#zfm tabi

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What else do you think of when it comes to Belgium? Belgian Waffles of course! 😍🇧🇪#zackystravellog (at Brussels, Belgium)

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Weeeekend 💃🏼

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When everything else dissappoint you, ice cream won't! 😊 Must try in Furano; lavender and melon soft serve 🍦 #zackystravellog 🇯🇵 (at Tomita Farm, Furano)

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Tabi #07 - Day 06 & 07 [Japan Series]

Day 6 & 7 - Osaka

Jan 15th & 16th, 2016 Osaka. So many places we wanted to visit yet we only have one and a half day. On the first day, instead of using the icoca, we bought the ecopass for trains. This card costs 800¥ and you can use it for train rides the whole day and also get discounts to some of tourists spots.

ecocard and my fav drink to keep me warm

First off, we head to the Osaka Castle. Man the castle area was so huge. Osaka castle history was something about this Hideyoshi guy and then there's Tokugawa clan destroy and rebuild or whatever. I don’t really have a brain fit for historical major so you can just google and find out about that. Hehe. Of course jump shot in front of the castle. And we actually get a shot with all of us in the air /crying in victory/

you dont know how much effort we put to get this picture XD

Also we get to dress up and hold a katana and take a wefie with a Sanada Yukimura cosplayer. Sanada Yukimura is one of the famous warrior easily identified with the one who wears the antler hat.

Since its friday, we decided to join the Friday prayer at the islamic centre. We took the train to Chibune where the mosque is located nearby the station. Its a bit far from the central Osaka. And of course you can finds lotsa halal food there too.

The exterior of the islamic centre is still on renovation at that time.

Inside the praying area.

After that we went to Osaka museum of heritage to rent yukata but sadly it already sold out so we decided to come back tomorrow (advanced booking is not available). Next, we head to Sanadayama park (because one of us is a fan of Sanada Yukimura).

Finally the destination we all are looking forward: Den Den Town! The name of the place is actually Nipponbashi. Because it sells a lot of electronics appliances it is called Den Den (short for Denki=Electric). It is also similar to Akihabara in Tokyo but i guess it is much  smaller. Den den town was like the highlight of our trip because duh we are all crazy anime fans. With that said, we spent hours there and goodbye money haha.

Filling our hunger with delicious ten don. Yum!

The next day we split to 2 groups. Mamao & Hariz went to Ishibashi to hunt for guitars while the rest of us went back to the museum of house and living. We were so unlucky that the yukata are sold out again but we entered the museum anyways.

Playing with traditional game.

Oh i forgot to mention we also use ecocard and for weekend it cost only 600¥. After that we walk around Shinsaibashi. It is more like a high end shopping district. Next we head to the oh so famous Dotonbori or so called Osaka big kitchen. So many streetfood yum!!

Continued walking and again, to Den Den Town because one time is not enough. Haha. But we have a time limit for like two hours because sadly we have a flight to catch. Andd at the end of the day we have to drag our feet back to the airport. But not before we got lost again! Haha. Its crazy. Google maps is driving me insane. But thanks to that we met an ikemen-san who helped us show the way although he can’t speak english XD.

Finally arrived at the airport on time. Time to return the rental pocket wifi. Just put it in the envelop (provided along with the pocket wifi) and drop it in any postbox before checking in. Checked in our luggage and sayonara japan. Till we meet again <3

Previous posts on Japan Series:

Japan Series 06

Japan Series 05

Japan Series 04

Japan Series 03

Japan Series 02

Japan Series 01

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Tabi #06 - Day 05 [Japan Series]

Day 05 - Nara

Jan 14th, 2016 7am and we are ready to leave. It actually snowed last night and the snow are still there on the ground. Snow why you always come when we are leaving (つД`)ノ Haha. Horita-san escorted us to the bus stop and bid us goodbye. He was so kind until the end that we wish to come again.

Some scribble wishes for Horita-san.

Our destination today is Nara yay! From JR Kanazawa station took the express train back to Kyoto. Today's the last day of using the JR Pass. Glad to utilize it to the max. From Kyoto, we took the local train to Nara. Upon our arrival at Nara as usual the first thing is finding lockers to bury away our bags.

We walk across Nara town to get to the deer park. My cousins said that Nara town have the feeling like a Pokemon’s town. Haha. Idk. Maybe if u played the game u can feel it. I didnt played it obviously XD.

DEERS ARE EVERYWHERE! OMG. Haha. I dont think i’m a fan of deers before coming here. But they are so cute how can you resist! U can buy deer cookies (Shika senbei) and feed them. Be careful because they always know when you are holding foods. I got headbutted a few times too haha.

Selfie with a deer XD

Even deer queue up to buy ice cream. This is Japan! XD

Had udon and sakura ice cream for late lunch. Really curious how sakura taste like so i tried :)

With the udon shop owner

Sakura kudzu soft serve

Met some chuugakusei (middle school students) anddd picture time.

Because its running late so we did our prayer at the info centre. All you have to do is just ask the receptionist and they will show you the prayer room :)

Nara tourist information centre

Took a local train to Osaka. In Osaka, we are staying at a studio apartment in Suminoe-ku. From Suminoe-koen station, walking distance for about 20mins to the apartment. It is situated in a local housing area. Although its a bit far from the city and main attractions, but its a great experience living like a local. On the way there, we got lost again. and seriously, google maps are making us walk along a longer route again. oh the perks of a traveler. Anyways, don't hesitate to ask a local they are always able to help. The studio apartment is a bit cramped for the six of us. Found it on Airbnb. But for this price and in a city like Osaka i think its ok. We didnt spend much inside anyways so spacious cozy bedroom is not our priority. 

