#kansaitrip part 2: universal studios japan

when we planned for this trip i said to my sister, i dont care whatever place you guys wanna go, i want to go to usj by hook or by crook. so we bought the ticket from klook again and paid around rm253 per person (the ticket was ¥7,400 but as of today the price increased to ¥7,900). if you bought the ticket from klook,theres no need to print it out, just use your mobile phone to scan the qr code at the entrance.

from our apartment, we walked around 10 minutes to imamiya station (bc its early in the morning and we gon cheapskate) and from there we went to nishikujo station via the osaka loop line.then at nishikujo, we rode until universal city using the sakurajima line. just ride the train with harry potter on it if you are not sure which one. 

sampai-sampai, theres tons of school boys and girls i was like its thursday arent you kids going to school? and from that station until the entrance everyone was running its freaking 7 am??? the park opened at 8.30am (always check the schedule, the opening time varies each day) but the line already gone crazy. 

the famed universal globe

if you have the extra moolah, you can either purchase the vip pass which give you an early entrance to enter the park or the express pass which give you an easy way to cut the line. since this is a budgeted trip, my plan was just to run to the harry potter world because thats the main reason i am here and im not gonna lose it to all these young kids with matching clothes from head to toe.

on the way to the hogwarts castle (the ride harry potter and the forbidden journey is inside this castle) you will walk through a forest and there will be stranded flying anglia at the right side. i didnt take a pic there because we dont want to waste time to go to the ride.oh on our day, there is no timed-ticket to enter the harry potter world, but if it was peak time, you have to go to central park first to get your ticket before you can enter it.if you dont know where is the central park, just follow all the kids running like crazy and you will find it.

ihsan:tripadvisor

i read that the waiting time was crazy some even waited for 2 hours and i guess we are kinda lucky because not only we did not wait long for this ride, we even managed to ride it twice (the second time at night). the ride is truly fantastic i cant even describe it. you basically will go through some of the journeys harry's been through in all the movies with the ending of the whole great hall cheering at you by the end of the ride. it is a suitable ride for someone who needed something not too thrilling and fun!

then, we went to ride the flight of hippogriff and at this ride, we were given like a clip to clip our hoodie to our tudung so that it will not tercabut during the ride. its a short ride but since i am a bit acrophobia i was contemplating my life by the end of it.

flight of hippogriff

hagrid's hut

the place buckbeak was beheaded :(

then we went jalan-jalan around the hogsmeade and went inside the three broomsticks because i read that to get the most beautiful view of the hogwarts castle and the black lake is through the cafe. we purchased butterbeer for ¥600 (you can buy it with souvenir mug for ¥1,100) and sat outside to see the view walaupun waktu tu hujan kot the staff had to light up the heater for us 

tasik cermin,ipoh

hogwarts express

in front of weasley's twins store

funny thing was i was really looking forward to spent time in harry potter world but i realise i didnt take much pictures here and we went out not even spending much time haha. oh btw if you want to meet moaning myrtle, just go the the bathroom beside the three broomsticks, you will hear her voice.

next stop: the flying dinosaur!
ok waktu ni aku dah macam cuak gila because the ride is basically muka kau menghadap jalan bawah kot and its so high aku dah risau even waktu beratur tu. tips if you are going to ride any of the famous one, always use single rider to cut off time. waktu ni tak payah kisah kawan kau nak naik sekali ke apa because time is money!!! if die die wanna ride together, tunggu lah 2 jam haha. we were given this blue hoodie because we are wearing hijab and we look like a factory worker hahaha 

waktu ni melambai ke orang atas, like i wasnt afraid at all

trust me that i closed my eyes like half of the ride because that ride was crazy!!! nasib baik pendek kalau tak dah tercabut jantung like i literally tasted my blood in my mouth because it rushing in.

we then went to the minion park. if you think minions are annoying, here they are much in-your-face annoying because japanese has this soft spot for minions because this place was buzzing!! we didnt ride the minion mayhem ride during this time because the line was long but we did come back again at night before it close.a must do ride i can say.

