Japan : Osaka Kansai Airport > Kyoto > Shijo Omiya (Day 1)

23 May 2018

After 6 and a half hour of flight, we arrived in Osaka, Kansai Airport at 4:30p.m. ✌ I was waiting for my luggage and caught a glimpse of my bag at the side of the luggage belt. Apparently an officer was pulling some bags from the belt selectively and put it at the side. So if you cannot find your bags, don't panic 😭, look around and check first. 

I heard so much about Japan and its vending machines prior my trip. Even at the airport itself, there were a lot of drink vending machines. 😮

Unlike most travelers, we decided to head to Kyoto first instead of Osaka. At the airport, we crossed the bridge to the opposite building to get our Kyoto Access Ticket at Nankai Ticket Office. You can also buy your JR Pass beside the Nankai Ticket Office (the one in blue).

Our Airbnb was at Shijo Omiya, Kyoto. We bought the Kyoto Access Ticket from Nankai Kansai-Airport to Omiya Station, which costs 1,230 yen per pax. It is the cheapest option 👍 to go to Kyoto. 

The bottom ticket was from Nankai Kansai Airport to Tengachaya. From Tengachaya, we switched to local sub to Omiya Station with the ticket on top. 

This was where we boarded the train. If you are not sure, do ask the friendly officers around. They are usually very helpful. 

Japanese are very quiet in train. They usually play with their handphones or read books in train. Also, they would put their bags either between their legs or at the overhead compartment. I was quite fascinated with the fact that all trains I took in Japan are cushioned 😍. 

The train journey took approximately two hours. We were thankful that our Airbnb was only 5 minutes walk from Omiya Station. When we reached our Airbnb, it was already 8p.m. 😫 

The place was small but cozy. 

I really loved the fact that we could cook here. The fridge was a tad too small thou. 

This was probably the smallest toilet + bathroom I had ever used. The bath tub beside the sink was extremely small. The shower and sink were sharing taps. 

We went to Seabura no Kami Mibu (セアブラノ神) for our late dinner. It was around 7 minutes walk from our place. 

Seabura Niboshi Soba (Backfat dried small sardines ramen, +Onion, +Egg) - their signature ramen (950Y). You had to order from the vending machine and it was all Japanese. We managed to make our order with the help of the shop assistant. The recommendation was to order the ramen with onion broth and egg.

Tips: 

Take photos of the food that you want to eat when you were doing research and show it to the shop assistant to avoid ordering wrong food.

I wanted to try another rice dish but the shop assistant said its not available😞. So, we randomly selected a rice dish from the photos shown at the vending machine. We were so surprised to find that its actually noodles - Mazesoba (まぜそば) (800Y). It was served in a thick sesame sauce with lard and soy sauce. You basically mixed all the ingredients together like a noodle version of bibimbap. It was savoury 😋and I prefer this over their signature ramen. 

We ordered medium portion for both and was alarmed by the big portion. Their medium was large to us. As I was feeling thankful scooping the last bit of noodles, the shop assistant came....

Shop Assistant  : Gohan (rice) *pointing at the Mazesoba*, service (on the house)! OK?

Me                      : *Smile and nod* OKOK! 😊*turning to husband* I told you those were rice on top! They said it was on the house.

Husband            : I see I see 😮.

When I was feeling proud that I could understand basic Japanese, the shop assistant came....

Shop Assistant  :  *passed me a scoop of rice* Service! *points at the Mazesoba and gestures to pour the rice in to eat with the sauce*

Me                      : *finally realized what she meant* Ahhhhh OKOK! *forced myself to smile* 😆

I tell you.... my stomach was on the verge of bursting from too much food at that point of time but I had to finish it if not it would seem too impolite. I felt very warmed by the hospitality thou. 

That pretty much sums up our first day in Japan! 💕

Japan: Tune Hotel (Day 0)

Worry about missing your super duper early morning flight? Fret not with Tune Hotel! 😁

Our flight to Japan was 8a.m. and it was recommended to check in at least one to three hours before our flight 😓. We didn't want to strain ourselves just before our trip so we decided to check in to Tune Hotel the night before.

I was imagining it to be some shabby, cheapo place since the price is not expensive. But it proved to be otherwise. Although it was late night, you could still see people at the lobby since the hotel location is conveniently located near to KLIA2.

There is a Snacks Bar for you to grab some snacks anytime you want. 😋

A reading zone is also available for you to immerse in your book. Beware though as it is just right beside the reception area so it can be a little noisy.

Chill out place with some light music.

The room is small but I think its just nice if you want to stay for a night. There's a very small TV provided as well. 

I like the simple design.

 Shampoo, body wash and hair dyer are provided.

Since there was not much to do, we decided to head to KLIA2 to collect our PocketWifi. 

As you can see, from Tune Hotel to KLIA2, it is really just a very short walking distance. Took us 10 minutes or less to reach. That pretty much sums up our Day 0. 

*Yawn*

Pre-Japan 101

Japan has always been a country I yearn to go. So I was really excited when our honeymoon destination was set to Japan. It was definitely the first time I took part in extensive planning and researching for a trip. If you are planning a trip to Japan, do read on for tips prior to your trip!

