tips melancong ke Jepun

This is a wrap to all Japan's entry.

So here's some of the tips yang mungkin boleh diguna pakai untuk those yang plan ke Jepun.

1. Kalau pergi pada musim sejuk, tak perlu beli topcoat or baju sejuk dan heat thermal banyak-banyak di Malaysia. Sebab negara kita bukan negara sejuk, so benda-benda ni semua mahal di sini. Perhaps beli sepasang or pinjam kawan-kawan saja dulu. Nanti sampai Jepun boleh beli. Memang murah. Uniqlo's baju sejuk and heat thermal are the best. I beli long john di Universal Traveller KL one pair RM150+-, tapi kat sana boleh dapat around Y1,500+- (RM50). Top coat / wind breaker around Y2,000 to Y5,000 (RM70 to RM200).

2. Baju juga adalah murah. Brands like Forever 21, H&M lebih murah berbanding Malaysia.

3. Trains adalah super duper easy and convenient. Dan tidaklah sesusah yang digembar gembur kan. Kenapa I cakap tak susah walaupun berselirat routes nya? Sebab there's always information counter at each train station. Walaupun some of them tak fasih berbahasa English, worry not. Sebab kalau you bercakap macam ayam itik pun, or guna sign language, Insyaallah maksudnya deliver. I rasa sebab diorang memang dah biasa kot. Sometimes kelakar okay? I kadang-kadang saja cakap bahasa melayu tanya tempat, but surprisingly they seems understand it. Maybe sebab siap dengan sign language kot. Or paling mudah, download lah application translation dalam phone (which is my husband did but tak guna sangat pun).

4. Oh yes, ini penting. Sebab I pun tak tahu at first. Okay, normally kalau kita shopping kat kedai-kedai diorang ni, Uniqlo, H&M or Forever 21 for example, sila present passport you masa nak buat payment. This is for tax exemption. For first few purchase I tak present, I rasa macam kenapa lagi mahal dari publish price till someone told me I need to present my passport. Oh, I thought kita just collect all the receipt and boleh claim at the airport before leaving to Malaysia. That does not applicable here.

5. Sila pilih accommodation berdekatan train station. Kalau boleh walking distance, sebabnya cab di Jepun quite costly. Er, but if you don't mind to splurge your money on cab, so it shouldn't be a problem. Sebabnya normally dari Haneda Airport to bandar Tokyo, the rate will be around RM400+-.

6. Foods. We brought one medium size trolley bag full of foods. By foods, I mean can foods, biscuits, instant noodles, bread and rice (beras). The apartment we stay allows cooking, why not? And oh, plus my husband is not a fan of Japanese foods, remember? But oh well, makan tuna sandwich dalam cuaca sejuk-sejuk di taman-taman di Jepun sangatlah menyelerakan dan mengujakan. Don't forget to bring zip lock bag as well, kalau rasa yang suka nak tapau foods berjalan kemana-mana tu.

7. If you bawa beras, you are require to declare them in the landing form. Landing form ini diberi masa dalam flight selalunya. So boleh isi siap-siap untuk mengelakkan kekalutan. I tahu ada saja jenis yang tak suka declare ni, tapi trust me, to be on safe side, just declare. Macam I, masa lalu custom tu and pass the form to the personnel, they just asked us random questions, as in duration of stay and stay kat mana. Form tu kena isi completely ya, termasuk address you stay in Japan.

I guess that's all kot for the time being. Nanti kalau I teringat apa-apa lagi I will add up here, okay?

trip ke jepun part 5

Fuh!

Finally, I rasa I berjaya compose all stories during my trip to Japan. Walaupun tak sedetails and secomplete mana, but I'm happy with it. Something for me to look back and reminiscing memories.

Feb 2nd, 2015 (Selasa) - Day 5

Oh, semalam btw we went to a place named Hiroo. Sebab husband wanted to go to this one shop, selling all toys as he's looking for his Hot Wheels Japan Edition. Unfortunately, kedai tu tutup every Monday. And if it's open, they close early. By the time we reach the place it was nearly 9PM. Dahlah from nearby train station to this shop quite far. Nak tercabut kaki mek!