 

we were so hungry (we brought lunch with us sebab tak ada restaurant halal dalam ni) but before that we went to the amazing spiderman ride.if you want to sit for lunch, theres like lorong-lorong near the spiderman ride so we sit there and had our lunch.

tips: for praying, you can go to the guest services counter near the entrance and ask for a prayer room or just said "oinori". they will give you a room for about 15 minutes for you to pray so you dont have to pray at the walkside. ( i didnt snap pic but the counter will be at your left side when you are facing the entrance from outside)

at the time the rain poured like crazy so we went lepak under the walkway with roof and met with that one character from sesame street and also hello kitty! we even saw princess fiona but didnt manage to stop for a pic. i bought a minion umbrella that cost me ¥1,300 but i bought a kid one haha it didnt even fit me and my bag. we went to watch 2 shows: the shrek in 4d and the terminator in 3d while waiting for the rain to stop.

i hate mascot but for hello kitty ill do anything

so, every year usj will have universal cool japan event, where they will showcase some of japan's best animated series i guess and this year was for final fantasy, monster hunt, conan, and also sailor moon. it will be running until july if im not mistaken. and you guys really should try the final fantasy xr ride because let me tell you, the twists,turns, and drops are so much exhilarating compared to the flying dinosaur. you will be given a vr goggle, hence why its called xr for xtreme vr and oh boy, it was an xtreme ride.this was the only ride we waited almost 1 hour because we didnt want to use the single ride line.

met my boyfriend cloud strife here

by the time the night falls, we managed to go to the jaws ride, harry potter and forbidden journey again, and also the minion mayhem. we didnt managed to ride the hollywood dream because the ride was closed because of the rain.

so i can conclude, if you want to spend time more riding rides than waiting in line, just use the single rider line. and the must do rides include harry potter and the forbidden journey, minion mayhem, spiderman, and the flying dinosaur. add the hollywood dream too if you have time.

expenses 8/3

1.imamiya station-universal city station: ¥180

2. butterbeer: ¥600

3. minion umbrella: ¥1,300

4. universal city station- imamiya ebisu station: ¥330

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#kansaitrip part 1: we finally here!

let me get this straight first. i wasnt even planning on going to another trip after last year's europe trip bc money is an issue but my sister wanted to go to kobe to visit the mosque there, so as a good lil sister, i went on with this plan; thinking how am i going to have money for this??? so i worked for almost 5 months (2 different work places and some side jobs) and we did it! so im gonna write some stuffs i remembered during our 6 days trip (7-13 march 2018) so lets get into it.

we arrived around 4:15pm in kansai international airport and immediately went to purchase and claim our passes. we used 2 pass throughout the journey; 1-day osaka amazing pass (oap) for a day tour in osaka and 3-days kansai thru pass (ktp) to cover trip to kyoto,nara,kobe and himeji. we purchased the oap at klook for rm88 per pass while the ktp was bought at the kansai tourist information counter for ¥5,200. after getting our passes, we went to search for the prayer room. to go here, just go to the 3rd floor of the airport and head to the right side until you found uniqlo store. go behind it and walk until you find korean air lounge and the prayer room will be just beside it. they have tempat wudu' but if you want to go to toilet first that will be on other place. 

         

ihsan google

ihsan google bc too lazy to take pic

so next, we bought kansai one pass. its actually icoca card, kinda like touch n go in malaysia, but kansai one pass is only for foreigners as it has additional discounts in some places. we bought the kansai one pass for ¥2000; with preloaded ¥1,500 and ¥500 as deposit.you can get the ¥500 back if you return the card at the end of your trip.this card can be purchased at any jr office? i think.

astroboy!

with our big bags and tired legs, off we go to our apartment. story was, i booked an apartment since october i think from airbnb and last minute, like 7 days before our trip the owner decided to cancel on us!!! so we have to rush and find another one, and alhamdulillah its a better place with more accesibility. because im such a cheapskate, our journey to the apartment involving stopping at shin-imamiya station then walking almost 10 minutes minus all the sesat-sesat that happened because we didnt know the way haha.that night we prepared for our first day tomorrow: universal studios japan!

