The end of our Japan trip: Tokyo day 2

Dah nak sampai penghujung dah jelajah musim bunga kami... Nak buat apa eh kat Tokyo ni lagi? Souvenir dah beli... Ohhh, tak makan sushi lagi.

Kami bangun pagi semata-mata untuk pergi ke Tsukiji Fish Market. Datang jauh-jauh beribu batu untuk pergi pasar ikan. Kau hado? Hahaha. Tsukiji Fish Market ni antara fish market terbesar di Jepun. Jauh jugak lah kami meronda di dalam pasar tersebut. Pasar ni open to public pukul 9 pagi ye. Kalau datang awal pon, nanti pak cik guard tak kasi masuk. Mata kami memang tertumpu kepada variasi hidupan laut yang dijual. Dari yang selalu nampak sampai ke yang tak pernah nampak. Ikan tuna kat Jepun gemok belaka okay? Nak angkat seekor tuna gergasi kena guna tenaga 3 orang lelaki. Nak siang ikan tu pon ada caranya yang tersendiri. Semua pelancong memang amaze la, siap ambil video lagi. Terkesima dengan keunikannya.

Then, kami pergi ke another pasar. Sempat juga lah aku membeli souvenir untuk classmates di situ. Pemadam daruma (ninja) dan sushi. Nak beli t-shirt sehelai seorang, tak cukup kaya. Pemadam je I mampu ye, kawan-kawan.

Konon dah selesai tengok ikan, nak makan ikan la. Plannya, nak makan sushi unlimited. Sampai ke Ginza kami jalan kaki cari restoran yang dimaksudkan. Pengunjung boleh makan sushi tanpa had dengan bayaran 3500 yen. Chef sushi tu buat sushi guna banyak nasi, ingat perut aku mampu ke? Gila. So, nak makan pon guna strategi. Makan hanya sushi mahal seperti fattiest tuna, medium fat tuna, abalone, eel, whale (okay, sorry la tak menyokong kempen Save the Whale ketika itu. Aku dah kena 'tarbiyah' dah oleh kawan aku yang merupakan pencinta haiwan. Janji tak buat dah. Huhu), and ada a few seafood lagi. Tak ingat sangat dah. Semua tu raw eh. Ada a few je yang grilled. Nasib baik la semua boleh makan seafood mentah. And yeah aku tak rasa loya. But then, bila keluar je dari restaurant, terus makan ubat muntah tu, takut terkeluar pulak semua isi perut. Dah bayar mahal, tapi stay untuk 5 minit je, mana boleh. Hahaha

Perut pon dh stuffy, kepala dah fikir pasal KAIN je. Ha ye, kain. Kain cotton jepun. Nippori is actually a textile town. Sepanjang jalan tu kedai kain. Kami masuk ke gudang tekstil Tomato dan mencuci mata... Wehhhh, rambang mata okay? Semua kain rasa nak beli. Tapi, berpada-padalah sikit nafsu tu eh. I bought dua pasang for me, sepasang for my mom, and sepasang untuk adik perempuanku yang dari awal memang gila corak bunga poppy. Harga? Actually sama je dengan harga kat Malaysia, tapi corak yang dekat Jepun tu tak ada la. Orang kata ada 100 yen sepasang. Yes, ada. Tapi, tak cantik. So, x payah la beli kalau tak cantik. Membazir je kang. Hati memang berat nak tinggalkan Tomato sebab rasa macam tak habis pusing lagi. Tapi, apa nak buat, sudah-sudah la tu, Nabilah...

Dari Nippori, kami bergerak ke Odaiba. Odaiba ni macam new city of Tokyo la. Futuristic sikit nampaknya. Apa yang ada di Odaiba? Macam mana nak pergi Odaiba? Semua jawapan tu boleh google sendiri eh? Hahaha. Apa yang boleh di share kat sini is, perjalanan ke Odaiba tu sendiri, scenery dia cantik gila. Kami lalu bawah the Rainbow Bridge. Actually, niat utama ke Odaiba is to see a big Gundam Robot. Yes, Robot. Robot tu setinggi Diver City Tokyo bersebelahan robot tu. Tinggi gila weh. Siap ada show lagi. Masa show tu, robot tu tukar-tukar warna. Yes, aku memang acted macam budak-budak la masa first time nampak robot tu. Hahaha.

Again, disebabkan operating hours mall tu until 9 pm je, terpaksa lah kami beredar awal. Sempat jugak lah melihat pemandangan the old city of Tokyo di seberang Rainbow Bridge. Nampak juga lah Tokyo Tower yang sibuk sangat nak tengok semalam tu. Haha. Oh, kat Odaiba ni pon ada Colloseum macam dekat Rome tau. Tapi, tu hotel la. Also, ada The Statue of Liberty macam dekat USA.

Usai bergambar, moh le balik kemas bag. Esok nak balik Malaysia dah.

See you in future (kalau ada jodoh dan wang), Japan! Mana tau boleh honeymoon betul-betul masa hanami dengan husband (doakan eh? Amin....). Hahahaha. Ok, dah. 

Tokyo day 1. Pheww... Ayam dan itik sudah berpisah (Everyone can speak and understand english)

Apa eh terjadi pada hari pertama kami di Tokyo? Lupa pula. Ermmm... Ermmm...

Ohhh. Since it was Sunday, we first went to Harajuku. Konon nak tengok la cosplay. Hurm... Haram. Mana ada. We do not know the famous spot.

