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Tracy desu yo, pessimist and world’s worst procrastinator. Uni student with still a lot of things to learn. Interests include otome games, Naruto and Japanese.

: Loves pink, food, ice-cream.
Summer is my eternal love.

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Intro: Not to say that Korea wasn't fun, but nothing gets my heart pumping like Japan. And on top of that, I feel a thousand times more relieved because I can at least decently understand the language, and it's fun to listen in on random conversation or read random ads and things.

※ Note: Best read in conjunction with the album photos.
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Woke up at 5:10 to leave our place at 6:30. No one at reception cause too early and only one cat there. Said goodbye and went to the station and suitcase was so heavy I gave up on life and just pulled instead of lifted it down the stairs. Everything was like a repeat of the awful endurance test we did when we first arrived, stairs stairs STAIRS everywhere and the struggle is real when it comes to lugging a suitcase. 

Got onto the airport line train and some strange annoying guy staring 5 times (well basically continuously at me blatantly) looking away and then back while Rosemary was busy playing Cytus next to me. When Rosemary finished playing a song I told her about him and then he started striking weird conversations with us while flexing x_x I don't know, must be like obsessed with body building or something cause he got up and went to other side of the train and used the bar to do some kind of pull up x_x And according to Rosemary, other people on the train felt pity for us, and the girl across from us even rolled her eyes at him. If we ever bring up this incident in further conversation, we refer to him as "train guy" and shudder.

Airplane was meant to leave 10:10 but left 10:30. Little did we know that when we left Korea, we basically said goodbye to kick ass summer weather. It was super warm/hot (not overly hot) and not too humid (in my opinion) but Japan, well.... I guess you'll see later.

Landed in Japan and did the customs stuff and the two people serving me got confused cause I had an Australian passport but had a stamp for being in Korea so they had to ask me at least twice where I "was from." Met Hiroshi and his mum (at about 1 or 1:30pm?) outside the airport and we took a bus to tokyo (fell asleep on it as usual) then taxi from tokyo station to our home. Ah, for reference - Hiroshi's mum is Rosemary's dad's old uni(?) classmate, so that's how we know them. He's a 95 liner (but younger than us) and supposedly super smart without having to study and got an award that he had to go to America for. But as you'll come to see in future posts.... he's smart in some ways and not so much in others (LOL). 

Reached our place about 3:10 and had to wait 10 mins for Jason (the owner of the place) to come. He let us in and asked if we came from Korea cause of my lotte duty free bags (he's Korean, but living in Japan). He asked me in Japanese and if I could speak it, and I said ちょっとだけです and he proceeded to tell me he was Korean (in Japanese). He said he lived in california (not sure how long) and asked if Australians really say "g'day mate" to which Rosemary and I thoroughly facepalmed while he said it over and over lol. He showed us around the place a bit before leaving, and Hiroshi and his mum left too since we had our own plans.

Went to akihabara by leaving the house at about 4pm. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of akihabara and I fail to see its appeal, mainly because the only anime/manga I really like is (obviously) Naruto. Not to say I don't recognise the mainstream ones and some other little ones I've watched but I'm like eh. Oh they also have a lot of merchandise for otome games, so I recognise that too. But anyway, the whole time we were there Rosemary was going crazy over all the stuff, and also kept repeating in many of the stores we visited, "if I had come here with Ari, I could legit stay in this one store for 24 hours!!!" to which I roll my eyes and shudder at the thought (omg so bored). 

Had to wander around to gachapon, mandarake and radio kaikan. We finished with SEGA which is a multi-storey arcade gaming place. We went to take purikura which is ridiculously cheap and worth it, since they actually give you two sheets not like here where you get one sheet and have to cut up the stickers to share. Also, some knowledge of japanese helps when you have to type in your name(!!) and quick reflexes would be useful. Anyway everyone knows purikura machines completely alter how you look but it was so bad that after the first shot was taken and the machine shows us what it looks like, Rosemary and I actually SCREAMED out loud "EWWWW!!! WHAT!!!" hahaha. But luckily since it's an arcade it's super loud so no one was bothered. 

We finished up at 9. Then finally got udon for dinner but they ran out of kurokke ╥﹏╥

Came home and spent forever washing hair, unpacking and sorting random things out. Rained ever since we arrived, too light to be "bothered" but not light enough to stay dry when walking a long time.

It's now 1:45am

of cosmetics and skin care LOL. If you don't already have an extensive list of your own, or you get overwhelmed at the multitude of products when you step into any of their stores, then you can't go wrong with getting some of the internet favourites! So here's a list of some things each brand is known for (or at least according to me haha...).

But first!

Tip #5 - Your best bet is probably to head to Myeongdong (aka. Rosemary and my second home in Korea). Why? Each brand has multiple stores there so don't buy all your things in one store. For example, if there's a couple of things you want from Etude House, don't buy it all in one. Instead, spread out your purchases over a few of their stores. That way you'll get more samples (some stores give them to you for free when you enter, as well as when you purchase something) and you'll find that different stores have different sales (yes, even if they're the same brand). So if for example the moisturiser you want isn't on sale in one store, you might find it is in another store a few hundred metres down!

((to be updated when I remember more OTL))

Etude House - known for almost all of their products having some kind of scent and for "cute" packaging. People favourites: Moistfull Collagen line (in particular, Moistfull Collagen Cream), Wonder Pore Freshner, Play 101 Pencil (more than 70 colours), cheap and plenty of eyeshadow colours, Beauty Shot Face Blur, Every Month Cleansing Foam (one for every month, to target different problems), Proof 10 Eye Primer which is meant to be a dupe for the Urban Decay one.

Ah yes, forgot to put this here yesterday. Watched suits ep. 10 and as usual for the finale, it had tears coming out from my eyes ╥﹏╥ They did a good job, and I liked how much they emphasised how they are all family to each other (hit me right in the kokoro). 

Anyway now let's get back on track!

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Pointless side story #1 - you can imagine with the sheer amount of skincare and cosmetic stores in Korea, they give you some sort of product so that you can get it off. Well, they label it as "lip and eye remover" and for some reason whenever I read it, it would give me a weird feel but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Then finally one day Rosemary pointed out to me it should be lip and eye MAKE-UP remover. Figures. (But seriously, how weird does lip and eye remover sound??)

Tip #4 - No matter how comfy you think your shoes are, or how fit you are (please, vet faculty is 30 mins from the station, which means a daily minimum of one hour walking), your feet will hurt so bad within the first two days. It's not about wearing uncomfortable shoes, you really can't fight it (and please, my boots are my life and the most comfortable shoes I own). Maybe you will be one of those lucky people that don't get it (like Connie) but both Rosemary and I suffered so badly that on the day we went to Lotte (here) all our walking hit us hard and we were practically crippled and in so much pain we had to sit down for like half an hour haha. This also happened to me on my last trip to Japan (10 days). It ranges from sheer pain to this weird tingly feeling that feels like an intense version of pins and needles. Good thing was that from that day onwards and all the way until the end of Japan we had no pain or discomfort whatsoever. In Rosemary's words, we "levelled up" as humans.

