Moving out

Recently, my Koala Permanent Residency has been granted! I have been waiting for this news for almost 1 year. So without wasting another day, I throw my resignation letter and kiss goodbye to my old job.
















First problem is done, now comes the second… packing & sending my stuff. Oh how I wish I have Monica from Friends to help me with packing.















I had no idea how much stuff I had accumulated during my 4 years life in Singapore. What I thought would only be less than 100 kg, has swelled to a whooping 250 kg, spread over into 23 boxes!!!
















After asking around for shipping price quotation, I found out that Singapore Post “Speed Surface Service” does actually has the cheapest rate. Unlike cargo, they go by weight like a normal parcel, but still it’s so much cheaper compared to freight forwarders.















Singapore Post website states it would take about 5 – 7 weeks for my stuff to arrive from Singapore to Sydney. Well, in reality, it took over then 8 weeks before it arrived. So you might want to recalculate the timing.

Kurama

On the third and final day of my 3 day Kansai Thru Pass, I decided to go Kurama, located in Kyoto’s outskirt. From Kyoto, I cycled to Demachiyanagi station, and then continued by train to Kurama station.













There are only 2 things to do here; see the temple on top of the mountain (Kurama Dera) and then to soak in Kurama onsen.













Entrance fee to Kurama-dera is 300 yen. After that, you have 2 options: to walk your butt up to the top or to take the cable train to the top for additional 100 yen. Being a lazy bum, it took me less then 10 seconds before I reached my pocket searching for 100 yen coin.













With the red lantern all over the mountain, the height, the view, and the fresh clean air, Kurama-dera is surely one of my favorite place around Kyoto. It’s surrounded by mountain and not so many people, left alone tourist, can be seen around.













The court yard of the main temple is full of sakura trees. Unfortunately I came her in winter, leaving the trees without a single leaves on. I will be back here during the sakura season one day.













To get to the onsen, I walked back to Kurama station to catch the onsen’s free minibus which transported me for free to the onsen’s door step. I chose the lunch + onsen package for 7,000 yen.













The food was not disappointing, while the indoor onsen is just average. The outdoor bath, however, is quite an experience to try. The view of the mountain is just spectacular! By “spectacular”, I don’t mean the naked male bodies around me!

Arima Onsen

On the second day of my 3 days Kansai Thru Pass, I decided to its furthest travelling distance it allows me to travel, Kobe / Arima Onsen.













Arima Onsen is not as easy as Nara to get to. It takes around 2.5 hour train ride from Kyoto, and change lines a couple of times. But I have been intoxicated by onsen from my last trip to Japan, and Funaoka Onsen alone was not enough to satisfy my urge.













From Wikitravel and Japan Guide, I learned that there are 2 ways to get to Arima Onsen:

1. The fun & expensive way Via Mt. Rokko and then descend to Arima Onsen using ropeway.
   
2. The cheap & easy way Using train from Kyoto (Hankyu Line) to Arima Onsen station.

View Kyoto to Arima Onsen by Train in a larger map

Heck, I have spent so much money & time to come all the way to Japan, why should I choose only one way? I decided to combine them! I took to the easy way to go to Arima, did sight seeing, soaked in onsen, and came back to Kyoto via Mt. Rokko.













I have made a detailed Google Map and separated it into 3 parts:

• Kyoto to Arima Onsen station (by train on Hankyu Line)
• Sightseeing in Arima Onsen
• Arima Onsen to Kyoto via Mt. Rokko

Kyoto to Arima Onsen station (by train on Hankyu Line)
Kansai Thru Pass covers all expenses in this way. It’s a pretty darn good deal considering the distance between Kyoto & Arima Onsen. It’s difficult to explain by words, please refer to the map I made in Google Map.

Sightseeing in Arima Onsen
If you have booked an expensive onsen trip / package, chances are: there will be someone waiting for you at the train station. If you are on a budget like me, I would suggest Tourist Information Centre as your first stop.













It’s located just 5 minutes walk from the station. If you plan to go to Mt. Rokko, make sure you ask them the time table of the ropeway.

They have a very complete sightseeing map / brochure with all onsen, what to see in Arima, restaurant, etc. Download the English version of the map here.

I came to Arima onsen with 2 things in my mind, to try either the Gin-no-yu or Kin-no-yu onsen and to try Kobe (Wagyu) beef.













I arrived in Arima 3 hour before lunch time, so I walked around first, tried the free foot onsen...



















Ate manju...













Japanese croquette...













And finally I soaked in Gin-no-yu. The best way to spend cold day is to soak in bloody damn hot onsen water.













Now is time to taste the wagyu beef. I found this kiosk or (restaurant?) while walking back to the bus stop.













Instead of Kobe / Wagyu beef, it’s selling “Tajima Beef”, with hand written explanation claiming Tajima Beef is the origin of all Kobe / Wagyu beef.













It's probably the most honest restaurant in Japan too, with this poster posted outside its door:













Anyway, I tried 2 stick of it’s Tajima Beef + rice for 1,000 yen. The taste doesn’t disappoint me.

Arima Onsen to Kyoto via Mt. Rokko
Kansai Thru Pass does not cover most of the cost in this. Bus (from Arima Onsen) to Mt.Rokko Ropeway station costs 100 yen.

