Langkawi Trip - September 2014

Early of this month, me and my family went to Langkawi Island. Although, I have been here in Malaysia for almost 10 years but this was my first trip to Langkawi. I heard this island is a tax-free island where you get to enjoy cheap chocolate, liquor, cookware and many other things. Me and hubby decided to buy the package during MATTA fair. The offer is MYR1000 2 nights at Berjaya Resort Langkawi with 1 night free at any Berjaya hotel in Malaysia and for this case we chose Berjaya Waterfront Johor. Reason is because I never been to JPO so at least I get a free accommodation for my Johor trip in October. Out of blue my parents called me and ask if I got any plan for September as they wanted to visit me so I asked my parents to also book airplane tickets and Berjaya hotel to join me and hubby for Langkawi trip.

We met up at KLIA 2 around 10am as our flight to Langkawi was at 12pm. That was my first time at KLIA 2. This new airport is awesome! They have plenty of shops, restaurants, and refreshing place like Thai Oddysey or Nap Lounge. We have finally arrived in Langkawi at 1pm, started to call the car rental agency (http://langkawivacation.com/). They gave us the car plate number and asked us to met up with them at the car park. Once hubby filled up the form and paid for rental fees, we flee from the airport to the next destination which is HAJI ISMAIL GROUP. oh yes, buying chocolate is our first destination. Too bad this place was closed as it was on Friday. Many shops are closed on Friday in Langkawi. Hubby said they practice the same with Middle East countries where they work from Sunday-Thursday only.  Since HIG was closed, we went to Teow Soon Huat. I read in some blogs that chocolate prices at this shop is cheaper than HIG or The Zon. I knew for sure that a pack of Hersey chocolate cost about MYR12.90 while in KL is MYR28! Once we finish our chocolate shopping we went to cable car Langkawi, checked in at Berjaya Hotel Langkawi, and had dinner at Orkid Ria Restaurant Langkawi. This restaurant is located in Pantai Cenang. My father ordered 1kilo plus of lobster and it cost about MYR360++. Apart from that we also ordered chili crab, fried squid, veggies, butter prawn, tom yum, and drinks. Total we spent was around MYR500++. All foods that we've ordered were so tasty and its a must go seafood restaurant if you are in Pantai Cenang.

Our car that we rented from www.langkawivacation.com

HIG

Mom and Dad at Teow Soon Huat

Us at Berjaya Langkawi Resort

Chocos that we bought

The lobster!

Fried Squid

Variety of chocolates at Teow Soon Huat

Monkeys are everywhere at Berjaya Resort since its located in the forest.

Me and hubby at Langkawi Sky Cab

Hubby's favorite choco (Hersey's!)

 

2nd day - Mangrove Tour, Idaman Suri, Pantai Cenang, and Wan Thai Restaurant.


The second day we started our day by chilling at the private beach of Berjaya Langkawi and then Mangrove tour! We bought the package at MYR80 per person from Baron Holidays and its inclusive, eagle feeding, kilim geopark, fish farm, lunch, open sea etc. The tour started at 10.30am and finish at 15.00pm. Once we have finished our tour we headed straight to Idaman Suri in Kuah town as hubby was so excited to buy cookware from there. Cookware in Langkawi is also cheaper than in KL. Hubby got Pirex for about MYR10 after discount and Visions glass pot for about MYR199 while in KL is around MYR300. To cut the story, our 2nd day was so tiring but fun! we also had dinner at Wan Thai restaurant. Recommended! We ordered tom yum, chili squid, chicken pandan, mango sticky rice and drinks the total for 4 people was about MYR110 (cheap indeed!). The next day we went back to KL and mom and dad went back to Indonesia :(( . Will visit Langkawi again some day!

Meet up point before the tour started

Berjaya Private Pool

Visions at Idaman Suri

Idaman Suri

Hubby fav. TEFAL!

Berjaya Private Beach

Somewhere at the open sea

Puffer Fish!

Some desserts at Wan Thai Restaurant

Us on boat

Another section at Idaman Suri

Monkeys are everywhere in Mangrove. Beware of your foods and drinks! they could jump into your boat just to steal it!

