🍵 Japan Travelogue 2017 Pt 2 🍵

Alright continuing on from the previous post~ here's the rest of the trip ミ๏ｖ๏彡leggo

Day 7: Kurobe Gorge Railway 

We set off early again today to go to the Kurobe Gorge Railway. 

This is just outside our hotel. 

We had to take a bus to get from our hotel to the train station, but the hotel gave us free tickets every day :) that's good service. but the first time we arrived we didn't know that it was such a long walk and got kinda lost. we had to ask someone for help along the way - lucky the lady could speak English :) 

 Taken on the train on the way to the Kurobe Gorge 

 Reached our destination! 

The Kurobe Gorge is located around the middle and upper parts of the Kurobe River, which flows into the city of Kurobe in Toyama Prefecture. Because of its scale and magnificence, this great outdoor landscape has been selected as one of the three great gorges of Japan and one of the top one hundred hidden scenic spots in Japan.

The railway was initially built by a railway company to serve the contribution of the Kurobe dam for the Kansai Electric Power Company. We saw the daw along the way! In over 20km, the track crosses 21 bridges and across 41 tunnels. The view is usually best seen in autumn to see the autumn foliage - but you take what you can get! 

There are a total of 4 stations that you can stop at. There are mostly onsens and natural hot springs to enjoy at the stops. The weird thing is that you can only buy a ticket to stop at one of the stops. You can't get off at say the 2nd stop and then get on to the 4th stop o.o I think they want to limit the number of tourists or something and not overload the railway? I dunno but I just thought it was kinda weird haha. We chose to go all the way to the last stop to see all the sights.

 You can choose whether to get on an open-air railway or a closed one. We chose the open one because the weather was good :) It being open also helped to get closer to the action and take better pictures haha

The very first bridge we saw! 

There were 2 people on the bridge waving at us haha I'm not sure if you can spot them in the picture. It would have been cool to cross this bridge but we didn't get to. I didn't get a picture but I remember there was a long rope bridge for monkeys as well hahaha. It's actually quite a long journey, about 1.5 hours? And you'll see many many scenic spots of the Kurobe river. There were quite a few bridges we saw that I didn't get to take a picture of because I was too busy enjoying the view haha. 

 Another bridge which crosses the reservoir part of the dam

 On the right is the power plant part of the dam.
I didn't get a good picture but it was shaped like a castle lol

 One of the first stops  (I think) 

The train goes through many tunnels and it was soooo cold in the tunnels! There are some spaces in the tunnels at the side where the workers would be able to hide from the train when they needed to do repairs along the tracks. I get the shock of my life when the train was rounding the corner and I suddenly saw like 2 Japanese workers in these small spaces like WTH. I think they got shocked when they saw the O.O expression on my face too lol

As we were on the railway we saw many workers along the way, I guess maintaining the railways and things like that? They would wave to us when we passed. As the railway is a single-track railway, sometimes we would meet another train at the station that needed to use the track. So we would stop and let them pass first. The passengers on the other train would wave at us haha 

 Got off at the last stop - Keyakidaira Station.
We walked towards the station and went to explore outside of the station!

The Okukane Bridge! 

Below is the view from the bridge. This was a much shorter, lower and wider bridge as compared to the first few ones we saw.

At the end of the bridge is a small cliff that I didn't get to take a proper picture of. But there were warnings that there could be falling rocks and there were helmets on the side. But the helmets were kinda gross and no one was wearing them so we just walked - at our own risk of course.

 One thing special about this place was that there's still this wedge of snow present in the middle of spring/summer (the picture above on the left). I have no idea how but I touched it and it was legit solid ice. 

 Another attraction in the area is the Mannen Yuki (万年雪 = Ten Thousand + Year + Snow) which is a deep wedge of snow that is often voluminous enough to last all the way through summer to the next winter.

We didn't get much time to spend here because we had to go off to Kyoto :( I really recommend this place though and I actually had to refer to another blog for more detailed information because I realized I didn't get to go on foot and explore a lot of things in person! I really wanted to but there were strict timings on the train and we had to catch our shinkansen. some people actually recommend spending a night here in one of the onsens

The link for the other blog is here if you guys are interested: http://www.mushingo.com/2013/09/day-8-kurobe-gorge-toyama.html. It's super interesting and she took way better pictures than me haha. As I'm reading her blog I realized how undetailed I am in writing my posts LOL but I guess that's why I'm not a blogger :P I just try to outline my experiences and interesting stuff but I won't go into all the details and names and the how-tos heh. I realize it's because when I go to see these sights I also don't really take note/can't remember all of the names and stuff lmao I'm sorry so I can't write it in super detail

Last view of the bridge on the way back

A better view of the car we were in. 

