Arashiyama 嵐山

Sorry for the lack of update.

I believe you have read my KTP guide and Arashiyama was my first destination! 

Arashiyama is definitely one of my favourite spot in Japan. I went there early because I wanted to take good pictures and also to avoid the rain. You can get a walking map from the railway station. I decided to skip all the temples in Arashiyama because it was too early for foliage during that time.

My first stop was the town. It looks pretty good without the crowd. I should show you some pictures before the crowd flood the area.

The famous Togetsukyo Bridge from the Hankyu Arashiyama Station.

Togetsukyo Bridge before the crowd floods the bridge. 

Without wasting time,  I walked to the bamboo forest as it is the must see place in Arashiyama! 

Le bear happily took a picture at the bamboo forest. 

I was alone at the forest until this couple walk into my picture. 

I've tried asking them to take a picture of me at the bamboo forest but they commented that it is a difficult task after trying a few shots. I think that's when I miss travelling with another human. 

After exiting Bamboo Forest, I took the Sagano Scenic Train(only available in Autumn & Spring) from Arashiyama Station. I strongly suggest that you should ride the train from this station as you can rarely see tourist here and it will be easier to get a seat at the 5th cubicle. Ticket can be purchased at 600Y (~$6). 

So, what's so special about the 5th cubicle? It's a fully open carriage, which means you can take very good pictures!

You might want to refer to the timetable so that you can arrange your time.

While waiting for the magical ride at the station. 

The train have arrived! 

It was really nice seeing scenery from the train. I wished the the momiji was more scenic during that time. It will be really nice to see the momiji from the train. 

There is another option which is to take the boat tour which is more expensive (3800 Yen ~$38). I would like to try that when I return to Arashiyama one day :D

The train will stop at Komeoka Torokko Station and there were so many people waiting to board the scenic train to Arashiyama. I was glad that I took the train from the other station. Hence, if you are using Kansai Thru Pass, you might want to consider the same route as me unless you are using JR pass. 

Then, I took the JR train from JR Umahori back to JR Saga-Arashiyama. Umahori station is only 10 mins walk away from Komeoka Torokko Station. 

Once I'm back in the town, the crowd have started to fill the town. I bought the matcha soy ice-cream at 400Yen and croquette at 200Yen. I think I had the best croquette in Aarashiyama. :P

Unfortunately, it rained before I get to explore the town. I ran to the nearby Randen station and depart for Takao instead of spending more time in Arashiyama. I will definitely go back again for the temples and scenery next time. I hope you don't have to wait too long for the next Japan post! :P

Vietnam Travel Guide

I have been to the north and south of Vietnam but not the middle part. Hence, this is not the complete guide.

If you have been to the Vietnam, you will agree with me that the north and south are very different people. However, they are still the same nice people.

Transportation

Taxi: It is wise to use Mai Linh (Green/White) and Vinasun taxi service when you are in Vietnam. There are three types of car: the small one (where you practically have no space for luggage), the sedan and a bigger car. The smaller it is, the cheaper the fare is for per kilometre. I realize that a lot of people are not aware of this but I always choose the smallest car as it is cheaper than the rest.

Motortaxi: Travelling alone but you couldn't ride a motorbike? I think this is the best tool invented for tourist. For me, hire a taxi is too expensive but I don't know how to ride a bike. The easiest solution is to hire a motortaxi! If you are lucky, you might be able to find someone who can speak English and able to story you about the place. A one day tour will cost 150k-200k VND per day. At places like Dalat, a one day tour can cost around 20 USD per day. It will be better for you to have an idea of where you want to go so that you can negotiate with the driver. 

Bus:

For public bus, they do announce the name of the stations but in Vietnamese language. Taking public transport is the cheapest transportation in Vietnam. You should really use the public bus in Saigon as the bus fare is as low as 0.20-0.30 USD per trip for intercity bus. 

