Plan of the day The plan was to visit another Gassho-style village, Ainokura village in the morning. In the afternoon we would proceed to Takayama city and join the Takaya Sakura Festival. For the night we would be staying at…
Day 10: Shirakawago Historic Village
Plan for the day We planned to visit two very famous cherry trees and we hoped we had arrived at the right time to see them. Then we would proceed to Shirakawago Historic village. For the night we had booked…
Day 9: Makino Metasequoia Walk, Mikata Five Lakes, Hikone Castle
Plan for the day Our plan for the day was to visit Makino Picland Metasequoia Road which was just 4.5 km from Shanshui House in the morning, then we would proceed to Mikata Five lakes and Rainbow Line Sancho Park.…
Day 8: Osaka Mint & Kayabuki no Sato
Plan for the day In the morning we would be at Osaka Mint for cherry blossom viewing again. In the afternoon we would travel north to visit a traditional thatched roof village, Kayabuki no Sato in Kyoto Prefecture, north west…
Day 7: Kyoto – Bamboo Forest and La Shomon
Plan for the day Today we were leaving Kyoto and were only too glad as we were not particularly fond of our family room at Hostel Kyotokko. In the morning we would drive down to Arashiyama to visit its bamboo…
Day 6: Kyoto – Kinkakuji, Fushimi-Inari, Kiyomizu-dera & Nijo Castle
Plan for the day Though our original plan was to be in Kyoto for cherry blossom, we were a week late as the “best viewing” period was 6-7 days. At that time we were in Tokyo since our flight (which…
Day 5: Hasedera, Butsuryu-ji & Nara city
Plan for the Day Our plan for the day was to skip Mount Yoshino and proceed to Hasedera (Temple) and Butsuryu-ji in the morning. Later in the day we would proceed to Nara City and visit Todaji and for the…
Day 4: Takato Castle Ruins
Plan for the day Our plan was to visit Takato Castle in the morning. The castle was only 11 km from Ina City where we had spent the night. In the afternoon we would be driving some 324 km taking…
Day 3: Cherry Blossom at Matsumoto and Ina
Plan for the day We would drive westward toward Matsumoto, our first destination was Koboyama of Matsumoto. Our second destination would be Takato Castle of Ina. From Tokyo to Matsumoto was a 228 km – 3 hours drive. From Koboyama…
Day 2: Tokyo Cherry Blossom – Inokashira, Shinjuku, Meguro
Plan for the day For our three days in Tokyo we had picked up 6 cherry blossom sites to visit. Four of them were in and around Tokyo central and the remaining two were located outskirt of Tokyo. Yesterday we…
Day 1: Tokyo here we come
Plan for the Day The plan was to fly from Singapore to Narita transiting at Kuala Lumpur on a night flight. We should touch down at Narita by 8am. We gave ourselves two hours to clear custom and get into…
Spring in Japan Summed Up
This was our third DIY trip in Japan and it was also our longest trip (19 days). Our first trip was about autumn leaves, second trip on summer festivals and flowers. As for this third trip we focused on the spring effect. Many…
Day 19: Leaving Japan
Going Home We left our hotel at about 7.00 am and took 15 minutes to arrive at Toyota car rental outlet outside Fukuoka Domestic airport, the drive was only 5 km. We wanted to return our car early unfortunately the car rental…
Day 18 : Iwakuni Bridge & Fukuoka
Plan for the day Our plan was to drive all the way from Hiroshima to Fukuoka today. The entire journey would be about 300 km and even if we did not stop anywhere it would take us 4 hours to reach Fukuoka. We planned for…
Day 17: Izumo Taisha & Hiroshima
Plan for the day In the morning we would be driving westward to Izumo Taisha and in the afternoon we would be driving southward to Hiroshima. At Hiroshima we would be visiting the A-bomb Dome and Hiroshima Castle. It was a relaxing…
Day 16: Tottori & Lake Shinji
Plan for the day In the morning we would drive up to Tottori, in Tottori we had two sightseeing destinations the Uradome Coast and the sand dunes. Sometimes in the late afternoon we would move forward to Lake Shinji (at…
Day 15: Kayabuki no Sato & Amanohashidate
Plan for the day In the morning we would be visiting Kayabuki no Sato (thatched roof village), in the afternoon we would drive to Amanohashidate and visit one of Japanese top three sights. For the night we would be staying at Miyazu…
Day 13 & 14 : Mount Komagatake
Plan for the day 13 Our plan was to go up Mount Komagatake and spend a night at Hotel Senjojiki which was located at Senjojiki Cirque at 2,612 metres above sea level. To go up to Mount Komagatake we had to…
Day 12: Shiraito Falls & Karuizawa Stone Church
Plan for the day Last evening while reviewing our next day itinerary we made some changes. In our original plan we had an optional item which was a second visit to Ashikaga Flower Park in the morning. This was dropped as…
Day 11: Hitachi Seaside Park and Ashikaga Flower Park
Plan for the day Our plan was to visit Hitachi Seaside Park in the morning and to visit Ashikaga Flower Park in the late afternoon. As for the night we would stay in Ashikaga city. Both flower parks were very…
