Beautiful cherry blossoms in Ueno Park

When I joined Japan tour in April 2004, the tour directly brought us to Ueno area from Narita International airport, Tokyo. The bus parked in front of the zoo, but we didn’t visit the zoo, we went through Ueno traditional market and passed by Ameyayokocho gateway. Ameya Yokocho or Ameyoko Market in Ueno is one of those active retail markets. The name Ameyoko derives from America. Its history began soon after the WWII as a yamiichi (black market). At that time, there was a huge demand to daily necessities while there was little supply. Obtained from the U.S. military, retailers started selling the limited amount of goods at this market without the government permission. It was flourished throughout the post-war period, and is still active today. Purchasing a good you have to ask and bargain, most of the traditional market was disappeared nowdays, except at tourist site.


It was so crowded, there were so many fishes sold that I could not find it in Indonesia as we know Japanese people like to eat fresh fish. They sold a big red octopus, salmon, eel, trout, stingray, snail, seaweed, etc, although it’s fresh, the market was very clean. The fish were wrapped by plastic on a styrofom such as fruit, or they put on ice or in the water for keeping it fresh. Some fruits stalls were also available, even some food stalls selling Japanese foods. The unique attraction was the ¥1000 stall. The seller put everything (various snack or toys) in a plastic bag, it’s like an auction, he shouted to the crowd who would like to buy, one full bag items only cost ¥1000. If nobody was interested in it, the seller kept adding more and more items one by one into the bag, until somebody decided to buy it. If you’re lucky, you could get many items in a bag, maybe it’s very cheaper comparing to buy pieces. I didn’t dare to buy, because it’s the first day in Japan, and I didn’t know how much the normal prize for the items. Anyway it’s fun to see an attraction like that. All of the store names and the items were in Japanese language (kanji), so we didn’t understand at all, but don’t worry, the price was still written using number 

We kept walking through the market to the Ueno Park (上野公園 Ueno Kōen?). It is the first Tokyo public park located in the Ueno section of Taito, Tokyo, Japan. I really loved the park which was opened in 1873, it’s spacious and very shady by around 1000 cherry trees or Sakura trees. I went to Japan during Sakura blossom period, which was only 2 weeks period in a year. The cherry blossom (sakura) is Japan's unofficial national flower. It has been celebrated for many centuries and holds a very prominent position in Japanese culture. There are many dozens of different cherry tree varieties in Japan, most of which bloom for just a couple of days in spring.

It was very delighted, whenever the wind was blowing, Sakura flower were falling down, as if flower raining on your body. You could see Sakura flowers everywhere, pink, white without any leaves, it was so amazing and wonderful. So many families and people with their friends or colleagues had a party in the park called hanami (cherry blossoms viewing). They brought mats for sitting and eating under the blooming beautiful Sakura flowers in the garden. Japanese people were very discipline and very responsible, they never threw away the trash anywhere, they would put it in the garbage bin, even they put the wet and dry trash in different bin. To avoid pollutions, no motor vehicle was allowed to go through the park, although the street was wide enough. Some bicycles were still appeared in some places, some people with wheelchairs, baby with strollers also enjoyed the park. My colleague and I had a chance to take a picture with 3 cute Japanese babies on the strollers, of course by asking permission from their mom.

Ueno Park is famous for its many museums, especially art museums, namely the Tokyo National Museum, the Orient Museum, the National Science Museum, the Shitamachi Museum, the National Museum for Western Art and the Tokyo Metropolitan Fine Art Gallery. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to enter the museum. At the other side of the park, there was a fountain, some tame pigeons were assembled in the middle of the open area in the park. Many children were attempted to catch the pigeon, they also tried to give foods to the pigeons. If you go to Japan on April, you must visit this park, it’s very wonderful, you won’t regret it for the whole life of your age.

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Cool Lianhua Mountain Park, Shenzen

Before the trip, my friend introduced me to her aunt using sms. She was very kind and nice, although we didn’t know each other before. She was more than 60 years old, she lived in Indonesia before, but she decided to move to China when Indonesia government asked Chinese generation to select the nationality at 1959. She was very helpful, fortunate she still could speak Indonesian, so we could communicate well. Although she was much older than us, she was tougher and stronger than me. She arrived at our hotel in the morning around 8 or 9 o’clock when my sister was still taking a bath, because she set the alarm wrongly, it should be an hour in advance than Indonesian time, but she set an hour after Indonesian time ha..ha...