If you want to travel out of the city, you can either book a seat at the local travel agency or take the local bus. I recommend Sinh Tourist for local tour as they are very reliable. If you are feeling adventurous, you can try their local bus company. I used Phuong Trang (pronounced as Fong Jang) to travel from Saigon to Mui Ne last December and it was really good. They have buses scheduled every hour which is good as tour agency have limited choices for the time slot. Phuong Trang is the biggest bus company in the South and their buses and van are all in good condition. I find the quality is way better than the buses you booked from hostel/guesthouse. Furthermore, they stop at proper rest area for toilet breaks.

What to buy?

Vietnam is the best place to purchase Hada Labo skin care and Sunplay sunblock! This is because these products were manufactured in Vietnam and the price is 2-3 times lower than other South East Asia countries. Furthermore, you can find cheap traditional medicinal oil too! If you happen to be at the tribal village, you might want to purchase some handmade souvenir. A handmade clutch will cost around 35k VND (~$1.8 USD). 

What to eat?

The best thing about travelling in Vietnam is their food! It’s very delicious as  they rarely use artificial coloring and flavouring in their cooking. However, it is very difficult to find vegetarian or Halal food in Vietnam as almost every dish involves meat. Like in Thailand, there’s always a bowl of fresh vegetable on the table.

Spring rolls and Pho are the common food in Vietnam. Don’t miss out Banh Xeo when you are in Saigon and Bun Cha when you are in Hanoi! You can't afford to say ‘I will only try this in other region’. The rule of thumb is people from different region eat different food with the exception for Pho and spring rolls.

Accomodation

One good thing about travelling in Vietnam is that you can easily find a decent room with ensuited bathroom at the price of USD 8. However, these guesthouse are located a bit far from the tourist spot. I usually trust Trip Advisor for reviews. However,I will recommend you to check the room before making a decision. This is extremely important as I have seen workers who sleep in the guestroom before the visitors arrived.It will be good to stick with lonely planet if you prefer the staffs to speak good English as the guesthouse recommended by lonely planet can cost a few USD more.

Language

Most young adults speak decent English but they are too shy to speak up. You can’t expect a middle age man/woman to speak with you in English. People at their age only learn English for their living. However, it is wise to use basic English word. Google translate can be quite useful when it comes to communicating with the local.

To buy simcard or not
If you must buy the sim card, please don't buy it at the airport. Frankly speaking, Vietnamese are very generous with their Wifi service. Almost every shop provides free wifi service and some does not require any password! Hence, do think twice when you want to purchase a sim card at VN.

Navigate 
The easiest way to navigate around is by using a map/google map! Trust me, VN is not a place where you can easily catch someone who can speak little/good english on the road. 

Travelling from Airport 
Saigon: Catch a A/C local bus (#152) out of the airport and get off at the last station. You will find yourself at the bus stop located opposite Ben Thanh market. 

Hanoi: There's a few option to the city center. 
a) Minivan 
Once you exit from the arrival hall, turn right and walk to the end. They charged 40k VND per trip and they will drop you off at the city center. They will drop you off at Quang Trung street. 

b) Local Bus (Red & Yellow- #7 & #17)
They charged 7000VND per trip. I would recommend bus #17 as it will stop at Long Bien bus station which is nearer to Old Quarters. 

Disclaimer: The author has been to Vietnam for four times in the past 4 years and most of the information are up-to-date. 

How to fully utilize your Kansai Thru Pass 3 Day Pass

Some people commented that it is not worth buying KTP. However, you can save a lot by using the Kansai Thru Pass if you did your research.

It is never wise to use KTP if you plan to travel around Kyoto while staying at Kyoto. You have to travel across the prefecture to make it useful.

I used google map to plan my route as it will tell me how to get to the place using the rail and bus. However, I think physical map is quite useful but you have to know how to read a map well.

The thing about the Kansai Thru Pass is that you can leave as early as possible as the pass worked from 12:01am of the day till 11:59pm of the day. I start my journey quite early every day as I wanted to avoid the crowd at the tourist place.
 

To make sure that you fully utilize the pass, you have to spend an average of 1670Y per day.

If you follow my itinerary well, you can easily save up to 4560Y (Appx 50 USD).

