusa seperti biskuit. Banyak penjual makanan rusa di pinggir jalan dan kamu bisa beli dengan harga sekitar 700 yen.

Selain merasakan asiknya main sama rusa - rusa. Tidak jauh dari Stasiun Nara kamu juga bisa melihat temple (tapi lupa namanya apa). Disana ada patung budha yang besar dan di sekitarannya di kelilingi dengan pemandangan musim gugur yang indah,

Hari Ketiga saya menghabiskan waktu seharian penuh di Universal Studio Japan. Kebetulan saat saya kesana tema kali itu adalah Halloween. Semua orang berdandan secara maksimal hanya untuk pergi ke Theme Park tersebut. Dandanan mereka sungguh sungguh totalitas. Lebih deh dari artis - artis horor Indonesia lainnya. Hehe..

Saat malam hari sekitar jam 7 adalah saat paling seru di Universal Studio Japan. Jadi ada beberapa Zombie yang akan keluar untuk menakut nakuti pengunjung disana. Hati - hati kalau kalian bawa anak kecil karena banyak juga loh yang nangis melihat zombie - zombie disana.

Hari ketiga, adalah hari terakhir saya di Jepang. Untuk itu saya pergi ke daerah Kobe. Saya sangat jatuh cinta dengan kota ini, pemandangannya, makanannya. Dan satu hari tidak pernah cukup untuk mengexplore Kobe.

Pertama kali saya berkunjung ke Kobe, saya pergi ke Chinatown. Disana banyak jajanan murah dan saya hampir hilaf untuk beli semua makanannya. Seperti dimsum, es kacang merah dan steak Kobe Beef. Ternyata feelingnya beda yah makan Kobe Beef langsung di Kobe.

Setelah itu, saya berkunjung ke suatu tempat di Kobe yang semua pemandangannya berdesign Eropa. Mulai dari transportasinya, bentuk rumahnya dan saya merasa seperti bukan di Jepang.

Di daerah Eropa ala Kobe, saya menemukan sebuah kuil. Disitu ada hal yang unik, Kamu boleh mengambil salah satu kertas kosong, dan kertas tersebut di celupkan ke dalam air, setelah itu akan muncul tulisan untuk meramalkan nasib kita. Walaupun saya juga tidak mengerti... Hahaha

Kalau ramalan itu bagus kamu boleh simpan di dalam dompet.. Tapi kalau ramalannya tidak bagus menurut kepercayaan kamu harus menggantungnya di kuil tersebut.

Dan inilah pemandangan Kobe setelah naik naik ke puncak bukit..

Save the best for the last, saya menghabiskan waktu di Kobe Port. Menikmati suasana chillin-nya, suasana lautnya dan suasana hari terkahir di Jepang.

Disana juga ada Ferris wheel yang kamu bisa rasain untuk menikmati pemandangan Kobe. Kalau kamu pergi bersama dengan someone special kamu, pasti akan terasa lebih special.

Dan yeahh....
Japan is always a good idea for travelling

Second day in Japan i visited many amazing places around Kyoto including temples and shrines. Actually i dont know what is different between shrines and temples so I really am sorry that i can`t explain more detail about it.

In the second day i went to Arashiyama. The weather around Arashiyama was comfortable and cold because this place near Arashiyama Mountaious area. In Arashiyama area i went to Sagano Bamboo Foreset which is one of the most amazing natural site i`ve seen. In Sagano Bamboo Forest we can see wonderful path surrouned by tall bamboo, come to this place i suggest you to prepare your camera to take this amazing landscape.

We didn`t miss to take a picture in Sagano Bamboo Forest

Around Sagano Bamboo Forest you can find many temples or shrines, i took Japanese rickshaw to explore Arashiyama area. This rickshaw was quite expensive, I had to pay around 4,000 for 15 minutes to go around Arashiyama but it was worth for paid because the driver was very friendly, polite and he explained about the history of temples or shrines in Japanese language. How lucky I am,  I have Japanese boyfriend so he explained to me one by one. Haha

Near Sagano Bamboo Forest i found beautiful small garden which was Saiho-Ji, this place surounded by moss and the green plants, so it`s very beautiful to see it. I dont know the history about this place, but i was admire about the environment, so very quite and calm.

Saiho-Ji Moss Temple

After satisfied to enjoy Arashiyama area, I moved to Kinku-Ji Temple. This is one of famous temple in Kyoto, people said the best weather come to this place is around Autumn and Winter. In Autumn you can see many leaves change different colors and in Winter you can see full of snow around the temple. This temple covers by gold foild that makes the temple so eyecatching.

