In recent years (and by that I mean since beginning of last year) I’ve gravitated towards more trips but shorter durations - because it works better in keeping me sane I guess. Yet at the same time it made options limited because if I were to go somewhere further (like 6h and beyond) I’d feel that the price isn’t worth it. So there’s still a need for a long-ish trip once in a while, and this one came about for the usual reasons - a birthday flight. 

I didn’t plan for it immediately when the redemptions open, so I was pretty surprised two months down the road when I halfheartedly search for something and found Saver tickets to Japan of all places. Granted it’s KIX and not TYO but that’s a good enough gateway! And it’s during PH, close to school holidays, so I was very perplexed as to why they are not snapped up immediately. But the catch is there isn’t one for the return leg - not on the very specific date I wanted, at least - but there’s a Saver one that involved partner airline, a short transit at TPE, and for a mostly similar price. So it’s a no brainer to quickly transfer in my miles, pray that they are still available by the time the transfer is complete. 

Obviously sitting here now talking about it clearly meant all went well and I am back from the trip. And maybe I’ll just start off by saying that it’s as usual a very enjoyable one - the fact that it’s Japan, the fact that it also ended up to be solo and the bits of solo trip that I enjoyed were in full effect, the way that typhoon ended up having minimal impact on my plans. 

I was actually partly surprised by how I seem to have a renewed fondness of Japan. I’ve had good impressions in the past, so much so that I thought about frequent visits to different parts of Japan in different seasons, because I felt that each season has something unique to offer. But along the way the fondness faded such that I didn’t even think of making trips to Japan in 2024 or 2025 - possibly influenced by how revenue tickets usually weren’t cheap and redemption tickets involve fighting tooth and nail. And I prioritized other places that are easier to get to - Korea, HK for instance. I was more excited about the fact that I’m going on a break rather than the fact that it’s Japan in the lead up. But the moment I stepped onto Japanese territory it’s like all those good vibes suddenly flowed back in, and through the next 10 days I was just soaking it all in again - in awe of everything from the big city energy, the urge to be polite to everybody, how every bowl of food or dessert seemed to have so much heart in it, how pretty every souvenir (food or otherwise) looked, patented Japanese technology that they seem to keep to themselves only such as automated cash registries and above everything - toilet bidets. Like seriously why isn’t everybody buying those? 

I think the other factor that played a big part in the enjoyment is also this was the weakest Yen I’ve experienced in my four visits - and prices don’t seem to have appreciated much (other than accoms) so everything felt so much cheaper. Add on to the fact that some Japanese produced items are naturally cheaper there to begin with so I’ve been quoting this example of how I got this pair of Onitsuka Tiger for $140 against $240 in SG. Perhaps my spending power has also increased, but overall I did end up shopping more than I did and I really was only constrained by luggage space (I had three in the end, which is some sort of record for me too). 

Everyday is sort of tiring though, in a sense that I woke up by 8 every morning and usually end late by 1-2am as I scrolled socmed, plan for the next day, lost my stories. I didn’t feel it at all when I was in Japan, but the crash was very real when I got back and I could barely keep my eyes open the next day so I was very smart to factor in an extra Sunday rest day. Although that was mostly a result of me insisting to fly back on a Saturday, which was my birthday. 

And maybe I guess on this note I’ll add in some thoughts on that? In recent years I’ve kinda dropped the tradition of buying a symbolic birthday gift for myself because I usually end up traveling and the trip itself is the gift. Turning 37 this year and it’s another step closer to 40, I guess at this point everything is really 随缘 - no plans, no failures so no disappointments? Everybody has their own pace and really there’s no need to compare with your peers - something I just told off a friend who feels that she is late as compared to peers who have properly and family etc. And as I told everybody my wish is just for good health because god knows last year was terrible and that was *just* something that I can recover from - imagine if it’s something much worse touchwood. 

So that’s the trip reflections - details and nuggets in subsequent posts and now back to fantasizing short getaways, to Japan too maybe heh.

My fondness for Cantonese cuisine cannot be understated and naturally GZ came up as a potential candidate for my second ever foray to mainland China, and with the same Brunei gang in tow. Meant for it to be an annual affair after HK at the beginning of the year because I also developed a liking for traveling to temperate (?) regions during winter months which is cooling but not freezing. But scheduling issues meant we brought this forward to early December instead, which unfortunately turned out to be not nearly cold enough - it was borderline hot even, reaching a max of 25degC every day oh well. 

But my bigger worry leading up to the trip was what physical state I’ll be in. As recent as two weeks before the trip I was still having bloating issues even though the jaundice problem had finally gone away about a week prior (which meant dramatically improved sleep quality), but all of a sudden when I touched down in KL (yeah I planned a KL trip about two weeks before this GZ trip too as part of my now half yearly ritual) I was able to eat well. And a blood test post-KL trip also showed most of my indicators back in normal range or at least heading closer to it so I reckoned I was finally out of the woods. And that contributed to an extremely chirpy mood throughout the trip and I found that I enjoyed it a lot more than what I imagined, even before I had my HepA episode. 

And the nature of the trip was meant to be i think 70% eat/shop and 30% attractions? So I had better be in a good shape heading in and thankfully I was. 

Traveling there did take up two full days though, because the Brunei gang only had direct flight to HK, and while I had a direct flight to GZ the prices were astronomical because it’s right smack in the heart of December holidays where half of Sg is overseas. So I ended up with a convoluted three leg journey involving a transit at KL and then joining them on a train ride from HK to GZ - which featured one of our core memories of the trip - more on that later. With that we effectively only had three days there, and to me that was a regret of some sort. But we can always head back next time and this gang is definitely up for it. 

I had imagined GZ like HK because of the Cantonese connection, but maybe the influx of 外省人 had changed it a bit so it’s maybe more similar to other major Chinese cities. The good is that you don’t have the curtness of the HK people (and instead you have polite Chinese ones when it comes to the service industry, including those sporting a very distinct Cantonese accented Chinese which I adore lol), the bad is of course the bad habits. Like openly smoking within an indoor restaurant and toilets omg, which is the biggest turnoff for me if I ever consider a return trip. Seriously it was that bad. 

But let’s circle back to the beginning of the trip, where I’ll let pictures tell the stories as usual and maybe keeping it within a single post (because I can’t afford splitting it again, I still have backlogged posts from SH lol).