Keluar je dari Harajuku station, kami ternampak ramai orang berbondong-bondong bergerak ke satu arah, dan kami yang memang agak kehairanan ni pon ikut la. Jalan punya jalan, ohhh dah sampai Meiji Shrine ke... Tak sangka la pula. Meiji Shrine is an old temple. Kebetulan masa lawatan kami, ada dua buah perkahwinan tradisional Jepun sedang berlangsung. Memang popular habis lah those two couples sebab tourist memang beratur ambil gambar mereka, termasuk lah yang tengah bercerita ni. Hehe.

Kebiasaannya, mereka yang bertandang ke shrine ni membawa hajat. Mereka berdoa di kawasan utama and membeli plak kayu. Plak kayu tu, mereka tulis doa, and gantung di hadapan pokok besar.

Selesai berlegar-legar di Meiji Shrine, kami pon beredar. So, we ended up walking past Champ Elysee of Japan. Tapi, since aku anti sikit Paris, meh aku tukarkan perbandingan tersebut kepada Oxford Street of Japan. Ramai gila orang weh. Kitorang yang tak tahu hala tuju ni, berjalan je sampai lah masuk ke Takeshita Street. Banyak juga lah kedai-kedai menjual pakaian di sepanjang Jalan Takeshita ni. Nak beli, tiada size or maybe menjolok mata pula. So, akhirnya mampu beli t-shirt cenderahati berharga 1000 yen sehelai, dan juga  3 bag kitkat teh hijau berharga 200 yen sepaket.

Seriously tak tahu dah nak pergi mana. Nasib baik lah adik Kak Sureena muncul. So, Hanafiah la yang jadi tour guide kami di Tokyo. We went to Asakusa from Harajuku Station. Asakusa ni pon ada temple jugak. Tapi, kami tak lah eager sangat nak pergi temple dia, just nak tengok suasana di sekitar temple tu je la. Kalau pergi Asakusa, tak sah la kalau tak ambil gambar pintu gerbang yang terkenal tu. Tapi, ramainya orang... Tak terkata. Sibuk semuanya nak bergambar di tempat yang sama. Kami pon bergerak ke hadapan dan sempat mengambil gambar tanglung besar tersebut. Banyak juga gerai souvenir sepanjang jalan tersebut. Ada yang mahal, ada yang murah. Tapi, tak perlulah boros berbelanja kan? Boros tu kan amalan syaitan. So, we stopped at the end of the street and had our free green tea served by the locals.

Perut pon dah lapar ni... Nak makan apa eh?

Lets eat Okonomiyaki! Okonomiyaki ni... Hurm... Cane eh nak cerita? Macam... Murtabak pon ada. Ada telur, ada seafood, ada kubis and carrot. Sebabkan ada Mije (kawan Hanafiah) sekali, so Mije la yang buat kan. Kami yang tourists ni tengok je. Haha. Tak cukup satu, order dua okay? Hahaha. Lagi satu dish tu, tak tahu apa nama. Monje? Lebih kurang jugak la bendanya.

Then, dah kenyang, balik hotel dekat Ikebukuro untuk check out. Next, nak check in dekat Nippori pula. Selesai solat semua, kami pon keluar semula untuk melihat suasana di Shibuya. Shibuya crossing memang sangat terkenal sebagai salah satu crossing yang sangat sibuk di dunia. So, ramai pelancong datang, just untuk melihat kemeriahan tersebut. We head to Starbuck just to capture the moment from the top. Kalau ambil gambar dari jalan raya, mana nak nampak kan?

Nak shopping pon, kedai dah tutup pukul 9 malam. Nak buat apa lagi kan? Alang-alang tu, kami pon pergi lah ke satu station ni, untuk melihat Tokyo Tower.

Sedih. Tak nampak pon. Viewpoint pon dah tutup pukul 8.45 malam. Sebab dah hampa bercampur sedih tak dapat tengok Tokyo Tower waktu malam, kami pon pulang ke hotel dan berehat. And for sure untuk dinner jugak lah.

Bunga biru di Hitachi Seaside Park, Ibaraki.

Semalam merah jambu, hari ni biru pula. Kami meneruskan jelajah di negara terbit matahari ini ke Ibaraki. Untuk sampai ke Ibaraki, kami perlu melalui Tokyo. Sempat juga lah melihat suasana sibuk di Tokyo ketika kami meninggalkan bagasi di loker berkunci Ikebukuro station.

Ibaraki and Tokyo are connected with good transport system. So, we opted the quickest way i.e. Limited Express Hitachi rather than Joban Line. However, there is something different for Hitachi Line. You have to book the seat in advance. We did not know that at first, and just walked through the whole length of train just to find the sign for non-reserved seat but failed. Apa lagi, bila dah gelabah, berlari la ke kaunter JR and terus book seats. Sempat lah juga kami board the train sebelum berlepas. Sebenarnya, boleh je naik tanpa reservation ticket. Tapi, kalau ada orang datang, then you have to move la. Leceh la kan.

Perjalanan mengambil masa satu jam setengah. I think I slept tru je kot sepanjang perjalanan. Sebab tadi dah bangun awal kan dari Fujisan. Ngantok kot. Haha. Sesampainya dia Katsuka station, nampak terus dah sepanduk Hitachi koen tu. Kami pon terus menghala ke perhentian bas yang tertera di sepanduk untuk menunggu free shuttle bus.

