Hong Kong | Food Trip, mostly

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Trip date \\ 31st May - 4th June 2018

Destination \\ Hong Kong

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'Tis was my first time in Hong Kong this time. Honestly, I do not have a strong desire to explore Hong Kong because of it's notorious culture of being rude to tourists. Though I have to say, it was so much better than I have expected, maybe time has changed HK and it has mellow out? We didn't experience anything bad in our trip. No bad-mouth waiter or waitresses scolding us, but maybe just a friendly banter with one or two. The city itself, it has a certain character I have to say. Tough gangster-ish vibe that I often see in Cantonese movie. Other than that, it is quite similar to Singapore I feel. The bus and MTR.. and of course the crowd rush.

I didn't take much photos on this trip, therefore I can squeeze my whole 5 days trip in one single post today. But I did take a lot of videos and I made vlogs out of it. Vlog is kind of like my new thing that I am doing right now whenever I am travelling but I don't talk in these videos. I still feel quite uncomfortable talking and explaining to air while holding my phone out. And I think I sound funny, not nice to hear. HAHAHA.

Amigurumi Tutorial | Eevee Marshmallow Edition

 

Materials

2.75mm hook (or any hook size that suits your yarn)

Minlon acrylic yarn (or any sport yarn)

# Brown 
# Light brown

6mm Safety eyes 

Felt cloth
# Dark brown

Black embroidery thread

Embroidery needle
Fibre fill

Fabric glue
Hair spray

Dog slicker brush (optional)

Japan | Kansai | Day 9 & Day 10, Universal Studio Japan and Osaka

...previous post on Japan...

Japan | Kansai | Joey's 9 days Autumn Itinerary

Japan | Kansai | Day 3 & 4, Arashiyama and Kibune

Day 9 // Osaka

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/ Universal Studio Japan

Finally, D-Day has come! Universal Studio Japan Osaka! I think this is one of the must go-to place if you are ever in Osaka. Well, at least once I must say. Especially if you are a Harry Potter fan (oh, me me me!)!

I bought my ticket beforehand on Klook, I also bought Express Pass 7 for the three of us so that we would save time, and it did save a lot of our time but unfortunately we did not really took all the rides that was included in the express pass because we were feeling quite nauseated after 2 rides.
Out of all the rides, I would recommend:

• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey™ in 4K3D 
• Flight of the Hippogriff™ 
• JAWS 
• Space Fantasy

There are also a few more hardcore ones which are the Hollywood Dream Backdraft and The Flying Dinosaur. I was hesitating to take them but since both my family members are not big fans of super scary ride like these, I gave them a quick pass also (easier than admitting that I don't like scary rides).

If you are planning to buy the Express Pass, I would advise you to check your Express pass ticket properly as there are a few rides that will only let you use the Express Pass in a certain timing which is written on the fine print. Unfortunately, the ticket will be in Japanese, so you might need some help from Klook for the translation. It will look like this:

As for me, I know how to read some Hiragana and Katakana, so I kind of guess the rides name. Learning a new language comes in handy from time to time.

Japan | Kansai | Day 7 & 8, Koyasan, Arima Town, and Kobe

...previous post on Japan...

Japan | Kansai | Joey's 9 days Autumn Itinerary

Japan | Kansai | Day 6, Osaka Kaiyukan & Namba

Day 7 // Koyasan

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/ Kongobuji

/ Kondo Hall

/ Daimon Gate

/ Okunoin

/ Torodo Lantern Hall

/ Shinsaibashi for dinner

Japan | Kansai | Day 6, Osaka Kaiyukan & Namba

...previous post on Japan...

Japan | Kansai | Joey's 9 days Autumn Itinerary

Japan | Kansai | Day 3 & 4, Arashiyama and Kibune

Day 6 // Osaka 

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/ Kaiyukan

/ Namba

I know, it's a particularly short day cause we spent quite awhile in the Kaiyukan. I think if I were alone, I could have stayed longer, just to stare at the whale sharks as this does not get to happen everyday. We also got some shopping done at night at Don Quijote in Namba. 

I think this was the best OOTD I wore during my stay there. I got a new *fashionable* shoes (cause my sneakers were killing me, and it got my bunion worse, so bought a roomier one to lessen the pain). And my outfit matches my coat (which I wore every single damn day). 

Japan | Kansai | Day 5, Nara

...previous post on Japan...

Japan | Kansai | Joey's 9 days Autumn Itinerary

Japan | Kansai | Day 3 & 4, Arashiyama and Kibune

Day 5 // 24 Nov 17 // Nara

/ Nara park 

/ Todaiji

/ 水谷茶屋 (teahouse serving sweets)

Saying goodbye to Monzy at the train station. All of us checked in and out on the same day, what a coincidence. We lug around our luggage to Nara while Monzy to Tokyo. 

