YOKOSO from JAPAN!!
This is our 3rd day in Tokyo and 8th day in Japan. The weather is a little cold especially in the early morning and night time but it's still comfortable. Daily temperate is between 7 - 13 degree.
Day 1
We departed on 9:50am, on B747, SQ12, from Terminal 3. We checked in early to explore the transit area in T3. Every details were not spared. Even found a power charging kiosk and a TV lounge that one can choose a good variety of show accordingly to your own interests. There was also a butterfly park which was really tiny but i think rather educational and entertaining for little kids. During our return flight, i should look for the cactus garden in T3.
For the inflight menu, we had two choices between the international and the Japanese set. S had the international set while I made do with the Japanese set since I dun take beef.
International set emcompasses marinated prawns with crispy romaine lettuce, beef goulash with fettuccine pasta and vegetables, cheese and crackers, ice cream, roll and butter with a choice of coffee or tea.
Japanese set emcompasses Japanese appetiser which made up of wakamen (seaweed), prawns, scallops and lady fingers; zaru soba and simmered chicken and chestnut served with autumn vegetables and steamed rice as main; rice crackers, ice cream, roll and butter, japanese green tea (hot) or japanese oolong tea (cold).
It was pitch dark when we reached Narita, even though the time was only 5:05pm. S's luggage got intercepted and checked by customs while mine went through smoothly. I was teasing him that he must had looked like a BADDIE. hahahahaha!! Had a simple dinner at a little ramen shop near the Mecure Hotel Narita. The restaurant was crowded with foreigners staying nearby hotel and also the locals.
The staff at Mecure Hotel Narita understood and spoke relatively well English so communication was no issue. Room was small but clean and comfortable. it was a good stay and with JPY500, we could have use of high speed internet for 24 hour. That gave me a good time to finalise our holiday plans and for me to reply a few irritating but necessary work-related emails.
Mercure Hotel Narita
818-1 Hanazaki-Cho 2860033 NARITA - JAPAN
Tel: +81 4 7623 7000
Fax: +81 4 7623 3911
Email: info@mercurehotelnarita.com
Website: http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-5487-mercure-hotel-narita/index.shtml
餃子の王将 (Gyoza no Oosho)
京成成田駅前店
Tel : (81) 476-23-4533
Website : http://www.ohsho.co.jp
Day 2
We checked out at 8am from Mecure Hotel Narita and headed for MacDonald's breakies. The MaDonald's breakies set is a little different from Singapore. Food was nice too and they even had this maze like logo printed on each package that upon scanning with one's mobile phone, you can access the calorie and ingredient content of the food you are eating. Japanese are really a health conscious group of people. S argued that wouldn't it be more convenience if all the information was printed directly onto the package instead of having to scan an get the information. Well, it will definitely save a lot of resources in updating of information upon change and it is more techie and cool to get information this way than just reading off the printed label.
We bought the Izu Q Free Ticket from JR Narita Station at JPY13,190 / pax for 4 consecutive days. This pass will cover JR train from Tokyo to Atami Station and also the internal Izukyu-shimoda line (which is non-JR) and bus routes ticket. Definitely a well worth buy if you are travelling quite around Izu. We had planned our trip around this pass since this pass is not valid over long public holidays (ren-kyu) and weekends.
We bought a rapid ticket from JR Narita Station to Tokyo station for JPY890. But we boarded the super express JR train for Tokyo. We only realised the mistake when the train master came up to ask us to pay extra JPY900 or to change for the rapid train at our next stop. Since we are in no hurry, we decided to take the slower and cheaper option. During the change, we met with a nice Japanese uncle who was learning chinese. We had a little chat and we even helped him to do up his chinese homework.
Chaos set in when we reach Tokyo station. Moi went bersek when I saw a labrador inside the train station. It's definitely a rare sight at the place we are in. In my excitement to take picture of the dog, I lost our itinerary paper. =( All the previous nights efforts were gone. Since the train will starts from 11:15am, we decided to buy bento and had them on the train to save us some time when we touched down Ito at 2pm plus.