Was meant to wake up at 9 but accidentally set alarm wrong and woke up at 8. Went to dongdaemun when we left our place at about 9. Got there and had breakfast at Lotteria until about 11. Headed past the market and bridge, towards Doota. Went to line store first and took a lot of pics, and bought a brown (name of the LINE bear) hair clip, + 3k cony bandages. 

Went around the stores some more but it's mainly clothes. Bought a "hello!" clip and lollipop clip and the lady decided to give me a free bunny clip. Lady kept saying "no plastic!" and would proceed to tapping the clip in question onto the table quite vigorously to demonstrate her point, causing Rosemary and I to repeatedly go Σ(゜ロ゜;) Like even if there's no plastic I would never handle my clips that way... lol. But she was genuinely nice and helpful in picking out clips.

Went around some more and suffered severe stomach pain, probs due to having too much chilli chicken the night before. Only after suffering for quite some time did I remember I specifically packed some chinese meds for this reason (those little brown ball things) so took them and felt much better afterwards.

Left the place and went to myeongdong to finish up. Bought a couple of extra things and was running out of money incredibly fast. Bought the 3k tall soft serve, walked to station and was gonna try all the exits to find paris baguette and found it across the road from exit 6 lol while standing outside of the exit eating ice cream and trying to clean the drips. 

Went to paris baguette, bought caesar chicken salad + garlic toast for dinner and steamed cheesecake and streusel bread for breakfast (total 9.6k). After all this I had only 1.85k left LOL.

Went home and got there about 6pm and after our 5 days of being here, Rosemary pointed out we never once switched on the TV so we decided to do so, but there was nothing on and we essentially left in on for hours as background noise. Just surfed until about 8 then started packing along with having breaks to shower and also have my dinner. Officially finished at 11:18.

Gotta wake up at 5am tomorrow for our 10:10 flight.

Suitcase weighed 15 something kg at sydney airport, now according to the newton spring balance we're using, it weighs about 18kg. 

When your parents and friends think you are good at writing reports:

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Tip #3 - To order food in Japan and Korea is to literally say "(food name) please." For example, name or point to what you want and add "お願いします" onegaishimasu. If you want more than one, you can say onegaishimasu first, then hold up the number of fingers representing what you want. 

Bonus - to say you want one, point and say "これを一つお願いします" kore wo hitotsu onegaishimasu = literally "one please." Or say "(name of food) wo hitotsu onegaishimasu." To order two, replace hitotsu with "二つ" = futatsu

In Korea, you would name or point to what you want and add 주세요 = juseyo

Woke up 8:15, left at about 9:30. Went to exit 1 of anguk station and went to korea post to send my fangifts. Bought box 3 which cost 700 won, and she weighed my box and it cost 4k to post. SO CHEAP COMPARED TO STUPID AUSTRALIA. Also all packing tape and permanent markers were supplied. Had to construct the box (which was actually fun) since it was flatpacked.

Went to mcdonald's next door at 10:15 and got breakfast menu of egg mcmuffin set with iced americano for 3.5k. Stayed for quite a while since we researched and stuff and probs left 11 and went to pharmacy next door to look at general stuff.

We went to look for purple records which is around Hongdae (university) but to no avail. After giving up, we went to starbucks since Rosemary said she had never been to one before and I got a (can you guess??) a caramel frappucino and Rosemary got a strawberries and cream one. Then since we gave up, we pretty much walked down the straight road back to the station as there wasn't much to look at of interest (just more food/drink stores and of course things like etude house, tony moly etc). 

Left and went to D Cube City (got there at like 2pm) and found hottracks but in the end it was just like a book store with like only the newer cds which I already have. Went to first floor and took forever in etude house because bought 1+1 sugar balm tint, then went to tony moly bought panda eye patches then 1+1 innisfree sunscreen.

Afterwards, bought 9k korean fried chicken on korean food street in D Cube, which was SO SPICY IT BURNS AFTER 3 PIECES (and I have average tolerance okay, I'm not total noob). Rosemary bought jjajangmyeon which they first said they didn't have or sold out, but later had it. Basically ate less than half of each and stayed there for so long.

Got to dragon hill spa at Yongsan (basically just outside station) at 7. Nobody teaches you how to do things so FYI for future. Leave shoes in little lockers out front, go to 3rd floor and undress completely. Go slightly downstairs with towel provided and shower thoroughly (they have the sit down japan style as well as shower showers). Go enjoy the baths and sauna. The massage bath is 39.5°C which was nice. The other baths were 21 and 44. 21 is quite cold, 44 didn't try. The massage bath suggests a max of 10 mins only but we didn't read it and only saw it after we got out after like 20 minutes and we were both hit hard with dizziness lol.... There was an infrared sauna at 80°C, Rosemary burnt herself purely on the door. The one next to it is some gold blah blah sauna which was 46°C, sounds not hot but it BURNS TO BREATHE. Walked in like three times and on the third we decided to stay for 5 mins. Helps if you pour bucket of water on your seat unless you want to burn your butt. Asked rosemary if it's water dripping from my back (cause we were wet before going in) or sweat and it was sweat...Whole face was red and sweaty after coming out, which you could taste when it rolled down :/ So gross.

Rest of time spent going to the "sleeping room" and went into the pyramids. One was green, other was egyptian and orange. Both had slight scents (like aromatherapy) and were 33°C. Also went to ice room which was 7°C, but I think the inner room (one room leads to another, separated by glass door) was cooler as it had a snowman and ice on the wall. By the way no pictures were allowed inside the spa (for obvious reasons) but we took pics inside the ice room since you're meant to be clothed in there.

Tried these 3 separate saunas but rosemary and I couldn't even make it in to the "low temp" room let alone the mid or high one. It was so hot just from opening the door, there was no way we'd survive inside (imagine a volcano --- no exaggeration). Gave up and sat in a massage chair for 10 mins. Hurts quite a bit, like the chest and throat for some reason. Lied down in the pyramids again before showering at 10:30, redoing the massage bath and finally leaving at 11. Got home and had an interesting late night snack by eating the leftover jjajangmyeon and chicken with makeshift bowls which I made from cutting the tops off our plastic bottles off LOL. 

It's now 1:52am

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Useful phrases #2 - "__駅はどこですか？" xx eki wa doko desu ka? = Where is Station xx?
"一番近く駅はどこですか？" ichiban chikaku eki wa doko desu ka? = Where is the nearest station?

For extra punch, "どのように一番近く駅に行きますか？" dono yō ni, ichiban chikaku eki ni ikimasu ka? = How can I get to the closest station?

Woke up at 8:15, left around 9 and went to Paris Baguette Cafe at anguk station. Had super club brunch set for 12k which came with an americano (bitter! But Koreans love their americano). Left to go to Corso Cormo which is a super high end artsy store which is one building. Wasn't allowed to take photos inside but they did have some interesting but super expensive pieces. Went outside and took a lot of pictures on K-star road of those bears representing kpop groups (we didn't intend to go and it wasn't on our list of to do things but we spotted them so we did) then went to east end of galleria but didn't go to west. More super luxury brands.

