Hakone Trip Day 1

We bought our train tickets to Hakone the previous day at Shinjuku train station. There's 2 types of services via the Odakyu Railway, one is by the "Romance Car" which is limited express that takes about 85 minutes from Shinjuku to Hakone costing about 2080 yen per person. The other type is the slower express train which costs 1190 yen per person but longer traveling time of approximate 2hrs and requires a transfer at Odawara Station. We got the Hakone Free Pass that includes a round trip to Hakone by Odakyu Train via the slower express train (you can top up for the limited express train if you want to save time) which also allows us to unlimited use of selected trains, cable cars, ropeways, boats and buses in the Hakone area. The tickets cost 5000 yen per person for 2 days and 5500 yen for 3 days, depending on how long your stay is in Hakone. There is also a timetable of each train so you can plan your time and journey.

Odakyu Train Station

We set off from Shinjuku and got off at Odakyu to explore around. The first stop is the Odawara Castle which is around 20 mins walk from the station and is very easy to find with all the signage along the way. The journey to the castle was nice and enjoyable as we immerse ourselves in the quiet and peacefulness of the small town while enjoying the nice scenery along the way.

Odawara Castle

The Odawara Castle is a three-tiered, four storey castle which dates back from 1416 but was rebuilt in 1960. You can buy tickets to go into the castle but we skipped that and just lingered around the outside and taking pictures of the nice scenery.

After which we then walked back to the station to get some food to fill up our stomach! There are many stores in the station selling titbits and souvenirs.

Tempura Udon

Tempura Soba

We found this little shop inside the train station and went in. They had hot and cold noodles and also rice to choose from. The food was quite alright and filling for our empty stomach. After which we then continued our journey to Gora Station.

The nice scenery along the train tracks

Gora Train Station

Gyoza-Centre

 We took a walk down from Gora train station to this gyoza centre which we found about online. It was a 20 mins walk from the station along the train tracks and we were accompanied by great scenery along the way. This place is famous for its gyozas which comes in many different interesting varieties.

Gyoza Menu

Crab meat Gyoza

Squid Gyoza

Crab meat, squid and gingko fillings gyozas

After the meal, we then head back to the station and waited for the cable car to other areas in Hakone.

Hakone Tozan Cable car

We took the cable car all the way to the last staion, Sounzan Station and changed to the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani, a volcanic region.

 

"Owakudani is located on the northern slope of Mt Kamiyama, which is the highest peak of the Hakone Volcano. It is an explosion crater created by a large-scale phreatic explosion about 3000 years ago. The crater still discharges fumarolic gas containing poisonous hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide. The bedrock in the area is very fragile due to this fumarolic activity having caused numerous landslides in the past." - Extracted from one of the signboards around the area.

We also bought the famous black egg which has an legend of adding 7 years to one's life. These eggs are cooked in naturally hot water whereby the shells are blackened by the sulfur. It taste just like normal hard boiled eggs!

After exploring and buying some snacks and souvenirs in the area, we then continued the ropeway to our hotel. We got down at Togendai station and took the Hakone Tozan Bus that drops us right in front of our hotel. All these transports are inclusive in our Free Pass ticket which is highly advisable to purchase!

To know more about how the Hakone Tozan Bus works and also to download the map of the bus route, you can visit this website: www.hakone-tozanbus.co.jp/english/pdf/intro.pdf. This bus service is so convenient and brings you around the whole Hakone area.

Palace Hakone Hotel

View from the entrance of our hotel

Inside the room which was clean and spacious!

View from our room window

Details of the hotel:

Palace Hakone Hotel 

 1245, Sengokuhara, Hakone-machi
Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa Pref, 250-0631
Phone: 81-460-84-8501 Facsimile: 81-460-84-8500
Check-In: 2:00 p.m. / Check-Out: 12:00 noon

After checking in and a short rest, we then took the bus back to Togendai station and hopped onto the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise which was also included in our free pass. The cruise will travel from Togendai port to Hakone-machi port, along the Lake Ashi where you can enjoy wonderful mountain-ringed scenery! The ride was around 30mins and you can either enjoy your view standing at the deck or seated within the cabins.

