Japan (Tonami-Kyoto-Osaka-Kansai) - Day 4 - 19 May 2012

At 7.45 in the morning, we departed from the hotel to our next destination, Kyoto. When were about to leave from the parking lot, all the employees of the hotel we stayed in, gathered in front of the gate and waved their hands to us! What a warm welcome and goodbye! I was touched by their sincerity.

The journey to Kyoto took about 4 hours, and before going to Kyomizu Temple, we stopped by at a hotel called Avanshell Kyoto to have out western buffet style. The food was quite nice, especially the corn soup! I really love Japanese style corn soup, so tasty!

The delicious western-buffet lunch

After lunch, we directly went to Kyomizu Temple, or commonly called Kyomizudera (-dera, from the word tera - which means temple). We had went to this temple before, in 2003, so we actually not very excited about this visit. But yeah, there are a lot of cultural activities you can do at a temple. So first, we queued up for the omikuji (fortune-telling), where you had to shake the container until a stick with a number written on it came out. I got a so-so fortune while my sister got a bad one (we knew our results after asking one of the employee  - because we cannot read kanji :p), so we looked for a place to tie the paper of her bad result as what suggested.

Japan (Nagano-Tateyama Kurobe-Tonami) - Day 3 - 18 May 2012

We started the day quite early in the morning. At around 8.15 am, we departed from the hotel to commence the highlight of the tour - Alpine Route Snow Corridor in Tateyama-Kurobe. When were about to leave from the parking lot, the okami herself sent us off. Before, she even greeted us one by one in the exit of the hotel. We managed to take some pictures with her.

My breakfast. The soumen (cold noodle) was delicious!

 The journey by bus took about 2 hours. At around 10.30 am we arrived at the entrance. It was freaking freezing cold! We felt like fools because we didn't prepare anything except the thick jackets given by the comittee. I even wore sandals! We didn't expect the weather would be this extreme and the tour company didn't tell us too! I was panicking how we were going to survive in this freezing weather. My sister managed to find a pair of socks given by Singapore Airlines before, but that's all.

Luckily, there was a gloves seller there, but she didn't sell socks! We asked her where we could buy socks, and she told us upstairs at the souvenir shop. We quickly rushed there and finally managed to secure 2 pairs of gloves and a pair of socks, which costed us about 1,100 yen T_T.

We tried some means of transportations to reach the peak until we finished the whole trip. First, we rode the trolley bus to get to Kurobe dam, which was indeed very beautiful (and freezing cold as well, we were glad we decided to buy the gloves and socks). Then, we rode the cable car, continued by ropeway, and another bus. We finally reached Murodo Peak at around 1 pm, and it was very crowded. We ate lunch first at the restaurant there, it was a set meal with nabe (Japanese style hot-pot) and it's quite delicious.

Set meal for lunch

Japan (Nagoya-Anjo-Nagano) - Day 2 - 17 May 2012

After having a nice breakfast at the hotel, at around 8.30 am, we departed from the hotel to do the business, which was a factory visit to MAKITA factory in Anjo. Our local guide was a nice Indonesian lady who had lived in Japan for about 30 years. When we arrived at the factory at around 10 am, we were guided to see the process of making the spare parts and machines. In the end, we were allowed to see the showroom and exhibition, and they served us with drinks. While having a drink, we conversed with the local guide to practise using our Japanese. 

A nice breakfast

 At 11 am, we went from the factory for our lunch place, which was all-you-can-eat yakiniku! The name of the place was Stamina something (I couldn't read the kanji). There were a lot of varieties besides yakiniku there, for example, sushi, curry rice, noodles, pasta, gratin, ice-cream, waffle and a lot more. We had a very hearty and delicious meal over there. How I love the place!

After the stomach was full, we traveled to Nagano our next stop, at around 2 pm. It was a long journey, about 4-hours bus ride. At 6 pm, finally we arrived at Ikenotaira Shirakaba Resort Hotel. We were told that there would be a gala dinner starting at 7.30 pm. However, since the hotel is equipped with an onsen - open public bath, we thought of experiencing it first before dinner.

We were told before that we were supposed to be completely naked inside the onsen, so we did so. However, I was sad to see some fellow tour members still wearing their underwears inside the onsen. I guess they were too embarrassed to be naked, but I still think that we have to follow the rules though. Luckily there were only us there, so nobody complained.

Japan (Singapore-Osaka-Nagoya) - Day 1 - 16 May 2012

Pardon me for the lack of update, because I just came back from a trip to Japan! Actually this trip was supposed to be 5 days only, since it was a semi-business trip, but my sister and I decided to extend it for a week more, so we could explore Japan by ourselves.So, we explored Japan on 16-27 May 2012!

The first 5 days were a group tour, so we followed all the tour's schedule. We departed from Jakarta by Singapore Airlines at 7 pm. We had a transit at Singapore, and at 1.45 am we departed from Singapore to Osaka. Our first stop should be Nagoya, but since that day there was no flight from Singapore to Osaka, we had to stop at Osaka first, then going to Nagoya by bus.

                      

We arrived at Kansai International Airport at around 9am, and directly went to Nagoya by bus. In the middle, we stopped for a toilet break, and my sister and I bought a nice croquette. Since we spoke some Japanese, the auntie asked us where we were from, and when we answered Indonesia, she told us that she had gone to Bali. Wow, Bali is just so popular!

Yummy croquette

At around 2 pm, we arrived at a restaurant to have lunch. The restaurant served us Kishime - Nagoya-styled noodle with tempura. The waitress told us that we supposed to dip the tempura into the broth. The Kishime was indeed delicious, and the tempura was very crunchy.



Kishime with tempura



[Review] Barcelo Sants Hotel, Barcelona, Spain

This was one of the hotels I stayed in during my semi-business trip to Europe Mediterranean (France, Spain, Monaco, Portugal) August last year. This hotel is located in Barcelona, precisely just on top of Sants metro station, so it is very convenient to travel around Barcelona using metro. Moreover, it is just 4 minutes walk to Catalunya Square, one of the top attractions in Barcelona.

What I love about the hotel is the room! The hotel adopts the futuristic-style, so every room and every inch of the hotel are designed futuristically.  The hotel's facilities and amenities are very complete, and they even provide wi-fi in room! (which is very rare as most hotels in Europe only provide wi-fi in the lobby area). There is even a minibar inside the room!

 

The hallway and the door to the room

The breakfast is also delicious. A typical buffet of European-American dishes, but the varieties are superb! This was where I was first introduced to tortilla (Spanish Omelet), which made me addicted!