Jravelog

Heaven for all Omurice fans!
Tried out this place in Tokyo,Nihombashi back in July 2017 since me and my friends were craving for Omurice. I mean, well, Omurice IS from Japan, so it's one of the dish you shouldn't miss out when you're in Japan. So we Googled for the best Omurice in town and came across Taimeiken(たいめいけん), Nihombashi and decided to make our way there.

We didn't make any reservation and reached the place around 5pm and still had to wait for another 15 to 20 minutes to be seated. By the time we finish, there's a queue waiting outside already!

Their main dish is obviously Omurice, but they do serve other types of dishes like Spaghetti and Ramen.
They do provide English menu for tourists so make sure to ask the waiter/waitresses for it and don't get intimidated by those Japanese menu outside!

There are many different type of Omurice to choose from, but the classic one would be Tampopo (タンポポオムライス), which got the name from a Japanese film. Tampopo actually means Dandelion, which I have no idea how they decide to name it after a flower. I'm guessing because of the color. HAHAHA

The Tampopo rice cost 1950 yen (approx. RM80), which is quite pricey even in Japan, an average meal would only cost around 1000 yen. The portion is actually quite big, if you're a small eater, share it with someone else!
Taste wise, I wouldn't say the taste blew me away, but the visual did a pretty great job, especially when you cut the egg into half and see the "fuwa-fuwa"(fluffy) half cooked egg flip out.

I would say go for it if you're around the area and have some extra money in hand to try this out.

Taimeiken is only a few minutes walk away from Nihombashi Station.



Address: 1-12-10 Nihombashi, Chuo 103-0027, Tokyo
https://www.taimeiken.co.jp/menu/index1.html

Every fan of One Piece should definitely stop by at One Piece Tower which is also known as Tokyo Tower.
The admission price for the One Piece Park is 3,200 yen including a LIVE show and admission to the attraction. 2,200 yen if you're not interested in the Live Show. Before deciding to watch the Live Show, me and my friends did some research on whether it's worth the price and we definitely didn't regret giving that extra 1000 yen for the show. The characters are all great performers and fully brings out the characters' personalities. I won't put any spoiler here but I definitely recommend the show even if you're not a fan of One Piece!

The park is 3 floors full of attraction and art work for all One Piece fans! There's a dedicated attraction for each main character, and my favorite attraction will be Nami's cause I love to gamble :P Zorro's one is really nice too. You also get to win some mini prizes if you won some of the games.
Third floor is a gallery full of the art works for One Piece. You can take all the photos you want there! Make sure there's enough memory for your phone or camera!

If you're interested in seeing the view of Tokyo from a higher point, the admission price to the main observatory is 900 yen for Tokyo Tower. It's my second time up at the observatory and Tokyo's view really won't disappoint me.

The ambience there is really cosy, with a garden full of trees. Every corner is so picture worthy! Even the food plating is pretty enough to make the picture instagram-able!


The price range for the food are around 20 AUD to 40 AUD depending on what you ordered. The menu changes every now and then, depending what's written on the board. There's also some fixed menu that are always served there. Head over to their website to find out more.
Here comes the food!
Rock Lobster Bruschetta, I mean nothing really go wrong with Lobster!

Tuscan Lobster Linguine taste amazing and i can't get enough of this pasta!

Moroccan Chicken served with pomegranate couscous is my favorite! The chicken is really flavorful which is a match with the couscous. I've never tried couscous with pomegranate, surprisingly taste great!

Their opening hours are from 8am to 3pm from Thursday - Tuesday, closed on Wednesday.
Lobbster Trap: Facebook / Website

A more detailed post on spending the day at Lancelin Sand Dunes and The Pinnacles, Western Australia.
As mentioned from my previous post, we travel around with a rented car, which make things 10 times easier and convenient. We went to Lancelin and The Pinnacles the day we touched down at Perth Airport, then spend the night at Carramar, a small town around 40 minutes North from Perth city.

