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Japan 2017

Here are some of the insights I had when I was travelling to Japan back in 2017. Paying for the bus.  If the bus does not require people to pay upfront, you just need to get the boarding ticket from where you board, and pay after you alight. Normally, the screen will show how much you’re supposed to pay. ( You can ask the bus driver, how much it is )  Tap in and out of mrt station  Like in any of the train station across the world, one must tap in the IC card reader portion to enter, and tap out at the same reader to exit.  When you have the all mighty Japan Rail pass, you have to go to the part where the train station staff will see your JR Pass ( usually on the rightmost part of the ticket gantry). You will just need to show them your pass.  Buying suica card.  Before anything else, you might switch the language menu to english. It’s easier to navigate around the ticket vending machine.  Note, you can personalize your PAASMO card, there is a menu whe...
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Japan 2017: Day 6 : Off to see Mt Fuji And back to Shinjuku

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A bit of a story: we prebooked for a tour around Kawaguchiko provided by the hostel but because we were the lone person who signed up for it, they refunded the money to us and we just decided to board their sightseeing bus and do it on our own.  The main aim is to view mt fuji and the lake (any lake will do).  To start off, we just stood at the bus stop near our bus stop and waited for the sightseeing bus to arrive. We showed the bus driver our day pass. The day pass can be bought from the driver or from Kawaguchiko Station (I think)   Inside the bus ..  Our first stop was kawaguchiko natural living center, where we viewed some flower display (not much really) but since it was FREE entrance.  We head back to Kawaguchiko  Station for lunch before we go back to our next destinations.  they got lunch teishoku set (where it included the puffer fish - we survived!)  In the afternoon, we decided to go to saiko iyashi no sato nenba (You need to pay ...
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Japan 2017 Day 3 - 4 : Takayama / Shirakawago

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Day 3 It was an early morning rush to go to Yokoso Japan's 2D1N Tour of Tateyama and Shirakawago. We check-out early and left our luggage with the hotel. The route to go to meet with Yokoso Japan's tour representative was at the parking lot of the Keio Plaza. You have to walk past the Tokyo Metropolitan Building and go to the parking lot. Directions:  You will see signs to go to Tokyo Metropolitan Building, ignore it and walk straight until you reach the parking lot. The parking lot is a bit of a tuck in between Tokyo Metropolitan Building. Tip: Make sure to know your tour code. There are a lot of tours assembled in the parking lot, so you have to be careful which tour you are joining.  We met up with the tour guide, who had our names on a sheet of paper. We just brought carry-on luggage that were safely kept at the compartment of the bus. You are allowed to bring 1 more bag up to the bus, which is just usually your backpack. Our rationale to take the tour is becau...
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2024 South Korea Trip Day 02: DMZ

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Waking up before 6 was mandatory today as we were going on a trip to the DMZ, someone from the travel agency will contact you the night before and if there are changes to your itinerary, they will inform you. We had /to forego our free breakfast at the hotel as we need to be at the meeting place early on (luckily the meeting place was just across the street from our hotel). We bought some sandwiches and coffee to fill us up for the day ahead.  The only gripe is that convenience store in Korea is that there are full of snacks, chips, coffee , beer, but in terms of sandwiches, not so much (although it might be that I bought during the time that they haven't refilled the shelves , just my luck!)   Why did I want to go?  in the early 2000s when there was a Korean boom and Korean travel was starting to pick up. People were offering DMZ tours (to even go as close as the JSA area, you know the place where US and N Korea officials met for the first time). and I was amazed...
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