Tag: Tokyo Winter Trip 2016

Continuing my Tokyo Post. you can read previous posts here.

We woke up really early for this Day tour cos we gotta be at Keio Plaza Hotel by 8.30 am and we don’t want to be late and say bye bye to our money.

I bought the Mount Fuji & Hakone Day Tour package from Japanican.
We chose the package with a return trip via the bullet train (Shinkansen). It’s ¥16,000 (S$200.00) per pax so we paid S$400.00 in total for the package. It’s free for infants.
They have adjusted the price to ¥17,000 (S$211.00) now and you can also check out other tours organised by them here. They have a local office in Takashimaya Singapore but we only purchased the Disneyland tickets from them and purchased the Mt Fuji package online cos it’s cheaper by about $30+.

We took a cab to Keio Plaza Hotel even though it’s only 10 minutes walk away cos i didn’t wanna take the chance, get lost and then miss the bus.

There’s a convenience store at Keio Plaza so we bought some onigiri and stuff ourselves silly after we’ve reported our attendance.

This budak kecik also kepo. Want to register people.

Our 1st stop is Lake Kawaguchi. Apparently during Spring you can see Lavenders everywhere. Cos it’s winter, everything is dried up here. And you can actually see Mount Fuji here. It was quite early when we reached so there was a huge cloud shadowing the shy Mount Fuji.

They brought us to a Resort Theme Park area for lunch. We requested for Seafood & Vegetables only. Also confirmed that the broth is not meat-based. The lunch was ok ok lah. Asalkan kenyang cos i don’t think we got other options to eat somewhere else.

The theme park looks quite cool ah actually. They have one of those crazy japanese roller coaster (that i will never queue up for!) hahahaha.

They brought us to another Mount Fuji viewing point and we could see the Mount Fuji but i can’t seem to capture it on camera. I don’t know why seh.

Our next destination is Lake Ashi where we took a Cruise Ferry. It’s a short ride but really peaceful surrounded by calm waters. The ferry also took us to the Ropeway Station.

You know i didn’t actually research how the Ropeway would look like. I thought it’s like the usual Cable Car we always take to go Genting Highlands. Turns out to be bigger and can fit at least 40-50 pax inside and it is so so stable. I couldn’t feel it swaying ke apa. Amazing.

View from the Ropeway. The ride took about 7 minutes. Most of the trees had icicles on them. Too pretty. Macam cerita Frozen.

SNOW BLANKET EVERYWHERE!!!! *twirls around*

To be honest, i wasn’t expecting to see snow. I know it’ll be cold gila. And yes cold gila indeed at -18 deg. Brrrrr… But according to the tour guide, there were snowfalls 3 days before. I was freezing guys my face so stiff macam baru cocok botox but we were kinda prepared for it. Tampal heat packs & all. I just had to. It’s not just cold cold, but the wind was really cold as well. Anyway, i was reading on Mount Fuji and learned that climbing up Mount is only safe between July to August. It is deemed unsafe to go anytime other than those two months cos of the extreme weather conditions. It can be as low as -40 deg at night. There were also cases of people blown off the mountains by the strong wind. Scary shit mannnn.

I wrapped Nadya like a ketupat ok. So scared she’ll be too cold but member chill je. Cos i had her in the baby carrier so she was really warm & cosy in there.
There was another toddler up there and he was crying so hard due to the cold. I felt so bad for him and i resisted the urge to shake the mother and tell her to get her ass up back to the sheltered area cos her son was obviously too cold. Then there’s another angmoh couple, with a baby in a stroller up there. Relax je. Konon jalan2 kat shopping centre. Hahahaha.

The sun was setting as we left Mount Fuji to take the Shinkansen! The tour guide brought us to the station itself and then he went to the ticketing office, got himself a pass and brought us to the platform and told us to wait for the next train to Tokyo!

I was really excited cos at that same time, a Shinkansen just drove past us and it was so fast lah!! It came & left the station in 7 seconds. I was recording it on my phone. That’s why i know. Hahahahaha

We didn’t take any pictures in Shinkansen cos we were so so tired seh. Panjat gunung and all. Lol.

But honestly it felt just like taking a normal train. No actually it is quieter than a normal train. Even quieter than our MRT. Just yesterday i took the MRT and i was thinking asal MRT ni bising sgt. Tak macam Shinkansen langsung. Ngada2. Sepak kang.

That’s the end of our Mount Fuji Day tour. Will continue Day 3 in the next post!

We were supposed to head over to Disneyland on our 2nd Day but guess what.. we woke up late and by the time we went out of the apartment, it was about 9.45am. We went to Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal which is just next to Takashimaya Times Square and tried to get the direct bus to Disneyland. But their last bus was 9.50am.
-___-

I remember i jot that down somewhere but i forgot where. Kaoooo.
So yeah, we shifted our itinerary around and decided on heading to Asakusa instead!

