Japan Trip Nov 2016

Trying out a new pattern of blogging about an itinerary. Click on the "Expand All" to view the itinerary details and "Collapse All" to see an overview of the daily happenings.

28/10/2016	Check-in When we reached Haneda Airport, it was about 10pm. Due to some miscommunications, we bought 2 x 72 hours Tokyo subway pass which was quite under-utilized. Anyway, we took the monorail and subway to our apartment at Akihabara and checked in. Supper: Ippudo Instant Ramen Famished, we went to the nearest 7-11 to buy instant ramen for supper. It was interesting to see the branded ramens in instant form, and they still taste pretty good!
29/10/2016	Imperial Palace [] Lunch: Macdonalds Actually, we kind of got lost when walking from Imperial Palace to Yasukuni Shrine. We were so hungry and MacDonalds seem like the lifesaver. Yasukuni Shrine [TripAdvisor] When i was there, there were some ceremony to pray for the dead. Public who wish to pay their respect should wash their hands and mouth outside with the fountain water. (I did not do it) Visit the museum if you are there. The museum had some portions on the various wars fought, but there were all in Japanese I couldn't understand the details, except for those I already knew a bit. There was a section which display the soldiers belongings and last letters to their family members. Many of those letters were translated to English. Many of them were very proud to service their nation with their lives. The section with the pictures of all the people who died during service to Japan was quite similar to the Ground Zero museum at New York. It is a different feeling when you see the faces of those people, rather than just reading about them on text or artefacts display. Meiji Jingu Shrine [TripAdvisor] When we reached, there were many buses of tour groups .. It was quite rowdy and crowded. Nothing much to see too. You can see the same stuff at Yasukuni Shrine and more. Harajuku - too crowded! Harajuku was walking distance from Meiji Jingu, but it was so crowded that we could only walk in the direction that the crowd brings us. It was so uncomfortable that we got out of here within 15 minutes and went to Shinjuku instead. Shinjuku [] Dinner: Taishoken - tsukemen [TripAdvisor] At first we struggled with the Japanese self-ordering machine. Then a Chinese staff served us and explained patiently. We had Tsukemen. It was good but the serving was very big. Both of us couldn't finish it. Later on, I realized this is quite a famous chain for Tsukemen.
30/10/2016	Ueno Park [] Aneyoko Shopping Street [] Lunch: Ichiran Ramen [] Akihabara [] Dinner 1: Standing Sushi at Akihabara [] Dinner 2: Seafood don [] Yodabashi-Akiba It was my favourite night-time activity to visit the Yodabashi near my apartment. Mainly to use the massage machines. The cluster of massage chairs were free for people to sample, and many people just visited for a free massage! The best thing is the salesperson will not disturb you at all, unless you asked for help. The massages were so good!
31/10/2016	Disneysea [] Dinner: Salmon Rice at Disneysea [] Wiler Night Bus We took the Wiler Night bus from Tokyo Station to Osaka. The journey was about 8 hours. Maybe we were too tired from 11 hours of non-stop play at Disneysea, both of us slept soundly through the journey.
1/11/2016	Umeda Sky Building The bus terminal from the night bus was right beside the Umeda Sky Building. So we just stamp chop the attraction straight away. Haha Breakfast: The Cafe Lab [] Tokyu Hands @ Daimaru [] Pokemon Center [] Lunch: Chisozanmai buffet [TripAdvisor] The buffet is cheap considering that most restaurants are selling a set meal at 1200++ yen, and this is about 2k yen for 90 min. Good variety of food, drinks and desserts. There is crab too. I liked the black vinegar drink and the grape jelly. Check-in and rest [] Dinner: Santouka Instant Ramen []
2/11/2016	Osaka Castle [] Snack: Yakisoba, Takoyaki The Takoyaki was really good! After we finished the Takoyaki, we realized it's some award winning one. We tried some other Takoyaki at Dotonbori and it wasn't as good as this one. Remember to get the Takoyaki if you go to Osaka Castle! We had the company of a well-dressed dog while enjoying the Takoyaki too. Shinsabashi [] Lunch: Osaka Ohsho - Tenshin Han + Gyoza + ramen [] Rest [] Dinner: Okinoyaki Dontobori [] Snacks: Takoyaki, Giant Scallop [] Self shopping []