Previous posts on Japan Series:

Japan Series 05

Japan Series 04

Japan Series 03

Japan Series 02

Japan Series 01

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It suddenly started snowing today 😱❄️☃😁 (at Groningen the Netherlands)

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Tabi #04 - Day 03 [Japan Series]

Day03 - Shirakawa-go

Jan 12th, 2016

By 7am we are ready to start our day. The hostel owner offers to send us to the station. (The bus station is just next to train station which we arrived the previous day).

Us with Sakura Guesthouse owner.

Still remember the JR Pass? Yeah the bus ride to Shirakawa is included so we don't have to pay. We arrived early and grabbed some konbini(convinience store) stuff for breakfast.

Another tip: Queue early even if the bus will arrive for another 45mins. Yes we did that. There are so SO many people wanted to go to Shirakawa so you have to queue early or wait for the next bus. The bus ride took about 1hour. The view is amaaazing. Subhanallah.

Shirakawa-go excellent scenery

When we arrived, we put our bags in a bigass 600¥ locker that fits all of our bags (like 6x 50L bags). And then we book our bus to Kanazawa for later since we are not staying overnight here.

Truth be told we are a bit disappointed because it is not snowing. According to the locals it's a bit warm those few days so it is not likely to snow. /cries internally/ But anyways, Shirakawa is very nice and peaceful. The houses are so cute haha. They call it ‘gassho-zukkuri’ you can google more about it.

Gassho-zukkuri houses in Shirakawa-go

We walked up to the viewpoint where we can see the whole village. Bought some senbei and some snacks earlier so we kinda picnic at the top of the hill while enjoying the view.

Finally the time comes when we had to say goodbye to Shirakawa. But, while waiting for the bus suddenly snow started to fall down. Haha we were like whaaat only now you are starting to come down. Therefore i pledge to definitely come back here next time when to experience the snow. Haha.

The bus to Kanazawa took about 1+hour. Along the way the view is amazing cuz they're covered in snow. We did our prayer in the bus bcz when we arrive it is already pst asr time. Oh did i mentioned i take my ablution in Shirakawa before hop in the bus. The water is freakin cold! /screams internally/.

So when we arrived at Kanazawa i was in a bit of a shock. I thought Kanazawa is an old town/village style but what i saw is all big tall buildings and high end shops and i was like woah. The JR station itself is really big. Then we took another bus to go to our place for tonight.

Previous posts on Japan Series:

Japan Series 03

Japan Series 02

Japan Series 01

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Tabi #03 - Day 02 [Japan Series]

Day 2 -  Takayama

Jan 11th, 2016

Today we check out from the apartment early to catch our train to Takayama. The previous night we already checked the train schedule. Long distances JR express trains aren’t frequent so you better check the schedule and plan ahead. So we head to Kyoto stn and jumped on the train to Takayama.

Oh before that, please note there are cars for reserved and non-reserved seats on the train. We arrived kinda early so we booked our seats.

Btw, this is not a single train ride from Kyoto to Takayama. We have to get off at some station and change trains and also we were kinda at a loss lol. We get on 3 different trains to get to our destination. And the most exciting part is that we even get to ride a shinkansen. Pretty cool huh. Even if it's just a 30mins ride haha. I didn't notice that it is actually included in the JR pass. Cuz shinkansen are like super expensive. But anyway the view outside the window along the way is just wow.

View throughout the train ride from Kyoto to Takayama

We arrived at Takayama around 2pm and its colddd (around 3 degree C) and we are super hungry. We found a ramen shop nearby the station that have a menu with no meat and no alcohol. Notice the meat in the ramen it is not an actual meat. It is soy meat which made from compressed soy bean and it tastes good.

Miso Ramen (left) & Salt Ramen (right)

After we filled our belly we went to our Guesthouse by foot. And wow did we just burn our fats because it says in the website just 20mins walk from the station. Did i mentioned each of us carry like 50L backpacks and walking uphill. Total workout. Lol. Luckily we just exercised the previous day walking up Fushimi Inari so it is not a shock to our legs at that time. Also the weather is nice and cold so its okay.

Sakura Guest House, Takayama

That night we stayed at Sakura Guest House. We get a dorm of 8 for us alone (i requested this during booking - and the fee is still for 6pax). The guesthouse is really nice and clean. This is actually my 1st time backpacking and staying in a travellers dorm so its pretty exciting. Lol. The owners are nice. They explained to us places of interest around town and showed us around the guesthouse.

6pm and its already dark. We had our rest and did our prayer and again, we didn't have anything planned. We decided to go out around town. We went to a 100¥ sushi shop. Ahhh the taste of real japanese sushi <3

Hamazaushi, Takayama

Next, we went to Sega World. Its fuuuuuun. Arcade at its best. Lol. And there goes our 100¥ coins. We also took a picture at one of the purikura.

Sega World, Takayama

Purikura that makes us all beautiful XD

When we finally move our asses out of Sega World and started to head back, it started to snow. Our first snow in Japan and we are like super excited although its just a little haha.

Delicious milk pudding special in Hida prefecture i guess because i didn't found this in any other places. Only for 99¥ you can get this super delicious pudding. Yum!

Previous posts on Japan Series:

Japan series 02

Japan series 01