Day 10: Fukiware Falls, Kegon Falls and Nikko Shrine
Plan for the day We had planned to visit two waterfalls, a tree and a shrine today. In the morning we would drive to Fukiware Falls a wide waterfall, then in the afternoon we would proceed to Kegon Falls, a…
Day 9 : Snow Corridor
Plan for the day In the morning we planned to drive to Ogizawa Station to start our Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. We would not traverse the entire route but to go as far as the snow corridor and then return.…
Day 8: Lake Motosu & Shibuzakura Festival
Plan for the day Our plan was to see sun rise over Mt Fuji and Lake Motosu. For the later part of the morning we would drive south to Fuji Shibuzakura garden (yes the same place we passed the day before).…
Day 7: Hamamatsu Kite Festival & Lake Motosu
Plan for the day The plan for today was to spend most of the day at the Hamamatsu kite festival. Sometimes in the mid afternoon we would drive north to Lake Motosu (one of the five lakes at the base…
Day 6: Ise Jingu, Hamamatsu Kite Festival and Gion Matsuri
Plan for the day The plan for today was to go all the way to Hamamatsu city. Rather than to drive all the way, we opted to travel a section of the journey on a car ferry. This would reduce the need…
Day 5: Kumano Nichi Taisha
Route for the day Today we had two destinations. The first was Nachi Fall & Nachi Taisha, the second was a repeat of senmaida sunset viewing. For this second sunset viewing we decided to trek up to the high-view-point. Our hotel…
Day 4: Todai-ji & Senmaida
Route for the day Today we had two sightseeing destinations. From our hotel in Kobe we would drive eastward to our first sightseeing destination which was a famous Buddhist temple,Todai-ji, then we would drive south to Maruyama to our second…
Day 3: Mt Washu, Naruto Bridge, Himeji Castle
Plan for the day Today we had a few destinations to visit. They were: Mt Washu Uzu no Michi Himeji Castle La Shomon before ending up at our hotel Toyoko Inn Kobe. By the end of the day, we managed to…
Day 2: Miyajima, Itsukushima Shrine
Plan for the day Last evening as we reviewed our itinerary for the next day we made some changes. We decided to stay longer in Miyajima. Instead of leaving at 2 pm, we decided to stay for another sunset at…
Day 1: Kawachi Fuji Garden & Miyajima
Our Plan for the Day We had planned to visit two destinations today. The first was Kawachi Wisteria Garden and the 2nd was Miyajima. Our target was to be at Miyajima before sunset which I already found out would be at 7.00pm.…
Flying Direct Singapore to Fukuoka
Checking-in It was a past midnight flight and take off was scheduled at 1.20 am. Yat Thong and I were at Singapore Terminal 2 about 2.5 hours before flight time. We checked in our luggage and picked up our boarding passes at the SIA…
Angkor Wat Trip summed up
When the kids were younger we used to go on every trip together, all four of us. Since 2011, the kids were too busy with school life and National Services so Yat Thong and I began to go on DIY…
Day 4: Siem Reap to KL to Singapore
Last Day in Siem Reap It was our last day at the hotel. Our flight out of Siem Reap was at 3.00pm which meant we would need to leave the hotel by around 12.30 pm. I had already arranged with…
Day 3: PUB Street
Breakfast at Angkor D’ Tresor Resort The plan for day 3 was to rest and relax in the hotel. As for lunch and dinner we intended to go to some restaurants at the famous Pub street. We had breakfast at…
Day 2: Pottery Making & Tonle Sap Lake
Car Ride to Angkor Wat for Sunrise We woke up at 4.30 am and was seated at the receptionist area by 4.45am. A short while later the hotel main gate was slided open and a few tuk-tuks came in to…
Day 1: Temple Visit
Siem Reap International Airport The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap took about 2 hours. After the plane landed we walked down onto the tarmac and walked into the airport building. The building looked like a country resort very…
Starting Our Journey from Singapore
Changi International Airport I have done self-online-checkin and printed four boarding passes for each of the four of us a week ago. Unfortunately not all the four self-printed boarding passes could be used directly. For the first leg of our…
Summer in Japan Summed up
In July we had a wonderful time in Japan. This was our second 2.5 weeks trip to Japan and for this trip our focus was on summer festivals (Narita & Sawara) and summer flowers and nature in Hokkaido. Like our first…
Day 17: Going Home
Plan for the day This was our the final day in Japan and the end of our 17 day DIY trip. We would be driving from from Otaru to New Chitose Airport, fly out of New Chitose Airport into Narita…
Day 16: A second day In Otaru
Plan for the day Our plan was to spend the whole day sightseeing the the town of Otaru. The places of interest were Fish Market, Otaru Music Box Museum, Mount Tengu and Otaru Tide Festival Parade. Except for Mount Tengu…