Upon reaching at Lancelin, you would wonder where to rent a sand board for the sand dunes?
Fret not cause there's a general store that rent out sand boards there. Just search for Lucky7 (click for map) general store like the picture below.

They provide rental service at 10 AUD per sand board for 2 hours, which is more than enough because you probably won't spend too long with the sand board. It's also not necessary to rent one sand board per person! If there's 6 of you, maybe 2 or 3 is enough and you can take turns to use it!

Once you're done renting the sand board, then you're ready to head over to the Sand Dunes which is another 10 minutes drive away! Make sure you parked your car at the correct place, the get to the sand dunes you would have to drive through some sandy road before reaching.

Then you're ready to have some fun time! Even the weather was extremely sunny, the sands were exceptionally cold, which surprised me!
One important tip: When you rent the sand board, they will give you some wax for the sand board. Make sure to FULLY wax the back of your sand board before sliding down, or else it won't really slide.

After lunch it's almost time to move on to The Pinnacles which is an hour drive away. To get to The Pinnacles, you would have to pay an entrance fee of 12 AUD per vehicle to get into the Nambung National Park.

Being at The Pinnacles actually explain how does all these exist. How amazing the nature is. You can actually drive right into the Pinnacles road and get real close with it.
The view is actually pretty amazing~ The Pinnacles drive is actually a big loop surrounding the area, just have a slow drive there and enjoy the view. 心灵会被治愈~

After The Pinnacles, we head back to Carramar to have a quick dinner and spend the night chilling and relax after a long day.

To know the full 10 days itinerary of my Western Australia Self Drive Trip, head over here to read more!

With the road and wind, I managed to drive almost 2000km in Western Australia! One of my bucket list tick off - to be able to drive long distance in another country.
In Malaysia we often see stray dogs being hit on the road, but in Australia, you'll see dead Kangaroos on the road side. Rare sight right? I have my first culture shock right there.

Throughout the 10 days, we drove up North all the way to Nambung National Park for Pinnacles, and all the way down South to Albany. This post will include my daily itinerary, however details of the places will be in a separate post (hopefully).

Breakdown of the total cost for the whole trip, there's 6 of us for the trip and accommodation, wifi rental, etc will be divided by 6.

Air Ticket - RM910 (meal, seat, 20kg baggage and insurance)
Visa - RM40 (through travel agency)
Pocket wifi- RM48 (RM26 per day and RM30 insurance)
Accommodation - RM 906 per person (Total is RM5433)
Transportation - RM500 per person (Total is RM2883)
Food, petrol and entrance fees- RM1000 per person
Grand Total- RM3400 per person 

I rented a 7-seater Toyota Kluger from Hertz website and collected it from the Airport. Pocket wifi is from TravelRecommend and pick up from KLIA2.
The breakdown of the daily accommodation, most of our accommodation are booked through Airbnb website. The reason why Carramar is the cheapest is because it is out of the city, you will be living with the host and there isn't much around that area as well, but it is only RM300 per day for 6!

The main reason why we choose to stay at Airbnb is to be able to cook. Our dinner are mostly prepared at home. Their main supermarket are Woolworths and Coles which closes at 5pm during the weekend. *like seriously?* There goes my second culture shock. Why the shops close so early?! :(

That's about it for the breakdown of the fees.

Day 1 Carramar -> Lancelin -> Nambung for Pinnacles

Reaching Perth airport early in the morning. Pick up car rental and off we go!
Perth to Carramar to put our luggage at our airbnb place and freshen up abit after a long night. Then off to Lancelin Sand Dunes, where you will have to rent a sand board at a general store nearby. (I will include this in another post) After that grab some quick lunch there and head South to Nambung National Park for Pinnacles, if you're not a big fan of nature or flies then you can skip Pinnacles. Then back to Carramar!

Day 2 Perth City 

Spend the morning at Caversham Wildlife Park and then the rest of the day touring Perth city like the Perth Mint and Swan Bell Tower.
*Alternative*
You can spend the whole day in Perth city by taking their FREE CAT bus which stops at many main attractions. If you're driving and want a place to park your car, you can choose to park at Queen Garden Carpark (near WACA) for AUD9 for 10 hours. Then you can take the FREE CAT bus there and start touring.

