Trip to Phuket Day1; Phi Phi Island/VERTLA

Day 1
Even though there is no big time difference, it's wiser to plan a big activities on the first day to keep up the trip.

Many people suggested me to go to Phiphi island.
Since I don't wanna be lost, I decided to book an optional tour.
I don't remember clearly but tours on VERTLA looked nice and reasonable.

ピピ島観光ツアー　快適な大型船で！＜昼食付き＞ / エコノミー（英語ツアー） / Aプラン

I was a bit worried if a driver didn't pick us up, but he appeared.
Well not everything is on time like Japan haha

We rode one of those boats and headed to Phiphi island.
It took like more than one hour.....
I didn't expect an hour boat trip so i was bit bored hehe
On the boat, we got free muffin, tea, coffee and coke.

I really didn't understand what was going on but it seemed we did a cruising before landing on Phiphi island.

This beautiful island is used for shooting "The Beach"??? I guess

It was beautiful!

If you wanna go into, you should rent a small boat from Phiphi island. 

Before exploring Phiphi island, we had time for snorkelling.

Finally we arrive at Phiphi island!

We were escorted to a lunch restaurant (food was really nice :)!)

and had some free time.

As you can imagine, it was really hot and sea water was really warm too.

It was like hot springs haha

I think it's worth to go to Phiphi island for your first trip to Phuket.

I personally thought the beach in front of our hotel was good enough....

Oh well but snorkelling was really fun so my only concern was the distance.

It was bit far away....

Anyways it was really nice experience.

Our dinner for this day was at the hotel while watching the sunset.

*My phuket trip
Arriving day
https://ayahs-favorite.blogspot.jp/2016/05/trip-to-phuket-arriving-dayhow-did-i.html

Trip to Phuket arriving day/How did I plan this trip/Katathani Phuket Beach Resort, Karon

I have to write about my Phuket trip before I forget!

For three years, I was just too lazy to keep uploading this blog.

This time, I really would like to keep this blog!

We left Japan on the second day of Golden week.

I thought the airport would be super crowded but it was not that bad.

After about 8 hours, we arrived at Phuket airport.

Humid, that was what I felt right after I went out the airport.

Take a taxi, that was our first task.

I was a bit nervous cause I'm not good at taking a cab abroad.

well I was scammed in London before when I was trying to get a taxi.

Anyway a second after I started thinking about a taxi, I noticed there was a taxi counter.

I didn't trust a guy there but he said going to Kata costed ฿1000.

When I told him I wanted to go Kata, he asked me to pay him first.

Well at this point, I was skeptical but he gave me a familiar pink ticket.

When I took a cab in Bangkok years ago, I saw the ticket so I decided to trust him for now.

We went outside finding a taxi pool. It was a bit difficult since there was no clear sign.

If you wanna take a taxi, just cross a road right after you go outside of the airpot.

Because there are many cars going, you don't wanna cross and you might think there is another way but just cross the road.

Once you do that, there are local people and they will guide you.

It turned out there was a number on the ticket and it was our turn when we got there.

I recommend you to get a taxi ticket before taking your luggage so that you don't have to wait outside.

The taxi drooped by a travel agency even though we didn't ask haha

It seems that's their way.

At the shop, there are may tourists.

I decided to book a cab on the last day since it was ฿1000 again.

I guess if I book a taxi at the hotel, it costed about ฿1200.

Anyway because of this stop by, it took about 1.5 hours to our Hotel.

We're worried if there was no restaurants around the hotel or if we couldn't get any food since we're starving.

Every time we saw a convenience store, we were like 'should we ask the driver to stop by???' hahaha

It turned out there were two convenience stores and some restaurants just in front of the hotel.

I don't remember names of the restaurants...

We had dinner at a yellowish restaurant.

[฿1200]

Pad Thai

Som Tam

Tom Kha Kai

Pak Boong Fai Daeng

Beer

Water melon shake

It was tasty and reasonable! I LOVE THAI!

I really like Thai food but among all I love som tam (papaya salad)

Actually I have made one in Japan by myself but I felt something was wrong.

Well I haven't figured it out haha

Som Tam in Thai is just amazing and I just cannot copy it.

We stayed at Katathani Phuket Beach Resort, Karon.
(I forgot to take pics of rooms!Stupid me!)

For Japanese people, packaged tour is very popular and they are cheap.

However, this time I booked flights and hotel by expedia.

Well in January I realised that there was 10 days GW coming and got super excited.

