I'm back in Japan again. This year marks 10th year of my first time in Japan. I made my first step on this land in October 2004, and I still remember it like yesterday. I was just an ordinary person from a tropical country who had no experience dealing with four seasons. The day I arived, it was autumn and the rain was pouring. Naho, my tutor, picked me up at the airport and we made our ways all the way from Narita to Arakawa carrying my huge suitcase and while fighting the cold temperature. I was in a T-shirt and a jeans jacket, which then I learned, did not help with the cold at all. The smell of autumn will always reminds me of that day.

I have been wanting to take my brother to Japan to travel for a while. He graduated from university earlier this year, and I thought this was a good chance to actually go. But of course, my sister didn't want to be left alone so we are travelling together. We got budget airline tickets, and we also booked an hotel/apartment for three for a week. We got on our plane at around 9 in the morning, and we reached Kuala Lumpur for transfer at about 11. It was my first time in KLIA 2 terminal and that place is HUGE. We barely had enough time to look for food, eat, and find our gate.

The plane to Japan was 6 hours and 45 minutes. With a budget airline, I couldn't say anything about the flight but torture. It was like a jail. Only worse. Because you only had space the size of your seat and no more. We arrived at Haneda airport at half to 11 at night. I was rushing through everything because I realized that we had to catch a bus to Ikebukuro before we end up sleeping on benches of the airport and waste a night worth of hotel rate. I've been in and out of Japan for several times, but this was my first time in Haneda. The international terminal was just as huge as KLIA 2, and the trip from our arrival gate to the exit seemed endless. I needed more time figuring out things than I thought I would, as I was not familiar with the airport.


Finally, we went to Ikebukuro with a 12 PM limousine bus, the bus driver was speeding like crazy, hence it didn't take so long for us to reach Ikebukuro. We were worried that the three of us and our three suitcases wouldn't fit into one taxi, but it turned out that we fit just fine. The taxi didn't have any problem finding our place with its GPS, and we arrived before 1 AM at the hotel (the taxi fare was also cheaper than I predicted). After checking in, we went to our room, it was spacious and nice, considering the price and how expensive room rates in Tokyo are. Most of our stuff we ordered via online shopping was placed in our room by the hotel staff. Me and my sister were so excited, we forgot that we've been on a plane for so long and we started to open the packages like it was Christmas.




In the end, we chatted, we bonded, we tried out our new stuff and placed our suitcases, and we went to bed near 4 AM in the morning.