Japan Trip October 2018 - Day 5 - Universal Studios Japan (USJ)

Like seriously, I can't believe I have been procrastinating writing the favourite part of my Japan trip. With the car accident and fever, I can't wait to write this post the most! 

P/S: I couldn't upload my pictures and videos since the iPhone somehow has a different format from my windows laptop. So recently I purchased Mac and hence explained why I suddenly got the urged to continue writing this post. This draft has been kept for so long! 

9th October 2018 (Tuesday)

So we started the morning early, getting up as early as possible, I'm wide awake at 6am. We went out at 7am to take the earliest train. Universal Studios Open at 8.30am and it means that we have to be there before that! It is not surprising that even on weekdays, the theme park was so crowded. I have been doing my research months before buying the tickets, and I have been dreaming on going to USJ literally because they have the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, considering that I'm a Potterhead, it was...a dream came true!

I vividly remembered us being so excited early in the morning running! I wouldn't say Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, for me its definitely USJ =) 

(I tried to attach the video of people running (RUNNING ...SERIOUSLY) when they opened the park. and a lot of them ran towards the Harry Potter world but there's an error on downloading them so I'll try to do it again later. So, guys, you don't have the time to study the theme park map there! do it before or else you'l' have to queue!)

The famous car! As soon as you enter the theme park, run to your right. Then you'll see the familiar trees as in the Harry Potter movies, just run along with other people.

Well of course I studied the map months ahead to make sure we got the best from our limited time there. When the park opened, we quickly ran towards the right of the park where The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is. Now the tricky part was identifying the entrance. We nearly got lost and almost lose our chance of being the earliest while queueing. 

Universal Studios Japan Park Map

 

My tips would be..run as fast as you can, take pictures along the way so by the time you're done with your rides, you will get the chance to leisurely enjoy the park. We're so lucky to have a sunny day during our trip, all of our pictures turn out great!

There is nothing better than to be able to ride an attraction twice! When we first got into the park we quickly queue for Harry Potter and the forbidden journey 3D ride. Although we also bought our fast pass, we decided to use it later in the evening for the same ride. 

When you got off the ride, you will enter the shop where they sell all of the Harry Potter merchandise. Bring a lot of money if you are a Potterhead like me. 

*Some of the merchandise sold in Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Merchandise

After that, we went to queue for the next ride which is Flight of the Hippogriff

The best part is that this is an outdoor ride, so if you have time in between the screaming while on the roller coaster, you could actually get a whole view of the park. Well, I certainly didn't! 

Then we went to Ollivanders to buy a wand so we could actually try to cast spells in 8 designated area in the park.

Well, you know that feeling when this is all you remember about in your childhood and finally to be able to experience all this :') not crying, you are. 

Honeydukes is what I expected it to be, the brightest shop amongst all Harry Potter world. I didn't buy anything from here though (most of them are snacks) since I'm Muslim and I couldn't read Japanese, so I skip buying these. 

Later we head to the Three Broomstick to have our late lunch/early dinner before going to wait for the night parade. During our trip, it was early October so Halloween is around the corner. The night parade has an additional showcase of zombies and ghost. I mainly sit around the corner or near the entrance of any shops so I can straightaway flee every time I saw zombies coming 😂

Memories at the Three Broomstick restaurant with the castle as the background 😻

We decided to head back at 8pm since we need to depart early in the morning to Tokyo and didn't want to risk missing our shinkansen. 

xoxo, 

Ayie 💞

Japan Trip October 2018 - Day 3 - Kyoto, Osaka

7th October 2018 (Sunday)

On sunday, we followed my itenary to Kyoto where we have booked the Airbnb Experience for Kimono and making sushi. So departed to Sanjo Keihan Station (Since we booked the Kimono from a rental shop near that station) from Kohama Station, as usual, we decided to follow the directions as per google (see the image below).

At Kohama Station. 

In front of the shop, with some local who was fascinated with us haha

Info on the Kimono shop:

Link on the Airbnb : https://abnb.me/kXcmJulDNM?user_id=180462377&s=50

Mai, the person who tends to us for the Kimono is very nice and although it is only through my observation, Mai's Kimono shop has a better Kimono pattern and designs as compared to other shops I saw, plus the price that you pay is for the whole day (we're requested to return the Kimono by 5pm). 

 

Beside the Kimono Shop. 

On our way to Gion. 

Okey la okey la I behave.

At Yasaka Shrine ❤

After roaming around the Shrine and taking hundreds of pictures, we decided to go to our next Airbnb booking for the Sushi making Experience! Lunch!

Info on the Experience: https://abnb.me/RaU5pB19MR?user_id=180462377&s=50

You got to eat the sushi you make, like seriously we packed a lot to bring to our homestay that night. You can read my review on their Airbnb profile, but let me say this, they're are nicest and warmest local Japanese that I've met there. 

After you have made the sushi, you can dine there in front of the cute garden. 

Can't believe we made this our self. 

Deserts on the house!

They're so so so so so nice! We requested Halal ingredients, they prepared EVERYTHING!

Outside the Sushi shop. So after the lunch, we decide to return the kimono and go to Kiyomizu-Dera Temple, which is quite far away (hence we decided to take the subway instead). The way up to the Temple is uphill, Sara and I wasn't talking since we had difficulties catching our breath haha

But the view was worth it. You could watch the whole kyoto city from there. 

Travel on Sunday, you'll see this. There's a lot of cute shops on your way down from the Temple. 

Then we went to Ayam-Ya, Kyoto. Decided to take the bus since its easier. Because it is quite a walk away from the train station. 

Ordered this, can't remember the name. But hey its halal, and its ramen. Like come on, you can't come to Japan and not taste ramen! And its really hard to find Halal food though. I think the shop is handled by Indonesian, but we hardly communicate as we're to exhausted that day. I'll write about my trip to Miyajima Island and Hiroshima in the next post! 

❤, 

Aiesya