Japan

Today we went to Nikko. We went through the "iroha" road, the road up to the mountain with 48 curves named after Japanese alphabet. "i-ro-ha" is Japanese "ABC". The view is very beautiful!! The leaves were colourful - we were so lucky we came at the right time! We were so fascinated by the beautiful scene.

When we finally reached the "civilisation", we first went to see Kegon Falls. We saw a deer on the rocks near the falls.

From there we went to enjoy the view of Lake Chuzenji. We walked along the beach - the water was very clear. The view was beautiful because the autumn leaves were colourful.

Then we went to see Ryuzu Falls. After that we went back down and visit Toshogu Shrine and got to see the tomb of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (after climbing so many steps which made us not cold anymore!).

We were supposed to see some monkeys after that but it was late in the afternoon, so we went back down to Utsunomiya.

Today was supposed to be the last day of fasting. Somehow I managed to fast while I'm here feeling cold and thirsty sometimes But tomorrow we will celebrate our (hopefully) victory in controlling ourselves. There will be feast

In the morning Hide showed us around Tobiyama park which is near his home where we are staying. It used to be the location of a small fortress and hiding place of some samurai. It is located on the hill, with a wide view down to Kinugawa (Kinu River) and Utsunomiya city, with Mt. Nantai in the background.

In the afternoon we went to Inogashira park. I was there 3 years ago. The park has a lake, a fishing pond, a rose garden, etc. scattered in the woods. The air was cool and fresh. We wanted to hire bicycles but the rental place was closed. So we just walked around in the park, enjoying the view of colourful autumn leaves and the air.

In the evening, Rani and Hide took us to an okonomiyaki restaurant called "Doutonburi". It was cold and windy outside - I was glad when we entered the restaurant. I had eaten okonomiyaki before. Hide had cooked for us when he was in Jakarta years ago. But this was the first time for Didi. He enjoyed it very much I was full. おなかいっぱい！

Sahur di pesawat, kira2 di atas Filipina (kata pak stewardnya), subuh di pesawat. Abis makan tidur bentar. Gak bisa tidur bener2. Pas matahari terbit, liat jendela...oh so beautiful!!! Sunrise on the clouds!!!

Sampe Narita jam 9 pagi. Naik bis Maronie jam 11.10, sampe Yanagita jam 2 pm, dijemput Rani & Hide.

Cape bangets... Sampe rumah ktemu Okasan, trus mandi, &lsg tidurrr.... zzzz... (kira2 jam 4pm). Jam 5 udah dibangunin Didi, buka puasa! Di bawah udah rame, temen2 RH yg mo bukpua n tarawih bareng udh pada dateng.

Temen2 baru nih: Tuti & anak2nya Salma dan Safa, Ika & suaminya Arief, Didi (cewe lho) dan suaminya Kentaro dan anaknya Haru, Elia & suaminya Nono & anak2nya kembar Iqbal dan Haikal, mbak Ratna & anak2 kembarnya Hiroki & Teruki dan adiknya cewek Kana. Dan ada kenshuusei namanya Berlin.

Didi suaminya juga org Jepang, Kentaro. Anak mereka umur 1 thn 8 bln, lucuuuu deh, namanya Haru. Lutu bangets... So cute...

Bukapuasa sambil ngobrol2... Trus magriban trus makan malem. Okasan masak "nasi uduk jepang" - itu istilah gw aja sih... Ada yg bawa soto, ikan, dll...

Okasan jadi babysitter, nemenin anak2 kecil main, hihihi... Pas kita tarawihan, anak2 kecil main kembang api di luar, tapi Haru chan masih kecil jadi sama ibu-bapaknya ngga boleh ikut. Dia keliaran pas kita pada tarawih, jadi ibu-bapaknya ksian deh solatnya sambil jagain anaknya (kadang sambil gendong).

Abis itu kita berdoa bersama untuk bayi yang lagi dikandung Rani n Elia. Trus kita turun lagi & makan lagi... Rameee banget deh anak2.

Sebelum bubar, kita foto2 dulu.... Ini foto semuanya (kecuali gw yg motret, hehehe)...

I'm leaving for Japan tonight - I'm so excited! Thank God the problem with administrations has been solved yesterday, just one day before my departure! I was so nervous as I've paid for the tickets and leaving very soon. But now I'm so excited I can't really sleep that well. This is 5:12 AM and I'm not asleep, which is very rare. :P

I don't know if I will get the chance to write my blog along the way on my travel there, but I'll try.

BTW, still don't know where to get a step-up adaptor for my battery charger etc.

Situation changed in a snap. We had to cancel our plan to move to London. Then just when I was preparing things to travel to London and Europe for a vacation (Plan B), suddenly another thing came - so again I had to cancel it. (I just cancelled the tickets )

So now I moved to Plan C: Japan. Now that my sister is in Jakarta, we are planning the itinerary together. Utsunomiya, Nikko, Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara. The first destination is where my sister lives.

It's still a question if my sister can get a JR railpass, because she lives in Japan. Maybe not?

We were thinking about going to the Expo and see Kiccoro & Morizo, which means I'll go a few days before September 25, the last day of the Expo. But then we think it's OK to miss it and that I'd better come in October and see momiji... *i can't wait*

The cheapest air ticket to Tokyo is either with Garuda or Thai. With Garuda I can get a direct flight. However, with Thai I can use the transit time to stay for a couple of nights and get to see Bangkok as we did last time.

Now I'm trying to overcome the difficulties with those weirdos at work, get big things done, then I'll earn the long vacation. Unfortunately the one who should approve my vacation request is one of those weirdos...

But think about my goal. I've been missing Japan, I want to explore it more. And it's exciting that I'll have to force myself to speak the language again. And I'll see our friend Tomoko again after our last vacation together in Putri Island. And Yuki again after a few years . And I'll probably see Ken, my メール友 ("mail friend") at last.

Now... face the weirdos! 頑張れ！