Harga tiket masuk ke taman bunga tersebut ialah 400 yen. Kami hairan jugak kenapa lagi murah dari taman-taman yang sebelumnya. But, don't care lah. Rezeki kami lah tiket kali ini murah, kan?

Nak sampai ke kawasan bunga biru dari pintu gerbang utama itu bukan dekat eh? Ada la hampir 1 km berjalan kaki kot. Ramai nye lah pengunjung yang melawat taman tersebut. Sesampainya di kawasan bunga biru tersebut, cuaca pon mendung dan gerimis pon turun untuk beberapa ketika. Tapi, sebabkan dah datang jauh, tak kan pula tidak mahu bergambar kan? Thanks to this water resistant phone, masalah itu dapat diatasi. Heh? Hahaha.

Ada satu loceng dekat atas bukit bunga biru tu. Pengunjung beratur panjang untuk gegar loceng tu. Tak tahu apa significant loceng tu. I was also involved to ring the bell. Haha. Saja menggedik kan... Usai bergambar, kami pon menuju jalan pulang. Sempat jugak lah melihat gelagat photographer pro ni ambil gambar. Terduduk, tertonggeng lah ha. Hahaha. Rata-rata yang datang ke taman ini ialah keluarga yang datang bersantai. So, ramai lah anak-anak kecil Jepun yang comel-comel dilihat bermain sesama mereka.

Nak cari jalan keluar pon sampai sesat, okay? Hahaha. Fail gila baca map. Map dekat taman tu dah la tak de tulisan rumi. Dah macam apa je la kami match kan tulisan  jepun di map tangan dan tanda arah yang terpacak di taman tersebut. Aih... Tak mesra pengunjung global betul.

With the same transport method, we went back to Tokyo and got ready for next destination i.e Yokohama. Yokohama and Tokyo is not that far. 40 minutes by local overground train, I would say. It was suggested by my good friend to go to Yokohama at night to see the picturesque trading town. Memang cantik la. Tak dapat dinafikan. I met my high school friend, Yuki and Yuho in Yokohama. They treated us for dinner that evening. We were touched by their welcoming heartful gesture when eating soba. What funny of us when eating soba was we ate hot soba with fork and spoon. Suppose, cold soba is more common and they eat with chopstick. But it was total failure when it came to me. I could not handle the chopstick. LOL.

Burppp. Alhamdulillah for the rezeki today. I could finally eat the meal tanpa rasa loya. So, selamat lah mi soba itu di dalam perut kecilku... We head back to our hotel near Ikebukuro station and doze off.

Ada berbaki dua hari lagi di Tokyo ni. Nak pergi mana eh?

Shibasakura Festival

Kalau dah namanya perempuan, perempuan jugak lah kan. Wanita dan bunga berpisah tiada. The next taman bunga yang kitorang pergi selepas Kawachi Fuji Garden is Shibasakura Festival. Warna bunga kali ini ialah merah jambu. Kalau dilihat secara dekat, bunga ini macam bunga yang tumbuh dekat longkang je. Hahaha. Moss Phlox? Tak ingat nama species dia. Tapi, memang bunga ni biasa dilihat la. Shibasakura ini memang ditanam dengan sengaja di kawasan yang sama, berlatar belakangkan Gunung Fuji pada setiap tahun. Jutaan pengunjung akan datang ke festival ini untuk bergambar dan juga menikmati pemandangan yang Subhanallah, indahnya... Harga? Sebab kan kami beli pakej dari Kawaguchiko station, kami bayar 1000 yen kalau tak silap. And, that includes a return shuttle bus fare. Jauh jugak lah perjalanan ke situ. Hampir sejam rasanya sebab sempat lagi tertidur. Haha.

Sesampainya kami di sana, amaze jugak lah tengok ramai sangat pengunjung. Tapi agak hampa sebab puncak Gunung Fuji dilitupi awan. Cuaca agak mendung dan tidak panas sangat. Kami berjalan mengelilingi kawasan tersebut dan mengambil ratusan gambar untuk dibuat kenangan. Pada mulanya, memang sanggup nak tunggu lama-lama sampai awan beredar, tapi sebab lama sangat, macam tiada gaya pon awan tersebut nak berlalu, kami pon give up.

We left the festival and walked to Kawacguchiko Lake. Actually ada banyak tasik tasik besar yang boleh anda lawati di sekitar Gunung Fuji. Tetapi, sebab waktu lawatan kami di Gunung Fuji hanyalah satu hari, kami hanya sempat melawat Tasik Kawaguchi sahaja.

Cubaan untuk melihat Gunung Fuji di view point yang paling indah gagal sebab masih dilitupi awan. Sudah separuh circumference tasik sudah kami lewati, tetap juga lah gagal. Siap panjat bukit yang ada tokong orang mati kot, konon-konon nak dapat pemandangan yang sering dilihat di kaca skrin komputer kami menerusi jalur lebar internet.