On the opposite side was a whole train filled with elderly Japanese tourists. I'm so envious of them - getting to enjoy these scenic spots and onsens in their retirement, and in their own country sighs 

 Pocari sweat is everywhere in Japan~
 I really wanted to get an isotonic drink but there was no 100plus or H2O! 

Taking the train back to Toyama.

 Taking our Shinkansen to Kyoto. 

It's always tough traveling around Japan with many people and big luggage. Especially when you're tourists and my family is always making a lot of noise and fuss lol. I felt the same way during my first trip and it kinda doesn't leave you. The Japanese are always so quiet and handle really small luggages so it's just not very tourist friendly in that everyone is so fast-paced and you can't dilly-dally or you'll get in the way which no one wants.

Sometimes on Shinkansens or long-distance trains, we didn't pre-book seats (since they're more expensive) so we had to stand all the way. I don't want to put the nitty gritty details on this blog because well I can't really remember and it's a bit boring. But yeah just wanted to recall some hardships on the way haha.

Particularly on this trip, we had to put our luggage right at the back of the carriage, at the back of the last row of seats. We did this because there was limited space in the luggage area and some of our luggage was really heavy to haul to the top at the overhead rails. Remember that we were here for 2 weeks and we couldn't pack too little things, plus most of us were girls (5 girls to 2 guys). We then headed off to our respective seats. We were all scattered everywhere, next to single Japanese travelers cuz those were the only seats left (this was pre-booked though).

So like halfway through the trip I heard some commotion coming from the back and my 2 aunts were behind trying to rearrange our luggage because some guy had booked the very last row of seats. He wanted to lean his chair back but he couldn't because of our luggage. So he just started throwing our luggage into the middle of the aisle, and they were toppled over etc and blocking the pathway. One of my aunts was so angry and started scolding him lmao and I was like girl relax it's not worth it. And another Japanese man kindly helped us, seeing that we 3 were girls (my father and brother weren't aware of this at first since they were seated right in front) and hauled our luggage up to the overhead rails. So yeah this was the first time I ever encountered a blatantly rude Japanese.

I mean, we are Chinese so sometimes they confuse us with the mainland Chinese tourists. so we do get some slightly prejudicial treatments and Looks and stuff but yeah this was another level. It's a bummer when people stereotype you and treat you a certain way just because of certain black sheep. It was like this in Korea as well..

Also this was an evening/night trip so the surrounding was very dark. I was really focused on reading a story on my phone and a long time had passed so I was SHIT?? Did my family just get off the train without me?? Like I dunno why I just had that moment of INTENSE panic because I couldn't spot them at all when I scanned up and down the aisle and I was like shittttttt and I quickly got up and started walking up the aisle. thank god I spotted one of my aunts and I was like YASSSS thank goodness I don't care if the Japanese thought I was crazy just walking up and going back to my seat but that's the price you pay for a peace of mind ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ok this was a long ass story time but I just need to end this off and say that I was reading a Keigo Higashino novel on the train - The Name of the Game is a Kidnapping and holy crap it was so good! Like Higashino's stories always have a shocking twist and I was reading that part on the train and I was going CRAZY in the train making like the literal :OOOOO face and it was so funny because I was freaking out but everything around me was calm and quiet LOL. anyway I really recommend all of his novels.

Alright back to the trip now.

 The street that our accommodation was on.

 It was a really quiet ally. I really really recommend this place though - it's called Sakara Kyoto. It's a two-story traditional Japanese townhouse with tatami mats in the common area. But when you go into the rooms itself, it's wood all around like a really high-class ski-lodge. The room can house 3-5 people or 2-3 people. For both of the rooms that we booked there's a loft that houses a king-sized bed!! The room is an apartment style so there was a washing machine and a stove to cook if you wanted to. They also provided all sorts of pots pans and utensils. You had to do recycling and throw your own trash though. It was clean and really comfortable to stay in~

However, one thing to note that this was a quiet part of the city. So there wasn't much around it and you couldn't get any food or anything if you wanted to eat around 8pm? You could only rely on konbinis. There was a small restaurant that was still open. It looked like it sold alcohol and some western style food? We say some Caucasians in there but only my brother and dad went to try it on our last night because the rest of us were too exhausted

A picture from the loft, and the steps going down into the main room area. 

