Happy New Year 2012!!

Time flies and I am happy that the world didn't destroyed!! I was worry about 2012..when people talking about it like hot cakes early this year. I think is horrible if  it happens just like the 2012 movie. I hope the day will not come and all of us can happily stay in the earth forever.

This year..we celebrated at home as usual. It was raining cats and dogs. Family decided to have dinner at home, curry chicken and fireworks from the television. I always appreciate my time with my parents. They are getting old but still strong! My dad will be turning 72 this year and mum will be 58. Love them to the bits and Tarey loves them very much too. She always excited when she saw her grandma call her name out. She will moves her hands and legs hope that her grandma will carry her :D

Last year, I celebrated the new year with my husband family in Japan. Another trip to Japan after my last visit in May. The trip was great and I didn't blog it out last year because I was too busy with my morning sickness. Everyday, I just sleep, eat, read and watch television. PERFECT LIFE!!

It was so cold and you can see from my face, a tiring face :)

Our hotel bungalow in Shikoku, Japan.

Our Japanese friends and their traditional house in Shikoku.

Happy New Year Everyone!! Wish you all have a great year ahead :)

I Am Back!!

I know I have been neglecting my blog for some time. Oh well, I was really busy for the past few months. In addition, I was sick as well. Anyway..my blogging mood finally return :)

Let me recap, in the month of November, once the project in Jordan ends, Hubby and I flew back to our hometown, Sandakan. Life in a small town is really simple. We had nothing to do much and just eat and Eat! Our life in hometown just like we had retired. All these last for about 2 months and by the end of December, we went for a family trip to Japan again. However, the trip was a little different compare to the one we had in May. The tour was arranged by my father in law's Japanese friend name, Mr.Otta. He was kind enough to bring us around his hometown, Shikoku and to the nearby city such as Osaka, Nara, and Kyoto. Let me share some pictures of the moments :)

Taken in one of the famous temple in Kyoto.

Another temple entrance in Kyoto.

 One of the famous temple in Kyoto.

 Temple in Nara.

 Snow adventure at Okayama.

We were freezing cold.

Shikoku.

 We were on the way to Kobe, we stopped at one of the rest station.

 Not to missed out, the famous Universal Studio Japan in Osaka.

That's how we ended the year of 2010 and awaiting a better 2011.Currently, hubby is working in Algiers,Algeria while I stay in Sandakan with my parents. We are looking foward to this bunny year as our bunny baby is on the way!!! Yeah.....Wish me all the best and will update my blog as frequent as I can ;)

Fuji Onsenji Yumedono

Last May, we went to Japan for a holiday and we spent quite a lot on hotels. Hotels in Tokyo are expensive and even in the Kawaguchiko area(Near to Mount Fuji) as well. Of course, you can opt for a cheaper hotel like capsule type to save more.

This is what I was referring, "capsule hotel" which is very famous in Tokyo especially for backpackers. No twin sharing in the capsule, which means you will need to sleep alone!

I was too coward to experience it, so we went for normal hotel rooms. And for this post, I wanted to share my hotel stay in Kawaguchiko. It was comfortable and relaxing which I really highly recommend to those honeymooners. Well, though I am married, but I still prefer romantic stay every time I travel.

We picked Onsenji Yumedono for our only one night stay in Kawaguchiko. This hotel was quite pricey and we were worried that we didn't get what we had paid in return. Anyway, we were truly wrong, the service was good and the hotel was comfy and luxury. We should trust the website and gave full confidence to them.

Here is the official website http://www.onsenji.com/en/ . Fuji Onsenji Yumedono provides 3 types of accomodations which is Annex Shikibu which is a suite room, Hotel Yumedono which provides genuine Japanese style ryokan and Plaza Inn Yumedono for budget stay. We went for the Japanese style ryokan so that we could experienced the culture throughout the stay and the most important thing that the room has private open air onsen bathroom.