Well, suppose we plan to come again tomorrow, which is today in Day 5. Tapi sebab semalam nya memang tenaga dah betul-betul depleted, we woke up slightly late. So bila dah lambat tu memang malas nak keluar. End up we just enjoying ourselves on the bed. Berguling-guling saja dalam comforter. Since it is our very last day, might as well rehat betul-betul dan sepuas-puasnya before our flight back home late tonight.

Okay.

We decided to start our journey to the airport around 6PM. So after pack things up, masak and makan, getting ready and whatnot so we wave goodbye to our 5nights apartment. Walk to the train station and beli ticket.

Journey takes around 1 hour to reach to the airport from Ikebukuro. Tapi kena pandai budget masa if you'd like to opt for train. As for us, our flight scheduled at 1145PM, so bolehlah ambil our own sweet time.

Sampai saja airport, perut dah lapar. Passed by the check in counter, belum buka lagi. So pusing-pusing cari makan dulu. Tapi sungguhlah susah nak cari makanan Halal di Tokyo Internation Airport. Sangatlah susah. Berpusing satu airport, sikit lagi nak pengsan. #drama

Pusing punya pusing, jumpalah satu cafe ni kat tingkat atas. So we just settled with a plate of spaghetti each. Sedaplah juga! Perut dah lapar memang apa pun sedap.

Happy faces dapat makan!

Settle makan, turun bawah nak check in. Tengok-tengok dah long queue dah. Subhanallah punyalah panjang queue. Kat KL panjang juga queue tapi kira cepatlah sampai turn. Tapi kat sini memang slow gila. Gila-gila punya slow tahap nak mencarut dalam hati. Can you imagine nak check in sahaja ambil masa lebih kurang 1jam 15minit. Berdiri selama 1jam 15minit okay. Tapi panjang-panjang queue pun tak adalah sampai 50 orang depan I.

Rupanya bila sampai our turn, barulah tahu that they actually ada masalah komunikasi. Walaupun bekerja as front liner or guest services, tapi English mereka sangatlah limited. Dan yang menjadikan lambat is because they're trying so hard to explain in details on apa yang boleh bawa on board, boarding pukul berapa and so on.

It's good, cumanya bila queue panjang tu I rasa tak perlu okay nak explain details macam tu. It is all stated di boarding pass tu kan boarding what time, gate mana and so on. Haih.

But nevertheless, everything went well. We had a smooth flight home to KL. Alhamdulillah. Lepas meal served on board, kami berlayar ke lalaland sampai lah landing.

And,

Hello Malaysia!

trip ke jepun part 4

Speed up. Speed up.

Hahaha.

Feb 2nd, 2015 (Isnin) - Day 5

I browse and google around, they said Tokyo Tower is a MUST place to go. For me, well nothing much pun. Sama macam kat KL, kita pergi KL Tower. Tapi masalahnya, KL Tower pun I tak pernah sampai lagi! Hahaha, macam mana tu?

Main thing di Tokyo Tower mestilah tengok scenary from the up kan. So that's what we did. Hahaha.

From our apartment we hop on  the train. Di Tokyo, the trains system is so integrated. Memang senang gila nak jump from one place to another. Cuma kena prepare lutut sajalah, nak jalan jauh. Tapi seriously, kalau rasa nak selesa berjalan please wear proper shoes. Plus it's winter, pakailah boot yang selesa. Tak perlu nak feeling-feeling sangat pakai heel boot kot?

Because I am pretty sure dapat bertahan sehari sahaja. Esoknya confirm taubat tak mahu pakai dah!

On the way from train station to Tokyo Tower, we passed by a temple. So yes, another selfie!

Aha, can you seee that? Tokyo Tower dari kejauhan. Er, tak adalah cantik sangat pun kan? But I've read somewhere kalau malam lagi cantik okay? Macam Eiffel Tower. I pun tak faham kenapa the husband must bring me here during day time.

Dalam Tokyo Tower, full of lights! Cantik! I suka!

This is look up window below us. So boleh nampaklah jalan-jalan raya yang kita lalu tadi. Oh yes, jalan raya mereka memang bersih sebersih bersihnya!

Er, I persembahkannnn, gambar I silhouette. Hahaha, I nak tunjuk belakang tu permandangan Tokyo City dari Tokyo Tower. Tapi macam biasalah, I malas nak tanggalkan monopod from my phone.