The steps are so fking steep lmao it's literally a challenge when you're groggy in the morning and I have to hold on to the branch thingy on the right for support but still so fun hahaha

My bed in the loft 

Day 8: Kyoto

Street next to our accommodation. 

We took the bus into the town shopping district centre. For the life of me I can't remember what the area is called I'm so sorry lol but there were a loott of shops in the area and it seemed like the most popular shopping district in the area

 Okonomiyaki for lunch~

Claw machine! 

There was this large arcade in the area which we tried our hand at! This time round my brother finally got the hang of how to work this time and we freaking got sooo many loots from the various claw machines!!! It was sooo funny cuz we were literally shouting so hard at the machine lmaoooo and everyone was amazed cuz he kept getting stuff. I'm gonna post a picture of our loots down below
We were having so much fun that I almost didn't want to leave and go to our original plan which was to visit the Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion). But my mum was like NO come on you're in Kyoto. so. ok.

it was really rainy these few days :( 

we mostly got around Kyoto on bus - do get the bus pass because it's cheaper. To me it was kinda scary because you always have to find the right bus stop with the bus going in the right direction. The last time I was here with my friends I just took the train all the way and walked to the tourist attraction. Buses go nearer but yeah to me it was more scary to take it. It was better now that I had my parents and my aunts with me - and one of my aunts is a really good navigator so we didn't have to worry much. 

Little stream on the way. I dunno why but i'm just obsessed with these little bouts of water around Japan hahaha I took so many boomerangs of the water going back and forth lolol

And we're on the grounds of the Silver Pavilion! 

You'd have to walk quite a big up along a long road of shops (selling good tourist knick knacks and stuff haha what's new) and the Philosopher's path on the other side before you really got to the attraction from the bus stop. We saw many other tourists and also many students! It seems like they were on a school trip or something.

You'd have to pay to get into the grounds of the Silver Pavilion. Inserting a small paragraph about the place: Ginkakuji (銀閣寺, Silver Pavilion) is a Zen temple along Kyoto's eastern mountains (Higashiyama). In 1482, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built his retirement villa on the grounds of today's temple, modeling it after Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), his grandfather's retirement villa at the base of Kyoto's northern mountains (Kitayama). Today, Ginkakuji consists of the Silver Pavilion, half a dozen other temple buildings, a beautiful moss garden and a unique dry sand garden. It is enjoyed by walking along a circular route around its grounds, from which the gardens and buildings can be viewed.

Despite its name, the Silver Pavilion was never covered in silver. Instead, it is believed that the name arose as a nickname more than a century after the building's construction to contrast it with the Golden Pavilion. Alternatively, it is explained that moon light reflecting on the building's dark exterior (which used to be covered in black lacquer in the past) gave it a silvery appearance.

The expansive, meticulously maintained dry sand garden, known as the "Sea of Silver Sand", with a massive sand cone named "Moon Viewing Platform".

Overview of the Moss Garden. Behind the trees are the Hondo and the Togudo Hall (I think). 

Hmm nothing else much to say except that the gardens were very pretty hahaah. I felt like I couldn't appreciate the architecture fully because the interiors of the halls weren't open to public. You'd need like at most half an hour to go around the entire garden and compound. 

There's a little hill going up from the paths in the moss garden which gives you an overview of the whole place and the city beyond.

This is the Silver Pavilion. But like what was mentioned previously, it's actually not made out of silver haha. 

We exited from the temple to walk along the Philosopher's Path to go to the bus stop to take the bus back. 

Giving some background on the Philosopher's Path, another attraction in the region: The Philosopher's Path (哲学の道, Tetsugaku no michi) is a pleasant stone path through the northern part of Kyoto's Higashiyama district. The path gets its name due to Nishida Kitaro, one of Japan's most famous philosophers, who was said to practice meditation while walking this route on his daily commute to Kyoto University.

The canal, that the path follows, is part of the Lake Biwa Canal which tunnels 20 kilometers through the mountains to Lake Biwa in nearby Shiga Prefecture. The canal was built during the Meiji Period in order to revitalize the stagnating local economy, and was used to power Japan's first hydroelectric power plant. 

It's said that it's the most beautiful during spring because of the cherry blossoms that lines the path on both sides. But since it was already summer it was nothing much but just a path with a lot of trees and a pretty canal at the side hahahha. We walked pretty far almost an hour? For the entire path.