Walked around in apgujeong rodeo and went to clio hehe. Went to it's skin which had 1+1 for the cleansers but didn't buy any cause suitcase running out of space orz. Bought their baby face mascara for 50% off (3.2k) as well as another black liner for 4.8k. Lady there was so nice, asked where we came from, told me the black mascara was sold out (though i didn't care cause brown looks the same) so I just got brown. As i went to pay she was spraying her hair with a hair mist product they sold and I laughed a little and she then put some in my hair too, saying it was good for moisture. When we went to pay she gave both of us a lot of samples even though rosemary didn't buy anything. she gave us a lot more than anyone else would have and also told us which order to use them in.

Afterwards went to tony moly, got another bunny bar and two face masks. Was thirsty so went to ediya coffee and got maple waffle and grapefruit flatccino (would have got caramel but rosemary told me to go for a new flavour > >). Walked around some more then took train to yongsan i'park mall which had a lot of clothing stores as well as a Muji.

Went to coex mall which is SUPER BIG words and pics can't capture it. So much walking space and the shops are super big. Didn't even wander the mall cause I got pulled to SM town for 1.5 hours from 7 to 8:30 ish pretty much. I have no interest in SM artists so while Rosemary was inside spazzing over Super Junior I sat outside of the store on the ground (and called my dad on wechat) and I bet every fan girl that walked past me to go into the store was like o_o what a weirdo. At long last we got to have dinner (pho) and surprisingly a majority of restaurants at Coex is for foreign food (like Italian and stuff, but not Korean). Afterwards, went to find piano fountain and saw the G20 summit feature/statue thing.

EDIT: Oh by the way, the reason my expression is particularly bad this day is because of being stuck in SM town for 1.5 hours, when I have no interest in it. Plus I was extremely hungry while waiting which does not make for a happy me... so yeah (y)

Arrived home about 10:45 it's now 12:57 and haven't showered cause sorting things ugh.

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Tip #2 - In Australia we have 50% off sales or buy one get one free. In Korea, they are called 1+1 sales which means if you buy one, you get one for free. It's great for when you and your friend want to get the same product!

Forgot to say #1 - "____はどこですか？" xx wa doko desu ka? means "where is xx?" (for popular tourist attractions, it can be handy to remember their Japanese names so anyone can understand you, even if you just say the place name) and "すみません、写真を撮ってくれませんか？" Sumimasen, shashin wo totte kuremasen ka? literally means "excuse me, could you please take a picture (of me/us)?

Useful phrases #1 - Feel free to ignore these or keep these somewhere as you wish, just thought they might come in handy haha... "(これ)、いくらですか？" (kore), ikura desu ka? means "How much (is this)?" 

Not sure if from the combined effects of carrying our suitcase up many flights of stairs two days ago and the heavy bags of stuff we bought from Myeongdong yesterday, but I woke up and both my arms were severely numb and in pain. Felt like Orochimaru when he had his arms cursed because I honestly couldn't move them properly for quite some time (and the pain persisted for the rest of the day haaaah..).

Woke up at 7:30 and did not have breakfast. Left at 8:30 and trecked it to anyang, making it there at about 10:00. Wondered around for WAY too long, only to the cafe we wanted to go to is closed and became a cat cafe that wasn't even open... Ended up going to nearby KFC and ordered colonel chicken burger set but it was "sold out" (WHY DO THEY NOT PUT A SIGN TO AVOID US DUMBLY ORDERING SOMETHING SOLD OUT) and got grilled chicken burger set instead. The burger was good, wasn't dry at all and had mayo with some nice brown sauce.

Afterwards, journeyed all the way back and went to Itaewon's millimetre milligram which wasn't really that interesting. About 4 floors but had really expensive artsy stuff. Went to Shinsegae next and there wasn't anything too interesting, kind of like Lotte with all the high end stuff. At the end we went to basement level and got fruit and red bean bingsu for 10k and the middle-aged lady was nice and spoke english and gave us the menu. Also as we were finishing the bingsu the guy working there gave us little cups of warm mugicha which was nice to balance out the cold. 

Went to pink mart after and saw those market-O brownies again (much talked about on the internet). Went to etude house and bought the play 101 pencils. Went to migliore (mi-ri-o-rae in korean) and bought the seoul, tokyo, new york thing shirt for 8k (which I incidentally saw some guy at usyd wearing, a couple of weeks ago). Also there was a nice little kpop place and the lady there was so nice and enthusiastic... She kept showing me new releases but I confessed I already had them haha... 

Went to namdaemun markets (took the train even though it was one stop from myeongdong but at least it was right outside the station cause if we walked we might have got lost) which was really just like any other market and didn't want to buy anything. Went to dinner back at myeongdong cosme road cause we walked back there from the markets using the obnoxious Shinsegae building as a landmark. We ate at the same place we had the sushi but instead we went to the restaurant next to it called Crazy Brown. I had teriyaki chicken panini and Rosemary ordered a risotto. Finished at about quarter to 9 (had dinner SUPER late and was SO hungry). 

Got home at about 9:30 or 10 and that's it, early day.

Can we first just talk about how awesome the weather was yesterday? I felt like I was in the middle of summer holidays - I could comfortably wear a sleeveless shirt and skirt and totally forgot about gross winter. Aaaahhhh but the payment for that one day of bliss is a whole week's worth of gross winter rain and what I assume will be me at uni with wet shoes and socks. Fun.

Anyway! Let's continue on. 

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Tip #1 - Prepare to develop arm muscles when you're in Korea. Or if you have them already, be prepared to use them.

What I forgot to mention yesterday is Korea has a severe lack of elevators within train stations. Prepare to find one at the rate of what feels like 3%. The result is we both carried our suitcases up what was at least 10 flights of stairs. Doesn't sound like much right? But what I call the "tiredness factor" kicks in and it feels heavier as you continue. And when I say 10 flights one flight is the stairs, the little flat platform, then more stairs. The point is, it's super tiring. You have to try it to believe me.

Anyway back to my actual diary:

Woke up and the sides of my outer thighs hurt from lugging the suitcases up the flights of stairs. Slept at about 1:30am local time and woke up at 7am, left at 8am to get tom n toms for breakfast and cats ran away in the morning and didn't let me pat them.

For breakfast had peach ice tea with cinnamon sugar pretzel (cause apparently apple cinnamon was sold out) as well as honey butter bread. Made our way to myeongdong via subway/train and went to A land which supposedly opens at 9 am but it wasn't even so we started on cosme road at Etude House. Was really nice there, they spoke a little english and weren't overbearing. Bought a couple of things, checked A land again, STILL not open. Went back to cosme and banila co. Went back to A land and it was finally open. Had 5 levels but didn't buy anything (though Rosemary bought some shorts). Went back to cosme road and went to shops like nature republic, it's skin, face shop, tonymoly, holika holika, missha, clio, too cool for school, skinfood, innisfree, aritaum, olive young and possibly more. Spent quite a while, and ate at a nice japanese restaurant along the cosme road place (inside a building though) and got a big set for 9k. Went to more shops and when we went by holika holika, probs cause we had lots of bags by now, a girl promoter actually CLUNG on to my arm telling us in chinese we get free stuff if we go inside except we had literally just gone in there (and bought nothing) when we had gone to club clio next door after that holika visit. Anyway lots of shop assistants talked to us in chinese (since we look chinese they probably thought we came on holiday from china but nope).

