Tag: Kyoto

2016 Recap: Going Solo

In less than 25 hours, another year will come to an end. Before I start another calendar year in my life, I believe it is a good time to look back where this year took me.

2016 was mostly about solo travel. After years of travelling with various sets of friends, I finally had the courage to go on my own, (re)discover old & new places, experience different cultures & meet new friends.

Let me give you a recap of how this year of solo (& some of not-so-solo) travels went.

Yangon, Myanmar

I initially planned this as the first solo trip of the year but my friend Geof tagged along. There are no direct flights from Manila to Yangon; so we had to book tickets to Bangkok, then onwards to Yangon. We had a 16-hour layover in Bangkok so we took the chance to go out of the airport, stay in a hostel over the night & see the Grand Palace in the morning.

           Team Philmar at the Yangon Amazing Games 2016

Then, we took the afternoon flight to Yangon & spent the rest of the trip there. We joined the Amazing Game Yangon & attended the Global Village 2016 Program, both organized by AIESEC in Myanmar. We also went around the city by foot, discovered different temples & pagodas & experienced Chinese New Year in Yangon Chinatown. We went to different markets, tried their street food & watched football (with beers) with our roommates in the hostel.

                   A visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda

Of course, a visit in Yangon will never be complete without visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda. It’s definitely a place to visit in Yangon.

Koh Lipe, Thailand

This should have been a beach trip to the Gilis in Indonesia or a weekend in the forests of Luang Prabang, but plans changed when Carl, the Brit guy we met in Ao Nang last year, recommended Koh Lipe. This place is also known as the Maldives of Thailand.

It was my first international solo trip, to an island unknown to all people I know back home. It took me 2 flights (Manila to Kuala Lumpur, then to Langkawi) & 1 ferry ride (Langkawi to the island) to reach Koh Lipe.

                 Walking at the shores of Koh Rawi

I had the most relaxing 3 days of my life there. I literally walked around the beautiful island, sipped some fresh fruit shakes while sitting on the shore, enjoyed some quiet time in paradise, got sun-kissed in the scenic beaches & met some cool new friends in the hostel & in the island tour.

Koh Lipe is truly a paradise; it’s a place I will definitely go back to in the future.

      With my sister in the grounds of Petronas Twin Towers, KL

I had a one night stopover in Kuala Lumpur before I flew back to Manila. I dropped by to visit my sister who was assigned there for work. We heard mass & had lunch together; also made a quick visit to the grounds of the Petronas Twin Towers.

Pangasinan

For the 2nd year in a row (& maybe for the last time), my friends at work decided to have a beach weekend trip somewhere far from the metro. We, a group of 16 fun people, went to Pangasinan for a weekend last May.

           View from the Governor's Island, Hundred Islands

We spent the first day around the Hundred Islands in Alaminos City. We walked around a crowded island, went to caves & jumped over a cliff. We then went to a lighthouse, a beach, another cave & into a market on the 2nd day.

                      With the best colleagues!

The road trip was really long, we enjoyed each other’s company.

Boracay Island, Aklan

This trip pushed through just because I didn’t want to waste the cheap roundtrip tickets I booked. I went to Boracay all by myself, stayed in a party hostel & ended up having a great time up to the point I didn’t want to leave.

                 Mad Monkey Hostel Boracay's pool

The weather wasn’t that favourable during my stay. Good thing, Mad Monkey Hostel had a swimming pool & a bar / restaurant. I found myself staying in the hostel all throughout the trip, talking to different people from all parts of the world, drinking with new-found friends & exchanging travel stories with everyone.

                           Boracay Beach

It was also one of the days where I had too much alcohol, passed out & woke up in my bed the next day not knowing how I went back the night before.

El Nido, Palawan

Just like the Yangon trip, this was supposed to be another solo trip. Days & months after, my high school travel buddies joined, making it a reunion trip for the 4 of us. The last trip the 4 of us were complete was way back in Singapore 2 years ago.

           With my highschool travel buddies / constants!

El Nido is place I will never get tired of visiting. It was my 3rd time to visit the paradise & I still am in awe of how beautiful the place is. I took my friends to Nacpan Beach twice (Yes, twice!) then joined them in the famous Tour A (Lagoon Tour).

                    Small Lagoon, Miniloc Island

It’s one of the trips where we made great memories together & enjoyed each other’s company.

Bangkok, Thailand

This is the best trip of my 2016. I wasn’t able to see much of what Bangkok has to offer but I surely had fun drinking, socializing & partying.