3/11/2016	Osaka Museum of Housing and Living [TripAdvisor] It is a two-storey museum. Upstairs, you get to rent a kimono to walk around a street that was replicating the old Japanese shops. You can play some retro Japanese toys which you can buy later too. It was interesting in that the place would turn dark and bright periodically like day and night time. However, I didn't find this part very enjoyable because it was way too touristy and crowded. The queue for kimono was very long, I did not rent one. The exhibitions downstairs were more interesting, with many miniature figurines doing their daily activities in old Osaka. Look at the exhibitions long enough and it would change to another one. There were some interesting paper animations that show how Osaka changed over time. Great craftwork and details. Tenjimbashi [] Lunch: Osaka Ohsho - Tenshin Han + Gyoza + Vegetables [] Rest and Travel to Nara & check in [] Night Cycle at Nara Town [] Dinner: Cocoyichibanya [] Daiso Shopping [] Enjoy nice Nara home The house we stayed in Nara was quite awesome.
4/11/2016	Cycle to Nara Park [TripAdvisor] There are many wild deers freely roaming around the park. They love the shika-senbei which you can buy at the stalls for about 150 yen. If you buy a pack, many of them will crowd around you. I didn't buy the senbei but I picked up one from the floor, then a deer from far away came over to me. A deer even licked my hands to see if there is senbei! Generally the deers are not afraid of human and you can really go up close and take photos with them!! Most of the deers look like they have their antlers cut away though, except for a few. It was very nice to cycle around, I had a great time. Happened to be holding a food festival when I was there too. Todaiji Temple [TripAdvisor] Impressive big bronze Buddha. Worth coming to take a look. It was very crowded on the day I went due to several student group excursions and some tour groups.. As it is located inside the Nara Park, there were wild deers roaming around the outside of the temple too. Take note of the opening hours (8-4.30pm) too. I didn't consider that during planning and arrived at Nara only in the late afternoon, so i had to shift my plans to visit in the next morning. Lunch @ Nara Food Festival: Yuzu Pepper Omelette, Pumpkin Melon, Okinoyaki We were lucky to chance upon the Nara Food festival. We bought the Yuzu Pepper Omelette, Pumpkin Melon and Okinoyaki to share between two of us. Actually, they are quite average but the ambience was kind of fun to be in a "festival" atmosphere. Check out and Travel to Kyoto to check in [] Cycle to Nijo Castle [TripAdvisor] I cycled there, realized there is a bicycle parking fee of 200 yen on top of the 600 yen admission fee.You can look at the murals of the rooms for different functions in the place lived by the Shogun. Most of the rooms were empty. The garden was very nice and well-kempt too. Snack: Green Tea mochi [] Cycle past Imperial Palace [] Dinner: Udon + Don [] Rest [] Cycle to Gion []
5/11/2016	Cycle to Doutor for breakfast [] Kyoto Station - Taqbin luggages! [] Lunch: Ramen Road @ Kyoto Station [] Kinkaku-ji [TripAdvisor] The temple looked really nice, both in real and in picture. However there was really nothing else to do except (waiting for a spot and) taking pictures of the golden temple from across the lake. You can't enter it. It was very crowded on the day I visited (Friday 2.30pm), there were several tour groups so it was very rowdy and not very pleasant. The place was quite commercialized, they even sell sake inside. Admission is 400 yen, the ticket looked interesting. I took a public bus in from Kyoto station, and then a bus out to Sanjusangendo and was stuck in slow traffic. Sanjusangendo was more worth a visit in my opinion. Sanjusangendo [TripAdvisor] The 1001 Bodhisattva Kannon (kuanyin) statues was the most impressive religious work I have ever seen. Each of them is human size with 11 heads and 42 hands, each hand had an eye. Each hand governs 25 worlds and 40x25 (minus the 2 regular hands) gives the thousand hand thousand eye. There were sculptures and stories of the different gods, very interesting. This place was less touristy than Kinkuku-ji, and definitely more worth a visit! I bought a charm there too. Admission is 600 yen, no photos and shoes allowed in the main hall. I managed to get in at 4.24pm before last entry at 4.30pm, was so worried to miss it! Dinner: Kitayama buffet [TripAdvisor] the food quality was average. the pizza and croquette were good, the chinese food were quite bad (the chinese dumpling had no soup inside and the skin was very thick and hard). Drinks selection was limited. It is acceptable but I wouldn't really recommend this place. Shopping at bookshop @ Aeon Mall [] Wiler Bus to Tokyo []
6/11/2016	Breakfast: Soba noodles [] Tokyo Tower [] Oedo Onsen Monogatari [] Lunch: Tsukemen [] Check in @ Mystay Kamata Hotel [TripAdvisor] The hotel was very clean. The bathroom felt posh with nice smelling soaps. I sent my luggages from Kyoto via taqbin, and my luggages were waiting in my room when I checked in, very convenient. Good service too. I booked here for one night stay before early morning flight to Haneda airport. The train ride was quite short but need not a short walk to Keikyu-Kamata station. Would recommend this place. Dinner: Cocoyichibanya []
7/11/2016	Haneda Airport [] Breakfast: 7-eleven instant macoroni []