Left at 4pm for Lotte, and didn't spend long there cause many floors were irrelevant and we were tired. Duty free is confusing. Then we ate dinner at the top floor at rice & rice which we had omurice at (japanese and italian) and the omurice had black rice inside.

Afterwards we left at 6:30 approx and went to level 5 (noon square) and I bought two skirts. The two girls serving us there were nice and played barbie dress up with me lol. Lady was very nice and did the tax refund for us and also said in korean "You guys have so much stuff!!" And got a BIG plastic bag for us and dumped all our things in there and threw out our old bags. She was literally a cartoon character - she grabbed our bags, held it upside down, shook it, and when it was empty, THREW it right over her shoulder and formed a pile of our old bags as she repeated this process. She was also puzzled about how long Rosemary spent deliberating over a skirt so I told her in broken (and bad) Korean that she really liked it and she smiled and made small conversation with me, like where we were from.

Went to watson's on the way back to the station also after lotte it was only SLIGHTLY raining but everyone was under shelter or had umbrellas lol. Also we went to M2U and they had couple of kpop cds and such (Rosemary bought a couple). On our way back to station we got a little lost and this young woman at the traffic lights spoke such nice english when rosemary tried to ask her where the station was in korean and we were so taken aback o_o Went to underground myeongdong kpop shop and bought a CD hehehe... and Rosemary bought an exo one for her friend who requested it. We were so noob and had to ask the shop owner which one was Sehun and then she proceeded to buy it straight after he pointed at it (the guy must have been like, why buy a CD of someone you can't even recognise...?)

Came back and stopped at baskin robbins first for double junior ice cream with love struck strawberry and pink minnie. Got back home about 10:05 and literally so much pain on the outer toes from sandals, shoulders hurt from super heavy backpack (Rosemary's bamboo water gel and starbucks ice coffees bottles)  as well as elbow joints and wrist and fingers hurting from carrying cosme road giant bag (I swear it was more than 5kg but who knows). Don't know how much it actually weighed but don't underestimate it. 

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Woke up super early like 3:30am after having only slept at 11pm the night before cause I started too late with packing as always.... had to leave house at 4:45 but unfortunately got to rosemary's house at like 5:05. Made our way to the airport, said goodbye to dad who didn't come into the airport.

Flight was at 7:50 and yet we were there so early that we had plenty of time before boarding and rosemary even had time to buy some savoury muffin for breakfast. Went back to gate at boarding time yet waited good 10 mins before actual boarding started (good job korean air). Flight was standard, they interestingly only do drink cart once and from then on, carry already poured drinks on a tray and you can pick what you want. Unfortunately forgot to bring my freaking hard drive so had no suits and watched like 2 eps each of old big bang and friends. Listened to music, meal choice was beef, chicken and something else and when we got asked we ordered chicken yet then they said they ran out x_x

Landed at about 5:30pm (?) local time or something.

When we landed, we had to charge money on our card (added 20k) then asked info desk how to get to station. We had to walk out of airport and catch a train (it was all stops) to some random station and change for anguk. Bloody map said to walk out straight from the exit and turn and what not but no... you had to walk out of exit and do U turn which we didn't so we got lost thanks to me... Stopped at 7-11 but guy thought I was asking about where the palace was (there's one near our place) and he kept telling me it was closed x_x Went to next door crown hotel or something and they were so nice and printed us a map for the place. So we walked another 2 sides of a big rectangle, finally found the damn place slightly tucked away from main road and went through parking gate and found no door in our hurry.... finally found out to go behind to the side to find door.

THERE WAS A CAT!!! WHICH WAS THEIRS!!! (next morning you'll find there's actually 2). Met staff Gianna (read her name tag) and she gave me my big stack of boxes after we paid for our place. Had to lug up our suitcases to 3rd floor to our room 302, and finally settled into our very hot and small-ish room (turned on air con immediately). Was probs at least 10pm by then but I can't remember. We went outside towards anguk again cause rosemary was hungry, and rosemary gave up on food cause nothing decent nearby and we went to baskin robbins!! and I ordered some sort of strawberry themed bingsu. They had free wifi that time cause receipt had password. After that went home and brought out things, showered and slept at who knows when.

So I don't really post that often and I've become super lazy since coming back from our trip (not to mention super unmotivated to do any uni work so I'm really behind). Anyway, the one thing I surprisingly managed to do was... keep a daily travel diary!! Since I know of at least four groups of people going to Japan in our summer holidays, I figure perhaps putting this here might be of help or can give some ideas for your trip (if you're stuck). 

I'll probably make minimal edits to my diary entries and copy paste them straight here to keep it as original as possible (and because I'm lazy) but keep in mind I wrote them as if I was talking to myself, and not to you... I'll try to post once a day, and for better understanding it's best to read it while looking at the photos in our facebook album (it would be impossible to upload them all to blogger because blogger hates pictures). 

Well let's start off with a mini guide to Japan (and a little bit of Korea, cause their customs are kind of similar)! Most of this can be found off google too but eh, why not have it all here in one place. 

Also special mention to Rosemary for being a solid travel buddy, putting as much effort into our planning as I did. We had our ups and downs of course (hey everyone does when travelling) but otherwise we were pretty in sync. Also thanks for really bringing me back up those couple of times things went wrong.

Alright let's get started! (Click to make bigger to read)

Boruto -Naruto the Movie- comes out tomorrow in Japan (and I don't even get to see it x_x) and the trailers have been giving me so many feels. Can't wait to watch it when it comes out in future.

This trailer version has some quotes about how people felt about the series and it makes me T^T I'll translate some (not all) under the video.

Intro: Not to say that Korea wasn't fun, but nothing gets my heart pumping like Japan. And on top of that, I feel a thousand times more relieved because I can at least decently understand the language, and it's fun to listen in on random conversation or read random ads and things.

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Woke up at 5:10 to leave our place at 6:30. No one at reception cause too early and only one cat there. Said goodbye and went to the station and suitcase was so heavy I gave up on life and just pulled instead of lifted it down the stairs. Everything was like a repeat of the awful endurance test we did when we first arrived, stairs stairs STAIRS everywhere and the struggle is real when it comes to lugging a suitcase. 

Got onto the airport line train and some strange annoying guy staring 5 times (well basically continuously at me blatantly) looking away and then back while Rosemary was busy playing Cytus next to me. When Rosemary finished playing a song I told her about him and then he started striking weird conversations with us while flexing x_x I don't know, must be like obsessed with body building or something cause he got up and went to other side of the train and used the bar to do some kind of pull up x_x And according to Rosemary, other people on the train felt pity for us, and the girl across from us even rolled her eyes at him. If we ever bring up this incident in further conversation, we refer to him as "train guy" and shudder.