I looked up HIS (travel company famous for cheap packaged tours), it seemed as if people go to Phuket only for three or four days.

For me, staying a place only for some days makes no sense.

I wanted to stay at Phuket at least 5days and there was no 5 days packaged tour.

Well you can extend the stay by paying extra money but it that case, it's not cheap anymore. Booking flights and hotel by yourself is better since you can choose flight schedule and hotels.

There are many booking website and I just don't know which one is the best.

I used expedia a lot when i was a student so I decided to book through it again.

Since this was my first time in Phuket, I didn't know which area is nice.

I chose a hotel from the aspect of 

1. has a pool

2. close to a beach

3. clean bath room

Katathani is one of few resort which has a direct access to the beach.

When I looked up on the internet about this hotel, some people pointed out that if I stay at this resort, i should book a room at Thani Wing which is ocean side.

 I followed their advice and booked a junior suite.

We have a balcony and could see the beach beyond hotel garden. 

This is our view from our room!!!

(Oh i miss this view.....)

After dinner we enjoyed this view a bit and went to bed straight away since we had a daytrip to Phi Phi island next day.

Whirlwind Tour in Korea / 韓国弾丸旅行

Well almost two years ago.......
My friend and I went to Korea over the weekend
Flew to Korea late at night on Friday and came back to Japan late at night on Sunday

Main event was to eat darkhanmari.

It's really simple but the soup is really rich

Restaurant staffs cut the chicken just amazingly.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of chicken haha
but this was nice.
When I went there, it was snowing but this hot pot made me warm.

Address: 서울특별시 종로구 종로5가 265-22

It was bit tricky to find a spot since the road is very narrow so the taxi cannot bring us in fron of the shop.
There was no specific sign to locate this restaurant
well since I don't read Korean
My suggestion is just go forward even if you feel bit worried haha

This is extra pic

I found my favourite kinder chocolate in korea!

I cannot buy them in Japan.... such a shame!

I don't think kinder people look my blog but please come to Japan!!!!!!

Germany Trip!!! / Neuschwanstein Castle / ノイシュヴァンシュタイン城 / German Food

Finally finally I went to Germany to meet my lovely friend!!!!!
I met her 4 years ago when I did a summer language course. It's just amazing that we still keep in touch!!!!!!!
I was generally really happy to meet her again and mainly we spend a relaxed week together.
One evening, my friend's dad recommended us to go to Neuschwanstein Castle saying that all the Japanese tourists go there haha
Kindly her mom accepted to drive us there, here we go! Our amazing day trip has started :)

From Nuremberg, it took about 3 hours to get there. I was worried about the weather but fortunately when we got there, it was a beautiful day!

We had to queue for about 30min to get tickets.
Sometimes people cannot get one because they are sold out.

There is another castle close to Neuschwanstein castle called Hohenschwangau castle. A yellow castle. Well it's just sad that I don't quite remember whose residence this was and its history even though I joined a guided tour...
It seems as if a residence of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and it was built by his father, King Maximilian II. 

Its appearance looks a normal castle but inside was really nice. 

Unfortunately, taking photograph was not allowed inside.

And then, a famous princess castle,Neuschwanstein Castle!!

Because the castle was massive, taking pics with it was really difficult

But look at this pic. It was sooooo beautiful.

Seems like this castle is not completed. There are too many rooms.

Since I was a big fan of princess movie, I was really happy to see this castle.

Also, European architecture is just amazing!

On our way home, I tried German food.

Spätzle

Since I really like cheese, this pasta was really nice.

Flädlesuppe

This is soup with pancakes.

They fit each other.

When I felt a bit too cheesy, I had this soup and then pasta again.....hahaha

I've been super lazy so it was last year when I actually went there.

It was such a great relaxing time back then.......

*It's been a while since I graduated uni. My English becomes really poor....

Hope I'm explaining amazing memories at least understandable....

How to make a grass cup in Hokkaido/北海道でグラス工芸体験

I was looking back my photos and found nice photos in Hokkaido.

I like experiencing activities while traveling.

I don't think grass experience is only for Hokkaido but there is a place famous for grass, called Otaru.

From Sapporo, it takes about 30min to go there by train.

I went to a place close to the music box museum.

First of all, I chose a type of a cup and colours.

It is difficult to see but there are chemicals for colourings in the photo.
A teacher put them on melted grass.

Shaping

To make the bottom of a cup, hit to the ground 

Now it's time to blow!

It was difficult because I had to roll the stick at the same speed.

Thanks to the teacher, my grass cup came out really nice.