Akhirnya, kami pon beredar dan beransur pulang dari tasik tersebut dengan menaiki bas. Sebab memang dah tak larat nak jalan kaki. Rasanya, waktu riadah dekat UTP yang selama dua sem tu (duduk dalam bilik je) dah macam sama dengan jumlah riadah (berjalan) 10 hari di Jepun. Jauhhhhhh... Seperti yang dikatakan dalam entri sebelum ini, pekan di Jepun memang tutup awal kan? So, kami pulang ke Maisan Cafe and Lodge, solat, masak mi segera, and sambung tengok Kill Me Heal Me. Apa yang lagi mengejutkan, kami dapat seorang roommate baru, lelaki yang tak friendly langsung. Better tak yah ada kat situ je. Semalam tidur tak de nak tarik tirai. Hari ni tidur, kena tarik tirai and pakai tudung. Lena ke tak? Who cares? Dah penat seharian berjalan, memang tidur mati la. Hahaha.

How do I arrive at Mount Fuji?

Mount Fuji. Gunung Fuji. Epal Fuji? Ada kaitan tak? Hurmmm...

From Takayama Station, we wanted to go to Mount Fuji. Dah google direction dah. Google kata nanti ada interchange for a minute. We were like, 

"Ehhhh, logik ke?"

So, berbekalkan uncertainty tersebut, kami singgah di Nagoya Station dan bertanya di kaunter pertanyaan JR dan mendapat route baru iaitu ke Gontemba Station. Route dia memang tak de lah interchange satu minit tu. Tapi, memang kampung habis la. Entah celah mana la kitorang sampai. Dari nampak Mount Fuji tu dalam bullet train, sampai hilang Mount Fuji tu dari pandangan.  Dalam kepala...

"Asal macam familiar eh Gontemba ni?. Ada apa eh?"

Rupa-rupanya ada Gontemba shopping outlet. Free shuttle lagi dari Gontemba Station. Tapi, sebab takut lewat pula sampai Mount Fuji, kami tidak tunduk kepada nafsu membeli-belah tersebut. Dari Gontemba station, we boarded a bus (1410 yen) to Mount Fuji. Perjalanan mengambil masa selama satu jam. Again, pon tak tahu lalu mana. Nampak pekan, nampak kilang kuning, nampak tasik, nampak pine trees forest. Dalam hati memang berdoa lah betul destinasi bas ni. (Nampak sangat tak yakin cakap mak cik tiket bas tu berbahasa inggeris. LOL). Lama kot dari Takayama nak sampai Fujisan. Dari pukul 7 pagi kitorang keluar dari Ryokan Murayama di Takayama, pukul 4 petang baru sampai Fujisan.

Sesampainya di Fujisan Station, kitorang pon berbondong-bondong lah tarik bag, berjalan sejauh hampir 1 km ke Maisan Cafe and Lodge. We were greeted by the humble owner before she left for personal matters. Keadaan bilik? Awesome. What a tidy and cosy space she has. Selesai solat jama', we walked back to see Mount Fuji to our very own eyes. Memang jelas dan nyata lah gunung yang selalu disebut-sebutkan tu di depan mata. We stood by the viewing point at 5th floor of a building. Kalau ada pasangan, memang nampak romantik la tempat tu untuk minum petang sambil menikmati pandangan Mount Fuji. Dari situ pon boleh nampak amusemant park Fuji-Q Highland.

Apa nak buat pon tak tau. We went down to the 3rd floor just to buy snacks to eat while looking at Mount Fuji. Nak buat benda lain pon tak boleh, sebab pekan Jepun ni mati awal. Pukul 6 dah tutup semua benda. So, kitorang pon melepak je lah situ, konon nak tengok sunset. Rupa-rupanya sunset belah lain. Nampak oren je lah. Balik je lah Maisan Cafe. Tengok Kill Me Heal Me lagi bagus. Haha.

11 june 2013 The adventure continues...

Remember when I said that we missed our luggage in fiumicino airport back in rome? After several depressing calls and quarels from both side (alitalia and us), the bags were found at florence airport after being transitted in venice with a rush tag. We smiled... Phewww... Alhamdulillah now that we got the luggage, everything would turn back on track, we hoped. We headed to pisa with a great hope. We needed to do some rushing walk to pisa tower and took a cab to the airport for paris flight.

We thought of getting a good flight which however turned me down due to strike in France. The air traffic controller and also SCNF train were on strike, so all flights inbound and outbound paris were cancelled and airport would only re-run services on 14th june. We were completely screwed for this journey. Trips began with excitement, now the mode was getting more adventerous and we were totally off-budget.

Pisa airport was totally ridiculuous as the wi-fi could only be accessed at a specific point. You have to pay 4 euro per half and hour use with additional 1 euro for registration fee. Obviously, with msi monitor and slower internet connection, those 30 minutes would not be enough for us to re-plan our trip. So we added another 4 euros in a hope that we could find an alternative mode of transport to getting to paris. The clear option we had was to board a train. However, due to technical difficulties, the train was not bookable and we were left with driving option instead. As Ammar was the only experienced driver among us, he ought to agree to the new plan B. We asked all car rental companies at the airport about a car going to paris but none gave a good response since they dont have a french car and such option would cost us a huge amount of money which we could not afford to. Out of them, only Avis gave a good treatment to us. Thanks to Ms Lora, we got a black Fiat Punto with a fee of 192.38euros. Though we could find a cheaper option with other companies, at least Avis had offered us a cheaper option, i.e to return the car back at the border. She said we could board a train at 1130pm in Turin which was almost 3 to 4 hours driveway from Pisa. She gave us a webpocket for use in car to book the train in advance. With a big hope, we drove all the way up to north region of Italy. The green scenery captured our eyes, we drove through 87 tunnels only to get there hopelessly. The only direct train that we could board could only depart at 730am on the next day. We tried to bought the ticket at porto susa, but there was no self kiosk for international route and the customer service desk was already closed at 9pm. Even when we tried to purchase the ticket online, the ticket could only be bought after 8am. Referring to the news in on eurolines website, there would be a possibility that the train would delay or be cancelled too due to the strike. Even when I checked the train to get to Gare de Lyon for the second time, the train was not available anymore and we were left with another option i.e to getting to disneyland which would cost us an additional of 40 euros. It was not about the money that we cared so much, but it was the time that we concerned. We didnt even know what would happen next in Paris. The strike might affect the flight we had, scheduled on 14th June to Geneva. We had a lot of guessing in disguise situations for the trip and could not afford to loose that much time to something uncertain. So, with heavy hearts, we had to forget all disneyland fantasy and eiffel tower and proceeded with a new route. Now we had to bear the lost and additional coat for the trip, but... What to do, things happened for a reason and we thought it positively and took it as a new opportunity to appreciate natural places such as Lake Como, Lugano and St Moritz.