I paid 5000 Yen for a 3 Days Kansai Thru Pass but I've actually spent at least 9560Yen in total! How awesome is that?

Here’s how I did it.

Day 1: Osaka-Arashiyama-Takao-Osaka (2340Yen)

Osaka- Arashiyama  

Shinsaibashi station – Umeda Stn                                                               230Y

Umeda Stn (Hankyu) – Interchange at Katsura Station – Arashiyama Stn 390Y
 

Arashiyama- Takao  

Arashiyama Randen Stn – Randentenjingawa Stn                                      200Y

Randentenjingawa Stn – Takao by Bus #8 at Platform A                            400Y

Takao-Osaka

Takao- Karasuma Stn by bus #8                                                                 500Y

Karasuma Stn –Tengachaya Stn                                                                390Y

Tengachaya Stn-Shinsaibashi Stn                                                              230Y

Subway around Osaka
 

If you travel from Arashiyama to Takao without KTP, you will need to pay extra for the bus fare as Takao is not included in the route of the 500Yen bus pass.

Day 2: Osaka-Koyasan-Osaka-Kyoto-Osaka (3680 Yen)

 

If you study the Kansai map, Kyoto is at the north of Osaka while Koyasan (Wakayama) is at the South of Osaka. It wasn’t as rush as I’ve expected but if you want to do this, you have to start the journey around 7am. Journey to Mount Koya will take approximately 2 hrs one way.
 

The best thing about travelling in Koyasan by using the KTP is that the cable car and bus fare is included in KTP. Hence, basically, you just need to pay for your food. If you are lazy, you can travel from one sight to another sight by bus. But, this is not necessary as Koyasan is quite small and it is very nice to walk around.

 

Osaka-Koyasan

Osaka-Nanba                                                                                                                    200Y

Nanba (platform 4) - change train at Hashimoto (platform 5) to Gokurakubashi Stn (platform 4)    850Y

Gokurakubashi Stn – Koyasan Stn                                                                                   380Y

Koyasan Stn – sights at Mount Koya by bus                                                         (200Y per trip)

Koyasan-Osaka 1430Y

(return the same way)

Osaka-Kyoto  

Shinsaibashi Stn-Kyobashi Stn                                                                                    230Y

Kyobashi Stn –Shichijo Stn                                                                                          390Y

Shichijo Stn- Hana Hostel by bus                                                                                 200Y

I used the Keihan Main Line instead of JR. What’s the point of paying extra anyway? 
P/S : JR Osaka-Kyoto cost 540Y one way
 

Mistake: KTP & Kyoto bus pass can only be used on the green color city bus! You can’t use it on Princess Line or whatsoever. I made this mistake and paid 200Y extra

 

I stayed at Hana Hostel Kyoto. I did ask the hostel staff if I can get to their hostel by using KTP. They recommended JR Line which cost 600Y for a one way ticket. But, I managed to find out that I can actually get to Kyoto via Keihan Main Line and use the local bus to the Kyoto Station.

You can actually take the city bus from Keihan Main Line Station to Kyoto Station using the city bus!

Day 3: Kyoto-Osaka-Kurama-Kibune-Osaka
 

Kyoto-Osaka

Shinsaibashi Stn-Kyobashi Stn                 230Y

Kyobashi Stn –Shichijo Stn                       390Y

Shichijo Stn- Hana Hostel by bus              200Y

Osaka-Kurama

Shinsaibashi Stn – Yodoyabashi Stn         200Y

Yodoyabashi Stn –Demachiyanagi Stn     460Y

Demachiyanagi Stn- Kurama Stn              410Y
 

I wanted to try out the hiking trail from Kurama-> Kibune but the local advise me not to as I was alone. You can either walk from Kurama Station to Kurama Jinja (Steep Slope and stairs) or take the cable car. I choose to walk as I will miss lots of place if I were to use the cable car. I walked up and took the cable car back to Kurama.
 

From Kurama, I took the train to Kibune Station   200Y

From Kibune, I took the bus to Kibune Jinja         160Y

Well, you can walk if you are not using KTP. It is around 1-2km from the bus station.