There are only 6 rooms available in Hotel Yumedono. Basically they are only 4 rooms for Japanese style ryokan and the other 2 rooms are western style so early booking is needed before it is fully booked. You will be served tea and mochi on arrival, and dinner and breakfast will be serve in the room as well. The price is range from  RM1260 to RM1548(35,000-43,000 yen) per person for a night and before tax as well. The website didn't mention that the rates is per person until you proceed to bookings. But good news is there will be 25% discount if the reservation is made 60 days in advance and that will help you to save a lot. The rates is including dinner and breakfast.

Now, let's move on to the pictures to show you the environment and the food they served!

 Free hotel pick up from the Kawaguchiko station.

Outside the room. The room is big enough for a family in Japan.

Each room has a unique name.

The main hall.

 The dining area with electric blanket to keep you warm.

 Open air Onsen!

 There is a window from dining area connect to the entrance.

Window from the dining area to have a peek outside.

After meal, they will prepare Futon bedding.

 Served tea and traditional mochi upon arrival.

The cherry was salmon sushi.

Its green tea beancurd with some jelly.

Sashimi.

Unagi and "octopus"..hehe

Vegetarian tempura.

Miso soup with little mushrooms.

For all the dishes, she served one by one. Going in and out from our room.

Unlimited rice for you. However, I can just eat their rice with seaweed in the morning as my breakfast. Their rice is just too yummy!

Dessert.

And here is the morning breakfast!

Woke up in the morning and the breakfast was ready on the table. I like the service very much!

Dimsum.

I forgot what is this, but the taste more to steam egg.

Miso soup with clams.

Yummy rice, my essential in the morning.

 Japanese sweet melon. My another favourite.

After the breakfast, we walked around the hotel.

There was Japanese Koi fish in the small pond.

Hotel lobby.

You can rent the automatic bicycle at 500 yen for 3 hours, not including tax to cycle around the Kawaguchiko lake. I really enjoyed throughout the stay :) Trust me, this hotel definitely worth the price!

Japan Tour ( Love story in Hokkaido & Spring in Tokyo) by AppleVacations

Apple Vacations or Apple Holidays is famous for Japan trips. Once we had decided to go on tour for our Japan trip, Apple is the only tour company that came into our mind. After the tour, I can conclude that the tour was nice with good arrangement of hotels, foods were good, bus driver was good and the most important, we had an experience tour guide. But anyway, I feel dissatisfaction with my tour booking session with the operator from Apple. Some operators in Apple seems like hiding some information. I need to deal with few operators in order to know everything. At that point of time, I was frustrated and felt so much to drop the bookings. God seems to hear my frustrations, and finally appointed a lady named Apple from Apple to handle my case. Things were got much more better and brought back my confidence to the company. As you all know, for a Japan trip, it could cost between RM6,000 to RM10,000 per person. I just want to make sure that the money that we are going to spend has its value.

Hokkaido is one of the best place for honeymooners. We were suppose to spend our very 1st honeymoon in Hokkaido last year but due to time and financial constraints, we moved it to this year. We went to Taiwan instead for our honeymoon. Anyway, we still could felt the romance when we were in Hokkaido though it was not our 1st honeymoon. The environment was so nice and you will definitely fall in love with it. Here are some pictures to share when we were in Hokkaido :)

 Jigokudani is know as Hell Valley.

Toyako

Bear Range in Hokkaido.

Otaru

Hokkaido's former government building.

Odori Park.

 Clock House.

  Taking cable car to the top of the Olympic Ski Jump at Okurayama.

Something happened once we reached the top. My husband had transformed to one of the "Kawai Boys".

Almost same size with my head! or bigger?

From the tour, we spent 2 days in Tokyo. The tour guide brought us to Shinjuku and Ginza for shopping and of course to the famous Asakusa Kannon Temple and Disneyland.

Asakusa Kannon Temple.

 Disneyland~

That's all for Japan. Arigatou Gozaimasu!