No one could ever feel happy for a cancelled trip to disneyland. I was so excited for the fun rides as it was my first to go to disney parks and studios, now that this happened, I should be keeping the ticket and come within 6 months to redeem the entrance.

However, the good side of this re-scheduled journey was we got to stay in a caravan with a front awesome lake view. Furthermore, we went to swiss miniature which covered replicas of local switzerland historical and cultural building.

True, every cloud has a silver lining and we got to different 3 places within 2 days with 3 car rental changes; Avis, Europecar and Hertz.

13 June 2013 - St Moritz, Swissminiature, Lugano, Mont Blanc

Though angan-angan nak main hotel hollywood ride dah ke laut, kebahagiaan kami tidak tersekat. We were ready for St Moritz. Pak cik Roberto yang bekerja di Europa Camping once made this joke "St Moritz, Lugano... Do you have more expensive places to go?" Menurut celoteh pak cik tu, those two places memang kawasan orang kaya-kaya. We just go to take photographs and enjoy the sightseeing panaroma. That morning, Atikah prepared us curry and chicken flavoured instant noodles for breakfast. After getting stuffy, dengan perasaan gembiranya kami meneruskan perjalanan ke St Moritz. Perjalanan mengambil masa selama 2 jam setengah dengan distance about 120km. Suppose kalau kat Malaysia, 120km tu boleh buat sejam je. Tapi, since jalan kat Switzerland ni berliku-like especially apabila mendaki gunung, tekanan kuat ke atas accelerator kereta bukanlah sesuatu perkara yang diidamkan kami though Ammar dah lama nak feeling2 drift Ferrari kat Switzerland. 

The route to St Moritz memang berliku-liku. Memang sepanjang perjalanan tu, semua dok berzikir je supaya selamat sampai. Mana tak nya, kereta sewa kecil je, tapi dok lenjan macam four wheeled drive. Kesian la fiat punto tu kan... Tapi mata dan hati sangat happy la bila tengok keindahan alam di sekeliling kami. Macam berada di alam fantasi la orang kata. Subhanallah... Allah itu cantik dan suka akan kecantikan. Hebatnya ciptaan alam; gunung ganang berpuncak salji, padang hijau yang luas, awan putih di langit biru dan udara yang nyaman.

Seperti biasa, bila x de benda nak buat, people tend to sleep in the car. Buat co-pilot, though macam mengantuk, kena la jugak tahan sebab kang ke laut pulak pilot bawa kereta.

Sesampainya di sebuah tasik biru di pertengahan perjalanan, everyone awoke and terus keluar tangkap gambar. Macam-macam pose lah semasing kan... Yang bajet ayu, yang melompat, yang cover macho, semualah.

Dah puas bergambar tepi tasik, we continued the journey menempuhi jalan yang berliku dan mendaki selekoh tajam. Since St Moritz ni destinasi tangkap muat, tak de homework pasal attraction kat situ pon yang dibuat. So, teragak tengok tempat tu lawa, kitorang pon singgah. And again, we stopped nearby a lake. Kat sebelah kiri ada church and pony horses and sungai biru yang mengalir terus ke dalam tasik, kanan ada hotel, depan ada tasik dan gunung. Memang cantik.

Dalam perjalanan menuju ke heidi hutte, kitorang terjumpa satu butik prada yang besar, siap ada tangga prada lagi. Daki punya daki, tiba-tiba dah ada kat puncak gunung. Kira satu level dah dengan cable car yang bawa orang ski kat puncak tu. Sempat juga lah kitorang main buaian atas gunung, feeling bollywood kejap. Nasib baik tak de selendang je. Kalau tak, dah abes semua orang berdancing.

Since tak jumpa-jumpa heidi hutte and kononnya nak tengok pemandangan pokok pine, dengan kuasa penunjuk arah yang terletak di tangan co-pilot, I decided to use the right route untuk turun dari gunung tersebut. Malangnya jalan tersebut tidak menepati piawaian and still under construction. Sebabkan jalan yang sepatutnya telah pon ditutup, dengan arahan GPS, kitorang pon lalu unpaved road. Tanpa disedari, kitorang terjumpa seekor kancil yg sedang memandang tepat ke arah kereta. Lama kancil tu tenung. Orang kata bijak macam kancil sebab kancil ni lincah and sukar dilihat and ditangkap. Alhamdulillah rezeki kami dapat jumpa kancil liar seekor...