After getting off the cruise, almost all the shops were already closed (90% of the stores closes at 6pm in Hakone)! So we took the bus around to find for food and also getting lost along the way. Finally after close to 1hr of searching and getting help from a kind soul, we finally found a restaurant which was still open!!

Menu

Roasted Pork Meat

Sashimi

Beef mixed rice set

The restaurant had a large variety of food available and the menu is written in Japanese, English and Chinese, making it easy for tourist to order. The food was delicious and we cleaned all our sets out! Really loved the food and ambiance of the restaurant and would definitely come back here again if I were to visit Hakone!

Details of the restaurant:

Ginnoho 箱根・仙石原

817 Sengokuhara, Hakone-machi, Ashigarashimo District,

Kanagawa Prefecture 250-0631, Japan

Tel: +81 460-84-4158

Opening Hours: 11am - 3pm; 5.30pm - 9pm

Closed on Wednesday

URL: www.hakone-hoshino.jp

After filling our stomach and having a good rest at the restaurant, we then make our way back to the hotel via the Hakone Tozan Bus service which was about 15 mins walk from the restaurant. We then finally end off the day with a good outdoor onsen and hot soju in the hotel!

Will continue to update the rest of my trip in the next few posts! Do stay tune! Xoxo (:

Warakuya Japanese Restaurant - Johor Bahru

Was introduced by my friend to this Japanese restaurant while we were planning for a day trip to Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It was highly recommended by my friend after their visit to this restaurant a few weeks back so we decided to try it out ourselves. We went into JB in the afternoon and went to shop around first before heading to the restaurant at 6.30pm for dinner.

This is how the shop front looks like and the place was crowded when we reached there. Quite a number of people was already waiting outside and lucky we made a reservation beforehand as advised by my friend as they previously waited for quite some time before having a table. As there was quite a few of us, we made a reservation for a private room so that we can enjoy our meal and laugh as loud as we wanted!

The restaurant is located by the main road and has a very big signboard outside, so it's quite easy to spot. Sorry for the bad lighting in this picture as this was taken with my phone cause my camera died on me :(

 All their pictures looks so nice making it so hard to resist!! Everything looks so nice and delicious we can't decide on what to order. And what's worse, they have lots of variety to choose from. There's individual items, ramen sets, bento sets and of course sashimi sets.

Salmon Belly Shio Yaki - RM 14.90

One of our favorite dish that we will always order in a Japanese restaurant is this Grilled Salmon Belly. We are a major lover of salmon and the salmon belly and head meat are the most delicious parts as it is tender and juicy, which is why we always order both! The salmon was fresh but it was a bit too greasy.

Shark Fin Chawanmushi - RM 8.90

My must order item whenever I am having Japanese cuisine is this little baby - Chawanmushi! I love eggs, especially steamed eggs! It didn't tasted much different from the normal ones in my opinion.

Our Sashimi Set topped with one serving of sea urchin. We ordered a few different type of fish and they put them together into this one big plate. This dish is so refreshing as they are all soo fresh. We had this finished as soon as it was served!

Top: Kani Karrage Maki (Soft Shell Crab) - RM 19.90, Bottom: Cheese King Prawn Maki - RM 23.90

Next up for some more filling dishes! This 2 dish was one of the few recommended items on menu and the pictures just made it even harder to say no, so we ordered both. Both tasted really nice but if I could only choose one, I would pick the Cheese King Prawn Maki.

Top left to down: Grilled Wagyu Beef - RM 129, Fried Chicken with Tartar Sauce - RM 13.90, Barbeque Squid - RM 19.90.

The Wagyu Beef was superb!! It was really juicy and totally melts within your mouth. It was kinda small but it was the most expensive dish of all that we ordered. (We did not noticed the price when ordering as we were so attracted by all the pictures and was totally shocked when we saw the bill!!!)

