Japan trip summary

Waow, it’s been 4 months since my last post. Now I realise that writing is very challenging! Ternyata susah sekali mendisipilinkan diri sendiri untuk menulis.

OK, without further ado… I’d like to sum up or rather shorten my Japan trip experience.

Day 3, Monday 1 December 2008

It’s Disney time!!! Three of us — Me, Awan & Iwet — decided to explore the Disney Sea for the whole day! Actually, we also wanted to visit the Disneyland, but we decided to stick to the first attraction due to limited time and money hehe. For one park cost 5,800 Yen, two parks cost 10,000 Yen. Visiting both parks is recommended for those who have more time, cos let me tell ya, one park is sooo HUGE already… make sure you have a strong pair legs if you want to visit both parks.

As for us, we decided to go with the DisneySea instead of the Disneyland, cos Awan said that Disneyland is more to family and children… but DisneySea is more to couples and adults. If you’re looking for family and slow-paced attractions, you should go to Disneyland. But if you’re into thrilling experience, then DisneySea is the right choice!!! Moreover, as far as I’m understand, there’s only one DisneySea in the world and that’s in Japan. But there are so many Disneylands other than Japan. Hmm I think I’ll go to HongKong’s Disneyland one day.

It was quite a long and tiring journey to reach the DisneySea which located outside Tokyo. We took 1,5 hour to reach there. But once we reached the resort getaway station, suddenly all the stress feeling I had dissappear! Disney characters appeared here in there in various forms; poster, sticker, etc. But the most interesting to me was the Disney Train! Yup, we had to take the Disney Train to reach the DisneySea. The train is actually a monorail train but with a touch of Disney. It has mickey-mouse-head-shaped-windows and hand rails.

My mouth dropped when we enter the DisneySea complex. It was lovely… cos I’ve never seen anything like it before hehe. And it was sooo big! We were confused, where to start… what to explore… what rides to take… Again, it was so huge we couldn’t try all the rides. So we had to choose. Of course we chose only the signature attractions. Don’t forget to ask for a brochure. It contains information, performance schedule as well as map of DisneySea.

My favorite attractions at DisneySea were… the carnival and the Tower of Terror!

Pictures of me at DisneySea can be found here.

More info on DisneySea click here.

My 7-days Japan travelicious

What you’re about to read is not a suggested Japan travel itinerary. It’s actually my personal experience when I visited the country for 7 days in late November 2008 plus, of course, some color stories around it. However, if you’re planning to go there too, you might wanna read this post thoroughly, who knows you would find it useful =)

DAY 1 (Saturday, 29 November 2008)

My All Nippon Airways flight arrived at Terminal 1 Narita Airport at 7am local time. Please note that Narita Airport is divided into two separate terminals, 1 and 2, with a North and South wing at each terminal. Different airlines use different terminals. To know your destination terminal, please check the official Narita Airport website. To me, this information is important as my other travel companion, Iwet Ramadhan, arrived at different terminal. He flew from Jakarta by Garuda Indonesia, therefore his plane landed at Terminal 2.

Between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 Narita Airport is quite a distance. But not to worry, travelling to and from each terminal is quite easy. However at that time I couldn’t find a sign or direction to Terminal 2. So what I approached an airport officer (the nearest person I could find) and asked her. She didn’t speak much english but was very eager in helping me. So I asked in a very simple way;
“Terminal 2?” at the same time I raised my right hand and showed my index and middle fingers.
She understand and said “Ah… Exit… bus… six.”
“Arigatou.”

She was saying, to go to Terminal 2, you have to exit from terminal 1 first, then you board the shuttle bus from lane 6. Very easy, right? So I board the shuttle bus (free of charge) and it took me to Terminal 2 in less than 10-minutes (by the way, the bus is english friendly).

After meeting my friend at Terminal 2 Narita Airport, the next question would be “How to go to Tokyo from Narita airport?”. Luckily, I’ve googled about this so many times before I went to the Japan’s capital. So it was time to practise what I’ve learned.

First, we must found the Japan Railway (JR) Office. The office was located at the basement of Terminal 2 Narita Airport (note: you can also find JR office at Terminal 1).

Second, we exchanged our JR Pass vouchers. About JR Pass, terms & conditions, how to get it and other informations, you can find it on the Japan Rail Pass website. All I can say is that JR Pass is highly recommended for those who will likely to travel throughout Japan quite frequent during the temporary stay. The price for 7-days pass ordinary-type is 28.300 Yen. I myself bought the JR Pass at Tangs Plaza, Orchard Road, Singapore for SGD 448. Whereas my friend, Iwet, bought it at Wisma Kyoei Prince, Sudirman, Jakarta for Rp 3.5 million.