Makin dalam kami tempuh, makin pelik laluan unpaved route tu. Dah namanya unpaved route, suppose kuda and hiker je yang lalu. Ni kitorang belasah naik kereta, dah sepanjang perjalanan tu berzikir hebat... Bila dah jumpa jalan besar, tiba-tiba jalan tutup pulak. Agak-agak la nak pusing jalan tadi balik, kan? So, Ammar pon cabut tiang penanda construction to make a space for the car to go through. Menghela nafas lega la masing-masing... Pheww. Taubat tak nak masuk such road dah.

So we finished ekspedisi St Moritz in the morning and went back to the cabin for lunch and power shower. Wujudkah istilah power shower ek? Haha. Sebabkan panas waktu summer, I showered la. Tak de guna air panas pon. Actually to have hot shower at that camping site, you have to purchase a token worth 70cents which lasts for 5 minutes. But, you can switch on and off the power while soaping your body. The concept is economical and energy saving. Ammar by then tempted to go into the small beach by the lake. However, by second thought, he denied that urge to retain energy to drive for the rest of the day. After loading our stuffs, we said goodbye to Uncle Roberto and thanked him for having us.

The clock showed 1 o'clock in the afternoon which meant that we were a bit behind the schedule. We were supposed to depart to Geneva during the second half of the day. But I already told Ammar to bring us to Swissminiature. Dah macam redha tak pergi pon sebab dah lambat. Tapi dah Ammar cakap boleh pergi and still had time, we went.

The student price to get into Swissminiature is 13 franc. We spent about an hour and half visiting all 112 miniatures symbolysed buildings all over Switzerland. I was the only one who was a little bit too excited with this theme park. I remembered when I was at Brussels, I persuaded everyone to bring me to Bruepark which displays buildings in the whole Europe.

Finished being a child, Ammar dropped us at Lugano railway station and he drove Fiat Punto to Como like ferrari. 45 minutes drive had then become 38 minutes because of that. We had to return the car back in Italy to avoid huge sum of money as crossing the border of the country. I just couldn't accept it as they are obviously under the same company and under the same European Union. Why don't they charge the same rate to return the car at different location eventhough under the same administration. Haihh. I think Italy and Switzerland would never be a good friend in term of public transport as the fare across the border was too expensive. (Only my plain blind accusation. LOL).

Drama swasta petang tu sikit je la. Ammar sempat catched a train at 6:50 pm from Como tu Lugano which costed him only 8.50 euro. Of course, we shared the price la bila dah total up semua budget. Bajet nak buat surprise kat kitorang sebab mampu sampai awal than expected, tapi tak jumpa pulak. Hahaha. We thought he would be late, so we actually sempat berjalan-jalan sekitar Lugano and naik the funicular. Last-last Ammar buat-buat merajuk pulak sebab tak tunggu dia naik furnicular. Sorry Ammar. Hehe.

So, the next rent car was metallic grey Mazda 2 which costed us 180 CHF, with full covered insurance. Off we go to Geneva!

Having said that, we actually returned to our original plan, i.e. be at Geneva at particular date. We drove all the way to Geneva from Lugano at dusk and the scenery along the highway was pretty spectacular. Kalau dah namanya senja, memang dah pukul 9 malam lah. Yang penumpang, tetap lah terlena. Yang memandu, tetap lah gagah. We stopped at autogrill aka RnR la where Aqiedah had deep interest in. Tak tahu kenapa. (Obviously dah lupa, sebab masa entri ni ditaip pon dari yang dah kahwin pon, anak pon dah boleh berlari la, nak katanya lapuk nya cerita ni. Hahaha). From this point, the co-pilot had changed, i.e from Nabilah to Aqiedah.

Aqiedah berusaha membaca map though it was her first time. Nabilah and Atikah slept at the back while aqiedah stayed awake to entertain Ammar. Hati Ammar dah tidur, tapi Ammar dengan degilnya meneruskan perjalanan kerana perjalanan itu sememangnya mencabar dengan keadaan geografi yang bergunung-ganang. Sesiapa yang minat Initial-D, memang korang akan minat la route ni. Kitorang yang dah tertidur kat belakang ni siap terjaga lah balik demi keselamatan bersama-sama. Kitorang perasan kot kereta dah ke kiri ke kanan. Aishhh.

And the next day i.e 14 June 2013 already started. That means, dah seharian jugak lah Ammar ni bersengkang mata. Dalam kegelapan malam, when I actually checked the map provided by the rental service, memang kitorang tengah melepasi sempadan tiga negara. Kejap masuk France, kejap masuk Switzerland, kejap masuk Italy. Tak tahu lah sistem highway tu macam mana, tapi memang macam tu la nampaknya di atas map.

We finally stopped at a border of France and Switzerland. Ammar memang out terus bila enjin kereta mati. He slept for two hours at the back seat. Mula-mula Atikah duduk at the other end of the car. Mamat tu bila dah pengsan tak ingat apa dah. Bajet tidur kat katil rumah sendiri la konon, sampai tersepak Atikah. Atikah terkejut, terus duduk dekat co-driver seat. Berhimpit lah sikit kitorang kat depan. Tapi, tak pe lah. Sekejap je pon.