 We ordered some other side dishes along the way to go with our sakes before leaving the restaurant close to 3.5 hours later. Overall, the food here is pretty good and the service was excellent even though they had a full house. The dishes are a bit pricey but I would still come back again as the variety here is really amazing and the overall experience was great! If you are looking for good quality and nice ambiance Japanese restaurant, do try this one out. But do remember to make a reservation to avoid long waiting time.

Warakuya Japanese Restaurant (和乐屋日本料理)

43 Jalan Kuning 2, 

Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru

Johor, Malaysia
Tel: +60 07-332 0789 / +60 016-777 8234

Business hours: Monday to Sundays, 11.30am - 11pm

Tokyo Day 1 & 2

Tokyo is a country I always wanted to visit because of it's nice food and sceneries. So this time round I decided to go on a short break and visit Tokyo! My flight was 8am and I was early so as to have my breakfast at the airport and to go for some duty-free shopping. Boarded the plane and was glad that the seat beside me was empty, which means more leg space for me throughout the 8hrs flight! Was so tired as I did a very last-min packing the night before and only had a few hours of sleep. So I immediately KO after settling down comfortably. I vaguely remembered having 2 meals on-board and also a cup of haagen daz ice cream in between my sleeps before arriving at Tokyo international airport at 5pm. (Sorry that I forgot to take a photo of the food as I was in a sleepy mode) Was so grateful for in-flight entertainment cause I managed to watch 2 movies (Mandela and Frozen) throughout the long flight too.

After walking out of immigration, you can easily see counters selling the train tickets as well as other bus and limousine services. We decided to take the train as it goes directly to the station near my hotel. The escalator to the train station is located directly beside the exits, so it's quite easy to find.

We've decided to get the Suica card as it can be used for paying our fares when traveling around Tokyo. It's just like the EZ-Link cards we used in Singapore where we top up a certain amount of credit and with every trip, the fares will be deducted from the card when we tap out of the train stations. The Suica card can be used on JR East lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area as well as for subways, buses and the Tokyo Monorail that connects Haneda Airport with Tokyo. Another good thing is that the Suica card can also be used to make purchases onboard trains as well as from vending machines, to rent coin lockers and for spending at convenience stores!

The trip from the airport to our hotel station (Shimbashi) took about 1hr 10mins and we had another round of sleep inside the train too. Am glad that the trains are so quiet and the seats are comfy too. Took a short 10mins walk to our hotel from the station and checked in to our rooms! We're staying at Mitsui Garden Hotel.

The room is quite small but for the price that we paid, it's considered quite well as hotels in Tokyo are rather pricey! We had a queen size bed and there were enough space to fit in 3 big luggage around the room. It was pretty clean and the environment was nice and that's all that matters to me cause all I need is a comfy bed and quiet place to rest and recharge at night.

Oh and how everyone raves about the toilets in Japan, definitely my favorite activity everyday. HAHA!

After settling down and washed up, we decided to head out to have dinner and check out the surroundings. Stopped by a small shop and had ramens and gyozas together with some sake. We were all famished that we gobbled down our food the moment it was served, hence no pictures we taken. Sorry guys! Took a stroll back to our hotel after dinner and bought some snacks and drinks at the convenient store nearby. Decided to take a hot bath and totally knocked out after that.

Woke up pretty early after an early night and feeling all excited for our first day in Tokyo! Walked to Daimon Station which took around 10 mins and our first stop is to Shinjuku. Thankful the train wasn't crowded and we all had seats for ourselves.

Stepped out of the station and everywhere is flooded with people. No doubt the busiest station as it is a large entertainment, business and shopping area around Shinjuku. Once you're out of the station, all you see are tall buildings and shopping centres. You can find many of the famous shopping centres like Isetan, Takashimaya, Mylord, Odakyu and more in this area. For guys who are looking for electronic stuffs, there are also a few big electronic stores around the corner.

First stop is to find some food for our empty stomachs at Omoide Yokocho (Memory Lane) or also known as Shonben Yokocho (Piss Alley) on the west side of Shinjuku Station. This is a small alley filled with small yakitori bars. But as it is way too early, most of the stores are closed so we settled for some ramen at the store located right at the entrance of the alley.