Kibune-Osaka

Kibune Jinja – Kibune guchi Eki               160Y

Kibuneguchi Eki – Demachiyanagi Stn     410Y

Demachiyanagi Stn –Yodoyabashi Stn     460Y

Yodoyabashi – Shinsaibashi Stn               200Y

Where to buy the pass?

You can get it at Kansai airport or Tourist Information Center. For more information, please click here.  

Kansai 10D9N Itinerary 关西十天行程

Hello readers!

Going to Kansai but don't know where to start?

You will be pleased to know that we are sharing our Kansai 10D9N itinerary!

We've covered 4 places namely Osaka, Kyoto, Mount Koya and Kurama. It might look simple but we have spent a lot of our time on our research. We can tell you what to do in Kansai if you have 10 days, where to go in Kansai and how we saved on our transportation.

If you love what you are reading, please help us to share our love around ;) 

Day 1

Arrive at Kansai International Airport (KIX). Got my Osaka Unlimited Pass & Kansai Thru Pass at the visitor counter.

Checked in at Osaka Hana Hostel.

The main idea was to travel around Osaka, using Osaka Unlimited Pass (OUP) on the first 2 days as I have to use the pass for 2 days consecutively. Due to time constrain, I only went to places with free admission:

Osaka Museum of Housing and Living

Cruise Ship Santa Maria

Tempozan Ferris Wheel

HEP 5 Ferries Wheel

Floating Garden Observatory

Tombori River Cruise

Day 2

Osaka Castle Museum

Osaka Castle Nishinomaru Garden

Osaka Museum of History
Shintennoji Temple
Tennoji Zoo
Natural Hot Spring Naniwa no Yu

Tsutenkaku Tower*

Additional place: Shinseikai and Shinsaibashi (Not included in OUP)

Day 3

Traveled out of the city for two interesting museum:

Instant Ramen Museum- you can make your own cup noodle for 300Y.

Asahi Beer Museum- you will be introduced to the whole beer process making and get 3 free drinks (alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages) at the end of the visit.

Explored Nanba Area

Day 4

Arashiyama & Takao

Tenjinbashisuji Walking Street

Day5

Mount Koya

Then traveled to Kyoto for the following 2 days.

Day 6

Fushimi Inari ,Tofukuji, Kiyomizudera Temple, Higashiyama Walking Tour, Gion

Day7

Philosopher Path Walking Tour, Nishiki Market,  Imohe Temple

Day 8

Back in Osaka

Kurama & Kibune

Day 9

Kuramon Market

Minoo Park

Shinseikai & Shinsaibashi area

Day 10
Back to Malaysia


*Didn't managed to go up as the queue was very long and the waiting time was 1 hour. You should make Tsutenkaku Tower the first thing to do in Osaka during weekends.

Details will be up soon!

Blue Fire at Ijen Crater

Hey guys!

Sorry for lack in updates.  I just came back from Indonesia and I initially wanted to post this video on FB. Then, I realize that "Hey, why not blog about it and let everyone know about this?" According to Hendra (Indonesian), blue fire is a rare phenomena which only happens in Ijen Crater and Mexico.

Blue fire is resulted from the combustion of liquid sulphur with fire. The molten sulphur burns after it drips from the stone and ceramic pipes that have condensed the sulphuric gases from the volcano into liquid. This will then cool down and harden to yellow block so that it will be collected by the miners.

We realize that it is a very good opportunity to do the blue fire trip together with the sunrise trip. The only down side is we have to start the journey at 1am in the morning! We reach the base at around 1:40am and start hiking. You will definitely need a good pair of shoes and lots of clothes and the temperature is pretty low. You might need a walking stick to gain some support as the slope is pretty steep. To witness blue fire and sunrise, you will need to hire a local guide as it is pretty dangerous to hike in the dark. However, no guide is needed if you decide to hike during the day.