No wonder that we were frozen, although we had worn a jacket. Auntie showed us her clothes, she wore 3 layers of clothes to avoid the cold, so we imitate her behaviour. We had a fast breakfast in the hotel, auntie didn’t want to join us, she said that she’d had breakfast at home. In the lobby hotel we took a picture with her and we planned for the itinerary to go. We preferred to see scenery than only shopping, so she brought us to a garden around 15 minutes driving from our hotel. It’s called Lianhua (flower) Mountain Park, Shenzhen, in Southern China. As a city that is known for its natural beauty and captivating splendor, Shenzhen provides the traveler with some pleasant destination to breathe in the uncontaminated air of the unpolluted environment, something that is a far-reaching thought for the average human being, unless they seek solace in the idyll of rural life.

Located just at the foot of the New City Hall which in common parlance is known as the Civic Center, the Lianhua Mountain Park in the Futian District of the Prefecture of Shenzhen is an oasis of green where the visitor would love to languish in the rolling lawns, shady greens. We welcomed by a gate decorating with red paper lantern, what a nice that there was no admission fee. The government provided the garden free of charge for their people. Although it’s free, they kept maintaining it well. So many cars parked along the street in front of the garden. We saw many children run around the field, chasing each other and enjoy the fresh weather. They went with their parents and family, brought meal and snacks. Some family gathered under trees by spreading out mat for sitting on the grass or ground. It seemed that the government was still renovating part of the garden by adding new facilities for the people.

There is also a nice lake on the adjacent ground for fishing and boating, it’s so windy. You could go around by boat to enjoy the lake. When I wanted to go to the restroom, there was a very long queue, maybe because it’s Sunday, many family went out with their relatives for enjoying the holiday, so the capacity of the restroom was not enough. After accomplish the natural call he..he.., auntie brought us to climb the hill to go to the top.
It’s quite high, I was not too strong, I seldom did sport activities, so I gave up in the middle of the trip, and asked auntie and my sister continued it without me. Unfortunately auntie didn’t want to leave me alone, so we sat together on the stone, eating the fresh sweet small oranges that brought by auntie. After restoring my energy, we continued the climbing. What amazed was so many small children were practiced by their parents to climb the hills. I must be ashamed that the children and auntie could defeat me for climbing.

Finally we could reach the top of the hill for around an hour climbing. In the center of the park at the top hill, there was a bronze statue of Deng Xiaoping 106 meters high surrounding by beautiful flowers. We also could see Shenzen from top view. The trail of the Lianhua Mountain Park is a precarious walk, parts of which have been hewn out of the cliff and also includes a suspended bridge. There was also a museum, unfortunately the office was closed, so I could not buy postcards there, anyway we still could see the history and master plan of Shenzen. If you want to stay overnight, there is a small hostel run by retired soldiers who farm for a living, providing accommodation.


The next destination was shopping, but we were starving, so we should go for lunch first. Auntie brought us to a restaurant in the shopping area by taxi, unfortunately it’s closed, so we walked to the other restaurant which was still in the same area. My eyes kept looking at the attempting bags, accessories, shoes etc, during the trip to the restaurant. We had a very nice lunch in a Chinese restaurant, I don’t remember the name, but it tasted very delicious. The customers were so lots, until we had to queue for getting the seat. We had to select the food by ourselves in many counters, then they will put the name or price on the card that we had to bring anywhere. You could pay after you finish ordered all food that you want. Although we didn’t eat rice, we were so full, I don’t know the name of its food, but I like all of them, you could see it in the picture.