Airplane was meant to leave 10:10 but left 10:30. Little did we know that when we left Korea, we basically said goodbye to kick ass summer weather. It was super warm/hot (not overly hot) and not too humid (in my opinion) but Japan, well.... I guess you'll see later.

Landed in Japan and did the customs stuff and the two people serving me got confused cause I had an Australian passport but had a stamp for being in Korea so they had to ask me at least twice where I "was from." Met Hiroshi and his mum (at about 1 or 1:30pm?) outside the airport and we took a bus to tokyo (fell asleep on it as usual) then taxi from tokyo station to our home. Ah, for reference - Hiroshi's mum is Rosemary's dad's old uni(?) classmate, so that's how we know them. He's a 95 liner (but younger than us) and supposedly super smart without having to study and got an award that he had to go to America for. But as you'll come to see in future posts.... he's smart in some ways and not so much in others (LOL). 

Reached our place about 3:10 and had to wait 10 mins for Jason (the owner of the place) to come. He let us in and asked if we came from Korea cause of my lotte duty free bags (he's Korean, but living in Japan). He asked me in Japanese and if I could speak it, and I said ちょっとだけです and he proceeded to tell me he was Korean (in Japanese). He said he lived in california (not sure how long) and asked if Australians really say "g'day mate" to which Rosemary and I thoroughly facepalmed while he said it over and over lol. He showed us around the place a bit before leaving, and Hiroshi and his mum left too since we had our own plans.

Went to akihabara by leaving the house at about 4pm. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of akihabara and I fail to see its appeal, mainly because the only anime/manga I really like is (obviously) Naruto. Not to say I don't recognise the mainstream ones and some other little ones I've watched but I'm like eh. Oh they also have a lot of merchandise for otome games, so I recognise that too. But anyway, the whole time we were there Rosemary was going crazy over all the stuff, and also kept repeating in many of the stores we visited, "if I had come here with Ari, I could legit stay in this one store for 24 hours!!!" to which I roll my eyes and shudder at the thought (omg so bored). 

Had to wander around to gachapon, mandarake and radio kaikan. We finished with SEGA which is a multi-storey arcade gaming place. We went to take purikura which is ridiculously cheap and worth it, since they actually give you two sheets not like here where you get one sheet and have to cut up the stickers to share. Also, some knowledge of japanese helps when you have to type in your name(!!) and quick reflexes would be useful. Anyway everyone knows purikura machines completely alter how you look but it was so bad that after the first shot was taken and the machine shows us what it looks like, Rosemary and I actually SCREAMED out loud "EWWWW!!! WHAT!!!" hahaha. But luckily since it's an arcade it's super loud so no one was bothered. 

We finished up at 9. Then finally got udon for dinner but they ran out of kurokke ╥﹏╥

Came home and spent forever washing hair, unpacking and sorting random things out. Rained ever since we arrived, too light to be "bothered" but not light enough to stay dry when walking a long time.

It's now 1:45am

of cosmetics and skin care LOL. If you don't already have an extensive list of your own, or you get overwhelmed at the multitude of products when you step into any of their stores, then you can't go wrong with getting some of the internet favourites! So here's a list of some things each brand is known for (or at least according to me haha...).

But first!

Tip #5 - Your best bet is probably to head to Myeongdong (aka. Rosemary and my second home in Korea). Why? Each brand has multiple stores there so don't buy all your things in one store. For example, if there's a couple of things you want from Etude House, don't buy it all in one. Instead, spread out your purchases over a few of their stores. That way you'll get more samples (some stores give them to you for free when you enter, as well as when you purchase something) and you'll find that different stores have different sales (yes, even if they're the same brand). So if for example the moisturiser you want isn't on sale in one store, you might find it is in another store a few hundred metres down!

((to be updated when I remember more OTL))

Etude House - known for almost all of their products having some kind of scent and for "cute" packaging. People favourites: Moistfull Collagen line (in particular, Moistfull Collagen Cream), Wonder Pore Freshner, Play 101 Pencil (more than 70 colours), cheap and plenty of eyeshadow colours, Beauty Shot Face Blur, Every Month Cleansing Foam (one for every month, to target different problems), Proof 10 Eye Primer which is meant to be a dupe for the Urban Decay one.

Ah yes, forgot to put this here yesterday. Watched suits ep. 10 and as usual for the finale, it had tears coming out from my eyes ╥﹏╥ They did a good job, and I liked how much they emphasised how they are all family to each other (hit me right in the kokoro). 

Anyway now let's get back on track!

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Pointless side story #1 - you can imagine with the sheer amount of skincare and cosmetic stores in Korea, they give you some sort of product so that you can get it off. Well, they label it as "lip and eye remover" and for some reason whenever I read it, it would give me a weird feel but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. Then finally one day Rosemary pointed out to me it should be lip and eye MAKE-UP remover. Figures. (But seriously, how weird does lip and eye remover sound??)

Tip #4 - No matter how comfy you think your shoes are, or how fit you are (please, vet faculty is 30 mins from the station, which means a daily minimum of one hour walking), your feet will hurt so bad within the first two days. It's not about wearing uncomfortable shoes, you really can't fight it (and please, my boots are my life and the most comfortable shoes I own). Maybe you will be one of those lucky people that don't get it (like Connie) but both Rosemary and I suffered so badly that on the day we went to Lotte (here) all our walking hit us hard and we were practically crippled and in so much pain we had to sit down for like half an hour haha. This also happened to me on my last trip to Japan (10 days). It ranges from sheer pain to this weird tingly feeling that feels like an intense version of pins and needles. Good thing was that from that day onwards and all the way until the end of Japan we had no pain or discomfort whatsoever. In Rosemary's words, we "levelled up" as humans.

Was meant to wake up at 9 but accidentally set alarm wrong and woke up at 8. Went to dongdaemun when we left our place at about 9. Got there and had breakfast at Lotteria until about 11. Headed past the market and bridge, towards Doota. Went to line store first and took a lot of pics, and bought a brown (name of the LINE bear) hair clip, + 3k cony bandages. 

Went around the stores some more but it's mainly clothes. Bought a "hello!" clip and lollipop clip and the lady decided to give me a free bunny clip. Lady kept saying "no plastic!" and would proceed to tapping the clip in question onto the table quite vigorously to demonstrate her point, causing Rosemary and I to repeatedly go Σ(゜ロ゜;) Like even if there's no plastic I would never handle my clips that way... lol. But she was genuinely nice and helpful in picking out clips.

Went around some more and suffered severe stomach pain, probs due to having too much chilli chicken the night before. Only after suffering for quite some time did I remember I specifically packed some chinese meds for this reason (those little brown ball things) so took them and felt much better afterwards.

Left the place and went to myeongdong to finish up. Bought a couple of extra things and was running out of money incredibly fast. Bought the 3k tall soft serve, walked to station and was gonna try all the exits to find paris baguette and found it across the road from exit 6 lol while standing outside of the exit eating ice cream and trying to clean the drips. 