   One of those nights in Khao San Rd with 10 other solo travellers

I flew to Bangkok with a roundtrip plane ticket, a hostel booking & no plans at all. The only ‘tourist-y’ I probably did there was to go on a day tour in Ayutthaya. The rest was all about meeting people, eating ฿40 pad thai on the streets, drinking Chang beers & partying in Khao San Rd.

           A game of cards turned into one big party group!

I also met & hangout with a lot of people from all over the world – England, United States, Canada, The Netherlands, Poland, India, Gibraltar & a lot more.

Japan

When I went to Japan last year, I made a promise to myself that I will definitely go back to explore more. It didn’t take long for me to book tickets back to Japan; thus this trip was born.

      European city vibe in a middle of a Japanese City (Nagoya)

This 13-day trip brought me to the beautiful gardens of Nagoya, the historical sites of Hiroshima, the ancient temples of Kyoto, the busy shopping streets of Osaka, the friendly deers of Nara, the tender beef cuts of Kobe & the delicious ramens of Fukuoka.

                   Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in Kyoto

I was able to experience the Japanese culture again but this time with the luxury of time.

                          Deer selfie ;)

That sums up all my travels for this year. I may have explored fewer places & countries this year; but I surely made awesome memories with different people.  I might not have anything booked or planned as of yet, but I look forward to another year of solo (& maybe not-so-solo) travels for 2017!

*Yangon photo credits to Geof & Nappark photo credit to Danielle.

How I enjoyed a 9-day Japan trip for less than ₱40,000 ALL IN!

 Disclaimer: Currency rate during our trip was 1 JPY = 0.39 PHP

Last July, ABS-CBN News reported that the Japanese embassy issued 225,676 visas to visitors from the Philippines for 2015. It was 38% higher than the number of visas issued the previous year. The increased number of Filipino tourists in Japan is a result of a more relaxed visa policy & the increased number of budget airline flights going to Japan on a daily or weekly basis. My friends (Majo & Junelle) & I were 3 of the 225,676 Filipinos who were given Japanese visas last year.

Many Filipinos think travelling to Japan is expensive. People say you need to at least have ₱100,000 to be able to enjoy 5-7 days in Japan. That is partly true; but only to people who are fond of staying in hotels, eating in fancy restaurants & taking guided tours. I say, there is always a cheaper way of doing things. In this post, I will show you how my friends and I enjoyed a 9-day Japan trip for less than ₱40,000 each. Please note that I won’t talk about the places we’ve been to because that is reserved for another post.

In case you missed it, I have been to Japan numerous times after this 2015 trip. I wrote some of the next budget trips, I hope you can check them out here: [2016] Going Solo in Japan: 13 days & 7 cities for less than ₱50,000, [2017] Outside Popular Japan Cities: Fujikawaguchiko & Takayama On A Budget – 7 Days For Less Than ₱35,000, [2018] Hokkaido Winter Series: The Ultimate Japan Winter Experience Without Breaking The Bank (7 Days For Less than ₱45,000 all-in), & [2019] Last-Minute Japan Weekend: 48 Hours in FUKUOKA For Less Than ₱12,500 – Flights & Hostel Included.

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It was mid-October when we flew to Japan for 9 days. We spent the first 5 days in Tokyo, then headed south to Kyoto for 1.5 days & finally to Osaka for the remaining 2.5 days. It was the start of autumn so the trees & leaves were really beautiful. The temperature were just about right, not as hot as Manila & not as cold as Seoul.

I will divide the discussion into 5 parts – plane ticket, accommodation, things booked / bought before flying, daily expenses & chocolates / treats (pasalubong in Filipino).

Plane Ticket

Junelle & I were able to book a round trip ticket to Japan (with 20 kgs baggage per way) for less than ₱5,000 (₱4,912.56 to be exact) about 6 months before our trip. We took advantage of Cebu Pacific Air‘s Easter fare sale. Majo was able to book her ticket during a random fare sale 3 months before the trip for around ₱5,500.

japan-ticket-screenshot

A normal round trip ticket to Japan would cost you ₱15,000 – ₱20,000. Getting a ticket for less than ₱5,000 is definitely a great deal!

By the way, we also paid ₱1,620 for the Philippine travel tax before leaving Manila. This is mandatory to all Philippine passport holders who are leaving the country for vacation.