I didn’t remember the shopping area, but auntie said that it’s cheaper than Luohu. You could shop for handbags, apparels, shoes, electronic products, souvenirs, etc. The commodities here are cheap which were suitable for all pockets. Bargaining was the common activity of the place. I like accessories such as bracelet, necklace, pin, comb, small mirror, etc. I only selected which I wanted, then I asked auntie to bargain for us. She could get a best price that I could not imagine, it’s so cheap. My sister and I also bought some blouses and shirts for us or friends in Indonesia too. Winter clothes were very fashionable here, so we bought 3 winter clothes to be worn during the trip, and also for my sister in Jakarta. It seemed that half day was not enough. Unfortunately we had to go back to Hongkong that night, so we had to terminate the fun shopping activities to catch the train. A small noodle restaurant was our option to have a fast dinner, it’s so cheap, it cost not more than 5 RMB per portion. We rushed to go back to the hotel to take our luggages, auntie were waiting us in the taxi, than we directly went to the train station in Luohu. Luohu Commercial Centre, Shenzhen is an enclosed shopping centre in the economic heartland of China. Luohu Commercial City is known as the focal point of transgression within the political boundary of PRC. Tourists might be upset about the social situation of the city. Begging, pick pocketing, homelessness, sick, destitute, drugs and many more are found in plethora in this part of the most populated country of the world. Anyway Louhu is still heaven of shopping for pirated stuffs, so tourists kept coming to this area for shopping. Luohu Immigration Control Point is inside the mall, Auntie was kind enough, she was guiding us to fill the immigration form, and waiting us for repacking our shopping items into the luggages. It’s around 21:00, she refused when I asked her to go home by taxi, she preferred to go by public transportation. I don’t know how to thank her for accompanying us the whole day through. Thank you auntie, our trip in Shenzen wouldn’t be as fun as this if you didn’t guide us. Don’t be afraid if we visit Shenzen again, definitely we’ll contact you :-)

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Wonderful show in Windows of The World, Shenzen

I went to Shenzen with my younger sister last Dec 2006 from Surabaya via Hongkong. Our flight was arrived very early morning around 05:00 o’clock, we didn’t know that the earliest boat to Shenzen was at 09:00, so we had to wait for a long time in the Hongkong airport, lucky that the toilet was very big, very clean and very comfortable. We brushed our teeth and washed our face to refresh, then we searched some brochures about interesting places in Hongkong. We could not go too far exploring Hongkong airport, because we had to bring along the luggage, so my sister and I took turn for watching the luggage while others walking around. Finally we could get the boat ticket (HK$200), then we had to wait in another waiting lounge.


We didn’t know that the weather was so cold, we didn’t prepare for cold weather, so we bought some long sleeves T-shirt in Shenzen. We were shivering when we arrived from the boat from Hongkong in the morning waiting for the luggage. We went by cab directly toward the Century Plaza hotel for check-in. We were cold and starving, so RBT a nice ambience café with tea as their speciality became our place for lunch. My sister loved the hot pomelo tea, it’s unique and delicious, especially drinking something hot to warm the body, she hadn’t ever taste it before. We stopped by a supermarket to buy waters and breads. “Windows of The World” was our main destination, we went there by Shenzen Metro. Tourists would need minimum two hours to cover the total area of this entertainment park which is often dubbed as mini-globe. Splendid China, Shenzhen treasures the replicas of the Seven Wonders of the World, chronological heritages and renowned sites of beauty and glamour. The Mahamuni Pagoda of Rangoon located within the periphery of Splendid China. This Buddhist shrine is one of the major pilgrimage sites. European styles has been imitated in this part of Shenzhen. You could take peep-a-boo in the streets of Manhattan accompanied by towering skyscrapers. Soak your heart’s desire in the jingles of Niagara fall and Sydney Opera house with the bridge could also be found here. It is not possible for people to visit every country in the five continents of the world, this boundary is a magic that needs to be ventured with only cost 120 Yuan. Splendid China of Shenzhen remains opened from 9 o’clock in the morning to 10:30 at night.

Some Disney characters also could be found there, lucky we were there during Christmas season, so most of the decoration were Christmas tree and it’s ornament. It’s very beautiful as if we were in Christmas celebration party. Everywhere you could see Christmas tree, bells, and the beautiful bright red Poinsettia. I was lucky that I could take pictures with Snow White and the handsome Prince. My sister took picture with more than 10 Santa Clause, they prepared to parade in the amusement park. A long queue was happened when we want to see a show provided by Fuji, it’s more than an hour, but we had bought a ticket for the main show at 20:00, we still had time for it. During the queue, lucky that we bought bread, so we could fill our stomach with the bread.