Tak lama kemudian, Fajar pon menyinsing, tanda masuknya waktu Subuh. Sebabkan in the middle of no where, memang facilities pon tak berapa nak friendly la. Ada ke dia kunci toilet atas gunung tu. Damn. Nasib baik lah stok air mineral ada. Guna je lah apa yang ada. Sejuk wehhhh. Menggigil-gigil berwudhu'. Bila selesai berwudhu', baru lah perasan yang kitorang sebenarnya berada di hadapan Mont Blanc. Puncak Mont Blanc tu masih bersalji lagi, so memang sejuk lah.

Usai berehat, we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel sejauh 12 km and paid 41 euro toll. Keluar dari tunnel tu actually dah France. Pernah dengar nama tempat Chamonix? Haaa bawah dari exit tunnel tu, bandar Chamonix lah. Actually, we confused jugak ada dekat negara mana. Jalan depan sikit dah Switzerland. Tadi, masuk Italy, pastu rasa macam kat Switzerland. But, yeah. Pemandangan memang snagat awesome. Nampak Chamonix di lembah Pergunungan Alps, air terjun semulajadi dalam suasana pagi yang berkabus pada ketinggian 1420 m dari paras laut. Subhanallah... Selesai bergambar, menggedik di depan Mont Blanc Tunnel, we continued driving to Geneva Airport where we actually needed to change our car (again).

Upon our arrival, Ammar sambung tidur. We, the girls boarded onto a free shuttle bus to Geneve Airport (we actually parked at car rental parking). Kononnya nak mandi la. Tengok-tengok kena bayar 15 CHF, memang tak ah. Semua just salin baju, cuci muka je. Nanti sampai Lucerne baru mandi (hati-hati tengah mengomel). Selesai Ammar pon bersiap beberapa ketika, we walked to Europcar counter to settle for next car. Menyirap pulak rasanya dengan unfair treatment yang diberikan. We were like the first customer registered there, yet we were last to be served. Katanya system down. Heh??? Inefficient pulak kakak ni. Nak pinjam web pocket je pon. Awat yang complicated nye pon tak tau. Walaupun dah bengang tunggu sampai sejam tapi apa pon tak dapat, Ammar pon tak mampu nak marah. Penat drive pon tak hilang lagi. 

So, bermula lah perjalanan sebenar kami yang mengikut schedule asal. Pusing-pusing Switzerland! 

Ramadhan1436, we met again!

Alhamdulillah. We met again!

Ramadhan this year is different from last year. That means it has been a year since I graduated. Last year, I fast for almost 20 hours. This year, InshaAllah I will fast for 13 hours.

Preparation? Nothing much though. I hope Ramadhan this year will bring me closer to Allah, closer to my family, and closer to my true friends. What is more that I could wish for except His blessing.

Woke up to a very peaceful morning. Having a very good sleep that I wish class will start later.

Waiting for the class to finish so I can go home.

Excited to do more good deeds to attain reward from Allah.

Lets sail this Ramadhan smooth.

InshaAllah.

Time to purify our hearts.
Guide me, Allah.

Back to the past at Shirakawa-go.

When we searched placed to visit in Japan, this came to appear on screen. Shirakawa-go can be accessible by public transport from Takayama. Shirakawa-go is a UNESCO heritage site, locating the traditional village of farmhouses. Jangan kata Kedah je ada sawah padi, kat Jepun ni pon ada tau. And lagi hebatnya, sawah padi orang Jepun ni, di hadapan rumah masing-masing. Walaupun halaman rumah mereka sekangkang kera, tetaplah berbudi pada tanah, seiring dengan seruan 'Grow your own food'. And culture bercucuk tanam ni bukan sahaja dapat dilihat di kawasan kampung, malahan di kawasan bandar juga. Tabik!

We arrived in Takayama at noon and the bus departed to Shirakawa-go was at 1 pm. That left us a little bit of time to keep our luggage at the locker for 800 yen. That was the most expensive locker we ever used in Japan. Kalah Tokyo, okay? Hahaha. When we bought the ticket, kakak Jepun kat kaunter tu kata, we have to be back from Shirakawa-go at 3.15 pm sebab tu je waktu terakhir untuk naik bas awam di Takayama. Bas-bas di Takayama berhenti beroperasi seawal jam 4 petang. See what nonsense it was. We were like, heh??? Tapi, kitorang boleh call shuttle hotel kot. Nevertheless, to avoid any hassle, tetaplah kitorang obey jugak untuk balik pada masa yang ditetapkan. Negara orang kot. Sat gi sesat ke stranded ke, nak cakap camne. Dah la kampung, nak jumpa orang cakap English macam menunggu baby baru lahir bercakap pulak kan...

Perjalanan bas menuju ke Shirakawa-go mengambil masa selama satu jam. Pemandangan gunung ganang di sepanjang perjalanan memang menenangkan. Sebabkan bas ada wifi, sempat jugak lah belanja satu gambar gunung kat whatsapp group classmate.

Shirakawa-go Subhanallah... cantiknya!!! Sebab kampung tu dipisahkan oleh sebatang sungai yang mengalir deras. So, kalau nak pergi ke kampung tersebut, kena lah menyeberangi sungai melalui jambatan kayu gantung. Tak payah nak gayat-gayat, jalan je okay?

Secara mata kasar, what makes them different are the architecture style. Atap rumah kampung ni tinggi. So, kira macam loteng jugak lah area bawah atap tinggi tu. Actually, we only wondered around the area. Tak masuk dalam rumah pon sebab kena bayar. Macam duhhh???