Day 3 Blue Boat House, Kings Park and Fremantle 

Spend the morning taking picture at the blue boat house then quick stroll at Kings Park and head down to Fremantle for Fremantle Prison and market. Dinner at Cicerellos or Little Creatures at Fremantle.

Day 4 Mandurah and Bunbury 

There's nothing much in Mandurah, there's a visitor center there, which has a few shops including Cicerellos, if you have not try it then you can stop here for a quick lunch. The visitor center is like a mini harbor, you can actually enjoy a boat ride here if you want to.
While driving down to Bunbury you might want to make a quick stop at Lake Clifton Thrombolites, it's a living fossil by the lake. Not much tourist visit here but it's really beautiful.
Once you're done then head down to Bunbury Farmer's Market for the freshest vegetables and fruits, where we got the ingredients for our dinner. There's also a lighthouse at Bunbury, where you can just enjoy the sunset there. There's a Dolphin discovery center at Bunbury, if you have the time to visit.

Day 5 Busselton Jetty and Margaret River 

1.8km long Busselton Jetty stretch all the way out to the sea. Then continue South to Margaret River. There's a lot of free wine tasting, chocolate factories and nuts & cereal factories along the way to Margaret River. You can choose a few to stop by depending on your preference. All we did is just stop at random places that have lots of car.

Day 6 Jewel Cave and Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse 

All the way down South to the most South West point of Australia- Cape Leeuwin!
While you're there, you should definitely stop by at Blue Ocean Fish & Chips which offer the best food and service!

Day 7  Pemberton Visitor Centre - Bicentennial Tree (Warren Forest)

Moving into the forest! Where we stopped by at the visitor center to get our car pass to be able to enter the national parks. The Bicentennial Tree, is a huge tree where you can climb all the way up by a few poles stuck into the tree trunk. Sorry I didn't have the guts to climb all the way up.

Day 8 Walpole, Denmark and Albany

Before leaving Walpole, stop at the Nornalup National Park to walk with the trees! It's called the Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk, like the name, you will walk at the same height of the trees! The scariest part of the bridge is that.. it feels extremely unstable. Have a quick stop at Denmark, a small cozy town, spend some time at the secondhand shop and send out some postcard there too!
Then tour around Albany which deserve another separate post because that place is BEAUTIFUL!

Day 9 Albany to Perth 

Check out from Albany and drive all the way back to Perth for a 5 hours drive. Stopped by at some small town to have some quick lunch. Then back to Perth.

Day 10 Perth to Malaysia

That's it for my 10 days self drive trip in Western Australia! It's a rather chill and relaxing trip and suitable if you're traveling with parents or kids.

A few details before moving on to my itinerary:

Samurai Wifi rental for 9 days: RM135/6 = RM 23
Air ticket from AirAsia per pax inclusive of baggage, meals and seat: RM 1200
Accommodation for 10 nights per person: RM 1000
Car Rental for 5 days: RM3100/6 = RM 517
Food, Transport, Entrance Fees, Petrol and Toll per person: RM 1000
Total: RM 3740 for 10 days per pax
Disclaimer: some of the prices stated are just approximates and are higher than the expected amount so the total might be lesser than RM3740. 


Day 1: Kansai Airport関西空港 → Izumisano泉佐野市 
We arrived quite late at night, where we just rented an Airbnb place from WenXiang at Izumisano, which is half hour away from Kansai Airport to stay for the night with 24hr airport transfer from the owner!

Day 2: Izumisano泉佐野市 → Nanba難波
The owner from Izumisano dropped us off at the nearest train station, and we went straight to Nanba to check in to our next Airbnb apartment from YUI where we stayed for 4 days. We spent the day around Nanba area, and then we met up with Ayaka, a Japanese girl where my family hosted in Malaysia before for a simple dinner!
Day 3: Osaka Town 大阪市
We bought the one day pass a day before at Nanba Station. I have also shared how I fully utilized the Osaka One Day Pass before along with my whole day itinerary. So if you're interested you can click the link to check out!