Went to paris baguette, bought caesar chicken salad + garlic toast for dinner and steamed cheesecake and streusel bread for breakfast (total 9.6k). After all this I had only 1.85k left LOL.

Went home and got there about 6pm and after our 5 days of being here, Rosemary pointed out we never once switched on the TV so we decided to do so, but there was nothing on and we essentially left in on for hours as background noise. Just surfed until about 8 then started packing along with having breaks to shower and also have my dinner. Officially finished at 11:18.

Gotta wake up at 5am tomorrow for our 10:10 flight.

Suitcase weighed 15 something kg at sydney airport, now according to the newton spring balance we're using, it weighs about 18kg. 

When your parents and friends think you are good at writing reports:

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Tip #3 - To order food in Japan and Korea is to literally say "(food name) please." For example, name or point to what you want and add "お願いします" onegaishimasu. If you want more than one, you can say onegaishimasu first, then hold up the number of fingers representing what you want. 

Bonus - to say you want one, point and say "これを一つお願いします" kore wo hitotsu onegaishimasu = literally "one please." Or say "(name of food) wo hitotsu onegaishimasu." To order two, replace hitotsu with "二つ" = futatsu

In Korea, you would name or point to what you want and add 주세요 = juseyo

Woke up 8:15, left at about 9:30. Went to exit 1 of anguk station and went to korea post to send my fangifts. Bought box 3 which cost 700 won, and she weighed my box and it cost 4k to post. SO CHEAP COMPARED TO STUPID AUSTRALIA. Also all packing tape and permanent markers were supplied. Had to construct the box (which was actually fun) since it was flatpacked.

Went to mcdonald's next door at 10:15 and got breakfast menu of egg mcmuffin set with iced americano for 3.5k. Stayed for quite a while since we researched and stuff and probs left 11 and went to pharmacy next door to look at general stuff.

We went to look for purple records which is around Hongdae (university) but to no avail. After giving up, we went to starbucks since Rosemary said she had never been to one before and I got a (can you guess??) a caramel frappucino and Rosemary got a strawberries and cream one. Then since we gave up, we pretty much walked down the straight road back to the station as there wasn't much to look at of interest (just more food/drink stores and of course things like etude house, tony moly etc). 

Left and went to D Cube City (got there at like 2pm) and found hottracks but in the end it was just like a book store with like only the newer cds which I already have. Went to first floor and took forever in etude house because bought 1+1 sugar balm tint, then went to tony moly bought panda eye patches then 1+1 innisfree sunscreen.

Afterwards, bought 9k korean fried chicken on korean food street in D Cube, which was SO SPICY IT BURNS AFTER 3 PIECES (and I have average tolerance okay, I'm not total noob). Rosemary bought jjajangmyeon which they first said they didn't have or sold out, but later had it. Basically ate less than half of each and stayed there for so long.

Got to dragon hill spa at Yongsan (basically just outside station) at 7. Nobody teaches you how to do things so FYI for future. Leave shoes in little lockers out front, go to 3rd floor and undress completely. Go slightly downstairs with towel provided and shower thoroughly (they have the sit down japan style as well as shower showers). Go enjoy the baths and sauna. The massage bath is 39.5°C which was nice. The other baths were 21 and 44. 21 is quite cold, 44 didn't try. The massage bath suggests a max of 10 mins only but we didn't read it and only saw it after we got out after like 20 minutes and we were both hit hard with dizziness lol.... There was an infrared sauna at 80°C, Rosemary burnt herself purely on the door. The one next to it is some gold blah blah sauna which was 46°C, sounds not hot but it BURNS TO BREATHE. Walked in like three times and on the third we decided to stay for 5 mins. Helps if you pour bucket of water on your seat unless you want to burn your butt. Asked rosemary if it's water dripping from my back (cause we were wet before going in) or sweat and it was sweat...Whole face was red and sweaty after coming out, which you could taste when it rolled down :/ So gross.

Rest of time spent going to the "sleeping room" and went into the pyramids. One was green, other was egyptian and orange. Both had slight scents (like aromatherapy) and were 33°C. Also went to ice room which was 7°C, but I think the inner room (one room leads to another, separated by glass door) was cooler as it had a snowman and ice on the wall. By the way no pictures were allowed inside the spa (for obvious reasons) but we took pics inside the ice room since you're meant to be clothed in there.

Tried these 3 separate saunas but rosemary and I couldn't even make it in to the "low temp" room let alone the mid or high one. It was so hot just from opening the door, there was no way we'd survive inside (imagine a volcano --- no exaggeration). Gave up and sat in a massage chair for 10 mins. Hurts quite a bit, like the chest and throat for some reason. Lied down in the pyramids again before showering at 10:30, redoing the massage bath and finally leaving at 11. Got home and had an interesting late night snack by eating the leftover jjajangmyeon and chicken with makeshift bowls which I made from cutting the tops off our plastic bottles off LOL. 

It's now 1:52am

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Useful phrases #2 - "__駅はどこですか？" xx eki wa doko desu ka? = Where is Station xx?
"一番近く駅はどこですか？" ichiban chikaku eki wa doko desu ka? = Where is the nearest station?

For extra punch, "どのように一番近く駅に行きますか？" dono yō ni, ichiban chikaku eki ni ikimasu ka? = How can I get to the closest station?

Woke up at 8:15, left around 9 and went to Paris Baguette Cafe at anguk station. Had super club brunch set for 12k which came with an americano (bitter! But Koreans love their americano). Left to go to Corso Cormo which is a super high end artsy store which is one building. Wasn't allowed to take photos inside but they did have some interesting but super expensive pieces. Went outside and took a lot of pictures on K-star road of those bears representing kpop groups (we didn't intend to go and it wasn't on our list of to do things but we spotted them so we did) then went to east end of galleria but didn't go to west. More super luxury brands.

Walked around in apgujeong rodeo and went to clio hehe. Went to it's skin which had 1+1 for the cleansers but didn't buy any cause suitcase running out of space orz. Bought their baby face mascara for 50% off (3.2k) as well as another black liner for 4.8k. Lady there was so nice, asked where we came from, told me the black mascara was sold out (though i didn't care cause brown looks the same) so I just got brown. As i went to pay she was spraying her hair with a hair mist product they sold and I laughed a little and she then put some in my hair too, saying it was good for moisture. When we went to pay she gave both of us a lot of samples even though rosemary didn't buy anything. she gave us a lot more than anyone else would have and also told us which order to use them in.

Afterwards went to tony moly, got another bunny bar and two face masks. Was thirsty so went to ediya coffee and got maple waffle and grapefruit flatccino (would have got caramel but rosemary told me to go for a new flavour > >). Walked around some more then took train to yongsan i'park mall which had a lot of clothing stores as well as a Muji.

Went to coex mall which is SUPER BIG words and pics can't capture it. So much walking space and the shops are super big. Didn't even wander the mall cause I got pulled to SM town for 1.5 hours from 7 to 8:30 ish pretty much. I have no interest in SM artists so while Rosemary was inside spazzing over Super Junior I sat outside of the store on the ground (and called my dad on wechat) and I bet every fan girl that walked past me to go into the store was like o_o what a weirdo. At long last we got to have dinner (pho) and surprisingly a majority of restaurants at Coex is for foreign food (like Italian and stuff, but not Korean). Afterwards, went to find piano fountain and saw the G20 summit feature/statue thing.