It took weeks before receiving the finished cup.

Well I don't know where this cup is to be honest....

Hopefully somewhere in my family house

anyways it was a great experience :)

My Last UK Trip Has Began! / Life

I've realised how hard to keep writing blog posts.... It's just more difficult than I imagined.
It's already February! I'm in Nottingham now.

After coming to the UK this time, I just become speechless. Well everything is really confusing and every time I try to write something here, I have to delete them right after.

You might think what you're doing there? That's a question sooooooo many people have asked me. even an immigration officer. The answer is i'm enjoying doing "NOTHING" 
I know you might not be convinced. I'm a super organised person so that if I hear someone saying so, I would be like 'WHAT?' But anyway I'm here in Nottingham doing nothing.
This is because I start working in April so 100% I won't be able to come back to the UK. Since I've been such a world traveller these years, I really don't know whether I can stand up not being able to travel. People around me are so worried about me but anyhow I have to work and live on my own you know?
I just thought it would be nice to have time to think about anything without any pressure before starting work. Well I can do that in Japan but why not in the U.k. observing the different culture?

So I'm in Nottingham thinking about my life. My biggest fear right now is 'what if I can't meet the guy and stay single until I die' following 'what if I can't find anything I really want to do'
Maybe you think it's just too early to think about marriage. Well it's true but as a female, I have to think about my body because I want to have my child. I find this point very unfair to the male but at the same time very fascinating aspect of human birth. Moreover, it takes two to have relationships and get married. Well having no boyfriend for many years panics me. 
No single person will find me attractive and a partner.... No one loves me..... These kind of sad thought occupy me and bring me into a dark circle. Am I the only one who scares these thoughts? 
At the same time, not every marriage is the happy one. I'm not saying the divorce is bad bad bad but I wish I could find someone I respect and spend time together until I die. Maybe that's why it's sooooo difficult  to find the one....
The second fear; what if I can't find anything I really want to
Well it was really hard for me to find a job  since I didn't study so called practical subjects. There are so many jobs out there but I don't know all. What I've decided is doing something which can have a look the business itself and hopefully bump into the one I really want to. Well this sounds not specific enough but I guess my working experience will show me some way to go there.  

I just hope I can give you some sort of comfort for someone who feels a bit lost in their life. 
We can do so many things in our life but the life has the limit.........

Home stay in Vancouver / バンクーバーホームステイ

How's your new year? I had a very lazy one and cleaned my room finally feeling really fresh now :) Finally I couldn't finish posting all my trips in 2014 but I had a new trip at the end of the year.... Since the memory is still fresh, I should put it first!!
お正月いかがお過ごしですか？私は家でまったりしながら、やっと部屋を片付けて気分爽快です :)　去年すべての旅行について記事をかけなかったのにも関わらず、ありがたい事にまた年末に旅行したので、記憶が新鮮なうちにその旅行について早めに投稿しておこうと思います。

At the end of 2014, I did a home stay in Vancouver.
Just before the trip, I got really ill and stay at my bed for whole three days. Well health is above everything else!
2014の年末はカナダ・バンクーバーに行きました。
実は行く直前に体調をくずし３日間部屋に閉じこもっていたのですが、がんばって前日に体調を回復させ、健康第一だと改めて実感しました。

Home stay in Vancouver reminds me of my bitter experience. When I was 15, I did a home stay for the first time in my life. Well the result was really bad... haha 
Back then, I discovered my passion towards an English study and my score was pretty good, I'd say. I expected myself to be able to speak English pretty much well. However, I just could not speak any English and I was just a super shy and naive Japanese girl. 
Since I expected more, I was really disappointed the result and I was mad at myself.
After that, I realised the importance of speaking in English and also I learned that I cannot get a good result by being shy. I think this experience has made what I am now. 
This time, by chance, I get an opportunity to do a home stay again in Vancouver, I contacted my previous host family. I really didn't like my behaviour back then and I've been feeling sorry for my host family. I've been longing for making up for it. Miraculously where I stayed this time was close to them. We managed to meet each other again after 8 years!!!
Because of my limited English, we could not have decent conversations but this time we could know each other more :) 

