DEBBIEDEEEE

Tokyo Day 4: Disneysea

Posted on March 20, 2015 by debbiedeee

You can’t say that you’ve been to Tokyo without visiting Tokyo Disneyland/Disneysea!

Have been to Disneyland once a LONGGG time ago, and i saw comments online that said Disneysea is more for adults.. (I was with my parents). Thus, we’ve decided to go to Disneysea on one of our last days!!!

Here’s a very important tip: DO NOT GO TO A THEME PARK ON A WEEKEND. We pretty much had no choice due to our schedule.. But yeah, if you do have a choice..

When we were at Tokyo Station, heading towards the JR line to get the the Disney Resort, there were already announcements saying that tickets for Tokyo Disneyland was sold out for the day. We managed to get to Disneysea (what we intended to originally), but had to queue for HOURS for each ride. Thank god the place opened from 8AM in the morning to 10PM at night, which allowed us to ride a significant number of rides.

Before we even entered Disneysea, the view was SPECTACULAR on the Disney Resort line. The train is mad adorable too!

Finally at Disneysea and the queue to enter was FREAKING long + it was freezing cold that day.. (& i was underdressed)

Disneysea at night was equally pretty (if not even more). We revisited some places with pretty lights (My fav toy story land) to see how it looks like at night!

The BEST BEST BEST part that everyone should not miss was the water show.

Had tons of fun at Disneysea. My parents looked like they had fun too! Even though they didn’t seem to excited to be spending a day in what seemed like a kiddy theme park before. Will definitely return to finish up the other rides very soon!

Day 3: Day Trip to Yokohama

Posted on February 27, 2015 by debbiedeee

With the convenience of the JR line (which is a cheaper alternative to travel to neighbouring cities than the Shinkansen, which i feel is only necessary for long distances), we took a day trip to Yokohama, the largest trading port in Japan (according to the taxi driver who drove us to the airport), and visited the biggest Chinatown in Japan where we had a really expensive and good lunch.

A pretty nice and quiet city. With almost zero tourists since it’s not really a touristy destination. & yup, people in Chinatown do not speak Chinese for some reason by the way. So do not bother trying if you ever visit.

Since we still had time, we went over to Shinyokohama to visit the Ramen Museum! It’s basically a very cool looking place where you have to pay to enter to see tons of Ramen stalls (which you have to pay to eat again obviously).

The stalls here are organized based on the type of Ramen, where they originate from etc. Not really a huge Ramen lover (prefer sashimi), but i LOVE the vintage layout of the place. Like everything in Japan, even the small details were taken care of perfectly! It’s just like I’ve returned to the 1960s of something.

A fake police post in the museum I thought. But he’s a real policeman, so..?

Walked around the streets of Yokohama to explore and feel the place before we proceeded back to Tokyo.

Before that, we had to eat AGAIN obviously. And so, we stopped by the food hall at Takashimaya where we loaded tons of sashimi to bring back to our hotel in Tokyo before it got too late and had many locals stare at us when we did that.

Regretfully, our trip was too short for us to travel to further places in Japan like Osaka, Nagoya, Nara, Kobe etc., places I’ve been to before and loved, and thus would like to bring my family over. In this situation though, I strongly recommend travelling to Yokohama as it doesn’t take a lot of time (perfect for a day trip), and it’s a nice and peaceful place (not as touristy as Tokyo definitely).

Tokyo Day 2: Plum Blossoms @ Koishikawa Korakuen Park, Tokyo Dome & Shibuya

Posted on February 26, 2015 by debbiedeee

Disclaimer: Super photoheavy post. Although all my posts are photoheavy.

The night before, as i was browsing through Instagram, I saw this Japanese account that i follow (@nanarabu), who posted something like Spring coming early this year, together with a photo of a really pretty plum blossom.

I did not originally plan to see any plum blossoms as i thought that we were visiting Japan too early to see any, I spent the entire night searching on where we can visit the next day (thus pushing our other schedules aside ’cause nothing is as important to me as this), so that we can see them. That’s when I found out about a plum blossom festival located at a park next to the Tokyo Dome City.

Thus, we took this chance to take a look at Tokyo Dome! (A place that I’m going to return to someday to watch Big Bang perform again)

After a long walk, we got to Koishikawa Korakuen Park, which was a park known only to locals i believe (since there are zero foreigners there and plenty of locals), which is a pity because it is a BEAUTIFUL PLACE.

Seeing plum blossoms is probably not a big deal to many. But to me, it’s my first time ever. So i was very very fascinated and started snapping like a 1000 photos of the place.

Headed to Shibuya after a long and tiring day to shop & eat. Can’t seem to get anything though. Concluded that Japanese fashion ain’t really my style Nevertheless, it was a nice place, and we saw plenty of interesting things like how they have game centres where they play with metal balls to exchange it for products (which i don’t understand since I’d not be motivated to gamble when my reward is shampoo instead of cold hard cash). But oh well, at least they won’t have problems of gambling addicts and related social issues that we face here in Singapore.

Tokyo Day 1: Asakusa and Ginza

Posted on February 25, 2015 by debbiedeee

Headed over to Asakusa after lunch to see the other famous Shrine in Tokyo. So basically, my first day in Tokyo was shrine visiting + shopping day.

And then, we had our very very first sushi dinner in Tokyo! I love how they have small little businesses all over the place, unlike Singapore where we can almost only find big corporations (the same few restaurants) all around the country.

Personally, I prefer Asakusa to Meiji Shrine, as there are plenty of locals there (students) shopping, buying snacks and it feels more vibrant(?) and localized to me compared to Meiji Shrine, which seems abit touristy with all the tour groups when I went over.

The sky got dark at about 5.30-6.00PM since it was still late winter/early spring. To end our day, we headed towards Ginza shopping district to walk about/have desserts.

In Ginza, you can basically expect to find international brands like Zara, Uniqlo, H&M, F21. There are basically NO locals there and the only customers you can find there are Chinese tourists.

To me, Ginza is just a place where you can drop by and look around. However, I don’t recommend shopping there since you can get those brands in Singapore. Also, the place is like ANY shopping district in any country, which is not what I am looking for…

Tokyo Day 2: Tsukiji Fish Market

Posted on February 24, 2015 by debbiedeee

Moving on to the Yeo’s family favourite place in Japan: The Tsukiji Fish Market! My friends will know that I’m a sucker for seafood and I’m so picky when it comes to it. This place where sea creatures are being brought to once they are caught, auctioned and prepared to be consumed is thus as close as heaven can be to me.

Sadly, we missed the auction as we all had issues waking up at 5AM in the morning However, we got to enter the wholesale market after most of the transactions are over for a look. That place is HUGE. There are over a thousand stores selling fishes and like and the area is bigger than Vivo City. Swear.

After that, we spent a large amount of our time looking at the stores outside which are open throughout the day, and trying all sorts of food sold in the area.

This dude here served the BEST scallop I’ve ever eaten. Seriously.

And this kind Japanese auntie posed for me when she knew that I was taking a photo!

Featuring the best sashimi EVERRR.I love the white fish (there are two white fishes there). No idea what is it called so I would totally appreciate it if someone is able to tell me the name. It’s not the typical one we eat here in Singapore. They don’t have it here I’m pretty sure.

So, we were bloated and about to leave the fish market when we saw a super long queue

For Gyudon! And guess what, we just had to try it.. right? The queue never gets shorter, even though the service is REALLY quick. It stretched throughout the ENTIRE street and we only waited for less than 20 minutes.

Mad delicious. Just looking at it is making me crave for another bowl right now

Undoubtedly, Tsukiji Fish Market is definitely the No.1 place I’m going to look forward to return to if i visit Tokyo again anytime soon.

Tokyo Day 1: Shibakoen and Meiji-Jingu Shrine

Posted on February 24, 2015 by debbiedeee

Decided to start a blog since I’d be travelling a lot this year and I guess it’s a good platform for me to record what I’ve done and to come back and read it later on! (Won’t remember the places and names accurately in a few months time otherwise with my amazing memory).

Pretty sure I’d give up on it soon though since I’m not really a writer (don’t really like to write or for people to read my writing) & it takes too much effort to maintain a blog from my perspective. Nevertheless, since this is one of my new year resolutions, I shall give it a shot.

Came back from Tokyo on Monday morning and I had an AMAZING time there!

This is my third time in Tokyo and I’ve decided that i absolutely love the country and city. Everything is clean, everyone is courteous, and there are four seasons!!!

Also, this is the very first free-and-easy trip my family has decided to take! During this week, we took the subway (something my parents have not done before in Singapore since they both drive), went only to places that we are interested in, ate good food instead of horrible meals provided by the travel agencies, explored the city from a different perspective, and travelled at our own pace.

Stayed at the Prince Park Tower Hotel this time round, which is located in between Tokyo Tower and Shibakoen Park, which we explored during our first morning there

It rained so heavily during the first 24 hours when we were there so I couldn’t take many pictures since my camera lenses kept fogging up.

Got lost at Shinjuku in the morning before we found our way back to the train station and went to Meiji-Jingu Shrine. It’s a MUST-GO PLACE for tourists apparently on ALL travel sites. However, frankly speaking, all shrines and temples in Japan are similar to me. Won’t deny that the place is beautiful though.

Dad kept wanting to do the photo-ception thing the entire trip. Except that he doesn’t know that it’s called photo-ception. To him, it’s “take a photo of me taking a photo of you”.

Got lucky and managed to see a couple taking wedding photos at the Shrine even though it was a weekday!

Meiji-Jingu Shrine is located just beside Harajuku as well! Which apparently is the “hipster shopping district” where you can actually spot people cosplaying! Went to have our lunch and shopped around there for a while before departing to our next destination!

Sadly, no photos of Harajuku though ‘Cause the rain got so heavy i could hardly shelter myself, not to mention protect my camera from the rain.