There were many quaint shops and restaurants along the path so we did explore that! There were a couple of really really really huge koi in the stream though! I took a picture of them but deleted it cuz they weren't very pretty lmao I kinda regret it now.

Along one of the alleys in which the path branchs off to. Mainly residential. 

I dunno why but I just love this kind of scenery? haha 

We then took the bus back to the shopping district. Kyoto's attractions close really really early like 5pm? So we couldn't really do much in a day unless we started off the day early. But we were all really quite tired after constant traveling, and half of us got sick at this point so we didn't get to do much at all in Kyoto

We were a bit sick of Japanese food at this point in time so we tried something different at this pancake place - savory pancakes with eggs benedict, pancakes with salmon, cheesy carbonara and finally a dessert. It was SO good though, like all foods in Japan are good i swear

All our loots from the claw machines hahahaha. 

After coming back from the Silver Pavilion and before going for dinner, we had another go at the machines. It was awesome my brother got like 2 of those capybaras at one go. But we spent SO much trying to get the huge dog and just kept screaming at the machine LMAO  but it was soooo fun and we were so happy when it finally dropped from the platform.

Oh there was also a hedgehog cafe in the area and my mum and I went for that. It wasn't too fun though the hedgehogs we got were very very anxious (I think they'd been played with for way too long than they're comfortable), so they kept peeing and pooping and their spikes HURT holy shit. so yeah they aren't as cute and fun as it seems HAHA. It was also pretty expensive like 20 plus dollars for an hour? So yeah I wouldn't exactly recommend it. I guess it was because I had false expectations and it didn't meet up to my expectations? As long as you know what you're getting into~ 

Random pretty picture taken around our accommodation's compound.

Day 8: Nara

We set off later than we wanted to today and headed off to Nara to see the deers! I don't think the Nara Deer Park needs any introduction lol. It was about an hour's journey? 

Nara Park (奈良公園, Nara Kōen) is a large park in central Nara. Established in 1880, it is the location of many of Nara's main attractions including Todaiji, Kasuga Taisha, Kofukuji and the Nara National Museum.

The park is home to hundreds of freely roaming deer. Considered in Shinto to be messengers of the gods, Nara's nearly 1200 deer have become a symbol of the city and have even been designated as a natural treasure. Nara's deer are surprisingly tame, although they can be aggressive if they think you will feed them. Deer crackers are for sale around the park, and some deer have learned to bow to visitors to ask to be fed.

Hallo!

It's very cute in pictures and all but there's a lot of deer poop everywhere lmao you had to be careful not to step on them. They can be pretty aggressive especially when you're holding food - one of them even bit my shirt and pulled me towards him to get the biscuit in my hand LOL i was traumatised after that. The compound is pretty big so you'll see a LOT of deers

My brother tried to mess around with the deer by trying to put food on one deer's back and try to get another deer to eat of its back LOL it was a fail though they didn't realise and the food just dropped to the ground to be gobbled up by the first deer that spotted it (⊙ꇴ⊙)

View of the Todaiji Temple.
It was really sunny and hot that day.

I didn't go in because my parents weren't interested and you had to pay :/ but I did walk around the compounds. I didn't get many pictures in because it wasn't a good day for me lol. my family shared one room and I was kept up all night by my dad's snoring plus the fact that I was still sick 

They were selling these mochis with strawberries. DUDES it was SO good like the mochi was soft and sweet and the strawberry was SO HUGE and JUICY like wtf!! how do they grow their strawberries around here!! It was slightly sourish and complemented the sweet mochi so well

After that we just went back to Kyoto Station. By then it was already 4pm and too late to go to any other attraction. This was our last night in Kyoto so yeah you could say that our trip to Kyoto was kind of a huge waste lol. But I guess we were too ambitious in the past few days and a lot of us got sick - my aunt was vomiting and stuff too. 

I was a bit bummed out but I already visited Kyoto during my last visit with my friends and been to Kiyomizudera, Fushimi Inari and Gion so I was still ok. the only place that I wanted to do and didn't get to was the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and the Golden Pavilion. So... maybe on the next trip? hopefully? Haha

I was craving takoyaki so much and thankfully there was this random small store outside of the alley that we stayed in so I got my fix! My aunts ended up cooking because they didn't feel too good so it was lucky that we stayed in an apartment instead of a hotel 

Day 9: Hakone 

Moving again, to Hakone this time. 

 Breakfast at the train station before setting off 

 Our train. Ugh we spent countless times buying train tickest and waiting for trains lol

 Peach gummy from the konbini. It's nice! 