We head down to Ippin Asakusa for lunch. Ippin is by Les Copaque, the same production company that produces Malaysia’s famous cartoon duo, Upin & Ipin. Hence the name Ippin, i think.

The Ramen is good! Love the broth.. It’s simple but hearty. It wasn’t very spicy but i was ok with it cos it didn’t spoil the taste of the broth. Rusly ordered a rice set with some fried chicken and the chicken is so lembut, omg i’ve never tasted chicken that lembut!

Turns out they only use this Kumamoto Chicken which is bred 2-3 times longer than normal chicken. It is really so lembut even the breast part, which is usually not our favourite cos it’s dry, is so sedap & lembut.

What made it even nicer was because Nadya slept through the entire lunch session. Hahaha. No attention seeking toddler to steal our food. I feel so bad for saying this. Hahahaha.

My two sweethearts. Taken in Asakusa. ❤

We then head over to Sensoji temple which is few steps away from Asakusa Station.
There’s nothing much really. We end up walking through the Nakamise Shopping Street.

There’s mostly souvenirs. Lotsa them! We didn’t buy any souvenir though. But if you’re looking at buying stuff like paper fans, kimono etc, they sell it here and i think it’s cheaper here? I don’t know.

Bought ice cream! I know, i know. Ice cream during winter. But not bad uhhh. You’re already so cold, makan je lah.

We sat around and people watch and waited for the sun to set. It was beautiful.

Asakusa has this old charm vibes to it that i like. Yes, it’s not vibrant as Shibuya but Asakusa is worth a visit!

We headed back to Shibuya cos i wanna people watch again. This time at the famous Shibuya Crossing!

Took that shot from L’Occittane Cafe, just across the Shibuya Crossing!

I had the nicest Creme Brulee here. We went in with no expectations. I just wanted to sit down & watch the Shibuya Crossing. The other option would be Starbucks but since L’Occitane Cafe is something we don’t have here, i thought why not?!

After walking for abit at Shibuya, we head back to Shinjuku. I was looking for Shinjuku Sakae Sushi but after going round & round, turns out the place is no longer there. Sighhhhhh.

So after doing so many rounds, we settled down for the nearest sushi joint, Kizuna Sushi.

That Unagi is huge! We also ordered Grilled squid. Didn’t manage to take pictures of it cos it was so nice, we gobbled it fast and that fatty tuna is so yums.

We gave Nadya the Tamago (Egg). Look at that face. That Tamago ada happy pill agaknya.
Nadya mostly eat whatever we eat there. But no raw food of course.

We head back to our apartment after that after a long day.

Hello! Meet Nadya-san.

First dinner for our Tokyo trip gotta be Gyumon! It’s like a must-go for all muslims when they go over to Tokyo! Now i know why. It was so so good we end up eating twice there.

Directions to Gyumon by Farhana here was helpful!
We managed to reach the place safely following her pictorial instruction.

Shibuya! Well, the restaurant is located at Shibuya. Just make sure you exit from the Hachiko Exit.

The Halal Menu is limited. I’ll be honest. But really you don’t need 20 other meal options if that one option available is darn good!

We both chose the ¥4,000 (S$50.00) Halal BBQ Set cos we’re not really head over heels about chicken meat. Beef? YES PLEASE!

Macam nak bbq si Nadya ni pun ada.

And you know what else is da bomb? That sambal! I know, it’s so weird to go gaga over sambal. In japan. Kau dah kenapa dyan?
But i’m not kidding you, that sambal, eat with hot rice & bbq beef. Ya Allah, nikmatnya! Especially during winter. We kept asking for that sambal seh. Perangai.

So nice! It’s not even heavily marinated. Tapi sedap gila. I don’t know what they feed their cows over there. Asal daging dorang sedap sangat ni.

Gyumon 
Address: 3-14-5 Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0002, Japan
Contact No.: +81 3-5469-2911

They are opened from 5.00pm – 4.00pm except for sunday where they operate from 5.00pm – 12.00am. I would suggest you come early, like 6.00pm. Especially on weekends cos we saw them turning away some customers cos there were no available seats.

The second time we were there, we occupied a table that was meant for 6 pax and they also turned away some customers even though there were space for 4 pax on our table. We had to tell the waiter to ask them if they wanna share our table cos so kesian walk all the way in the cold then kena turn away. Turns out to be a Singaporean family so we made new friends!