We were told that the entrance fee is Rp 27,000 but they made us pay Rp50,000 each. I'm not sure if this is a tourist scam or we have to pay extra because of the blue fire. By the way, we are already paying Rp200,000 extra per person in addition to the tour (Rp500,000). The tourist who joined 3D2N Bromo+Ijen tour paid only Rp650,000 (Transportation and hotel included). I definitely paid extra than the rest but it was worth it!

I didn't get to take good pictures as the sulphur smoke keep coming out from the lake. But here's a short video taken by using Canon Ixus 100.


More sunrise post will be coming up next! I promise!

What to do in Bangkok?

I was frequently asked over the past few months with the same question, and had to give the same lengthy explanation over and over again.

'WHAT EXACTLY SHOULD ONE DO IN BANGKOK?'

Well, perhaps you can start off by reading these and these (written by the bear).

My first trip to Bangkok was in year 2010. After spending 5 days in Bangkok, I realize that it wasn't enough to fulfill my curiosity. Given that, I return for another visit in which I stayed for 2 weeks last year. My friends were curious as to how I could spend such a long time just in Bangkok. I personally think that one could easily be distracted and stray off path from the initial plan as there so many things to discover in Bangkok, this coming from my personal experiences. 

On my second trip, I opted to stay out of the city for a week. I stayed at Banglamphu area where all the major attractions are situated at. Believe it or not, I did not meet any Malaysians during my stay away from the city. During my last 2 night in Bangkok, I moved to the city for a different experience. When I first stepped into the shopping mall, I could hear 'Manglish' all over the places and manage to meet people from KL and etc. It is then that I discovered that the main intention of Malaysian visiting Bangkok is solely to shop. Surely, Bangkok is like a shopping paradise for everyone. Even the non-shopaholic will go crazy because you can easily find unique handicraft or souvenirs along the street at affordable prices.

In order to guide you about Bangkok, you will need to asked yourself about the type of traveler you are. Are you someone who are into culture and the local lifestyle or you are someone who adores city life as well as the shopping scene? Generally when I travel, my itinerary will be focus on culture and attractions. However, I could be the later type of traveler depending on the cities. Personally, Bangkok is just not about the city or cheap shopping deal. In my opinion, Bangkok is not as dangerous as Malaysia and possessed unique culture worth taking an interest in.

There's so much to see and learn in Bangkok if you have the time to do so. If you want to do a quick culture tour, you can go to Ratanakosin gallery which is located near the National Monument. This place can give you an overview about the country and the people. I was there in August and the locals were surprised as to why I would asked  directions to go there. They assumed that tourist will only be interested in places like the Grand Palace,Wat Pho and Wat Arun. To my surprise, all visitors were locals and my sis and I were like the "farang" there. An interesting info about the place is that there's a mini library inside the gallery where you can browse books and surf the internet for free. But, you need to show them the entrance ticket for admission. I personally enjoyed the library very much as it was very cozy and comfortable. I'll blog about the library later. *finger crossed*

If you are on a tight budget, don't worry as there's a lot of things to see and it's free. I think I will need to write a separate guide on this. For people who love the city, I think you can spend at least a day exploring the cultural things and the rest of your trip exploring the city as well as well as enjoying the night life and city lights. There are few nice cafes and restaurant on Phra Atit road which is frequent by the locals but not the tourist. I really like the settings there.

Maybe, instead of visiting the Skybar everytime you visit Bangkok, if this is what you have been doing all the time. Why don't you spend some time discovering the local culture? Then you will have a different story to tell your friends other than what you have purchased from your trip. Your friends might be impressed with your newly discovered places and maybe you could explore a few good cafes for yourself to share with us. Perhaps it's time to change your ideas about Bangkok and be different for a change.

I know a lot of you will probably be interested to know how much money is need for a trip in Bangkok.

If you ask me, spending one week in Bangkok can be as low as 200 USD to 500 USD depending on how luxury want your trip to be and how much shopping you intend to do.

I'll be writing new guides on this lovely city soon. Then, you can decide on the places do you could visit for your trip there. Drop us a comments if you wish to know on anything in particular. 

xx