 View from the main train station~ 

Udon and tempura in the train station. This is kind of similar to what we have in SG in this particular udon store? Like you could choose the type of udon you wanted then pick out the pieces of tempura you wanted.

 Our hotel was really really really far from the main station LOL it was almost a 1.5hour bus ride? It was really winding as well.

Ugh I freaking LOVE these little streams of water. 

The bus dropped us off at the depot and we had to walk a bit to reach our hotel - Hotel Musashiya. It's right across from Lake Ashi (or Hakone Lake, Ashinoko Lake). 

There's some history to the lake as well: Lake Ashinoko (芦ノ湖, Ashinoko) was formed in the caldera of Mount Hakone after the volcano's last eruption 3000 years ago. Today, the lake with Mount Fuji in the background is the symbol of Hakone. The lake's shores are mostly undeveloped except for small towns in the east and north and a couple of lakeside resort hotels.

It's quite unique isn't it? Having a lake randomly up in the mountains haha. The boat in the picture  above is a sightseeing boat, tourists can go on it to tour the lake. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to do this. 

 These are the sightseeing areas around the hotel. 

The hotel was a ryokan with an onsen. One of my aunts absolutely LOVES onsens so we tried to book onsen hotels as much as we could during the trip. Even in Toyama and Takayama, our hotels had onsens. But this one was the most traditional, with the the tatami mats on the floors and futons for beds.

I love staying in ryokans as well, and I highly recommend the experience! Soaking in the onsen is definitely something you should try when you're in Japan, even if you're shy. Honestly, I am pretty shy, but I realise that most people usually go before dinner to whet their appetite I guess. So I usually avoid that time and go around 9pm. It's still a good time because it means your body is warm and ready to sleep hahaa. Onsens are so awesome, especially in the winter. I don't even use the room's toilet and just go straight to the onsen to wash up and everything because the entire facility is heated and warm. And once you come out, your entire body is warm from having soaked in the water that you don't feel as cold when you go about your daily activities in the cold weather. In our very first trip to Japan we also came up to Mount Fuji but stayed in a different area - Kawaguchiko. That was our first experience with onsen and with snow. After doing the onsen we were lounging around in a single layer of clothing in the hotel lobby to use the wifi and we saw that it was snowing outside and we just went outside without any protective clothing. But we didn't feel cold at all cuz our body temperature was still warm after the onsen and I just thought it was so amazing hahaah.

On another note, ryokans can get quite expensive if they're really swanky so do try to look out for an affordable one and book early of course. We booked a family room, so my family of 4 stayed in here.

 The host will bring you up to your room and give you a little tour. She will teach you what kind of shoes to wear in the hotel/toilet/how to wear the yukata. They also provide hot water, tea and snacks which they replenish everyday. (on the table)

You're not allowed to wear shoes inside of course. But they provide you with special shoes for roaming inside the hotel and toilet slippers. They also have yukatas which you can wear for lounging around in the hotel. I didn't take a picture of those haha.

They will usually ask when you want yours beds to be prepared. But the timings are usually pretty early about 6 or 7?

 The view looking outside. By the time we arrived we were so tired, we didn't really want to do anything LOL. So all of us literally just took a nap and lazed around in the hotel until like 5pm. The sun set really early so when we went out it was all dark. And guess what? Nothing was open LMAO. If we wanted to eat at the hotel we needed to tell the staff early on so they could prepare, but we thought that it wasn't necessary at the time. So basically we only had one choice- the convenience store ahahahaha. Everyone ended up buying pre-made meals or cup ramen to eat back in the hotel lobby. We couldn't even eat in the rooms because they were busy preparing our beds HAHA.

Found this Haagen Daz ice cream in Hojicha Latte - I've never seen this flavor anywhere before so I grabbed it to try. And basically that was it for the day LOL 

Day 10: Exploring Hakone

 The view from our room the next day ^^ it was slightly cloudy but the weather was good. 

Royal Milk Tea from the konbini. I dunno why but Japan's milk tea has a very weak tea taste? 

It's more milk rather than tea. 

Ground level. The weather was good but since it was up in the mountains it was actually quite cold. 

I had to bust out my thicker sweater. 

 Some views of Lake Ashi. 

This was where the sightseeing boat departed. We were sort of waiting around in the place where you could buy tickets for the activities - deciding on where we should go next and asking the staff for maps and stuff. 

 Spotted a corgi OMGGGGGGG I CAN'T EVEN. He was so fat and fluffy and ROUND and cute and he was so friendly too! Thank goodness for his kind owner, she stopped for a while to let us take pictures and pet him AHHHH I can't even, I know fat corgis aren't healthy but I just. I can't. he's too cute.

We decided to take a walk in the direction of Cedar Avenue. This was a viewing spot where you could apparently see Mt Fuji, but it was too cloudy that day to get a glimpse of the peak.

 Cedar Avenue where you can.. see the Cedar Trees haha.
If you walk abit further, it connects to the Onshi Hakone Koen Park.

You has to climb these stairs to get right to the top. This was where the Hakone Detached Palace was.

The Hakone Detached Palace (旧箱根離宮, Kyū Hakone Rikyū) used to serve as a summer palace for the Imperial Family, but was later opened to the public. Only a relatively small and simple building remains of the former palace complex. It is surrounded by a beautiful park, known as Onshi Hakone Park, which offers nice walking trails and scenic views of Lake Ashinoko and Mount Fuji, if visibility permits.

Going through the path to get to the top. All the plants were very well-maintained. 

You can see the mountain ranges in the background

This was already right at the top. 

The villa was to the right which I didn't get a picture of or I did and I deleted it eventually? 

It wasn't very big or fancy - given that it was a reconstruction. 

From the second floor of the villa. The view of the lake and the mountains *^*

 The view from the vantage point 

We then headed back to where our hotel was and had lunch at in one of the stores. There were many tourists around actually, even though this is a really small town. And many of the restaurants were crowded. Apparently this place is famous for their soba noodles and seafood? The seafood is freshly caught from Lake Ashi （＞ｙ＜）

After lunch we went to check out Hakone Shrine.

Hakone Shrine (箱根神社, Hakone Jinja) stands at the foot of Mount Hakone along the shores of Lake Ashi. The shrine buildings are hidden in the dense forest, but are well advertised by its huge torii gates, one standing prominently in the lake and two others over the main street of Moto-Hakone.

A path leads from the torii gate in Lake Ashi up a series of steps flanked by lanterns through the forest to the main building of the shrine, which sits peacefully among the tall trees. The shrine is beautiful throughout the year, and is particularly breathtaking when shrouded in mist.

This is the famous Torii gate overlooking the sea. It was actually really crowded on this day with people actually queueing up to get photos at the gates so I decided not to go down. We eventually came back the next day to more photos.

The steps leading up to the shrine. It was such a long way up. My mum decided not to come up with  me so it was just me going up to see haha. I didn't take any photos of the shrine (because I'm Christian and my parents discourage from taking any photos of other places of worship). But there was a 1000 year old huge Cedar tree or something like that in the grounds of the shrine. It was pretty impressive because the stump was very wide and it was very very tall. 

 We came back to the hotel after that and spotted some doggos

OMG this was our hotel owner's dogs. He's called Chocolate hahaha because of his fur! He's quite old - like 10 years old? But his fur was still so smooth and thick and he seemed very friendly :) he was ok with us making all the fuss and petting him and taking photos hahaha he seemed quite excited and happy. Apparently he needs to take 3 walks a day LOL i have no idea why considering his age.

We decided to have a traditional Japanese kaiseki dinner in the hotel. You'd have to go down to a common dining room where they would serve your meals at. The room was all tatami and you'd sit at these low tables to have your meal. Kaiseki dinners are always sooo filling omg but they have lots of interesting things

This was a pea-flavoured tofu? 

Tempura

 Sashimi

The thing on top of the pink paper was fish. And there's some shrimp thingy?? on the right I have no idea lol I just at whatever. It was good either way hahaha 

Green tea pudding with mochi! 

And that's it for the day. We didn't plan to do much in Hakone - it was more for us to chill after the crazy travelling of the previous days haha. And the town itself is quiet and everything closes early so yeah I think this sort of setting encourages you to sleep early and have plenty of rest. It's just a much slower pace of life in general where people actually take the time to walk and soak in the sights. 

Day 11: Hakone Shrine and Leaving for Tokyo

As mentioned earlier, I went back to Hakone Shrine to get better photos. This was earlier in the morning so there was lesser crowd :) 

 Caught the boat in the middle of the torii gates 

The lighting was working against us lol so whatever picture you took, you wouldn't be able to see your face. Either way, it was still a nice picture 

The steps coming down to the Torii gates

 Last few glimpses of the pirate sightseeing boat

 Then it's off to the main train station to go to Tokyo! The bus that took us to the station was soooo crowded like it was jam packed full with people standing on the 1+ hours trip. Lucky we all got seats before we queued up like 45 minutes earlier than the bus was scheduled to leave LOL 

 Arriving at Shinjuku station.. finally in Tokyo. Familiar sights haha 

We headed to our airbnb - it's called AiAi House. 

This is in Shin Koiwa. This neighbourhood is where I had previously stayed in during my language exchange 4 years ago LOL memories really. It's very residential but there is still a little shopping area with lots of restaurants and convenience stores. So it's actually a very comfortable place to stay in. It's a bit far off from the city centre, like 45 min from Shinjuku but my aunt had previously stayed in this place before and knew the owner so we decided to come here. 

AiAi is a legit 3-storey Japanese house that functions like a hostel. So you had washing machines and a kitchen at your disposal, but also bunk beds and the toilets were shared toilets. My mum had the shock of her life LOL since she wasn't the one who booked this place. She was like wth I have to share a toilet now? LMAO pls the rest of us were pretty used to it since my bro and dad's bee to the army and I stay in the dorms in my uni but this was the first time for her. It was a bit awkward for us because it was a double-decker bed but nonetheless I found the bed pretty comfortable - like my brother and I loved the sheets, blankets and pillows haha. They're not like hotel quality where it's really thick but it the material was super comfortable for some reason. We didn't do much like any other day where there was travelling. But I finally got to go to my beloved conveyor-belt sushi place and had a lot of sushi. The nostalgia in coming back to a place where you'd been 4 years ago hahhaha. It was quite amazing. 

Day 12 and 13: Exploring Tokyo

I'm not going to split this up into 2 days because we didn't really so anything much exciting - it was just shopping. And I'd already been to these places many times that I dind't feel the need to take any pictures LOLOL but I can detail some of the places where I like to shop and some other interesting things. 

There are so many claw machines in Shibuya/Shinjuku. there's just everywhere. even in shin-koiwa. You just had to look out for any plushies that you're interested in because the toys are different in each area. I saw this neko atsume one and was like dude we have to get this hahaha. We eventually got it in the end. It was a bit ridiculous cuz we were on a claw machine high. We had a hard time lugging back all the plushies becuase they were quite big - this neko atsume one was about 45cm in length.

Having the famous soft serve from Croquantchou Zaku Zaku in Harajuku. There's always SUCH a long queue here and I finally got to try it in the end. Hmm I would say it's good but not worth it if the queue is more than 20 min long? Also, the sunset in Harajuku :) 

On the way to the station in Shin Koiwa. 

I think for me these pictures really embody what Japan is haha I dunno why. I always love the scenery in their train stations.

Anyway on to the places where I like shopping/eating. This is the places I've always loved visiting and keep going back to whenever I'm in Japan haha. I'm sure these places are pretty familiar and you could google them to find out more.

Shibuya

• Great to see the Shibuya crossing if you haven't
• Shibuya 109 is an attraction but the things here are too expensive imo
• There's huge HnM and Uniqlo around the corner if you're interested
• The place I love the most here is Loft- a 5-storey building that sells almost everything, cosmetics, stationery, household items. I love buying cute stationery here. Also, it's linked to Muji (!!!) so you could easily spend 3 hours here shopping if you're into that 
• There's also a Daiso near here which is forever crowded. I highly recommend the green tea snacks there are SO many, green tea hard candy soft candy biscuits marshmallow etc etc. Just go try them all.  There are also calpico flavoured marshmallows which is different and interesting haha
• Drugstores in this area and Harajuku are the biggest (imo) and they offer tax refunds on the spot (you have to be careful with this and clarify with them) 
• ABC Mart - this shoe shop is everywhere you don't have to go particularly to any place but the size of shops matters. It's not exactly the cheapest but they have some designs that we don't so I like to go here. 

Shinjuku
Shinjuku is huge. Huge. Depending on where you come out from the station you could be seeing very different things, something we learnt the hard way LOL. we got lost here so many times. I don't think this place is as hip as Shibuya and Harajuku? But either way it's a place that's very special (?) to me in Japan because we stayed here in our first trip and spent hella lot of time getting lost hahaha. There are some places in Shinjuku that I know very well. I can't exactly explain how to walk here but there's this area where the Standing Sushi Bar is. I'm sure you can figure out some better directions on the web elsewhere.

• Standing Sushi Bar is always great for good sushi. This is slightly more expensive and traditional than the conveyor belt sushi. But at the name states, you have to stand while you eat which is not the most pleasant especially when you're really tired after walking all day. 
• There used to be a lot of snack shops around the standing sushi which sold all sorts of Japanese snacks but we couldn't find them this time around - the place underwent some major changes. But we found similar places in Shin Koiwa so I just got all my snacks from there. 
• GU. It wasn't here in my previous trips I think. But since we got lost this trip I realised there was a GU in Shinjuku. Do give this place a try - it's the more fashionable but still affordable sister of Uniqlo.
• Home to Kabukicho - Tokyo's red light district. I stayed here in my previous trip with my friends. It was um.. interesting haha. There are lots of host clubs so it's very happening at night. You can see the pimps soliciting business o.o and lots of pictures of hosts everywhere. My friends and I had a ball of a time laughing at the different pictures and comparing the hosts LOL (but that was in the daytime). it's definitely not something you see every day but you have to be careful at night. There are many Nigerian touts trying to get people into their clubs and stuff for business so yeah it's best to walk in a group and be careful. This is also where the famous Robot Restaurant is. 

Harajuku 

• Takeshita Street. DUH. Like literally everything happening is there LOL. There are lots of clothing shops, and the famous crepe stores 
• There's this cute shop called WEGO that sells v fashionable clothing and cute accessories. There's also this 390 store where everything in there is 390. 
• Along the street, there's also the Zaku Zaku store which I mentioned earlier, and Calbee shop where they serve freshly fried calbee chips with a variety of toppings. There's also the Pompompurin cafe. There are plenty of drug stores and a Daiso here as well 
• I think if you go up further onto Cat Street, there are lots of vintage stores and specialty shoe stores where you can get like those really special edition sneakers (Nikes etc) 
• There are some interesting cafes in the area, like a cat cafe, owl cafe and a snake one I think. But they're expensive, way way more expensive than in Korea so I didn't go into them
• Ichiran Ramen - this is famous place that sells tonkotsu ramen only. You can customize the springiness of your noodles, spiciness level , amount of red sauce, garlic, green onion etc. You sit in a little booth/cubicle (individual seating) and just have your ramen like that haha. I like to add an extra egg with my ramen :3 The tonkotsu ramen is good, I wouldn't say it's the BEST cuz I'm sure there are other more famous ramens in Japan. but, I think the overall concept of being able to customize your ramen to your preference and eating alone in the little booth is what makes the experience interesting also 
• Harajuku Gyoza - apparently one of Tokyo's best gyoza shops. They only sell gyozas and some other side dishes and beer. It's a very limited menu but the queue was SO long for this. I'm also not sure if they really are the best but they are pretty good
• Gindaco Takoyaki - It's a small takoyaki store that doesn't have seats. It has multiple branches around Tokyo and serves up some pretty yummy takoyaki
• Meiji Shrine and the surrounding Yoyogi Park, another famous attraction

Hmm I think overall Tokyo is more of shopping and eating for me HAHA. Other attractions that I've been to would include Asakusa, the Sensoji Temple and Tokyo Tower. I've also been to Tsukiji market! If you have time you could also visit the Doraemon museum and Studio Ghibli museum which is a train ride out of Tokyo. Nearby Yokohama and its seaside urban area, Minato Mirai is really beautiful. Other attractions near Tokyo would be Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea which is fun too haha.

This was my last meal in Japan - I went back to my beloved conveyor belt sushi place in Shin Koiwa hahaha. My family all were sick of sushi so I went to eat by myself. Eating in Japan is actually very comfortable because a lot of people here eat alone. I spent like 23 bucks on this meal alone LOL I was so shocked with myself hahahhaha I ordered so so much and ordered all the expensive stuff :P It was so good though I was really satisfied HAHA 

And then it was back home~ THATS THE END OF A 2 WEEK TRIP! 

I dunno what you guys felt haha but overall this was a pretty interesting trip for all of us. I got to see many many beautiful sights that I didn't even imagine would exist and although it was tiring, a long holiday was a nice change ^^ It always feels awesome to be in japan with great food, shopping and weather,  (mostly) polite people and amazing scenery. I didn't show it here but I also love their drugstores - and everything is about half the price that I get in SG so I always stock up on my usual stuff. It'll always be one of my favourite places to visit.

I still maintain what I felt 4 years back - that the Japanese always look immaculate LOL. They dress very well and they always look put together - especially those in Tokyo. 

Anyway, this is it finally I've finished this HAHA. Hope you guys enjoy it and toodles.