EDIT: Oh by the way, the reason my expression is particularly bad this day is because of being stuck in SM town for 1.5 hours, when I have no interest in it. Plus I was extremely hungry while waiting which does not make for a happy me... so yeah (y)

Arrived home about 10:45 it's now 12:57 and haven't showered cause sorting things ugh.

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Tip #2 - In Australia we have 50% off sales or buy one get one free. In Korea, they are called 1+1 sales which means if you buy one, you get one for free. It's great for when you and your friend want to get the same product!

Forgot to say #1 - "____はどこですか？" xx wa doko desu ka? means "where is xx?" (for popular tourist attractions, it can be handy to remember their Japanese names so anyone can understand you, even if you just say the place name) and "すみません、写真を撮ってくれませんか？" Sumimasen, shashin wo totte kuremasen ka? literally means "excuse me, could you please take a picture (of me/us)?

Useful phrases #1 - Feel free to ignore these or keep these somewhere as you wish, just thought they might come in handy haha... "(これ)、いくらですか？" (kore), ikura desu ka? means "How much (is this)?" 

Not sure if from the combined effects of carrying our suitcase up many flights of stairs two days ago and the heavy bags of stuff we bought from Myeongdong yesterday, but I woke up and both my arms were severely numb and in pain. Felt like Orochimaru when he had his arms cursed because I honestly couldn't move them properly for quite some time (and the pain persisted for the rest of the day haaaah..).

Woke up at 7:30 and did not have breakfast. Left at 8:30 and trecked it to anyang, making it there at about 10:00. Wondered around for WAY too long, only to the cafe we wanted to go to is closed and became a cat cafe that wasn't even open... Ended up going to nearby KFC and ordered colonel chicken burger set but it was "sold out" (WHY DO THEY NOT PUT A SIGN TO AVOID US DUMBLY ORDERING SOMETHING SOLD OUT) and got grilled chicken burger set instead. The burger was good, wasn't dry at all and had mayo with some nice brown sauce.

Afterwards, journeyed all the way back and went to Itaewon's millimetre milligram which wasn't really that interesting. About 4 floors but had really expensive artsy stuff. Went to Shinsegae next and there wasn't anything too interesting, kind of like Lotte with all the high end stuff. At the end we went to basement level and got fruit and red bean bingsu for 10k and the middle-aged lady was nice and spoke english and gave us the menu. Also as we were finishing the bingsu the guy working there gave us little cups of warm mugicha which was nice to balance out the cold. 

Went to pink mart after and saw those market-O brownies again (much talked about on the internet). Went to etude house and bought the play 101 pencils. Went to migliore (mi-ri-o-rae in korean) and bought the seoul, tokyo, new york thing shirt for 8k (which I incidentally saw some guy at usyd wearing, a couple of weeks ago). Also there was a nice little kpop place and the lady there was so nice and enthusiastic... She kept showing me new releases but I confessed I already had them haha... 

Went to namdaemun markets (took the train even though it was one stop from myeongdong but at least it was right outside the station cause if we walked we might have got lost) which was really just like any other market and didn't want to buy anything. Went to dinner back at myeongdong cosme road cause we walked back there from the markets using the obnoxious Shinsegae building as a landmark. We ate at the same place we had the sushi but instead we went to the restaurant next to it called Crazy Brown. I had teriyaki chicken panini and Rosemary ordered a risotto. Finished at about quarter to 9 (had dinner SUPER late and was SO hungry). 

Got home at about 9:30 or 10 and that's it, early day.

Can we first just talk about how awesome the weather was yesterday? I felt like I was in the middle of summer holidays - I could comfortably wear a sleeveless shirt and skirt and totally forgot about gross winter. Aaaahhhh but the payment for that one day of bliss is a whole week's worth of gross winter rain and what I assume will be me at uni with wet shoes and socks. Fun.

Anyway! Let's continue on. 

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Tip #1 - Prepare to develop arm muscles when you're in Korea. Or if you have them already, be prepared to use them.

What I forgot to mention yesterday is Korea has a severe lack of elevators within train stations. Prepare to find one at the rate of what feels like 3%. The result is we both carried our suitcases up what was at least 10 flights of stairs. Doesn't sound like much right? But what I call the "tiredness factor" kicks in and it feels heavier as you continue. And when I say 10 flights one flight is the stairs, the little flat platform, then more stairs. The point is, it's super tiring. You have to try it to believe me.

Anyway back to my actual diary:

Woke up and the sides of my outer thighs hurt from lugging the suitcases up the flights of stairs. Slept at about 1:30am local time and woke up at 7am, left at 8am to get tom n toms for breakfast and cats ran away in the morning and didn't let me pat them.

For breakfast had peach ice tea with cinnamon sugar pretzel (cause apparently apple cinnamon was sold out) as well as honey butter bread. Made our way to myeongdong via subway/train and went to A land which supposedly opens at 9 am but it wasn't even so we started on cosme road at Etude House. Was really nice there, they spoke a little english and weren't overbearing. Bought a couple of things, checked A land again, STILL not open. Went back to cosme and banila co. Went back to A land and it was finally open. Had 5 levels but didn't buy anything (though Rosemary bought some shorts). Went back to cosme road and went to shops like nature republic, it's skin, face shop, tonymoly, holika holika, missha, clio, too cool for school, skinfood, innisfree, aritaum, olive young and possibly more. Spent quite a while, and ate at a nice japanese restaurant along the cosme road place (inside a building though) and got a big set for 9k. Went to more shops and when we went by holika holika, probs cause we had lots of bags by now, a girl promoter actually CLUNG on to my arm telling us in chinese we get free stuff if we go inside except we had literally just gone in there (and bought nothing) when we had gone to club clio next door after that holika visit. Anyway lots of shop assistants talked to us in chinese (since we look chinese they probably thought we came on holiday from china but nope).

Left at 4pm for Lotte, and didn't spend long there cause many floors were irrelevant and we were tired. Duty free is confusing. Then we ate dinner at the top floor at rice & rice which we had omurice at (japanese and italian) and the omurice had black rice inside.

Afterwards we left at 6:30 approx and went to level 5 (noon square) and I bought two skirts. The two girls serving us there were nice and played barbie dress up with me lol. Lady was very nice and did the tax refund for us and also said in korean "You guys have so much stuff!!" And got a BIG plastic bag for us and dumped all our things in there and threw out our old bags. She was literally a cartoon character - she grabbed our bags, held it upside down, shook it, and when it was empty, THREW it right over her shoulder and formed a pile of our old bags as she repeated this process. She was also puzzled about how long Rosemary spent deliberating over a skirt so I told her in broken (and bad) Korean that she really liked it and she smiled and made small conversation with me, like where we were from.