バンクーバーでのホームステイと聞くと思い出すのが、中学３年生の時の苦い思い出。学校行事で生まれてはじめてホームステイをしたんだけど、英語を全く話さずに終わるという大失態？大失敗？
ちょうど当時私は英語の勉強に力を入れ始めていて成績自体はそこまで悪くなくて、私はしゃべれるとか思いこんでいたから、逆にとってもショックだった。この苦い経験の後、私はシャイでいるより、なんでもチャンスがあれば挑戦していったほうが少しぐらい恥をかいたとしても面白いし楽しいってことに気がついたわけです。この経験がなければ今の私はいないし留学中にcrazy Japaneseって多分呼ばれてなかったと思う笑
今回バンクーバーに行くってなって、前回のホストファミリーに連絡してみたら会えることになってなんと８年ぶりの再会を果たしたのです。８年前英語がうまくしゃべれなかった私は私なりにホストファミリーに悪いなって思っていて、なんとか埋め合わせができたらなって思っていたからとってもうれしかった。今回はたくさんお話できてお互いのことをよりしることができました！

The last time I did a home stay in Vancouver, I experienced halloween there. 
I did trick or treat and got many treats! 
前回はハロウィンシーズンだったので、仮装して実際にお家を訪ねていってたくさんお菓子をもらいました;)

This is my costume I wore for halloween.
Another thing I learned from my first home stay was how to pet animals. This sounds funny but I was generally afraid of animals. I didn't pet them or even approached them. This smart boy somehow often visited my room and became my best mate since we didn't need English to communicate each other. After that my fear towards animal has been decreased and I'm able to pet them now. 
はじめてのハロウィンはこの名前がわからないキャラクターの仮装をしました！なんだっけ？これ笑
このホームステイで学んだもう一つのことは、動物と仲良くなる事。えって思うかもだけど、それまで動物があんまり得意ではなかった私は触る事もあんまりしないし近寄ることもできなかったんだけど、英語をしゃべらなくてもいいってことから、お家の中で唯一の私の見方だったこのわんちゃんのおかげで動物に体する恐怖が薄れたのです。

This time, instead of halloween, I experienced Christmas in Canada!

In Japan, people celebrate Christmas but in a different way.  We eat chicken especially KFC and christmas cake. My family used to decorate a Christmas tree but we didn't put presents under the tree or we do not exchange presents each other. 
My lovely host family prepared presents for me as well and I experienced tearing Christmas wrapping paper haha 
Because it was winter time, I couldn't do a lot of outdoor activities but it seems as if there are a lot of activities in summer. I'd love to go back and experience them in Canadian nature!!

This time my host family had two adorable kids. Generally speaking, I love children so I really enjoyed playing with them. Now that I'm getting old enough to think about marriage and babies, the time with them strengthened my desire to have kids. Even though they have meltdown and they don't listen to what mom says all the time, they are just really cute anyway! 
Someday! SOMEDAY!!!!!

Home stay teaches a lot of things. I learn every time I do so. I appreciate my opportunity for the home stay thanks to wonderful host families!!!!

Edinburgh Trip in September/Haggis

After long long long flights, I arrived in London Heathrow at around 14. I took a bus to Stansted to take a flight to Edinburgh on the same day lol
Anyway here I was! Edinburgh!

To be honest, I did not know much about the city. Since my best friend cannot go out of the U.K. because of the Visa problem, we chose to go to Scotland. 

We were really amused by this beautiful city!!!

Only thing I knew about Scotland was haggis. My Scottish friend love it, but my Australian host family hate it. They told me it would be like vegemite. Because I don't like vegemite, I was really scared to try it but I thought I should give a go!!!

So I tried it!!!!! 

And I LIKE IT! I LIKE IT A LOT!!!! (Well I really miss it now :()

Even though my friend told me I can have a good haggis everywhere but I really wanted to try a good one. We decided to try Whiski Rooms's one. The place looked very busy and we could only get a small table but the food was really nice! Apart from the tiny table, the atmosphere was really nice as well :)

Next day, we climbed Arthur's Seat. 

It was a good walk and I enjoyed beautiful nature!

You can tell from the pic but standing there was actually scary!

When my friend dared me to climb it, I though there was a actual seat on top of the mountain? or hill?.

I was looking for anything can be a seat and I found it!

I completely believed that it was the seat lol

but seems like the mountain itself is 'Arthur's Seat'

At the bottom, there is the palace of Holyroodhouse.

Since the audio guide was included, I learned some history and more information about the each room. Personally I really like this palace more than Buckingham Palace. 

We also had a tea break there!

I look super happy in the pic! I miss the tea time in the U.K. now.....

(In Japan, well especially Tokyo, you can have a relaxing tea time since there are so many people and it's difficult to get a seat in the first place.)

Seems like the week we were in Edinburgh, the weather was really nice. 