Our first hotel stop was at Daitokan, a good 20 minutes walk from Ito station Exit station and turn right, walk along the main road known as the shopping street with a lot of omiyage shops and even a pachinko. Walk on and on till you came to a little river with a bridge, turn left and cross the bridge, walk till the next road and turn right, walk straight again till you see Daitokan at your right side.
We were greeted by a taiwanese counter staff that really warms our heart by speaking to us in chinese and introducing the various sight around Ito. Her warm reception made up for the very old room that we were staying. Well, the room was big and clean but OLD so it seems quite an eerie place to be in. Well not to add on that we seem to be the only guests staying on that floor. But for the price of JPY6,000 per pax per night. I think there is nothing much to complain about.
We did a quick check in and by 3pm, departed for Jogashiki beach. The bus going to Jogashiki beach will be closer but 2;45pm was the last bus and we had miss it. So we decided to take the 15min train ride from Ito station to Jogashiki coast station. Then we walked a good 25 mins from the station to the beach. To cheer myself up for the long walk, I bought a vanilla and chocolate soft ice. Heehee! It was delicious. the cold icing feeling as I swallowed each bite despite the coldness.
When we reached and saw the beach, we know it was all worthwhile. The sight was awesome and the sea was lovely.
We returned around 4:30pm but the sky had darkened considerably. We wanted to eat curry udon but we couldnt find it near the vicinity of our hotel and Ito station. The other shops that we went by, were all empty and so we decided not to step in and opted to just buy bento from 7-11 nearby. Surprisingly, despite being microwave food, the food was lovely and so for JPY1,268, we had 2 breads and 2 bento sets. I missed Japanese coke so had specially get one to go with our dinner.
Well, the onsen experience is first for S who was all excited. We managed to get the private bath room but moi got a shock of my life when i stepped in. It was so so terribly eerie and scary. I couldn't stay more than 15mins. I was screaming to exit.
Daitokan
2-23, Suehiro-cho, Ito,
Shuzuoka 414-0015, Japan
Tel: (81) 557-37-5166
Fax: (81) 557-36-7662
Day 3
We got up early morning to take the train from Ito station to Kawazu station and proceed to take a 25 minute bus ride to Kawazu-nanadaru (seven waterfalls). It was quite eerie to walk in the early morning as the forest seems to be only myself and S. We braved on (or Moi braved on) by singing out loud. Kekeke! We managed to find only 5 waterfalls and not the last 2 but we were tired by end of the trek without lunch and aching feet so we just made our way back by bus back to Kawazu station and head for our next hotel destination.
There is a wishing rock at one of the waterfall. It is believe that if you toss a stone and it rest on the top of the BIG rock, your wish will come true. There is no guard over there. It's a trust system. People will put down JPY100, pick up 3 stones and make their wish.
While waiting for our pick-up to our next hotel, Shimoda Bay Kuroshio. We stopped by at Lawson to collect our tickets for Ghibli museum and also grabbed some light meals at MOS Burger.
Interesting Cigarette vending machine outside Lawson. Japan's legal age to smoke and drink is at 20 years old. So how does the vending machine justify your age? One need to tap his/her card at the red box to verify and then buy.
Shimoda Bay Kuroshio hotel was the best we had stayed for our trip at Ito (JPY18,900/room/night). It was definitely worthwhile. The hotel faces the Shimoda bay which is simply breathtaking and amenities were quite new. We requested for pick-up and the friendly driver with his limited english even introduced a cheap and nice typical Japanese restaurant, Kiyuu for our dinner. We enjoyed ourselves tremendously.
Kiyuu is very generous with their toppings. The set comes with rice, miso-soup and seaweed topping. We ordered Sashimi combination set for JPY1,700, fried fish combination set JPY1,600, plus beer JPY650 and 1 bottle of Hot Sake (180ml) JPY550.