Talking about making new friends, we saw a few Muslim families there in Tokyo.
Rusly & me are quite friendly lah, i would say. Especially Rusly. I know he look very garang but he always make it a point to say hello to people and then initiate conversations. I take a little bit more time cos i like to study people first (I know, i’m so judgemental sometimes! )

But you know, many times we smiled at other muslim travellers, they looked at us funny seh. Macam “dekni apahal“. Why sehhhh.

But oh wells.

 

We’re back from Tokyo!!! Our first trip for 2016.
Yes, i’m really confident i can persuade Rusly for another 2016 trip. Heehee.

Really enjoyed our time in Tokyo, mostly cos of the weather, although the 1st day was really hard for me to adapt cos i don’t really like being in the cold. My husband loves it though. Even Nadya loves it seh! I’m the only one in the party who’s always rubbing her hands together, constantly moving just so i can generate heat. -___-

We took the flight out at 23:50hrs via Singapore Airlines and landed the next day at 07:15hrs. We arrived Tokyo at -2 degrees, according to the pilot. Not sure if he was kidding but it sure felt like it! Probably cos it’s still in the morning and all. Narita Airport is not as huge as Changi Airport so it was pretty easy to navigate around, pick up our baggage and to the ticket counter.

We chose to take the Narita Express (NEX) train to Shinjuku. We did toy with the idea of taking the limousine bus but after a 6-hour flight, i wanna chop2 get to our apartment. Especially cos our AirBNB host was nice enough to give us an early check in at 12:00 noon instead of 3:00pm.

The NEX tickets are at 4,000 yen (S$50.00) per adult, if you buy a round ticket. Just go to the ticket counter and tell them the timing you want, to & fro. It stops at some of the major stations like Tokyo, Shibuya & Shinjuku so it’s quite convenient if you’re staying at these areas. Trains come in intervals of 30 minutes but all seats are reserved so if you booked for the 9.30am train, please don’t pandai-pandai take the next train or something.

And the trains are really punctual. Right on the dot. Japanese are really punctual people.
Even their subway timings very weird one. No such thing as round off to the nearest 5minutes. If it’s stated the train will leave at 03:11pm, it will definitely leave at 03:11pm. No exceptions.

We alighted at Shinjuku station and made our way to the New South Exit as per our host’s instruction. If you’re at Shinjuku, do know it is a huge train station. So huge and so many train lines & platforms and they have different exits everywhere. Different exits will take you to some other parts of Shinjuku and from one exit to another is about 5 – 7 minutes. So be mindful of the exits! It’ll make your life easier.

Our host gave us detailed instructions on how to get to the apartment but this woman here turned the map around and then we walked the other way and got lost. But a kind local lady stopped and asked if we needed help. So nice. She told us the right way and when we got on the right track, i was so delighted to find out that our apartment was really close to Shinjuku station. At least 5mins walk. It is such a convenient place. 3 mins to Takashimaya / Times Square & the Highway Bus Terminal. There’s 7-11 right down below where we spend our time buying snacks and drinking water for Nadya and terrorize the staff there to help us translate stuff like “Which one is Salmon Onigiri?” Lol.

The apartment is quite small actually but it was enough for us three. It’s really basic but then again, we only use the apartment to sleep and hide from the cold. So it was ok!
However, i would totally recommend the place if you’re visiting Tokyo. It’s fairly cheap, by Tokyo’s standard. The host is nice, the location is great, the place is clean. We’re happy!

Here’s the listing if you’re interested! The hosts have few other apartments for rent in the same building, in case you can’t book this one. My requirement for our accomodation is pretty simple. Must be few minutes away from Shinjuku station and have lift access in the building. Cos akak tak kuasa nak panjat tangga hari2. If i want to exercise, it’s not during the holiday. Tenks.

We settled down in the room by 1.00pm and i know we’re supposed to go out again by 4.00pm, check out the Takashimaya and all but we overslept. Actually i woke up in shock and thought it was already 7.30pm. Cos it was so dark outside! Turn out to be 5.00pm only. Hahahaha. The day is so short cos of winter so by 5+pm, its already dark. I swear Rusly pun terkejut cos  i screamed “B… dah lambat!! Dah malam!!!” hahahaha.

 

We washed up and made our way to Shinjuku station and figure out how to get to Shibuya. I downloaded few apps prior to the trip and they helped me survive the intimidating Tokyo Subway! So, download these apps before you go! You can read more here.

We witnessed the peak hour. Busy sak.
Orang semua sibuk nak balik rumah from work. Kita sibuk nak gi makan daging.
We managed to get to Shibuya and then witnessed the Shibuya Crossing. Actually me & Rusly had fun watching people flood towards us and kept laughing at it. Hahaha. Seriously gila.

Next post on where we went for dinner. Yummy yummy dinner. So yummy we went twice!