Tokyo Trip (Part-3)

4th day - Ginza, Yodobashi, Tokyo Sightseeing

On the 4th day we decided to go to Ginza, Yodobashi, and sightseeing in Tokyo.
Ginza is an area of Tokyo just south of Tokyo Station. For well over a century it has been associated with commercial elegance and opulence. It is home to a handful of the grandest of Tokyo's department stores, and to a huge number of fashion boutiques representing the best known international haute couture labels. It also has Tokyo's biggest concentration of art galleries (© JapanVisitor.com). We went to Uniqlo (5 or 6 floors. its huge!) and HnM. I would say the price over there is slightly cheaper than the one in KL. I bought few shirts and pants from Uniqlo as well as from HnM. As for Yodobashi is a huge electronics department store where some stuff is definitely cheaper than in KL. Although this place is famous for electronics and camera they also have branded bags and watches. I bought coach sling bag cost me only MYR400 while in KL is almost double the price. I also bought Kyocera ceramic knife for about MYR190++ where in KL is around MYR299 and above. When you are in Tokyo, Yodobashi is a MUST to go kind of place :)

Once we are done with Ginza and Yodobashi we went to see the view of Tokyo tower from World Trade Center Building. From this building I can see Tokyo tower, the bridge, and Tokyo night view.

Ginza Street

One of famous cafe in Ginza

One of famous brand in Japan just like Uniqlo

Hubby strolling the street

Akihabara area

Us :)

Yodobashi Building - Akihabara

Hubby in front of Yodobashi

 To be continued......

Tokyo Trip (April 2014)

1st Day - Arrival

 I finally got the chance to write my trip to Tokyo in April. I went there with my husband and two of my friends. We bought the airplane ticket + hotel (7 days 6 night) from Airasia Go for about MYR1700 each person. The name of the hotel that we stayed is Villa Fontaine Nihombashi Hakozaki, Tokyo.  The location of the hotel is very strategic. Nearby there's 7-11, Lawson convenience store, and some sushi/ramen restaurant. Apart from that it is also located nearby TCAT (Tokyo City Air Terminal) about 5 minutes walking distance. Thus we don't have to worry about the transportation from airport to the hotel esp when you are arriving at 11pm because the latest bus from the airport is around 00:05am. Since the immigration and luggage process at Haneda was very fast by 11:30pm we have already walked out of the airport to go to the terminal waiting area. Once we have arrived at the hotel, we went straight to bed as we had Mt.Fuji tour the next day. oh the hotel room was small till we had to open our luggage on top of our bed as no space on the floor but it was clean and comfortable.

oh! if you wish to rent a pocket wifi you may rent it from this website http://www.rentafonejapan.com/. They will send the item to your hotel and to return it you just need to post it as they provide you also an empty envelope with their address on it. I rent B-Mobile pocket WiFi for a week and cost me about RM200. The connection was good except inside the train or Mt. Fuji area. If you need better connection you can rent BIC Wimax pocket WiFi, this is bigger size and provide you with better connection. The cost for this is about RM230-250 for a week rental.

Anway below is the map of the hotel from http://www.hvf.jp/eng/hakozaki.php


2nd Day - Mt. Fuji Trip

We woke up very early in the morning as the tour start at 10am. We booked this tour at Japan Travel Bureau Malaysia. It was cost about 7800 yen per person not include lunch. We need to go to Hamamatsucho bus station and from there the bus took us to the bus tour station. This trip started with visiting Mt. Fuji visitor center, 5th station Mt. Fuji or 1st step of Mt.Fuji, followed by lunch, Onsen bath at Yamanakako, and last we visited Gotemba Premium outlets. The Mt.Fuji was beautiful and the temperature that day was about 13-15degree. Me, my husband, and my friends were took a lot of pictures and was enjoying the scenery.
After we visited Mt.Fuji we went to Onsen bath. According to wikipedia, Onsen bath is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen). Unfortunately, we did not bath as we are not comfortable to bath with strangers hahahaha... our next destination is Gotemba premium outlet. This is what I have been waiting for since morning. At Gotemba, there are so many outlets like Coach, Samsonite, Rayban, GAP, Ralph Lauren, and many more. I found out some stuff are cheaper here than in KL, like a Coach sling bag cost about rm400 after 50% discount but I managed to bought only few tops from GAP. On the other hand Mr. hubby bought jacket, polo-shirt, and other things.

The tour brochure from JTB Malaysia

The so called double bed

As you can see there's no space for luggage

The toilet is very nice and clean. Hot water  and warm toilet seat is awesome during winter

Foods we bought from Lawson. Quite cheap and delicious!

3 of us in front of the hotel

At the subway

Typical Japanese house model

Foods that we bought for our Mt. Fuji Trip. I love the onigiri, sushi set, and of course POCKY!

Me and Mr.Hubby at Gotemba Outlet with Mount Fuji and Sakura flowers as the background

All of us in front of the lake somewhere nearby Mt. Fuji

 Once we have finished with the trip, they drop us off at Shinjuku. From there we went to meet up with my housemate's sister who is working in Tokyo. She took us to a nice restaurant somewhere in Shibuya (cant recall the name of the restaurant) but the foods were savory and delicious! We have ordered Omelette rice, sashimi, chicken toriyaki, and other things. Below are the pics.