Trek For Hope - The Twin Peaks of the Grand Corderilla, Philippines 2016

I signed up for the Trek For Hope at Phillippines in March 2016. Trek For Hope is something like integrating trekking with community work, a really cool concept to do two things I like in a single trip. We visited Mount Ugo and Mount Pulag for the Trek, and collaborated with Oikos Helping Hands to understand and help the poor for the Hope side.

The Preparation

This trip was unlike any other hiking trip I had been to. Besides including community work as part of the trip itinerary, all of the participants had to be involved in the planning and execution of the community day. We were planning a carnival event for the people to have a fun day, Singaporean style.

About two months before the trip, we were grouped into small groups to think of station activities for the carnival or get some tasks done. Besides the carnival preparations, training hikes were organised to prepare us for the hike, especially the beginners. Actually it was more like a get-to-know-your-to-be-travel-mates kind of thing, pretty interesting. Special mention to Lay Hoon for all these pre-trip efforts, it takes a lot of dedication to plan an event at such scale.

For the pre-trip preparation, I was working on designing the wristbands for the carnival and also a station game. There were some last minute changes though, so I was doing the photo booth on the actual day. The wristbands was used to allow the participants to keep track of the stations they visited and claim a prize after visiting all.

Can you guess some of the station games from the wristband icons?

The Trek

We visited Mount Ugo (2100+m) and Mount Pulag (2900+ m). In preparation for the hike, I went for a few training hikes to Gunung Arong, Gunung Lembak and Bukit Fraser. After the actual hike, I realised that mountain height does not directly translate to trek difficulty, it also depends on the trail taken and the terrain type.

The trekking terrain was quite straightforward

The cool thing about trekking up Mount Ugo and Mount Pulag was that it was a scenic view throughout the hike! This was different from my usual hikes where you only get rewarded with a view at the summit. Maybe this is a characteristic of trekking in a Corderilla region. In fact, the view along the trek was nicer than that at the summit of Mount Ugo.

View along the trek to Mount Ugo

As for Mount Pulag, we took one of the easiest trails which started quite high up the mountain. We started the summit ascend at about 2+ am and reached the summit at about 5+ am. Along the way, the star view was very beautiful. I spotted Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus too.

Milky Way, photo by Yi Xiang

Venus above the sun! Screenshot beside in case you don't believe me. 

Sunrise above a sea of clouds was beautiful

We even played a game of bridge at the summit of Mount Pulag.

The Camping

We camped outdoors for 2 nights. The first night at Domolpos Elementary School, the second night at Lusod Village. It was my first time camping overnight, exciting!

Our camps at Domolpos Elementary School. The blue one was where I stayed.

I slept in the tent with two other girls, but the tent size was the same, so it was really cramped! The tent specs indicated it could fit 3 Americans, but 3 Asian girls was stretching it already.

Me and my tent

One of the fun things was the sing song sessions! Simon brought along a guitar-lele, I brought my long-neglected harmonica. Sometimes my harmonica would get stuck when the temperature was to cold.

Jamming sessions! 

We got to interact with the kids at the Domolpos School too.

The kids sang a song for us!

I lost my headlamp after the first night, so the second night felt terrible for me! Felt like a blind person.

Our tents at Lusod Village

Caught the sunset at Lusod Village.

The People

I think what makes a trip particularly memorable is always about the people you spent time with. Trip companions make or break your experience.

For this trip, I signed up with two of my colleagues cum hiking buddies. We were referred to as the 笨笨 / weird trio in this blog post by the two kids in the trip. I have one more colleague in the trip too, that makes it 4 of us from the same company! We were just being very crazy and speak in stupid languages. I am not always like that when I travel, but the presence of another crazy person amplified my craziness and I probably had the same return effect. The vicious cycle resulted in a superdose of craziness, and infected some of our new friends too. It was really fun, I laughed very hard a lot during the trip, which on hindsight was a very precious thing in this sometimes-not-so-fun world.

Many people told me that I am very lucky to have colleagues who take care of me. Yup, thank you you guys!

I made a lot of new friends too, young and old.

Look at the stupid people!

The Local Experience

We had probably read about or seen pictures on the poverty-stricken state of some of the developing countries like Philippines, but it's a wholly different experience to be within them and feel the place and people.

What hit me the most was the home visit sessions, where we witnessed the unimaginable living conditions of the very poor. Many are still living in slums on the roadside or riverside, their home exterior decorated with piles of garbage which also served as some of their food and income source.

Riverside slums

Me taking a picture of the garbage filled slums

What was equally disturbing was the tessellations of election posters pasted everywhere on the streets. We wonder what had the government done for the people. Why was resources spent on printing election posters instead of helping the people?

Election posters. Image taken from Google Images

Many strong and abled youths are full-time scavengers, sometimes young kids forgoing their education to scavenge for income. That is such a waste of human resource! If only they had the opportunities to hone a proper skill and get a job to make a living for themselves and contribute to the society. They would lead a better life, the world would benefit from the human resource.

Kids scavenging at the river 

During the house visits, we get to ask them any questions we like. I like to ask the kids what do they want to be when they grow up. I feel that the ambition of the young people shapes future of the nation.

Justin, leftmost, wants to serve the military when he grows up

As mentioned earlier, we planned a carnival for the locals to have some fun. Actually, we had just as much fun. Many of the locals were very friendly to us.

This woman offered to let me carry her baby and take a photo!

Conclusion

It was a very unique and meaningful trip! It opened my eyes to the beauty of nature and the people of Philippines. Thanks Simon and Lydia for organizing!

Check out Simon's post on this trip too!

An event plaque sponsored by Howard, one of the TFH participants!