nak cakap satu benda je lah, the tips is to just use google maps to determine which station you should stop.it really helps alot. another one would be hyperdia,but i only use this when doing itinerary.

oh, our new airbnb is around namba area and i highly recommended it check this airbnb out if you are thinking of going.its near two station; imamiya ebisu and also daikokucho subway that give easy access to other places such as dotonbori.

daikokucho-yotsubashi line and midosuji line.

for 7/3 expenses:
1. kansai thru pass:¥5,200
2. kansai one pass: ¥2000
3.reload kansai one pass:¥1000
4. kansai airport-shin imamiya:¥920 (pakai kansai one pass)

ok sebab ni post first baru sampai dia boring sikit so ill end it, next one will be talking about universal studios japan!

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Arts & Lights: An Interactive Pop-Up Experience

last saturday, i went to a pop-up arts exhibition called Arts & Lights with a dear friend, Don at Icon City, PJ. i think it was held in conjunction with Mah Sing, a developer company to promote their buildings? its a free entrance but people who wanted to go in must register first at their website to secure a date.its still ongoing until christmas' eve so anyone wanting to go can still check it out.

i just got back from kenduri hence the baju kurung

but i can say the only reason anyone wanted to go is just to take pictures because each installation was only allowed around 3 minutes to snap pic around then they rushed you out like you have only moment to admire and the rest go snap snap until perfect lah. and the queue for each installation can be quite long.

at digi's wishing trees

personally the reason i went was because i wanna try out my new (second hand) camera i just bought from carousell and so far im loving the quality despite it being such an old version.except it doesnt work well in low light so in some installation i didnt take much pictures because the quality is so bad

this was inside planet of ventura but its too dark

an installation called galaxy of centura was kinda awesome because it contain large bouncy balls that change colours when you touch it

  

personal favourites: space party & aruna in the sky

the clouds are so fluffy i kid you not

party in the club? nah we got a space to attend

we went back around 9 so the garden was lights up with various lampu icity lol. and theres like two circle swing called moon swing which change colours every few seconds

im kinda in love with this camera's focus

who need mood swing when you can have moon swing

so thats all! sorry for the obnoxious watermark bc im kinda insecure with my face so must cover lol

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letters to wanderers pt.1

i. purple
i remember the first time i met you, we werent close. we are part of different clique i guess. then fate made us the best of friend. but sometimes i feel inadequate compared to you. the hardworking, lovable, smart, and very ambitious one. i tried to emulate some of your good qualities then i realise im too lazy haha. and i realise i can never be you, but i can always be with you. theres many ups and downs in our friendship, which most of the time me snapping at you without reason. i always feel bad after but im too awkward to apologize and i always think what did i even do to deserve such good friend as you.

ii. blue
we met in 2000. and i dont know why we became friend? it just happened. you are always the tomboy one, i was the sweet one (lol). people said we are best friend. i like to think that we are. i remember you being so upset with you pmr result because everyone has high expectation for you. it must be hard for you at that time. but then you redeem yourself.you redeem it hard. you went to another school and came out as one of the top scorers in spm. i was so proud. then you went oversea for your studies and i miss you alot. its became tradition for us to exchange birthday gift each year ( i haven gotten you one this year yet my bad). one of my fave gift from you was the wooden alphabets you gave that spelled my name (and spelled correctly too!).

iii. red
i never felt love. until i met you.then you got married. lol.

iv. silver
one day i wish i can meet you face to face and say how much you meant to me. you inspired me to go through the day and counting my blessing to even be living. your hardships, everything that you went through, i cant even imagine what i would do if i was you. but you make it through and you showed that world you are not gonna crumble. and i admired you for that.