We did not go to the viewing point sebab takut terlepas bas. The viewing point tu atas bukit. Setengah jam nak jalan and climb up the stairs, nanti tak sempat nak menikmati pemandangan yang indah and berebut dengan ribuan pengunjung yang hadir untuk dapat photo spot yang cantik, dah nak kena turun pulak kan. Another setengah jam pulak. So, dari membazir masa, baik lah tak payah pergi langsung. At least, dapat round kawasan kampung tu sampai habis, kan?

Puas bergambar, kami pun pulang. Sesampainya di ryokan, tersangatlah happy tengok ryokan yang sangat traditional dan bercirikan Jepun tu. Tidur atas tatami, ada yukata, ada onsen (kolam air panas), ada terompah kayu, ada green tea. Jakun!!!

Tapi, sebabkan aku memang adik yang mengada-ngada, aku paksa jugak lah kakak-kakak ni keluar bilik and jalan-jalan pergi open air museum. Tak jauh pon, dalam 10 minutes jalan mendaki bukit. On the way tu, sempat jugak lah singgah dekat bear museum, ambil gambar temple apa ntah besar semacam beratap warna gold, and also the entrance of seven gods museum. Walaupun tahu dah tutup, kitorang just try nasib je lah. Tak sangka pakcik museum tu bagi kitorang free chance masuk ambil gambar dekat the famous spot of that museum. Alhamdulillah... Rezeki kami lah kot Allah nak bagi. 

Selesai ambil gambar buat syarat dah sampai Takayama, semua balik bilik untuk sesi bergambar dalam bilik. Konon-konon green tea ceremony lah, selfie dengan yukata lah, mandi dalam onsen dan sebagainya. Malam itu kami tidur dengan sangat tenang beralaskan futon 3 lapis di atas tatami.

Kawachi Fuji Garden a.k.a Wisteria Tunnel

Dulu, zaman rajin scroll facebook, rajin jugak lah click link yang cakap pasal several wonders that actually exist, and one of them is wisteria tunnel. Bila dah plan nak pergi Japan, angan-anganku yang satu ini pun secara tidak langsung, akhirnya direalisasikan.

Berbekalkan semangat yang kuat untuk melihat bunga wisteria yang berwarna warni  dan JR pass yang sangat flexible, kami semua sanggup bangun seawal 5 pagi to fetch the first train going there. Perjalanan mengambil masa 4 jam dengan menaiki bullet train, so, bayangkan lah betapa jauhnya wisteria tunnel tersebut.

We arrived at Yahata station at 9:30 am. Masa tu dah ramai pon yang beratur untuk menaiki shuttle bus ke taman bunga itu. Sebabkan bas shuttle yang disediakan sudah penuh dinaiki pelawat yang beratur lebih awal dari kami, kami pon menaiki bas berbayar menuju ke the nearest bus stop (Kamijuta) to wisteria tunnel which is about 3.6 km away. According to google maps, they suggest for visitors to take a taxi from Kamijuta. Tapi....

Traffic jam teruk gila kot on the way to the garden. Semuanya salah on going road construction. Tahap tak bergerak jauh kot for almost two hours. So akhirnya, kitorang yang dah panas dalam  air conditioned bus yang macam sardin, turun dari bas and jalan for almost 10 km to reach to our deatination. Dah la baru elok demam, terus sihat mandi peluh. Memang mintak nyawa, weh. Panas berdenting.

Sesampainya di Kawachi Fuji Garden, kami bayar 1000 yen entrance fee and senyum melihat suasana taman bunga tersebut. Ramai gila orang. Nasib baik wisteria berbau wangi. So, ada la calm effect tu. But then, in my mind dah just fikir about our packed lunch. Sebab dah lapar gila. Tak kisah lah orang nak cakap apa, I put down my bag kat dalam tunnel tu and duduk bersila buka bekal maggi goreng berserta telur rebus. Don't care dah tatasusila seorang melayu ketika itu. Hahahaha.

Wisteria Tunnel ni sebenarnya tak de lah panjang sangat. And kawasan bunga tu pon tak lah besar sangat. Nak ambil gambar macam dalam google image memang harapan ah. Ramai kot orang. So, photobombers are surely everywhere in your very single pose. Kitorang pon melepak je pandang gelagat visitors bergambar, selfie and menikmati pemandangan yang subhanallah indahnya...

Dah terasa berbaloi bayar 1000 yen tu, we took a taxi straight to the train station to go back to Kyoto. Tapi, sempat jugak lah singgah di Namba, Osaka untuk makan the famous takoyaki. Takoyaki ni macam mana nak cakap eh? Cucur sotong kot bahasa kampung dia. Namba memang happening la. Ramai orang datang kat situ untuk makan takoyaki. Kitorang sampai beratur kat dua kedai la sebab nak beli takoyaki murah. Haha. Kedai pertama tu tak jadi sebab bila nak order je nampak mamat tu bawak keluar botol kaca warna hijau and pour the liquid atas takoyaki yang sedang masak. Terkejut, lantas keluar baris. LOL. Then jalan kedai kedua, terus tanya alcohol free and pork free tak. Cautious gila sebab dah ternampak kan... Kalau tak nampak lain cerita la.

Puas berjalan, kami akhirnya sampai ke Green Peace hampir pukul 11 malam. Masa tu memang mengantuk. Sebabkan takoyaki, gagah kan jugak lah makan cepat-cepat and prepare untuk merehatkan diri.

Next day, ke mana?