The main show at 20:00 was at the front part of the park, right after the entrance. We could get the seat in the middle of the area, if you didn’t buy ticket, you could see from the edge of the area. We faced the giant globe, when the show was started, it’s amazing that the globe could open, and the stage with the dancers appeared from inside of the globe. It’s very windy, although the spectators were crowded, we still felt freezing. My sister and I kept sitting close to each other to keep us warm, the show was very spectacular, that we felt a pity to leave it. There were many attractions from different country with a story, the background and the stage kept changing depended on the story. The dancers were very professional, although it’s cold, they didn’t show the suffering wearing an open costume. They kept dancing gracefully, with various costumes and accessories. In one of the story, our seat became moving to the right, split the seat column into two parts. From bottom of the split, some dancers were running from downstairs to the main stage. It’s unbelievable, they must have a very huge power to slide the place where there were many persons. There were also giant big screen at the left and right side of the main stage, so people could see the expression of the dancers. We kept shivering, but we didn’t want to miss the attraction.

At the end of the show, some of dancers using big cars with beautiful ornaments were parade around us. I tried to take a picture, but it’s rather difficult, because they kept moving and my pocket digital camera it’s not capable to take a moving target at night. The show was ended by producing beautiful frameworks with a beautiful Eiffel tower as the background. The Eiffel tower also had some lights, finally after the fireworks ended, the lights at the Eiffel towers formed a Christmas tree. It’s very wonderful. We had to rush to the metro unless we missed it. It’s almost ten o’clock when we arrived near hotel, so we tried to find food, lucky that a restaurant in the mall accepted us as the last customer, so we wouldn’t be starving at night. The funny thing were happened when we wanted to order, the waiter could not speak English while we could not speak Mandarin. He didn't understand our order, fortunate there was a customer who's kind enough to help us translating the order into Mandarin. During we were eating that started closing the restaurant.

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Yogyakarta, the friendly and cultural city

There was a holiday in the middle of the week last July 08, I decided to go for vacation with my niece to Yogyakarta while she and her family returned home from her husband’s relative wedding party at weekend. I think all of you know that Yogyakarta is popular as an educational city. According to special status granted to the Yogyakarta state when the Republic of Indonesia was formed, the hereditary king is to hold the position of governor of the province. Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X(born 2 April 1946) is the hereditary king of the historical Yogyakarta Sultanate in Indonesia, and is currently also the elected governor of the modern Yogyakarta Special Region. The city is quite safe, the people are gentle and also conversable. I stayed in her house, so I didn’t need to spend anything for accommodation. It took more than 6 hours driving from Surabaya to Yogyakarta. During the trip we had the special timlo Solo for dinner, just right before the restaurant in Solo closed at 21:00. Almost midnight we arrived in her home in Yogya.

Although she had to work that Monday, she’s still kind enough to take care of me. Lucky that I was there with her mother, so I could go shopping with her. Soto Kadipiro was our menu for breakfast, then my niece’s husband dropped us at Pasar Beringharjo, the traditional market which sells many batiks. Beringharjo has been functioning as a trading place since 1758. Now, it offers more merchandise, ranging from batik, traditional snacks, Javanese herbs, to Buddha effigy costing hundreds thousands. In Indonesia, currently batik is not only for formal occasion, but people are wearing for shopping, clubbing, traveling, or moreover to the pub/cafe too. The model becomes more fashionable, it makes even teenagers love to wear it. So many stalls selling batik in Pasar Bringhardjo, you could find many models of blouse, skirt, or baby doll; some stalls also sold the batiste, in case you want to design by yourselves sewing by your regular tailor. The clothes were so cheap, firstly I wasn’t too clever to bargain, so I got Rp. 40.000,- for a blouse, but exploring the alley of the market made me more expert in bargaining he..he.. I could get Rp. 25.000,- for a blouse, and it’s unbelievable that a baby doll only cost Rp. 15.000,- I bought many clothes with different color and models in two hours, I was satisfied that I could get the best price for the clothes. I could not imagine, how they could produce such clothes with very minimum cost.
Around 14:00 o’clock we left Bringhardjo, we crossed the road and we found a restaurant named “Cirebon”. The decoration was still used the old style, there were many old photos on the wall, the windows were so large with trellis, and the cupboard was antique too. Confuse to select from the long list, we ordered Mie Yamin, I ordered Liang Tea for myself while my niece's mother ordered Beras Kencur. Actually Yamin noodle is popular in Bandung, it’s a very sweet chicken noodle with fried wonton. The restaurant often used to make film.