Third,  after we had the JR Passes, we asked the officer to reserve us seats on the Narita Express or NEX to take us to Tokyo. We also reserved seats for our way back from Tokyo to Narita Airport on our departure date from Japan. (Note: with a JR Pass, you can board the NEX as well as make reservation on NEX for free. If you don’t make a reservation, you may still board the train but can only sit in a non-reserved car. I ‘d recommend you to make a reservation, to make sure you can sit on the train comfortably. It’s free anyway! Oh yeah, the reservation can be made in any JR Offices which available in any major stations.)

Tips: Put the JR Pass in a easy access spot so that you can take it out and show to JR officers everytime you travel. Bring the pass everyday and don’t lose it!

Getting to Tokyo from Narita was like a first task for me and Iwet. Luckily we managed to pass the challenge without fail hehe. After spending 1-hour in a NEX train, finally we reached Tokyo station. Our friend, Andy Laver, was already waiting for us at the Marunouchi Central Exit.

From there we took a cab to Ville Fountain Hotel Roppongi to put our bags and luggages, then proceed to 57 @Roppongi. 57 is a New York style restaurant and lounge in one of Tokyo’s hot spots.

While Iwet was busy doing rehearsal for the Javarizm event that night (fyi Iwet was the MC of the show), me and a friend, Ana Muto, strolled around Roppongi area and visited the Roppongi hills with its landmarks.

This huge sculpture of spider is a popular place to meet and wait for people at Roppongi Hills

Roppongi Hills is ready for christmast

At night, I went back to 57 @Roppongi and had a blast party at Javarizm event with the Indonesian Community in Japan. Thanks guys!

Left to right: Iwet Ramadhan, Me, Ariawan

Liburan yang nyaris gagal

Ah, liburanku itu akhirnya kesampaian juga. Meskipun tidak sempurna tetapi paling tidak tetap berakhir dengan manis.

Memang benar kata mutiara, “Manusia bisa berencana, namun Tuhan yang menentukan.” Itu juga yang menimpa liburan saya. Padahal rencana itu sudah tersusun dengan manis di agenda: tur dan shopping di Bangkok, lanjut Tokyo. Ibarat pepatah ‘Sekali dayung dua pulau terlampaui’, Jepang dan Thailand adalah dua negara yang ingin sekali saya kunjungi. Tiket pesawat sudah di tangan sejak tiga minggu sebelum keberangkatan yang dijadwalkan tanggal 28 November 2008. Thai Airways International dengan rute Singapore-Bangkok lalu Bangkok-Tokyo.

25 November 2008, pengunjuk rasa Thailand mulai menduduki bandara Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok sampai beberapa hari ke depan. Ribuan pelancong pun terkena dampaknya, termasuk saya.  Maskapai penerbangan Thai Airways dan agen perjalanan Zuji dibombardir dengan keluhan saya yang meminta kepastian;

“Saya tetap bisa berangkat atau tidak?”

Jawaban mereka sama;

“Sampai saat ini kami belum bisa memastikan karena situasi yang serba tidak menentu.”

Saya hanya diberikan dua pilihan;
1. Tunda jadwal keberangkatan, atau
2. Batalkan tiket, uang kembali, -lupakan Bangkok- cari penerbangan lain ke Tokyo (yang tentunya lebih mahal dan belum tentu ada)

Pasrah. Mungkin memang belum ditakdirkan untuk liburan. Segera saya ceritakan keadaan saya ke partner liburan saya, Ari Awan dan Iwet Ramadhan. Saya minta maaf karena kecil kemungkinan saya bisa bergabung bersama mereka. Bahkan saya juga lapor ke atasan agar cuti saya bisa dibatalkan.

27 November 2008, Thailand memutuskan menutup dua bandara di Bangkok sampai tanggal 29 November 2008.

“That’s it” kata saya dalam hati. There goes my holiday. Sepasang sepatu boot, jaket tebal, sepasang sarung tangan, dan baju-baju hangat yang sudah saya siapkan untuk liburan musim dingin jadi sia-sia.

Sampai 27 November 2008, kurang 24 jam dari jadwal keberangkatan, saya menerima telepon dari Thai Airways International yang isinya kira-kira begini:

“Nurviana, we’ve managed to book you a seat on All Nippon Airways, our alliance partner. So, instead of transitting in Bangkok, you’ll be flying directly to Tokyo.”

YES!!!

Saya ikhlas koq kalau harus merelakan trip ke Bangkok, selama tujuan utama saya, Jepang, terlaksana. Kalau dihitung-hitung saya malah untung, karena dapat penerbangan direct yang notabene lebih mahal, tanpa tambahan biaya sepeser pun! Ah, saya jadi nge-fans sama Star Alliance.

Jadilah malam itu tanggal 28 November 2008 saya berangkat menuju Jepang! Oleh-oleh cerita soal perjalanan saya akan saya muat di tulisan-tulisan saya berikutnya!