...japan adventure part 2...

...the journey continues...

...continuing on my japan trip. we extended our trip for another 4 days. the next 4 days were extremely tiring where my heels cracked and couldnt walk properly. shucks it hurts dem alot and i was like limping all the way. suzy become our nurse and her small little bag has the most complete set of firstaid.

our first stop was hakodate - south of hokkaido about 5.5 hours from sapporo. initially planned to cabut from dinner early and take a nite bus down to hakodate; however too many nice pictures for me to take and many of my colleagues were swinging on a high note most probably due to the after effects of fermented yeast that they drank and rolling lights of the hall. the nite after annual dinner, we all took a 15 minutes walk to shusukino street for food and to check out the happening nite life again. the very late 1am walk was cold. only 10degrees and me walking like a si beh yau yeng lan si without jacket! but of course the nite life was indeed happening.

travelling to hakodate took us 5.5 hours by bus and when we reached there its almost over lunch and luckily the market was still open. we shopped around the market place in hakodate and the scene was tremendous. beautiful site with all the big huge crabs with prices more cheaper than a melon, scallops all over scattered on the tables. best. food were good. ramen become our diet all the time. slurping the noodles become our favourite past time. walked around the market and later took a slow stroll towards mt hakodate - the ultimate point of where we want to go. on the way there we walked past lots of shopping areas and found a 1050yen shop where everything goes for 1050yen. saw this really cool gift for daniel and instantly i thought this is so for him. and i got it! and saw another gift so right for joey; my colleague and we got it too. dem yau yeng shop. and i am so sure daniel will love it. and of course the ultimate of the ultimate thing to see in hakodate is the nite view. mt hakodate is voted to be the world 3rd most beautiful nite view. simply astonishing. wow. no words i can find to describe the view but just stood there and stare at the view. maginificent. we then took a nite bus back to sapporo and when we arrive in sapporo, we flew to kansai for our next part of our journey in central japan.

...view from the top of mt hakodate...

arrived in kansai just after lunch and we made our way and got a one day jr pass that allow us to travel between osaka, kyoto, kobe, all the way to himeji area. suddenly we got the urge to move to kobe. quickly we threw our luggage in the backpackers and took the train to kobe. and what do we do in kobe? eat kobe beef! 100gm cost us 3000yen. and it really melts in your mouth; because 100gm is literally so small, it melts in your mouth! duh!

...night view in kobe...

then we took the train to osaka kononya to meet the other team there for supper but they mistaken tennojin station as d'only train station in osaka. at least we stepped foot there in osaka. i have personally been there the previous time i was in japan where we shopped at shinsaibashi; shop and shop and shop! so its ok we didn really explore osaka. since it was getting late we took a train back to kyoto. took early nap and woke up to a fresh new day in kyoto.

rented lonely planet on kyoto to help guide our way; we made our journey on bus in kyoto. in my mind i have already planned the few places i would like to visit in kyoto: kiyomizudera temple which was built over 1000 years ago without any nails. we entered thru the nio-mon (gate of the deva kings) and made our way into the temple. then we passed the sanju-no-to (3-storied pagoda) and headed into the shrine to see the kiyomizu-style kannon. then we strolled around the temple and later headed to the otowa-no-taki (sound of feathers waterfall) and we drank the pure water from the waterfall. this is a must go and i am glad i made it there. of course all the way up to the temple and down from the temple are full with shoppings and i believe there is where my dear fren jinhwa found the ultimate gift i want to get from japan - shuriken! yay. found that shop and instantly hooked on their vast display of shuriken and some traditional japanese samurai swords.

...kiyomizudera temple...

next on the list was nishiki market. its a food heaven in kyoto. so many food. so many things to choose from. so many things to buy and 100yen shop beconme our favourite hangout place. since it was getting late we headed over to ginkakujin temple and the path of philosophy. when we reached there it was too late. closed at 5pm. and mind you the sky has become dark at 5 and nite life has just begun. next stop; gion and potoncho. fuiyoh another nite life of japan. i so love walking the streets of japan at nite; watching people, snapping pictures and experiencing the nite wonders of kyoto. my kyoto trip was extremely tired and fun.

...path of philosophy...

travelling by bus was fun. trying to figure out what bus to take to where and to stop in a city where nobody speaks english but everything is controlled by modern technology. with a map in hand, a lonely planet book on another, we travelled the miles of kyoto and made our way to many happening places around the old city.

its a city with a mixture of the old and the new; land of a thousand temples; each located at a strategic location; some hidden in between the modern architecture; women dressed in geisha outfits and mostly in business suit having a drink in the pub and enjoying yakatori before heading home. yea, typically it is how exactly the tv shows it to be but being there and actually walking the streets in potoncho and gion makes all the difference. though we were not living the life of a typical japanese but we had fun travelling and taking the bus; looking at a weird machine infront of all bus stops to check for the arrival of the next bus and eating like a japanese makes all the difference.

heck, i look like a japanese with my small eyes and my bandana on and my samurai style hair thanks to tzayeong my personal stylist, people did mistaken me for a japanese. i had great fun in japan. and i really want to go back there again. this time, its gonna be well planned and i will be well anticipating for the trip. hiroshima; next stop!...

...view of kamogawa (rises from mt sajigikatake)...

...kyoto tower...

...nite view of potoncho...