Photo credit

1. Determine which season you would like to experience.
   Dec-Feb: Winter ☃
   Mar-May: Spring 🌸
   Jun-Aug: Summer ☀
   Sept-Nov: Autumn 🍁
   
   Spring is definitely the most peak period as people swarmed to Japan to view the beautiful cherry blossom 🌸. Do you know that cherry blossom season may differ depending on the location? The best time to view cherry blossom in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto would be around end of March to early April. You can check JNTO for more specific information.
   
   We managed to book cheap air tickets from AirAsia and our travel period was end of May to early June. We missed the cherry blossom season but that also means that we avoided the crowd, which I thought was a good choice for our first trip 👍.
2. How many places do you intend to cover? 
   We booked our air tickets to and fro Osaka. We only found out later that people usually fly in to Tokyo and depart from Osaka. It would be costly for you to travel Osaka-Tokyo-Osaka as train tickets are not cheap in Japan 😓... As we want to have a leisure trip, we decided to focus our 12 days in Kansai region. We made the right choice 👍as Kansai is so huge that we couldn't finish exploring the region! For our trip, we explored Kyoto, Osaka, Uji, Nara, and Kobe.
3. It would be good for you to check out the estimated weather of Japan ⛈during your trip. If you are planning to go to Disneyland or Universal Studio Japan, I would strongly advise you to pick a date that is sunny⛅. I will explain why in my next post.
   
   If you are expecting a lot of rainy days☔, it would be good to purchase a raincoat. Else, you can also buy it in Japan. Do note that most Japanese would use only transparent or white rain coat. So if you buy a blue, pink or orange raincoat, you will look like the odd one out. They seem to prefer umbrella over raincoat as well. Most Airbnb would provide umbrella so you really don't need to bring your own.
   
   Interesting fact:
   In Japan, you will be required to put your umbrella at the rack outside of the shop or restaurant. Don't be alarmed if you cannot find your original umbrella when you come out. Japanese has this weird umbrella exchange culture where you could just take whichever umbrella you want at the umbrella rack. So blend in and exchange! Else, bring an umbrella that is extremely colourful and I'm sure nobody would take it.
4. Spend your Fridays stalking on Klook 😆
   You would be able to purchase most passes and tickets from Klook. This saves your time spent on queuing as most passes can be redeemed just by showing your mobile vouchers. We purchased our Osaka Amazing Pass , Randen Pass, Universal Studio Japan ticket and PocketWifi at Klook.
   
   Why Fridays? Because Klook normally has promotion on Fridays. We were one of the lucky ones who managed to purchase a buy one free one USJ ticket 👏 from Klook. Remember to keep an eye to Klook's Facebook as well for their latest promotion.
5. Bring a comfortable pair of shoes. 👟If you are not engaging with any travel agency, it would be best for you to bring along a pair of comfortable walking shoes. Believe it or not, I could easily walk up to 23,000 steps a day in Japan. It dropped to 1,500 steps a day when I'm back in Malaysia. No wonder I don't really see people who are obese in Japan. 😮
6. Book your accommodation early and have some backup plans!
   We booked our accommodation through Airbnb. If you use this link, you will get RM120 travel credit for free! It is best for you to book your accommodation that is near to train station as it not only saves time but also saves energy. We heard so many stories of Airbnb host cancelling the reservation last minute, so its good to have some backup plans. We are thankful that we don't have to experience that.
   
   Tips:
   In Japan, there is a one-time fee charged by host to cover the cost of cleaning their space. So you have to pay for cleaning fee every time you change accommodation. Hence, its best for you to stay at the same place and make a one day trip to other city.

That's about it for now. I will try to cover more soon so stay tuned ! 😉

UTC Sibu

UTC Sibu is located right beside the Central Market Sibu. If you want to renew passport and driving license, this is the place to go. From the central market, you have to take the lift up to 5th floor. Only two of the lifts were functioning when I went and it was extremely slow..... so if you are impatient and able, do use the stairs.

The process to renew driving license was surprisingly fast. The whole process took less than 10 minutes. I opt to renew my driving license for five years, which costs RM150. For a year renewal, it costs RM30. You can also ask them to use your photo in your IC for the renewal. After payment, I put my IC and receipt in a tray and within minutes, the officer informed me that my driving license was ready. I was so impressed!

Right at the opposite, the renewal of passport took a long time. The officers were chit-chatting and playing with their phones. It took around half an hour to reach my turn. To my dismay, I was asked to clip my front hair and wear their black coat for the photo taking. Your ears have to be shown in the photo as well. If you don't want to wear their coat, do ensure that you wear a darker colour collar shirt.

After photo-taking, there's another round of waiting for payment. Passport renewal for 5 years costs RM200. Once the payment has been made, you will be given a slip and you had to come back an hour later to collect your passport.

Do you know that they open on weekends as well? The officer mentioned that there's lesser crowd on Sunday. So if you want to skip queue, you can try heading there on Sunday.

Address:

Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara

Cawangan UTC Sibu,

No. 2, Jalan Bengkel,

96000 Sibu,

Sarawak.

UTC Sibu Operating Hours

Isnin – Ahad : 8.30 pagi – 9.00 malam
Hari Kelepasan Am : TUTUP
Waktu Rehat : 11.45 pagi – 2.15 petang (Jumaat Sahaja)

Be the CHANGE

Do you know that are segregated based on your age when you vote? Went early to vote today and to our disappointment, there is no queue at all at the youngsters booth. Hopefully it is because the youngsters have yet to wake up to vote... 

Have you cast your vote?

Go forth and be the change and make today a history in Malaysia <3