For this Tokyo Tower, ada entrance fee. Adult Y900. Tapi halfway of the top sajalah. For top view, I think it's double the fee.

Dalam Tokyo Tower ni ada kedai souvenirs, but quite pricey. So bila I dah turun elevator nak cari exit door kat tingkat bawah, there's another place orang jual souvenirs. Sini murah sikit. I dapat beli few keychains dengan harga Y380/piece.

Okay lah kan?

After strolling around, we headed back to our apartment. Perut pun dah lapar berkeroncong ni. At first we plan nak balik terus and just whip up anything to eat, but then suddenly husband said why don't we eat at Malaysian restaurant nearby our place.

It's Malay-chan Restaurant, nearby Ikebukuro Station. Quite well known among Malaysian and definitely Halal!

Rasanya retaurant ni pernah masuk rancangan Zizan yang travel ke Japan tu. The interior memang agak Malaysian plus lagu yang dimainkan pun memang lagu-lagu zaman 90-an. Memang rasa macam kat Malaysia!

So I had nasi putih and sup ayam while my husband ambil nasi goreng special I guess. Ada satay, telur mata dan keropok. He said the meal was okay-okay. Mine superb! Sup ayam memang cukup rasa. Berbaloi-baloi! Price wise? For meals I mentioned before and 2 drinks, bill come out at Y6,000 +-.

Nah! 2 orang Malaysia yang gedik nak makan makanan Melayu padahal lusa dah sampai KL pun. Hahaha. Suppose dah sampai Japan, makanlah makanan Japan hendaknya kan? Tidak ya. Tekak husband I tetaaaapppplah melayu. Er, tekak I pun sama je!

We got back and jump on bed with happy tummy.

trip ke jepun part 3

Serious this is such a long delay.

I just got back from Phuket and Koh Samui, so I will speed up the entry on Japan.

Feb 1st, 2015 (Ahad) - Day 4

After a long dayyyyy yesterday, we woke up a bit late. Dengan cuaca yang super duper sejuk, serious sejuk, memang bestlah bergulung bawah comforter. During day time, suhu boleh mencapai around 5C.

Getting ready and penuhkan perut as usual, we headed to The Yushukan War Museum.

Train from Ikebukuro and stop at i-forgot-the-station-name-i-am-sorry. Hahaha. But if you're into history just like my husband, please google and a bit of survey on this place. It is not that hard to reach.

But this place close early, so kami datang that day pun dah kira macam terlambat jugalah. Close at 4.30PM local time, we reached there nearly 4PM. Husband dah pasrah dah at first, macam tak nak masuk. But I push myself inside, and tadaaaaa

Ini saja pun yang suami saya nak tengokkk sangat. He said this is Zero Fighter, guna masa zaman jepun. I was like. ' Ohhh, aaaaaa' all the time, sebabnyaaa I tak tahu sangat bab-bab sejarah ni, plus I tak berapa minat. Tapi since the husband was so excited, I pun tumpang excited ambil gambar sekali lah!

Hahaha.

Actually luar museum ni (I rasa it is actually bukan museum, tapi macam exhibition hall), ialah macam park tau. Nice park, because the buildings around and seni bina rasa macam betul-betul di zaman Jepun dulu kala.

 The Entrance. Please bare with all the selfies okay? Phone I memang pasang monopod, so memang dah tak tanggal dah, sebabnyaa it was sooo cold I can't even take off my glove.

We leave this place almost sunset. Since it was winter in Japan, so gelap awal. Around 5 lebih macam tu dah gelap.

Next destination was, Nakano Broadway!

Okay, as for this place, husband yang make an effort untuk buat research and survey in a very limited time. Sebab mission dia ialah mencari Hot Wheels. Er, kereta yang kecil-kecil tu? Tapi I pun tak ambil gambar kereta yang dia beli.

Japan lebih terkenal dengan Tomica Cars, compared to Hot Wheels. Cuma ada series Hot Wheels yang berasaskan character dari Japan for example Power Rangers and the list goes on (sorry, nak explain in details I tak faham sangat. Hahaha!)

Nakano Broadway ni macam small shopping mall, tapi mostly banyak toys yang rare and antiques. Kalau you are toys collector, here is MUST GO!

trip ke jepun part 1

Okay.

I shall see if I managed to update on the trip while lying on this fluffy bed and tunggu husband back from work. Haha. Oh yes, we are still in JB.