Went to watson's on the way back to the station also after lotte it was only SLIGHTLY raining but everyone was under shelter or had umbrellas lol. Also we went to M2U and they had couple of kpop cds and such (Rosemary bought a couple). On our way back to station we got a little lost and this young woman at the traffic lights spoke such nice english when rosemary tried to ask her where the station was in korean and we were so taken aback o_o Went to underground myeongdong kpop shop and bought a CD hehehe... and Rosemary bought an exo one for her friend who requested it. We were so noob and had to ask the shop owner which one was Sehun and then she proceeded to buy it straight after he pointed at it (the guy must have been like, why buy a CD of someone you can't even recognise...?)

Came back and stopped at baskin robbins first for double junior ice cream with love struck strawberry and pink minnie. Got back home about 10:05 and literally so much pain on the outer toes from sandals, shoulders hurt from super heavy backpack (Rosemary's bamboo water gel and starbucks ice coffees bottles)  as well as elbow joints and wrist and fingers hurting from carrying cosme road giant bag (I swear it was more than 5kg but who knows). Don't know how much it actually weighed but don't underestimate it. 

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Woke up super early like 3:30am after having only slept at 11pm the night before cause I started too late with packing as always.... had to leave house at 4:45 but unfortunately got to rosemary's house at like 5:05. Made our way to the airport, said goodbye to dad who didn't come into the airport.

Flight was at 7:50 and yet we were there so early that we had plenty of time before boarding and rosemary even had time to buy some savoury muffin for breakfast. Went back to gate at boarding time yet waited good 10 mins before actual boarding started (good job korean air). Flight was standard, they interestingly only do drink cart once and from then on, carry already poured drinks on a tray and you can pick what you want. Unfortunately forgot to bring my freaking hard drive so had no suits and watched like 2 eps each of old big bang and friends. Listened to music, meal choice was beef, chicken and something else and when we got asked we ordered chicken yet then they said they ran out x_x

Landed at about 5:30pm (?) local time or something.

When we landed, we had to charge money on our card (added 20k) then asked info desk how to get to station. We had to walk out of airport and catch a train (it was all stops) to some random station and change for anguk. Bloody map said to walk out straight from the exit and turn and what not but no... you had to walk out of exit and do U turn which we didn't so we got lost thanks to me... Stopped at 7-11 but guy thought I was asking about where the palace was (there's one near our place) and he kept telling me it was closed x_x Went to next door crown hotel or something and they were so nice and printed us a map for the place. So we walked another 2 sides of a big rectangle, finally found the damn place slightly tucked away from main road and went through parking gate and found no door in our hurry.... finally found out to go behind to the side to find door.

THERE WAS A CAT!!! WHICH WAS THEIRS!!! (next morning you'll find there's actually 2). Met staff Gianna (read her name tag) and she gave me my big stack of boxes after we paid for our place. Had to lug up our suitcases to 3rd floor to our room 302, and finally settled into our very hot and small-ish room (turned on air con immediately). Was probs at least 10pm by then but I can't remember. We went outside towards anguk again cause rosemary was hungry, and rosemary gave up on food cause nothing decent nearby and we went to baskin robbins!! and I ordered some sort of strawberry themed bingsu. They had free wifi that time cause receipt had password. After that went home and brought out things, showered and slept at who knows when.

So I don't really post that often and I've become super lazy since coming back from our trip (not to mention super unmotivated to do any uni work so I'm really behind). Anyway, the one thing I surprisingly managed to do was... keep a daily travel diary!! Since I know of at least four groups of people going to Japan in our summer holidays, I figure perhaps putting this here might be of help or can give some ideas for your trip (if you're stuck). 

I'll probably make minimal edits to my diary entries and copy paste them straight here to keep it as original as possible (and because I'm lazy) but keep in mind I wrote them as if I was talking to myself, and not to you... I'll try to post once a day, and for better understanding it's best to read it while looking at the photos in our facebook album (it would be impossible to upload them all to blogger because blogger hates pictures). 

Well let's start off with a mini guide to Japan (and a little bit of Korea, cause their customs are kind of similar)! Most of this can be found off google too but eh, why not have it all here in one place. 

Also special mention to Rosemary for being a solid travel buddy, putting as much effort into our planning as I did. We had our ups and downs of course (hey everyone does when travelling) but otherwise we were pretty in sync. Also thanks for really bringing me back up those couple of times things went wrong.

Alright let's get started! (Click to make bigger to read)

Boruto -Naruto the Movie- comes out tomorrow in Japan (and I don't even get to see it x_x) and the trailers have been giving me so many feels. Can't wait to watch it when it comes out in future.

This trailer version has some quotes about how people felt about the series and it makes me T^T I'll translate some (not all) under the video.

 Mini Guide and Tips for Japan (and Korea) - 500th post! 
 June 29th - Sydney to Seoul 
 June 30th - Myeong-dong and Jung-gu 
 July 1st - Itaewon and Jung-gu (again) 
 July 2nd - Apgujeong Rodeo, Gangnam, Yongsan 
 July 3rd - Hongdae, D-Cube City and Yongsan 
 July 4th - last day in Korea. Dongdaemun Markets, Doota and back to our beloved Myeongdong 
 /post break/ What to buy from each Korean brand 
 July 5th - Leaving Seoul for Tokyo (Akihabara) 
 July 6th - Harajuku 
 July 7th - Ginza, Tokyo Station and Marunouchi 
 July 8th – Shinjuku 
 July 9th - Ikebukuro (Sunshine City) and Shinjuku 
 July 10th - Shibuya and Asakusa 
 July 11th - Shinjuku and Odaiba 
 July 12th - Akihabara and Roppongi/Minato 
 July 13th - Mt. Fuji and Kawaguchi 
 July 14th - Kawaguchiko and Harajuku 
 July 15th - Osaka and Tempozan 
 July 16th - Universal Studios Japan 
 July 17th - Namba (Dōtonbori), Shinsaibashi, Tennōji Park then all the way to Kyoto (Gion) 
 July 18th (last day in Osaka) - Osaka Castle, Spa World, Umeda 
 July 19th - Hiroshima and Miyajima 
 July 20th - Hiroshima --> Kyoto 
 July 21st - Arashiyama Area and North-west Kyoto (Ryōan-ji and Kinkaku-ji) 
 July 22nd - Kyoto -> Nara and Osaka (NARUTO EXHIBITION!!) 
 July 23rd - Kyoto back to Tokyo 
 July 24th - Yokohama (Minato Mirai 21)  
 July 25th and 26th (END) - Tokyo -> Seoul -> HOME 

✮ Foster kittens
✮ Clean out closet
✮ Make LOTS of ice-cream
✮ Bake + Cook (and use the molds and kits I bought from Japan)
✮ Study Japanese (JLPT N2 level)
✮ Learn basic Korean sentence structures
✮ Play Dousei Kareshi (~50 hours right there, what with my slow Japanese reading speed)
✮ Finishing playing Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution
✮ Buy Naruto -The Last- Movie DVD and then rewatch it
✮ Start applying for things……..
✮ Invite people over to drink the endless amounts of tea I have
✮ Make things with the alcohol and liquor stash I have (lol)

links exchanged opened! just tag me but link me first