Chiang Mai Lantern Festival

All you need to know about this amazing experience is available here.

This is my very first solo travel.

Before I even booked the flights and hotels, I made sure that I booked the event itself. There are two lantern festival events. One is Private Yee Peng and the other one is the Yee Peng Lanna International (Mae Jo). Their difference? Read here.

Anyway, I bought the tickets for the Yee Peng Lanna International. That time, it costs about US$100 but the transportation to and from the event was not included. Nowadays however, they are including the transportation to the total costs and it makes more sense actually.

Tiger Air (Scoot) has a direct flight from Singapore to Chiang Mai. But when I was about to book the flights, I saw that the Thai Airways flight costs the same, though there's a layover in Bangkok. I booked with Thai Airways.

Day 1. I stayed in Roseate Hotel. It was cheap and nice and even the food is good. I mostly call for room service for my dinner. I arrived at about 3 PM. My only plan for that day was a Thai massage (and boy, was it good!). The name of the establishment is Fah Lanna Spa (In Old Town).

Day 2. The time to assemble was at about 3 PM in a park. a few minutes away from the hotel. There was free dinner (buffet style). We're back in our hotel at about 11 PM.

Day 3. This is the day I joined the tour to Chiang Rai White Temple, Karen Village and the Golden Triangle. I booked this tour thru CMStay.

Day 4. I joined the Doi Inthanon Tour, also via CMStay. 

Day 5. I flew back to Singapore in the afternoon.

I highly recommend this experience.

Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum (Day 14)

By this day, I was already not feeling well. But because I won't be able to forgive myself if I just stay in the hotel the whole day, I gathered my energy to at least go to the Instant Ramen Museum. There are lots of kids and you get to make your own cup noodles.

I skipped Museum of Housing and Living, as well as Abiko which I regretted to this day. But hey, I was really not feeling well that time, so I know I just needed to rest, as I can always go back, right?

Hokuei, Tottori - Conan Town (Day 13)

This was another long train ride day. It took 3.5 hours from Shin-Osaka to Yura. This is only for Conan fans to do, because you might not feel satisfied after visiting the museum. I was extremely happy to visit the museum. It only took me less than an hour to see all the display in this museum, but nevertheless, for me the journey was worth it. Mind you, the interval of train in Yura is about an hour.

The tickets to Conan Museum can be bought on the premises itself. There is also a restaurant across it. The lady in the souvenir shop was amazed that a tourist will come all the way to Hokuei just for the museum.

I planned on going to the Sand Dunes in Tottori City, but because I was scared of missing my train back to Osaka, I just looked around the city and took the next train out.

Matsuyama (Day 12)

I started early on this day. The train ride is about 4 hours, with a transfer at Okayama. Because of this day trip, I knew that I have fully taken advantage of the JR Pass. You see, one way ticket with reserved seats from Osaka to Matsuyama costs about ¥11,070.

There was no sightseeing involved on this day as it was intended for me to spend the day with Yukari-san and Midori-san. I was surprised when Iwai-san's ex-wife showed up.

But if you do go there, a must visit is the Dogo Onsen. If you are familiar with Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away, it was said that the Onsen there was based on Dogo Onsen. Also, Dogo Onsen is the oldest Onsen in Japan. 

You can also visit Matsuyama Castle, if you aren't sick of seeing Japanese castles.

If you are a cyclist, then maybe you could try Shimanami Kaido , or go to Shimonada Station in Iyo and watch the sunset there. (Note: These two are the activities I want to do on my next Japan trip)

Doraemon Museum (Day 11)

This is the day that I get to go on my own. As the gang headed to the airport, I headed to Kawasaki for the Fujiko F. Fujio Museum. It was a bit of a walk from the train station but since it was a nice sunny winter day, walking is but a nice activity. They were quite strict with the time. You must come as what is stated in the ticket. I has lunch there and was heading to Ghibli Museum when I've decided to skip it and go straight back to Osaka from the hostel. I was scheduled to go to Matsuyama on the following day, so I thought it would make sense if I can rest early since it's quite a long train ride.

I am not sure if they have online booking for the Doraemon and Ghibli Museum tickets now. But what I did back then was I asked a friend to buy the tickets for me. I understand that it's only available starting on the 1st day of the month ahead of the actual date you will visit. I had my friend mail to my hotel in Osaka.

What I can suggest for people who wants to go, on your first day in Japan, go to the nearest Lawson and buy the tickets. Ask the staff to help you buy from the machine. Also, it will also be wise to write down the details, like date and time for which museum and show the staff.

Kawaguchiko (Mt. Fuji) (Day 10)

We started early. Went to Shinjuku to take the express train to Otsuki to transfer to another train to Kawaguchiko. The train from Otsuki to Kawaguchiko costs ¥1,620. You can buy the ticket from a machine near the station office.

Upon arriving in Kawaguchiko, we walked to Kachi Kachi Ropeway Entrance which was about 15 minutes walk, 20 minutes for us since we took lot of pictures along the way and also we were walking so carefully. Too many snow and ice on the road.

The ropeway costs about ¥1500, and it was worth it. The view is magnificent. Plus Fuji-san didn't hide from us. It was a cloudless day with a clear view of Kawaguchiko.

There's a photo booth there. You can get the post card for free while the bigger photo is ¥1000. What we did was to asl for copies of the post card for ¥100 each. The idea is to send it to our friends.

We had lunch in a restaurant near the Kachi Kachi Ropeway Entrance. It was nice place with free wifi, though very unstable.

After which, we went back to Kawaguchiko Station so they can take a cab to Fujiten Snow Resort to ski. Roms and I went to Kubota Itchiku Musem and then head to the onsen at the back of the museum. There was no other person inside the the ladies' onsen, so I was able to enjoy about 30 minutes before I find the water too hot.

We went back to Tokyo around 7 pm and reached Shinjuku about after 9 pm and had dinner there. My friends are to leave the next day so we need to go back as early as possible.

It was a fantastic day. They were able to ski and I was able to try onsen. An experience of firsts for all of us.

Kanazawa (Day 9)

I didn't get to explore Kanazawa as I met with my former manager.

In the morning, we checked out of the hotel and headed to Kenroku-en. One of the three most beautiful garden in Japan. We had breakfast in one on the cafe there. Afterwards, I left while they go and explore Kenroku-en and Kanazawa Castle Park.

There's a loop bus from Kanazawa Station. You can take either the right loop or left loop bus. You won't miss the stop as there's an announcement on the monitor on board.

As we have agreed to leave Kanazawa early to have an ample time to shop in Tokyo. We left Kanazawa at around 1:30 pm. We took the old way to go to Tokyo, the via Echigo-Yuzawa one, which took almost 5 hours. But if you are going after 15th of March, 2015, you are so much blessed as there's a new shinkansen for the Tokyo-Kanzawa route for just 2.5 hours.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, we split. Malou and Dref went to Odaiba, Roms went off to meet some friends while teJing, Joy, Kuya Aris and I went to Akihabara. If you are going to Akihabara, go there early, shops close quite early.