Japan | Kansai | Day 3 & 4, Arashiyama and Kibune

...previous post on Japan...

Japan | Kansai | Joey's 9 days Autumn Itinerary

Japan | Kansai | Day 1 & 2, Arrival in Kansai and Kyoto

Day 3 // 21 Nov 17 // Kyoto 

/ Arashiyama

/ Iwatayama Monkey Park

/ Owl forest zoo

/ Bamboo Grove

/ Okochi Sanso Garden

/ Gion for dinner

/ Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji Night Illumination

Japan | Kansai | Day 1 & 2, Arrival in Kansai and Kyoto

Believe it or not, this was my first trip to Japan. Yes, I am also kinda shocked myself. I mean I love anime and I have two Japanese-styled influenced tattoos on my body yet I have never stepped foot on the land of the rising sun. I don't know. I always have this impression that I need a lot of money to be able to have a vacation trip there. Well, after this trip, I guess it's kind of true but I bought a lot of stuff there, so I might be spending more than I need to.

// Breakdown of expenses //

So before I start on pouring out the pictures. Here are some breakdown of my Japan trip expenses. I'll be referring to SGD as $ from here on out.

-- essentials --
AirAsiaX return flight (KL - Kansai airport) // RM1369, ~456$ per person **including 20kg check in baggage
Airbnb Kyoto 4 nights // 267.82$, ~22.32$ per person per night
Airbnb Osaka 6 nights // 336.72$, ~18.71$ per person per night
Japan Wireless PocketWifi // 6950yen, ~82$ for 10 days

We also changed 1000$ per person to yen to be used there.
So I could say that we roughly used around 2000$ per person in total for our Japan 11 days trip that includes:

-- optional --
Gion Nanba Kaiseki // 8000yen, ~ 96$ per person
Universal Studios Japan // 7600yen, ~90$ per person
USJ Express Pass // 11478yen, 138$ per person
Kobe beef // 30000yen, 360$ for 3 person

We did not really held back with food or snacks. We just went ahead with anything that tickles our fancy. So, you could say we weren't really frugal with our money. Cause we live to eat. Haha. But I did find some cheaper transportation alternatives by taking advantage of Japan's tourist tickets! Like for example, Kyoto Access Ticket, Osaka Kaiyukan ticket that includes one day transportation in Osaka, and also some other perks for foreign tourists! I'll talk about them more in details in my blog below when relevant.

Japan | Kansai | Joey's 9 days Autumn Itinerary

This is going to be my master post list for my Japan Kansai Autumn 2017 Itinerary (man, that is a mouthful). I still have not figure out how I am going to write them yet but I don't think I'm going to push them all in one post. Most probably will split them up according to the timeline. So, I'll be linking up the detailed ones in this master post. I am also planning to make a bonus post about what to buy in Japan (snacks and souvenirs ideas). Personally tried and tested by yours truly, and also might be biased because I'll be recommending the things that me or my family likes. I thought it would be useful because I have also no idea what to buy before I went there. Tried to google for "what to buy in Japan" and a whole load of drugstore items came up which is not what I had in mind.

I personally planned everything for our Japan trip. So, what I like to do is research about the city that I want to go then go in details about each point of interest and then only decide if I want to go or not. But no definite day on where to go because I wanted to make it flexible. I have also prepared some maps on google, marking interesting places, filling in details like opening hours or what to especially look out for at those area. I don't go to everything I marked of course, so I'll leave them for future trips.

-Edit-

// Breakdown of expenses //

$ = SGD

-- essentials --
AirAsiaX return flight (KL - Kansai airport) // RM1369, ~456$ per person **including 20kg check in baggage
Airbnb Kyoto 4 nights // 267.82$, ~22.32$ per person per night
Airbnb Osaka 6 nights // 336.72$, ~18.71$ per person per night
Japan Wireless PocketWifi // 6950yen, ~82$ for 10 days

We also changed 1000$ per person to yen to be used there.
So I could say that we roughly used around 2000$ per person in total for our Japan 11 days trip. We mostly spent on food and buying snacks/souvenirs. That includes:

-- optional --
Gion Nanba Kaiseki // 8000yen, ~ 96$ per person
Universal Studios Japan // 7600yen, ~90$ per person
USJ Express Pass // 11478yen, 138$ per person
Kobe beef // 30000yen, 360$ for 3 person

-Edit end-

So, this is the breakdown of my itinerary. I'll also link the blog post when they are up (please click on the "Day X" to go to individual post).