It took me long time to write my post after new year holiday, but from now I will keep continue writing weekly post. Today, I will give you update about Hong Kong visa rules and regulations.Hong Kong is always dream destination for all those people who love shopping and try to avoid language barrier that exists in south asian countries.We have been there few months back and feel its worth to visit Hong Kong for a week to enjoy sightseeing as well as shopping.If you are visiting Hong Kong before 23rd January 2017 then you need only Japan Residence Card and a valid round trip ticket. Documents required to obtain Hong Kong Tourist Visa are shown below (Below requirements are based on Indian passport holder working in Japan).
1- Valid Japanese working visa or permanent residence permit. 2- Passport valid for at least six months before the date of arrival in Hong Kong. 3- Round trip ticket to Japan or the next country of destination (Print out or online copy). 4- Confirm hotel booking (Print out or online copy) 5- Tentative itinerary (Print out or online copy)
Note: If immigration will find your landing suspicious then THEY can call you for personal interview IN separate cabin in airport or ferry terminal, above documents will help you to answer clearly about your motive in Hong Kong.
Now you might be thinking why I have specified the date 23 January 2017 ?? New immigration rules are going to implement onward this date. As per immigration department, number of illegal immigrants are increasing day by day in Hong Kong, so they want to check all kind of documents before someone lands to shopping paradise Hong Kong. You can check your visa requirement for Hong Kong via clicking on Immigration department website. If you want to fill Pre-arrival Registration form then visit application form link.
Special Note: The Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals will be implemented on 23 January 2017. The online service for “Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals” is now opened. You can just fill the form on above link before landing to Hong Kong
Enjoy the country, Enjoy the dim-sum, enjoy the relaxing time and Best of all it’s in Hong Kong 🙂
Hey there, the companions of “Nomadic Yatri” 🙂 we have changed our blog name from “Nomadic Yatri ” to “Cookie Vagabond”. You must be thinking why suddenly this change, so the reason is, the new name Cookie resemble the name of my travel crime partner, as her nickname is “Kuki” and “Vagabond” is like “Jamesbond” and I like both of them.So I thought of introducing “Cookie Vagabond” .
The change in name is to distinct us from the crowd of other nomads and I personally like Vagabond and I hope you also like same. Now you can proudly say I am the follower of Vagabond “Cookie Vagabond” 😛
Please check our facebook and twitter page. Here is the details.
Land of rising sun is always dream destination for most of the travellers. If you are thinking to visit Japan, then here I am giving you a complete information about visa before you are check-in into gateway of Japan.Many countries have visa weaver in Japan and you can check the list of countries here visa exempt list.You require following documents before moving to embassy or to authorize travel agent.
Coming as independent (Self arranged)
1- Copy of passport with first and last page having bio data.
2- A completely filled visa application form.
3- Covering letter which will explain your purpose to visit as well as itinerary.
4- Photograph (2×2 inch but confirm with embassy)
5- Travel booking(arranged tour if there), Hotel and air ticket with itinerary.
6- Latest income tax return or Bank statement for 6 months (original one with passbook)
Coming through guarantor (Visiting friends or family)
Documents from applicant-
Documents from applicants are same as I have explained above. You just need to cross verify with documents checklist in embassy homepage before submitting form.
Special Note : Japanese embassy in Delhi is no more accepting direct application, you have to submit visa application through travel agents while Chennai , Mumbai, Bangalore and other parts of India you can submit visa application directly to consultant as earlier.
Authorize travel agent: Currently in India there are only two travel agents.
Visa Fee –440 INR charged by embassy and service charge from travel agent is 600~650 INR.
Note: All the description presented here are based on Indian passport holder who visited Japan for 3 months. Visa rule changes time to time so keep looking on above websites for update.All the documents you can download from embassy website to avoid mismatch in format.
Jigoku Meguri(Roughly called hells of Beppu) of beppu are center attraction point in Oita and attracts domestic as well as international visitors, all year around. These are basically hot-springs for viewing rather than bathing in it. You can find many natural hot spring(Onsen) in the city.Basically 6 hells are located in the same place known as Kannawa district and remaining 2 are in Shibaseki district which are 20 minutes away(2 Miles in distance) from each other.I have been there from Matsuyama and entered in the city through ferry on Oita port. As compared to Matsuyama or Tokyo city is not having enough local train network to move around city, so we preferred to take rental car and did one trip around the city.
Transport Note: Local train network is not strong but public buses are quite good and frequent. If you do not have driving license then do not hesitate to go ahead with public transport. You can book tour too via tourist information centre at Beppu station.
Types of hell
1-Sea Hell (海地獄 ⇔ Umi Jigoku): This one is my favourite and is completely blue like ocean which make its name sea hell. This is my personal recommendation, you must visit this among all hells. There is a big pond near by entrance and have many lotuses with are of specific type namely Victoria. Victoria leaves are big enough to hold weight of small kid(You can see picture board with kids sitting on leaf). Do not forget to have look around greenhouse which has multiple variety of lotuses and orchids.