Most of the stores in Tokyo uses this vending machine for ordering. You just put in notes and press the item that you want. A token/ticket will then be issued and you just have to pass it to the person at the counter after being seated. It is fully in Japanese so we just blindly match the words to the pictures above. If you can't find the item that you want from the menu on the vending machine, you can kindly ask the staffs in the stores to help you out. But of course, do try to speak slower and use simpler words for the staffs to understand.

I ordered this pork and dumpling ramen which was very filling for me. The soup tasted so great that I finished every single drop of it. I am super afraid of soup that has the pork kind of taste/smell and this totally tasted nothing like that. The soup is rich but not too salty which I find most of the ramen base are. The meat is also so tender and soft, I just can't get enough of it. However, the dumplings are quite normal, nothing fantastic about it.

The set also comes with a ramen egg and a small bowl of rice with grilled pork topped with home-made sauce. Had to share my meal with the rest as it was super filling and my stomach almost exploded! But no doubt, the food was superb and price was very affordable.

This is the store front and it is very easy to locate once you're at the road junction. Do go try this store out if you are around the area!
After filling up our stomachs, we went to shop around the area before taking the train down to Harajuku which was just few stops away.

Takeshita Street, located just right opposite the exit of Harajuku Station. It's a street filled with teenager clothing, shoes, bags, cosmetics and street foods. There is also a 4-storey Daiso store located near the entrance. As it is a Sunday, it is fully packed with teenagers and a lot of them are in their cosplay suits.

We decided to try out this potato chips store where they have chips topped with different flavours. There was quite a queue so we figured it must be well-known or really delicious so we joined in too. We got the sour cream and salty flavours to try and personally I prefer the sour cream one as the salty one is a tad too salty for me.

There are a lot of stores that are selling this lucky box thing for 100 yen and the boxes each contain a prize. If you are lucky you may get the good prices such as cameras, mp3, watches etc. But if you're not that lucky as me, you might end up having keychains, earphones and small accessories.

After a long walk down Harajuku Street, we decided to take a short break and enjoy some nice coffee and pancakes. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pancake topped with Whipped Cream and Nuts.

 Continue down the Omotesando Street (Tokyo's Champs-Elysees). This street is known as one of the foremost 'architectural showcase' streets in the world and has many fashion flagship stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Zara, Tods etc near each other. This street is 1km long and is a tree-lined avenue stretching from the entrance of Meiji Shrine, our next location point.

Meiji Shrine Entrance

Meiji Shrine with the huge cypress tori marking the entrance. This shinto shrine is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife. 

Barrels of Sake 

The Shrine

Wishing Tree

Prayers by visitors 

After the visit, we continued walking down to Shibuya for more shopping and dinner.

Shibuya is a place filled with youth fashion and culture and its streets are the birthplace to many of Japan's fashion and entertainment trends.

Look at the amount of stores and restaurants located within Shibuya. So spoiled for choices but we decided to have gyozas for dinner.

The gyozas were so crispy and the fillings were so juicy. The skin was perfect too, not being too thick nor too thin. It was so delicious we could easily devour 10 each!

The name of the store with a big gyoza sign outside

Look how the streets are bustled with people at night

Stopped by to have some finger food after a long walk around Shibuya. This chicken nuggets were smelling so nice from far and I couldn't resist getting one too. It was soo crispy and juicy I just kept reaching for it and finished it in less than 10mins!

The famous Shibuya Crossing

One of the prominent landmark of Shibuya is this large intersection in front of the Shibuya Station Hachiko Exit. This intersection stops all cars from all direction and allows pedestrians to cross the intersection in every direction, including diagonally at the same time.

The famous Hachiko Statue

This is the famous Hachiko statue which was built to remember the loyalty of the dog to his owner which continued to wait for his master in front of the station exit everyday even after his master had passed away. A movie about Hachiko was also made and I remember crying throughout the whole movie.

After a long day out, we finally took the train back to hotel and we went for onsen (Hot Spring) in the hotel to relax before tucking to bed!

Will continue to blog about my trip in Tokyo in the next few days! Do stay tune! (: