Travelogue
Japan 2015 Part III
19:53Hello, I am back with Part III. If you haven't read Part I & Part II, why don't read them first? *wink* Finally I found some motivation to continue this super long travelogue. For Part III, I will be covering Hakodate and Tokyo from Day 8 to Day 11. And I am here to announce that I am going Taiwan on this coming December. Hooray!
ONCE AGAIN PLEASE READ EVERYTHING OKAY DON'T JUST SCROLL FOR THE PHOTOS. I HAD A HARD TIME TYPING THEM OUT. T.T
Day 8: 22 March 2015
We are leaving Higashimaya and heading toward Hokodate via car. We left around 8am and reach Hokodate around 5pm. We stopped by at many places (this is the best part when you self drive) to explore since they are on the way.
They said we are near to Pacific Ocean and of course we have to explore it. It was low tide and there were a lot of clams on the beach! The waves were so big; the waves at East Coast Park was nothing as compared to these. Here would be a beautiful place filled with people during summer.
We stopped by at a park to have our lunch. We packed our microwave lunch from our fave 24/7 store: Lawson hahahahahaha. Our lunch was great until the crows disturbed it and we ran back to our small car to have our lunch ): After lunch, we headed toward Onuma Quasi National Park. It is a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains, lakes and forests.
Am I badass enough to eat ice cream in such a cold weather? XD
The lakes will develop a thick layer of ice during winter, providing an array of winter-only activities however we came too late for ice skating so we just walked around the park.
20 minutes by JR express to Onuma Koen Station and you will reach Onuma Quasi National Park after 1 minute on foot. They are open from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm and closed on December 31 - January 1. Please take note of the opening hours and plan well before heading there. Don't be like us ):
After driving for so long (not me hahahaha), we finally reach Hakodate! We went to Goryokaku before heading to our hotel. To be honest, there is nothing much we can see or do at there unless you are someone very into history if not you will be like me busy yawning.
Rushed back to hotel because we had to return the car before 5pm and Jon threw everything to me to carry into the hotel. ARGH and nobody actually offer to help me! I thought Japanese are nice and polite people, why they have to prove me wrong?! I carried 2 big luggage, 2 big bags and tons of plastic bags filled with food and water 多么狼狈啊 and I had to make several trips to the room, yet nobody helped me! T.T
We stayed in Loisir Hotel Hakodate. I wasn't very pleased with their services and facilities therefore I am skipping on this. They left us a note informing us that they are servicing their electrical system hence no electricity for the whole night = no aircon, no light, nothing. The worst part was their windows were sealed so the whole room was very stuffy. The room was pretty small too. However they are located at the prime spot with bus stop, JR Station and shopping malls within walking distance.
Settled with the hotel so we decided to roam around this new city and source for our dinner. To our disappointment, Hakodate is a ghost town after 7pm. Shops closed, no shopping malls, people rushing home, and it had to snow at that time to make us look more pathetic; we were hungry and tired.
We found a decent place for our dinner (actually it was our last choice everything is closed). It looks a bit old school and my seat was a swing! (why didn't Jon took photo of me with the swing?!) How excited to swing while waiting for food hahahahaha it is a great concept because it made me more patient while waiting. Foods were yummy, prices were decent but most importantly it closes very late.
Too much energy after dinner that we wanted to walk back to our hotel then came into realization that we were very far from our hotel..
Day 9: 23 March 2015
Day started early today as we want to explore more before flying to Tokyo. We had our breakfast at Hakodate Morning Market which just 300m away from our hotel. Our first breakfast: Fresh raw squids! They have a very big tank which their customers can fish the squids and I gave this huge responsibility to Jon. (Animal is harmed in this video. If you are animals' rights enthu, please do not watch it) I actually like it with soy sauce.
We continued our breakfast at another restaurant which serves something more normal. I had my fish set while Jon had his fave sea urchin and fish roe don set.
We bought a pair of Tourist Day Pass from Hakodate Tourist Information Center located at Hakodate JR Station (you need to present your passport to buy), then we embarked on our day trip.
Interior of the tram
Our first stop: Mount Hakodate we decided to hike up this 334 meter high mountain to save 1160 yen per pax on ropeway. We see more than others who took the ropeway up, and we also absolutely sweat more and took 30x longer than others. When we almost reach the top, Jon realised he left his phone on the chair while he resting and we had to go down to retrieve the phone. Unless you have plenty of time on hand or you are ultra fit, I will not recommend you to hike up if not you will be like us, almost died hiking up and down. It is recommended to go up before sunset so you can see the transition from day to night (fyi japan sunset around 5.30pm).
This is where Jon left his phone
We took a tram to another end of Hakodate to look at Monkeys soaking in hot spring. Yes monkeys. We were dead beat from hiking, we slept all way on the bus ride.
It was a wonderful late lunch because we totally love their soup base. Due to time constraint, I didn't take photo of our ramen. We had to rush back to pack our luggage and take a 5.30 pm shuttle bus to airport.
Finally we are at Tokyo! Tokyo is so lively at night we are overwhelmed by the crowds. We took train from airport to Shibuya which take 30 minutes to reach. Shibuya Station was so big that we lost our way in it and wandered around at least 15 minutes before we found the exit to our airbnb apartment.
We booked an apartment at Shibuya from Airbnb, and it is the one of the best spot in Shibuya. If you want to know more about the apartment, please click (here). How I should put it? The apartment is opposite Tokyu Hands, and this part of Shibuya is peaceful at night, with 3 minutes of walk will reach the center of Shibuya. We settled our dinner at Ipuddo, walked around before going back to sleep. ALERT: Please prepare tissue before scrolling.
This is super naise (why I always blog this at night when I am so hungry)
Day 10: 24 March 2015
Started our first day at Tokyo with Genki Sushi. We were too lazy to leave our comfy apartment and outside was so cold. My thighs were cramping when I already wore two layers. YES IT WAS THAT COLD. And I am really very amazed how Japanese girls can wear mini skirts with stocking in this temperature. HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT? PLEASE TEACH ME! Anyway, even Genki Sushi was great here. I don't know what is bad in Japan.
And oh in case I forget to mention later, I should write it down here. Japan starts their days very early, as early as 5am so adjust your body clock before flying to Japan if not you will miss out a lot time and fun there. Even waking at 9am, ready by 10am is considered late in Japan. Since they started their days early, their days end early too around 5pm. Just remember this.
Done with breakfast then we went into minimart to buy the tourist metro subway pass (wasn't very sure since I followed Jon blindly) and we set off to Akihabara, the largest town collecting all kinds of electronic appliances and devices in the world. The largest sex-shop (7 storeys high) is here too. And they sell a lot of anime figurines. ANIME LOVERS THIS IS YOUR HEAVEN.
The Subway pass only valid for Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. If you want to take other subway lines, you have to pay more. I shall repeat myself again. Plan well before travelling because subway fare is very expensive.
if I was ruthless that time you will be homed with me, Sailor Moon.
Talking about the 7 storey sex shop, you will be amazed by it - the amount of sex toys they have. Since I was there, I should go in and explore! 不去白不去 There is age limit should be 18 y/o if I not wrong. Please don't judge because you will go in just to explore this sex shop. In case you wonder, no I didn't buy anything.
Introducing my fave Japan Curry shop - Coco Curry, also available in Singapore. This curry shop allows you to choose how spicy you want your curry to be. But for Level 6 onwards, you need to accumulate point (i think) to prove you are able to eat. For example if you want to have Level 7 spiciness, you need to show you tried Level 6. I ordered Mushroom Curry, spiciness Level 3 and 它的辣不是骗人的. My face was super red and my tongue was burning while Jon who claimed he can eat very spicy only ordered Level 2.
We went back to plan for our next day after dinner. Actually only Jon did the planning, I was whatapp-ing my friends, making sure everything was in place (portable wifi and power bank was charging, on aircon, and etc) then head to bed.
Day 11: 25 March 2015
We were in the luck to see cherry blossom hence we headed to Shinkuju Gyeon National Park. It is one of Tokyo's largest and most popular parks, of course it is one of the best places in the city to see cherry blossoms! According to many websites, there are more than 400 somei yoshino trees blossom, more than a dozen different varieties. Autumn is another good timing to visit this park as maple trees are particularly beautiful when their leaves changing colour.
Walking too much in the park made us super hungry and we had our lunch at the best tempura shop in shinjuku: Shinjuku Tempura Tsunahachi. It is really one of the best tempura I ever eat. All tempura are fresh, hot and crispy but their prices aren't pocket friendly ): how Japanese make their food so yummy?
After a fulfilling lunch, we took train from Shinjuku all the way to Odaiba just to look for the Big Gandam. According to Return of Superman; The Song Triplets were so amazed by the Gandam; it will move at a fixed timing. What a waste that we missed it. Since we don't have any purpose, we shopped in Decks Tokyo Beach and Aquacity Odaiba then went back to Shibuya.
BEFORE GOING ON, PLEASE PAY 101% ATTENTION ON ME BECAUSE I AM INTRODUCING THE BESTEST RAMEN SHOP. Everyone should heard about it. This bestest ramen shop is ICHIRAN RAMAN, only available in Japan and Hongkong. Sigh I really miss Ichiran ramen. I even joke about flying to Hongkong just to have the ramen then fly back. Someone please bring this to Singapore, I will be the happiest person on the earth.
Ichiran Ramen has an unique ordering system. You need to buy a ticket through their vending machine then look for a seat. (Free seating) On your table, you will see a form. Request for an English form if you can't read Japanese. With the form, you can choose the hardness of the noodles, richness of the soup as well as the condiments such as spring onion, sesame seeds for your ramen. After you are done with the form, pass your ticket(s) together with the form to an anon (because we can't see their face). Good news is they open 24 hours! Guess who is salivating from photo of the ramen?
I need you so badly
After finishing up the second bowl of noodle, we went back to prepare for next day - a whole day trip to Gotemba where we can see Mount. Fuji!
Finally done with Part III (kudos to myself for being so hardworking), Part IV hopefully will be up soon. Part IV is the last part of this travelogue, featuring Day 12 to Day 14. Stay on this space so you can read on Part IV. Hehehehe thank you for reading this super long post, and if you are going to Japan I will be very happy to know that this is helpful. If you haven't read Part I & Part II, please read it okay?
Read other parts here
ONCE AGAIN PLEASE READ EVERYTHING OKAY DON'T JUST SCROLL FOR THE PHOTOS. I HAD A HARD TIME TYPING THEM OUT. T.T
Day 8: 22 March 2015
We are leaving Higashimaya and heading toward Hokodate via car. We left around 8am and reach Hokodate around 5pm. We stopped by at many places (this is the best part when you self drive) to explore since they are on the way.
They said we are near to Pacific Ocean and of course we have to explore it. It was low tide and there were a lot of clams on the beach! The waves were so big; the waves at East Coast Park was nothing as compared to these. Here would be a beautiful place filled with people during summer.
We stopped by at a park to have our lunch. We packed our microwave lunch from our fave 24/7 store: Lawson hahahahahaha. Our lunch was great until the crows disturbed it and we ran back to our small car to have our lunch ): After lunch, we headed toward Onuma Quasi National Park. It is a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains, lakes and forests.
Am I badass enough to eat ice cream in such a cold weather? XD
The lakes will develop a thick layer of ice during winter, providing an array of winter-only activities however we came too late for ice skating so we just walked around the park.
20 minutes by JR express to Onuma Koen Station and you will reach Onuma Quasi National Park after 1 minute on foot. They are open from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm and closed on December 31 - January 1. Please take note of the opening hours and plan well before heading there. Don't be like us ):
After driving for so long (not me hahahaha), we finally reach Hakodate! We went to Goryokaku before heading to our hotel. To be honest, there is nothing much we can see or do at there unless you are someone very into history if not you will be like me busy yawning.
Rushed back to hotel because we had to return the car before 5pm and Jon threw everything to me to carry into the hotel. ARGH and nobody actually offer to help me! I thought Japanese are nice and polite people, why they have to prove me wrong?! I carried 2 big luggage, 2 big bags and tons of plastic bags filled with food and water 多么狼狈啊 and I had to make several trips to the room, yet nobody helped me! T.T
We stayed in Loisir Hotel Hakodate. I wasn't very pleased with their services and facilities therefore I am skipping on this. They left us a note informing us that they are servicing their electrical system hence no electricity for the whole night = no aircon, no light, nothing. The worst part was their windows were sealed so the whole room was very stuffy. The room was pretty small too. However they are located at the prime spot with bus stop, JR Station and shopping malls within walking distance.
Settled with the hotel so we decided to roam around this new city and source for our dinner. To our disappointment, Hakodate is a ghost town after 7pm. Shops closed, no shopping malls, people rushing home, and it had to snow at that time to make us look more pathetic; we were hungry and tired.
We found a decent place for our dinner (actually it was our last choice everything is closed). It looks a bit old school and my seat was a swing! (why didn't Jon took photo of me with the swing?!) How excited to swing while waiting for food hahahahaha it is a great concept because it made me more patient while waiting. Foods were yummy, prices were decent but most importantly it closes very late.
Too much energy after dinner that we wanted to walk back to our hotel then came into realization that we were very far from our hotel..
Day 9: 23 March 2015
Day started early today as we want to explore more before flying to Tokyo. We had our breakfast at Hakodate Morning Market which just 300m away from our hotel. Our first breakfast: Fresh raw squids! They have a very big tank which their customers can fish the squids and I gave this huge responsibility to Jon. (Animal is harmed in this video. If you are animals' rights enthu, please do not watch it) I actually like it with soy sauce.
We continued our breakfast at another restaurant which serves something more normal. I had my fish set while Jon had his fave sea urchin and fish roe don set.
We bought a pair of Tourist Day Pass from Hakodate Tourist Information Center located at Hakodate JR Station (you need to present your passport to buy), then we embarked on our day trip.
Interior of the tram
Our first stop: Mount Hakodate we decided to hike up this 334 meter high mountain to save 1160 yen per pax on ropeway. We see more than others who took the ropeway up, and we also absolutely sweat more and took 30x longer than others. When we almost reach the top, Jon realised he left his phone on the chair while he resting and we had to go down to retrieve the phone. Unless you have plenty of time on hand or you are ultra fit, I will not recommend you to hike up if not you will be like us, almost died hiking up and down. It is recommended to go up before sunset so you can see the transition from day to night (fyi japan sunset around 5.30pm).
This is where Jon left his phone
We took a tram to another end of Hakodate to look at Monkeys soaking in hot spring. Yes monkeys. We were dead beat from hiking, we slept all way on the bus ride.
It was a wonderful late lunch because we totally love their soup base. Due to time constraint, I didn't take photo of our ramen. We had to rush back to pack our luggage and take a 5.30 pm shuttle bus to airport.
Finally we are at Tokyo! Tokyo is so lively at night we are overwhelmed by the crowds. We took train from airport to Shibuya which take 30 minutes to reach. Shibuya Station was so big that we lost our way in it and wandered around at least 15 minutes before we found the exit to our airbnb apartment.
We booked an apartment at Shibuya from Airbnb, and it is the one of the best spot in Shibuya. If you want to know more about the apartment, please click (here). How I should put it? The apartment is opposite Tokyu Hands, and this part of Shibuya is peaceful at night, with 3 minutes of walk will reach the center of Shibuya. We settled our dinner at Ipuddo, walked around before going back to sleep. ALERT: Please prepare tissue before scrolling.
This is super naise (why I always blog this at night when I am so hungry)
Day 10: 24 March 2015
Started our first day at Tokyo with Genki Sushi. We were too lazy to leave our comfy apartment and outside was so cold. My thighs were cramping when I already wore two layers. YES IT WAS THAT COLD. And I am really very amazed how Japanese girls can wear mini skirts with stocking in this temperature. HOW DO YOU EVEN DO THAT? PLEASE TEACH ME! Anyway, even Genki Sushi was great here. I don't know what is bad in Japan.
And oh in case I forget to mention later, I should write it down here. Japan starts their days very early, as early as 5am so adjust your body clock before flying to Japan if not you will miss out a lot time and fun there. Even waking at 9am, ready by 10am is considered late in Japan. Since they started their days early, their days end early too around 5pm. Just remember this.