After filling our stomach for gaining energy, we continued hunting to Mirota which sold many stuffs from all around Indonesia. The ambience inside the store made people love to stay, it’s cold and there were many kinds of batik, clothes and materials, handicraft, and also furniture. I attempted to buy a silk scarf with batik style, it’s quite expensive comparing to what I’d bought in Beringharjo, but the hue is quite soft and elegant. Some handicrafts also picked for souvenirs for my friends, relatives and also my maids. Seeing our hands were full of items purchased, we decided to go home by cab. The taxi in Yogya was quite convenience, it used argometer, so you don’t need to negotiate for the price. If it’s not too far, you also could take becak or even a horse cart. At night we had dinner in a Thai restaurant, called Phuket. The ambience was quite nice, it’s open area with a garden and the decoration used bamboo. The cuisine was quite delicious too.

The next day, on Tuesday we went to Kasongan at the southern part of Yogya, where you could find many ceramics either for wedding souvenirs, glassware, furniture, or decorations. It took around 45 minutes driving from Yogya. Some stores had produced for export purpose too, the quality is not beaten by the other country. If you bought more you would get more discount too. Ceramic handicrafts with various forms and modern as well as artistic motifs and other handicrafts are magnets of Kasongan at present time. Kasongan is a tourism place full of stories and beautiful goods resulted from skillful hands of local community to knead clay.

After resting for a while at home, we went to Bakso Ito for dinner, then continue exploring Malioboro at night from the start until the end of the road. As usual at the pedestrian street were full of pavement seller sold clothes, bags, sandals, souvenirs, etc. They raced to offer the merchandises competing with the stores in front of them. Although it’s not holiday, the street was full of people, sellers and shoppers.

We went to Semarang on Wednesday, because it’s a national holiday and we need to drop my cousin’s mother to her sister’s house. It’s nine o’clock, so we decided to have lunch first at a modern restaurant but selling traditional food, named Eny. You could take anything with your portion, then they will calculate at the cashier for the total. They only count based on the variety of how many meat and vegetable, not the portion. Various ice is their speciality, such as jack fruit ice, mix ice, durian ice, etc. There was no traffic jam along the trip, but the distance was quite far too, it’s around 3-4 hours driving. We stopped for a while in Muntilan to drink “ketan hijau” ice, it’s popular for souvenirs. A small shop sold some traditional snack was our next stop for preparation if we were hungry on the trip. At Semarang we had lunch at Oen restaurant, the old fashion restaurant which has a home made ice cream and snacks. After buying moon cake “Kemuning” and Gemini moci, we went back to Yogyakarta. It’s night time when we arrived, we didn’t have energy anymore to go out for dinner, so we ate at home.

Thursday was my last day in Yogya, I had to go home by train. It would departure at 14:55, so I still got a few time to explore Yogya. After having breakfast in the popular restaurant named Trubus (I loved its baked kroket), I went to the photo store to print some photos for my niece's daughter. Then we picked her daughter up from the school, towards home. After packing, I brought my luggage and we stopped by Banyu Mili country club as a part of Griya Mahkota regency, Jl Godean Km 4,5 Kwarasan Yogyakarta. You could enjoy a fantastic culinary experience in the restaurant, gorgeous swimming pool, and also beutiful unequalled lake view with hut surrounding it. The high class of arty interior features red-brown brick wall, full of artistic paintings display, and granite floor makes this place more stunning to visit. We still had time to visit batik store called “Kencana Ungu”, and I still bought a blouse there although I’d already had many things to bring home. Soto Surabaya at the station was our menu for lunch, unfortunately the meat finished, so we only got the mix one. The soup taste was so delicious, although the place was only a very simple booth with long wooden seat. While waiting for the train, I still had a chance to buy another batik blouse at the store in the station :-). I was satisfied that my unplanned visit to Yogya were quite refreshing. Do you also have any experience traveling in Yogya to be shared with us?

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