Day 4: Kuromon Market 黒門市場 and Nara Day Trip 奈良
We started off the day by having our seafood breakfast at Kuromon Market in Osaka, and then we took the train to Nara for a one day trip. Nara is where you'll be able to find your loved ones- the deers! (pun intended) Nara is also famous for the Todaiji Temple and their pudding too! So make sure to check those out when you're in Nara! Our trip in Nara were solely by walking only. So if you have weak legs then be prepared cause my leg nearly broke. T_T




Day 5: Wakayama Day Trip 和歌山市
I had no idea what came to me that I planned Wakayama in my trip, I shouldn't have crossed out Kobe for Wakayama! Travelling down to Wakayama was quite time consuming actually, so it's actually better to stay the night and see more rather than a one day trip. We went to Kuroshio market to watch some Tuna cutting show, had a BBQ lunch by the sea, watched a free dolphin show and had a dip at the Onsen with super sea view. Totally not worth it. 

 

Day 6: Osaka 大阪 →Takayama 高山
We got our car in Nanba and started our self drive trip up to Takayama in Gifu Prefecture. It was a long drive from Osaka, the weather was quite bad as it was raining for the whole day. We were crossing from mountain to mountain through a two-lane bridge, it was quite thrilling. The view was superb too! We stopped by at a service area and the temperature is quite cooling! Upon reaching Takayama it was already past noon, so we head straight to Hida Folk Village where we can see the farmhouses that are in triangle shape. We skipped going to Shirakawago due to time restriction, if you have a day extra then you shouldn't skip going to Shirakawago! :)
We stayed one night in Takayama at a traditional hotel called Hodakaso Yamano Iori, where we sleep on tatami mat with futon and there's a public hot spring area too!




Day 7: Takayama 高山 → Gero 下呂 and Nagoya 名古屋
We went for a walk in Takayama town, and had breakfast at the morning market before leaving to Nagoya. We stopped by at Gero Onsen, a small town where their main attraction is Onsen(hot spring bath)! As an onsen enthusiast, I can't afford to miss out this place! This small town actually offers an unlimited pass where you can visits different onsen places for the day! However as we were just stopping by for a short period of time, we only went for a leg only onsen area and a public onsen by the river where we met a Japanese uncle and he told us the benefit of going to an Onsen where I blogged about before!
After that we head down to Nagoya and checked in to our hotel, then met my host family for the famous must eat in Nagoya- Hitsumabushi!
Day 8: Nagoya 名古屋 → Mie 三重
After checking out from Nagoya, we drove straight down to Mie to meet Hiromi and her family, another Japanese girl that my family hosted in Malaysia almost 9 years ago! The main reason we went to Japan this time is to attend her wedding!


Day 9: Tsu 津 and Suzuka 鈴鹿市
Today is the big day for Hiromi! Which is also the first time for us to attend a Japanese wedding. Her wedding is not the traditional type I guess, it's quite westernize and fun! There's a buffet lunch and quite a few fun activities throughout the wedding too. Speech from her best friends, performances from her friends and siblings. 50% of the time we didn't really understand what the emcee was talking about, but it was a great experience!
After the wedding, we went to explore around Tsu city, and drove 30 minutes to Suzuka which is a city near Tsu, where it has a very large Aeon Mall!


Day 10: Mie 三重 → Osaka 関西空港
The last day in Japan, we drove from Mie back to Osaka. As our flight was 11pm at night, we went to Rinku Premium Outlet to have our last shopping spree before heading to the airport to return our car. We met up with Ayaka and her parents to have our farewell dinner as well!


That's all for my 10 days trip. I might miss out a few main places throughout the post. The link of the places I've stayed are already included in the post except for the hotel in Nagoya and Mie. I might messed up some stuff in the post so bear with me!

If you have any question you can leave a comment below or email me at suetli_low@outlook.com! I'm more than happy to answer your questions!