Umi Jigoku
2-Shaven Head Hell (鬼石坊主地獄 ⇔ Oniishibozu Jigoku): This name originated from the grey mud bubbles in pond which looks like head of a monk. If you are tired and want to give an extra time to this hell you can sit around the place and enjoy footbath next to it.
Oniishibozu Jigoku
3-Cooking Pot Hell (かまど地獄 ⇔ Kamado Jigoku): This hell is easy to identify with red color demon mascot on top. There are several smaller boiling ponds scattered here and there and again if you have time then enjoy footbath with eating onsen tamago(boiled egg direct from onsen water).
Kamado Jigoku
4- Demon Mountain Hell(鬼山地獄 ⇔ Oniyama Jigoku: Place is well known as crocodile hell.It is home of many crocodiles and alligators.What I heard from the instructor is that temperature of this hell (Normal hot water) is perfect for their breeding conditions.This hell is bit scary due to giant crocodiles.
Oniyama Jigoku
5- Mountain Hell (山地獄 ⇔ Yama Jigoku): This is situated in hill and you may pass this hell as I personally feel it is less attractive than others, but if you love animals this is the place for you to enjoy small Zoo next to hell.
Yama Jigoku
6- White Pond Hell (白池地獄 ⇔ Shirake Jigoku): Its names symbolizes white but it’s a kind of pale blue(or somewhere milky too) water pond with rocks in the middle of it. You can enjoy a little garden which is along the hell pond.
Shiraike Jigoku
7-Blood Pond Hell (血の池地獄 ⇔ Chinoike Jigoku”: This hell is located 2 miles away from above hells. Its name resemble the color of water and its complete dark red. The way I recommended you “Sea hell”, I will recommend this one too and it’s worth to take bus ride or do self driving(15 minutes). At the exist of hell there is one souvenir shop where you can enjoy shopping for your beloved ones and buy something to make remember this place.
Chinoike Jigoku
8-. Waterspout Hell (龍巻地獄 ⇔ Tatsumaki Jigoku): The last hell of your visit and it’s next to “Blood pond” hell. This hell has a geyser which erupts in every 30 minutes to the height around 50 meters.There is a place where you can sit with other people and wait for it show in every 30 minutes, so mind timing to visit this hell(Show and wait timings are written at the entrance).
Tatsumaki Jigoku
Transport from Tokyo: You can use LCC Jet Star to Oita airport or you can use shinkansen upto hakata followed by local train to JR Beppu.
Official website: For more detail information you can visit official website of Jigoku Meguri
Fee and business hours: Each hell you can enjoy with the amount of 400¥ and if you are willing to visit all the hells then you can buy full package around 2000¥. All the hells are operating throughout the week from 08:00 to 17:00.
I had wonderful time in Oita and hope others will have same experience too, city is very beautiful and surrounded by multiple attraction around the city.
Special Note: Do not forget to visit Beppu beach sand bath, Lake shidaka ko and Beppu ropeway to surumi mountain to have panoramic view of the city.
I had been in Maldives during the summer of 2014 and it was like amazing to spend one week over there. Our first entry in Maldives was itself an imagination of landing on sea paradise. Maldives is the home of beautiful crystal clear water beaches and definitely among top 10 beaches around the world.
If you are thinking to plan Maldives, before you are leaving, you do not require to apply visa for leisure activity. All people from almost all nationality can get 30 days arrival visa free of charge. 30 days visa is more than enough to dig a big hole in your pocket. Country is a bit expensive but nice destination of luxury travel. You will enter the country via Male international airport. Emirates Airline, Srilankan Airline, Singapore Airline, Air Asia and Air India are major airline to fly Male.
You required following documents.
1- Valid passport( Your passport should be machine readable) with 6 months validity.
2- Return flight ticket within 30 days from date of arrival.
4- Sufficient funds during your stay($100 per day).
Point 1 and 2 they will check always but 3 and 4 depends on your luck 😛 If you are lucky enough to satisfy above conditions(visa deny rates are a few) then go and enjoy country before it wash out of a map due to global warming effect of increasing sea level.
Maldives visa
Wish you a good luck to enjoy your holidays in Maldives 🙂
When we hear the word japan there are certain things which run into our mind like gadgets, cars and shinkansen. There are many things which people living outside Japan may not know and they can be amused by knowing them. So here, I am listing few things which might surprise you but exist only in Japan.I have been here around 4~5 years and I am summarizing my experiences in this post. The points here might be good, bad or neutral, so feel free to comments your own experiences to provide me more output to judge expectation vs reality.So here you go 🙂
Safety: I personally feel that Japan care about the people who are living here.Girls, women are safe, laws are strict so crime rate is very low. Enjoying night life upto any time is good and moving here and there alone is also considerable at any time.