Shimoda Bay Kuroshio Hotel
415-0013 Kakisaki 4-1 Shimoda-Shi
Shizuoka Japan
Tel: (81) 558-27-2111
Fax: (81) 558-27-2115
Website: http://www.baykuro.co.jp/
Kiyuu (亀遊)
Shizuoka, Shimoda-shi 1-chome 10-18
Renjaku machi doori
静岡県下田市１丁目１０－１８
連尺町通り
Tel : (81) 558-22-8698
Fax : (81) 558-22-5256
Website : http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~kiyuu/
Day 4
Next morning we woke up early to prepare ourselves to go to Shirahama beach. Japanese map and instructions are definitely misleading. The beach seems nearby but we decided to take a bus (in case we got lost again). It was a wise decision cause it was actually quite a distance. As it is autumn season and the sea breeze is freezing. We could hardly see any one at the beach...except for the 2 crazy Singaporeans all-wrapped up and running up and down the beach but view was pretty and the sea waves was very strong. 
From the map, it seems that our next destination, Suzaki walking trail is within walking distance about 20 minutes. We checked with the lady in the convenience store and she confirmed, we walked and passed 2 traffic lights and then turn left and we would reach SOON!! Well, well, seems rather easy until we realize that the distance between the first traffic light till the next one IS VERY VERY FAR APART and the whole brisk walking took us 1 and 1/2 hours. I was so tired and finally after much asking around and in the bask of the hot noon, we finally found the entrance of trail. It was all worthwhile. Some TV crew were there filming too. The scenery was so pretty, definitely stayed with us for a very long while. We took a good walk till late afternoon and hurried back to station to set ourselves to our MOST expensive hotel, IKONA.
Due to our limited budget, we decided to slurp on only one GREAT hotel and budget on the rest. Well, it's still a honeymoon trip just very budgeted. So both of us were full of anticipation of this traditional and expensive hotel that we spent more than SGD 400 plus on. AND WE WERE SOOOOOOOOO DISAPPOINTED. It was the WORST hotel we have stayed. The amenities were so RUN down and old. The hot spring was freaking eerie and service was not as good as the previous hotels we stayed. We booked a "special" room with attached hot spring facing the "Garden" as stated in our hotel voucher. But instead of garden, we got a room facing barren land and rows of pipes carrying hot spring water to their spring. LOVELY?? It was so yucky. Of course, Moi kicked up a fuss at the reception (whom could hardly understand my broken Japanese) and demanded why the room differs so much from the internet photos we saw. SULK!!
M shared with me that Japanese traditional inn is usually priced at this price no matter whether their amenities are still in good condition. So next time I should avoid booking the traditional inn. Sigh but what's done cannot be undo so we still have to stick to their awful and expensive room till the next morning where we made our way back to Tokyo.
Outdoor spa facilities - NIGHTMARE
Typical stay at Japanese Inn will cover both dinner and breakfast. Dinner @ IKONA was yucky too! Sashimi was not fresh and the pork was heavily marinated with miso. Really doesn't mean the typical general standard of Japanese cuisine at Japanese Inn. Our verdict - our first and last visit.
IKONA
422 Shimogamo, Minami Izu-cho,
Kamo-gun,Shizuoka.
415-0303, JAPAN
Tel : (81) 558-62-0030
Fax : (81) 558-62-1007
Website : http://www.ikona-spa.com
Day 5
This is our last day @ Izu while we made our way to Tokyo. S loves Izu's laid-back country side view. Breakkies were provided at IKONA before our departure. Like the dinner, the meat wasn't fresh and cooking was unsatisfactory though till edible. Even the onsen tamago on rice (simple dish) was not as savoury.
We made Shuzenji Temple our last destination in Izu. Shuzenji is famous for its autumn maple leaves sight among the green bamboo. Though it was a little far, it was worthwhile.
The interesting part about taking a bus in Japan is that you will only need to pay for the bus fare when you alight instead of boarding. After boarding, you will receive a ticket with a number printed on it. E.g. 15. To know the amount of bus fare you need to pay, you just need to tally it with the bus board at the front of the bus. Keep looking at the fare under no. 15 to get your right fare.
Beautiful autumn scenery...
Found this bun shop just outside Shuzenji. Maybe we were hungry, but eating the bun with red bean paste inside felt really good.
In the cold winter days, the hot coffee from the vending machine is our saviour.
Our next stop.... Tokyo