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insight

growing up, travelling was never an option.
it feels strange back then to even think of flying.
the only time we got to go somewhere was when we are going back to my mom's or my dad's hometown.
all ten of us in our battered old van.
the van cannot accomodate us all,
so mom put some mattress on the leg room to make space for some of us
some day we are luckier, dad got posted somewhere for conference so we got to stay in a hotel
i remember going to melaka and staying at a hotel and was so fascinated that i can eat at a hotel. it was a luxury even thinking of going to one
or that one time we went to seremban and my brother and i went to a free concert at nearby lake.

then, my sister got married and her husband works at kelantan. one day she asked if we want to go there for a holiday with her, since her husband cannot bring her for a walk because of work. so my other sister and i went with her. that was the first time i experience the infamous long road trip to kelantan. funny thing was, we wanted to go back home by bus but my dad was worried so he paid for our flight, my first ever flight!

after school, my second time on a flight is our trip to langkawi. this was the first trip i went with my friends. and eversince then we always do one trip per year (except this year since every one is busy).

then come my first ever trip to overseas, melbourne! a trip where i save up for almost a year, cutting all my spending habits just so that i can finally finally go on a trip that i used to long to go when i was a kid (as a kid i was jealous when its school holiday and all my friends are going somewhere while i usually just stayed at home).

and this year i was blessed again with the opportunity to go to europe for 3 weeks. tbh i dont really have that much money and this time around i dont have that much time to save up so it was hard trying to spend as little as possible during the trip. but i was a good experience. i mourned the loss of my money but i gained a new insight of the world. where i realised, at the end of the day, despite how bad our country seems to be to other people, i feel that i will never not be proud to be this land's citizen.

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warner bros studio tour london: the making of harry potter

may i slytherin? (yes the long overdue pun)

right outside the studio

some of the chess pieces

on 24th of january 2017, i was fortunate enough to finally finally visit a dream place of mine, the warner bros studio tour london! i cant believe i visited the wizarding world, the world i grew up with (my fave book is the prisoner of azkaban btw). almost all the original props from the movies are accumulated here and displayed. what makes it more interesting is how they explain the magic of this world, not that that makes it less magical.

it is important to note that you have to book the ticket in advance as they did not sell the ticket on the day of the visit (ticket price £37)  and you have to choose the time of visiting. me and balqis decided to take the 10:30 am ticket as we didnt want to have to come early as the journey take around two hours from my brother's house. and it is advised to spent around 5 hours in the studio because theres so much to see,even 5 hours didnt feel enough tbh we were there from 10:30 to around 3 o'clock.

before entering, they checked our bags. you can bring food if you want but theres also cafe at the back of the studio if you want to have lunch (the cafe is where you can buy the butterbeer too).bags can be put at the cloakroom for free. entering the lobby, the hedwig's theme was playing and the walls are decorated with potraits of some of the actors of the series. they even displayed the clothes of the fantastic beasts characters!

flying ford anglia

i watched this movie twice it was that good!

finally hereeeee!!!

while in queue,  we saw the cupboard under the stairs!

some wisdom

imagine living inside this :(

we were first ushered into a small cinema where they introduce us of how the idea of the studio began etc. then the screen was pulled up and voila, the door of the great hall appeared! i forgot to take photo of the opening of the great hall :(

inside the great hall

theres so much to say but ill leave the pictures to do the talking instead

that ron hideous robe alright

that some cool wands

mirror of erise lmao the boys at the back 

in front of dumbledore's office

hello professor

"after all this time?" "always" rip alan rickman

quidditch!

the chamber of secretssssss

this one scarier that fifty shades of grey

inside malfoy manor

pretty small

i wonder if all the cats were tortured by umbridge

platform 9 and 3/4

off to hogwarts!

19 years later of the trio (plus ginny)

no wonder i lost my books its here

i better steal that marauder map

wont mind eating this everyday

sesuai taknak bagi your significant other lari dari hidup kau hahaha

butterbeer in souvenir tankard for £6.95

the potter's house at godric hollow

"nothing underwater"

the face i made when someone eat my ice cream

hi hagrid

is this hedwig?

STILL NOT OVER HIS DEATH

did you know i actually hate dumbledore, yeah

buckbeak my lovely buckbeak

i cant get my wand because they are closed today

diagon alley

such arts, so much wow

and that, is what i call magnificient!

hogwarts

boxes of wands for each and every single person that worked for the movies

i only found her name out of all the actors

newt's wand!

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