Schooling: Schooling in Japan is very different from other part of the world.For the first few years children are taught manners and before giving them actual subjects. Students are very hardworking, you can see kids wearing school uniform on Saturday and Sunday and doing extracurricular activities(sometime classes on Saturday).Students need to clean their washroom and classes by them self.I asked few of friends and they told me that, in Japan we teach students to live life in tough environment to make kids more stronger with time.
way to fuji
Public services: Public services are one of the best in the world and always on time as per schedule.Trains are bang on time and will give you a delay certificate(yes it’s true you get a certificate !! ) in case the train is late which is very rare.Public services including everything like bank , bus services, post services etc are very arranged and very helpful.Special mention to the toilets which are problem in many countries but here they are ultra clean even in the busiest train station.
Salaryman: New to Japan? then let me explain you, salaryman is the term used by Japanese to define full time working employee.The trademark of salaryman is that they love to wear suit and have drinking party occasionally.Now you might start to think that, what about woman, so woman pronounced as office lady(OL).Salary man is a status symbol, and everybody want to achieve it one time in their career.
Last train buddies: Every Friday and Saturday nights, late night trains are full packed and you can smell wine whiskey beer and all. Some are dwelling here and there and some are just just sitting on the floor.You will always find buddy to talk if you are drunken too.One thing I should appreciate that whether they are sleeping or drunken, they all will get off on correct station.
Jinglish: Japanese people have their own english accent called Jinglish. Some time foreigners too, try to speak Jinglish with locals because here people prefer Japanese for communication. For example God will become Godhoo, Piers will become piasu, love love will become rabu rabu and so on. I am sure that you will like the video shown below, just be sure see upto the end.
Golden week and silver week: This concept you will find only in Japan, that holidays are named as golden and silver.Welcome of cherry blossom with 2~5 days holidays in May is called golden week. In japan there is special period to remember all your ancestor called obon holiday and some time if there is consecutive 2-3 days holidays , it’s called silver week.This year 2016 if you took 2 days paid holidays , you got total 10 days holidays and that’s why it was called mega golden week by travel services.
shimanami cycling
Cycling: If you are health conscious and you are living near by your company in the circle of 2~3 mile then the best way to commute is via riding bicycle. Roads are good and safe. The points you would like to remember while commuting are
-Japan has some strict bicycle rule like you can not drink and drive with cycle.
-Bicycles are a bit inconvenient during winter and rainy days as winters are very cold here and it can rain upto long hours.
Everything is oishii: Everything oishii(delicious) even water.When you invite someone on dinner the first word you will hear about your food is oishii and your Japanese is jouzu(excellent). One thing is quite noticeable if you see Japanese TV show, and host who tastes your dish will start praising with oishii, oishii,oishii mecha oishii (tasty, amazing and super delicious).What I feel that they do these thing to motivate people for making good food and foreigner to speak better Japanese which is somehow good.
Food: First time to Japan, get ready to eat most of the dishes with chopsticks like noodles, daily lunch etc. In a Japanese lunch you will find a main course dish, salad and a soup bowl.There are many restaurants and cafes which provide you healthy food with calories written on the menu.If you are eating Chahan(Fried rice), get ready to eat with soup spoon.Parties are super crazy here and the craziest part is that after finishing party, people still want to eat more and they will specially move to ramen shops.
Matcha flavour: Japanese green tea is very famous around the world and here they have even particular days to celebrate tea ceremony with professionals tea presenters. Kyoto and other places can give you opportunity to take part in tea ceremony with the traditional way.You can see macha flavour coffee in Starbucks, biscuits, chocolates and other stuff which people buy for souvenir.
matsuyama castle
Social networking services(SNS) lover: Are you already friend with many Japanese on SNS, then you will notice that there are two types of people the first ones, who will never disclose their identity by their original display picture{DP}(always have cartoon character on their DP) and second who are ok with their DP but only on their corporate account.People love replying by emoji smilies in their chat conversation, cartoon characters or by GIF and sometime video describing their emotions.
Japanese Wedding: Thinking to join some Japanese wedding party? then be sure to pay at least 30,000¥~ while getting entry in wedding hall and you must confirm your attendance otherwise no entry.There is a kind of nijikai (second party) where you can join by paying only 10,000¥~ and enjoy the party till late night.
Tourism: Tourism is one of the big industry in Japan revolving around Fuji, Sakura, Sumo and heritage sites.Fuji is always pride for Japanese people and everybody stop and click Fuji san’s (as it is called in Japan) photos, whether from sky or near by fuji five lakes.Cherry blossom is very beautiful in Japan and people do parties while drinking and talking under sakura tree.Coming to Sumo, the game originated from Japan and is being held round the year. Japan is always a place to see the mixture of rich culture, historical sites and even modernization.
Hope you enjoyed this post, feel free to comments here 🙂