I recommend buying a package ticket in the ropeway station which covers:

• Ropeway to Rokko Sancho Station
• Mt.Rokko bus
• Cable train to go down from Mt.Rokko
  

After that, you can use Kansai Thru Pass again on the Train to Kyoto.
Refer to the map I made in Google Map.













When you reach Mt. Rokko, before you take the bus to cable train, I made my walk to Jukkoku Observatory, where I saw a scenic view of Kobe city harbor. Well that’s probably the reason why most people even bother forging extra yen to go up the mountain in the first place anyway.

Walk to the right sight of Mt. Rokko station, continue under the bridge, until you find your self in an open space with full view of Kobe city harbor below. The night view from here is breathtaking, but I did not wait until its dark because I chose not to miss my connection bus.












Refer to my Google Map for easier view of the route I took.

Australian PR Update (May 2010)

Australian Immigration has revised the Skilled Occupation List (“SOL”) on 17 May 2010. Check the immigration website for detailed changes.

The SOL will come to play from 1 July 2010, unless there’s new update from the immigration office. Click here for the updated SOL (PDF)

The changes indeed cloudy & gloomy for those with their occupation no longer in SOL.













As you may notice, the new SOL is shorter compared to the previous one, meaning there are lesser occupation is sought by the Australian Immigration.

If you are wondering why the Australian Government decided to change the SOL, give this PDF a read.

Nara

I bought my 3 days Kansai Thru Pass (5,000 yen) from the in front of the Kyoto Station. It’s a small building outside the station, so it’s not the JR station.













The staff will ask you to fill up simple form for your detail, where you’re from, Passport, etc. 10 minutes later (and 5,000 yen poorer), armed with Kansai Thru Pass, I hopped on the train to Nara, to Kintetsu Nara station.













I have made an appointment about 1 month before with Nara Student Guide through their website. They are a group of student in Nara who volunteer their free time to guide tourist around Nara.

Thanks to my guide, I visited more places in Nara, got a really good history of each building, temples, and shrines. We did all this sight seeing on foot, just under 3 hours. That's included my numerous stops to take photos.













I have made a walk through map in Google Map, with some photos along the path I walked. Visit the link here.


View Nara on Foot in a larger map

Just like its neighbor, Kyoto, Nara also has a long track of history which can be seen on its buildings, trees, temples, & shrines.













However, I found Nara has more nature to offer, and I’m not just talking about the deer on the street.

Kyoto By Bicycle

JR pass is not really helpful when it comes to wonder around Kyoto, as most subway & train in Kyoto is run on private lines. Beside, when you bought JR Pass, which valid for Shinkansen, might as well abuse it to travel to the end of Japan like I did back in August 2009.













To wonder around Kyoto, there are 3 options you can consider:

1. Bus Pass (500 yen / day) 2.
   
2. Kansai Thru Pass (5,000 yen for 3 days & 3,800 yen for 2 days)
3. Walk / cycling
   

I don’t like to wait for bus and all information about Kyoto bus (time table, route, etc) are in Japanese, which can turn simple trip to an adventure. My Japanese language is only enough to insult people instead of asking for help, so bus is not an option for me.

Kansai Thru Pass is really ideal to see most of Kyoto. I bought the 3 days pass, but I had a plan to abuse it to travel to the maximum distance it’s allowed, Nara, Arima, & Shirahama. Although in the end, I could not make it to Shirahama.













So I was left with cycling option. You can rent a bike for 700 yen for the whole day from K’s House Kyoto. Just make sure you go down to the front desk to get the bike key before 09:00 AM, or else you can only use your legs to get you around.













I cycled from K’s House as my starting point, and then;

• cycled north along the river to Kyoto Imperial Palace,
  
• North west to Ryoanji Temple to see the Rock Garden,
  
• Continued further north to Kinkakuji Temple.
  

I have saved this cycling direction in Google Map. Click here for the link.


View Kyoto by bicyle in a larger map

After cycling like a mad man for half day (and it was winter when I did this!) a stop to Funaoka Onsen is really worth it! Although it’s called onsen, it doesn’t offer any meal. It’s purely for soaking in traditional Japanese way. Funaoka Onsen opens from 15:00 PM to 01:00 AM.

Travelling Kansai - Japan

After I got such an expensive camera on my hand, and spent a month reading books and browsing the net about DSLR photography, the next thing that came to my mind was to travel and test what I have gathered about photography so far.














So I grabbed the promotion from JAL and went to Japan... again. Even though I just went there a few months ago.

This time around though, I did not purchased the JR Pass, instead I made an itinerary with 3 days Kansai Thru Pass which is much cheaper compared to JR Pass, but it was limited to Kansai region only. Detailed (my personal opinion: way too..... detailed) map can be downloaded from here.













Well, I did not really see Kansai back in August anyway and I was able to stay for 9 days in Japan this time with even less cost compare to my previous 7 days Japan trip.

If you want my detailed itinerary, you can download it from here. Let me know if you need the excel file.













In those 10 days, I visited Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Arima, with most days I spent soaking in onsen around Kyoto area.