After the delightful sushi breakfast at Tsukiji Fish Market, we made our way to Asakusa district (pronounced as Ah-sock-sah) to visit the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Asakusa Sensoji (金龍山浅草寺), also commonly known as Asakusa Kannon Temple has a rich history dated back to the 7th century.

The charismatic temple built in 645 A.D was one of the few places in Tokyo which survived the air raids during World War II. This means we are treading a sacred place serving the same purpose today as it did more than a millennium ago! Amazing!

WingShark's Note:
Flights from Singapore to Tokyo Now: hellowings.com/h/NiUVS
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Tokyo Now:hellowings.com/h/oCxo

This article introduces Jetstar's Baggage, Fare Rules, Seats, Terminals, Customer Service and other informations.

Jetstar

Jetstar Airways is a Australian Budget Airline fully owned by Qantas, which through the Jetstar Group, also has stakes in sister airlines Jetstar Asia Airways, Jetstar Pacific Airlines and Jetstar Japan. Founded in 2003, Jetstar provides multiple international routes.

• IATA: JQ, 3K, BL, GK, JM

I visited Disneysea on a 100% forecast rainy day; thinking that the rainwater would make the Disneysea experience more authentic. yea right. Well, the truth was that we couldn’t change any of the planned itinerary; but on a hindsight, every cloud has a silver lining!

WingShark's Note:
Flights from Singapore to Tokyo Now:hellowings.com/h/fPgx
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Tookyo Now:hellowings.com/h/TrBSH

Advantages of a Rainy Day

• The queues are shorter for rides
• The queues are shorter for the cafes/restaurants
• You can take really cool photos with an umbrella (just kidding)

Feel like having a short getaway but don’t want to go too far? You can consider a day trip out to the less-known Southern Islands of Singapore.

WingShark's Note:
Flying to Singapore and transfer somewhere else?
Enjoy your layover with Singapore's less-known islands!

Here’s a recap of our Hong Kong and Macau trip during National Day period back then. But you’ll soon realise that images are mainly taken in Macau, that’s because majority of our time was either spent in Hong Kong shopping malls or Shenzhen Luohu Commercial City. My camera didn’t left the bag…a heavy white elephant, until our day trip and my first visit to Macau.

WingShark's Note:
Flights from Singapore to Hong Kong Now:hellowings.com/h/Dwe3d
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Macau Now:hellowings.com/h/XR2hf

Known for its glamorous casinos, the sin city of the East has more than 30 casinos within its relatively small land area, no surprise for people to associate Macau to gambling. But looking beyond that, Macau has a rich and varied past, being a Portuguese colony for centuries. The East West cultural blend is seen in the mix of Chinese styled historic buildings, baroque-style churches and old fortifications in the surrounding. And the street names are in both Portuguese and Chinese. All these are uniquely Macau.

I like the pastel coloured classical buildings around Senado Square famous for its wave-patterned mosaic pavement.

Our Jakarta relatives invited us to join them for New Year Eve’s countdown in Indonesia which we gladly accepted and look forward to welcome New Year at a new place. Flight from Singapore to Jakarta takes less than 2 hours but somehow we never thought of visiting until now. Bintan and Batam were the only places which I’ve been to.

WingShark's Note:
Flights from Singapore to Jakarta Now:hellowings.com/h/ZWGSu
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Jakarta Now:hellowings.com/h/CNehi

Todaiji Temple (東大寺), situated at a short walking distance from Kofukuji, is probably the most famous Buddhist temple in Nara. The imposing temple and its massive Daibutsuden (The Great Buddha Hall) house one of the largest bronze statues in Japan to honour the Buddha Vairocana. Todaiji Temple is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For some reason, the Sika deer will not venture passed Nandaimon gate.

WingShark's Note:
From Kansai International Airport(KIX) to Nara, the journey is approximately 2 hours, operated from 7:40 am to 9pm. So don't forget to add Nara to your itinerary of visiting places around Osaka!
Flights from Singapore to Kansai Now: hellowings.com/h/cMRXi
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Kansai Now: hellowings.com/h/CSeju

Nara (奈良) was once the ancient capital of Japan and it is today a famous tourist destination, well known for its temples, shrines and gardens. The compact city can be easily reach via the efficient transportation network from either Osaka or Kyoto under an hour. Hence there is no reason to skip Nara when you are visiting Kansai region.

WingShark's Note:
From Kansai International Airport(KIX) to Nara, the journey is approximately 2 hours, operated from 7:40 am to 9pm.
Flights from Singapore to Kansai Now: hellowings.com/h/cMRXi
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Kansai Now: hellowings.com/h/CSeju

Before I started planning for the trip to Hanoi, I had thought that it would be more or less the same as Singapore’s hot and very hot kind of weather. But the weather check gave a pleasant surprise – there’s season change in Hanoi. Yes, Hanoi has winter months but no, it’s unlikely you will see streets covered in snow. Then again, you never know, even Middle East countries are experiencing snow nowadays.

We were there in mid-February and day weather was very comfortable before becoming a-jacket-is-needed kind of cold when night falls. Very European kind of weather – I like!

Now if only I had more time for this rather short trip, technically 1.5 days to spare. Halong Bay or Sapa will have to wait but well, I just make do with it and enjoy. Took a taxi from Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport to May De Ville Old Quarter Hotel and hit the streets immediately after checking in. The first stop is Hoan Kiem Lake where the locals go for morning exercise.

WingShark's Note:
Flights from Kuala Lumper to Hanoi Now:hellowings.com/h/DEKXJ
Flights from Singapore to Hanoi Now:hellowings.com/h/PRnM4

Never did I expect that I will be visiting Japan again this year, 3 months after my previous trip to Osaka.

Before I start, I would like to share my awesome all-time-low exchange rate (100Y = 1.088 SGD) changed in end June 2015. As I type, the exchange rate is surging back up to 1.15 range due to the crisis in Greece.

Well, this trip has been pretty different from all my other trips free&easy trip to date as I was more flexible on the budget whereby we did not choose the cheapest option, especially for accommodation.

The budget of SGD $3,000 was set for this trip (actual figure: $3,315) – with $941 being set aside for my air tickets. Another $1,136 was for 7 nights accommodation and 7 day car rental where my friend chose all the accommodation which turned out to be an average of $126/night per person. For the second time ever, (with the first being at Sofitel Krabi last year), I stayed in a 5 star hotel with L’occitane toiletries.