Preparation to go to Japan, watashi no yume no country

Hohoho... My plan to go to Japan happened far away before my unexpected trip to Bandar Lampung. Yup... it happened in August 2014. It was because my second brother planned to go to Japan for his honeymoon, so I strolled around the AA website to see if there's a cheap flight to Japan one year ahead. I thought to take my parents as compensation that I left them when I went to South Korea and as I didn't dare to take them to Mainland China ^^ When I told my friend, Nani, about this, she wanted to go with us and because she didn't want to be surrounded by my family, she asked one of our friend, Riki. 

There was a good price around April, but because my second brother's wed will be held on May, my parents said they can't go near May. Then because I don't really like summer, I thought it would be great to enjoy autumn season, where I can hopefully see red maple leaves. So, finally I got the ticket for Jakarta - Nagoya in 2 October 2015 and then Tokyo (Haneda) - Jakarta in 10 October 2015. The total price for my parents and I were around IDR 4,500,000 with baggage. Nani and Riki had different price than us.

I took flight to Nagoya because it's cheaper than to Osaka. At some moments, I thought what would be our plan, do we need to go around Nagoya or we just go directly to Osaka after we arrive in Nagoya. Because after reading some web, I saw that there's not much things to do in Nagoya. Finally, God works for us, the AA flight to Nagoya was closed down and we get redemption ticket to Osaka. Yeaaay... thanks God, I love You \^^/ It really save us a lot of time and money.. Hahahaha...

Then after my trip to Bandar Lampung, my friend Riki informed us that he might cancel the trip because he plans to get married in November. Hmm... actually I felt it far before he formally informed us, because when I asked about the itinerary he almost found excuses to delay it ^^ However, hmm... I felt that Nani couldn't fully accept that reality at the first time. Hahaha... may be because she didn't want to be left out with my family *peace Nan* At the same time with Riki's news, my big brother informed that he wanted to go with us, but with different flight (he used GA)

So, after all members were fix. I gladly prepared the itinerary. I thought it was hard to prepare this itinerary as I had a lot of places I wanted to visit, but I need to consider my old parents. Finally I made the itinerary to be in slow pace ^^ it's very "not me"

Here's what I did:

• Decided what city we want to visit. Because it was our first travel to Japan, I decided to visit their big city, started from Osaka (2 nights), Kyoto (2 nights), Kawaguchiko (1 night), Tokyo (3 nights).
• Booked accommodation. I read a lot of web and blog, compared a lot of hotel, hostel, airbnb, until I decided to combine all of it. Hahaha...
• In Osaka, I rent a house from airbnb, it called Cozy House For Family, it's only IDR 2,220,143 for 2 nights for 5 person. 
• In Kyoto, the accommodation was much more expensive than Osaka. It may be because they're in form of traditional house with tatami (called Ryokan). So after so much consideration, we decided to stay in Kyoto Hana Hostel for only 29,200 Yen (2 nights, 3 person in private room, 2 person in shared room). 
• The next accommodation was near Kawaguchiko Lake, where we can see Mt Fuji. I tried to get affordable hotel with onsen (because I imagined to get in the onsen at night or early in the morning like you saw in manga ^^), and I got Mizu No Hotel for 1 night and 5 person at IDR 3,817,173. 
• The last accommodation was in Tokyo, same like Osaka, I decided to stay in apartment from airbnb, because I heard that hotel room in Tokyo was so small and pricey, so I thought it won't be comfortable for us. We stay in Panda Club for 3 nights at IDR 4,675,000.
• Got the visa if your passport is not electronic passport. I took care visa for Nani, my big bro and myself. Nani is in Palembang, and because of that I helped in arranging the visa in tour and travel services. For my big bro and myself, I came to Japan embassy directly and the price is IDR 330,000. It was easier and not difficult to take care of the visa by yourself. So I suggested you to do this ^^.
• Decided what transportation you will take to go from 1 city to another. At first time, I thought we need to buy 7 days JR Pass for 29,110 Yen per person. But after reading many blog and asked opinion from people who traveled to Japan, I decided to buy on the spot ticket. My suggestion before you decided what to buy, you need to think from where you come to Japan and from where you will leave Japan, what cities you will visit, how many days you will travel. So if your plan like mine, you come from Osaka and you will leave from Tokyo, and you don't change cities more than I was, you don't need to buy JR Pass. Honestly speaking, you need to do the calculation to see whether buying JR pass is cheaper or expensive compared to on the spot tickets. 
• Prepared everything in advance, such as ticket to attraction, money ^^. Sometimes, it's cheaper to buy online rather that on the spot. Then you can prepare how to get connected to internet, you can rent a portable wifi from Indonesia (JALAN Tour provide this option) or you can find accommodation who give a portable wifi (this is usually in Airbnb).

That's all my preparation that made us survive in Japan ^^

Bandar Lampuuung ~ finally ~

OK, my journeys to Bandar Lampung were really really old stories... I just felt so tired and had no time to write a blog. Finally, because someone asked me to write about my experiences, here I am ^^

I traveled to Bandar Lampung twice, first on the New Year 2015 and last one was when my friend married on October 2015. Flight ticket to Bandar Lampung is really cheap, so rather than wasted so much time with road trips, I chose airplanes. 

Bandar Lampung is really a city, there's nothing except malls. I felt it when I attended my friend's wedding. At that time, I didn't stay, I only came with first flight and got back to Jakarta with last flight. So, after holy ceremony, I only had 5 hours to go around the city ^^ and I didn't have any plan except culinary ^^ Here were the list of places I visited:

1. Pindang Mak War (Jl. Tulang Bawang No 8 Enggal). Its specialization is Pindang Kepala Baung and fried seluang fish. The taste is good, hehe, I like fish and I like the head ^^ However, I suggest you to go there at night, because it served in hot soup, so if you eat in daytime, you will be sweating.
2. Pempek 88 (Jl. Kupang), famous with rare Belida fish. It's quite pricey, because that rare fish ^^ I tried their pempek kapal selam and ate together with my mom. We only wanted to taste it and then if it's good we will order more and take it to Jakarta. 
3. Toko Yen Yen where you can buy Lampung famous snacks in this place, such as Keripik Pisang Aneka, Sambal Lampung, etc. Actually, I came here twice because of the Durian seller in front of the store. Yeaaay correct, I came to enjoy Durian rather than buying snacks ^^
4. RM Padang Bagadang (Jl. Diponegoro No. 1 Teluk Betung). All my Lampung friends said I need to visit this restaurant when I came to Lampung. That's why on my second visit, even though I was so full, I came and tried the famous "Ayam Telur", it's chicken fried with egg. For me it's so so, may be because I didn't eat it directly after I bought.

You need to go outside Bandar Lampung if you want to see great scenery. Then because I love beaches (even though I'm not too good with swimming), my friend took us to Grand Elty Krakatoa. It was really beautiful and quiet.. It's almost the same like resort in Bali. However it took us a long way, if you want to enjoy it, I thought you have to stay at least 1 night. Actually, I wasn't satisfied because the weather that day was too gloomy. 

Grand Elty Krakatoa

Beside Kalianda Beach Resort, we also went to Summit Bistro, it's located in Bandar Lampung. The concept looks like the Peak in Bandung, so it sold the scenery of Bandar Lampung from top of the hill.

Summit Bistro

That's all my review for Bandar Lampung... I hope I have a time to visit Teluk Kiluan and see the dolphins ^^