Although everything was so last minutes, we enjoyed Japan to the bit. It was my second time in Tokyo whilst husband's first time.

For us Tokyo is a fine place, dengan budaya dan masyarakat mereka yang teratur dan straight forward, I guess our journey is nothing than smooth.

Jan 29th, 2015 (Khamis) - Day 1

Flying with Air Asia X via KLIA2 at 1420. Landed at Haneda International Airport, Japan at 2230 their time. Japan cepat 1 jam dari kita. GMT +9. So sampai sana waktu Malaysia 9.30 malam, tapi waktu mereka dah 10.30 malam. Flight time 7hours and 5mins.

Tips : If fly dengan Air Asia X, sila pre book meals, seats and if possible kalau tak larat nak duduk tersepit lama, ambil lah hot seat. Hot seat ialah seat yang paling depan every row. So ada ruang kelegaan kaki yang lebih selesa untuk melunjur. Kalau bawa orang tua or baby, memang advisable ambil seats ni. Sebab baby perlukan bassinet throughout the flight.

And yes, of course you have to pour more money for the above.

Wow, I'm improving my skill in taking selfie. Yes, I am not good at all in this.

Okay, since kami arrive Japan lambat dan flight back to KL pun near midnight so we decided to stay in an apartment. And it was the best decision ever! Hahaha, will tell about it later.

After browsing and surveying for days, we opted to stay at Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Reason being was; the place is very near to the trains station and Ikebukuro Station antara station yang penting sebab pertukaran banyak train di situ. Di Japan, ada banyak jenis train dan routes and it's really confusing.

Selain tu, the place also very convenient dengan malls and tempat makan. Plus point, there's one halal restaurant just 5 minutes away. And it's Malaysian, people!

Rate wise is around RM380++/night and all worth it because its like we own the whole apartment. Fully furnished with heater/aircond, kitchen, washing machine and all.

From Haneda Airport, we took Keikyu Line (JR) to Ikebukuro. We need to change train at Shinagawa. Train cost us JPY670/person. 35 to 40 minutes journey. Option ini yang paling murah dan senang since we arrive quite late kan, and Ikebukuro station is just like 7 minutes walk to our apartment.

Note : JPY100 = RM3 (lebih kurang)

Okay, so dah sampai. After whole drama tarik bags from the station and finding our apartment dalam cuaca yang Subhanallah sangatlah sejuk, it's a warp for Day 1. If that may consider as Day 1. Hahaha.

Jan 30th, 2015 (Jumaat) - Day 2.

Woke up to the snowfalls.

Oh my god.

I memang teruja dan jakun okay.

I've been to few four seasons countries, alhamdulillah. Memang pernah rasa dan tengok snow, tapi till the date I tak pernah rasa snowfalls yang macam Merry Christmas tu ya. Tak pernah. So bila I bangun and selak langsir, I macam terpaku few seconds before I berlari ke katil dan kejut husband.

I. Berlari. And. I. Goncang. Husband. I.

Yes.

I gegar gegar sambil terjerit jerit;

"Sayang bangun sayang, you're not gonna miss this. It's snowing! It's snowing!"

Terpisat-pisat lah hamba Allah tu bangun sebab terkejut! Tapi dia tenung sekejap saja, then sambung tidur balik! Hahaha.

View from our apartment! Ah, bestnya!

Then kitorang bersiap-siap and it's almost petang bila kita decide nak ke Akihabara. Sebabnya kitorang mengumpul kekuatan nak keluar dalam cuaca sejuk dan windy!

From Ikebukuro we took train to Akihabara. They call it as Electric City. Kat sini mostly orang cari barang electric and electronic, gadget dan toys kot?

Strolling around the road and husband end up buying miniature cars. Yeah. My husband.

Okay pardon all my photos.  All are selfies BTW. I pasang monopod at my phone so semua gambar memang kalau tak ada muka I, mesti ada husband I. My husband carry along his DSLR so all good photos are with him. Once he update his blog, I will put the link here okay?

Meanwhile please bare with all my selfie photos. Kasihan siapa yang tersesat masuk blog I cari info on Japan confirm terpaksa tengok muka I. Sorry people! I'll try to feed as many info as I could ya.

I shall stop first and to be continue later ya?