Done with breakfast then we went into minimart to buy the tourist metro subway pass (wasn't very sure since I followed Jon blindly) and we set off to Akihabara, the largest town collecting all kinds of electronic appliances and devices in the world. The largest sex-shop (7 storeys high) is here too. And they sell a lot of anime figurines. ANIME LOVERS THIS IS YOUR HEAVEN.
The Subway pass only valid for Tokyo Metro and Toei Subway. If you want to take other subway lines, you have to pay more. I shall repeat myself again. Plan well before travelling because subway fare is very expensive.
if I was ruthless that time you will be homed with me, Sailor Moon.
Talking about the 7 storey sex shop, you will be amazed by it - the amount of sex toys they have. Since I was there, I should go in and explore! 不去白不去 There is age limit should be 18 y/o if I not wrong. Please don't judge because you will go in just to explore this sex shop. In case you wonder, no I didn't buy anything.
Introducing my fave Japan Curry shop - Coco Curry, also available in Singapore. This curry shop allows you to choose how spicy you want your curry to be. But for Level 6 onwards, you need to accumulate point (i think) to prove you are able to eat. For example if you want to have Level 7 spiciness, you need to show you tried Level 6. I ordered Mushroom Curry, spiciness Level 3 and 它的辣不是骗人的. My face was super red and my tongue was burning while Jon who claimed he can eat very spicy only ordered Level 2.
We went back to plan for our next day after dinner. Actually only Jon did the planning, I was whatapp-ing my friends, making sure everything was in place (portable wifi and power bank was charging, on aircon, and etc) then head to bed.
Day 11: 25 March 2015
We were in the luck to see cherry blossom hence we headed to Shinkuju Gyeon National Park. It is one of Tokyo's largest and most popular parks, of course it is one of the best places in the city to see cherry blossoms! According to many websites, there are more than 400 somei yoshino trees blossom, more than a dozen different varieties. Autumn is another good timing to visit this park as maple trees are particularly beautiful when their leaves changing colour.
Walking too much in the park made us super hungry and we had our lunch at the best tempura shop in shinjuku: Shinjuku Tempura Tsunahachi. It is really one of the best tempura I ever eat. All tempura are fresh, hot and crispy but their prices aren't pocket friendly ): how Japanese make their food so yummy?
After a fulfilling lunch, we took train from Shinjuku all the way to Odaiba just to look for the Big Gandam. According to Return of Superman; The Song Triplets were so amazed by the Gandam; it will move at a fixed timing. What a waste that we missed it. Since we don't have any purpose, we shopped in Decks Tokyo Beach and Aquacity Odaiba then went back to Shibuya.
BEFORE GOING ON, PLEASE PAY 101% ATTENTION ON ME BECAUSE I AM INTRODUCING THE BESTEST RAMEN SHOP. Everyone should heard about it. This bestest ramen shop is ICHIRAN RAMAN, only available in Japan and Hongkong. Sigh I really miss Ichiran ramen. I even joke about flying to Hongkong just to have the ramen then fly back. Someone please bring this to Singapore, I will be the happiest person on the earth.
Ichiran Ramen has an unique ordering system. You need to buy a ticket through their vending machine then look for a seat. (Free seating) On your table, you will see a form. Request for an English form if you can't read Japanese. With the form, you can choose the hardness of the noodles, richness of the soup as well as the condiments such as spring onion, sesame seeds for your ramen. After you are done with the form, pass your ticket(s) together with the form to an anon (because we can't see their face). Good news is they open 24 hours! Guess who is salivating from photo of the ramen?
I need you so badly
After finishing up the second bowl of noodle, we went back to prepare for next day - a whole day trip to Gotemba where we can see Mount. Fuji!
Finally done with Part III (kudos to myself for being so hardworking), Part IV hopefully will be up soon. Part IV is the last part of this travelogue, featuring Day 12 to Day 14. Stay on this space so you can read on Part IV. Hehehehe thank you for reading this super long post, and if you are going to Japan I will be very happy to know that this is helpful. If you haven't read Part I & Part II, please read it okay?
Read other parts here
0 comments