We enjoyed the sun at Princes Street Gardens wearing very Scot's clothes haha

When I was in the museum, the staff pointed at my clothe and hers saying 'same :P'

I was really interested in the close in Edinburgh. I just couldn't understand how to build the upper city at that time. To learn the history more, even though I really don't like any horror thing, I decided to go to The Real Mary King's Close.

Unfortunately I couldn't understand well what the tour guide explained at each spot.... (My English skill.....) That made the tour less scary I guess.
Every time I study history, I'm a bit confused and disappointed cause I never know what exactly happened in the era and I have to imagine people's life. But I'm so bad at imagining.

At the same time, I believe that it's just impossible to know what exactly happened but studying history triggers my curiosity. 

So this is my Edinburgh trip pretty much!

Hope you enjoyed a bit!

I miss the U.K......... (Edinburgh would be freezing cold now though)

Homestay in Australia

Well it's been two months after I did my trip to Australia. I was thinking not to post anything about it cause it's just a long time ago. However, I'm gonna write about it cause it was such a nice time :)
I'm thinking how hard it is to describe my feeling during a trip! 
I did felt sooooo many things of course but when you think back, there is just a satisfied feeling.
Anyway I try to remember what I thought and felt during this amazing trip.

Living in a big city like Tokyo for whole my life, I really didn't know how food is delivered to us. Well I did know milk is from cows and there are farms in this world.
My host family was not a farmer but they brought me to farms and I learned a lot.
What gave me a strong impression is that 'free range eggs'
Maybe some people think 'are you stupid?'
Well I was haha
When I was in the U.K., of course I had to do a shopping. When I was choosing eggs, there were some expensive ones. I didn't have any clue of the difference. Now I know. 
Basically free range eggs come from this kind of situation.

Do you get what I mean? These hens can walk but there are chickens caged all the time. I'm not gonna go further about this issue but it was good to know the difference.

My host family have these hens so they can get fresh eggs everyday. It also fascinates me to get eggs directly from chickens not from a supermarket. 

Many people may think about kangaroos when they imagine of Australia. In the evening, when I was lucky, I could say hello to these friends at my host family's garden.

well technically they are wallabies not kangaroos but similar hehe

Every time I see them, I tried to pet them but they just hopped away as soon as I approached them. 

It was really nice to live feeling animals arounds me all the time. It reminds me of the fact we share this earth with all different kinds of animals. This might be nothing special for you but it just struck me since I normally lead so to speak 'a city life.' Oh it's just very difficult to put into words but the life there was really interesting for me. 

Now a farms stay in Australia is on my list. I'm thinking to do it when I get tired of fast paced Japanese life. 

Oh one thing has got in my bucket list but one thing has ticked in my list.

"Hammock!!"

I was really happy swinging in the middle of a beautiful garden looking at gorgeous blue sky especially after really stressing 7 months job hunting. 

I definitely would like to lead this kind of quiet and relaxing life within 10 years!!

As well as I've learned a lot of life itself, I study English a lot. 

One funny misunderstanding was discovered. I remember my English teacher back in my high school taught me that there was an Australian native language "Gedaimai"

I completely thought it was one Aboriginal language. Well it is apparently not.

It's just an Australian slang "G'day mate" Now it makes sense completely but I just feel embarrassed..... At least, now I know :)

I have visited Brisbane with my family before. Now I would like to explore the other side of Australia! 

Back from the U.K.

Today when I was having a quiet and relaxing evening, I realised my previous post is just strange. I accidentally posted a draft.... I just wanna say 'I'm back!' on this blog so this will be short as well.

Obviously when you're having a good time, time goes by soooooo fast. I can't believe i'm already in Japan. Soooooo sad. It is very sad even though I feel I should be here and I belong there, I can't just simply stay here thanks to the Visa problem. Well technically I can only if I have loads of money haha

Anyway when I had to think about my luggage, I just didn't have any idea why I brought so many things when I went to the U.K.. When I arrived at Heathrow airport, my suitcase was already seriously full.... Last week I bought two pairs of shoes (I'm crazy about shoe and blankets :p) even though I told myself 'Aya stay away from shoe shops!!!' Well it seems as if I've bought way too much things to put inside my suitcase. I had to send a packet back home... hahahaha Well there are so many things I wanted to get from the U.K. so I kinda imagined this would happen. I'll write about what I bought soon on this blog.
Well after an amazing summer holiday, it's time to be back to my real life....
Ganbare Aya chan!!!