Day two rise and shine at 630am. Malaysia time it was 530am. Sacrificed my sleep for more onsen because we bid farewell to Hotel Rosa Blanca after breakfast. BEST ONSEN EVER. You people should know by now how much I treasure my sleep. If not, go read this first! Anytime I can get more sleep I would so when I actually sacrifice it for onsen, it's like so obvious how much I love onsen more than sleep. Although I had to be naked. More on that next time.
So, Mie Prefecture was covered and next, we headed towards Shiga Prefecture, which was about 1 and half hours away (I think!). Our first destination was to Port Otsu, where we went for a 90 minutes cruise along Lake Biwa (Japan's largest lake).
We got there early so we just sat down by the lake and check Facebook/update Instagram.
Michigan is the name of the baby that we were on.
It's not as big as Star Cruise kind of cruise, but it's gorgeous!
The entire place was empty and only we were allowed to go through. Other visitors had to use the other area. Felt so VIP-ed then.
Japanese Beef Curry and Seafood Pasta.
After having our lunch, we were brought around the ship/boat and were given short history and stuff about Michigan. Oh, that was Mike having the time of his life with his sandwich and he's from Michigan. So, he was overly excited about being in Michigan, the ship/boat. Mike is doing his internship with the Tourism Department of Shiga Prefecture, that's why he joined us for the day. He's 23 years old, too tall and he has the cutest black puppy in the world. Haha.
One thing I love about Michigan is this red wheel thing is the one moving it and watching it turns and do its thing is quite a nice feeling. Then, it was windy to walk outside but not too windy until your hair is all over the place and stuff. So, that was pretty nice.
After goofing around and getting to know more about this cruise, it was time for us to sit down and relax. Live performances that involves the participation of the audience without us having to go on stage, I like. Super relaxing and entertaining!
So, we covered cruise in the morning and next will be up the hills. Up to the cooling hills where there is no such thing as sweating. Ahhh I love that.
It was about 20-30 minutes from Port Otsu (if I'm not mistaken) and our second Tour Guide, Ms Michiko-san did such a great job telling us about the location, stories and stuff. Her map is the best d.
Welcome to Kansai, everybody! :)
Arrived safely! They advised us to bring a cardigan/sweater to go to this temple because it will be cold. I didn't have any with me at that moment so it didn't matter. Turns our we don't need them at all. The weather was cooling and perfect to my skin. PERFECTO.
Mike kinda have an obsession of photo-bombing anything and anyone.
Enryakuji Temple.
To get to this majestic-full-of-historic-moments' temple, we walked for a little bit but its okay because the view was amazing. It's a lot like going up to the Penang Hill, but I think this hill is a lot bigger.
So, we covered sea lake and hill on day two and it was time for check-in to our lovely hotel for the day, Biwako Ryousuitei where I felt like a total VIP.
We checked in, dropped our luggages and off we went out again. This time for hotel inspection. Five hotels in total. Good thing it was all located very nearby and we didn't spend too much time in the bus. It was quite a rushed inspection because it was getting really late. The actual plan was for us to check-in at Biwako Ryokusuitei go for onsen and then dinner and then onsen again. But that didn't happen of course.
We got back to the hotel and it was time for us to say goodbye to Mike and his boss. I don't know boss name because he rarely speaks to us. I think one of the difficult thing in Japan is the language. Next time I go I need to bring a translator with me. So yeah, that was Shiga Prefecture on day two and it was amazing :)
We got into our hotel room (three of us shared for that night) and lo and behold, we have our personal onsen overlooking the largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa. THANK YOU GOD!
Although we have our own onsen, we still went to the public one at night after dinner because it's fun like that :)
Okay, not much time to goof around. We quickly change into our yukata and went downstairs to our VIP room for a fine dine dinner. I love wearing yukata on my goodness. So tempted to get one home but then it's so hot in Penang that it'll just end up in the cupboard anyways.
Not used to sitting on the floor at such a long time for dinner. Girls supposed to sit with their legs to one side. We did that for the first 5 minutes and then it's crossed legs all the way. Very impolite especially with the yukata on but we were so hungry and tired that we judt did it anyways. Our Japanese friends just laughed at us. Hah.
My first time tasting raw sea urchin. I didn't like it. The texture is fine but the taste is just very er.. fruity? And I hate fruits? So, maybe you guys will like it. Apparently, it's really expensive here. Another thing which I find hard to eat; raw seabass. I mean come on. We make sure it's 110% cooked here, whether grilled or in steamboat and then they serve it raw there wor. I took one and stopped. Tak boleh lah ni. Raw prawns all still can. I don't know why raw fish I cannot. Other than salmon, trout and tuna of course. These are exceptional ones.
Oh! And we had shabu-shabu. Totally different from how Malaysians eat them. Our shabu-shabu is sweet and very flavorful right? Theirs is different and so much more healthier. It's only hot water. You put your raw vegetables and slices of beef in there and when it's cooked, you take it up and dip it in a brown sauce and that's it. I thought it was quite bland to eat with rice, but that's how they do it. I ended up having a lot of wasabi with it. Haha.
One of the common room service in Japan when you;re staying in a Japanese-style-room with tatami mats is that when you leave your room for dinner, they will come in and set the beds for you. No need to remind them or let them know that you going out also. Their service is seriously best d. Have I mentioned that their beds are super comfy also?
Beds only NOT! Toilet also so syiok. It's always nice to sit on a hot/warm toilet seats, especially when you're travelling or in a cold room or anywhere cool lah. It's veryyyy relaxing. No kidding.
To all the lazy people out there, I found a solution to poop more times and feeling good while doing it! I think it's called a bidet and I think you can get them installed in your toilets from Coway. No need English words also you will know exactly what each button will do when you press on them. Wahhhh I love this so much at one point I sat there quite long. Hah.
The end for hari kedua.
I realized trying to finish all five days in Japan in words is super tiring mentally.
Quite sad that it's over. I need another holiday soon. Heh.