After I went to visit many temples and natural site, I was wondering where I could find Geisha. Based on information that i got, Kyoto famous because you can find Geisha only in here but my boyfriend told me is quite hard to see Geisha because Geisha is a prestigious entertainment in Japan. Because i insisted to see Geisha, my boyfriend asked me to go to Toei Studios Kyoto. Actually this place is for kiddos, you can find many attractions and performances in here such as Samurai performance, ninja attraction and haunted house. Besides those of attractions and performances, you can see Japanese culture such as the architecture of building, neighborhood and so on.

Japanese booth around maybe 100 years ago

Took a picture with Maiko and Samurai man

And that was my second day in Kyoto. So far i really felt experience in Japan because i could took a picture with famous Japanese Icon which is Maiko and Samurai.

Hi girls,I want to tell you about my travelling experience and I hope it can be a recommendation when you guys have a plan to go to Japan. I went to Japan for the first time and I`ve been travelling only around Kyoto about 6 days. For the first time l touched down in Japan especially in Osaka ( Because i flew from Jakarta to Osaka and took a train to go to Kyoto) I think Osaka was simmilar city like Jakarta except they have a Shinkansen, organize station and good train schedule and some building has a great architecture. But i was wrong, there was many interesting things to do in Japan.

When I touched down in Osaka International Airport, I took a train to go to Kyoto. There`s 3 different trains to go to Kyoto which are local train, express train and Shinkansen. What is the different between them?

For local train, the train stops at all stations and it takes time to go to Kyoto. You need around 2 hours if you take a local train and including you have to change the train. Actually i dont really understand about the train route map. So i didn`t take kind of this train besides, the train is simmilar with Jakarta`s train. Nothing special from the train because we all knew that our trains is from Japan right?

For Shinkansen which is the highest speed train in Japan. You know what the train is really fast !! I took this train from Kyoto to Osaka only 20 minutes. I took this train because i just want to feel the experience took Shinkansen.The last one is express train. Express train is more convenient than local train because the seat only for two people in the rigt or left side and it faster because the trains stop at fewer stations, so from Osaka to Kyoto you can go only for 1 hour. I took this train.

Ok now, forget about the train, we move to the trip.

First day in Kyoto i saw how amazing Kyoto station, I like the architecture of the station because is not only station but there`s departement store which is Isetan, restaurants and if you going to the upstairs you can see Kyoto landscape.

This is Kyoto Station and you can see how amazing it is

Kyoto Landscape in Spring

The stations also provide lockers for tourist when they come to Kyoto for a moment, they can put their suitcase or bag in the locker. But you have to pay around 500 to 700.

After that, i visited Fushimi-Inari shrine because i heard from my brother when you pray on this place your dream will be come true, this is the main reason why i want to go to this shrine. Is it silly reason? Hahaha..

This is the main gate of Fushimi Inari Shrine. 

If you see the picture, there is dog statues in front of the gate. Actually that isn`t dog, that is a fox. According to the legend stories, fox is a faithful guardian and protect the shrine from evil or bad luck ( My boyfriend told me about it, if it`s wrong. Blame him ;p )

On the shrine you can see many places to pray and people believe if you write and put your dream in this shrine, your dream will be come true. I think Fushimi-Inari is the best place to make a wish and no wonder if you see many wishes around the shrine.

People dreams.

I tried my my good luck with shake a bamboo jar, and the bamboo jar pulled out one stick, in the stick you can see what is your number, I got number 11 and I change the stick with a paper, The paper fill is kind of forecast but i dont understand the meaning. I hope i get a good luck for this year..

My forecast. If you know the meaning please let me know. Haha

After i prayed and made a wish, I explored the shrine more details. So, after I entered the main gate and praying place, I found many gates, each gate has a different message but i heard some people or rich people build this gate and pay a thousand dollars to make a wish or giving thanks for the prosperity and hope of good luck for the future. I wish i could read and explain to you the meaning of those words.

After i went around the temple, I went to one of unique restaurant in Kyoto which was Fire Ramen. Before i went to Japan, I did some research about what is the unique restaurant and i found many foreigner talked about this place. So i went to the restaurant and tried a ramen. The place is very simple but the taste of ramen was delicious. You will be mesmerized if you know how they cook the ramen. Let`s check out the video below but please dont laugh if you see how stupid my face.

So that was my first day in travelling, How lucky I am that I have someone who showed me around many good places in Japan especially Kyoto.