Hitting first day of 30s in Japan

We arrived in Tokyo on 23rd April, err.. in other way to express it , on my birthday *wink*.

I didn't bother much on the celebration of my new age,because for me, being in the busiest metropolitan city when I plotted the completion of three decades of my life, that`s priceless.

We walked and toured in chilled air of Kyoto on our first night on Japan soil, when one of us triggered for a pit stop at Starbucks.

I've got myself a tall size of chocolate cream chip ice blend, when Kak Gee and others bought theirs with a slice of cake. Seriously it didn't ring any bell to my conscious , not in the slightest.

Out of nowhere, Kak Gee popped out the straw and all of them wished me  birthday  in a rythm, I was overwhelmed. Awww~ cripes. That was the most beautiful surprise ever thrown to  me. Thanks ladies.xoxo. : ))

Somehow, it has caught me by surprise that during 7 days trip, there was not a single thing tht I came across has triggered my excitement to shop for myself. Not until the last gate before boarding to Kuala Lumpur, I spotted this super cute pinky black barbie version pouch of LeSportSac. Coincidentally, I was happened to look for a new pouch to store my  new traveling prayer dress. And just by having this , I just couldn't be more grateful for a birthday purchase. hihi.

Ikoi-no-Ie,Kyoto and Hotel Empire, Shinjuku,Tokyo

When we were in the planning and charting process for our trip to Japan , finding a nice but cheap accommodation felt like the hardest challenge. It took my  whole day on weekend to ensure that the place I decided won't be a hassle to get there with us lugging the big luggage from the train stations.

During this trip, we stayed at two different lodgings, one in Kyoto and one in Tokyo. Yes , it was a bit tedious arrangement considering both cities are separated by almost three hours trip by the Japan fastest bullet train,namely shinkansen.

In Kyoto, the cheapest yet convenient accommodation that I found and chose was this modern Japanese-style , Ikoi-No-Ie

The route from the train station to the premise was a bit tricky, that we have no option but to ask around the local(read: with a great effort of body language communication). We were ushered by a nice local fella until we reached the reception door.All our sweats and exhaustion were instantly forgotten upon greeted by the receptionists who are pretty in the kimono.

Gosh, her skin is so flawless and soft, I hate that I envy her. haha!

 

I dont know why, but my biggest fear about staying in Japan was my imagination with their small space to live in. I was right, when our room for 5 was under the roof of the premise, that we have to climb the ladder to get up in our room.

But with foldable mattress, the room was just adequate to the five of us for eating, praying and spreading our long fatigue foot across the room, and most importantly , to laugh out loud :p.

The sun rise very early, at 5 am but the day is bright like 7 am in Malaysia.

 

So we have to forget to laze around but to get up and explore Kyoto and Osaka while the day was early.

We stayed here for three nights, just err... just enough to cover Kyoto, Osaka and approaching Kobe with fastest pace that we could keep up with.

In Tokyo I selected Hotel Empire Shinjuku which is just a few minutes walk away from Shin-Okubo JR train station.

We arrived quite early at this hotel. Early as in before the allowable check-in time of 3 pm. Apparently Japanese is too rigid and in a positive way, punctual about time, even the reception guy didn't budge when we chat him up into allowing us to get the access to our room earlier. Gah~!

Thankfully the cafe is just next door, so we have had our quick,simple lunch  before we checked- in and resumed the tour to the next attractions in Tokyo.