Accommodation

Japan has probably one of the most expensive hotel rates in Asia. A room for 2 in a nice hotel can cost you around ₱8,000-₱12,000. Very expensive. Even hostels have higher rates compared to the usual $10-$15 rate in Southeast Asia. For this trip, we only needed a place to take a shower, rest & sleep so we decided to stay in hostels. We also opted to stay there to save money.

In Tokyo, we stayed for 4 nights in Oak Hostel Zen. It’s a very cozy hostel located in Taito area, a few minutes walk from JR Yamanote Line’s Uguisudani Station. The girls stayed in a twin room with common bathroom while I stayed in an 8-bed dorm room also with common bathroom. I payed ¥13,100 (around ₱5,109) for all 4 nights, roughly ₱1,280 per night. Each dorm bed had its own reading light, universal plug & curtain + super fast WiFi. I had my own privacy even if I stayed in a room for 8 people. [Update – Oak Hostel Zen has ceased operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic.]

tokyo-to-kyoto

For the 5th night, we decided to take the night bus from Tokyo to Kyoto. The bus trip takes 7-8 hours so that saved us one night hostel accommodation. We booked our tickets via the Willer Express website. We took the Relax bus where each passenger has a plug beside him/her plus luggage check-in is allowed. The bus ticket costs ¥5,900 each (around ₱2,301).

We spent our 6th night in Kyoto. We also stayed in a hostel named Backpackers Hostel K’s House. It is about 15 minutes walk from JR Kyoto Station. We got ourselves a triple room with common bathroom. The room cost ¥9,600 for 3 people; that’s ¥3,200 per person (roughly ₱1,248).

The last 2 nights were spent in a room in Taichi’s flat. We were supposed to stay in Osaka Hana Hostel but since Majo joined us last minute, we had to look for another one. Accommodations in Osaka fill up pretty fast, we were lucky we found Taichi’s place. The last 2 nights cost us €122; that’s €40.67 each (around ₱2,130 each that time).

Our Tokyo & Kyoto accommodations were booked via Hostelworld while our Osaka accommodation was arranged with Airbnb. These platforms help travellers a lot in looking for accommodation in almost all places. They also feature reviews done by previous guests which contain ratings & comments about their respective stays.

Things booked / bought before leaving for Japan

There were 2 things we purchased before leaving for Japan – pocket WiFi & DisneySea tickets. Since we were staying for 9 days & we were afraid of getting lost (which we did by the way!), we rented a 3G pocket WiFi from E-Connect Japan. We got it for ¥6,986 or ₱2,825.97 (₱942 each) for the whole duration of the trip. We had it delivered to our hostel a day before our arrival. We also purchased our Disney Sea tickets ahead of time to save us from lining up in the park ticket counters. Each ticket costs ¥6,900 (₱2,776.89 rate reflected in my credit card statement).

Daily expenses in Japan

imag0016-2

I can’t remember exactly how much we paid for each meal or for each subway ride; but what we did was to allocate a daily budget for food, transportation & temple entrance fees. An average good meal in Japan costs around ¥400 – ¥500 while a subway ride could cost you around ¥150-¥200 depending on the distance. We didn’t want to deprive ourselves during the trip so we had a daily budget of ¥3,000 yen. That daily budget turned out to be too much for a day. You can survive with ¥2,000 a day.

Daily budget - ¥3,000 x 9 days = ¥27,000 x ₱0.39 = ₱10,530

**We weren’t able to buy Universal Studios Japan (USJ) tickets while we were still in the Philippines so we bought it on the day itself. An entrance ticket costs ¥7,400 per person (₱2,886 pesos).

Chocolates / Treats

A trip to Japan will never be complete without buying chocolates, treats or anything matcha-related. I remember I bought different kinds of chocolates & biscuits plus some random goodies in Harajuku & Daiso. I don’t exactly remember how much each item costs but I believe I spent around ¥12,000 (roughly ₱4,680).

Summary of Expenses

Let’s now sum up everything mentioned above:

japan-summary-2

There you go! We only spent ₱39,139.45 all in for a 9-day trip to Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka! Yes, that already included airfare, accommodation, food, transportation, park tickets & even pasalubong (treats & chocolates).

Travelling to Japan isn’t that expensive as many people think. There will always be ways to make it really affordable. I’m telling you, next time you see a cheap round trip ticket to any city in Japan, go ahead & book it. It’s a trip you’ll never regret!

PS. Thanks to Junelle for allowing me to use our photo in Roppongi.